Slashdot Mirror


User: my_left_nut

my_left_nut's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
84
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 84

  1. Re:So easy on Databases In Caves? A Unique Google Fiber Bid · · Score: 1

    +1 funny

  2. Re:GATTACA on Genetic Disorder Removes Racial Bias and Social Fear · · Score: 1

    +1 Funny.

  3. Around the holidays... on Analyst Estimates AT&T Needs To Spend $5B To Catch Up · · Score: 1

    all of a sudden, AT&Ts 3G service was unavailable for days (not hours) at a time. This was not in a remote area, but in a suburb 25 miles due west of Philadelphia, PA. At the time, signal bars were up at 5. Go figure. 3G service eventually did return, though.

    I like the iPhone, but if their 3G service is so spotty, I might eventually be forced to switch providers.

    AT&T are you listening?

  4. Re:This definitely on Holy See Declares a "Unique Copyright" On the Pope · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just to clarify, since the content of this thread is starting to fall under the category of "non-falsifiable religious belief", the idea of verifiable "truth" or "falseness" doesn't really come into play. So, saying something is "true" in this context, at best means that you "believe it to be true" to you, and to the other members of your faith. It cannot be independently verified via the scientific method to be "true" or "false" (not "true").

    On the other hand, the two catchy phrases are inherited from a number of qualities and behaviors that have been observed in adherents of those religions, and may actually be statistically verifiable.

    For example, Protestants have the the Puritan "work-ethic" driven by the idea that God "blesses" his chosen or "saved" ones with hard-earned wealth. Many Catholics have guilt complexes over things that typically hurt nobody. For example, eating meat on Fridays in Lent, breaking restrictions on various sexual activity, etc.

    These are real and measurable psychological phenomenon. So, oddly enough, the claims that those catchy phrases made, actually have the capability to be measured. In contrast, the claims that the dogma makes do not.

  5. Re:Not again on New Theory of Gravity Decouples Space & Time · · Score: 1

    This is not made up airy-fairy bullshit that some simpleton believes for no reason. This is evolution at work. These old religions have demonstrated their reliability, because the people who believe in them are not dead.

    Yet.

    No doubt that some of the current mainstream religions are responsible for mindsets which very well might not just cause their members to go extinct, but also be undoing of everyone who doesn't follow them, as well. Sometimes just believing in an apocalypse might just happen to bring one on.

  6. Re:I *Stopped* using SORBS and SPAM *decreased*. on SORBS Blocklist Reportedly Sold For $451K · · Score: 1

    I'm using spamhaus exclusively now. After discontinuing SORBS, I might get at most 10 spams a day.

  7. I *Stopped* using SORBS and SPAM *decreased*. on SORBS Blocklist Reportedly Sold For $451K · · Score: 1

    I'd stopped using SORBS awhile back, after numerous instances of it flagging real email as spam. Since then, the amount of UCE that I've been receiving since has actually *gone down*. Go figure.

  8. Re:The new "oil" on China Considering Cuts In Rare-Earth Metal Exports · · Score: 1

    So.

    We are *already* pwned by them and all they need to do is call in the IOUs. But what would calling in the those IOUs look like?

    There's no way they'd be able to successfully mount a land or sea invasion with their 20 million surplus men, and I'd doubt if they'd be prepared to nuke us to enforce it. If they'd use nukes, we would retaliate, and what's left of them would have to deal with the subsequent nuclear winter and short-term (100-200 year) radiation threat, just as much as we would.It's just not good for business.

    Perhaps the result is that people recognize us for the paupers we currently are, and our existing domestic economy (i.e. way of doing things) irrevocably goes into the shitter.

    At that point, after all of the social and political unrest eventually quiets down, a decreased number of us start the whole process over again in a diminished capacity.

    Count yourself lucky that you got to live in a relatively quiet time for at least a little while.

  9. Re:I pity them on AMC Releasing a New "The Prisoner" In November · · Score: 1

    You have to go back at least 10000 years (maybe more) to when we were hunter-gatherers for that. As soon as agriculture happened, we all started to work for someone else.

  10. Re:Flying Car on Has the Rate of Technical Progress Slowed? · · Score: 1

    You mean like this

  11. Re:For Earthbound, mebbe... on Astronomers Find the Calmest Place On Earth · · Score: 1

    The area gets almost no precipitation and probably no animal life...

    That is, no animal life except for four really curious, resourceful, and tenacious penguins.

  12. Start off or end up at the mutter museum on Science, Technology, Natural History Museums? · · Score: 1

    The Mutter Museum is right in downtown Philly, you should check it out before you leave or when you get back.

    It's chock full of medical curiosities. I think it is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. A must see.

  13. Three laws safe... on A Standardized OS For Robots · · Score: 1

    There's an app for that.

  14. Right... on Deposit Checks By iPhone · · Score: 1

    Identity Theft - there's an app for that.

  15. Re:Perhaps the more ridiculous thing on SMS Hack Could Make iPhones Vulnerable · · Score: 1

    From what I've read, this is not an exploit that involves the carrier, but can be done via someone *simulating* the carrier with their own transmitter and acting like a cell tower. So, the idea of turning this off at the carrier does no good, when the bug is in the iPhone itself.

    I'd like to be able to get a shell prompt on the phone, and kill -9 smsd (or whatever runs there). or start the gsmd that is running on the phone in a "disable-sms" mode. Something like that.

    Unfortunately, in order to remain legal (non-jailbroken), I can't.

    With no fix for this, I (along with everyone else who has one) am effectively a sitting duck for this kind of exploit. Now, I'm not going to worry about it until it happens to me. But... if it does happen, I will then dump AT&T, and also go with a Pre. I would encourage anyone who finds themselves in that position who can do that, to do exactly that.

    The sad thing is, it *is* a comfortable phone. I like the UI. I'm used to it, and I really don't have a problem with the thing. But I've also been recently disgusted with the kind of locked down mindset that apple has taken with the thing.

    At least for me, waking up and finding a hijacked phone would be the last straw.

  16. It's not just for M&Ms anymore... on Dye Used In Blue M&Ms Can Lessen Spinal Injury · · Score: 1

    Back in the 70s, I always thought Frank Rizzo was a little "out there" when he had all of the Philly police vehicles painted bright blue like this one.

    Now, with this new finding, over 35 years later, it all starts to make sense.

  17. Re:What is it with meetings? on Manager's Schedule vs. Maker's Schedule · · Score: 1

    Heh. Been there, done that. Unlike most normal meeting, at least it took a week, and you knew about it well in advance.

    FWIW, I've heard the term "suck-and-fuck" referred to as the "group-grope" as well.

  18. Re:Really? REALLY? on Solar-Powered Moon Rover To Explore Apollo Landing · · Score: 1

    Tell me about it. I want that high pitched whine I get each time the moon is on this side of the planet to finally... go.... AWAY!

    Somebody, anybody - Please, make... it... stop.

  19. Re:Electricity on MIT Electric Car May Outperform Rival Gas Models · · Score: 1

    Mod parent up.

    Let's hook up a million cars to the grid and watch it collapse into cloud of greasy black smoke.

  20. Re:Staying away from iPhone dev and purchase on How Apple's App Review Is Sabotaging the iPhone · · Score: 1

    Agreed. I currently own an iPhone, and am otherwise happy with it. But the way these guys lock down their platform will stifle the development of decent applications. As more and more interesting apps become available for open platforms like the Palm Pre, you will see Apple begin to lose market share.

    By the time my battery starts to fail and I have to exchange the iPhone for another one, the number of available useful apps for other platforms might make me switch to something like the Pre.

  21. Noooooo, is right. on What If Oracle Bought Sun Microsystems? · · Score: 1

    Oracle buying Sun, might be good for Sun, but it would suck for everyone else. Recently, we've had dealings with Oracle for various things, and their unbelievably arrogant sales team literally talked and priced themselves out of a sale. They said they'd be able to beat SAP (for SFA, financials, etc) and ended up coming in at almost twice the price. And once you get on one of their pre-sales lists the SE's never stop bugging you. Way too aggressive. If they get to distribute the Sun JDK, in a year you'd have to give them your life story in order to download it, with a load of nagging sales calls following your download. So, like the tag says "noooooooo...".

  22. "Streisand Effect" 'em. on Gamer Claims Identifying As a Lesbian Led To Xbox Live Ban · · Score: 1

    If they have a shred of tolerance, everyone who uses XBOX live should:

    s/$/\-lesbian$/

    for their gamer tag (or whatever they call a handle on their system).

    Are they going to shutdown a million users?

  23. Re:Reality check people on Israel, Palestine Wage Web War · · Score: 1

    And no medical device that I know of is normally networked.

    At least not yet. Give it time, though. I can see some doofus thinking it a good idea to WiFi-enable a pacemaker, and storing historical data on it, or putting a piece of flash memory on it and use it as a built in thumb drive. Or worse, allowing it to receive commands that allow one to control the voltage leads in order "To facilitate treatment".

  24. Re:Jews Are Evil, Land & Water Theives on Israel, Palestine Wage Web War · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Interestingly enough, I (a "lapsed" Catholic) had a friendly discussion with one of my Jewish friends back in early September, and he mentioned that you don't need to actually believe in God to be a Jew. He said he didn't, but still considered himself Jewish. Surprised the crap out of me. I always thought that Judaism was a "religion", but apparently it is more of a shared culture than anything else. He was saying that many of his friends, and even his friends' parents do all of the rituals, keep kosher, etc. but are either agnostics or atheists. There's apparently provision in the Torah for people who are "doubters" (I forget the exact terminology he used). This is different from Catholicism, being Muslim, or Protestantism, where the "believing" part is a prerequisite.

  25. Eh? Where's the picture? on How To See In 3D On Your iPhone · · Score: 1

    Yeah, right. Wait until you turn 42 and then do this. "Hold it 8 inches from your face", my arse. Just a blurry blob at that distance to my 48 year old peepers.