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User: PlazMatiC

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Comments · 59

  1. Re:Going into confusion... on Could Black Holes Be Portals to Other Universes? · · Score: 1

    Goatse! ;)

  2. Re:Just Because... on Eerie Sounds from Saturn · · Score: 1

    The chances of anything coming from Saturn are a million to one, they said.

  3. So what? on Is Google Breaking Their Own Rules? · · Score: 1

    Google is their toy... they can play with it however they want.

    If other search engines decide not to spider Google, that's their choice.

  4. Re:Read this carefully on Don't Click Here For A Free iPod · · Score: 1

    I buy sour cream all the time, you insensitive clod.

  5. Re:This story is missing something on ATMs Susceptible to Windows Viruses · · Score: 1

    Diebold makes lousy everything.

    Quite. However, I was quite surprised to see their gear in New Zealand.

    Even more amusing - look closely at the name of the crashed service.

  6. Re:Ahh.. that explains it on Couch-Potato Gene Found In Mice · · Score: 1

    Yes, but what about your rowing?

    Maybe she should be the first human test subject? =)

  7. Not all that rare on "Blue Moon" Appears in Sky Saturday Night · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's not that much of a rare occurrance .. Once every 2.7 years, even.

  8. Re:Perhaps It Belongs in the OS on Microsoft Plans To Sell Anti-Virus Software · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Outlook still allows running attachments, it is just an extra click to confirm you want to do it really.

    Not quite correct. In recent versions of Outlook, executable attachments cannot be opened or saved without messing with the registry. There is nowhere in the configuration interface to alter this behaviour. While I personally find this extremely irritating, I can understand why Microsoft has done it. Much of the bad publicity they get regarding security is caused by users not taking proper measures to protect themselves.

    Yes, there are security vulnerabilities in Microsoft's products, but there are also many vulnerabilities in various versions of Samba, OpenSSH, Bind, Sendmail, and many other software packages that are installed on Linux systems. Open Source evangelists seem to have no problem spreading their own FUD about Microsoft software when it comes to security. Take the quote from this article as an example:

    My only question is: If they can't seem to patch their OS fast enough, what makes them think they can keep their AV software up to date?

    Microsoft does patch their OS quickly. The only problem is that many many people don't install the patches they provide. The vulnerability that CodeRed exploited was patched three months before the worm was released. The only reason it caused so many issues was because of incompetent Windows sysadmins.

    Linux is no more secure than Windows. I'm sure if you added up all the vulnerabilities in Windows 2000 and compared them to a list of vulnerabilities in all the software on a standard Linux distribution of the same age, Linux would have at least as many as Windows. The only reason Linux doesn't have the same bad reputation as Windows in terms of security is because there are many less Internet-facing Linux machines around, and the owners of the existing Linux machines are, in general, more competent than those of the Windows PCs. As Linux becomes a more accepted desktop OS, there will be worms attacking Linux machines, and its "secure" reputation will dissolve. Make sure you're ready for it, because it's not going to be pretty.

    Disclaimer: I use Linux and Windows at home. I like them both, and I feel they both have their own advantages and disadvantages. I've got no problem using Linux, Windows or DOS for a task if it's the best tool for the job.

  9. Re:New Zealand on 80,012 Text Messages In One Month · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hey! I resemble that comment :(

  10. PHP Implementation on PC Case For Hamsters, EZ Bake Oven in a Drive Bay · · Score: 1

    $i = 0;
    $str = "";

    while ($bc = substr($_REQUEST['data'], ($i++)*8, 8))
    $str .= chr(base_convert($bc, 2, 10));

    print $str;

  11. Re:Unresolved bugs. on Why You Should Choose MS Office Over OO.org · · Score: 1

    The blink tag was introduced by Netscape, you insensitive clod. :)

  12. Re:Hasn't there always been a learning edition? on Maya now Free for Personal Use · · Score: 1

    Yes, it's been out for quite some time:

    # 2002-01-10 09:30:51 Alias|Wavefront releases free "Personal Learni (articles,graphics) (rejected)

    # 2002-03-28 09:13:57 Maya Personal Learning Edition available for downl (articles,graphics) (rejected)

  13. Re:Sites slashdotted.. on How to Make a Starship Enterprise out of a 3.5" Floppy · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't belive that people should have to get permission to link to another site, in general. If you put something on the Web without putting a password on it or whatever, you're explicitly allowing others to link to it -- at least in my opinion.

    To an extent, I agree with him.
    However, Slashdot linking to someone in an article is far different to an average netzien linking from their blog. I think that given the amount of power Slashdot and similar sites wield, courtesy would suggest that they make sure they're not going to majorly inconvenience the owner of the site they're planning on linking to.

    wish you hadnt posted as AC

    Likewise .. I posted from my work PC, and didn't realise I hadn't logged in first. ;)

  14. Re:Also include AV and Malware remover. on What Would You Put Into A Software Survival Kit? · · Score: 1

    Lavasoft Adaware

    Possibly one of the most PC utilities ever written. =D
    I've taken to keeping a copy of the installer and latest reference file on my MP3 player - There have been too many times when I've been fixing a computer without a 'net connection and have wanted a copy of it.

  15. Gollum model on LOTR: The Two Towers · · Score: 1

    The Embassy cinema in Wellington, New Zealand, was the location of the Australasian premiere last night. In the red carpet thing beforehand, they unveiled a model of Gollum attached to the cinema (last year they had a cave troll).

    I was there, with my trusty digital camera, and here's a photo of it. The overhead wires ruin my shot a bit, but there's a better picture here.

  16. Re:i don't understand on Kiwi Geeks Seek Domain · · Score: 1

    Bank.nz was the most recent new 2ld proposal. It failed at the voting stage; 56% of voters supported it, but 70% is required.

    Voting results are here.

    It's actually the second time the NZ Bankers Association has proposed it - it didn't make it in 2000 either. There's an IDG article about it here.

  17. Re:And... on Internet Backbone DDOS "Largest Ever" · · Score: 1

    Of course, if you're hosting domains that you want to be visible from the Internet on that DNS server (as may well be in the case of an ISP), then you wouldn't want to make that above change to your named.conf, or those domains would no longer be visible from the Internet.

    I doubt it's the same for all ISPs, but in the case of the ISP I'm with, the DNS servers that they tell their customers to use are the same ones listed in the NS record for their domain, and all domains hosted with them.

  18. Re:Lasers... on Wireless Dilemma at Newton's House? · · Score: 1

    Ronja!
    The site seems to be down at the moment, but hopefully it'll be back soon.
    In any case, it's a 10 megabit optical link that can be built at home from readily available parts.
    Slashdot stories here and here .

  19. Only forwards, backwards, left and right? on Rat Mind Control · · Score: 5, Funny

    All the other kids have mouse look now!

  20. Excellent game. on Review: BZFlag 3D Tank Game · · Score: 1

    I happened upon BZFlag on freshmeat a couple of years ago now. It's been steadily improving since I first played it.

    It's a lot like Point Blank, a game I played on SGI O2 machines back in 1998, but nowhere near as complex. (Point Blank had three tanks and one aircraft, gradients in the terrain, and buildings more complex than the solid blocks in BZFlag)

    Still, I enjoy playing it, and there's a windows version, making it great for lan parties.

  21. Re:My AA issue on Xft Hack Improves Antialiased Font Rendering · · Score: 1

    That's the one =)
    I feel that the description is a bit over-the-top - I've never seen any apps crash or die or any of that. Not to say they don't, of course...
    I've seen a couple that had issues, though - not displaying fonts correctly and the like. (gkrellm being the only example that comes to mind)
    There's a gnome control centre applet (gdkxft-capplet) that lets you disable antialiasing for any application - just chuck the application name in the list on the 'Bad Applications' tab.
    Even if it is kinda unstable, the visual benefits make it worth it. =)

  22. Re:My AA issue on Xft Hack Improves Antialiased Font Rendering · · Score: 2, Informative

    libgdkxft, which does subpixel antialiasing, is apt-gettable in debian woody.
    All you need to do after apt-getting the packages is install a bunch of truetype fonts, then add the line 'export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libgdkxft.so' to your ~/.xession or some other appropriate location:
    I had some issues getting it all working, but that was mostly user error. (I'd been playing with xfstt shortly before trying gdkxft and they seemed to interfere with each other)
    A good howto on setting it up is here
    It makes mozilla look really pretty =)

  23. Re:Correction on In NZ, Sharing Ethernet With A Whole CIty · · Score: 3, Informative

    Also, as far as I know, none of the citylink-connected ISPs will give you a gigabit connection, although you can get 10 or 100 megabit. You can get a gigabit ethernet connection between two buildings, though.

    You can also get a 2 megabit wireless citylink connection, which has a larger coverage area than the faster wired connections.

  24. Writing Kernel Modules on Breaking Into The World Of Kernel Hacking? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This Linux Journal article gives a really quick introduction into writing kernel modules.

    It doesn't go into all that much detail, but I found it a good starting point for messing around on my linux machine at home.

    Hth =)

  25. Re:Very few people need an SUV. on The Ultimate S.U.V. · · Score: 2, Informative

    You can do either.

    They are alternative spellings of the same word, as this site says.

    Dictionary.com lists 'enquire' as a 'Variant of inquire'.

    Also, the Concise Oxford English Dictionary lists enquire and inquire as having the same meaning.