Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:Passwords are overrated (Score 1) 180

That's the context missing from this article summary: in any of the realistic security scenarios the article describes, use of multi-factor is mandatory. You can get really lazy about passwords when you've got a good secure MFA solution required as well.

If you read the standard though,they made a whole bunch of assumptions that are also unrealistic in the real world that make following this advice WITHOUT using MFA suicidal. Ex. they say just force password changes if you think the password's been compromised. Ok, fine. And how long is it before you realize that a password's been popped? Maybe not until someone's used a zero day to own your whole environment. Whoops.

Defense in depth is a thing.

Comment Re:Florida leads the way (Score 1) 228

Although that's not what he said, the idea is absolutely right. Except for a very very small minority of students AP should NOT be offered in HS and definitely not until jr. or sr. year.

I've watched this play out in our own school district. Kids are being told to pick their college majors while in middle school (oh and you can only select from STEM or you're a failure) and they're being forced into AP courses (which are for-real college level content) in freshman year and being told that if they don't they won't get into a 'good' school and that their life is basically over. This is a horrifically destructive lie.

These kids don't get a chance to grow up and mature and make as smooth as possible transition from child to young adult. They are coached that they can never fail in anything and so are discouraged from trying anything off the beaten path. AP has driven out 'college prep' track classes; now your choices are go to college while you're still in HS (AP courses) or take an on-level course. There is no middle ground. It's taking a huge toll on these kids' mental health.

Go back to letting kids take home ec and wood shop. Let kids try things and fail and then learn that failure isn't final. This drive everyone to AP initiative isn't getting kids to college any better prepared (the % of kids who have to take remedial courses keeps climbing) and it's seriously damaging their mental health in the process.

Submission + - Slashdot Alum Samzenpus's Fractured Veil Hits Kickstarter

CmdrTaco writes: Long time Slashdot readers remember Samzenpus,who posted over 17,000 stories here, sadly crushing my record in the process! What you might NOT know is that he was frequently the Dungeon Master for D&D campaigns played by the original Slashdot crew, and for the last few years he has been applying these skills with fellow Slashdot editorial alum Chris DiBona to a Survival game called Fractured Veil. It's set in a post apocalyptic Hawaii with a huge world based on real map data to explore, as well as careful balance between PVP & PVE. I figured a lot of our old friends would love to help them meet their kickstarter goal and then help us build bases and murder monsters! The game is turning into something pretty great and I'm excited to see it in the wild!

Comment Re:Headline is misleading (Score 1) 325

In this you are completely correct. Unfortunately, the people who most needed to understand that, Facebook and Twitter, seem to be oblivious. So, short-sighted ignorant politicians are going to end up wrecking the protections of Section 230 to punish the bad behavior of two companies who thought they were too powerful to threaten and the rest of us get to live with the consequences. Someone remind me to send Zuck and Dorsey a Christmas basket full of coal.

Submission + - WebKit introduces new tracking prevention policy (webkit.org)

AmiMoJo writes: WebKit, the open source HTML engine used by Apple's Safari browser and a number of others, has created a new policy on tracking prevention. The short version is that many forms of tracking will now be treated the same way as security flaws, being blocked or mitigated with no exceptions.

While on-site tracking will still be allowed (and is practically impossible to prevent anyway), all forms of cross-site tracking and covert tracking will be actively and aggressively blocked.

Education

Is Believing In Meritocracy Bad For You? (fastcompany.com) 480

An anonymous reader quotes Fast Company: Although widely held, the belief that merit rather than luck determines success or failure in the world is demonstrably false. This is not least because merit itself is, in large part, the result of luck. Talent and the capacity for determined effort, sometimes called "grit," depend a great deal on one's genetic endowments and upbringing.

This is to say nothing of the fortuitous circumstances that figure into every success story. In his book Success and Luck, the U.S. economist Robert Frank recounts the long-shots and coincidences that led to Bill Gates's stellar rise as Microsoft's founder, as well as to Frank's own success as an academic. Luck intervenes by granting people merit, and again by furnishing circumstances in which merit can translate into success. This is not to deny the industry and talent of successful people. However, it does demonstrate that the link between merit and outcome is tenuous and indirect at best. According to Frank, this is especially true where the success in question is great, and where the context in which it is achieved is competitive. There are certainly programmers nearly as skilful as Gates who nonetheless failed to become the richest person on Earth. In competitive contexts, many have merit, but few succeed. What separates the two is luck.

In addition to being false, a growing body of research in psychology and neuroscience suggests that believing in meritocracy makes people more selfish, less self-critical, and even more prone to acting in discriminatory ways.

The article cites a pair of researchers who "found that, ironically, attempts to implement meritocracy leads to just the kinds of inequalities that it aims to eliminate.

"They suggest that this 'paradox of meritocracy' occurs because explicitly adopting meritocracy as a value convinces subjects of their own moral bona fides."

Submission + - AmigaOS 3.1.4 released for classic Amiga (hyperion-entertainment.com)

Mike Bouma writes:

The new, cleaned-up, polished Amiga operating system for your 68K machine fixes all the small annoyances that have piled up over the years. Originally intended as a bug-fix release, it also modernizes many system components previously upgraded in OS 3.9.

Contrary to its modest revision number, AmigaOS 3.1.4 is arguably as large an upgrade as OS 3.9 was, and surpasses it in stability and robustness. Over 320K of release notes cover almost every aspect of your favourite classic AmigaOS — from bootmenu to datatypes.


Comment Maybe, but (Score 1) 59

1. repulsor beams are more energy efficient, so they are likely to be used first;
2. this device repels, so is kind of like a repulsor beam;
3. a true repulsor beam or tractor beam is gravito-magnetic, not sonic;
4. a true repsor beam will generate an off axis tractor beam of equal power, but with that power dispersed over a wider arc (most likely a full 360 degree dispersal in the plane perpendicular to the beam, with additional dispersal above and below that plane), so there is a small possibility of using that tractor beam for a secondary purpose. That is the most likely way tractor beams will be used.

Comment Re: What's the point? (Score 1) 343

I completely agree. If they were motivated to learn, they would have done still so on their own. That's the thing with IT, self teaching (especially when you already know the management frameworks and principles) is not only easy, but the most effective way to learn.

You are wasting your time. If the work is not there, they are redundant. Act accordingly.

(IAAL, but not your lawyer. See your own lawyer to make sure you do this right and don't risk a claim. I was in IT for 20 years before becoming a lawyer, including at executive management level, so my evaluation of that part comes from direct experience)

Slashdot Top Deals

You may call me by my name, Wirth, or by my value, Worth. - Nicklaus Wirth

Working...