• Person of interest

    From pete dashwood@1:2320/100 to comp.lang.cobol on Tue Dec 20 14:53:54 2016
    From Newsgroup: comp.lang.cobol

    They screened the final episode of POI (at least for the current
    series...) here last night.

    The series is about 2 "Artifical Super Intelligences" (ASI) which are
    battling for world domination.

    The "good one" is called "the machine", the "bad one" is called "Samaritan".

    The guy who programmed "The machine" (character Harold Finch) has to get
    a deadly virus called ICE 9 into Samaritan, realizing that in killing it
    he will also kill his own creation.

    He uploads the virus OK, but Samaritan then requires an 8 letter verbal password before it will execute the files...

    I can tell you I was stunned when he said it... :-)

    Pete.
    --
    I used to write COBOL; now I can do anything...

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  • From John McCue@1:2320/100 to comp.lang.cobol on Tue Dec 20 02:52:13 2016
    From Newsgroup: comp.lang.cobol

    pete dashwood <dashwood@enternet.co.nz> wrote:
    <snip>

    The guy who programmed "The machine" (character Harold Finch) has to get
    a deadly virus called ICE 9 into Samaritan, realizing that in killing it
    he will also kill his own creation.

    He uploads the virus OK, but Samaritan then requires an 8 letter verbal password before it will execute the files...

    I can tell you I was stunned when he said it... :-)

    I saw it a while ago but forgot it, I think I can guess
    it based upon this group :)

    Anyway a very good series, been watching the reruns as time
    permits, if I see the episode will pay more attention to
    the PW.


    Pete.

    John

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  • From Bill Gunshannon@1:2320/100 to comp.lang.cobol on Tue Dec 20 12:14:32 2016
    From Newsgroup: comp.lang.cobol

    On 12/19/16 8:53 PM, pete dashwood wrote:
    They screened the final episode of POI (at least for the current
    series...) here last night.

    The series is about 2 "Artifical Super Intelligences" (ASI) which are battling for world domination.

    The "good one" is called "the machine", the "bad one" is called
    "Samaritan".

    The guy who programmed "The machine" (character Harold Finch) has to get
    a deadly virus called ICE 9 into Samaritan, realizing that in killing it
    he will also kill his own creation.

    He uploads the virus OK, but Samaritan then requires an 8 letter verbal password before it will execute the files...

    I can tell you I was stunned when he said it... :-)

    Pete.

    C'mon Pete. Don't keep those of us who have never seen
    the show or are likely to waste the time in front of the
    "boob tube" to watch it in suspense. What was it?

    bill

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  • From Bill Woodger@1:2320/100 to comp.lang.cobol on Tue Dec 20 09:37:59 2016
    From Newsgroup: comp.lang.cobol

    Search-engineing reveals: http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/55877/what-is-the-significance-of-the-password

    It's one of those "you had to be there when Pete heard it, like, actually there, inside his body" to be anything even remotely approaching "mildly interested".

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  • From Bill Gunshannon@1:2320/100 to comp.lang.cobol on Tue Dec 20 15:10:59 2016
    From Newsgroup: comp.lang.cobol

    On 12/20/16 12:37 PM, Bill Woodger wrote:
    Search-engineing reveals: http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/55877/what-is-the-significance-of-the-password

    It's one of those "you had to be there when Pete heard it, like, actually
    there, inside his body" to be anything even remotely approaching "mildly interested".


    Thanks. I read what they had to say. And, I can honestly
    say, it did not spark even the slightest interest in ever
    bothering to watch the show. And if your curious about
    my opinion of TV. I just dumped DISH as I certainly don't
    think there is anything there worth the $150 a month it was
    costing. Guess my mis-spent youth that predated TV has
    resurfaced. I work in my computer lab with NDR1 on the
    Internet radio and am perfectly happy with that.

    bill

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  • From pete dashwood@1:2320/100 to comp.lang.cobol on Wed Dec 21 11:43:02 2016
    From Newsgroup: comp.lang.cobol

    On 21/12/2016 6:37 a.m., Bill Woodger wrote:
    Search-engineing reveals: http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/55877/what-is-the-significance-of-the-password

    It's one of those "you had to be there when Pete heard it, like, actually
    there, inside his body" to be anything even remotely approaching "mildly interested".

    :-)

    Probably...

    However, many millions of people follow and enjoy the show and it came completely unexpectedly, out of left field.

    I have no idea why the writers chose that password.

    (What are the odds?)

    Maybe there are some old-time ex-COBOL programmers on the staff and they thought it would be a good chance to wind me up... I dunno.

    It succeeded.

    Pete.

    --
    I used to write COBOL; now I can do anything...

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  • From pete dashwood@1:2320/100 to comp.lang.cobol on Wed Dec 21 11:55:34 2016
    From Newsgroup: comp.lang.cobol

    On 21/12/2016 9:10 a.m., Bill Gunshannon wrote:
    On 12/20/16 12:37 PM, Bill Woodger wrote:
    Search-engineing reveals:
    http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/55877/what-is-the-significance-of-the-password


    It's one of those "you had to be there when Pete heard it, like,
    actually there, inside his body" to be anything even remotely
    approaching "mildly interested".


    Thanks. I read what they had to say. And, I can honestly
    say, it did not spark even the slightest interest in ever
    bothering to watch the show. And if your curious about
    my opinion of TV. I just dumped DISH as I certainly don't
    think there is anything there worth the $150 a month it was
    costing. Guess my mis-spent youth that predated TV has
    resurfaced. I work in my computer lab with NDR1 on the
    Internet radio and am perfectly happy with that.

    bill


    I agree with you Bill.

    In general I don't watch TV very much at all, but I am a sucker for
    shows about computer technology and POI is one of the best.

    These days I like quiz shows (they have just started running Jeopardy
    here)... the English quiz show "The Chase" is brilliant and I record
    then watch that when I have some time or need to relax.

    Not sure if it is the same but I seem to recall NDR as being
    Nord-Deutsche Rundfunk... I still stream WDR2 (West-Duetsche Rundfunk) occassionally so that I don't lose all of the Germ I was once fluent in.

    News comes from Al Jazeera, CNN, and local channels, plus a local online service that covers things around Tauranga.

    I remember when I first visited the USA (1977) and stayed in a motel in Sherman Oaks where there were around 100 TV channels. (Back in NZ we had
    3...) I commented to the manager that the Licence Fee must be huge for
    so many channels. He asked me what a TV Licence Fee was and I explained
    we had to pay a fee to receive radio and TV transmissions (since
    abolished). He looked at me with incredulity...
    "You mean to say you have to pay money to watch that shit?!"

    I think he was right.

    Pete.

    --
    I used to write COBOL; now I can do anything...

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  • From Bill Woodger@1:2320/100 to comp.lang.cobol on Tue Dec 20 15:29:10 2016
    From Newsgroup: comp.lang.cobol

    The reason is explained in the link.

    Best I could come up with relevant to the list was ANSCOBOL, so I was disappointed by the answer.

    I think it is a long stretch from "computer" and "dashwood" to "hey, that could
    be me", but then may surname's only got seven letters, so I'd have missed out on the build-up, "is it me, is it me?", excitement culminating in the "YES!!!" on revelation.

    On Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 11:43:08 PM UTC+1, pete dashwood wrote:
    On 21/12/2016 6:37 a.m., Bill Woodger wrote:
    Search-engineing reveals: http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/55877/what-is-the-significance-of-the-password

    It's one of those "you had to be there when Pete heard it, like, actually
    there, inside his body" to be anything even remotely approaching "mildly interested".

    :-)

    Probably...

    However, many millions of people follow and enjoy the show and it came completely unexpectedly, out of left field.

    I have no idea why the writers chose that password.

    (What are the odds?)

    Maybe there are some old-time ex-COBOL programmers on the staff and they thought it would be a good chance to wind me up... I dunno.

    It succeeded.

    Pete.

    --
    I used to write COBOL; now I can do anything...

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  • From pete dashwood@1:2320/100 to comp.lang.cobol on Thu Dec 22 01:54:31 2016
    From Newsgroup: comp.lang.cobol

    On 21/12/2016 12:29 p.m., Bill Woodger wrote:
    The reason is explained in the link.

    Best I could come up with relevant to the list was ANSCOBOL, so I was
    disappointed by the answer.

    I think it is a long stretch from "computer" and "dashwood" to "hey, that
    could be me", but then may surname's only got seven letters, so I'd have missed
    out on the build-up, "is it me, is it me?", excitement culminating in the "YES!!!" on revelation.

    (I wasn't serious that it was aimed at me; I don't think the universe
    works quite like that.)

    Part of the shock for me was that there was no build up. There was no
    hint that the password would be a name. I was expecting something deep
    and mysterious out of quantum physics or cybernetics... I had noted the
    volume of Sense and Sensibility earlier and am familiar with the story
    but that was part of the "romance" side of the show; I watch it for the "computer" part (and watching Shaw, Groves, and Reese kick arse... :-))

    Then, as a writer, I have to ask myself: "Why THAT Book?" The people who
    write the show chose Austen's book about the Dashwoods when they could
    have chosen any book...

    I really hope thousands of people don't start using that password... :-)

    Pete.

    <snipped>

    --
    I used to write COBOL; now I can do anything...

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  • From docdwarf@1:2320/100 to comp.lang.cobol on Tue Jan 3 13:40:44 2017
    From Newsgroup: comp.lang.cobol

    In article <ebtr78Fh79uU1@mid.individual.net>,
    pete dashwood <dashwood@enternet.co.nz> wrote:

    [snip]

    These days I like quiz shows (they have just started running Jeopardy >here)...

    I break the rules when I watch Jeopardy!; my personal standard is that I
    have to get the correct question out before the answer is read.

    DD

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  • From pete dashwood@1:2320/100 to comp.lang.cobol on Wed Jan 4 20:26:10 2017
    From Newsgroup: comp.lang.cobol

    On 4/01/2017 2:40 a.m., docdwarf@panix.com wrote:
    In article <ebtr78Fh79uU1@mid.individual.net>,
    pete dashwood <dashwood@enternet.co.nz> wrote:

    [snip]

    These days I like quiz shows (they have just started running Jeopardy
    here)...

    I break the rules when I watch Jeopardy!; my personal standard is that I
    have to get the correct question out before the answer is read.

    DD

    I find Jeopardy takes a little getting used to, but maybe that is part
    of the charm of it... :-)

    Pete.

    --
    I used to write COBOL; now I can do anything...

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