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User: joedoe

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Comments · 26

  1. Impressive lack of merit on ACS Sues Google Over Use of 'Scholar' · · Score: 1

    This has, impressively enough, quite a bit less merit than Microsoft's case against Lindows. For starters, both SciFinder and Google Scholar have logos that minimize "Scholar" relative to the rest of the sites' names (See SciFinder and Google logos).

    So not only is this a common word, with many obvious uses, but it is not even the major part of the product name like, say, Microsoft Windows, whose logo is at least dominated by Windows.

    --joedoe

  2. Re:Watch out! on Firefox Seeks Full Page Ad in New York Times · · Score: 1

    The best google images could do was this, but that's it, at least.

    --joedoe

  3. Re:550 Pounds of money?!?!?!? on Visual Autopsy Of An ATM Card Skimmer · · Score: 4, Funny

    But I'm sure what we all really want to know is, how much is that in Libraries of Congress?

    --joedoe

  4. finally! on Microscopy With A Film Scanner · · Score: 1

    Finally! A use for the film scanner in the lab where I work. We have one in the room with the microscopes, and I've never been able to think of a use for it.

    --joedoe

  5. the next few weeks... on RPC DCOM Cleanup Worm Appears · · Score: 5, Interesting

    should provide a great test of the security savvy of university IT departments, as students return to the dorms and plug in their unpatched computers, the vast majority of which probably haven't been connected to the Internet in several months.

    Unsecured university networks could unleash a new wave of worm-infected machines on the Net. This could be fun to watch, for those of us who aren't uni sysadmins...

    --joedoe

  6. Re:Stem cell research on Playing God with Monsters · · Score: 1

    It seems that the only real impact of the "compromise" is on fields that need cell lines that didn't already exist when the announcement was made. Those people are basically screwed. Those who were already doing fine could continue using what they had, though.

    So, there's something of a lag until the impact is felt.

  7. why bother? on OpEd Piece on Extended Life Expectancy · · Score: 1

    Not too long ago, there was a slashdot thread that inspired an awful lot of bitching about just how depressing many /.ers find life in general. Having seen how often biologists are just as hopelessly depressed as average /. geeks, this whole search for immortality among many very intelligent people seems rather baffling.

    At some point, are we going to exert much energy to figuring out how to make these years livable--worth living, at least--rather than merely more of what we already enjoy? Even as we get closer to unlocking secrets that may--and I'm very dubious in the medium-term--allow us to live longer, depression is way up. Why bother?

  8. Re:Ford Prefect... the Car? on EU IP Enforcement Directive Criticized · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's a European-only model.

    The joke (to the British audience) was that he incorrectly determined which species was in charge, and thus, in his attempts to blend in as much as possible, named himself for a car.

  9. label design suggestions on Senator Calls For Copy-Protection Tags · · Score: 2, Insightful
    These should be modeled after Canada's cigarette warning labels, which show graphic images of the effects of cigarettes.

    Perhaps a nice little picture of, say, a broken CD-ROM drive, or the nice little warning a Mac gives when its CD drive has been killed by one of these CDs...

    or just something simple, like WARNING: This product is inferior.

  10. oh, that narrows it down. on Hyatt Discusses Tabs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Is it really necessary on /. to qualify anyone as an übergeek?

  11. Re:Airline Pricing..and others on Which Price is Right? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    While you're right about predatory practices that American businesses often engage in, this is a different issue altogether. Those practices mostly hinge on the scarcity of money among the poor, and hence their greater tendency to utilize expensive credit.

    Think of the automobile market, which was one of the first examples of someone creating divisions within the market (at GM) to capture more of the money that consumers were willing to spend. The (relatively) poor can buy cheap K-cars, while those with more money settle on better-equipped models, and those with more go for Merecedes, and so on. Without differentiation of products, everyone would have bought a car, sure, but they wouldn't have paid nearly as much for the cars, and the automakers wouldn't have made anywhere near as much money.

    In a way, this is an extension of the product-differentiation model, with the idea being that differentiating by individual rather than by class can get them even more of the consumers' money. Inherent in all this, of course, is that they want their tactics to remain (at least relatively) hidden from consumers, fearing the backlash.

    I doubt the legality of that, so we're perhaps more likely to see all businesses in a given area settle on similar practices, and then it doesn't matter if they're open about them.

  12. why Esperanto film? on Ask William Shatner · · Score: 1

    I've wondered for quite some time about the circumstances that led to the production of a film in Esperanto, Incubus , and beyond that, what led to your role in the film.

    I assume that this film was quite apart from English works, but I'm curious as to what the more unique challenges of working in Esperanto were. Cult followers everywhere want to know!

  13. working link! on Princeton Hacks Yale, Harvard Not Surprised · · Score: 3, Informative

    you might want to link to this--the "high traffic" version of the article, since it actually works.

  14. thank you, everyone who posts without reading on Vegas: Monorails v. Gridlock · · Score: 1
    First responses to the idea of a monorail almost always assume that it's a toy, but that mentality is only really present in the US, thanks to, of course, Disney. But stop and think about how many visitors their durable monorail systems carry, and those were designed decades ago. Modern monorails carry millions of passengers a day, mostly in Japan, where monorail technology has progressed in leaps and bounds.

    So try to realise that this is real, effective transit, where it is desperately needed. Try to lay off the monorail jokes, and go visit The Monorail Society for more info.

  15. Not quite a valid comparison... on Ultima Revived · · Score: 2, Funny

    "EA owns the rights to Ultima and all of its characters, and in this case, no permission was requested or granted," said Jeff Brown, an Electronic Arts spokesman. "As for Richard Garriott's approval, that's like getting permission from Toto to remake The Wizard of Oz."

    I don't recall Toto having been the creative force behind The Wizard of Oz, but perhaps I'm missing something. Or perhaps this guy is just using an obnoxious simile.

    joedoe

  16. Re:Whats it needed for? on Security Issues with Windows 2000 Datacenter? · · Score: 1

    It is optimized for large data warehouses, econometric analysis, large-scale simulations in science and engineering, online transaction processing (OLTP), and server consolidation.

    My question is, just how good is it for econometric analysis and large-scale simulations? That would seem to be an area in which nobody really uses Windows, but I'm curious as to whether this could actually be competitive with the traditional usage of Unix boxes. Any thoughts?

    --joedoe

  17. Re:We bitch about civil liberties on /. on Senate Trashes Civil Liberties; House to Vote Today · · Score: 1

    You're missing the point just as much as anybody else.

    You say this isn't cut and dry, that it's all about balance, and yet you seem to think that it is cut and dry--after all, the solution is simply to reduce personal freedoms, right? That's all there is to it, obviously. We shouldn't worry about all the things we could do to prevent terrorism that wouldn't remove personal freedoms, let alone the way we could STOP ACTING LIKE WE RULE THE WORLD AND START CARING ABOUT PEOPLE IN OTHER COUNTRIES. Perhaps we could start by changing our cowboy-mentality foreign policy, sign a few treaties, recall what the heck diplomats are, maybe develop some actual relations with all these "rogue" (read: led by those put in power by Americans) states. But, alas, alack, I'm going too deep. The obvious response is to reduce personal liberties. Duh.

    --Gray

  18. Is that internally consistent? on Working Nerve Chip · · Score: 0

    From the post, emphasis added:

    Cute, one step closer to a descent uplink!

    How does that work, exactly?

    --joedoe

  19. Did anybody else notice... on Harry Potter Wins Hugo · · Score: 1

    that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won a Hugo for Dramatic Presentation? Yeah, there's hard SF for sure...

    joedoe

  20. Okay, you're pathetic. on Online Romance - For Good or Evil? · · Score: 0

    Yea, flamebait!

    This is really pitiful. Go out on a "date"; try interacting with someone in the "real world". You'll find it easier than you may expect. Really. You should try it sometime.

  21. trolls blow HARD on Amiga Development Update · · Score: 1

    Watch your language!

  22. hmmmmmm on Help Bandwidth Starved Slashdot at LinuxWorld · · Score: 1

    Man, it would be hard to act any more pompous...but then again, why are you spending your precious time reading my message??

    joedoe

  23. Can't wait for them to get to my region! on Car chase notification service · · Score: 1

    While you're there check out the Pursuit Talk Message Board, and join the Mailing List, all brought to you by The Pursuit Watch Network!

    Wow.

    I'm not sure how I'm going to make it without such a "network" in my region. Perhaps I can get a satellite. I would say it's worth it...

    joedoe
    to be taken seriously, as always...

  24. Ooooh on Home connected to the Internet · · Score: 1

    Isn't Visual Basic useful??
    Soooo many applications.../P.

    :-)

    joedoe

  25. refund too low on Emachines give $26 refund for Windows Return · · Score: 1
    Remember, this is Microsoft *Works*, an even crappier suite than Office, and nowhere near as expensive

    joedoe