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User: AliasMarlowe

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  1. Re:$10,000 CHALLENGE to Alexander Peter Kowalski on Stanford Study Flawed: Organic Produce May Be More Nutritious After All · · Score: 1

    Perhaps you are APK, on the grounds that no publicity is bad publicity, and you're trollishly publicizing the troll quite a lot.

  2. Re:I can no longer sit back on Russian High-Tech Export Scandal Produces 8 Arrests in Houston · · Score: 1

    and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious microchips.

    Somebody makes microchips out of our precious body fluids? Yuk!

  3. Re:Microsoft cares about privacy on Advertisers Blast Microsoft Over IE Default Privacy Settings · · Score: 2

    To top it off, they have gems like this

    A simple example of advertising in the television medium makes this point clear. If consumers were presented a choice of whether they want advertisements on network television to be broadcast, consumers would likely choose “no advertising.” But if 43 percent of American households were removed from the television advertising audience, consumers collectively would suffer because network television as we know it would no longer be a viable business model.

    They're acting like MS is installing adblock and turning it on by default. What MS is doing is making the internet more like TV, where the adds are dumb and have to be generally targeted at the type of site, as opposed to creepily personalized.

    Exactly (I was going to make a similar point).

    Do Not Track is not the same as Do Not Advertise. But properly respecting the Do Not Track request would ruins the revenue stream for all the data aggregators, and would prevent advertising agencies from claiming comparative advantages over their competitors (false anyway, in all likelihood).

  4. Re:Exactly as they want you to think on MPAA Boss Admits SOPA and PIPA Are Dead, Not Coming Back · · Score: 1

    Yes, but when Democracy of government fails (which it has in the US), then resort to Democracy of capitalism. Your wallet. Vote with it.

    The problem with that approach is that your voting power becomes proportional to your disposable income. It's a prescription for domination of the "democracy" by an entrenched elite.

    A relatively small number of very affluent persons could out-vote/out-purchase/out-lobby a much larger number of average persons. Their motivation for participation in such an endeavour would also increase with disposable income, so the disparity would be even greater in practice. Of course, the poor would have no "vote" at all, and would be kept that way.

  5. I bet my Klout score on Why Klout's Social Influence Scores Are Nonsense · · Score: 2

    I bet my Klout score is near zero; my clout is not.
    No twitter, facebook, etc. accounts, and use pseudonyms in most places. But I do have a LinkedIn account under my real name.

  6. Re:He didn't disclose what he wasn't asked on Unredacted Filings Reveal Claims of Juror Misconduct in Apple vs Samsung Trial · · Score: 1

    He was asked if he was involved in any lawsuits within the last ten years, which he answered. The lawsuit with Seagate occurred in 1993 which is beyond ten years ago. Thus, he did not disclose it because it wasn't asked of him. But let's pretend he attempted to deceive the system in order to screw over Samsung because that sounds better, right?

    Read the court transcripts before you mouth off so wrongly, o trollish one. There was no "ten year" stipulation in the question. The stipulated time period was "ever", and it was explicitly stipulated by the Judge in the voir-dire.

  7. Copy THAT, Samsung! on Apple Acknowledges iPhone 5 Camera Flaw · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everyone knows that phones really suck at being cameras.
    The iPhone5 is obviously best, because it sucks the most at taking photos.

  8. Re:I suspect on Mind Maps: the Poor Man's Design Tool · · Score: 3, Informative

    Use Your Head is a book by Tony Buzan (not sure if he had any input in the BBC2 series). I do not think you will find a suitable program since part of the learning process is designing your own map with associated colours and visual triggers.

    Yes, I have his book, and he was behind the BBC2 series in the 1970s. I watched the series, and found the information quite useful in general life and in studies (but not great for lecture notes in math, science, or engineering topics). Unfortunately, his ideas degraded between the TV series and the book and software, so that the mind maps in his book involve branching from a central concept without cycles. I really wish the TV series was still available, but it can't be found on the BBC shop, and it was broadcast in the days before video recorders were common.

  9. I suspect on Mind Maps: the Poor Man's Design Tool · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I suspect we all know what a Mind Map is, and what their uses are. Alas, I don't know of any program which implements the original concept for Mind Maps (BBC2's "Use Your Head" series from the 1970s). Does any existing program support cyclic relationships, for example? Other than as a hack with external arrows or similar added as decorations.

  10. Tullymandering on Statistical Tools For Detecting Electoral Fraud · · Score: 1

    For whatever the "intended purpose", attempts at gerrymandering can backfire. The more extreme the attempted gerrymander, the more disastrous the outcome can be (at least, in a fair election). The result can even be Tullymandering.

  11. Obligatory... on Ask Slashdot: Best Incentives For IT Workers? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You get more with the carrot than with the stick, so unless you're employing a group of starving donkeys I suggest cold, hard cash.

    This is obviously true. Unfortunately, giving pennies to lots of peons would mean fewer dollars for senior management to plunder^W uh, award themselves in well-deserved hard-earned bonuses. The stick is what you'll get, because carrots are reserved for management.

  12. Re:Working phone number in whois on EU Privacy Watchdog To ICANN: Law Enforcement WHOIS Demands "Unlawful" · · Score: 4, Funny

    you could always get a Google Voice number and not forward it anywhere (or set it to perma-do-not-disturb) - you'd still be able to browse through voicemails if necessary through an email interface

    Bonus points for wasting their time as well as their call charges. Make your answering machine give a lengthy message, such as:
    "You have reached the number that you dialed. Please check the number, and try your call again. Your call is important to you. Your patience and perseverance are valuable impediments to your business. Please don't hold. " Repeat that sequence as long as your message allows. A robo-caller will perhaps get confused by the pattern of pauses and statements, and might even bring a human on the line. An actual human will become grumpy and hang up in disgust.

  13. Re:subsidize phone calls on Indian Minister Says Telecom Companies Should Only Charge For Data · · Score: 3, Interesting

    so you want to subsidize phone calls by overcharging on data...

    how is that an improvement?

    The actual amount of data transfer which a voice call is "deemed" to have involved might be a surprise to the average customer.

    Yes, we all know your voice will be compressed to at best a barely tolerable audio content. But the data charge might be for full duplex 320kbps, if you're lucky. If you're unlucky, they'll charge your full theoretical bandwidth times the duration of the call (with a theoretically 5Mbps link, a 2 minute call would appear as 75 MB, and 1GB would be less than 27 minutes).

  14. It would have been more impressive on Woman Successfully Grows Ear From Arm · · Score: 2

    It would have been much more impressive (and much more headline-worthy), if she and her medical team had grown a replacement arm from an ear, or other pieces of her body. After all, not even $deity can do that.

  15. TFS title on ASIC Seeks Power To Read Your Emails · · Score: 2

    ASIC Seeks Power To Read Your Emails

    In best Yakoff Smirnoff voice: "Wow, what a chip!"

  16. Re:They have to ban Windows in EU on EU Set To Charge Microsoft Over Ruling Breach · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nah, what would make a bigger impact is to revoke Microsoft's copyright in the EU and splash MS software downloads all over the governments websites.

    And that might have the "unintended" consequences of hurting sales of Apple's shiny-shitty (not exactly a disaster), hurting adoption of Linux and LibreOffice (sad, but not affecting very many), and slightly boosting the sales of anyone making software for Windows (the biggest tragedy).

  17. Re:Slackware on floppies on Ask Slashdot: What Distros Have You Used, In What Order? · · Score: 1

    1. Tried a fairly early distro (possibly a freebie Ygdrassil, but don't actually recall) on floppies in the mid-90s, but it didn't work in my pathetic 386 - always died during install. Went back to OS/2 and Windows/DOS.
    2. Success with a purchased Corel OpenLinux on a 486 around 1998. Sort-of OK, but internationalization (English language and numbers with Finnish keyboard and currency) was an annoyance requiring manual editing of /etc files.
    3. Tried Ubuntu on a Pentium-M in 2004, switched permanently in 2005. That laptop is still going strong with Xubuntu 12.04 (made this post with it).
    4. Tried SUSE around 2006 (when it was still spelled with capitals), and OpenSuse in a VM in 2009, but preferred Ubuntu each time. Dumped the VM.
    5. Tried Mint with live CD and installed in a VM around 2010 and 2011, but preferred Ubuntu each time (MintMenu sucks balls). Dumped the VM.
    6. Tried PCLinuxOS with live CD and installed in a VM around 2010 and 2011. This still resides in a VM on one of the Core2Quad desktops and it is regularly updated (currently KDE Full Monty 2012). For me, it's a toss-up between PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu, but we've kept to Ubuntu to avoid UI shock for other family members. 7. Very briefly tried live CDs or installations into VM of other distributions, including a few versions of Fedora, one of Bodhi, and one of Mandriva. None lasted long.
    8. I keep a Knoppix live CD with my work PC for personal access to internet when travelling (usage approved by IT).

  18. Re:Dark side of the moon... on NASA Mulling Earth-Moon L2 Point for Mars Staging Station · · Score: 1

    Not only is it relatively stable (though a halo or Lissajous is usually used), but the relative sizes are such that the moon does not fully eclipse the earth, so continuous communication is available.

    A minor correction: orbits which are stable with respect to minor perturbation are possible at the L4 and L4 points. Some powered correction is needed for any orbit at L2 and L3, since they are only stable for the 3-body case, not for the real n-body Solar System.

    Also, at the Earth-Moon L2 point, the Earth is fully eclipsed. The Earth's umbral cone extends just over 100000km past the Moon at their average separation of 384000km, but the umbral cone for the Earth is quite thin, and has a diameter of less than 1500km at the L2 point. An orbit which goes occasionally outside the umbra may be possible, but it might involve a fair amount of fuel burn.

  19. Upgrade to fiber on Chattanooga's Municipal Network Doubles Down On Fiber Speeds · · Score: 5, Informative

    you know that 15 Mbit down on a cable connection is not the rate at which you upload right? upload speeds are typically 1 Mbit, 2 if you pay extra.

    So true. We have a 100/100 Mbps symmetric link on fiber at home. It's also uncapped, etc. Apparently a couple of km from here, there is a 200Mbps or 350Mbps service available, but not where we live.

    What do we use it for? Well, there are generally two adults and two teenagers at home, and the need for bandwidth adds up. Downloading an ISO does happen occasionally (reaching speeds up to 60Mbps from sites within Finland, dropping to 5Mbps from overseas), but mostly it's just web surfing and viewing youtube or vimeo.

    We also have a web server at home, which delivers - according to its stats package - 15-30 GByte per month, and mostly serves pictures and videos of the kids and adults performing in the local dance school and in the local riding school. Although the average bandwidth is not huge, we get two or three videos being viewed simultaneously just after the server is updated for some new event, and the videos typically require 2Mbps to 4Mbps for streaming.

    The alternative for us would be a 40/10 Mbps link, which would be quite inadequate.

  20. Re:I see on Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed · · Score: 1

    I never did like Gnome, but I've been running kubuntu and it looks like I'll be going back to Mandriva. I always did like Mandriva and only switched because it looked like it was dying. Maybe Canonical will come to their senses in time.

    You might want to take a look at Mageia, then. It's a healthy, free, and libre fork of Mandriva (which staggered onto the dark side of commercialism, bleeding from all discernible orifices).

  21. Re:I see on Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed · · Score: 1

    The spirit of the Linux community sure has changed since 20 or even 10 years ago, where this sort of thing would have been shouted out as an example of the worst excesses of proprietary software.

    Agreed. With luck, the ads will be delivered from Amazon AWS nodes or some other easily identifiable IP range which can be blocked...

    Our router already blocks all incoming packets from all IP ranges belonging to Amazon AWS. This is because Amazon AWS is being used by just too many unidentifiable organizations which are trying to index or archive the web. I don't mind known bots indexing our web site (google, bing, yandex, docomo and similar bots are all welcome), and I don't mind identifiable IPs regularly sucking down lots of content, since our usage is uncapped. However, I object to our web site being gulped down in a single visit by unknown and anonymous organizations.

  22. Re:I see on Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed · · Score: 2

    Unity - I hate it. Pulled it off my system. Ubuntu with Gnome 2 is ok.

    I tried Unity in several iterations using VMs to test Ubuntu 11.10 and 12.04 on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. The result was depressing - all workflow was affected, and never positively. The new and allegedly "improved" features of Unity were regressive at best, and led to more clicks and more mouse movements to do the same stuff compared to Gnome 2. I briefly tried Gnome 3, but it was disastrous on multiple monitor systems.

    Testing a VM with Xubuntu led to the least disruption to our workflow. So I then migrated all three of our home systems to Xubuntu 10.04 before upgrading them to Xubuntu 12.04 LTS. When I got a new laptop for my older daughter, it also got Xubuntu 12.04 LTS. Xfce is about as close to Gnome 2 as we could get.

    We might migrate to Mate or Cinnamon or similar after they settle down a little. I'll also reassess Gnome 3 after another couple of minor versions, in case it actually improves enough to be tolerable. Otherwise, we'll either stay with xfce or move to KDE.

  23. Re:That's because on Chemist Jailed In Russia For Giving Expert Opinion In Court · · Score: 2, Informative

    I doubt it's a coincidence the French haven't won a war since the French Revolution (if you consider Napolean a continuation of the Revolution...)

    These battles might be of interest to you arrogant Americans:

    1758 Battle of Carillon (a.k.a. Battle of Ticonderoga) General Montcalm and his vastly outnumbered French forces are victorious over the British.

    1781 Battle of Yorktown French forces, allied with the Americans, are victorious over Cornwallis and his English army.

    1781 Battle of the Chesapeake - September 5th France, coming the aid of America's George Washington, defeats the British in a strategic victory.

    You were going for a "funny" upmod, weren't you!

    All those battles were before the French Revolution, which was 1789-1799. They are hardly contradictions of his somewhat tongue-in-cheek assertion. Moreover, they were battles, while his assertion was for wars. FWIW, I'm not an American, either.

  24. Re:Someone please tell Facebook that on Facebook Wants You To Snitch On Friends Not Using Their Real Name · · Score: 1

    Hey - I bet a lot of "real names" are not all the useful either... I have a facebook account. I have zero friends. Not my wife, my kids. Nobody (see definition of zero.)
    I just staked out the claim on may name, and pretty much just said "Yes, this me. I don't use facebook."

    Same for me: real name & other details, but zero posts, zero "friends", zero photos, zero content. All information is empty except my identifying details. I also made a load of bogus accounts with the same name (my name is quite distinctive and memorable), and a variety of email addresses, then abandoned them. That was years ago. My social life involving real friends exists in real life; it is not conducted on narcissistic worldwide forums. BTW, I regard /. as closer to a form of entertainment (often involving confrontations between sociopaths) than to a social interaction.

    Lately I have been barraged with incessant emails from Facebook "welcoming me back" or reminding me how many "friend requests I have" (more than zero). All of which I ignore. (Although I do log in every few months, just to keep my account alive.) Seems like desperation to me. Or maybe just IPO money being thrown at "marketing", whatever.
    Any other non-user users out there?

    There was one email from Facebook a couple of months ago, desperately imploring me to connect to people. I ignored it, of course. Well, I've only logged in to Facebook about twice since making the account several years ago, so maybe that's why there were fewer emails.

  25. Re:Pro death == pro stupid on Can a Court Order You To Delete a Facebook Account? · · Score: 1

    I have never seen a good study of the actual proved innocent after death penalty administered, but I imagine the numbers will be very low.

    The Colombia University Law School has done a study, which suggests the error rates are high: http://www2.law.columbia.edu/instructionalservices/liebman/liebman_final.pdf

    For those interested in additional details, the appendices to that report (mostly tables of data and lists of cases) are in a separate document, viewable here.