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User: Klync

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Comments · 115

  1. Relay Host on Ask Slashdot: How To Unblock Email From My Comcast-Hosted Server? · · Score: 1

    My Domain Registrar provides SMTP relaying (TLS & authentication required), so I can configure my MTA to use that as its "smarthost" to get around this particular problem.

  2. Bug hunt? on Stubborn Intel Graphics Bug Haunts Ubuntu 12.04 · · Score: -1, Troll

    Ubuntu

    ... There's your problem right there. Now that I found it, do I get a prize? How did packages with this bug ever get stamped "LTS"?

  3. Re:well duh on The Web Is Not the Internet · · Score: 1

    Well, you can have the firehose, which can be gamed, or you can have VA Systems^W^W Geeknet spend their hard-earned revenues on hiring editors like Timothy to hand-curate the content.... which would *you* prefer?

  4. Re:If ancient people taught us anything... on A Million-Year Hard Disk · · Score: 1

    Rightfully, your post is currently showing for me as +5, Interesting. Unfortunately, that fact kinda invalidates your point. So, now we're apparently stuck in the "this sentence is a lie" paradox. Fortunately, it's also completely off topic, thus re-validating your point and setting the universe right again. Yay!

  5. Re:What do you expect? on U.S. Students Struggle With Reasoning Skills · · Score: 2

    The problem is that decision makers need actionable data in order to inform decisions. Whether this is for legislators parceling out funding or administrators deciding on admissions, it applies across the system. The system is designed so that the system works smoothly; not so that children are educated nor that society is improved. I would love to agree with you and say "let's just fix this glaring problem"; But, how? Just about everyone I've ever met who's associated with the education system knows that standardized tests are a joke; and they want, desperately, to enrich children's lives. But the system fights them at every turn. It's no conspiracy, it's emergent behaviour. How do we push this side-effect out from the system?

  6. Now *that's* secure on Avira Premium Anti-Virus Bug Disables Windows Machines · · Score: 1

    Just need to encase the PC in cement and bury it at sea, and then those evil hackers will never be able to get to it! ... of course, that's going to cost you extra....

  7. No big deal on B&N Pulls Linux Format Magazine Over Feature On 'Hacking' · · Score: 2

    That's okay, I'll just head down the street to buy a copy from .... Oh, wait .... I know! I'll just go online and order it off .... Oh, shoot. Hmm, where did all the competition go? Oh well, I guess I'll just read whatever B&N or Amazon recommend for me..... Aaah, Excel For Dummies. Excellent.

  8. headline incorrect on Twitter Leaked Obama's Visit To Afghanistan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I love to hate on twitter as much as the next slashdotter, but the summary makes it clear that the headline is incorrect and misleading, possibly to the point of damaging Twitter's reputation. What you *meant* to say was:

    Afghanistan news site TOLOnews Leaked Obama's Visit To Afghanistan (via Twitter)

  9. Re:"Yes, the January birthstone." on All-Optical Networks: the Last Piece of the Puzzle · · Score: 3, Informative
    Actually, I found that little tidbit amusing, and I was surprised to see that nobody else commented yet on the irony of a connection between January and an optical diode

    In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions,[1] thence also of gates, doors, doorways, endings and time. He is usually a two-faced god since he looks to the future and the past. The Romans dedicated the month of January to Janus.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus

  10. Re:It's more than just global warming gas on Climate Change To Drive Weather Disasters, Say UN Experts · · Score: 2

    You didn't say exactly how, so I'm going to guess that you were talking about one part FUD, with one part rewarding ignorance.

  11. Re:Titanic is sinking on RIM Firing (Nearly) Everybody · · Score: 1

    Wrong analogy. A better one would've been the coach for a losing team. Say, the Toronto Maple Leafs, for example. Jim Balsillie should've completely stepped aside *at least* a year ago, and not doing so was a reckless move that cost the shareholders millions of dollars, and cost the company to miss a critical window to "get back in the game". Things don't look good for RIM right now, and from the outside, that appears to be largely due to this man's arrogance and pride. Maybe he had the "captain of the ship" analogy in his mind as well; who knows? Whatever the explanation, his resignation is long overdue and quite possibly too late.

    This is a pretty sad story for me. As a Canadian IT worker, it will definitely impact my career; as someone who holds insurance and pays into the government's retirement fund, I know I've lost money even though I'm not technically a shareholder. I have friends who've worked for them and co-oped for them while getting their CS degrees at U of Waterloo. It's pretty sad to watch such a blazingly spectacular failure unfold from a company that had *everything* going for it.

  12. Measurement Error on Scientists Say People Aren't Smart Enough For Democracy To Flourish · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A scientist (or any academic) can always produce an interesting study with an interesting result, when they get to frame the question. This article summary starts out:

    'The democratic process relies on the assumption that citizens can recognize the best political candidate, or best policy idea. But...

    There's your problem right there. The democratic process does not exist to choose the "best" candidate or policy. Democracy is advocated on the belief that all individuals have an inalienable right to a degree of self-determination; to participate in the maintanance of the system that governs them. It is about being fundamentally free, not correct.

  13. Re:Impractical to Microsoft, MS also send invalid on Google: IE Privacy Policy Is Impractical · · Score: 1

    If this is "Do no evil," I shudder to think about the damage Google could do if they decided one day to deliberately engage in evil.

    cf. Hank Scorpio, Globex Corporation.

  14. Being Google on No More SSL Revocation Checking For Chrome · · Score: 1

    It's so easy to turn the Internet into whatever you want it to be, when you're the largest advertiser, largest service provider, largest search engine, largest content provider, software maker, hardware-platform-vendor, and even an ISP.

    Have we reached the point where google's "too big to fail"?

  15. Re:Why do scientists make these statements? on Russian Scientist Discovers Giant Arctic Methane Plumes · · Score: 1

    Brilliant.

  16. Re:Nothing unreal exists on Study Says Quantum Wavefunction Is a Real Physical Object · · Score: 2

    I think you fail to understand what the term "abstract" means. My mind's conception of a circle may have a physical manifestation in my brain, but my mind's conception of that circle is not the abstract circle.

    Before you start quoting Descartes, perhaps you need to revisit your Plato.

  17. Re:Yeah right on Comcast Begins Native IPv6 Deployment To End Users · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you can't cook toast, then you probably shouldn't be bringing your phone in the shower with you, either.

  18. Re:In other words... on FEMA, FCC Hope To Forestall Panic Over National Emergency Alert · · Score: 1
    I would mod you up if I could, if only because that was such an incredibly clumsily worded sentence. Still, you have an interesting point. Even during drills, we should all remain Vigilant Guardians. With all due respect, and admitting that I'm being totally pedantic (but hopefully helpful!) here, please let me illustrate how you could break down what you've said to make it easier to follow:

    Do you really think a few minutes' delay will matter? After all, in the last few years these terrorists haven't managed to set off the bombs they've brought onto planes and into NYC.

  19. Re:This is huge news! on AOL To Discontinue LISTSERV · · Score: 2

    > Why did we need to invent twitter, web fora, and IM when we had Listserv, USENET, and IRC?

    Because corporate firewalls blocked everything except port 80. So, everything moved onto port 80.

    As an aside, ten years ago I predicted to my colleague that one day we'd see DNS over HTTP, and probably even TCP over HTTP. I've recently seen *both* of those come to pass via /. stories, although I don't have the links handy atm.

  20. Re:If you have nothing to hide on Mastercard, Visa To Help Target Ads · · Score: 1

    I'm going to leave the rest of your comment aside (my opinion is pretty much the opposite, but we're all entitled to our own), and answer this one:

    for years now I get ads and coupons in my monthly CC statement, usually targeted to stuff I buy, how is it different from what the summary mentions?

    The difference is that, in the case you mention, the advertiser hands over their ad copy, along with a profile of their target demographic, and says to Visa, find the 200,000 of your customers (or whatever #) that most closely match *this* profile, and send them this ad. But, this new plan sounds more to me (although the details aren't precisely discussed in the articles) that Visa will run a service that lets advertisers sign up and repeatedly query "does this customer match this profile?"

    In the first case, Visa is giving you the advertiser's info; in the second case, Visa is giving the advertiser your info.

  21. Re:Climate change caused by...us? on Global Warming 'Confirmed' By Independent Study · · Score: 1

    Yes, but .... at least we've moved the conversation forward, if only by a few inches. First down in 2020.

  22. Loyalty and Outsourcing? on Ask Slashdot: Does Being 'Loyal' Pay As a Developer? · · Score: 2

    I was going to side with you on the loyalty argument, until I read that your employer outsources (some of) their programming. What does that say about their commitment to loyalty? On the one hand, it helps to maintain a good network of industry contacts for the long-term good of your career. On the other hand, it *is* possible to maintain a good relationship with your old co-workers, while simultaneously "looking out for number one".

      Is you leaving going to be *difficult*, or will it break their entire business? That is, you can rest easy if you cause a bit of inconvenience, but just try not to screw them too badly: ask your new employer if you can have a couple of weeks before you officially start; or a "transition period" where you can remain on-call (e.g. a half-day a week when needed) to the old team.

  23. Re:Canonical is not American on Finding Fault With the Low, Low Price of Android · · Score: 2

    Actually, Canonical is registered in the Isle of Man, a Crown Dependency off the British coast. It's a tax and legal haven from the civilized world, although its head of state is still the Queen of England. This has always been one of the things that's bugged me most about Shuttleworth's operation.

  24. Re:Won't stop Oracle on Sun CEO Explicitly Endorsed Java's Use In Android · · Score: 2

    I don't think it's tenuous at all. Lots of projects by lots of companies use Java; this is nothing new. Sun could praise any number of them, but it just so happens that Android / Java is high profile, so they chose to praise that one particular project. That doesn't mean they were aware and sanctioned copyright infringement on any particular piece of code. Java comes with a license, and it's not unreasonable to think that Schwartz would make a public statement of support under the assumption that Google was adhering to the terms of that license.

  25. Re:Hang on on Call Interception Demonstrated On New Cisco Phones · · Score: 1

    I don't want to defend Cisco's laziness here, but there is a sort of logic to what they do - especially given all the VAR's that end up deploying these systems: the hardware / software is shipped so that it's easiest to deploy out of the box. A phone installation can go wrong in so many different places, it helps in troubleshooting and remote management to have everything open by default, and then start locking things down once it's running. This approach has obvious flaws, but the alternative would be a nightmare to deploy.

    Given this situation, I think customers and VAR's need to be more conscious about security. Maybe Cisco could audit their VAR's to see how good they are at implementing the lock-down checklist. Or maybe they could provide such a checklist directly to the end customer.