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User: girlintraining

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  1. Re:so... this is old news on When 1 GB Is Really 0.9313 Gigabytes · · Score: 1

    Why was this posted?

    It's been on deferral until enough time has passed since Steve Jobs uploaded himself to the iCloud. The author mentioned Apple, so it got tagged. Homeland Editorial was a little slow in picking up the intel. We assure you that we have fired the editor responsible for this. Also, the person who wrote that last sentence has also been fired, as well as his manager, his manager's manager, and the entire division. We take redundancy and outdated news very seriously here at NuSlash. We take redundancy and outdated news very seriously here at NuSlash. Please enjoy this refreshing Snark while we correct the problem.

    Sincerely,

    NuSlash(tm)
    Proprietors of high quality tech derp.

  2. "by holding a box" on How To Sneak Into the Super Bowl With Social Engineering · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How many hundreds of millions did Homeland spend to "secure" the super bowl again? Of all the things they've been accused of, fewest of the charges have been competence. When a couple college kids carrying a box can sneak past every security check point, without either them or their box being inspected, it becomes painfully obvious that the security provided is just a show... not unlike the one they're "protecting".

  3. O RLY? on Surface Pro Sold Out; Was It Just Understocked? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Am I the only one here who's first thought was: "Well, if that's their story, they better stick to it..." ?

  4. Re:aaand it won't help much on Adobe Hopes Pop-up Warnings Will Stop Office-Borne Flash Attacks · · Score: 1

    It's not just mothers that do this, I see professionals in the office doing the same thing.

    It's sad you have to point it out before people can see it as sexist. The geek community here didn't used to be quite like that. There were trolls of course, but lately it's become prevalent even in otherwise perfectly good comments... :(

  5. Re:How about a different headline.... on China's Radical New Space Drive · · Score: 1

    The most inviolable law in the universe is that everything flies pointy end first.

    Actually it's that there's no limit to human stupidity. Oh, and the chinese astronauts will probably die of lead poisoning shortly after returning.

  6. Re:Marines on Copyright Claim Thwarts North Korean Propaganda · · Score: 1

    True. But if they do launch a high altitude nuke and detonate it way up there, the resulting EMP (sand) could blind us for a very very long time. Not so funny now is it round eye?

    First, they need to have a nuke to launch, and their nuclear scientists have an odd habit of exploding, dying in car accidents, or taking vacations to the United States that they never return from. And then there was that unfortunate problem with all their centrifuges self-destructing. Couple that with their apparent inability to construct anything high-tech like, say, a fighter jet, without it having basic design flaws like, say, the afterburner melting the aircraft and setting fire to the pilot, and I'll just say "Hammer industries... 20 years."

  7. Marines on Copyright Claim Thwarts North Korean Propaganda · · Score: 2

    I have a friend who's a marine and we had a good laugh about the mock fighter jet the Iranians put out last week. I bet I'll have them on the floor when I show them this...

    The media portrays Iran as this menacing threat. People in our military however tend to look at them as that kid who kicks sand in everyone's faces. Harmless, but annoying.

  8. Re:Captain Obvious strikes again on How Not To Launch a Gadget · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sure, but lets not pretend they are "defining what femininity" is for themselves.

    Yes. Let's not let them talk about it. There's a woman here telling you that you're wrong, therefore she must be crazy and thus ignored. Listen asshat, when I say defining it, I didn't say it's easy. I didn't say that it was right. I didn't even comment about the social acceptability of it. What I said was: It's up to me to say what it means. And if I decide it means running around in a miniskirt and pom poms, well... screw you. If I decide it means putting on a burka and hiding my face and body from the world, screw you too. In fact, if I decide it means nothing at all, you guessed it: Screw you.

    Your opinion, sir, is simply not relevant. If a woman has the choice, then she is free. It is when we stop having choices that there's a problem, and your attitude, expressed by putting it down to "as a society" to avoid taking responsibility for it, is what causes the capacity to choose to diminish. Women have bodies. They're not shapeless automatons, but beautifully curved, soft, and all of that. And why shouldn't they be allowed to revel in that?

    It only becomes a problem when other people's sick notions of what 'normal' should be draws others into the kind of behaviors you describe. And nobody is immune to that, not even you, Mr. I-Ask-Myself-Every-Morning-Who-The-Tiger-Is. We all have to deal with our own body image issues, men, women, human. That's just how it is.

    But as long as you have the freedom to choose how you face those circumstances, it's all good. When you start demanding others not have those freedoms because you feel you're "saving them from themselves", well then Sir, you are part of the problem.

  9. Homeland security on Ask Slashdot: Open-Source Forensic Surveillance Analysis Software? · · Score: 4, Funny

    Some examples of events: 'human entering restricted zone,' 'movement in the restricted zone,' 'light in the restricted zone.'"

    Just tell Homeland security that some occupiers are planning a protest. They'll pay for the install and maintenance of your system. Every now and then, leave a deflated half-assembled tent in the parking lot...

  10. Re:This ain't the first time ... on Is the Era of Groundbreaking Science Over? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Indeed -- if you invent stepping discs, or the transfer booth, or even an economical and practical flying car, you *will* get recognition.

    Yes, you'll be sued into poverty and then watch as some rich bastard takes your beautiful invention and ruins it. Nobody I know who has a creative / inventive nature is doing anything in this country because they know the only recognition they'll get will be from the large companies that own this country and control its laws. They will take everything and leave you with nothing.

    Anyone with a good idea is well advised to flee to somewhere the United States' and its notions about intellectual property aren't going to interfere. China is right now (literally) knocking down mountains and building cities at a breakneck pace. Their economy is driven because they copy, then improve, in an iterative process without regard for intellectual property considerations. As a result, many of the world's goods and services now flow out of China. Yes, we may have invented those things, but they took them and made them better. Why can't we do the same? Oh right... Corporations.

    There's plenty of talent right here to make that next big thing. And it's gone to ground because of the flying hunter-killers with lawyer bombs on patrol, looking for them. Legal theft. Small wonder innovation's ground to a halt in this country...

  11. Re:Captain Obvious strikes again on How Not To Launch a Gadget · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even in jest, can we not continue to perpetuate this as a good idea for tech expos. And people wonder why it's hard to get women interested in IT.

    Speaking as a woman in IT, I don't mind. Girls demoing products are not even in the same league as me; They're not going back to work as network admins, programmers, etc. They're there to look good and by extension make the product look good. To me, it's no different than being a cheerleader for a sports team. Would I do it? Probably not. Am I going to judge another woman who does? No. I've met enough aggressive feminists in college that bitch and moan about the objectification of women and get angry when I point out they're just enforcing a different set of values on others. Whether it's a bikini or a burka, the message is the same: You have to conform to others' ideas about your femininity. And that's not cool. If we're a free society, then every woman should feel free to define that for themselves... and if they want to be a cheerleader for Tech Product X, I say, "you go girl." Just don't ask me to do the pom-pom thing... it's not my thing.

  12. Captain Obvious strikes again on How Not To Launch a Gadget · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Having people who have terrible people skills represent your interests usually ends badly. Just ask the LAPD. Or [hated political group]. If you can't manage that, at least bring scantily-clad women to the party... nobody expects them to answer questions about the device, and as a bonus, you'll get a lot of pictures of it. This isn't rocket science...

  13. Re:Wanted: single-eye correction on Glasses That Hack Around Colorblindness · · Score: 1

    This isn't really new art.

    Sure it is! The patent says so. :(

  14. Re:GW solution on Updated Model Puts Earth On the Edge of the Habitable Zone · · Score: 4, Funny

    No great trick given there only a dozen or so integers that produce 4 digit results ... some basic gut feel for a cubic function will get you pretty close every time.

    Don't rain on his story about his math teacher discussing rain, man.

  15. Re:Ahh, the razors edge... on Russian EBookseller LitRes Gets Competing EBook Apps Booted From Google Play · · Score: 2

    There's a huge difference between "exists solely to facilitate piracy" and "can be used to facilitate piracy".

    That distinction is entirely imaginary and is dependent entirely upon the intent of the end user.

    You're both idiots. Let me explain by example: A nuclear bomb's purpose is to cause destruction. That doesn't mean it cannot facilitate peace. In the same way, even a tool designed solely to facilitate piracy could be used to reduce or prevent it. For example, if movies and other things now available on pirated websites were made available through an "official" site where you could get the same materials, and same quality, but it came with a time bomb that would cause it to cease being usable after a period of time. The problem with DRM is they put it on things you buy, but if they made it available for free, as a "try before you buy" product with the option to upgrade. It's been proven in case study after case study pirates buy more material outright than those who don't pirate. In other words: Your best customers are pirates.

    As far as the line in the sand being dependent on intent, much of copyright law (not all!) falls under the umbrella of strict liability, which means intent doesn't have to be proven. The mens rea, or the "state of mind" of the criminal, plays no part. It is strictly the act itself which is considered. Either you did it, or you didn't. Intent is irrelevant. For example, if murder was a crime of strict liability, even if you shot a gunman who was about to mow down a bus full of children (a heroic act by most people's standards!) you'd be more of a criminal than the gunman -- he only threatened to shoot. You actually did.

    This is why strict liability is so damned evil... it was created for situations where intent was unlikely to ever be proved (for example, improper toxic waste disposal... how can you prove any member of the corporation knew it was in violation? It may be impossible due to shared responsibility to identify the perpetuator of the criminal act as opposed to those who sincerely thought it was on the up and up), but expanded to include everything under the sun. It was also supposed to be a relatively lighter sentence, because there was no mens rea considered. That's also gone by the wayside.

    So yeah, in short -- you're both wrong. But you both had the right idea.

  16. Re:GW solution on Updated Model Puts Earth On the Edge of the Habitable Zone · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm writing the screenplay now. You want an option on it, then?

    No, just have JJ Abrams direct it. It'll be my revenge.

  17. Response on Russian EBookseller LitRes Gets Competing EBook Apps Booted From Google Play · · Score: 3, Funny

    What do you say when an ebook distributor's anti-piracy plan involves going after app developers rather than pirate sites?

    "If I were human, I believe my response would be, 'go to hell'. If I were human." -- Spock

  18. color blindness on Glasses That Hack Around Colorblindness · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually, most forms of color blindness is NOT due to a defect in the eye, but in the visual cortex. I learned about this in graphic design for my color theory class. When you look at a color for awhile, and then look at a white surface, the after-image will be a specific color. Whether you're color blind or not... that after-image coloring is the same. So red and green result in a different after-image color -- even if you're red/green colorblind.

    Anyway, yes, having red/green perception does enable you to see subtle changes in skin tone, etc., but the idea of TSA agents wearing them is a bit frightening. This is the same agency that up until recently was irradiating its own clients, refusing to disclose the amount of radiation, and causing cancer to its employees. They also have been frisking children and grabbing people's balls... they're totally incompetent. I'd rather not give them special "x-ray glasses" so they can misuse those as well, saying they saw something nobody else could and that's why you're now getting a lubed finger in your private parts.

    Other than that, Rock on. Good science.

  19. Re:GW solution on Updated Model Puts Earth On the Edge of the Habitable Zone · · Score: 5, Informative

    A few hundred well-placed nuclear bombs ought to do it.

    If the goal is a nuclear winter, sure. If you're trying to move the planet... how can I put this as succinctly as possible: If we detonated every nuke we had on one side of the planet, we'd succeed only in leaving one side of the planet uninhabitable. It wouldn't move the planet by any appreciable amount. The subsequent earthquakes would probably do more, by affecting spin. People seem to forget in orbital mechanics, to move in one direction, you have to displace an equal amount of mass x energy in the opposite direction. All a nuke would do is move the air around and leave a hole in the ground. Nothing would be ejected into space, and therefore, no movement.

    I know you're trying to be funny, but after awhile, I get tired of the "a nuke is powerful enough to do anything!" thinking. I blame Bruce Willis.

  20. Re:GW solution on Updated Model Puts Earth On the Edge of the Habitable Zone · · Score: 1

    Nah... we just need a planet-sized pair of Stargates.

    Worst. Plot. Ever.

  21. Re:Ahhh the good old days... on US Wants Apple, Google, and Microsoft To Get a Grip On Mobile Privacy · · Score: 2

    Every device I've had since then just seems like it's spying on me and siphoning off my personal life for someone else's gain.

    A problem that would go away overnight with an open market instead of contracts and vendor lock-in. Cell phones are specifically designed to be incompatible with one another; Imagine if you could buy something like a SIM card that worked on all the networks in the United States, not just some, and all you had to do when getting a new phone is slide your SIM into it. Someone would design a secure phone that doesn't siphon off your personal life. Several have tried, but they all fail because of monopolistic practices.

    "Profit, bitch. Bend over and give it up," is the American business model now... and it's wildly popular elsewhere too. You want to stop it: Stop America's perversion of capitalistic ideals. Make it a true free market.

  22. Mods have no sense of humor on Typing These 8 Characters Will Crash Almost Any App On Your Mountain Lion Mac · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    "Hi, I'm a mac (-1, troll). Hi, I'm a PC (+1, funny)." -- Slashmods

  23. Re:That depends on Ask Slashdot: How Long Do We Give an Online Service To Fix Issues? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is the "online service" Oracle?

    No. It's just a collection of badly translated and hacked up anime that makes the fans cry everytime the logo "Funimation" splashes across the screen. There's websites dedicated to warning fans of what their next production will be, so they can snap up the fansubs before they vanish from the ethers.

    Hearing Funimation is picking up your favorite anime is to an anime geek hearing that JJ Abrams is going to direct the next Star Wars. It's a KHAAAAAAAAAN! moment. Oh, and apologies to Star Trek fans... he got to you too. :(

  24. Re:Apple's response on Typing These 8 Characters Will Crash Almost Any App On Your Mountain Lion Mac · · Score: 4, Funny

    Steve is in the iCloud now. Someone tried turning him off and then back on again. In an appeal to hipsters, he's gone underground to sell more macs. He is permanently 404. There is no way he could have had anything to say about this. There is no app for that. Get it? :P

  25. Re:Hmm... on Amazon.com Suffers Outage: Nearly $5M Down the Drain? · · Score: 1

    Its totally silly of course, because Amazon often has the best prices, and people will simply wait. Nothing purchased on line constitutes an emergency to most people.

    Your definition of "emergency" and mine radically differ. I call it 'Tuesday' when there's five feet of fresh snow on the ground, over my house, my car, and I need to be to work in an hour. I'm more concerned about a broken coffee machine at work than some website going tits up for a few hours. Even if all the websites went tits up for a few hours, or days, it's not an emergency in my book. Emergency for me qualifies as "significant and immediate risk to life and safety," not "I can't order a copy of Call of Duty."