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User: xdor

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Comments · 326

  1. Re:M.A.D. on Microsoft vs. Google — Mutually Assured Destruction · · Score: 1

    Only if you're running Windows

  2. Re:Pull the Gdamn plug! on Online Attack Hits US Government Web Sites · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but what if I flood your sight with custom headers that make your little script block mission critical sites? Your black list would be your own undoing.

  3. Down for Maintenance on Online Attack Hits US Government Web Sites · · Score: 1

    Its the July 4th weekend. They were probably down for maintenance and it took longer than expected.
    What would you tell your PHB?

  4. More like on Chicken Feathers May Hold Key To Hydrogen Storage · · Score: 1

    Chicken carbonara

  5. Thought Police? on UK Launches Dedicated Cyber Security Agency · · Score: 2

    Will this department handle weeding out dissenters or is that a different section?

  6. Re:Distillation on Univ. of Wisconsin's 30-Year-Old Payroll System Needs a $40 Million Fix · · Score: 1

    Based on what you're saying I'm stepping in it just like all the contractors and companies in the last 30 years.

    That's really enlightening, actually.

    So taking the time to interview the business to obtain an understanding of what they actually need would be more valuable than attempting to divine that from the binary tea leaves

    I suppose this kind of due diligence is taught in most colleges, just not at the University of Wisconsin?

  7. Re:Can't spell in business case on Univ. of Wisconsin's 30-Year-Old Payroll System Needs a $40 Million Fix · · Score: 1

    Nice catch.

    But you'll notice I am readily farming that out.

  8. Prospectus on Univ. of Wisconsin's 30-Year-Old Payroll System Needs a $40 Million Fix · · Score: 1, Interesting
    Phase 1

    Extraction of business rules from legacy (probably COBAL) system.
    Farm it out to other universities or India.
    (Cost: maybe $1 million) Basic requirements and documentation finalized

    Phase 2

    Take the rules and implement the entire system into a PostgreSQL database Java middle-tier to Java AND web-based interface. Revise documentation.
    (Cost: another million)

    Phase 3

    User acceptance and testing. and go live.
    (Cost: 1-2 million)

    Profit Finally, hold the remaining funds as a "maintenance fee" and use the interest to cover ongoing support

  9. That's a nice budget you got there on Univ. of Wisconsin's 30-Year-Old Payroll System Needs a $40 Million Fix · · Score: 3, Funny

    I would totally sign up to do this job.

  10. Drop the CFL mandate please! on Laser Blast Makes Regular Light Bulbs Super-Efficient · · Score: 1

    I personally cannot stand CFLs.

    For some reason I have balance issues in a room lit with CFLs. Walking around in those big-box stores lit with massive clusters of fluorescent lights I get dizzy. I have to get what I need and leave as quickly as possible

    While I am probably an exception, I cannot agree that these horrible lights should be mandated. If these Laser-Incandescent bulbs are available: I will buy them

    Do they have a medical exception in that bill?

  11. Re:I'm not switching... on IBM Doubles Rewards For Ditching Sun · · Score: 1

    I'll second the OpenBSD + UltraSparc combo

  12. Re:The real question is.... on US Military Issuing iPod Touches To Soldiers · · Score: 1

    You mean sort of like what Bush Co. did to Valerie Plame?

    "According to sources used by a Washington Post article"
    "According to claims made by a former official at The Times"
    "According to a description provided by a Los Angeles Times reporter"

    The broad release of specific operational material announced by the President himself sends the wrong message to all our agents and any present or future threats.

    I think there is a real difference.

    But despite how it was done, I am glad that water-boarding is now off the table.
    Since this government has decided to classify right-leaning persons as terrorists, at least I can now hope I won't be badly treated when imprisoned for my thought crimes.

  13. Re:The real question is.... on US Military Issuing iPod Touches To Soldiers · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You're an Obama supporter, but you have a background in intel?

    How do you feel knowing he would sell you out for the upper hand in a first-round lawsuit?

    Or perhaps your intelligence is merely for your own political safety?

    vir prudens non contra ventum mingit

  14. Re:national security on FOIA Request For Pending Copyright Treaty Denied · · Score: 1

    Actually the market does function in this way.
    If a person of a particular race, sex, or other classifying data exhibits talent desired by industry or the "market": they will demand such a person regardless.

  15. Use the Media on Obama Helicopter Security Breached By File Sharing · · Score: 1

    What is most disturbing is the quick turn-around from Obama's much publicized economic after-school-program/summit in which the new helicopters are proposed to be cut.

    A week later the blueprints for Marine-ONE are leaked

    Well shucks, I guess we have to have that new helicopter now

    So the only question is, did the White House order the leak or the contractor? Or did they just work it out between them?

    I think they should be a little more transparent about these things.

  16. Similar Research Area on New Nanotech Fabric Never Gets Wet · · Score: 1

    I was reading recently about how construction of video application PCB board requires solders that are curved rather than at right angles to facilitate high-bandwidth signaling and reduce noise.

    If it was possible to create a nano-scale insulation that by construction encourages the repulsion of electrical energy in a given wave-length the improvements for digital and analog signaling would be immense.

  17. Re:Triangulation on Researchers Turn Tables and Walls Into "Scratch Input" Surfaces · · Score: 1

    So does this rule out an ability to triangulate the sound?

  18. Contradiction on Scientists Discover Proteins Controlling Evolution · · Score: 2, Interesting
    From TFA:

    "[...] concluding that it would be statistically impossible for this self-correcting behavior to be random [...]"

    So these so-called "evolutionary mechanics" are found to exhibit a trait we describe with engineering metaphors.

    But the article discounts the obvious indications of design by a inventing a self-refuting new term "evolutionary control".
    Evolutionary products being "self-correcting" implies two things:

    1. The mutation rates scientists depend on for life to appear in relative short order must now be extended to account for corrective actions repressing mutation
    2. Feedback mechanisms are directing respective proteins' development; it knows what its suppose to be
  19. Mandatory Community Service on Obama Launches Change.gov · · Score: 1
    This sounds like everyone is going to be made slaves of the state.
    I know this is supposedly only to be required for middle school, high school, and possibly college students: but that's not what the sentence says.

    Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America... a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school

    I guess this is what happens when you elect a "community organizer"!

    Land of the [no longer] free, home of the slaves

  20. Awesome! Where can I get some? on Rainforest Fungus Synthesizes Diesel · · Score: 1

    Hopefully this is for real and not oil company electioneering: "casts some doubt on the idea that crude oil is a fossil fuel" If its true this would be great: we don't have to run out in 10-20-50-100-1000 years. And I can grow it my backyard! Yeah!

  21. The Reason for "Liberating" Iraq on Discuss the US Presidential Election & the War · · Score: 1

    The invasion of Iraq was done for the express purpose of luring terrorists to someplace besides the US.

    The problem with unaffiliated guerrilla fighters is that there is no clear place to strike back. Terrorism always has this advantage of little to no associations. What can be done, but wait for them to strike? And then who is there to punish if they are all dead in the attack?

    Iraq provided a battlefield far removed from US collateral, and conveniently close to the terrorists themselves. Why go all the way to America to kill the infidel when they're just next door?

    Further, providing a closer place to strike also presented the terrorist with a moral dilemma of killing their own people when they commit their acts of terror.

    So why wasn't Afghanistan sufficient for this purpose? Rooting out the Taliban was the required first step, but due to lack of cooperation from both Pakistan and Turkey, suppling Afghanistan became a logistical nightmare.

    Iraq provided the solution to this problem. It has a seaport, and therefore easily supplied without restrictions. It has oil, a key commodity for fueling an army. Its terrain is more conducive to US operations, leaving the terrorist fewer places to hide.

    9/11 cost the US economy over $270 billion dollars (Wall Street Journal). $270 billion in a single day. $10 billion a month is a small price to pay to avoid further incidents. The human cost is similar. Over 3,000 civilians in a single day or 5,000 soldiers over 5 years? BTW, the soldiers might have a fighting chance; civilians: not so much.

    Negative press is as important as location in this kind of war. Bleeding terrorists dry by drawing them in to the trap of Iraq is better done if the terrorists are under the impression that we're losing (which I don't doubt we were at some points). The fact that we've starting operations reaching into Syria (a major importer of foreign fighters) is a good indication that we're not getting as many terrorists to take the bait: and therefore we're running out of things to do :)

    That has been, in my opinion, the entire strategy of this Iraqi campaign.

    But all this does not discount the fact that we invaded a country unprovoked to provide us a battlefield. Saddam gave us lots of excuses for an invasion, but in the end I think we failed the Churchill test by striking first.

  22. Re:Could this be the disconnect? on Packs of Robots Will Hunt Down Uncooperative Humans · · Score: 1

    ...in user as it is in kernel

  23. Re:Seriously it is quite an achievement on $700 Billion Bailout Signed Into Law · · Score: 1

    They passed it the second time because this time it came with a big bag of goodies for everyone to take home to their electorate. They were bribed.

  24. DOS, anyone? on CERN Launches Huge LHC Computing Grid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So does this network "grid" rely on TCP? Can all this be rendered useless by Robert E. Lee's hack?

  25. jQuery vs. JavaScript "classes" on Microsoft and Nokia Adopt OSS JQuery Framework · · Score: 1

    I'm just getting into the use of JavaScript for server and client interactions. I've been pretty impressed with what's available when you take the class-like approach. For the most part, I have had no issues with JavaScript browser differences (well, back to IE 6 anyway) It appears jQuery would make my scripts smaller, but I can do that by packing my scripts too. Why should I use a library that redefines what JavaScript does so well already on its own?