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  1. Re:Plastic Notes work well on Counterfeiting With High Resolution Inkjets · · Score: 1
    The different sizes I'm sure would also be a help (we don't have that here), but might make it a bit awkward to stack it...I wouldn't know
    The different sizes make a real difference for a not-insignificant group of people - The visually impaired. Coupled with each denomination being a different colour, NZ money is considered amongst the easiest in the world for the blind and visually-impaired to use.
    How's a blind person in the US meant to know if they're handing over a $5 or a $1000? Trust the cashier? Like hell.

  2. Re:Ahh, the final nail in the coffin called Sun. on Sun Announces New x86 Servers · · Score: 1
    But the writing on the wall is that all of these specialized architectures are doomed to obsoletion. Commodity hardware is ever faster, fast enough to handle what were previously 'big iron' chores.
    You have so totally missed the point of mainframes. Mainframes won't die for as long as there is a requirement for 99.999%+ uptime on a given box. Sure, you can crunch some serious numbers with a cluster of PCs, but their reliability just can't compare with the big boys.
    Mainframes are still around because there is still a market for computers that will run forever provided that you don't interrupt their power supply - Hot-swappable everything, modular kernel architecture with the ability to "hot-swap" modules, etc

    Until commodity hardware can offer all these things, and let's face it there's not much call for a home computer that will allow you to switch DIMMs mid-session, the big iron will exist.

  3. Re:That's not RAID on Best Options for a Home Entertainment Network? · · Score: 1

    Why RAID1? I can't think of a bigger waste of money. Get three or four mid-range (100-120GB) drives and build yourself a RAID 5 array. Fault-tolerant, huge (you get most of the available space), and cheaper than the equivalent amount of space in RAID 1.
    Of course, I'm assuming that you've got either a RAID 5-capable controller or the nous to set up RAID 5 through an OSS OS.

  4. Re:Sony on Has the Quality of Consumer Electronics Declined? · · Score: 1
    Me too!!!! I was reading this thread waiting to pound on Sony. Surprise, I was not the only one. I used to buy Sony because stuff just worked. But in the last 5 years, the quality has deteriorated rapidly, all over the product line.
    The only Sony equipment I own is a Discman. I bought it in early '98 as I passed through SIN airport. Since then it has clocked up several thousand air and train kms while travelling in the thigh pocket of various pairs of cargo pants, and probably another couple of thousand kms in the side pocket of a backpack as I bus around various places.
    Thus far *reaching out and touching forests* it has worked flawlessly. It's been knocked around a bit, and just keeps on going. I would buy another Sony Discman in an instant, but I'm not expecting to need to do so for several more years.

  5. Re:what about TCPA, palladium? on LinuxBIOS Boots Linux, OpenBSD, Windows · · Score: 1
    will microsoft try to boycott this project? (rhethorical question..)
    Of course it's a rhetorical question. The name of the project is LinuxBIOS, after all. IOW, it's a virus, a scourge on society, the anti-Christ, immoral, and probably fattening as well.
    And who will think of the children. Oh, for heaven's sake, won't someone think of the children? :P

  6. Re:Vote with your Dollar!!! on AT&T/Comcast Consider Aussie-Style Bandwidth Caps · · Score: 1
    Here (New Zealand) all broadband ISPs have data caps (eg. 10Gb free per month and 10c/Mb after), but many only apply this limit to international traffic, and offer free national traffic.
    ... I imagine ISPs in the USA may offer similar free-for-this-state traffic, and cap inter-state and international traffic..?
    No chance. NZ is pretty-much globablly unique with our pervasive domestic peering. The ability of ISPs to peer with nearly any other ISP for a very low fee (my current employer pays $1k/month for 100Mb access to the APE, with unlimited peering available across that link) is unheard of in other countries.
    The US is a different market, and a lot of the major ISPs have revenue-netural peering arangements. However, these arangements aren't based around any kind of neutral facility, but rather are based on connections at one of the major gateways (Mae East/West, for example).

    The fact that the NZ ISP market has been able to mostly set aside partisan self-interest is, in itself, quite amazing, but the benefits for the bottom-line are also amazing. The vast majority of our domestic traffic, which runs into hundreds of Gb (if not breaking the Tb mark) per month, costs us a flat $1000 per month. These numbers change the break-even point for an ISP, sometimes quite dramatically.

  7. Re:rent-a-cops? on Physical and Network Security Merging? · · Score: 1
    or are they going to take the risk of entrusting the network to former McDonald's employees?
    Hey, as a high school dropout who used to work at McDonald's, I resent the implications of your post.
    I'm a network engineer/unix-alike sys admin by profession. That I didn't finish high school and was employed by McDonald's doesn't diminsh my intellectual or technical capabilities.

  8. Re:Getting a T1 or getting a "T1"? on How to Test Your T1? · · Score: 2, Informative
    Why is this post funny?
    Sure, the subject seems kind of amusing at first glance, but the post is actually informative.

    Fucking moderators *waits for the negative mod'ing to begin*

  9. Re:1984. on Police Database Lists 'Future Criminals' · · Score: 1
    Of course it's an urban legend.
    As the site says, any military officer who made a comment like that to a reporter would be flayed alive - Particularly a male officer.

    As for the feminists, enough of them think that for it to be a concern. I don't recall saying all feminists, either.

  10. Re:1984. on Police Database Lists 'Future Criminals' · · Score: 1
    Reminds me of the CO of a fort being interviewed by a woman reporter about a forth-coming visit by a bunch of boy scouts:
    Reporter: So, general, what've you got planned for their trip?
    General: Well, we'll take them out for a bit of field-craft, show them the tanks and things, and give them some firearms practice
    R: But isn't that dangerous?
    G: Not at all. Range safety will be the first thing we'll teach them
    R: But you're equipping them to be psychopathic killers
    G: Ma'am, you're perfectly equipped to be a prostitute. But you're not one, are you?

    If you listen to the feminists, everyone with a penis should be locked up because they're a rapist just waiting to happen.

  11. Re:1984. on Police Database Lists 'Future Criminals' · · Score: 1
    Reminds me of the CO of a fort being interviewed by a woman reporter about a forth-coming visit by a bunch of boy scouts: Reporter: So, general, what've you got planned for their trip? General: Well, we'll take them out for a bit of field-craft, show them the tanks and things, and give them some firearms practice R: But isn't that dangerous? G: Not at all. Range safety will be the first thing we'll teach them R: But you're equipping them to be psychopathic killers G: Ma'am, you're prefectly equipped to be a prostitute. But you're not one, are you?

    If you listen to the feminists, everyone with a penis should be locked up because they're a rapist just waiting to happen.

  12. Re:"...all for about $5 a month." on The Last Place · · Score: 1
    What can that US$5 buy you at home? What can it buy you in Bhutan?
    Please fill free to post a link to the price of common consumer items in Bhutan. Until you do, you're talking out of your ass.
    Try here
    As you can see, in 1995 Bhutan had a per-capita GNP of $172, while the US was at over $26,000. GNP is generally considered a good way of working out relative values - In other words, that $5 in Bhutan is worth about $755 in the US.

    You were saying?

  13. Re:"...all for about $5 a month." on The Last Place · · Score: 1
    Who cares? You're missing the big picture! Why the hell can they wire remote areas for cable at $5/month but I can't get it right in the middle of my pre-wired metro area without paying an order of magnitude more? I mean, damn, just the listing of what's on costs twice as much from the TiVo people!
    So, what you're really saying is that you don't understand purchasing power and other basic economic concepts.
    What can that US$5 buy you at home? What can it buy you in Bhutan?
    Chances are that in Bhutan, for US$5, you can fill the tank of one of those monstrosities that Detroit is so fond of. Try doing that on US$5 back in the US, even with your insanely low petrol prices.
    Get a clue, and come back when you've found one.

  14. Re:Maybe I need to RTFA on American Movie Execs Could Face Aussie Jails For Hacking · · Score: 1
    I thought that this went for any country other than Australia. I mean, if you commit a crime in another country, you can be charged there if you ever go there. Is Australia the only country speaking up, or are there other countries talking too?
    huh?
    The way I read what you're saying is that breaking another country's law, even if your actions are legal in the country where the event occurred, opens you up to legal sanctions in the event you ever visit that other country.

    I thought it was only Yanks who were that stupid.
    What you're saying is that I can't go to most of the Middle East, because I've been drinking and fornicating - Both highly illegal activities in countries like UAE and Saudi Arabia - in my home country, even though I'm over the age of consent and the age of majority.

    The reason the Aussies can do this is that the event might originate in the US but the affected device would be on Aussie soil - Meaning that Aussie law applies. When I'm at home, getting my brains screwed out and consuming alcohol, the only law that applies to me is NZ law. No other country would try and charge me for those things, unless I were to do them in that other country and break the law in the process.

  15. Re:Cashless Society on Hong Kong's Octopus · · Score: 2, Interesting
    And virtually every shop can take EFTPOS, from dairies to retail to second hand bookshops to cinemas...
    NZ has embraced EFTPOS completely, to the point that merchants that don't take it are the exception. You can even buy KFC and McDonald's with EFTPOS.
    The only problem is the banks. Typically, they allow a small minimum number of free transactions per month, and beyond that, you start paying fees per transaction. So unless you really want to donate money to your friendly (foreign-owned) bank, you use cash for small transactions...
    And we're not talking a couple of cents per transaction, either. The cheapest bank charges 15c/transaction, and there are some which charge up to 60c/transaction. Which doesn't sound like much, until one uses EFTPOS for everything. I used to do this, until my bank got a clue and realised I was no longer a student - Now I draw cash from an ATM (at 40c/withdrawl, the bastards), and pay cash for everything. It's a hassle, but I don't like throwing money at greedy assholes.

    NZ is something of a rarity, with regard to our willingness to try new technology. Our uptake of Internet access was the highest in the world for a period. We still rate very highly on a per-capita connection level, but with our low population density a lot of the country doesn't have access to things as basic as dialup - Any speed dialup. Something like 15% of the population has access to nothing faster than 9.6kbs.
    A card such as Octopus could be of use here, but it would require a lot more integration within the public transport system. Nowhere more so than Auckland, our largest city, which has no unity of payment for public transport systems (buses, ferries and trains) and exorbitant charges. There's much talk of a unified payment system, and maybe Octopus will be considered, but this would require the local body polly tubbies to extract their heads from their rectums and I can't see that happening any time soon.

  16. Re:Pattern emerging... on Elcomsoft Case Proceeds; U.S. Claims Jurisdiction · · Score: 1
    No, the only reason that Skylarov got his ass in jail is because he broke a US law (albeit a shitty one), then he came to America to give a speech. As soon as you step foot in America, you come under it's laws. It's very simple, if you break American laws, don't step foot in the country. Otherwise, do whatever your respective country allows.
    I guess I'd better not travel to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bharain...
    Why? Because I've been consuming alcohol, and in those countries it's illegal - Totally legal where I live, though.

    You see how seriously FUCKED the US view is, here? "It's legal in your country, but if you come to our country and have been doing it we'll arrest you and charge you for it."
    Some states in the US don't have an age of consent for sexual relations, or the age is very low. I could indulge in legal fornication with a minor in those states, but by your logic I couldn't travel to most other countries in the world because I'd have been breaking their laws regarding age of consent.

    Give me a break. If the US wants to pass fucked laws, that's their perogative. It's not right, however, to try and retroactively enforce those laws against a foreign national who was indulging in a perfectly legal action in their country of residence. Maybe Canada should start arresting American business people who've not exported to Cuba? since in Canada it's illegal to abide by the US embargo on Cuba.

  17. Re:I'm an Australian, and I don't mind... on Australia Spying On Its Own · · Score: 1


    There's 280 MILLION Americans and we're a democracy (unlike Australia) and have been so for 200+ years.


    If being a democracy means that you're allowed to sue me for breathing loudly, you can keep your fucking democracy - Think I'm exagerating? You should see what the rest of the world thinks of your precious, democratic legal system. The same legal system that throws the citizens of other countries in jail for writing a piece of software that no other country on earth (including the one in which it was written) has a problem with.

    If you want to criticise other nations because they're not "democratic", you should at least live in a true democracy yourself. Hell, the people in your country don't even get a real say in who the leader of the nation is - Is that really how you define democratic?


    PS: I know plenty of people from other countries who can tell the difference between Kiwi and Aussie accents. Just like lots of people can tell the difference between Canadian and Yank accents.

  18. Re:Stop it! on Cracking Crypto To Get Into College · · Score: 1
    If somebody is holding a contest to crack something, and you crack it, no jury or judge in the world would convict you, DMCA or not.
    As someone who lives outside the US and cringes at the madness of the whole legal shambles there, I think you have a very naive view of the sanity of the US judicial system.
    Obviously SDMI were fairly sure that if it went to court they could get a conviction, given that they did actually threaten him based on the DMCA. Now, I know that lawyers have a very strong dose of self-interest, but they also don't like losing in court.

    The DMCA must be overturned, before other countries start drafting laws with it as a basis. THAT thought terrifies me.

  19. Re:Just what we need on .us Domains Coming in 2002 · · Score: 1


    But the .us country code didn't use to allow coke.us and things like that... it used to be that only geographical type names could be had like bob.boston.ma.us or something


    So force the powers-that-be to treat .us like every other ccTLD, with a secondary domain required as well. Then you would be just like everyone else, and it wouldn't be an issue.

    The whole non-ccTLD thing was a monumental fuckup, let's face it, with its only upside being convenience. We now have uppity Yank companies who refuse to do business with anyone who doesn't have a .com domain, because they refuse to acknowledge the validity of ccTLD formats - I won't go into the whole issue of American insularity that this brings to the fore.

  20. Hail the BSD licence, baby on Freedom or Power? · · Score: 1
    it's pretty clear that true freedom would not let one person control what another does with software.
    So you're saying that the BSD licence is the only true bastion of coding freedom, then?
    "Take it, do with it as you please, feel free to not release your modifications to the world." - Sounds like total freedom to me.
    Don't get me wrong, I think that the GPL is a great idea, but when it comes to giving power to the coder you just can't beat the BSD licence. Do any of the other licences out there offer the same flexibility of use?

  21. Re:How to detect encryption on How Would Crypto Back Doors Work? · · Score: 1


    Its non-trivial to determine what is encrypted, but something that doesn't fall into the above information parameters = encrypted.


    Or it's random. As many people have pointed out, truly random data is indistinguishable from encrypted data unless you know the key and the algorithm used for the encryption.

    If I were to compose a data stream that was 50% data output from a strong encryption algorithm with a "strong" key and 50% random data from the RNG that's built into a P3 CPU, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two bit streams.
  22. Re:Anyone else... on AtheOS 0.3.5 Released · · Score: 1
    FYI, When I did a traceroute to the site, the last nodes with DNS entries were in Norway.
    Not that that means much. aardvark.co.nz traces out through xo.net from NZ. DNS is a very vaporous thing.
  23. Re:Licensing on National Governments and the Internet? · · Score: 1
    I'm less than 50 miles from Dallas, even closer to Plano and "Telecom Alley". I live in a small but not tiny town of almost 10,000 people.
    Believe it or not, my only option is a 56K dialup.
    Poor baby. We have people here in NZ who are less than 30km (not even 20 miles) from the nearest major town and can barely sustain 9.6k connections.
    By major town, I am referring to villages with a population more than three times that of your hamlet.

    Take a look at this article from a local paper regarding just how pathetic our telecomm's infrastructure really is.

  24. Re:of course they have on I Suspect M$ That Has Broken The GPL · · Score: 1
    um actually...... http://boudicca.tux.org/hypermail/linux-kernel/thi s-week/0005.html
    Look closely at the date on that post.
    Now, open your mouth a little wider and put the other foot in.
  25. Re:Take what you can get on A Study on Regional DSL and Cable Speeds? · · Score: 1
    "Obviously, when you talk about 128kbps for DSL, you're talking about ADSL."
    dunno if thats a typo but I think you mean Idsl, works over the same link as isdn line aslong as theres a DSLAM installed at the exchange and you have a dsl box installed to replace the isdn splitter. idsl can operate over longer distances to adsl at the cost of reduced bandwidth, unfortunately being in the UK I'm stuck with dialup until we overthrow the government and boot out our monopolistically crap phone company.
    Well, here in NZ if we want flat-rate ADSL we can only get it at a bi-directional 128Kb/sec (yes, that's kiloBITS per second :( ). That costs us $30NZ/month from the raping, monopolistic telco, plus usually another $35NZ/month from the ISP. If we want the full speed (up to 8Mb/sec down, 640Kb/sec up, if you live next door to the exchange), we pay data charges that start at $49NZ/month (about $20US) for 400MB of data (plus the ISP charges which are normally $20NZ/month), and get progressively more expensive. 10GB of data will set you back $1k. The charges for data over the limit are per MEGABYTE. It also sounds like it's going to start being a situation of the ISPs billing for traffic through the DSLAM, as they are no longer getting any money from said raping, monopolistic telco.

    It's not just those poor sods in the UK who get raped by monopolistic, arrogant telcos.