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User: Wycliffe

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  1. Depending on when the copying took place, the original "me" might not be too upset.
    Just like people take comfort in the idea that they live on in their children I can see
    taking comfort in the idea that you live on in silicon. If I was 100 and could copy
    myself before I die I might consider it so at least one of the me's could continue
    doing whatever I thought was important to do. Likewise if I could keep a backup at
    home that could be activated to take care of my children if I died I would also do
      that.

  2. Re:Texas Barely Registers on Map of Publicly-Funded Creationism Teaching · · Score: 1

    Non-belief is a belief system like not collecting stamps is a hobby.

    No, a non-belief is more like a non-action like "not doing anything on Saturday" or "Not thinking of a pink elephant".
    You have to believe something and what you believe is passed on directly or indirectly in almost every interaction
    you have with another human being. I think it's impossible to teach without passing some part of your belief system
    onto your pupils. I think the question really is how much and of what kind is acceptable. For the most part people
    have no problem with schools teaching morals and ethics like don't steal, don't hit, don't do drugs, and even don't cuss
    at school which for the most part are non-controversial. The problem comes when you get into areas like don't be gay,
    don't have sex, don't have abortions, don't have unprotected sex, or don't talk about sex at all where different groups
    have different opinion. We are trying to walk this tightrope of regulating morality whether it's gay marriage, prostitution,
    pot, or polygamy and also trying to keep the government out of the morality business. I think what we really need is a
    simplified code of how we decide what falls in the "religion" realm and what falls in the "government can regulate" realm.
    I think "live and let live" or "my rights end where your begins" would be a good start. That and getting the government
    completely out of the public school system via vouchers so that we can stop confusing schools and government.
    It's impossible to make every group happy while we insist on forcing every group into a single learning environment.

  3. Re:"Social engineering" on Developer Loses Single-Letter Twitter Handle Through Extortion · · Score: 1

    Actually I prefer stuff like the favorite color validation - you can usually say your favorite color is "hgydusafgs" and get at least a little security out of it. If they want your last four card digits, social security number (ick), or other widely shared, institutionally issued number then you're SOL.

    Yeah, I agree that this partially solves the problem FOR YOU but not for anyone else who actually follows the rules. You've basically added your
    own layer of security on top of theirs and it's technically a violation of the intended purpose of the system. It's possible that your account can be
    blocked, banned, deleted, etc... for not following the rules. Even worse, by not following the rules it's highly likely that if someone calls in to try to
    unlock your account and are asked what their favorite color is that the response "I think I just typed some random garbage into that field" would
    probably be sufficient to get the account unlocked.

  4. Re:"Social engineering" on Developer Loses Single-Letter Twitter Handle Through Extortion · · Score: 1

    GoDaddy is still on the hook in my eyes though - given the completely unsecure treatment of the last four by pretty much everyone, using it for any sort of authentication purposes is completely asinine.

    Lot's of places use the last 4 digits as authentication. Hopefully the same place that uses the last 4 digits aren't the ones handing
    it out but that's part of the problem. Every place has their own "hopefully" adequate security but another firm might have a slightly
    different authentication method that is also adequate on its own but combined with the 2nd firm there is a huge security hole. Then
    there are the completely idiotic ones like "year you graduated" or "favorite color" There are what maybe less than a dozen common
    colors and if you know the person's age you can guess the graduation year probably within a couple years. I've been given a list
    of a dozen questions that none of them have more than maybe a dozen or so common answers.

  5. That's what I get for skimming... on With No Guidance From Google, Makers Creating Own Glass Accessories · · Score: 1

    The first time I read that I thought it said someone had put a screw in their right arm to attach accessories
    then I realized they were talking about the right arm of the glasses not of the person.

  6. Re:Texas Barely Registers on Map of Publicly-Funded Creationism Teaching · · Score: 1

    They are allowed to but that doesn't necessarily mean they do and it would be unconstitutional to pass a law banning it.

    In fact, no. It is a violation of the separation of church and state for a public school to teach a religious belief as fact. If they want to mention it in social studies in the way that they teach that some people believe in multiple gods and others don't believe there is one at all, that would be fine.

    It is a violation of the constitution to pass any laws regarding religion. So a law saying "you can't teach religion in school" is clearly a violation of
    the constitution as much so as saying "you much teach religion X". Non-belief in a deity is just as much a belief system as belief in a deity. It
    is not "neutral" ground as some like to believe.

  7. Re:At the time .... on How Farming Reshaped Our Genomes · · Score: 1

    obesity rates have been high but stable (not increasing further) since then. So the real question is what changed in food, plastics, personal eating habits, and social patterns from 1980 to 2000 but then stopped getting worse from 2000 until now.
     

    Just because something has plateaued doesn't necessarily means that something has changed. It could mean that it is saturated and that the rest of
    the population is not prone to getting fat either because of genetics, activity level, etc.... I know plenty of people (including myself) who eat like crap,
    don't exercise at all and are still not overweight. I'm not saying that I'm healthy but I'm not overweight.
    It's kindof like the war on drugs. Approx. 3% of the population is addicted to drugs and this holds true whether drugs are legal, illegal, or whether you
    spend billions of dollars fighting it.

  8. Re:Texas Barely Registers on Map of Publicly-Funded Creationism Teaching · · Score: 1

    Louisiana and Tennessee OTOH - ouch!

    That map is extremely deceptive. The green dots are ALL the public schools in that state. They are allowed to but that doesn't necessarily mean they do and it would be unconstitutional to pass a law banning it. My guess is that most the schools in LA and TN don't. The red/orange dots are PRIVATE schools that accept school vouchers. That is a school voucher debate not a creationism debate. Personally I am supportive of vouchers to allow students to pick the school they would like to attend. That actually solves this issue as parents then have a choice of where to send their kids.

  9. Re:It'll work if you want to suceed on The "Triple Package" Explains Why Some Cultural Groups Are More Successful · · Score: 1

    Basically you need to feel like an outsider and feel like you're better than everyone else to be truly successful.

  10. Re:It'll work if you want to suceed on The "Triple Package" Explains Why Some Cultural Groups Are More Successful · · Score: 1

    and America's most successful groups are all outsiders in one way or another

    Okay but American blacks have NEVER felt like part of mainstream society and they are definitely the least prosperous group. That's a great big gaping hole in the theory that needs to be explained.

    Did you even read the SUMMARY???? There is a TRIPLE criteria. Blacks in general don't fit criteria #1 which is a sense of exceptionalism but
    instead have a glass ceiling, not good enough, victim mentality, etc... This is obviously a stereotype but a sense that you can and are able to
    accomplish anything is one of the criterias needed in order to take the risks needed to succeed. If you have a "learned helplessness" mentality
    regardless of the reason then you clearly fail criteria #1.

  11. Re:Android is OK-able on Ask Slashdot: Life After N900? · · Score: 1

    I also would put a vote in for the MyTouch 4G Slide. Not as good as the n900 but it has been a decent replacement
    and being mainstream it does have the advantage of having things like wifi hotspot, vendor support, and plenty of apps.
    Make sure it is the HTC version and not the recent replacement which isn't near as good.
    If you are trying to avoid android another option is to get a bluetooth keyboard case for an iphone. The case basically
    attachs a physical keyboard to the iphone.

  12. Re: So, cue up.. on How Silicon Valley CEOs Conspired To Suppress Engineers' Wages · · Score: 1

    I was specifically commenting on the fact that the original poster stated that office and factory drones have a hard time finding jobs.
    If you have a specialty then finding a job in your field can be difficult depending on the field but the "drone" jobs that pay close to
    minimum wage are easy to come by if you're a good employee. Of course if you're a good employee then you will quickly be able
    to demand more than most of the "drone" jobs pay but that's a different topic.

  13. Re:Please no? on Fixing Broken Links With the Internet Archive · · Score: 1

    I would agree that transparently going to the lost page is a bad idea but I would not be opposed to
    a 404 error page that has a link to the last known copy of the link. What would be so bad about that?
    It would save me the step of trying to find it in the google cache and/or the internet archive which
    is what I tend to try to do if it is a link that I want.

  14. Re:So, cue up.. on How Silicon Valley CEOs Conspired To Suppress Engineers' Wages · · Score: 1

    Sounds like you're in a high-demand occupation. Congratulations. Now try that stunt as and office- or factory- drone. i.e. as a normal person.

    Don't underestimate the negotiating power of a good employee even in a "drone" job.
    I had a friend working at a fast food joint that tried to quit multiple times and each time
    his manager offered him a raise to come back.
    I also know dozens of people who have left a job as a waiter,waitress,cashier,stocker,etc...
    and come back on the summer/weekends and pick up extra shifts like they never left.
    I also know people in IT that have left for a year and then come right back without even an interview.
    And as an employer, I would gladly hire or rehire any good employee that walks in my door and
    the number one complaint I hear from other employers is that it's hard to find good employees.
    Why do you think these CEOs made this agreement? My guess it wasn't so much to supress
    wages but rather to stop playing musical chairs with all their good employees.
    If you're a good worker you can usually always find a job and are generally always
    welcomed back by former employers with no questions asked.

  15. This only goes so far. Many people (like myself) don't subscribe to Netflix because the content is crap.
    I would gladly pay $15/month though if I had access to any movie/show ever made. I like that the
    selection is slowly increasing but there are still alot of the content that is so expensive it might as well
    not be there. Who really pays $2 an episode for a 10 year old tv show? They would probably make
    10 times the money if they charged $0.50 an episode instead. I would also be content with a service
    that gave you access to every movie/show and charged a flat $1/hour to watch if I didn't have to spend
    30 minutes trying to hunt down a show every time I wanted to watch something. The radio method
    of allowing you to stream whatever you want and paying royalties porportionally based on length
    seems like the best solution. I'm waiting for the day when there is universally available content and
    services actually have to compete on ease of use instead of selection.

  16. Re:So more enthalpy=more life? on A Thermodynamics Theory of the Origins of Life · · Score: 1

    I don't think the bar is quite as high as "intelligent life" but anything short of multicellular life that can be seen without
    a microscope is not going to bring much excitement to the average non-geek. An animal that moves and eats would
    be the ultimate prize but even a plant that grows would be awesome. Personally for me I would love for someone
    to discover life (even here on earth) that wasn't DNA/RNA based. Having a single evolutionary path greatly limits
    our understanding of how life may have originated.

  17. Re: [Ignorance] on CERN Antimatter Experiment Produces First Beam of Antihydrogen · · Score: 1

    You can be against anonymous and in favor of pseudoanonymous without being a hypocrite.
    There is a huge difference between anonymous and pseudoanonymous.
    Pseudoanonymous allows users to be blocked, get a reputation either good or bad, and actually
    have a presence. It's been shown that people are even more true to their real self
    when using a pseudonym. That's completely different than the anonymous people that
    post stuff just to get a respond and would immediately be banned and/or ignored if they had
    a real account.

  18. Re:New MS business plan on HP Brings Back Windows 7 'By Popular Demand' As Buyers Shun Windows 8 · · Score: 5, Informative

    1) Relabel Windows 7 boxes "Windows 9"

    Fixed that for you

    You joke but that's pretty much how it is:

    Windows 98 -- Worked
    windows ME --Sucked
    Windows XP -- Decent
    Windows Vista -- Sucked
    Windows 7 -- Functional Again
    Windows 8 -- Sucks Again

    It seems to take them one generation to flush the problems out of each new release so windows 8 is basically "windows 9 beta"

  19. Re:Arms Race Tips Toward Skype on Microsoft Researchers Slash Skype Fraud By 68% · · Score: 1

    absolutely not. 5% false positive is terrible, and will create a lot of negative feelings for the platform.
    imagine a teacher trying to use skype with a class of 20 or more. it would be very rare if someone
    didn't get falsely flagged as a bot.

    That's assuming they are evenly distributed. My guess is that they are using usage patterns away from the norm so
    a classroom would be fine while a tech user who is using skype for some atypical use might have a 50% chance of
    getting zapped. This is unfortunately the way it is. Noone cares about the outliers unless there is money in it.
    Walmart sells to the 80%. if you are trying to buy swimsuits in august good luck, it might be prime swimming season
    but 80% of people have already bought swimsuits so walmart has already liquidated their selection.
    Also, if you are an atypical user, an atypical shopper, an atypical traveller, or even an atypical dresser expect to be
    harrassed by TSA, your credit card fraud department, school security, etc... Everyone must conform to the norm. :-P

  20. Re:Is this a cuteness thing? on 200 Dolphins Await Slaughter In Japan's Taiji Cove · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Maybe it has something to do with the fact that a dolphin is demonstrably smarter than a chicken and because of that people feel it is more likely to experience pain and suffering during this "fishing".
    Not a personal opinion of mine, just one hypothesis for the reaction.

    I noticed that out of the 3 choices you picked the chicken. The "demonstrably smarter" doesn't really hold very well when
    you compare dolphin to pig instead. A pig is right up there probably falling somewhere above dog and below dolphin.
    I like pork but I still think it is an important debate. Would farm-raised dolphins be acceptable? If not, why not?
    Why is eating dogs and horses frowned upon in alot of areas? Should we let animals live out their natural lives in
    comfort before harvesting them? What criteria do we as a society use to decide what should and should not be be eaten
    and when and how it is humane to harvest it?

  21. Re:Government sells seized assets on US Government To Convert Silk Road Bitcoins To USD · · Score: 1

    Perhaps it could be seen as a store of labor, same as money, but my hangup is probably the spending of money in the form of electrical use to mine bitcoins.

    I've heard that complaint a lot. The bitcoin algorithm is impressive but it would be even more impressive if someone could improve it to incorporate
    useful computations into the mining operation. Ideally it would also be exchangeble back for something like X cpu cycles but obviously moore's law
    make straight cpu cycles not a very stable backing.

  22. Re:So what happens to the hydrogen? That's usable. on Revolutionary Scuba Mask Creates Breathable Oxygen Underwater On Its Own · · Score: 1

    Nowhere does it say it is separating water into hydrogen and oxygen. The description is a little misleading.
    It is not extracting OXYGEN. It is extracting disolved AIR from the water just like fish do. You can't
    breath pure oxygen anyways but you can breath the oxygen/nitrogen air that is naturally disolved in moving water.

  23. Re:Government sells seized assets on US Government To Convert Silk Road Bitcoins To USD · · Score: 0

    And gold is just a nice-looking metal that has some uses in electronics. Besides food and oxygen, every object we use to determine wealth is kind of bs, so bitcoin is no more or less credible than what we've got now.

    Money is a store of value. I agree that gold is probably not the perfect proxy in a completely collapsed society but there are other stores
    that are almost as good as food and water. I like to think of money as a store of "labor" i.e. It's something that you can get other people
    to work for. Oil/Gas is a really good store of labor. Even if you were the only person left alive it would allow you to run your tractor and
    harvest more food than you could otherwise. It will always be worth something. Bullets are another commodity that would be useful for
    hunting/safety and will always be tradable. I would like to see money based on oil or a basket of universal commodities. A good start
    would be the ability to go to a gas station and buy a gift card for 25 gallons of gas denominated in gallons not dollars.
    http://www.mygallons.com/ kindof does this already but it has several fees associated with it.

  24. Re:Freeloaders on The Role of Freeloaders In Open Source Communities · · Score: 1

    Why? The reason to open source is (usually) to get more developers involved.

    But that's very narrowminded thinking. Think of it more like this:
    For every 100 users, one might be a developer and for every 100 developers
    one might contribute back so by increasing the total user base you do eventually
    get more developers not to mention that the larger the user base the larger the
    word of mouth and the more likely the developers you want hear about you.
    Likewise if the freeloader is your current employer, when you move to a new company
    which software will you recommend to your new employer who might not be a freeloader.

  25. Re:Relevant xkcd on Ask Slashdot: What To Do With Misdirected Email? · · Score: 1

    I have a similiar problem. I am the legal owner of a .com domain which cooresponds to a .com.au domain of a rather large
    Australian company. I receive dozens of emails a week ranging from people having problems with their orders to employees
    of this company ordering stuff of amazon and apparently leaving off the .au on the domain. I originally tried to setup
    autoresponders and autoforwarding for the email but it became too overwhelming. I feel bad when I see messages that are
    asking about orders that never arrived, were damaged, or have special instructions and ideally I would bounce them so
    they would at least know that they were not received but there is no way to do this and have a catchall in google apps which
    is what we currently use for our mail service.