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User: Anonmyous+Coward

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  1. sustainablepower.com on "Vetrolium" From Agricultural Waste · · Score: 1

    sustainablepower.com? Sounds like their most valuable asset is their domain name.

    As for selling it for $1 less than petrol, I'll just wait until a market glut puts gas at $0.97/gallon again and start MAKING 3 cents for every gallon I burn!

  2. I'm stuck using Fortran. Help! on Same Dev Tools/Language/Framework For Everyone? · · Score: 1

    I'm forced to program in Fortran because that's the only thing the dinosaurs in charge know how to use. It's painful and verbose and it takes about 100 times as long to code anything as it would to just code it in ruby, even if it ran 10 times slower. For God's sake, someone please help me.

    Seriously though, the most efficient language is almost always the one the majority of your developers are most familiar with. And many projects lend themselves to using multiple languages/technologies for various different parts. LAMP and WIMP are okay, but personally, I like the PHP/IIS/SQLite/Subversion. For Scientific programming, I often use C/Unix/Nginx/Tcl.

  3. DoS for ruby? You don't need exploits for that on Multiple Security Holes In Ruby 1.8, 1.9 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I LOVE ruby as a language, but let's be realistic here. All you need for a DOS attack against a ruby-based web application of any complexity is a few dozen users using it as intended. No need to waste time figuring out complicated exploits for that.

  4. Re:Sigh on Pimp My Datacenter · · Score: 1

    Are you serious!?! It was totally tongue-in-cheek commentary. Pimps "cool"? Come on. Their "cool" is a form of self expression and show of power, and I doubt the threats or "just for show". Pimps are immoral lawbreakers and prostitution is a near-slavery last resort for the most unfortunate among us, not a positive alternative to welfare. I seriously hope you were as kidding as I was when I wrote the post.

  5. Re:Sigh on Pimp My Datacenter · · Score: 1

    Maybe I'm just too old to get it (26), but when did pimps become cool, and the word pimp become a verb commonly used to describe a process of improvement? I mean, when I was growing up, a pimp was a scumbag who hooked women (and some men) with drugs and threats and made them turn tricks. Hardly something laudible.


    Pimps became "cool" out of necessity long before you were born. I think your negative perceptions stem from a common misunderstanding of the "pimp" business model and sex-worker economy promoted by negative fictional role models in the media, such as Flyguy, which, although part of pimp-culture's marketing strategy, backfired. Let me explain.


    Pimps serve a vital role as intermediaries between the the poverty-stricken segment of society (which the sex-worker economy typically draws on for labor) and its more affluent clientele (which account for most of its revenue if not the most number of "jobs"). You see, the sex-worker economy provides employment for otherwise unemployable individuals and serves as an avenue for a transfer of assets from rich to poor without the significant government overhead of welfare. It's not without any overhead, but compared to the feds, most pimps are models of efficiency in business.


    A pimp has two equally important primary roles: marketing and human resources. Take your average upper middle class church going sexually deprived white guy. This potential client would feel everything from fear to pity to disgust at the thought of having sex with the average impoverished mid-to-late twenties drug-addicted alcoholic high school drop out prostitute. Likewise, the potential prostitute would be afraid, shy, nervous, and easily spotted by the cops. The two would never be able to enter into a mutually beneficial business transaction.


    But the pimp makes it all possible. His "cool", as you describe it, prevents clients from having to be aware of the unfortunate but necessary source of raw materials for his business, much like your local supermarket, with its sparkling white floors and refrigerated cases of bright-red carbon monoxide soaked meat, hide the horrors of the meat processing industry from you. The pimp's fancy car, gold chains, expensive fashions and self expressive grooming show his clients the world of fantasy, excitement and culture they demand. These same qualities also show employees the potential benefits of hard work in their chosen field.


    Do you look down on the president of your company for wearing an expensive 3-piece suit or driving a late-model BMW? Of course not. You know he's worked hard to build the company that puts food on your table every night. That same charisma keeps sales coming in and your paycheck going out. The more impressive he is, the more business your company gets and the harder you're willing to work for him, right? So why then would you criticize pimps for doing the same thing. Sure, the nature of their business means that they need to demonstrate their success slightly differently, but the basic idea is the same.


    Pimps are cool because they have to be. They simply cater to what their potential clients demand. They personify "process improvement" because their hard work provides good pay to thousands who would otherwise flood social services and the minimum-wage job market. Drugs are simply a side business that both clients and employees demand and threats are part of the show for the clients. In short, don't hate the player, hate the game.

  6. Slashvertisement on Building an Effective Information Security Policy Architecture · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I mean, come on, who really cares about information security policies. The only thing they're good for is figuring out where to place the blame if something goes wrong. They're the tools of Mordac and something pushed by consultants who don't know security from the hole in their ass but want to sell you the very expensive service of developing a detailed policy that's completely impractical to follow.


    You can't identify sensitive information assets because there's just too much data and no one can agree on what's sensitive and what's not. You shouldn't bother telling uses what they can and can't do because they aren't paying attention and even if they are, when a situation comes up where they should actually be using that info, they've forgotten it. And users who can't figure out on their own that surfing the net for pr0n on company time is unacceptable will probably do it anyway.


    The only thing he got right is "Policies are needed to establish the basis for disciplinary action, up to and including termination." But it's an excuse for firing someone you probably didn't like anyway. If they're actually a valuable employee, you'll probably have to overlook whatever they did.

  7. Re:Lasers on DoE Announces 'L Prize' For Solid-State Lighting · · Score: 1

    But will they be strapped to the heads sharks?

  8. Re:Everything old is new again. on Comcast Briefly Loses Control of Its Domain Name · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the awesome tutorial, Firefly. That attack sounds easy enough to automate. I wonder what would happen if someone wrote a script to change the domain registration info and launched it against every domain name registered with Network Solutions. You wouldn't, of course, screw with the nameservers, just the contact info. It'd be a DDOS on Network Solutions customer support lines the next morning when thousands of people called in about the "Admin contact changed" email.

  9. Re:Really... on VIA Introduces the Nano Processor · · Score: 2, Funny

    > for cheesy bad-action-flick terminology ("Intel's chip brought to it's knees!")

    I was thinking more pr0n-flick (the bad goes without saying) than bad-action-flick imagery from that statement. Don't read too much into what that says about me.

  10. Overloards on Polar Robots to Explore the Arctic · · Score: 1

    These robots will not only study global warming but reverse it. The problem that, since they're designed for the ice, they'll surely want the entire earth terraformed to their liking. I, for one, welcome our frosty robot overloads.

  11. Course I want cheezy poofs on Windows 7 Multitouch Demonstration · · Score: 1

    Looks like resizing pictures is a primary feature of the new OS. Whoop-de-do! I didn't really want features like completely separate environments (disk included, not just memory) for each application, something more innovative that a simple tree structure for a filesystem, search that actually works anyway. But I don't think the whole resizing thing will catch because you have to use two hands to do it. And that'll never work since at least one hand will be covered in cheezy poof cheese and I don't want to get that all over my screen, now do I.

  12. Re:Vernor 'bound' by a license? on Federal Court Says First-Sale Doctrine Covers Software, Too · · Score: 1

    Ya, I know that, but considering the all three credit agencies are pure evil and controlled by business interests, not consumers, I bet SBC would simply said I agreed to some contract and the lack of signature would be dismissed. (Hence why I need a good legal argument to present.) Plus, if it's anything like disputes on a credit card, I think I have to make a good faith effort to resolve the dispute with the creditor before resorting to use the credit reporting agency to resolve the dispute.

  13. Silly on The Smartest Browser and OS · · Score: 1
    I took it and it was all either historical and geographical trivia or story problems involving fractions and trick wording to get you to use the wrong numbers (which, by the way, resulted in an answer that wasn't one of the choices, so you knew you got it wrong rather than picking the wrong answer and thinking you got it right). I can't imagine that actually tests intelligence. It tests

    1. Whether or not you received a modern western-style education
    2. Whether or not you're good a remembering stuff you had to learn for a test once but never again use. (which may be a component of intelligence)
    3. Since speed is involved, it test whether or not you use fractions often (I was much faster at such things when I was taking Physics, Chemistry, and Calculus doing them on a daily basis)
    4. Weather or not you can read and reason carefully (which also may be a component of intelligence).

      And yes, I do have a very low IQ according to the test, so my criticism probably isn't unbias.
  14. backdoor it on Getting Rid of Staff With High Access? · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wait, are you saying you don't have some backdoor access set up that they don't know how to revoke? Noob!
    Actually, if they're paying you to do nothing, I'd go with "become the most prolific Slashdot poster over the next few weeks". But if you've been their for 9 years and your smart, why don't you have everything running like clockwork so you can just sit and read slashdot all day anyway except for the semi-weekly "outage" that you cause to convince them that you didn't have your job completely automated within 6 months of starting. I guess if it was that kind of an IT job, you probably wouldn't be leaving in the first place. :)

  15. Re:Vernor 'bound' by a license? on Federal Court Says First-Sale Doctrine Covers Software, Too · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder if this also applies to subscription services like DSL. I'm currently in the middle of resolving a dispute over a DSL early cancellation fee. Before I purchased the service, I asked for a copy of the license agreement. SBC said they didn't provide written copies of the agreement (At present, you can get them on the web, but you couldn't, or at least the salesman didn't tell me that I could at the time).

    The salesman assured me that if I were to move before the 1 year contract was up and SBC couldn't provide service in the place where I moved to, I wouldn't be charged the fee. I did move to another state where they didn't have service 10 months into the contract, but they charged me the fee, claiming that because I moved to another state where they didn't operate, this clause didn't apply. (It only applies if you move to a place where they do operate but they can't provide service to that specific house for some reason).

    Needless to say I called BS on them because I was never provided with a copy of the agreement and they certainly don't have my signature on anything. Unfortunately, consumers have no legal rights when it comes to a credit report. It's not considered liable because credit reports aren't public information. Anyone have an idea of a legal argument I can make that would force them to tell the credit agencies the bill is invalid?

  16. That's my SSN on LifeLock Spokesperson's Stolen ID Inspires Lawsuits · · Score: 1

    He's actually a total liar that deserves whatever he gets. 457-55-5462 is actually MY social security number. The @#$( feds just arrested me right in front of everyone at the meat packing plant where I worked and sent me to Mexico because they said I had a fake SSN. The @$$ Mr. Davis is the real identity thief! Oh well, at least this probably means I won't have to finish pay for that BMW I bought on credit last month.

  17. Re:Even the Post Title on Google Assists In Arrest Of Indian Man · · Score: 1

    An WTF is with the moderation. My previous post got moded a "3, Informative". Even I agree with cayeene8 that I'm just expressing my unresearched opinions anonymously in a public forum (thank God I'm an American), but they're hardly Informative. Interesting, maybe, but come on people, both my previous posts were clearly opinion pieces (at least the first one got a 0, Flamebate, which I think was a little harsh, but...)

    I know, I know, complaining about the moderation. I must be new here.

  18. Re:Even the Post Title on Google Assists In Arrest Of Indian Man · · Score: 1

    Okay, I admit, that was a cheap shot at WV and I apologize to everyone in WV to didn't vote against Barack Obama because of his race. But in my defense, John Stewart took the first cheap shot.

  19. Re:Even the Post Title on Google Assists In Arrest Of Indian Man · · Score: 1

    Fair enough, and you're right, I've lived in Colorado, Texas, and California, so I guess I don't know how the word is seen in the south east US, but where I've lived, if I went around saying "nigger", I would expect anything from social isolation to physical violence. And the only people I know who actually use it (Texas*), have a somewhat diminished view of non-whites. * Note that this is not all Texans, just some of the older generation. In agreement with your experience, they do use the word interchangeably with "black" and would probably use it if saying something nice about a black person as well. I'm just saying those I know who use it have some reservations about black people.

  20. USPS on How Would You Prefer To Send Sensitive Data? · · Score: 1

    On a USB drive. Encrypted with PGP. Via USPS registered mail. You provide her with the key via a separate medium, of course. And before you send her anything, make sure you have a contract that your lawyers have looked over where she both attests to being aware of your company's security and privacy policies and assumes all responsibility and liability for the security of the data once she receives the drive.

  21. Re:Even the Post Title on Google Assists In Arrest Of Indian Man · · Score: 3, Informative
    I have to disagree. 'Black', I think is generally acceptable, but a white person saying 'nigger' isn't. If you're hearing it from them, I'm guessing you're in one of those Hillary-Clinton's-Last-Stand states like West Virginia where they don't usually do lynchings anymore, but darned if they'll vote for one.

    As for black people using the term 'nigger' or 'nigga', it's one of two things:
    • Multiple generations of people being taught they're inferior until they finally accept it. (Which isn't to say that past family hardships are an excuse for underachievement or to suggest that the current generation of white people 'owes' black American's anything other than the respect and equality under the law not afforded their ancestors, but simply that the horrors of slavery in America went even beyond forced labor and corporal punishment)
    • Black culture 'reclaiming' the word under a different connotation, which strips some of the power the word has when used in a derogatory fashion.
    As for your family using it, I'm sure they're perfectly nice people who aren't interested in restoring slavery or any such thing, but they're probably like some of my family from Texas: They understand and support equal rights on a legal/moral/theoretical basis, but think things like friendship or/or intermarriage between people of different races is a bit unnerving.
  22. Re:be specific on Google Assists In Arrest Of Indian Man · · Score: 1
    Here in America, we're supposedly "Innocent until proven guilty", so I don't think companies have any responsibility to help the authorities without a warrant. In fact, I think they have a strong obligation NOT to disclose any customer/vendor/third party information WITHOUT a warrant.

    I understand company's lawyers sometimes advise that a judge will almost certainly grant a warrant, but I still say consumers have an expectation of privacy and if a judge finds that lawyers were wrong after the fact, there should still be liability, good-faith or no.

    Everyone remember the Illegal Bush warrantless wiretapping and how Qwest as the only major phone company to tell the federalies where they could stick their cables? I pay Qwest too much for their fastest DSL to this day because I liked that move.

    In the (east) Indian case, I think Google (and all US companies) shouldn't even be operating in countries unless some basic level of human rights (clearly violated in this case) prevale both on paper and in practice. So 2a should be "Google chose to do business in a country where compliance with the law could potentially be in direct conflict with their 'do no evil' policy and the since of morality of probably the majority of their shareholders", and I am outraged about that.

    Of course I know this head-in-the-sand approach is impractical, but I think the U.S. government should try to provide some incentives to help offset the cheap labor benefits companies get when they operate in countries with sub-standard human rights. This isn't labor protectionism, but protection of our standard of living and advocacy for the standard of living of people world wide. Sure, maybe the IT guy in India who makes half of what I do isn't in any way mistreated by his employer and lives like a king. But that's only because he can live cheap in India by buying stuff from people who are mistreated.

    And yes, I do think the American/Western ideal of human rights is universally applicable (even if we don't follow it ourselves sometimes), so don't reply with some "cultural differences" argument.

  23. Re:Even the Post Title on Google Assists In Arrest Of Indian Man · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    > And why are China men offended by "Chinaman" but English men aren't offended by being called "Englishmen" and Irish men aren't offended by being called "Irishmen?"

    Because "Chinaman" was the term preferred by racist white Americans responsible for various atrocities against Chinese immagrants. These things are, of course, usually a bit more complicated than simple hatred for hatred's sake (The Chinese Massacre of 1875 was a labor dispute), but in the end, murder is murder.

    It's the same reason why the term 'Nigger' is unacceptable even though it's just a mispronunciation of the Spanish word for Black: it's associated with horrible historic brutality that the vast majority of us (you excluded, apparently) acknowledge as wrong.

  24. Re:Well, obvious stuff: on Fermilab Calls For Code Crackers · · Score: 1
    I don't think the 2nd stanza is a key because there are repeated symbols. F/Triangle, for example, is both the first and 7th symbol on the first line. It's more like the symbols on top are something in code and someone has written the translations for them below each symbol.

    What's a bit strange is the S Triangle three-line-thing between the 2nd and 3rd stanzas. The 2nd two translate to "F C" if you use the 2nd stanza as a key, but there isn't any translation for the S. Of course, maybe the S is an S, and then it's SFC.

    I've got it! The thing between the 2nd and 3rd stanzas is a signature. It's a message from the SFC