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User: bws111

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  1. Re:shooter should have talked to owner first on New Telemetry Suggests Shot-Down Drone Was Higher Than Alleged · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why is it the property owners reponsibility to go find and talk to the drone operator? The drone operator, on the other hand, knows where his toy is going so maybe HE should actually act like a responsible person and let the property owners know what he is doing ahead of time.

  2. Re:Really? on New Telemetry Suggests Shot-Down Drone Was Higher Than Alleged · · Score: 2

    No, it doesn't. It says they showed a chart from an online hunting course. Said chart shows 'maximum projectile range'. It does not say that is when shooting straight up, or that there is enough energy left at that distance to do any harm.

  3. Re:Believe what you want... on Ebola Vaccine 100% Successful In Guinea Trial · · Score: 1

    It doesn't say it is 100% effective, it says it had a 100% success rate IN THE TRIAL. Which it did. The TFA says that the actual effectiveness will be between 75 and 100%. But it is sooo much easier to just criticize than simply read, isn't it.

  4. Re:LOL - there is no such thing as 'vaccination'.. on Ebola Vaccine 100% Successful In Guinea Trial · · Score: 1

    Serious question: are placebos normally used in a vaccine trial? Is there really such a thing as a placebo effect for something like ebola?

  5. Re:How many infections... on Ebola Vaccine 100% Successful In Guinea Trial · · Score: 2

    Only half the people were vaccinated the first time. The rest were the control group. Of the control group 16 got ebola. Then they vaccinated the rest, and nobody got ebola.

  6. Re:Convenient on Ebola Vaccine 100% Successful In Guinea Trial · · Score: 1

    Nope. We could blame it on ignorance if, for instance, he asked why it is possible to develop an ebola vaccine but not kill cancer. But he didn't do that, he claimed some kind of conspiracy that is stopping us from curing cancer.

  7. Re: God damn it... on Japanese Scientists Fire the Most Powerful Laser On the Planet · · Score: 1

    LASER is what is happening. laser is the name of the device.

  8. Re:Have you looked at Roku? on Ask Slashdot: Best Wireless PC-to-TV Solution? · · Score: 1

    The submitter never mentioned popcorn. The first RESPONSE mentioned popcorn, but that is NOT the original poster. If you are going to chastise or correct someone (twice), if helps if you are correct.

  9. Re:Have you looked at Roku? on Ask Slashdot: Best Wireless PC-to-TV Solution? · · Score: 1

    See the post directly above yours (from the submitter). It wasn't me who was not paying attention.

  10. Re:Have you looked at Roku? on Ask Slashdot: Best Wireless PC-to-TV Solution? · · Score: 1

    I don't see anything in his request about playing media (although maybe he wants to do that). It seems to me what he wants is some cheap device that acts as a VNC client (with sound), using his TV as the monitor.

  11. Re:Sounds Great on The Biohacking Movement and Open Source Insulin · · Score: 1

    Why would the FDA prevent it? It has aleady been approved and used in the past. And if the USDA is preventing it, that isn't really a drug company, is it?

  12. Re:Sounds Great on The Biohacking Movement and Open Source Insulin · · Score: 1

    So, start a company that makes animal insulin. The patents are long gone, there's nothing stopping you.

  13. Re:Truck Stops, Gas Stations, etc on Are We Reaching the Electric Car Tipping Point? · · Score: 1

    Been like that pretty much forever. Before they had the stores they had service bays. And if that friendly guy who checked your oil just happened to notice that your hoses looked bad, well... But then the newer cars started needing less and less service, so the bays were replaced with stores.

  14. Re:It's IBM's fault. Everyone copied the PC. on Ask Slashdot: Why Is the Caps Lock Key Still So Prominent On Keyboards? · · Score: 1

    You're both right in a way. The 3278s did have a cap lock next to the A key. That was because the 3278s replaced typewriters in the corporate environment. The original PC/XT/AT systems were not targeted at the corporate environment, they were targeted at the SOHO market. Those keyboards did not have the caps lock next to the A key. The 3270PC was used as a replacement for 3278, and it had the caps lock next to the A. This was the first IBM PC targeted for corporate. After that most of their PCS were corporate use, and they retained that layout.

  15. Re:Why not have mechanical security too? on Hacker Set To Demonstrate 60 Second Brinks Safe Hack At DEFCON · · Score: 1

    And by the time you have modified the ATM software you no longer have an ATM, you have this safe. So what exactly is the point?

  16. Re:Why not have mechanical security too? on Hacker Set To Demonstrate 60 Second Brinks Safe Hack At DEFCON · · Score: 1

    ATMs require access to the account. Think it's a good idea to give all your employees access to your bank account?

    ATMs do not count the money (well, some count individually inserted bills - just what you want your employee to be doing)

    ATMs do not create reports of deposits made.

    ATMs do not allow management to remotely check on deposits.

  17. Re:What the... on Hacker Set To Demonstrate 60 Second Brinks Safe Hack At DEFCON · · Score: 1

    It is a 'safe' in the same sense an ATM is a safe. It counts (and sorts) the money that is inserted and credits it to your bank account. It records who made deposits (requires user management). It prints reports. It notifies Brinks when it is time to empty the safe. It allows a remote manager access to see deposits made, etc.

    So at the very least it needs to interface with a bill counter/sorter, network (encryption, etc), touch screen, printer, card reader, and lock mechanism. Is there any reason besides stupidity you would implement all that with a FPGA or hard-coded application?

  18. Re:Why even use an electronic safe? on Hacker Set To Demonstrate 60 Second Brinks Safe Hack At DEFCON · · Score: 1

    A rather key feature of this 'safe' is that it counts the cash and credits your bank account. It notifies Brinks when a pickup must be made. It prints reports of deposits made, etc. It allows a central location to see that deposits are being made and how much money is in the safe. It has multiple users and roles. It has a touch screen to allow for management of user and roles, logging on, reporting, unlocking, etc. It is getting harder and harder to do on a simple microcontroller with no OS, and impossible to do without some sort of external connectivity.

  19. Re:Why even use an electronic safe? on Hacker Set To Demonstrate 60 Second Brinks Safe Hack At DEFCON · · Score: 1

    Well, it is easy to make statements like that when you have no idea what the thing actually is or how it is used.

    First, this thing is meant to be used in stores, gas stations, etc. The employee logs on and puts the cash in and it is counted and reported to the bank. The manager can check and see how much cash is in there and who put it in. At some later time, an armed Brinks employee comes in and empties the safe.

    So, what happens with your simple safe? Assuming you aren't dumb enough to give the employees the combination you need a 'drop' type safe. OK. But now you don't know how much money is in it until you open it (security problem). The money is just sitting in your safe, useless, until it gets delivered to the bank. So how do you get the money to the bank? Open the safe, take out the cash, and drive it to the bank yourself? Giant security problem. Have Brinks come and pick it up daily? More secure, but expensive. Who opens the safe when you are not available? Now you have to give the combination to someone else. Security problem.

  20. Re:Why an OS? on Hacker Set To Demonstrate 60 Second Brinks Safe Hack At DEFCON · · Score: 1

    Here is one of these safes. The first, most obvious thing is that it has a touch-screen device, a printer, a network connection, a card reader, a cash counter, and a safe. That is a lot of hardware to drive with no OS.

    It also has mutliple users, with various roles for each user. Sounds like more OS stuff.

    It has ways to add and delete users, and change passwords. More OS stuff.

    It can make reports, so obviously it has some sort of storage, which means some sort of file system. More OS stuff.

    It has ways to update the software. More OS stuff.

    So the real question is, why would anyone in their right mind NOT use an OS on a device like this?

  21. idiots on 950 Million Android Phones Can Be Hijacked By Malicious Text Messages · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hey morons, you already posted this TODAY.

  22. Re:And Bill James started it all in the 70's on For the Love of the Analytics of the Game: Before Beane, There Was AVM Systems · · Score: 1

    Thre don't get penalized for walks. If they are walked it doesn't count as an 'at bat', so it has no effect on their average at all.

  23. Re:wrong wrong wrong about copyleft on On Being Pro-GPL · · Score: 1

    Wrong. If you are distributing,modifed or not, YOU must offer the source code.

    For a rather obvious example, see Red Hat. I have an RHN registered machine. I can download a binary RPM (GPL), and I can also download the source. I can pass that binary to you, but I can not simply say 'you can get the source from RHN', because RHN won't let you in without a registered machine (which costs money). In that case, I am the one violating the license, not Red Hat. It would be up to me to get the source from RHN and provide it to you.

  24. Re:Taxi company on Europe's Top Court To Decide If Uber Is Tech Firm Or Taxi Company · · Score: 2

    Yet Uber and Lyft are much more popular, so you've proved their point.

    Where did you get THAT bizarre idea? Uber claims 140 million rides/year WORLDWIDE. NYC taxis do 236 million rides/year just in NYC.

  25. Re:Taxi company on Europe's Top Court To Decide If Uber Is Tech Firm Or Taxi Company · · Score: 1

    Depends where you are. In large cities taxis are hailed. In small cities taxi rides are pre-arranged and not hailed.