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User: Defenestrar

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  1. The migration will save the government some 1.5 m on Valencia Region Government Completes Switch To LibreOffice · · Score: 1, Insightful

    But what's the cost in special training and support? Anyone got a reasonable number for the ROI?

  2. Re:Windows 8 woohoo! on Write Windows Phone Apps, No Code Required · · Score: 1

    You don't even have to make a DLL. You can drop code blocks straight in if you want to. I think it's generally more for code conversion and legacy support than for efficiency though.

  3. Re:Windows 8 woohoo! on Write Windows Phone Apps, No Code Required · · Score: 2

    Quite right. Any programmer in any language who puts scrambled lines of code into a single subroutine (i.e. "mega evil rats nest of doom") deserves to work the AOL geriatric IT help line for a week. You don't have to get very far into the documentation before sub-.VIs, event triggers, and state machines start becoming strongly suggested.

  4. Re:Windows 8 woohoo! on Write Windows Phone Apps, No Code Required · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Haven't used the App Studio - remember that Myst was written in HyperCard and there's plenty of other examples in that vein.

    While in an entirely different class, LabVIEW is a graphical programming language which is quite powerful (true language / direct compiler). Simple/easy to code/read doesn't mean lousy or weak software. Besides, quality is usually pretty unrelated to code (other than some cases of performance).

  5. Re:no on Comcast Allegedly Confirms That Prenda Planted Porn Torrents · · Score: 1

    ... If I stand on a street corner and hand out copies of my book, I cannot then turn around and sue anyone who takes a copy for theft. It's only when someone I did not authorize stands on a street corner handing out copies of my book that I can sue him (and the recipients if they knew the book giveaway wasn't legal) for theft...

    Actually - anyone can buy copies of your book and hand them out for free whether or not you authorize the distribution. Copyright gives a creator a fair bit of power over the work, but publishing (and printing) gives implied rights with the initial sale of the object and you only retain some of the remaining rights (i.e. limited quotation without license, performance, etc... but you give up control over the printed object including who reads it and how often). Heck, someone can even leave them in a public place with a free sign.

    What gets tricky is the transition to digital when there's an implied but ambiguous set of rights transferred to copy (and even maintain several simultaneous sets), derive work, re-write, publish/display, and etc... all of which happen very often between long storage, fast storage, processing, video display, etc... So with such an ambiguous set of rights, what do you do with the stack of books option when taking the books doesn't remove the pile? What if you wanted to store - for your own convenience - your library in a location where all of your electronic devices can publicly reach?

    My preference is for authors/publishers to use the same trust they gave people not to photocopy books. Of course trust should be rewarded with a corresponding level of integrity for the consumer to also honor copyright. Until our society works this out, I for one will be only purchasing books from companies who follow the lead of Baen (or Doctorow). Of course, given this topic's origin, I don't have any plans to support the genera regardless of their DRM license/own status.

  6. Re:Assange is a loser. on Wikileaks Releases A Massive "Insurance" File That No One Can Open · · Score: 1

    Quite. Especially as a relative fraction of society. Looking at minority rights can provide one with interesting case studies, but looking at majority rights will tell you about the big picture.

  7. Re: Assange is a loser. on Wikileaks Releases A Massive "Insurance" File That No One Can Open · · Score: 1

    You know, if I tried to become perfect in a subject before trying to teach my children about it, I'd be guilty of letting them grow up ignorant of everything rather than giving them a jumping off point with merely my own faults.

  8. Re:One Note? on Ask Slashdot: Best Software For Med-School Note-Taking? · · Score: 1

    It's come a long way in the last few versions - in addition to what the post mentioned, you can even pull in things from Outlook if you're emailed course notes/tasks/homework/etc...

  9. Re:Sensationalist summary at all? on Building a Full-Auto Gauss Gun · · Score: 1

    I'm certain ASTM will have additive alloy specifications soon (if they don't yet) and people will be able to make quick smart decisions about their manufacturing process. Many existing alloys have recommended post fabrication treatments (i.e. heat: anneal, temper, etc...; chemical: pickling, anodization, etc...) which vastly improve certain characteristics which would have been detrimental to the shaping process. Additive materials will probably be similar.

  10. Re:You would think. . . on First Ever Public Tasting of Lab-Grown Cultured Beef Burger · · Score: 0

    And you touched on some of the brilliance inherent in this work and demonstration's location.

    1. Pick a country with a well conditioned fear of CJD

    2. Pick a region (EU) with an unreasoned fear of GM food

    3. Provide a solution to 1. and temptation to overcome 2. with a vat grown burger... perhaps compensating with organic ketchup.

    4. ???

    5. Profit!

  11. Re:You would think. . . on First Ever Public Tasting of Lab-Grown Cultured Beef Burger · · Score: 2

    Clearly the AC flirted with precognition by assuming someone would throw a good pun into the meat grinder.

  12. Re:Ah, the mythical CS skills shortage on MS Tackles CS Education Crisis With Popularity Contest · · Score: 1

    You can't graduate high school without learning algebra - so presumably it's teachable (in a single phrase: "opposite operation on the opposite side"). Presumably basic programming can also be learned by anyone able to follow a few logic skills.

    What gets someone out of the grunt phase of programming is an aptitude for methodical processes (although not necessarily uncomplicated ones) and a desire to write instructions for a non-intelligent machine one step at a time.

  13. Re:Last Sentence on Federal Magistrate Rules That Fifth Amendment Applies To Encryption Keys · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Likewise, if there's good reason to believe that you have a different set of books in a safe, or perhaps a murder weapon - you can be compelled to give the combination. By providing the combination you are not confessing to fraud or murder - you already left that evidence; by not providing the combination you are standing in the way of the court to evaluate the evidence.

    The fuzzy line is regarding whether there's reason to search in the first place (which is more of a question regarding the Fourth). Should the simple fact that a computer may have aided the crime be probable cause? Does there have to be evidence showing which computer was utilized (like only allowing the search of one computer behind a router's firewall instead of fishing in all of the computers - and what if there's multiple owners?...).

    I think a really interesting test case would be if a criminal used a confession or otherwise key incriminating evidence as the pass phrase for an encrypted device. If they plead the Fifth, and then were compelled anyway - how much would be ruled inadmissible?

  14. Chuck the post: No minority rule by major parties on Ask Slashdot: What Planks Would You Want In a Platform of a Political Party? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Number One Priority (and of most benefit to small parties like yours): Replace first past the post voting for selecting our representatives (because we are a representative republic) with something more effective in terms of game theory. I think instant run-off would work best for the American people given our history and what we are most likely to understand and adopt readily.

    What's the impact on tech policy?

    At the most fundamental level, tech policy should be data driven, and there is no more fundamental data than that provided by the voters. If we implement a voting system which will optimize the decisions made by members of the republic - instead of discounting a majority of the input - we have the framework to begin implementing data-driven policy in every other aspect. Otherwise - first past the post mathematically favors two opposing policies neither of which the majority of voters truly approve (rather we pick the lesser-of-evils). With a superior voting system, the constituents can indirectly favor their own tech policy (and you might get a good statistician to do some nice post-hock voting analysis to separate out the variables and tell you exactly what the people want for tech).

    If you're asking for some direct policy advice - I'll post that elsewhere

  15. Re:Certifications on A Tale of Two Tests: Why Energy Star LED Light Bulbs Are a Rare Breed · · Score: 0

    Yeah - and all those stupid tests an EMT has to pass.

  16. Re:Under copyright law you're wrong. on Judge Rules That Resale of MP3s Violates Copyright Law · · Score: 1

    So, do you think the work was intended to be re-sold? If not, then by your own argument the copyright holder does have the right to deny copying for that purpose.

  17. Re:What's the point? on Technology To Detect Alzheimer's Takes SXSW Prize · · Score: 2

    A specific selective test even in the middle of dementia (symptom) identifying Alzheimer's (disease) is beneficial. There's other causes of dementia, and (until now) Alzheimer's can only be conclusively diagnosed postmortem (currently advanced imaging is used to rule out other causes of dementia by process of elimination, but diagnosis isn't confirmed until the autopsy).

    Also, a successful diagnosis early in the process can eliminate much of the fear and confusion about the source of the dementia. Of course you replace that with fear regarding the disease - but at least you don't have the confusion and often family/peer conflict arising from unknown (and perhaps unrealized) early stage dementia.

    Finally, I'll address Nut Job (hello AC (starter of this thread) do you mind if I address you as Nut Job, perhaps NJ for short? That'll help differentiate between you and the other ACs in this thread).

    Nut Job seems to want a treatment before diagnosis of a disease which progresses asymptomatically for many years. Now I personally would prefer my doctor to not put me through a regimen of medicine, radiation, chemotherapy, organ transplant (and additional organ transplant due to the failure induced by the new standard of preventative care) based on the idea that I may come down with symptoms at some point in the future. I suspect that other people and their physicians (and regulatory bodies) may also feel the same. Now NJ, you may be thinking that I've engaged in some hyperbole and perhaps skated across the line into a common logical fallacy or two, but I'm also willing to bet that my point has been communicated. So I'll end with QED which I believe is a Latin acronym for "neener, neener!"

  18. Re:Good old days on Editorial In ACM On Open Access Publishing In Computer Science · · Score: 1

    Not quite the good old days. Back then there was usually a bit more thought and revision put into something before the effort of setting the type and hiring the engravers. Now it's as easy as pasting one's first draft into a slashdot comment - and we all know how well thought out and revised those are ;)

  19. Re:I decline to review... on Editorial In ACM On Open Access Publishing In Computer Science · · Score: 1

    Pshaw, that's nothing. Once an editor sent me an article that had body text written in a sans-serif font!

  20. Re:I decline too on Editorial In ACM On Open Access Publishing In Computer Science · · Score: 1

    I've got a few questions about how this hypothetical system you hint at might work:

    How could we prevent self-reinforcement? (i.e. authors picking their like-thinkers and friends as reviewers)

    How does a prospective reader know the aproximate strength of an article - keeping track of journal reputations is a pain, keeping track of individual reviewer quality is probably near-impossible

    Could we avoid overwhelming "celebrity" reviewers? It seems that leaders in the field would give up email entirely if every prospective writer hit their inbox.

    How would you see revisions handled? For example, I review X and say "pretty good, but I want to see better stats on the data here. And you should discuss the implications of...", they revise (and the paper's better) and then I (and others) recommend acceptance; the paper's then published in a finished and citable form. If every time the author responds to a publicly review gives a different version of X, then there's an added headache with the readers (who may have to re-read old papers in addition to reading new ones) and citations which could get confusing - Author, "Title" Publication Source, Date, revision (X, X1, ..., X23.b7, etc...).

    I think there's quite a bit of merit in self publishing for true peer review (and not just articles, but how about self published peer reviewed theses? Peer-field accredited qualifications for the people who are learning more from open online courses and textbooks? A true meritocracy of talent, knowledge, and expertise). But we'd need to get these things sorted out if we don't want HR departments throwing out CVs with a list of self published articles and self declared Ph.D.s.

  21. Re:Good. Now lets take back the rest of science. on Editorial In ACM On Open Access Publishing In Computer Science · · Score: 1

    I've been told off of author-pays journals (like PLOS) by supervisors and collaborators due to the money. This is especially true with preliminary studies (i.e. really extra novel) because there isn't a grant for the research yet, but it's exactly these sort of "hey look at this cool new area that still has lots of low-hanging fruit" kind of articles that would benefit most from open access (both for exposure and for the spirit of science).

    Fortunately neither of the association journals I'm attached to are with Elsivier (although their management has been farmed out to slightly less massive publishing groups). If they were, I think I'd still review for them because I don't have to vote with my feet (I can vote with my vote). On the other hand, if my associations were the ones trapped in the "Elsivier captured our whole journal and we don't have rights to it anymore" boat - then I think I'd vote with my feet too.

    I feel bad for the people who's professional organizations gave away all rights to their own journal... but nobody accused a group of scientists as being more cunning in a business sense than the guys who wear a tie and non-white jacket all the time.

  22. Re:Great! on HR Departments Tell Equifax Your Entire Salary History · · Score: 1

    Set a portion (or all) of the corporate tax rate based on the ratio of CEO (or executive) salary to non-executive (or even non-management) average compensation.

  23. Re:Legal obligations? on Free Wi-Fi: the Movement To Give Away Your Internet For the Good of Humanity · · Score: 3, Informative
  24. Re:Open network? on Free Wi-Fi: the Movement To Give Away Your Internet For the Good of Humanity · · Score: 5, Informative

    You aren't liable and you'll probably get a successful good free lawyer (well free to you) if anyone gives you grief.

    Worried about your door kicked in? I'd say it's your civic duty - and if my reasons aren't good enough for you, maybe you'd consider the optional counter-suits like winning the lottery

  25. You can see where their naming convention is going on Valve's SteamBox Gets a Name and an Early Demo at CES · · Score: 1

    It's a trap!