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User: david.emery

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  1. I've been happily and ethically employed on Why Engineers Must Consider the Ethical Implications of Their Work · · Score: 3

    in the US Military-Industrial Complex for most of the last 35 years.

    If that doesn't match your ethics, that's OK.

  2. Re:I ask them, "What's my IP address?" on Microsoft Customers Hit With New Wave of Fake Tech Support Calls · · Score: 1

    Or 127.0.0.1 :-)

  3. I ask them, "What's my IP address?" on Microsoft Customers Hit With New Wave of Fake Tech Support Calls · · Score: 1

    That throws them off-script. I say, "If you're telling me my computer has viruses, you must know the IP address of the infected computer."

    And then when they give me some Windows mumbo-jumbo, I'll say, "But all the computers here are Macs."

  4. Re:power-cycle your whole house? on Blue Light of Death Plagues PlayStation 4 · · Score: 1

    Not sure why this was rated 'Troll'. I could see it as 'irrelevant to the topic', but what I reported here is what I saw on LH 414, 16 NOV 2013.

  5. power-cycle your whole house? on Blue Light of Death Plagues PlayStation 4 · · Score: 0, Troll

    The entertainment system on the LH A340-300 I flew yesterday wasn't booting. We could see the Windows CE console boot sequence where it would hang. The pilot came on the loudspeaker and told us he had to power-cycle the entire aircraft. (I'm pretty sure he meant just the cabin power.) Several people said, "Makes sense if it's running Windows," and another asked, "They aren't using Windows in the cockpit, are they?"

    (Once it did boot up, touch panel performance was poor, and video playback had a fair amount of stutter.)

  6. Re:Cuts both ways on MEPs Vote To Suspend Data Sharing With US · · Score: 1

    Do you really think a French MEP's re-election will be impacted by a terrorist strike in the UK, or vice versa?

  7. Re:Cuts both ways on MEPs Vote To Suspend Data Sharing With US · · Score: 1

    Well, there have been indications to that effect. But my response is not -predicated- on the prior existence of such agreements.

    Rather it asserts the willingness of the US to share -in the future- would be impacted by an European unwillingness to share.

  8. Re:Cuts both ways on MEPs Vote To Suspend Data Sharing With US · · Score: 1

    Well, until there's an Edward Snowden equivalent from UK, France, Germany, etc; I'm not sure I believe there are no reciprocal data sharing agreements.

  9. Re:Cuts both ways on MEPs Vote To Suspend Data Sharing With US · · Score: 1

    Why should the US share data with Europe, if Europe closes TFTP? That's my point (albeit perhaps not particularly well made.)

  10. Cuts both ways on MEPs Vote To Suspend Data Sharing With US · · Score: 1

    Europe is a lot closer to, and has been more impacted by, terrorist strikes than the US. A reduction in data sharing will impact both sides of the Atlantic.

    Of course, MEPs aren't really -accountable- to anyone for their decisions, it's the European sovereign governments who will be left holding the bag if terrorist strikes increase.

  11. Re:Steam's often daily updates on Ask Slashdot: Can Valve's Steam Machines Compete Against the Xbox One and PS4? · · Score: 1

    I have no problems reading PDFs without Adobe Acrobat on my Mac using Preview.app. And I need to enable Java maybe once or twice per month, if at that. Your mileage may vary.

  12. Re:Steam's often daily updates on Ask Slashdot: Can Valve's Steam Machines Compete Against the Xbox One and PS4? · · Score: 1

    Guess I'm an old fart, I let very few applications self-update. To me, the frequency of these updates is an indication of code quality. I don't doubt that most applications are written so poorly that they need to update on a daily basis. Guess that's all part of being "agile" (as opposed to being "correct".)

    Steam itself had a horrible memory leak for months before it got fixed, so it's not like bugs are getting fixed instantaneously...

  13. Steam's often daily updates on Ask Slashdot: Can Valve's Steam Machines Compete Against the Xbox One and PS4? · · Score: 1

    Steam will have to get a much more stable product. Seems it tries to self-update on a weekly, occasionally daily basis on my machine. I can't see the average gameboy putting up with having to wait while his Steam Machine updates yet again. "Continuous Integration" may be good for a development/integration approach, but it is neither appealing nor particularly effective as a software delivery approach.

  14. Dead man tries to walk, trips and falls... on BlackBerry Delays Launch of BBM Apps For iOS, Android · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The one part of Blackberry's business that might be attractive to an outside buyer is its secure email hosting. If they can't even get that right with iOS & Android apps, what's left? Truly this is a zombie company with both of its arms falling off. The demise of BB hardware could be blamed in part to 'market forces,' but BB has no one to blame for the failure of its software developers and managers.

  15. Re:Deliberate actions on Snowden Spoofed Top Officials' Identity To Mine NSA Secrets · · Score: 1

    As someone who has been in the past subject to the UCMJ, i.e. I served in the military, I'm careful about using that word. In this case, I believe there would be sufficient cause for the charge. Whether that charge "sticks" is something for the Courts to decide.

    But again, as someone who has actively served in the military (although not in either the current set of wars or in the first Gulf War of 20 years ago (but it was close - they called two units like mine), the more details that get disclosed, the more potential damage in terms of 'means and methods.'

    On the other hand, I don't think the Top Secret Intelligence establishment had sufficient safeguards in place for someone who thought that the law was being violated to handle these kinds of complaints. That does not forgive Snowden, he could have, for instance, gone to a member of the Senate or House Intelligence Committees (selecting a Member that would have been particularly sympathetic to his position.) Or gone public inside the US, like Daniel Ellsworth did with the Pentagon Papers. Instead, he ran to China and then Russia. Those actions speak much louder to me than any protestations of 'morality.'

  16. Re:Deliberate actions on Snowden Spoofed Top Officials' Identity To Mine NSA Secrets · · Score: 1

    Good comment. When Mr Snowden is brought to trial, that's something for the courts to decide, as the Court-Martial did for Private Manning.

    A HUGE difference between Ellsworth and the Pentagon Papers and Snowden is Ellsworth remained in the US to defend himself and his actions. Snowden ran first to China and then to Russia, two countries whose history over the last 70 years is antagonistic to the US. That alone would tend to support, if not fully justify, part of a Treason charge, along the grounds of "adhering" and/or "giving aid or comfort." But IANAL.

  17. Re:Deliberate actions on Snowden Spoofed Top Officials' Identity To Mine NSA Secrets · · Score: 1

    Treason against the government is morally bad. It can be mitigated if and only if the governed -in great majority-, concur with the action. I see no equivalent of a popular uprising supporting Snowden or Manning.

  18. Re:Deliberate actions on Snowden Spoofed Top Officials' Identity To Mine NSA Secrets · · Score: 1

    It's very clear that Washington and Jefferson would have been hung if the American Revolution hadn't succeeded.

    See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_André and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold

  19. Deliberate actions on Snowden Spoofed Top Officials' Identity To Mine NSA Secrets · · Score: 1

    The more that comes out, the more convinced I am that his actions were planned and deliberate, and even more than the-person-formerly-known-as-Bradley Manning, this constitutes something approaching treason.

  20. Leadership is harder than followership on Ask Slashdot: Is Development Leadership Overvalued? · · Score: 1

    It takes talent and/or training to lead a technical team, let alone larger groups. That's a skill that some companies are desperately searching for.

    It's worth taking some training and trying the leadership/management track. If you're not good at it, or not happy at it, that should be OK. The problem, though, is that in many companies these days, experience as a developer is not valued. There's the view that developers/engineers are "plug replaceable resources" that they can get for lowest price.

    If you're a senior tech person (and you're good at it,) you'll want to find companies that value experience. (Hint, if they do 'buzzword matching' on your resume for this year's "hot technologies" and that's all they ask about in an interview, it's probably not a god thing...) Or, you're going to have to establish a value proposition some other way, e.g. expanding to other kinds of engineering/roles within the company, sales/marketing/field engineering, etc.

    Unfortunately, it's not a good world out there those with technical expertise and not much else on their resumes. (And a lot of the sh*tty software we have to put up with reflects the lack of experience by those that developed it....)

  21. Archival quality CD/DVD blanks on Ask Slashdot: Best Way To Store Data In Hard Copy? · · Score: 2

    Are available at camera stores. I suspect we'll be able to read CD formats for quite a while longer.

  22. And how do we know these are legit? on WA Post Publishes 4 More Slides On Data Collection From Google, Et Al · · Score: 0

    It would be pretty easy to create PowerPoint with the requisite markings, logos, etc, on it and then peddle it to various newspapers.

  23. Has WikiLeaks harmed WikiPedia? on Interview: Ask Jimmy Wales What You Will · · Score: 1

    Or even helped its reputation? And more generally, what's the impact of WikiXXX on WikiPedia?

  24. Re:I thought it was a toy store on Nook Failure, Lack of Foot Traffic Could Spell Doom For Barnes & Noble · · Score: 1

    Agree. Their music section just duplicated what I could get at WalMart or Target for a lot less; I'm not interested in pop music. Classical content was laughable. Although some of the toys were fun, we don't have children to buy for any more. So that was just more space taken away from their primary mission of selling books. Borders offered a wider selection of books (in its prime). When we had both stores available to us, I'd go to the local B&N for browsing, and Borders (further away) when trying to find something obscure.

    Amazon scratches the 'obscure' itch much better than Borders, but doesn't offer the same browsing experience.

  25. Barnes & Noble closed the profitable store her on Nook Failure, Lack of Foot Traffic Could Spell Doom For Barnes & Noble · · Score: 4, Interesting

    (Reston VA), In part due to contract dispute with the mall owner. But they could have moved into a nice Borders store location about 5 miles away in Sterling VA. Instead, they pointed me to their store in Tyson's Corner, which costs me $5 in tolls and puts me in the middle of a traffic mess. I felt sorry for the Reston store employees and the managers who did a good job with our local store, handing one my B&N Readers Card. I said, "Send this to Corporate. Tell them to look up how much I've spent -in this store- over the last 15 years. Tell them that 95% of that business is going to Amazon, because I will not drive to Tysons and B&N offers me no alternative."

    I really miss browsing in a paper bookstore, Amazon does not offer the same experience (their suggestions aren't as useful for me as they think they are...) The loss of B&N will be significant for consumers, I think. But I'm mostly through the 5 stages of mourning for them.