Randomness

[enterprikayak]

Creepy frikkin' D, man.

[CX]

I'm an
[s]Engeneer[/s]
[s]Enginere[/s]
[s]Engenere[/s]
I'm good
with math

[JadziaKathryn]

Ha, that's good, CX. I am more on the "5/4 people find fractions difficult" side. But I can enthuse on different interpretations of the American Revolution...

[dark_rain]

only the Ubuntu linux box is left in cansecwest's pwn to own competition. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/29 ... _standing/

I know that this doesn't prove that linux is most secure, but it does show that it is the least likely to be targetted.

[TPoptarts]

This is disturbing http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080404/ap_ ... ly_release

[JadziaKathryn]

^ Hmph. I know that the British example I'm studying from the 1800s was too harsh and extreme, but they had a point: you commit a crime, your labor belongs to the state. Ergo, you work. Paycheck? No paycheck for convicted criminals. We do feed you and supply blankets and medical care.

I'm convinced there is merit to this system if you just make it humane. There's no reason why prisoners can't do an 8 hour day making - oh, I don't know, shoes or furniture or something. Then the proceeds help fund this expensive prison program. Meanwhile, they have at least some sort of skill when they get out that could help them get a job. And it relieves the burden on taxpayers who, after all, are not the ones committing the crimes. (Or at least one hopes not.) It's perfectly logical.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ Except that Labour unions would scream in protest against the convicts taking away their jobs.

[blacknblue]

only the Ubuntu linux box is left in cansecwest's pwn to own competition. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/29 ... _standing/

I know that this doesn't prove that linux is most secure, but it does show that it is the least likely to be targetted.

Have you ever given MEPIS a test run? MEPIS 7.0 is out now. He ditched Ubuntu as a base and went back to Debian, which I think is a better approach. 7.0 is a nice release, and pretty solid for my purposes. It has all the rough edges filed off that Ubuntu leaves on.

Although you have the expertise to customize a box to suit yourself of course. But with MEPIS being 100% Debian compatible you can customize it to suit yourself.

[Distracted]

^^ What language are ya'll speaking, anyway?

[blacknblue]

^ Hmph. I know that the British example I'm studying from the 1800s was too harsh and extreme, but they had a point: you commit a crime, your labor belongs to the state. Ergo, you work. Paycheck? No paycheck for convicted criminals. We do feed you and supply blankets and medical care.

I'm convinced there is merit to this system if you just make it humane. There's no reason why prisoners can't do an 8 hour day making - oh, I don't know, shoes or furniture or something. Then the proceeds help fund this expensive prison program. Meanwhile, they have at least some sort of skill when they get out that could help them get a job. And it relieves the burden on taxpayers who, after all, are not the ones committing the crimes. (Or at least one hopes not.) It's perfectly logical.

The difficulty is in execution. My sister in law's brother in law (sorry) is a prison guard at a medium security lockup. Murderers and rapists, but not the real bad ones. Just normal murderers and rapists. Would you advocate letting guys like that into the program? If so, who is going to keep an eye on them while they are working with saws and chisels and putty knives? They are killing each other as it is, and they are no longer even permitted to have anything but plastic sporks in the cafeteria anymore. But they still find ways to kill each other and themselves. A few years ago he told me about a guy who was doing several years for repeated DUI offenses. Why this person was in a medium security lockup I have no idea, but that is where they put him. He ended up in a cell with a repeat murderer - who beat him to death. Just for the hell of it.

I am not kidding. My friend told me, and I believe his word, that after the murder the pyschopath was asked why he did it. He replied, "I just felt like killing someone."

This guy is not the kind of person that I want to see getting his hands on tools.

On the other hand, there are some guards who are almost as bad as the prisoners they guard. Another story from the same source. A prisoner accused a guard (not the same guy) of being racist and not liking him, the prisoner, because he was black. The guard replied, "Nah, I don't like you 'cause yer a convict," and jammed his flashlight into his belly.

I am not so sure that the idea of setting up a slave labor operation in the USA, at least on a large scale, would be effective.

[blacknblue]

^^ What language are ya'll speaking, anyway?

Penquinista

[enterprikayak]

You're one-uh those Carbon Creek Vulcans in disguise, ain'tcha? AIN'TCHA!

[JadziaKathryn]

The difficulty is in execution. My sister in law's brother in law (sorry) is a prison guard at a medium security lockup. Murderers and rapists, but not the real bad ones. Just normal murderers and rapists. Would you advocate letting guys like that into the program?

Well, let's see. How about we keep them separate from the non-violent offenders? That way the non-violent offenders don't get killed on the spot. Obviously, guards would be needed. It's a rough plan, I admit, but I still think there's potential.

^ Except that Labour unions would scream in protest against the convicts taking away their jobs.

But the jobs are going to Asia anyway. I don't think labor unions have all that much power if they can't stop the outsourcing to Asia.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ Except that Labour unions would scream in protest against the convicts taking away their jobs.

But the jobs are going to Asia anyway. I don't think labor unions have all that much power if they can't stop the outsourcing to Asia.

That's different because outsourced jobs are, you know, outsourced overseas, where unions have no say. But jobs for convicts would be made domestically, where unions do have a say.

Also, I was more thinking in non-US terms. There is no way that any union in Europe, especially in my country (Sweden), would ever accept this on a large scale.

[dark_rain]

only the Ubuntu linux box is left in cansecwest's pwn to own competition. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/29 ... _standing/

I know that this doesn't prove that linux is most secure, but it does show that it is the least likely to be targetted.

Have you ever given MEPIS a test run? MEPIS 7.0 is out now. He ditched Ubuntu as a base and went back to Debian, which I think is a better approach. 7.0 is a nice release, and pretty solid for my purposes. It has all the rough edges filed off that Ubuntu leaves on.

Although you have the expertise to customize a box to suit yourself of course. But with MEPIS being 100% Debian compatible you can customize it to suit yourself.

Personally, I hate Ubuntu, but it is debian based so it cant be all bad.

Never used MEPIS, but I do have 2 servers running debian 3.1, xebian mod. Not exactly your usual h/w but they run real good!