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User: darkwing_bmf

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  1. Re:where's the lie? on IT and Security Professionals Think Normal People Are Just the Worst (zdnet.com) · · Score: 2

    A password on a post-it at least requires physical access. More troubling are short easy to remember passwords that don't need to be written down, like "passsword" (or if you need a capital, number and special character, "Passw0rd.")

    I apologize to everyone whose password I've just exposed.

  2. Our system is much simpler. You fill out the paper ballot like a scan-tron and the voting machine eats it and tallies the numbers. Election officials can always go back and count the ballots by hand if needed.

  3. Re:History on A Tiny Screw Shows Why iPhones Won't Be 'Assembled in USA' (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    We're manufacturing more than ever. It's just that usually it's higher up the food chain than screws.

  4. Re:We have to expand our networks on Why the West Coast Is Suddenly Beating the East Coast on Transportation (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    NIMBYism also is a factor. If you can't build where the people live then you have to keep building further and further out.

  5. How this is different than a regular VM on Microsoft Announces Windows Sandbox, a Desktop Environment For Running Applications in Isolation (betanews.com) · · Score: 1
    From Microsoft:

    Integrated kernel scheduler - With ordinary virtual machines, Microsoft's hypervisor controls the scheduling of the virtual processors running in the VMs. However, for Windows Sandbox we use a new technology called "integrated scheduler" which allows the host to decide when the sandbox runs. For Windows Sandbox we employ a unique scheduling policy that allows the virtual processors of the sandbox to be scheduled in the same way as threads would be scheduled for a process. High-priority tasks on the host can preempt less important work in the sandbox. The benefit of using the integrated scheduler is that the host manages Windows Sandbox as a process rather than a virtual machine which results in a much more responsive host, similar to Linux KVM. The whole goal here is to treat the Sandbox like an app but with the security guarantees of a Virtual Machine.

  6. Re:The US uses gas taxes as a good proxy on Luxembourg To Become First Country To Make All Public Transport Free (theguardian.com) · · Score: 1

    For roads, okay. But what about the the lost value due to parking lots? That land could certainly be put to better uses, including making everything denser so trips would be shorter and you'd need motorized transport less often.

  7. Re:KGB phone? what could go wrong? on Russian Internet Giant Yandex Launches Its First Smartphone (venturebeat.com) · · Score: 4, Funny

    More options is always good. Now we have a choice of Russians or Chinese spying on us!

  8. No personal devices, done.

    Nice try AC, but many of those fitbits were government issued, in a move to encourage more exercise.

    https://www.military.com/daily...

  9. Re:In other news on Google Staffers Share Salary Info With Each Other; Management Freaks · · Score: 1

    If you want to encourage your employees to quit, reducing their salaries is one way to do that.

  10. Re:UO, EQ, WoW and now on 18 Years On, Ultima Online Is Still Going · · Score: 2

    The main problem I think is, there's only so many times you can take parcel x to somedude y in the next zone and have it feel like a new and interesting experience. I agree that it would take something like VR to make it fresh again. What I don't understand though is why so many MMOs follow the exact same formula instead of trying something unique.

  11. Re:Paywall on How Computer Science Education Got Practical (Again) · · Score: 1

    We can and do build tools that make simple tasks simple for more people, but let's not let most people loose on the infrastructure of our technical civilization or force the professionals to use only tools designed for amateurs.

    We should try to make complex things easy with better tools. We should not discourage people from attempting to program by making it more complex than it needs to be. The part about "forcing professionals to use only tools designed for amateurs" is a non sequitur. Nobody is "forcing" professionals to use amateur tools.

    I think Stroustrup's main problem is he doesn't know how to make the complex simple but rather than simply admit this he lashes out at the entire concept.

    "Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains." -Steve Jobs

  12. Re:Wrong questions on Ask Slashdot: Is C++ the Right Tool For This Project? · · Score: 1

    I agree with you. Tools should facilitate correctness.

  13. Re:Wrong questions on Ask Slashdot: Is C++ the Right Tool For This Project? · · Score: 1

    The primary requirement for a program is correctness.

    Not necessarily. For many programs "good enough now" beats "completely correct when I no longer care about the result". For instance, many games cut corners when rendering graphics in order to increase speed. Does it really matter that a shadow is off by a couple of pixels if the alternative means the game will not run on a laptop at playable speeds?

  14. Re:Use ADA on Ask Slashdot: Is C++ the Right Tool For This Project? · · Score: 1

    ADA is the Americans with Disabilities Act or the American Dental Association. The programming language is called Ada.

  15. Re: smart people, including Bill Gates on The Future of AI: a Non-Alarmist Viewpoint · · Score: 1

    If we were densely populated we wouldn't need airplanes to visit relatives and public transit would be more cost effective. There are plenty of efficiencies we could find before resources become an issue. Plus the sun provides plenty of energy and we could find better ways to harness that energy.

  16. Re:smart people, including Bill Gates on The Future of AI: a Non-Alarmist Viewpoint · · Score: 1

    The real problem is that the leisure society we all dream about isn't compatible with 7+ billion people. Why? Because the earth is too small to account for all resources exploitation necessary to perform these luxury automations.

    Malthusian Nonsense. You could fit the entire world's population in New Zealand.
    http://www.fastcoexist.com/301...

  17. Re:How many times? on Restaurateur Loses Copyright Suit To BMI · · Score: 2

    So it seems like the best defense for the restaurant owner would be "we didn't actually condone him playing music"

    I don't think you quite grasp the concept of hiring a DJ.

  18. So? If they're going to use anything, they might as well pick the one that's being paid for by someone else. And from what I remember, Apple used to support a lot of schools back in the day (even though ours used PCjrs).

  19. Re:"Easy to read" is non-sense on The Reason For Java's Staying Power: It's Easy To Read · · Score: 1

    I think Ada and Pascal are the most easily readable.

  20. The Logic Gene on The Programming Talent Myth · · Score: 1

    Programming is bimodal in the following way: People who think logically and people who don't. Among those who think logically there is a variation of skill from average to great. Among those who don't think logically there a a variation of skill from ineffective to destructive.

  21. Re:Blocking ragers/trolls on Whoah, Small Spender! Steam Sets Limits For Users Who Spend Less Than $5 · · Score: 1

    $5 Slashdot registrations?

  22. Re:Thank god on Whoah, Small Spender! Steam Sets Limits For Users Who Spend Less Than $5 · · Score: 1

    I don't know too many kids setting up new community spaces, at least not the ones spending less than $5.

  23. Re:And it's already fixed in 1.8.4 on Exploit For Crashing Minecraft Servers Made Public · · Score: 1

    On the other hand, maybe this can serve as a new baseline for some of the mods to be updated (or redone) for the newer (1.8.4+) Minecraft versions, especially if most of the server owners update their servers to fix this exploit/bug.

  24. Re:Double tassel ... on Senate Draft of No Child Left Behind Act Draft Makes CS a 'Core' Subject · · Score: 1

    If you "get" algebra then you don't need to memorise rules.

    Perhaps but nevertheless, in class as I remember it, they instruct you to memorize rules such as the following: "Negative bee plus or minus the square root of bee squared minus four a cee all over two a."

    This may be a pedagogical failing but it is the way classes were taught in my day. But that was a long time ago, maybe schooling has improved since then.

  25. Re:Double tassel ... on Senate Draft of No Child Left Behind Act Draft Makes CS a 'Core' Subject · · Score: 1

    I've yet to see a person who hates, or doesn't get Algebra that could code at all.

    I learned how to code a few years before I learned algebra. I even struggled with algebra at the beginning because of all the rules you have to memorize.