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User: negatonium

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  1. Re:This was figured out long ago on Half Life of a Tech Worker: 15 Years · · Score: 1

    I've got news for you. Most people's politics is a thing of convenience otherwise our election results would mirror the membership in our political parties and elections would never hinge on "independent voters".

  2. This was figured out long ago on Half Life of a Tech Worker: 15 Years · · Score: 1

    Life gets tough for older workers. How is this news? I might be against the ./ "by your own boot-straps" group-think but it makes you reconsider why things like unions, unemployment insurance, pensions and other such were invented in the first place. It's all well and good to be a laissez faire libertarian when the "future is bright". I've been there. But it's quite another thing when life, health and age inject reality into the situation.

  3. No Worries. on Doctor Who To Become Hollywood Feature Film · · Score: 1

    No worries. If he makes a mess of it we can always go back and kill his grandfather..... What was that? Is that you Adric?

  4. I totally agree on Doctor Who To Become Hollywood Feature Film · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Doctor Who has passed into the realm of Modern Mythology now. Just like Dracula, Superman, and Star Trek has now become part of our "mythology". These characters and stories may take a rest from time to time but there will always be someone to come along and retell/re-imagine/re-work them. Doctor Who is just too fertile a ground for good stories to leave too long. Heck, we are still getting milage from Sinbad, Hercules, and Atlantis! The theatrical Who movies of the '60s didn't kill a much younger series... no worries here.

  5. What's that? on Solaris 11 Released · · Score: 1

    Solaris? Wasn't that a lame sci-fi movie with George Clooney? It's a Unix-based OS from Oracle you say? Humm, never heard of it....

  6. Memo on Bionic Body Parts For the Disabled · · Score: 2

    MEMO

    TO: Director OSI
    CC: Dr Rudy Wells

    Due to the ever increasing price of healthcare, the cost of the "Bionic Man" project is expected to exceed our projected amount.
    Congress has refused to extend our budget
    Please inform Colonel Austin that he will now instead be fitted with a bionic big toe and a pair of sunglasses

  7. Re:I guess I'm an optimist... on Low Quality Alloy Cause of Shuttle Main Tank Issue · · Score: 1

    Makes you wonder if NASA was on to something in the '70s when they didn't fly the last 3 end of the run Saturn V models.

  8. Old News on NASA Announces Discovery of 30-Year-Old Black Hole · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Not to be pedantic but if the star is 50 million light years away then the "new" black hole is really 50,000,030 years old. Not exactly "news".

  9. Sick and tired of these "blackhats" on iPhone Jailbreak Modified Into CC Sniffing Malware · · Score: 0, Troll

    I'm getting sick and tired of these "blackhat" conferences and their endless phallus measuring contests.

    I really am all for free speech but these folks have potentially dangerous information and need to act _responsibly_ with it. Many of us here realized that the web based jailbreak could be refactored into a driveby exploit but we didn't do it -- much less do it and brag about it. This "revelation" doesn't in any way enlighten the community. It's only a "mine is bigger" statement for the self aggrandizing "haxor".

    This kind of Dangerous Knowledge is nothing new. What if John (Captain Crunch) Daper had had a conference for phone-freakers and released press statements? No different. If these folks want to have what they think of as "security" conferences then protect the content shared there with an NDA and strict fines for breaking it.

    These folks think of themselves as "experts" but they are really nothing more than juvenile delinquents -- regardless of their ages.

  10. Safer approach on Simple Virus For Teaching? · · Score: 1

    This might be a bit safer way to go: Antivirus software is sometimes tricked with false positives. I don't know what virus scanner you have on your lab machines but you can do a web search and find legitimate, harmless software that will trigger a false alert for whatever you have. Download one of those and use that to demonstrate to your students.

    I assume since you say its a 101 class that by "remove by hand" you mean by using an anti-virus program and not hacking the registry. If so, then a harmless program will work as well as a true virus/worm.

    I use McAfee and it alerts on a CD eject task bar tool I once had. It thinks it is a trojan joke program (I guess to make you think your CD drive is busted). That would make a fine demonstration and a good example of don't blindly download every "cool" program you see on the 'net.

  11. See what happens! on Microsoft Rumored To Buy Second Life · · Score: 3, Funny

    See this is what happens when you tell some guys with billions of dollars to "go get a life"..... I know it sounds like a crazy scheme but then they laughed at Microsoft Bob too... Uh, wait....

  12. Re:FYI: The relevant section of copyright law on Supreme Court May Tune In To Music Download Case · · Score: 1

    Stop it! You're giving them ideas! Courts have in the past ruled that as few as three notes are copyrightable. Throw in some Hollywood math and we could well see one inadvertently whistled tune worth more in damages than the entire GNP of the combined western hemisphere.

  13. Re:Weve seen that argument before on HDCP Master Key Is Legitimate; Blu-ray Is Cracked · · Score: 1

    Since copyright is instant and automatic the amount of "work" required to produce it has no bearing at all -- a 4 line limerick gets as much protection as a 20 volume encyclopedia. Besides the US courts long ago rejected the "sweat of the brow" argument. The distinction between a recipe and a program is completely arbitrary and has more to do with the fact that recipes predate copyright law while software came after. Suppose I made a very advanced "fry-bot" (like McDonalds uses) that could peel the potatoes, slice them, season them, deep fry them for exactly the right amount of time, and then serve them in little cups. Would the program driving all this activity deserve a copyright? But really haven't I just taken a recipe and turned it into a computer program? If I write a recipe in C++ notation does it suddenly become copyrightable? This is just another rehash of the "on the internet" trope that is so often pilloried here. Copyright law is still in the 18th century while the culture is not.

  14. Re:Yea. please tell me where are the on Verizon CEO Says "We Will Hunt Heavy Users Down" · · Score: 1

    Right.... 'cause that worked so well with the banks.

  15. ASCII? on Russian ASCII Art Animated Cat From 1968 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Since ASCII stands for "American" Standard Code for Information Interchange I think the Soviets who created this might be offended.

  16. How far does this go? on Company Trains the Autistic To Test Software · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    And the deaf might be good at watching surveillance camera video... And those height-challenged might be good in tight spaces.... And those uterus-enabled might be.... well you get the picture. I guess we all "sell" what we are good at but those doing the buying should be careful of enabling exploitation.

  17. Re:Time Machine on AT&T Moves Closer To Usage-Based Fees For Data · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you subscribe to cable or satellite TV then you are paying to be advertised to. Every minute there is a commercial on your screen is a minute of service you are paying for that someone else is using for his gain.

  18. Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson on Martian Methane May Be Created By Lifeforms · · Score: 1

    Here's an interview with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, where he concludes that Life is the most likely and simplest explanation for all the methane on Mars. Surprising to hear a very mainstream scientist say so and so openly. http://jonja.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=8193

  19. Coming of the (perl) Messiah on The Perl 6 Advent Calendar · · Score: 2, Funny

    Waiting for Perl 6 seems a lot like waiting for the Messiah to arrive. And even when (if) it happens there'll be some people saying "Nope. Not the right one... Keep looking...."

  20. One world government on Microsoft Pushes For Single Global Patent System · · Score: 1

    No joke, I see the the inevitable end of all this is that the world will be dragged kicking and screaming to an eventual worldwide government. Nobody is going to like it. The masses will fear loosing their voice but will accept it because it will be the only way to have a chance at reining in these huge multi-national behemoths. The corporations will fear being out muscled by an entity even larger than they but will acquiesce because, as in this story, they will see it as the only way to keep from bleeding from a thousand cuts.

  21. It's about time! on Wikipedia Bans Church of Scientology · · Score: 1

    Can I get an "Amen"! Grab those cans and sing "Hallelujah"! The lords [of the internet] work in mysterious ways!

  22. The Irony on Clear Public Satellite Imagery Tantamount to Yelling Fire · · Score: 1

    By presenting a situation that in and of itself is not dangerous (clear maps) but presenting it as an imminent danger to life and limb, isn't the honorable Mr. Anderson doing exactly what he claims to want to prevent?

  23. Whither Google? on An Interview With the Developers of FFmpeg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They say they have trouble implementing code due to time and motivational constraints. Seems to me that if Google/YouTube has built a very successful website around the FFmpeg engine then Google ought to pony up some programming help with improving the project. Wouldn't that be "The right thing to do" (TM)?

  24. The problem with the moral high ground.... on An Ethical Question Regarding Ebooks · · Score: 1

    The problem with the moral high ground is that so few people actually stand on it. For all you in the "download it and send the author a check" crowd, let me ask you a question: How many pieces of Shareware lay unpaid on your computer right now? Not Crippleware. Not Nagware. True download and use it Shareware. I remember reading a blog by a shareware author (I wish I could remember what the software was). He did an experiment. He released some versions of his very popular software as true Shareware, some versions with a nag screen and some versions with features disabled until a user paid. The results were, of course, predictable. Not exactly what the ./ crowd wants to hear but one side does not have the monopoly on dishonorable behaviour.

  25. Re:I call bullshit. on Malaysian Blogger On Trial For Sedition · · Score: 1

    Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, and Lewis Black routinely say some pretty awful things about those in power. Until Stewart is arrested for tax evasion, Maher for harboring terrorists and Black for... well being an asshole, I will hold out hope that Freedom of Speech at least is still flickering in my country.