Slashdot Mirror


User: caladine

caladine's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
197
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 197

  1. Tesla deserves some scrutiny, but I'd be very interested in the driving habits of those surveyed. With the rotors reportedly "tending to warp" I'd be interested in knowing whether the rotors are insufficiently thick (it's a pretty heavy vehicle at 4800 lbs/2100 kg) or if the drivers tend to have a lead foot.

  2. Re:House loses most staunch Democrat on Speaker of the House Boehner Announces Resignation · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Too many repubs conveniently gloss over the facts with their vaunted Reagan. Someone with his record would be considered the worst kind of RINO by the repub base today. If could, I'd be +1'ing this.

  3. Re:Hmm tough choice on Why a Chinese Buyout of Micron Is Not Likely To Succeed · · Score: 1

    It flies very well... provided it doesn't have to turn. Every military analyst says the J-31 is overweight and vastly underpowered. Just take a look at the airshow videos for it and you'll see the same. Afterburners required to turn and it still lost a ton of altitude.
    That's not to say that the F-35 doesn't have it's problems, but the J-31 isn't even the same league as the F-22.

  4. Re:The Struggle on Is the Amazon-Led Economic Boom Wrecking Seattle? · · Score: 5, Funny

    No no. We have souls, they're just not ours, uh, originally.

  5. Re:Good on Greece Rejects EU Terms · · Score: 2

    Actually, they clearly understand that simple austerity isn't going to correct the situation. The last 5 years of austerity have made the Greek debt burden even more impossible to shoulder rather than less. Greek debt needs to be restructured into something that is actually sustainable in addition to structural reform of the Greek economy. That's the deal that the EU should have on the table.

  6. Re: We the taxayer get screwed. on How Elon Musk's Growing Empire is Fueled By Government Subsidies · · Score: 2
    In any system where scarcity exists (artificial or otherwise), you'll always end up with rich and poor. I'm not going to dispute that.
    However, two points:
    • Societies ignore rising gaps between the rich and poor at their own peril. See also the French revolution.
    • There's yet to be any truly communist government that actually attempts to eliminate that. Any modern communist state (failed or otherwise) has kept the rich/poor feature. The people in power ended up rich, as opposed to a capitalist system where the rich end up buying the government.
  7. Comparable? Not really. on Is Alibaba Comparable To a US Company? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When someone buys a share in Apple, they actually get an ownership share in Apple.
    When someone says they're buying a share in Alibaba, they actually buying shares in a VIE called Alibaba Group Holdings Limited which was incorporated in the Cayman Islands. The VIE has contractual rights to Alibaba China's profits, but not anything that resembles ownership.
    It's not the same thing as share of Apple at all.

  8. Re: this is messed up.. but what's worse on Man Booted From Southwest Flight and Threatened With Arrest After Critical Tweet · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those not familiar with southwest: There is no assigned seating. People board in three groups, A (frequent flyers, people paying extra for early boarding), B and C (everyone else, numbered by check in order). Long story short, he bought the cheap tickets for his kids and wanted a free upgrade. He then threw a fit when he didn't get his way.

  9. Re:Realities on NSA Intercepted French Telephone Calls "On a Massive Scale" · · Score: 1

    Agreed. Besides, the conspiracy theorist in my head thinks a lot of this is faux outrage on the part of the French government. I'm willing to bet that similar to the UK, the NSA is sharing all the information they're getting from the French taps with the DCRI (or other French intelligence service). Sort of reminds me of the Pakistani drone strikes. Outraged in public but definitely working with the US behind closed doors.

  10. Re:Check your countries. on iPhone 5 GeekBench Results · · Score: 1

    Not quite correct. The US/LTE version is dual core (qualcomm S4) - and also faster than the quad core exynos or tegra 3.

  11. Re:The article is wrong. on Red Hat Will Pay Microsoft To Get Past UEFI Restrictions · · Score: 1
    If you actually read the article, Fedora is doing as a convenience to the users, so that they don't have to screw with UEFI settings on their x86 devices.
    On non-ARM systems, one can and will be able to disable secure boot.

    Directly from the Win8 cert doc: (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/jj128256)

    Mandatory. On non-ARM systems, the platform MUST implement the ability for a physically present user to select between two Secure Boot modes in firmware setup: "Custom" and "Standard". Custom Mode allows for more flexibility as specified in the following:

    It shall be possible for a physically present user to use the Custom Mode firmware setup option to modify the contents of the Secure Boot signature databases and the PK. This may be implemented by simply providing the option to clear all Secure Boot databases (PK, KEK, db, dbx) which will put the system into setup mode.

    If the user ends up deleting the PK then, upon exiting the Custom Mode firmware setup, the system will be operating in Setup Mode with SecureBoot turned off.

    The firmware setup shall indicate if Secure Boot is turned on, and if it is operated in Standard or Custom Mode. The firmware setup must provide an option to return from Custom to Standard Mode which restores the factory defaults.On an ARM system, it is forbidden to enable Custom Mode. Only Standard Mode may be enabled."

    x86 devices can still install whatever they want, barring this extra hoop to turn off Secure Boot. Like I said earlier, Fedora just wants to ship their image with a signed loader so the users don't have to go through that hoop.
    From TFA:

    While Microsoft have(sic) modified their original position and all x86 Windows machines will be required to have a firmware option to disable this or to permit users to enrol their own keys, it's not really an option to force all our users to play with hard to find firmware settings before they can run Fedora.

    ARM (essentially tablet) devices are locked down completely - which is absolutely no different than what Apple does right now on the iPad.

  12. Re:Too bad they're not also pushing ... on Why Verizon Doesn't Want You To Buy an iPhone · · Score: 1

    One correction: Sprint is a CDMA carrier like Verizon. AT&T and T-mobile are GSM/WCDMA carriers.

  13. Re:Define "charges" on Auto Makers Announce Electric Car Charging Standard · · Score: 2

    Well, they mean the system they're proposing will support charging your vehicle in as little as 15 minutes.
    i.e. The connector supports lots of different fast-charging options ( 3 phase AC, High Voltage DC) and can handle the current required* to charge in 15 minutes.
    *Naturally, YMMV - since you need to be able to source the current required, charging times are dependent upon battery size, etc.

  14. Re:No matter who it was on Stuxnet Allegedly Loaded By Iranian Double Agents · · Score: 1

    That was what I meant. Curious that so many people didn't seem to understand that it would work that way, and that they'd be within their right as a sovereign nation to decide which treaties they'll be party to.

    This is /., you should know better! Iran should not, however, expect such a move to come without repercussions.

    As it stands, they are party to that treaty, and are complying with it.

    Sort of.

    Article III: Each non-NWS party undertakes to conclude an agreement with the IAEA for the application of its safeguards to all nuclear material in all of the state's peaceful nuclear activities and to prevent diversion of such material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

    Iran has fun flaunting this one. See also: Natanz, Fordo

  15. Re:Oh Baby Jeebus the hypocrisy on North Korea Shows Off Space Center and Launches Missile · · Score: 1

    Brought to you by the D.P.R.K

    Sorry, but your tag is showing.

  16. Re:No matter who it was on Stuxnet Allegedly Loaded By Iranian Double Agents · · Score: 1, Informative

    Iran is a sovereign nation and if they wish to produce nuclear weapons because they feel threatened by their neighbors (Israel, a nuclear power) or as a deterrent then that is their prerogative.

    Not exactly. Iran is a signatory of the NPT.

    Article II: Each non-NWS party undertakes not to receive, from any source, nuclear weapons, or other nuclear explosive devices; not to manufacture or acquire such weapons or devices; and not to receive any assistance in their manufacture.

    It's their prerogative to do so should they first decide to withdraw from the NPT, similar to what North Korea did.

  17. Re:Summary is misleading. on Why CISPA Is a Really Bad Bill · · Score: 1

    My guess would be that the bill also focuses on corporate espionage. Namely the wholesale theft of technology and the like by Chinese and Russian interests.

  18. Re:Santorum claiming that.... on Santorum Calls Democrats 'Anti-Science' · · Score: 0
    If you consider the balanced budget the Republican congress forced on him (and he went along with because he thought he could hang them with it) then you can keep your "fiscally responsible" bit. If you ignore the "Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994" you can have "individual rights". If you ignore "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and White House Interns (seriously, how can one forget that one?) you can have "distracting hot button issue". Finally, SCHIP is also hardly something one could consider "small government", no matter how laudable it's goals were.

    Please, let's not start giving Clinton the "Reagan treatment" and looking at him through rose colored glasses too.

    The GP describes the perfect libertarian candidate. Unfortunately, there aren't any. While Ron Paul professes to be the things the GP is interested in, he comes with one large caveat: He's also crazy.

  19. Re:No kidding. on Google Wallet Stores Card Data In Plain Text · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think the point was that it makes it easier to pull off the "social engineering" if you have access to information only privileged parties should have. They should still be encrypting the locally stored data, and it's just lazy not to.

  20. Re:How loud is that? on US Bans Loud Commercials · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's loudness as defined by the measurement technique in ITU BS.1770, which is a lot more than amplitude.

  21. It goes both ways... on In Favor of Homegrown IT Solutions · · Score: 1

    Like most things, there needs to be some balance between those things that you get from a vendor, and those things you do in house. Too much of either end of the spectrum is generally a problem. Too much from the vendors and you end up with the scenarios that the author describes. Too much of the in-house work, and you end up with a NMH (not made here) mentality which is ultimately destructive to the company. You end up wasting too much time re-inventing the wheel when an off-the-shelf solution would be adequate for your needs.

    In the end, weigh the factors involved (timeframe, cost, how close existing solutions are to what you need ) and just make sure you pick the right tool for the job. Too much time with the hammer, and everything starts looking like a nail.

  22. Re:First strike? on Iran's Military Claims To Have Downed US Surveillance Drone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Allegedly. Given the amount of evidence and the history of the regime (last time they made this claim they backed off it) I'm skeptical. It wouldn't really surprise me either way. Iran was putting their equivalent of a drone into Iraq while US forces were there. Maybe they're just returning the favor.

  23. Re:Groupon's fault on Baker Has to Make 102,000 Cupcakes For Grouponers · · Score: 2

    I don't see how Groupon can be considered long term viable, if this is the kind of press they're getting.

    Additionally, I imagine there are quite a few people like me out there who only use groupons with businesses I already patrionize regularly. I find myself waiting for the next groupon to show up before purchasing what I would have gotten without it anyway. Great for Groupon, but not so great for the business in question. Doesn't much sound like a sustainable model to me.

  24. Re:Next year? Yeah right. on Qualcomm's Butterfly Wing Display Gets Nearer · · Score: 1

    They actually announced the factory back in January. One would assume construction started around then, allowing them to meet a 2012 production deadline.
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-03/qualcomm-to-invest-about-1-billion-in-taiwan-display-plant-ministry-says.html

  25. Re:Simple on How America Can Get Its Tech Mojo Back · · Score: 1

    Initially? Yes. Many immigrants (including my ancestors) ended up in immigrant enclaves, whether they be Italian, Irish, or any of the other dozen nationalities in my family tree. Fast forward a couple of generations, and the lot of us have spread out over most of the country, while incorporating the aforementioned dozen nationalities along the way. At this point, we aren't Irish, Native American, Italian, what have you. We're simply Americans of varied heritage. Precious few of us (out to the thrice removed variety of relative) ended up staying in anything resembling an immigrant enclave.
    Anecdotal, I suppose, but that's my experience.