Slashdot Mirror


User: kerrbear

kerrbear's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
310
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 310

  1. Re:Some issues... on Why No One Answers Their Phone Anymore (theatlantic.com) · · Score: 1

    THIS. Simply go to the National Do Not Call Registry and put your number in. I did it years ago and get almost no spam calls. And you can sue them in small claims court if they do call you. I have never done it but I have a friends who has made thousands of dollars suing spammers.

  2. Would this work in the US? (The US credit bureaus allow you to add a "Statement" to your account.) (I know that fingerprints can be copied and faked but this would probably stop a lot of opportunistic fraud.)

    Nice idea, but sadly it would not work in the current system. For years I have called credit card companies in advance to make a statement that I am traveling to a foreign country so don't put my charges on hold when I use my card there. First charge, they always ignore the statement and put my card on hold until they can contact me. After that they will allow it to be used. No credit company is going to follow any special instructions from the consumer given to a rating agency. Sometimes lenders will not even check for a freeze on credit at the rating agency and will issue a card- so you can't even depend upon that.

    They are simply going to have to stop using SSNs as authenticator values and come up with something more secure.

  3. Re:the problem with Kevin Kelly on Wired Founding Editor Now Challenges 'The Myth of A Superhuman AI' (backchannel.com) · · Score: 1

    Kelly seems pretty sure that omega comes in flavours marsupial and mammal ("substrates").

    Wasn't his point simply that simulating a 'wet' neural network on silicon would be so much slower and more difficult to construct than using an actual neural substrate as to make it not worth pursuing?

  4. Re:Well it's easy to show superhuman AI is a myth. on Wired Founding Editor Now Challenges 'The Myth of A Superhuman AI' (backchannel.com) · · Score: 1

    So....get a second opinion from another AI?

  5. Re:Conspiracy theory in 3... 2... 1... on David Bowie Dies At Age 69 (bbc.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    Is it possible he was in agony over his illness and he waited on the release of his last album before doing physician assisted suicide?

  6. Re:What Is the Future of the Television? on What Is the Future of the Television? (ben-evans.com) · · Score: 1

    Where's my paaaannnts?

  7. Re:Sad to see him go... on Jon Stewart Leaving 'The Daily Show' · · Score: 2

    I doubt anyone could replace him. Maybe CK Lewis?

    Do you mean Louis C.K.? If so, I agree!

  8. Re:Misleading headline on Apple, Google Agree To Settle Lawsuit Alleging Hiring Conspiracy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Really burns me up when companies cry "Free Market! Free Market!" then conspire to make the market less free. Hey Apple, how about if all the manufacturing companies conspire to keep their prices the same so you can't make any deals. Oh, but that would make you angry wouldn't it.

  9. Re:Is no one else concerned? on World's First Magma-Based Geothermal Energy System · · Score: 1
  10. Yet another predictor.

    Bring on the Terminators.

    Maybe Terminators, or maybe this

  11. NSA can't even catch the knuckleheads! on Even After NSA Leaks, Government Still Trusted Over Private Firms · · Score: 2

    But such supreme knuckle-heads are surely likely to make so many mistakes — like advertising on Facebook or searching there or in chatrooms for co-conspirators — that sophisticated and costly communications data banks are scarcely needed to track them down

    The Boston Marathon duo were supreme knuckle-heads and the NSA still did not discover them. So even the knuckleheads aren't found with their surveillance.

  12. Re:real socialism on GM's CEO Rejects Repaying Feds for Bailout Losses · · Score: 1

    but I will also complain about the military buying weapon systems that it arguably doesn't need and will almost certainly find an excuse to use.

    FTFY

  13. Re: How is this news for nerds? on Gunman Opens Fire At LAX · · Score: 1

    Maybe it's because Grant and Tory from Mythbusters were there. :)

  14. Re:It was a glitch on Health Exchange Sites Crushed By Demand; Shutdown Blanks Other Gov't Sites · · Score: 2

    It was a glitch because it affects the peons. Besides if Apple had all the problems this system did they would of been crucified in the newspapers and everywhere else.

    Agreed. Remember the Apple maps problems.

    Also, I don't get why they just didn't phase this in slowly. Why not just have everyone with a name that begins with 'A' get on today, 'B' tomorrow, etc. Or use the last 2 digits of your SSN for it. I bet even if it wasn't strictly enforced and they just asked nicely it probably would have worked out better than it did.

  15. Re:SSH? on NSA Foils Much Internet Encryption · · Score: 1

    Regardless, what it is, it can't be a solution to all crypto, because these governments apparently asked the newspapers not to publish on the grounds that people might switch to stronger systems that worked.

    Or that's what they want us to think...

  16. Re:OK get this on Bacteria Behaviour Can Shed Light On How Financial Markets Work · · Score: 1

    Not the wisdom of crowds but the wisdom of curd.

    FTFY :D

  17. Re:AltaVista on Yahoo Puts AltaVista To Death · · Score: 1

    In my thinking, although your point may carry too, Google nuked Alta-Vista because it had a page free from clutter. Back then everyone was trying to be a portal and Alta-vista and Yahoo, etc. looked like crap and I recall the load time being so long because of all the crap they flung at you. This was back in phone modem days. Then along comes Google with a single line on a white page. I thought, "wow, they are not trying to exploit me." and whether they were or not, it worked. Once they established the reputation, then they were able to use their resources to improve the search continually.

  18. Re:Metaphores. on Apple-1 Sells For $671,400, Breaks Previous Auction Record · · Score: 1

    well, W is transposed to the same numerical value as 6 in Hebrew. So when you type in your www guess what your doing..

    Actually, V is 6 and there is no W in hebrew so 6 is used. Also the numbers are added together when they are places together similar to roman numerals so www would be 18 (6+6+6) and not 666.

    This WWW=666 was a popular thing on the internet back in the mid 90s.

    The number of the beast is only 666 in later christian scripture. According to 3rd century christian texts unearthed by Archeologists the number of the beast is actually 616 and methinks that constitutes prior art.

    This is interesting, but here is an argument against, saying that there was another contemporary text found that had 666.

    Much of the recent stir about 616 has arisen due to renewed studies of a group of very old manuscripts originally discovered in 1895 by archaeologists at the site of an ancient garbage dump in Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. Many of the Oxyrhynchus manuscripts consist of New Testament papyri, and are very old when compared to other manuscripts. One of them named P115 (also called P. Oxy. 4499), dates from around 300 AD and contains some or all of 12 chapters from the Book of Revelation, including Revelation 13:18. It records 616 as the number of the beast using Greek letters (see figure 1). Because of this manuscript’s age, some have jumped to the conclusion that this must be the original reading. However, this conclusion cannot be made. Other evidence must be considered. For example, three manuscripts from the Chester Beatty Papyri include portions of the New Testament. One of these named P47, dates from the 3rd century and contains chapters 9-17 of Revelation. In its reading of Revelation 13:18, it states that the number of the beast is 666, using Greek letters (see figure 2). So, two equally old papyri have both readings – 666 and 616.

    I would argue that it is likely 666 because that falls in line with John's style of writing in the document. John uses explicit and implicit numbers to signify meaning in the text. 7 is the number of perfection- so 7 and lists of seven items are related. 3 implies a unified trinity; good or bad. 10 in both number and lists of ten items refer to human culture. 12 and lists of twelve refer to God's people. Six is one less than 7, implying an attempt at perfection but missing it. It would likely not make sense for John to use 616. A lot of people make hay about the numbers in Revelation, but it's more likely that it was a literary or poetic device John was using to convey symbolic meanings.

    Oh, and just in case somebody wants to OT me: my family bought an Apple ][ when they first came out. We still have it. I wonder if it's worth anything :)

  19. Re:Oy. on Google Fiber: Why Traditional ISPs Are Officially On Notice · · Score: 1

    Didn't have mod points today so I'll just symbolically give you a +1 funny compliment. This made me laugh out loud.

  20. Re:"out of respect for those injured"? on NASCAR Tries To Squelch Video of Spectators Injured By Crash · · Score: 1

    Agreed. IDK if someone has said this already, but my first thought was simply they forced it down out of embarrassment. I'm sure they were aware it was not theirs to begin with. They are suppressing all video to avoid blame and worse: i.e. loss of fans due to disgust or fear.

  21. Re:No he's not on Scientist Seeks 'Adventurous Human Woman' For Neanderthal Baby · · Score: 1

    Yes, you have a good solution. Having more than one would probably solve that issue. Of course there are still the ethical concerns with the failures involved in cloning humans (do Neanderthals qualify as human?) and those only multiply if you make a whole bunch of them.

  22. Re:No he's not on Scientist Seeks 'Adventurous Human Woman' For Neanderthal Baby · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Even if somebody did do this to study a real Neanderthal, I can see a potential problem. We know that cloning results in many failures and deformities before success (Dolly was after many tries I believe). So how could we know if it was a "normal" Neanderthal? It might be born deformed or mentally handicapped simply because of the cloning process. Then our perception of what they were like would be skewed by the process.

  23. Re:Not sure but... on Star Wars Fans Plan Full-Size Millennium Falcon Replica · · Score: 1

    They're building that thing? They're braver than I thought.

  24. At Last! on Fiber Optic Spanner (Wrench) Developed · · Score: 1

    Now I can finally put the screws back in on my laptop!

  25. Re:Why worry on Paintball Pellets As a Tool To Deflect Asteroids · · Score: 1

    Now imagine an Earth where only managers and bankers and politicians will survive. The living will envy the dead.

    Fixed that for you.