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User: n4f

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  1. ... and nothing of value was lost.

  2. Re:Let me ask a "stupid" question on No P = NP Proof After All · · Score: 2

    In your requested layman's terms:

    Proving that P=NP would prove that mathematically "hard" problems can be solved "easily." Encryption algorithms are designed around the fact that these hard problems can't be solved quickly by a computer. If P=NP, all modern encryption fails, which means most Internet commerce comes grinding to a halt until another solution can be found.

    All NP-complete problems (the "hard" problems mentioned above) derived from the 3-SAT problem, so if 3-SAT were proven to be easily solvable (3-SAT is in P), all NP-complete problems are easily solvable.

    This is just one real world application of this problem.

  3. Re:Cheaper to buy CDs on The Beatles On iTunes · · Score: 1

    I thought only select songs were DRM free? Like I said, I'm not an itunes users so I don't know for sure.

  4. Re:Cheaper to buy CDs on The Beatles On iTunes · · Score: 1

    I've never had that impression. I thought it cost around $9.99 to download most complete albums off of itunes (I'm guessing I don't use itumes). I can pay this for most albums on amazon.com to get the physical disc + album art - DRM.

  5. Why is this news? on The Beatles On iTunes · · Score: 1

    Digital music store releases a new (old) digital product? This is their huge announcement?

    Apples needs to get over themselves.

  6. Atari ST on The Best Video Games On Awful Systems · · Score: 1

    I got my PC gaming start on the Atari ST, and Sundog was a game I played religiously. Way ahead of its time. In the game, you're a captain of a starship left to you by your dead uncle. You can explore various planets in the universe, explore cities within those planets, go out into the wilderness, etc. It had a simulated stock market economy where you could by goods cheap on one planet, and sell them for a higher price on planets with greater demand.

    Dungeon Master is another Atari ST game that I played all the time. Very good early example of your 1st person dungeon crawler.

    Loved the games on that old ST...

  7. Re:It's down to the cost of one disk? on The Recovery Disc Rip-Off · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If the burn even works. I have a Compaq laptop that came preloaded with Windows Vista. Tried burning the recovery because I wanted to wipe the drive, reclaim my 8 gigs by deleting the recovery partition, and install Ubuntu. It would get through 99% of the burn and then just fail randomly. After going through half a dozen DVD-R's, I just gave up.

  8. Re:What's wrong with it? on What's Wrong With the American University System · · Score: 1

    OMG you must be some kind of dirty commie socialist who hates America!!!!!!

    There's no room for equilibrium in Capitalism.

  9. Re:mod parent up on What's Wrong With the American University System · · Score: 1

    You can get a degree in Objectivism, its called a Philosophy degree. You'll learn about Objectivism, along with plenty of other philosophical ideas throughout history. If you want to learn just about Objectivism, save youself $40K and read and Ayn Rand book.

  10. Re:What's wrong with it? on What's Wrong With the American University System · · Score: 1

    Not quite sure why you're calling pretty much anything other than an engineering class "bullshit." Universities are not trade schools. There are plenty of places around that will teach you a technical field without all of the "filler" you seem to despise. A university is there to educate you. Sure, you pick a major and that is your focused area of study, but you also take classes in the arts, social studies, etc to become more well rounded. In other words, to become an educated person.

    If you took classes you considered to be bullshit, that's your own fault. You're free to register for any class you want, pick a better one next time.

    I don't know about you, but I'd get sick and tired of taking 100% engineering classes day in and day out. I enjoyed taking classes other than the technical ones, it provided a nice break from the math heavy curriculum of a technical field.

  11. Re:What's wrong with it? on What's Wrong With the American University System · · Score: 1

    professors' air of sophistication; they all acted like they know something we don't.

    Well, they do. You're sitting in the class because you're trying to gain knowledge they already have. Otherwise known as learning. Some profs are smug and arrogant, but so are many people that I've worked with in the "real world."

  12. Re:Hiders Keepers? on More Gas Station Credit-Card Skimmers · · Score: 1

    All the major banks participated in giving out loans to people who couldn't afford them, and selling them in the securities market. They had to, because everyone else was and the money was too good.

  13. Re:Will they do VIII? on Fan-Developed Ultima VI Remake Released · · Score: 1

    I enjoyed Pagan, but after enjoying the epic game that is Ultima 7, it just doesn't measure up. I loved the setting and backstory of U8, and I think the magic system was great, but the game as a whole just wasn't executed as well as past Ultimas.

  14. Re:Yay for common sense on Zoho Don't Need No Stinking Ph.D. Programmers · · Score: 1

    This thinking is correct if a university education is simplified to being only training for a future job. An education should provide you with more than programming or networking skills. Most people also take history, foreign language, art, or any other class that provide intangible life skills. Try having a conversation with someone you've never met if you only know the field of computer science. My non-CS classes in college have helped me everywhere from striking up a convo at the bar to understanding world politics.

    University education is not just about job training. Having said that, education costs in the US are indeed ridiculous.

  15. Re:Dang on The Hobbit On Hold · · Score: 1

    It's a rabbit and a hobo, but they're making a hobbit.

  16. Re:More companies too on Microsoft Mice Made in Chinese Youth Sweatshops? · · Score: 1

    The hard part is looking past the indoctrination you received in college. Liberalism is not always right.

    Fixed that for you. One snarky comment deserves another.

    The person you quoted didn't make a snarky comment, it was simply the truth. You right wingers sure are being a bunch of loudmouths lately...

    The free market is a myth. You're right, if that factory wasn't there in China the people working there wouldn't be making any money, so they should be grateful for the 60 cents an hour they do get. This is starting to sound very familiar with what's going on in the US lately (I had to take a pay cut this year, but at least I still have a job!!). The factory is exploiting the massive poverty that is found in China. The government encourages this. They love being the chief exporter of cheap crap. If employees are paid a fair wage, the costs of your precious things won't go up that much. I recently purchased some clothing made in the US, with sweatshop free labor. The cost is maybe $10 higher than what I'd pay at other stores, but the quality is noticeably higher. I think you'd find that most people would prefer to buy a more expensive quality item, than to keep buying cheap crap the breaks every other year.

  17. Re:Interesting on In EU, Google Accused of YouTube "Free Ride" · · Score: 1

    I agree with the symbiotic relationship analogy. If services like Google and Youtube didn't exist, people would have no need to pay an ISP for high speed internet access. If I just need to get my e-mail, dail-up is just fine. This is just a money grab attempt.

  18. Re:That happens when its BOTH high-fat and high-ca on Fatty Foods May Cause Cocaine-Like Addiction · · Score: 1

    Turkey bacon is just as bad for you, if not worse, than regular bacon. Next time you're at the grocery store, compare the nutrition information of turkey vs regular bacon. The turkey info is listed for 1/2 the serving size as the regular. Multiply everything on the turkey bacon by 2 and you quickly see that it has just as much fat, and most times even more sodium.

  19. Re:Radical Fucking Concept on New Riddick Movie Made Possible By Games? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There's definitely more to Riddick than a chaotic evil convict out for no one but himself. He was a protector of Jack during a good portion of the movie, especially after the reveal that Jack was a girl. Remember, Johns wanted to sacrifice Jack as bait for the monsters, and Riddick ends up shooting him.

    Riddick's gut instinct was survival, and he probably started out wanting to use the group to get himself off of the planet. However, at the end Carolyn convinces him to save the remainder of the crew, and is struck with guilt when she sacrifices herself to save them. Thought it showed great growth with Riddick's character, and made him much more interesting than just a morally gray killer.

    I dunno, I might have saw much more into the movie than I was supposed to :)

  20. Re:The complete list on The Worst US Cities To Work In IT · · Score: 1

    I also have several friends that have to choose amongst a number of good IT positions. People need to stop paying attention to the media telling them how bad it is, and look at the reality. Michigan and Detroit are very much hit by the recession, more so than most of the country, but there is still opportunity here. Detroit has been my home my whole life, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else if I could avoid it. Detroit city proper has its problems to be sure, but the industrial feel to the city and the old architecture make it feel different than an other city. There's many great restaurants and hang outs within the city, so despite popular belief there is a nightlife. Also, Detroit has some of the nicest, safest, and richest suburbs of any city in the country.

    Sorry, I always feel the need to defend my home town and state when there are so many negative posts and nearly no positive ones.

  21. Re:Hot Diggity Daffodil! on Comedy Central Confirms 26 New Futurama Episodes · · Score: 1

    Who really cares about what is or is not canon in Futurama? It's a comedy show, and the writers have already admitted that when it comes to contradicting their "universe" for the sake of a good joke, they will indeed do so. Just watch the show, don't think about it too much, and enjoy.

    The writers have never ceased to amuse me with their subtlety. The don't reference the whole dark matter issue the entire Green Yonder movie, until that one-liner right at the end that had me spitting my beer out. You have to trust that these writers have the plots play out the way they do for a reason.

  22. Re:Hope they warm up before starting on Comedy Central Confirms 26 New Futurama Episodes · · Score: 2, Informative

    The professor's plan to deal with high fuel prices is... to destroy fuel? So that people will come up with something better? How are they going to do that with everything shut down? Why not just invent something better? I mean, he runs a delivery company; he has the most to lose.

    But the professor's plan worked! Planet Express ship is now running on low cost, clean burning whale oil!!! ;)

  23. Re:Still not available on Hulu May Begin Charging For Video Content · · Score: 1

    Now if the paid version of Hulu ends up still having ads...

    ... then you'd have cable TV.

  24. Re:Simple Solution on McDonalds Free Wi-Fi Users Soak Up Seating · · Score: 1

    Look at the nutrition facts:
    http://www.panerabread.com/pdf/nutr-guide.pdf
    http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutrition_facts.html

    Average half sandwich is around 500 calories, 10 grams of fat, and 5 grams of saturated fat.
    Big Mac has 540 calories, 29 grams of fat, 10 grams of saturated fat.

    The panera sandwich is only a half, which won't fill up most males as a lunch or dinner, so if you want the full sandwich double that.

    Panera is delicious, but don't think that its anywhere near good for you.

  25. Re:Um, what? on So Amazing, So Illegal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why does every band have to "push the envelope" or develop something "experimental" in order to not be called worthless corporate drones. Perhaps Metallica are popular because they make good music? It doesn't matter if it isn't genre defining or something 100% original. Its fun to listen to and I have a blast every time I see one of their shows. Metallica is just one example I used because you mention it in your post, but the same goes for a lot of mainstream bands.

    What I hate are music snobs that think anything "indie" is god's gift to music, and anything you can buy from a record store is trash. I've heard plenty of indie and local bands who are absolute crap, but people insist that they're "awesome and misunderstood by the mainstream."

    Just for the record, I love all kinds of music, both indie, local, and mainstream. Just because a band is able to sell millions of records does not in and of itself make it crap.