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User: RyuMaou

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  1. Re:I thought we all knew those things where BS... on Leaked Documents Confirm Polygraph Operators Can't Detect Countermeasures (antipolygraph.org) · · Score: 1

    Actually, the drug testing from hair is not at all the way you describe. Residue from the drugs end up in your hair, processed out of your body and the hair grows, and it will detect things months after use. Is it more expensive than a regular piss test? Yes. Is "...the cost to do so would be phenomenally prohibitive"? No, not at all. At least, not for the government.

    Also, there are brilliant people who play by the rules to accomplish goals, even if they realize that things like polygraph tests are hoodoo hokum and can be easily gamed. In fact, in some ways, one might consider the polygraph an IQ test. Are you smart enough to pass it or dumb enough to think it's an actual impediment to achieving your goal?

  2. Re:Quicken/Quick Books on Ask Slashdot: What Windows-Only Apps Would You Most Like To See On Linux? · · Score: 1

    Yes! A thousand times, yes!

    I've tried some of the FOSS "replacements" for this, but they couldn't even port my data correctly from my Quicken backup. Also, along with this, TurboTax. These two programs are the *main* thing that keeps me on Windows in my personal life. I have other programs, too, but they could be replaced or I would be willing to use a virtual machine for the little I use them any more. Quicken and TruboTax, though, are a lot more important to me and simply have to work and be supported.

  3. private wiki on Ask Slashdot: Maintaining Continuity In Your Creative Works? · · Score: 1

    I don't make movies or TV or even serial art, but I used to write a lot and would always want to maintain internal consistency between stories set in the same, usually, science-fictional universe. I started using a private wiki to do that with, based on TiddlyWiki, which is self-contained, basically one page, and doesn't need a database behind it. I wrote about it on my blog here:A Personal Wiki.

    As an example of what one might put into a wiki like that, I put a bunch of the Traveller RPG "Library Data" from the old rulebooks into a wiki for players. You can find it here: Traveller Library Data Wiki.

  4. I just lie to them on Ask Slashdot: Dealing With Service Providers When You're an IT Pro? · · Score: 1

    It's simple. By the time I call Support, I've already done everything they're going to ask of me and, most likely, a few things they haven't thought to ask me. So I just like and let them walk through the steps, give them the right answers to get to the next step on their flow-chart and eventually get kicked up to Second Tier or Third Tier support.

    I used to be more impatient and blurt out to them everything I did, but that just confused them because it didn't follow their script. Now, I just call when it's convenient and lie my way through their process at my leisure. It's a little frustrating sometimes, but it eventually gets the results.

  5. Re:How do you know? on Report: Russia and China Crack Encrypted Snowden Files · · Score: 1

    Also, if you read the entire article, you'd see that an "unnamed official" also said that there is no evidence that any agent was, in fact, harmed by any of the information allegedly decrypted.

    Honestly, this is just the usual smoke and mirrors. As many have pointed out, spies, by the very nature of their work, cannot be trusted.

  6. Do Weapons Developers and Lawmakers Read? on Killer Robots In Plato's Cave · · Score: 1

    Hasn't anyone developing these weapons read any science-fiction? Is Fred Saberhagen so far out of vogue that no one has read *any* of the Berserker novels or stories?
    How about Phillip K. Dick? He's been pretty popular with Hollywood recently, and his story Second Variety was not only about this very thing, but made into a movie starring Peter Weller called "Screamers". You can read it for free via Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebook...

  7. Re:Lasers are easy to stop on The US Navy Wants More Railguns and Lasers, Less Gunpowder · · Score: 1

    That's what the railguns are for! Smoke and mirrors aren't going to stop a big lump of iron and enough kinetic energy to get that iron airborne. Also, science-fiction aside, what I've seen of the military application of lasers is more defensive than offensive, and against regular munitions.

  8. "... more legal and diplomatic work..." on FAA Could Extend Property Rights On the Moon Through Regulation · · Score: 1

    Did any of you *read* the whole article?
    "But the letter also points to more legal and diplomatic work that will have to be done to govern potential commercial development of the moon or other extraterrestrial bodies.

    “It’s very much a wild west kind of mentality and approach right now,” said John Thornton, chief executive of private owned Astrobotic, a startup lunar transportation and services firm competing in a $30 million Google-backed moon exploration XPrize contest. "

    They're basically saying that this might be a start at further international law to govern the issues of commercial development off the Earth, not the actual solution. And, frankly, I think it's a good thing to start doing. Off-Earth commercial development, not additional international law, that is. Of course, one will follow the other.

  9. Re:A Simple Retort on WSJ Refused To Publish Lawrence Krauss' Response To "Science Proves Religion" · · Score: 1

    If you believe, God *always* answers prayer, because "No" is an answer, too. Not a popular answer, but it's still an answer.

  10. Re:Tiddlywiki on Ask Slashdot: Life Organization With Free Software? · · Score: 1

    TiddlyWiki is useful in all sorts of ways! But, there may be some difficulty editing it from his Android tablet. Unless things have changed since I tried it last, there weren't any great solutions to that. (However, if I'm wrong, please, school me! I LOVE TiddlyWiki and would be happy to be wrong about editing it via an Android device!)

  11. Pressgram on Instagram Rolls Out Plan For In-Feed Advertisments · · Score: 1

    I like the idea behind Instagram, but not the proprietary nature of it. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I don't like giving up my rights to work I create. I dislike, as Nicholas Carr termed it, "digital sharecropping" And, of course, now the ads have finally started on Instagram, solidifying my discomfort with it.

    But, recently, there's a new program, Pressgram, that's a free iPhone app (with an Android app coming soon, hopefully), which allows an Instagram-like experience, but uploads the photos to my WordPress blog. You can upload them to your WordPress.com blog, or, as I do, to my self-hosted WordPress blog.

    So, in my mind, it has all the "good stuff" in Instagram without the stuff I find objectionable.
    Worth checking out, if you're bent that way.

  12. I'll see it, in spite of OSC's politics on Orson Scott Card Pleads 'Tolerance' For Ender's Game Movie · · Score: 1

    I wish Orson Scott Card was right, that the equality issue was now "moot". It's far from that, but momentum is building in what I think is the correct direction. But, in spite of his homophobic and other offensive views. Why? Because, I agree with Stephen Brust about blacklisting him setting a dangerous precedent. Also, in spite of his other BS, I like the story. I find it engaging and interesting and the movie looks like it will be well done and worth seeing.

  13. Re:Uh oh... WP is *about* to suck? on Federated Media Lands WordPress.com Deal · · Score: 1

    And, what "metro" is that? Also, can you be more specific on what you mean by "more" when you say that Drupal "...gives you the ability to do a lot more..." than WordPress?

  14. Re:The authors on SF Authors Predict Computing's Future · · Score: 2

    Yeah, I was right there with you. Also, how could they leave off Vernor Vinge? I don't understand how "...it seemed appropriate to wrap up these ideas by asking one of the world’s bestselling fantasy writers, Christopher Paolini, author of the Inheritance Cycle (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance), to offer his predictions." when they're talking about *science*, but they didn't seem to be aware of Vinge, who's a computer science professor and wrote Rainbow's End which hinges on advances in computer technology?

    Crazy!

  15. Re:Nook Color + CyanogenMod + EZPDF Reader on Ask Slashdot: Ebook Reader for Scientific Papers? · · Score: 1

    I'll second a vote for the Nook Color. I rooted mine, too, with super, super easy instructions from http://nookdevs.com/
    I don't read scientific papers, but I work in IT where a significant amount of documentation is in PDF format. The PDF reader from the Android store, which is free, has performed admirably for me. Different PDFs sometimes need different adjustments and I occasionally have to zoom pages to get them to fit right, but I've been very happy. As others have noted, battery life could be improved some, but it's good enough for my use. At least it gets me through an entire day without a problem, and I just charge it up with my iPhone at night.

    Also, as others have mentioned, the $250 price was definitely a factor in my choice. As was the ability to read ebooks from both Barnes and Noble, natively, and Amazon, via an Android Kindle app. I didn't want to get locked into a single bookstore for all my ebooks! This was a neat solution to that problem, in my opinion. And, again, it handled PDFs very well without having to do any software gymnastics. Oh, and the Dropbox app makes getting PDFs from any of my PCs to my Nook a piece of cake.
    Here's a couple shots from when I first got it:
    http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5134/5507703665_1ffa034af1_s.jpg
    http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5178/5508300506_3fa733191a_s.jpg

  16. Server Monkey on Low-Bandwidth, Truly Remote Management? · · Score: 1

    With all these suggestions, I can't believe that I haven't seen anyone suggest Server Monkey! It's just like Bathroom Monkey, but for server rooms. I don't know anything about monkeys, but I know he reboots my server on command!

  17. Re:by-nc-nd? Community edited? on Was This the First CC Community-Edited Novel? · · Score: 1

    Oh, I misunderstood the "number of books sold" comment! I thought you meant other books you'd written and sold to mainstream publishers. Sorry, my bad! (And, here I was about to commend you for "one-upping" Cory Doctorow in the open literature arena!)

    Ah, well, good luck with this one, anyway. Who knows, it may lead to a change in careers!

  18. Re:by-nc-nd? Community edited? on Was This the First CC Community-Edited Novel? · · Score: 1

    Hey, that's cool that you're an established author who did one CC! What are your other books? Can we find them via Amazon.com? If not, where can we find them?

  19. Re:Death certificate on Post-Suicide Account Cracking? · · Score: 1

    Actually, it's not that elaborate at all. The idea is an old one, made popular with spy novels and movies. It's called a "dead man switch". Basically, it's just software that you have to sign into and disable on a regular basis or it will perform some action, which could be to lock the machine and e-mail a trusted party the username and password.

    In fact, such software exists for Windoze machines, and I've used it. It's called "Dead Man Switch", or DMS for short. A quick Google for "dead man switch software windows" returned several places to download the software, including:
    http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,23183-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/description.html

    Of course, none of that takes care of the original poster's problem.

  20. Should you stay or should you go? on How Do I Become an IT/IS Manager? · · Score: 1

    So far, I haven't seen anyone really answer this question. Maybe they're just beneath my current threshold.

    As someone who's been management and staff and promoted from within, I can give you a solid "it depends". It depends on whether or not your fellow staffers like you and you care that they like you. As a manager/supervisor, you will have to occasionally make unpopular decisions and will not be universally liked. At least, if you make those unpopular decisions well, someone's not going to like it. If you work with people who think they're more qualified or more deserving than you, they will resent you getting promoted over them.
    On the other hand, you likely know the business better than someone coming in from the outside. Someone coming in from the outside may be resented just as much as someone promoted from within. And, you may be able to make the transition well and easily.

    Naturally, going somewhere else has a certain charm to it, too. You can be the new guy who doesn't know anyone and, therefore, doesn't have anyone to whom you feel loyal or to whom you feel indebted. You may have to spend more time learning the business, but you can also bring a fresh perspective to the new company, so it's not all bad. And, you can still be friends with your old buddies at the last gig. Of course, that assumes that someone is willing to hire you without any management experience to manage others. Good luck with that. My first supervision gig was an internal promotion due to the sale of part of my company. I managed an incompetent who I couldn't fire for various reasons, though he did finally move on, and I hired two guys to replace him and, eventually, me. My next gig more than doubled my management responsibilities, so I had between five and eight unruly children to keep track of while trying to get my own technical work done. From there on, it was easier to get hired on as a manager.

    But, everyone makes their own transitions. Right now, I don't manage anyone buy myself and couldn't be happier.
    Good luck with your career!

  21. Re:Teaching Graphic Design on Old Software or Open Source? · · Score: 1

    Not only that, but as has been pointed out repeatedly already, by the time these kids do hit the job market, the software will have changed. Or, they'll have hit college courses that do use the most current software.

    I agree that it's better to teach the theory.

    Also, who says they might not prefer GIMP? I really like the latest version and would rather use it than a pirated version of Photoshop CS. I work with computers for a living, though not in graphic design, and I'd rather use the free, OpenSource software on my own PC than pay the big companies so much money. Besides, at the level I work, I don't use the advanced, all-singing, all-dancing features of Photoshop anyway, so why pay for it? The GIMP gets it done for me.

    Also, the kids can download the free versions and use them at home to make their parent's websites. Or start an HTML Design stand with their laptop and WiFi connection and pay their way through college. (Hey, the rates beat selling lemonade!)

  22. Re:But you're little? on WordPress 2.3 Does Not Spy On Users [UPDATED] · · Score: 1

    Nope, I've been reading them. Maybe you're not saying everything you mean?

    I apologize if you think I've been accusatory. I honestly don't mean to be.
    I'm just trying to understand how you think the WordPress development team is doing something different than, say, Microsfot, to whom you keep comparing them. The issue, and their attitude, is no different, but you seem to make it out to be different somehow.

    Frankly, this whole thing seems like such a non-issue, in all ways, that I'm a little mystified why so many people made a big deal. By the time the story hit Slashdot, there were already two officially recognized plugins that disable the feature. In fact, Matt, who's attitude seems to be the sticking point for you, pointed them out to the person with concerns.

    Regardless, no one is going to change your mind, obviously. I wouldn't have replied to the last message, except I didn't want to leave you thinking I was purposely being accusatory. It's just the way I argue, I guess. My ex-wife had problems with it, too. Maybe I should go back to law school! :)

    Hope your solution works well for you!
    Jim

  23. Re:But you're little? on WordPress 2.3 Does Not Spy On Users [UPDATED] · · Score: 1

    Oh, then, frankly, I think the WordPress team would be pleased that you're comparing them to giants who make so much money from their product. WordPress is a free, OpenSource, community supported product. I would consider it part of the "fee" to have to modify it to suit, either through plugins or direct modification of the code. The "privacy" issue is minimal. The information that is being transmitted back to the database is mostly available to an interested party via tools available from the web. The only thing that might not be is the plugin versions.

    If you're saying that you'd rather pay someone like Microsoft, Oracle or Apple to maintain a codebase for you, because paying their licenseing fees is somehow more cost effective for you, then okay. But if you're really trying to convince me that it's really a privacy and/or trust issue, I don't think you understand what's happening. You trust Microsoft a whole lot more than this when you update Windows or active Office. Unless you're lying to them about who you are when you do either setup.
    It sounds great to say it's a business decision based on lack of trust, as long as you don't use software created by people who have proven that you can't trust them. Like Microsoft and their silent update to Windows earlier this month, for example. Based on that, did you make a plan to move to Linux and drop all your Microsoft server products? I doubt it.

    So, I do get your point, I just find said point to be completely false and specious.

  24. Re:But you're little? on WordPress 2.3 Does Not Spy On Users [UPDATED] · · Score: 1

    Actually, there are other options than those listed.
    You could actually get your IT staff to find the offending code and remove it, as many previous posters have already pointed out. Do you subscibe to the wp-hackers list? If you've truly spent as much time doing due dilligence on this as you indicate, I would expect that you'd have been part of that e-mail list. I just written a couple of plugins for WordPress, but I follow that list. And, I use WordPress for several sites.
    I've used WordPress for several years now. Ever since a similar, but more serious, licensing flap over MoveableType.

    Frankly, I can't imagine what sort of business you could possibly be invovled in that would require the level of paranoia that you seem to be subscribing to on this.

  25. Re:can't resist joking about this on Possession of Violent Pornography Outlawed in UK · · Score: 1

    Yeah, what's next? Will they outlaw freezers over a certain size because they might be used to store a body? That's what the guy did with her after killing her according to his fetishistic fantasy, after all. And what about the tights he used to do it? Did he buy those? Have to outlaw any man buying tights then.

    Well, if they keep going, maybe they'll eventually get to outlawing comb-overs because, according to the picture in the article, serial killers love comb-overs.