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User: hyades1

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Comments · 3,318

  1. Your Tax Dollars At Work on US Government Lurked On Silk Road For Over a Year · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So how many millions of dollars did this "team of U.S. law enforcement agencies" spend in a whole year of fattening themselves up at the taxpayer's expense?

    And what did they accomplish? They knocked Silk Road off the net for a few months, and in so doing helped it improve its security for next time. Now it's up and running again, making scads of money for the operators, and thumbing its nose at the U.S.

    Oh, well, at least long-suffering taxpayers can happily contemplate about all the boats, cottages and retirement homes they've bought for Norbert the Nark and his Homeland Security buddies.

  2. Re:Google Censorship on Google Sees Biggest Search Traffic Drop Since 2009 As Yahoo Gains Ground · · Score: 1

    I think your grasp of this subject is flawed. The situation is exactly as I described it.

  3. Re:Google Censorship on Google Sees Biggest Search Traffic Drop Since 2009 As Yahoo Gains Ground · · Score: 1

    It seems I'm saying "Thank You" a lot as a result of my comment. You definitely earned one. And thanks, too, for going the extra mile to provide an excellent example of the way their new, censorship-friendly search works.

    As I said, I don't spend a lot of time looking for porn. On the other hand, I don't like some search engine screwing with MY search results because they're intent on sucking up to religious types and parents who can't be bothered to actually parent their kids.

  4. Re:Google Censorship on Google Sees Biggest Search Traffic Drop Since 2009 As Yahoo Gains Ground · · Score: 1

    Thank you for this! Your help is very much appreciated.

  5. Google Censorship on Google Sees Biggest Search Traffic Drop Since 2009 As Yahoo Gains Ground · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As a resident of Canada, I find that Google has put a search filter in place that I can't get around. Basically, it makes me type in specific words like "breasts" or "naked" if I want to see picture results including such things. I don't spend a lot of time looking for pornography, but I don't want to worry that 10% of the the Ontario Museum's art collection is off limits to me unless I specifically go on a search for boobies.

    No doubt this protects Miss Grundy and her fellow church ladies from the sight of the occasional naked breast, but I find it offensive and paternalistic, and as a result, I've cut back quite a lot on my use of Google.

  6. The Price of Art on Hubble Takes Amazing New Images of Andromeda, Pillars of Creation · · Score: 2

    Average out the cost of designing, building and orbiting a newer, better Hubble across all the people in the world who have a few extra bucks and an appreciation of that iconic photo as art...worthwhile for no other reason than for us to stare at it and be profoundly moved.

    I wonder how much it would cost each person to "git 'er done".

  7. Sorry to be Captain Obvious, but... on What Language Will the World Speak In 2115? · · Score: 1

    I suspect it's far more likely we'll have something close to a "universal translator" that will make it possible to speak with anybody else in the language of their choice in real time. Thus, there won't be nearly as much incentive to learn one particular language in order to communicate in whatever happens to be the lingua franca of the day.

  8. Re:Hypersonic weapons lead to nuclear war ? on War Tech the US, Russia, China and India All Want: Hypersonic Weapons · · Score: 1

    I'm curious: did anyone ever notice how Iran is a modern, safe country? Or did anyone ever give Chileans credit for ousting the American puppet, who was still facing war crimes charges at the time of his death...a man who looted the Chilean treasury in the time-honoured tradition of dictators everywhere?

    Hmmm....food for thought. On second thought, don't think - let's just uncritically parrot what we read somewhere, because it MUST be right.

  9. Re:Hypersonic weapons lead to nuclear war ? on War Tech the US, Russia, China and India All Want: Hypersonic Weapons · · Score: 5, Informative

    I guess setting up puppet governments in places like Iran and Chile doesn't count, as far as you're concerned? Or failing to do so, such as in the Bay of Pigs fiasco?

    I always have to chuckle when I see comments like yours, made by Americans who are so blindingly ignorant of their own history.

  10. Re:Waste of Time on "Star Trek 3" To Be Helmed By "Fast & Furious" Franchise Director Justin Lin · · Score: 1

    I never have a goddamned moderator point when I really need one. You'd get it..."Insightful" or "Informative", not sure which.

  11. Some work may still be needed on Monochromatic Light As a Species-selective Insecticide · · Score: 2

    Apparently several Winnipeg mosquitoes were observed slathering themselves with DEET and lying under the 417 nm to get a little colour on their underbellies.

    A researcher who attempted to turn the light off was beaten badly, and is now reporting that several Goliath beetles used in another experiment now appear to be pregnant. Also the cat.

  12. Ah, Karma on The Sony Pictures Hack Was Even Worse Than Everyone Thought · · Score: 2

    Remember back a few years ago, when Sony decided the best way to combat piracy was to install a rootkit on the machines of anybody who played one of their CD's?

    I hope I can be forgiven for reminding them of a couple of good old adages. Adages like, "What goes around comes around", "Karma's a bitch", and "Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander".

    And I hope they'll forgive me for my complete lack of sympathy.

  13. Re:Bad Drunk! Naughty Drunk!!! on UK Police To Publicly Shame Drunk Drivers On Twitter This Christmas · · Score: 1

    It's not that simple, especially in the UK. Even in Canada, the truth isn't an absolute defense against libel.

  14. Bad Drunk! Naughty Drunk!!! on UK Police To Publicly Shame Drunk Drivers On Twitter This Christmas · · Score: 1

    I can't wait 'til the first time one of the people who's been shamed after being charged is found innocent in court. Unlike the US, England's courts take a very dim view of smearing someone's reputation unjustly.

    I suspect a couple of nice, fat payouts in the wake of libel convictions will put a stop to this nonsense.

  15. Re:I like both on How Intel and Micron May Finally Kill the Hard Disk Drive · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the information. I guess I wasn't too clear on one thing, though: I do back up, but my work is such that if the last backup was an hour before, I lose an hour of work I won't get back, or even more.

    And I'm one of those people who actually do require a lot of storage space...and have no desire to have it beyond my care and control. I do professional photography and video. Often, I have five or six versions of a photo on the go at once. I'll want to keep all of them, and any modifications I make...not so much colour correction as actual content...will probably proceed a lot further on two or three versions. I'm not an idiot about keeping my data drive defragged, and nothing goes on my boot drive (which is a 300G SCSI...you'd probably be surprised at how fast it is) except the OS, installed programs and stuff I'm actually working on. I have as little going on in the background as I can get away with. That means my security is cloud-based plus passive.

    And I have to say, I've had lots better luck with hard drives than you. My machines are on 24-7, and I don't let my data drives sleep. I've never had one last less than 3 years. Most last easily twice that.

  16. Best drone for cheap? on Ask Slashdot: Best Drone For $100-$150? · · Score: 3, Funny

    Any Congressman or televangelist.

  17. I like both on How Intel and Micron May Finally Kill the Hard Disk Drive · · Score: 1

    I'm not the most tech savvy guy in the world, so I'm certainly willing to be corrected, but my major problem with SSD's is this: when they fail, they do so without warning, and in a way that makes even partial data recovery impossible for an average user. On the other hand, in the decades during which I've used HDD's, I've never once had one fail without giving me some kind of warning. The dying drive has either overheated, or started showing read/write errors, or made distressing noises (kind of like that death speech all the soon-to-be-croaked best buddies get to make in action movies). And I've even been able to recover at least some data from drives that were seriously screwed. The only failed SDD I ever dealt with simply didn't report on boot, and I never heard anything from it again. So to me, a big SSD just offers a better chance to lose everything all at once, minus whatever was saved in the last backup.

    And then there's cost, of course. I just bought a 2TB HDD for eighty bucks. I know I won't be seeing any SDD's available at that capacity/price for a long, long time.

    Right now, my ideal computer would have a mid-size SSD for the operating system and installed programs, and a big, fast HDD for most storage needs. And, of course, my external backup drive would use old-fashioned platters. I'll leave huge, relatively expensive SDD's for those whose need for speed is much greater than mine.

  18. Re:Just wondering on Officer Not Charged In Michael Brown Shooting · · Score: 1

    Why would you think I'm getting away from it? Unlike you, apparently, I get my information from a variety of sources. I don't need a tech-oriented site pointing me at non-tech current events I've already seen from three different perspectives.

  19. Just wondering on Officer Not Charged In Michael Brown Shooting · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Why is this on Slashdot?

  20. A Minor Correction on Top NSA Official Raised Alarm About Metadata Program In 2009 · · Score: 1

    "An anonymous reader sends this report from the Associated Press..."

    "A reader who thinks he's anonymous sends this report from the Associated Press..."

    There...fixed that for you. ;-)

  21. Does this mean... on Blowing On Money To Tell If It Is Counterfeit · · Score: 1

    ...hookers will soon be blowing the cash as well as the customers?

  22. What am I not getting? on Microsoft Azure Outage Across the Globe · · Score: 2

    I just can't get my head around the idea that somebody would take information vital to their needs and put it beyond reach, under the control of other people whose priorities probably don't match theirs.

    What advantages are so overwhelming that they make this a sensible thing to do?

  23. Re:I'm sure it will suck on HBO Developing Asimov's Foundation Series As TV Show · · Score: 1

    R Daneel Olivaw, who appeared in "Caves of Steel" (set in the same universe but predating the Foundation books) exists through the entire "future history", often in a central role. And it's implied that he was an unnoticed observer of much that occurred in books where he isn't explicitly mentioned.

    It would be very easy to have any random character actually be Olivaw throughout the series, thus allowing him to act as an omniscient narrator supplying relevant information to the viewer without interrupting the stories themselves.

  24. Re:Then make it a felony criminal offense on Carmakers Promise Not To Abuse Drivers' Privacy · · Score: 1

    Why is it I never have Mod points when I really, really want one?

    You're exactly, 100% right. I'd only add that the sentence would have to sting...no 90 days at a country club stuff. Start the bidding at two years less a day at one of those institutions where "shank" isn't a cut of meat.

  25. Re:The Ads Can Be Disabled on Mozilla Updates Firefox With Forget Button, DuckDuckGo Search, and Ads · · Score: 1

    Let me guess. Phrases like "mission creep", "nose of the camel" and "give them an inch and they'll take a mile" are utterly foreign to you. Or perhaps you believe they came into existence to describe situations that don't happen all that often?