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User: IDtheTarget

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Comments · 95

  1. We're seeing this where I work. Turns out that my Barracuda Web Filter is blocking access to Windows Update, thinking that the Windows box is trying to download a Trojan. I'm not at work so I can't get the exact message.

  2. Battery storage is a waste of time, generates massive pollution, and will need replacing every 10 years. It is far better to feed the grid during peak times, and pump water to use hydro generation later in the day. We've know this for over a century!

    This is all about PR for Telsa to sell batteries; batteries with obsolescence built in.

    My home regularly loses power, especially during ice storms that take out power lines. I'm looking to install solar with several days of battery storage to mitigate that recurring problem. Don't mistake your preference for universal truth. It's a common mistake, and one reason people feel comfortable demonizing others.

  3. I'd hold off for a couple of months for Skylake on Ask Slashdot: Recommendations For a Reliable Linux Laptop? · · Score: 1

    I'm also in the market for a new linux laptop, after seeing what Windows 10 has done to my security. However, I'd hold off for a couple of months. Dell and others are releasing versions of laptops with Intel's new Skylake architecture. I believe that it has enough improvements to warrant the wait.

  4. Journalists *always* have an agenda on An Open Letter To Everyone Tricked Into Fearing AI · · Score: 1

    I deployed to Iraq several years ago. While there, we were building schools and refurbished a hospital. We had a CNN reporter there with us, and we saw a couple of stories that CNN ran on us at the time. The only thing that the reporter got right was our unit name. Everything else was wrong, edited to support the political agenda of the editor at CNN. All about how we were killing people. Nothing about how we made friends with the local Iraqis, nothing about our public works, nothing about the "learn to read" program that our commander started, nothing positive at all.

    Good luck in finding "objective" journalism.

  5. NSA has weakened national security on Replicating the NSA's Gadgets Using Open Source · · Score: 1

    I'm wondering when somebody in congress will initiate legal action against the NSA for weakening national security.

    It's generally acknowledged by now that the NSA has intentionally weakened various cryptographic algorithms, including AES. I'm responsible for various WAN links at my organization, and they use AES-256 IPSec tunnels to secure the traffic. That traffic is extremely sensitive in nature. The NSA may have intended to only allow themselves to crack this encryption, but how am I supposed to know that some other hacker hasn't figured out how to take advantage of the NSA's actions? How do I tell my director that our data is secure, and that we're meeting state and federal regulatory requirements?

  6. Re:Two Problems on Reading Rainbow Kickstarter Earns One Million Dollars In Less Than a Day · · Score: 1

    As much as I loved Reading Rainbow growing up, I have two problems with this:

    1. If you go to their website, nothing indicates this is a non-profit corporation. 2. None of the people involved has a background in education, child development, psychology, etc.

    I just graduated with a Masters degree in education. I can tell you that, having met and worked with many Ph.D.s , that the degree does not necessarily mean that you know what you're doing. Case in point, have you LOOKED at the current Common Core standards? The curriculum? The test questions? Whoever created that mess will be primarily responsible for our increasing illiteracy in this country for the next decade.

    Personally, I think Mr. Burton's efforts will me much more effective than much of the tripe created by supposed "experts",

  7. Stupid question from a non-astronomer on Frigid Brown Dwarf Found Only 7.2 Light-Years Away · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sorry for the double-post, didn't realize I wasn't logged in when I posted this previously

    I keep hearing about "Dark Matter" as an explanation for how galaxies don't fly apart due to the force generated by their rotation, but I can't help thinking that all that mass we're looking for in galaxies could be stuff like this. Regular matter that just doesn't generate enough heat or light for us to have noticed prior to this.

    Could the question of how galaxies rotate be answered by large quantities of objects such as these?

  8. Great day for getting out of jail... on Intentional Backdoor In Consumer Routers Found · · Score: 1

    The next time a kiddie-porn person gets arrested for having illegal images, I imagine all he'll have to say is that somebody used this back door to use his wi-fi router to download the bad files, despite his encryption.

    Get-out-of-jail-free card.

  9. Right to Privacy? on Stanford Researchers Spot Medical Conditions, Guns, and More In Phone Metadata · · Score: 1

    <sarcasm>Wait, I thought that Roe v. Wade established my right to privacy. Don't those left-wing nutjobs believe in their own judicial activisim? Based on that legal precedent, all NSA spying of all U.S. citizens should cease, immediately!</sarcasm>

  10. Re:Hand out the PP slides after the talk. on Physics Forum At Fermilab Bans Powerpoint · · Score: 1

    My memory has gotten considerably worse these past five years. I need something to take with me to stimulate my memory of the things I found important.

    I also find that, if I'm busy trying to take notes, the Extraneous Cognitive Load ensures that I actually absorb less of the material.

    Bottom line: If I have pre-printed notes, highlights, outline, etc of the talk before it is given, I can relax and enjoy the lecture, interact with the instructor, and only add specific impressions by writing on the handout. I'll retain more, learn more, and remember more.

  11. Re:how can i tell if my router is affected? on Linksys Routers Exploited By "TheMoon" · · Score: 1

    There's a small recessed reset button on the back of the router. You have to get a paper clip and try to push it in there. If the router starts saying "I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you do that," and hits you with an electric shock, it has been compromised.

    Damn, the first time I can remember when I *actually* laughed out loud at a Slashdot post, and I'm without MOD points!

  12. Re:Cost on Ugly Trends Threaten Aviation Industry · · Score: 2

    > What part of "trends that some say have been accelerated by increasingly strict federal regulations" don't you understand? Big government strikes again . . .

    He just just might not buy into the mindless Conservative drivel.

    If incomes remain stagnant while inflation continues, EVERYTHING becomes more expensive. This includes any expensive esoteric hobbies. The cost of a pilot's license and an airplane is going to steadily become more and more out of reach even without the Tea Bagger rantings.

    Reading the media nonsense and taking it completely at face value are two entirely different things.

    My wife is a veterinarian trying to open her own clinic. I got angry, then depressed when I saw how much money we had to spend on useless, stupid regulation that did nothing but line the pockets of bureaucrats.

    It's easy for you liberals to say that "big government" is a good thing, until you're a small business person trying to create and run a business and provide jobs for a few people. Once you have to actually deal with the crap you guys are creating, you'd sing a different tune, believe me.

  13. We use Synology on Ask Slashdot: Distributed Online Storage For Families? · · Score: 1

    They're a bit expensive and I wish the documentation was better, but I've had some luck with the Synology products. They've got a lot of plug-in software modules, including an Asterisk PBM for VoIP, Cloud Station for folder synchronization, etc.

    Make sure that you look at the specifications, if you're wanting encrypted tunnels or encrypted data on the drives, ensure that you buy one with the AES encryption set in hardware.

    One more thing: I have had very poor luck with the Seagate drives I originally bought and put in a DS 412+. I replaced them with Western Digital Red NAS drives, and they work much better.

  14. Everybody should provide the "feedback" they want on New Zealand Spy Agency Deleted Evidence About Its Illegal Spying On Kim Dotcom · · Score: 1

    That javascript pop-up at the top asks for feedback with a link to feedback@slashdot.org, subject beta_feedback. (I'm not doing an actual link, because the beta site appears to not allow links).

    I've already sent an email stating that, if beta becomes permanent, I will be deleting my account and not returning to Slashdot. If everybody gives their feedback about the Beta, perhaps they'll realize that they're going to lose all their money when we stop visiting.

  15. Re:Gravity is not constant... on Ampere Could Be Redefined After Experiments Track Single Electrons Crossing Chip · · Score: 1

    No shit. And measuring the mass of the slug in question involves weighing it. Or do you have another method involved for determining the mass of an object used as the constant for measuring mass?

    Wow. Just....wow. So *this* is what modern education has come to?

    Seriously, weight is an accelerational effect upon the mass by a force, in this case, gravity. Einstein taught us that any acceleration, outside of a frame of reference, would be identical. So, providing an acceleration by means of some other force while in microgravity would accomplish the same thing.

    I suggest that you do a quick Google search on the subject. In about 5 seconds I found articles on using springs on the ISS, and a patent application for using a centrifuge to accomplish the same thing.

  16. Re:Gravity is not constant... on Ampere Could Be Redefined After Experiments Track Single Electrons Crossing Chip · · Score: 2

    The kilogram is a measure of mass, not weight.

  17. Re:Egocentrism on How Weather Influences Global Warming Opinions · · Score: 1

    It's all the same

    "There's no global warming because I'm cold." "There's no poverty because I'm rich." "There's no racism because I'm white."

    Let me fix that for you:

    "It's too hot because of global warming."
    "It's too cold because of global warming."
    "It's too wet because of global warming."
    "It's too dry because of global warming."

    I'll start believing in global warming when "climate scientists" actually start sharing the raw data so that it can be analyzed by people who disagree with them, instead of hiding the data, altering it and/or only sharing it with fellow "warmers". That's something that we call "science".

  18. Re:Prior Art on Storing Your Encrypted Passwords Offline On a Dedicated Device · · Score: 1

    He's not talking about an ANCD or other transfer device. He's talking about our Common Access Cards (CAC), by which we authenticate to DoD resources on the Web. The CAC has an encryption chip embedded in it, as well as some storage for certificates. I have a Smartcard reader attached to a USB port on my computer. When I need to get into a military website, I place my CAC in the reader. Windows 7 and 8 have built-in drivers for smart cards, and the web site will send a request for authentication to my computer. It will intercept the request and ask me to unlock my CAC. I enter my PIN, the CAC does it's PKI thing with my private certificate, and I have access to the website.

    Most, if not all, federal agencies are moving to the Multi-factor authentication model, where we not only have to have the "something I know" piece, but the "something I have" piece, in this case, the CAC.

  19. I don't blame him for turning off wireless... on Dick Cheney Had Implanted Defibrillator Altered To Prevent Terrorist Attack · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I don't really like the Republican party any more. They're running the country into the ground. But listening to how hateful the liberals are, and how they wish death to their political opponents (see list below), I can't really support them either. I don't want to be a member of the party of hate. So for now I'll be an independent.

    That being said, if even a few of the below links are accurate, wouldn't you protect yourself from the left, who profess to want their political opponents to die?

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/9757837/

    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/07/16/dan-savage-hbos-real-time-i-wish-republicans-were-all-f-king-dead

    http://www.examiner.com/article/liberal-talker-mike-malloy-says-he-wants-gop-literally-dead

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItcqrHLZGDg&feature=player_embedded#!

    http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/media-research-center-documents-liberal-death-wishes-against-conservatives

    http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/the-dark-side-of-liberalism-death-threats-to-conservatives-and-racist-threats/question-3628447/

  20. Re:Only if we market extra learning courses as ext on How Data Analytics In Education Could Create a New Class of Haves and Have-nots · · Score: 1

    Nobody was left unemployable by lack of a WC or at the times, air travel, telephone, PC, or car.

    As a matter of fact, having a PC or a car — and knowing, how to use them — did make the owner more employable, but I see your point: let's keep all children worse educated, or else, heaven forbid, some of them may turn out more employable than others...

    This is called "Equality of Outcome", and is the primary theology of the liberal left. You will *never* be able to convince sjames that it's wrong. It's nearly impossible to change a person's religion.

  21. Re:First impressions on VLC Reaches 2.1 · · Score: 1

    What is really exciting to me is the claimed support for mobile platforms. That kind of support for video is something I've really missed on Android.

    I've been using MX Player. There's a free, Ad-supported version, and a paid version. I happily paid for it and haven't regretted it. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mxtech.videoplayer.pro

  22. Re:Abandoning the cloud ? on Richard Stallman Speaks About Back Doors After NSA Documents Leak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Disclaimer: I am an IT Security professional.

    It all depends on your thread scenario. Most of the smaller side-projects I work on are of no interest to any entity able to intercept the data transfers, so I don't mind storing stuff in, say, Evernote or Dropbox where it is more convenient to do so.

    The stuff that the survival of my small company depends on, running my own servers is worth the effort. For my holiday pictures, iCloud is perfectly acceptable.

    I am also a security professional, and I mirrored your attitude until just a few weeks ago. Silly me, I figured that nobody cared to which political party I belonged, nor what religious group, nor that I am military and actually believe in the constitution. Unfortunately, it turns out that in our government, you may indeed be targeted based upon any of the above.

    And now, there are indications (I can't find the article), that you will be targeted if you attempt to maintain your privacy from the government on these things by using encryption, etc. (And I'll probably go up on several watch-lists due to this post. *sigh*.)

    To be honest, I'm not really sure what to do. You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

  23. Re:I go into the bookstore on Nook Failure, Lack of Foot Traffic Could Spell Doom For Barnes & Noble · · Score: 1

    It would probably help if they'd honor their web prices in their stores. I looked up the new David Weber title last night, and it was about $18 on the website, $25 in the stores, and they don't honor the web price in the store, and after shipping it basically costs the same. Found this out calling the store. I didn't bother to buy it. I'll wait for a copy to show up at a used bookstore. I only have about a dozen of those to choose from around here.

    Try Baen ebooks. (They have a section on David Weber.) They've got easily the best prices I've seen on science fiction titles, they often give away the first one or two books of an established series to get you hooked, and there's no DRM. They are the only publishing company I've encountered that treat their customers as people. If I want a book, I always try Baen first, then if they don't have the book I'll try the other stores.

  24. Re:I go into the bookstore on Nook Failure, Lack of Foot Traffic Could Spell Doom For Barnes & Noble · · Score: 2

    Get a MicroSD card and install Cyanogenmod on it. The Nook can dual-boot to the uSD card without any sort of modding or rooting. I do it and switch between the B&N version of Android and Cyanogenmod depending on what I want to do.

    **This is with a Nook Color. I don't know if the newer tablets can do it.

    They can, though I had booting problems with both a 64GB SanDisk and a 32GB SanDisk on my HD+. When the Nooks started including Google Play in the last couple of updates, I just went to the stock Nook system, updated, and started putting in my apps from the play store.

  25. Re:I go into the bookstore on Nook Failure, Lack of Foot Traffic Could Spell Doom For Barnes & Noble · · Score: 2

    I can't install third-party apps on it though. (Kindle Store, Humble Bundle games, etc.) without modding it though. Which is easy though; maybe 30 minutes from start to finish, if you don't have the files already.

    You no longer have to mod it. They now come with Google Play. If you have an un-modded nook, the last two updates included Google Play, so all you have to do is update the tablet. I've put all kinds of apps on my HD and HD+.