Whiners & Gurus

In today's world, we often get overwhelmed by the torrent of complaints that come our way in whatever we do.

There are people who are genuinely concerned with big issues that will bring about serious consequences, but then there are also whiners ($in-gaporeans fit this profile perfectly) who are obsessed with every minute detail, not because they have everyone's interest at heart, but because they want everything done according to their whims and fancies - it also gives them a boost to their overblown egos cos they think they're showing others how "smart" they are in pointing out the "flaws" of others. Let's face it. No one decision will ever please these whiners, cos they'll never stop whining.

My advice: Listen only to those who don't whine 24/7, on almost everything - chances are, they're warning about "pearl harbour".

Twice is enough to set the alarm bells ringing if it's a serious issue, and I won't waste any more "ammunition" firing warning shots.

To the untrained eye, there is no difference between one who informs developers of a serious system security issue and a whiner who whines about control buttons being placed "on the left when they should be on the right". But really, no one gives a damn as to what ordinary laymen think of me.

If there's any whiner reading this now, you must be fuming with rage by now. Well, your attention-seeking antics haven't gotten you anywhere. You've got to bring something relevant and substantial to the table before people start listening to you. But you can't do that, cos you lack even basic IT skills.

One cannot be an auditor unless he is an accounting expert. It's not surprising though, that I find so many "auditors" out there in $in-gapore who don't even know the fundamentals of accounting. It's also not surprising to find pastors who preach things that are contrary to the Word of God.

Complaining and picking on others without knowing a thing - it's a typical $in-gaporean behaviour.

You may continue doing what you're doing, but you'll only fool imbeciles like yourself.

Insecure Security Products

You'd be surprised how many coders of computer security products don't know how to code securely. They weren't trained in it. They don't really care about it, and they aren't paid more for making their code more secure. Many crypto software developers don't know about Security Development Lifecycle (SDL), buffer overflows, input parameter checking, and so on. It's ironic.


Related:

Top Security Suites Fail Exploit Tests

Is Security Software A Security Risk?

Security - Back To Basics

Joke - Accident

There was an engineer, manager and programmer driving down a steep mountain road.

The brakes failed and the car careened down the road out of control.

Half way down the driver managed to stop the car by running it against the embankment narrowing avoiding going over a cliff.

They all got out, shaken by their narrow escape from death, but otherwise unharmed.

The manager said "To fix this problem we need to organize a committee, have meetings, and through a process of continuous improvement, develop a solution."

The engineer said "No that would take too long, and besides that method never worked before. I have my trusty pen knife here and will take apart the brake system, isolate the problem and correct it."

The programmer said "I think you're both wrong! I think we should all push the car back up the hill and see if it happens again."

Welcome, Paul!

Paul Mohr has just joined us as a team member. Welcome, Paul! :-)

If you're looking for blog posts that will knock your socks off, do take a look at Paul's OSS, Linux, science and technology blog!

The future of open source

I work in the development of new drivers and video for Xorg and Mesa along with many other things, including free MMOG. I discovered some very interesting projects that I am going to contribute to also. There is a new project to create an ink jet printer that actually manufactures objects. I also have done some work to create a nano-technology interface to a 3D world which in fact a real nano-factory to produce real physical devices at the atomic level. I foresee a day when I can download an open source script for a nano-interface to build circuits. I also have been going to school in genetics and I see many possible ways that it could be applied rationally and openly to help everyone. An interesting idea I had was a modified genome of a fast growing tree that grew into the shape of a living house. I think this is very feasible and I have been developing tools to analyze the genotype to phenotype changes that occur to produce such a thing. It is now possible to 'print' an organism using an ink jet printer. I think the open source concept is how people of many different places and cultures can agree that sharing ideas can benefit all. I may not always agree with what others think, but I like to look at what we all have in common , rather than how we might disagree.

Want To Learn Programming?

The lecturer who teaches the introductory programming course at UNSW is putting his lectures on youtube. He's a great lecturer, and the material is very accessible.

The actual lectures are at:

http://www.youtube.com/unswelearning

It's also suitable for high school students who are interested.

Computer Storage Calculator / Converter

Convert between bits / bytes / kilobytes / megabytes / gigabytes / Terabytes / Petabytes / Exabytes / Zettabytes with just a click of a button!

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Computer Storage Calculator / Converter Unit Input Value / Computated Values Bit(s) Byte(s) Kilobyte(s) Megabyt(s) Gigabyte(s) Terabyte(s) Petabyte(s) Exabyte(s) Zettabyte(s) Yottabyte(s)

Notes:

• Although data storage capacity is generally expressed in binary code, many hard drive manufacturers use a decimal system to express capacity.
  

• When used in the measurement of Data Transfer Rate, bits/bytes are calculated as in the metric system.