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  1. Humans versus Sheep on Testing the Safety of Tasers On Meth-Addled Sheep · · Score: 1

    What is gained from trials on sheep? Why not test human volunteer subjects? Here are the cases I see.

    Given whatever value of "success" deemed appropriate:
    1. Sheep trials a "success" -- proceed to human trials -- also a success, in which case, why not just go with the humans first?
    2. Sheep trials not a "success" -- which does not eliminate the chance that sheep are immune to whatever was tested and humans are not, in which case, why not just go with humans first?

    I admit, I probably stand more on the side of animal rights than the majority of Slashdot which probably leans towards seeing animals as property. I'm still curious.

  2. Java applet crashed Firefox on Arch Linux on FCC Asks You To Test Your Broadband Speeds · · Score: 1

    I successfully completed the download, upload, and latency tests. When the jitter test started, a Java dialog box appeared and I OK'd it. It then crashed my browser (Mozilla Firefox: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2) Gecko/20100207 Firefox/3.6). I repeated the process and confirmed that it was the Java applet that crashed my browser.

    I couldn't download the compiled Java bytecode and reverse assemble it. Anyone else?

  3. What about... on Australian Judge Rules Facts Cannot Be Copyrighted · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... facts interspersed with opinions? Is there partial copyright in effect with only the opinion parts falling under copyright law?

  4. Why are ports 139 and 445 still open? on The First Windows 7 Zero-Day Exploit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I remember once trying to see what it takes to make Windows not have any ports open and it resulted in severely reduced access to just about anything that wasn't local. Why is it that these ports are necessary? Why is NETBIOS necessary?

  5. Do-over on Bell Proposing Usage-Based Billing · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How much would it cost to rip up the ground and lay down more fiber? It seems like in most cases, a (natural?) monopoly results. When things get this bad, is there any chance that a new generation of telecommunications companies can spring up (perhaps with government subsidies to get them going)?

  6. Public domain? on Pentagon Cyber Defense Bill Comes To $100M For 6 Months · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Are all the lessons learned in the public domain since the Pentagon is a government agency? I'm sure there are many others like myself curious to see how supposedly top-secret issues are kept safe from prying eyes. Failure intrigues me more than success because it's through failure that we learn.

  7. What could have been done? on Scientist Forced To Remove Earthquake Prediction · · Score: 1

    Suppose the earthquake's precise location and time were known -- what then? Would there have been any way to spread out the total damage either over a larger time interval or over a greater radial distance?

    We can somewhat control fires: we have a preventative measure -- public education and we have a cure -- firefighters. We can somewhat control floods: we have levees. We can't control tornadoes very well, though perhaps with some cloud seeding, we might be able to in the future.

    But how does society mitigate the effects of earthquakes, especially in areas with very ancient architecture?

  8. Re:I run Debian, and I run FreeBSD. on Debian Gets FreeBSD Kernel Support · · Score: 1

    FreeBSD
    *is more secure (apparently, i don't know enough to be sure but they're development model and security results do tend to suggest this)

    Citation needed. Also, their not they're.

    *has zfs,

    Btrfs, the response to ZFS, was merged into 2.6.29. If you really want ZFS, there is ZFS via FUSE, but since the start I've read of complaints regarding the slow performance.

    *etc

    If your other points aren't substantial, then you "etc" is meaningless.

  9. Re:Video games on Involving Kids In Free Software Through Games · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do you all want to be a parent of some soul-less little pokemon-playing faggot glued to a monitor during all of their waking hours? Do you want to teach them that escapism is an acceptable way to deal with life? Do you want your kid to be the overweight, friendless baby-talker who reads lame fantasy books all day? Do you want to raise somebody who will grow to be 300 pounds and who will want to live with you rent-free through their adulthood, urinating in a bucket they keep in their room and emerging only to ask for your money?

    Yes. Like father, like son.

  10. Re:Regardless of whatever code in it is faulty on The Exact Cause of the Zune Meltdown · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Lines 122, 521, 690, 710, and 748 scare me; gotos in C code...

    They've used one form of a goto that's actually quite readable and useful. Would you rather have:

    if (condition1 && condition2) {
    /* boilerplate code with a return */
    }

    if (issue1 || issue2) {
    /* same repeated boilerplate code with a return */
    }

    or

    if (condition1 && condition2) {
    goto cleanup;
    }

    if (issue1 || issue2) {
    goto cleanup;
    }
    cleanup:
    /* just one instance of this code,
    no need for duplication of efforts */
    Believe it or not, there are useful reasons to use goto, and Microsoft happened to use goto for the right reason here. The Linux kernel also happens to use this practice to boost the readability of the code.

  11. Practice Fields? on FIRST Robotics Competition Announced · · Score: 1

    The game field is coated with regolith, a slick polymer material, and special wheels are used to create a low-traction interaction with the crater's surface.

    The article summary references regolith. Wikipedia defines regolith as:

    [...] is a layer of loose, heterogeneous material covering solid rock. It includes dust, soil, broken rock, and other related materials [...]

    I remember the days when I was a member of a FIRST robotics team and we prepared for competitions by building practice fields to test out our robot and help prepare our human players. The fields we constructed were of fairly stable objects like PVC tetrahedrons and fairly large kickballs that made it easy to simulate actual conditions in a real tournament. How are teams supposed to simulate actual conditions if the terrain is so unstable and chaotic?

  12. Re:Zealotry on gNewSense Distro Frees Ubuntu · · Score: 1

    Vegetarianism isn't strictly ethical, it's a much healthier lifestyle on average. For the record, I've never seen an obese vegan before.

  13. MOD PARENT INFORMATIVE on Johnson & Johnson Loses Major Trademark Lawsuit · · Score: 1

    Ah. Thanks for clearing that up. Though sometimes, it's just easier to blame lawyers for everything ;)

  14. Brand recognition on Johnson & Johnson Loses Major Trademark Lawsuit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When I think of a red cross, I immediately think of emergency relief, supplies, etc. I don't think of household products. What did Johnson & Johnson see in trying to seize (what I feel is) a pretty well established brand with a certain set of qualities (such as disaster aid)?

  15. CPanel on Best Way to Start a Website Hosting Service? · · Score: 1

    Try using CPanel and limit shell access. If they know what they're doing and you know you know more, then go ahead (at an additional cost, of course).

  16. Re:Potential for heating on Teen Discovers Plastic-Decomposing Bacteria · · Score: 1

    hows it going to get hot enough without kill the bacteria, duh. Well, a heating system would be designed to move the heat around. If it just sat in one location, of course, you'd destroy your furnace, so to speak. A simple pipe filled with continuously passing cool water could serve as a heat transport system.
  17. Potential for heating on Teen Discovers Plastic-Decomposing Bacteria · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since the bacteria produce heat as a byproduct in addition to a negligible amount of CO2, perhaps this could be used to replace older trash incinerators to act as a type of greenhouse, with the heat coming not from trapped infrared, but from the microbial waste.

  18. Re:Easily contourné on Google's Street View Meets Resistance In France · · Score: 1

    you do realise that Paris is the most visited city in the world, and as such among the cities with most pictures online already?
    Are the pictures organized and efficiently linked to metadata about the locations as well as competitors or friendly franchises in the area? Are all the pictures guaranteed to continue to update? Google Maps brings everything together and thus can only serve to benefit tourists which ultimately helps Paris.
  19. Re:Easily contourné on Google's Street View Meets Resistance In France · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah, it's a cool thing to be able to browse the streets of a city in 3D, but honestly, who wants their faces, car plates, etc. published for all to see?
    How about getting a permit to get authorities to temporarily (say 10 minutes at most) block off certain streets to take pictures of the streets at every location desirable. I can't imagine it would take much longer. Benefits? People who inevitably meander into the pictures most likely want to be in the picture and don't really have much of a right to complain. They were warned (by signs, guards, etc.) and they got in (conversely, egomaniacs might not see it as a bad thing to have their faces on Google Maps). Disadvantages? Possibly slowing business down a bit, but it would be a one time thing and I imagine the benefit to small, relatively undiscovered businesses would be enormous. A small B&B with references on Google Maps would boost sales as I know a lot of people that consult TripAdvisor reviews (supplements that appear to the Google Maps images) to decide where to go during vacation trips or even routine business trips.
  20. Re:The whole Street View idea... on Google's Street View Meets Resistance In France · · Score: 1

    I know that my mother, who thinks more in terms of landmarks than in terms of streets, finds it very useful. In contrast, my father who prefers abstract street diagrams, doesn't use it much.

  21. Re:When in Rome... on Google's Street View Meets Resistance In France · · Score: 0, Troll

    Or in this case, Paris. The law is the law, and Google need to respect the local laws.
    (emphasis mine) Why exactly? Google is a U.S. based corporation, right? So if anything, shouldn't the people that should have to worry about laws be Parisians, not Google?
  22. Re:I got $5 on fail, anyone want some? on Senate Proposal To Clarify 'State Secrets' Doctrine · · Score: 1

    While I would normally agree, the closer we get to 1-21-09 (I think that's the date) the more people in the administration worry about their legacy and what the history will think of their role.
    Why? What's the incentive? You can't reverse 7 years of mistakes in less than 1 year, especially when the mistakes are on the order of what happened from 2000 to 2008. At this point, wouldn't it be more logical for them to try to get every last drop out of their executive powers?
  23. Amazing entrepreneur on Virgin America Uses Linux to Entertain Inflight · · Score: 1, Informative

    Richard Branson is an unconventional man with tremendous wisdom. This seems to fit right at home with his way of doing things.

  24. What competition? on iPhone's Development Limitations Could Hurt It In the Long Run · · Score: 0, Troll

    I don't see anything as hyped (and as mostly living up to the hype) as the iPhone. If Time magazine is any indicator, it did phenomenally well last year. To top that, some cheap knock-offs would be needed, but I'm not even sure how far that would fare given that Apple has at least 300 patents on it. Could someone fill me in please? Disclaimer: I've never owned a product of Apple and don't intend to buy any of their products until they become more transparent.

  25. Pitfalls? on OCZ Prepares Neural Impulse Actuator for Shipping · · Score: 1

    What happens if the device misfires an electrical signal, either due to software (buggy code) or hardware (material deficiencies, etc.)?