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User: hamsterspeed

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Comments · 32

  1. a modest proposal: on Slashdot Design Changes for Wider Appeal · · Score: 1

    Don't look at Slashdot for the next 24 hours?

  2. Re:Both! on The Boot Loader Showdown · · Score: 1

    Why use LILO at all, then ? You can use mbr (http://packages.debian.org/stable/base/mbr), or even the dos / windows one (fdisk /mbr), which will silently boot the active partition, that you will set to the one containing the secondary boot loader you're using.

    right, but, this way is funny.

  3. Re:Why is it "best practice"? on The Unspoken Taboo - The Never Expiring Password · · Score: 1

    Why is a password that a user has committed to memory that never changes worse than a password that changes every three months that a user has to write down?

    Because you may not know you've been owned. Changing your (compromised) password may regain you some security.

    And if wishes were horses, we'd all be eating meat. My password security sucks.

    (on your mark... get set...)

  4. Re:Interesting on Mozilla Thunderbird Gets Firefox-style Tabs · · Score: 1

    Conversely, after enough tabs, everything has thunderbirds.

  5. Re:The one useful script on Time Saving Linux Desktop Tips? · · Score: 1

    rm: cannot remove `/usr/local/bin/games/': Is a directory
    $

  6. Re:fp on HP to Install Netscape on all new PCs · · Score: 1

    doh.

  7. fp on HP to Install Netscape on all new PCs · · Score: 1

    omg first mod me offtopic!

  8. I haven't had a telemarketing call in 6 years on Do-Not-Call List, Two Years Later · · Score: 1

    How?

    I fired my landline voice provider and got a cell phone.

    Every time this topic comes up, I'm stunned that anyone still has this problem.

  9. Re:Nice on The Future of Windows Software Distribution · · Score: 1

    Parent post smacks of fallacious "everyone I hang around = how most people are" thinking. Many who frequent Slashdot may be surrounded by illegitimate copies of Windows, but that no random sample. When I look at friends, family, friends of family, family of friends, etc., I see a whole lot of boxes that came from a store and are running the OS they shipped with. In business settings, I suspect that's even more true, and business accounts for a hefty chunk of PCs in use.

    So what I'm saying is, careful with anecdotes, they're fun to throw around but that doesn't make them global truths!

  10. taco nailed it five years ago... on Movie Studios Unveil New Anti-Piracy Lab · · Score: 1

    ... on an episode of Geeks in Space, and I still quote it every single time this topic comes up in conversation:

    "If you can decrypt it to play it, you can decrypt it to rip it."

    Please let me know if there are any new developments. Meanwhile, I don't need an article to know that Hollywood's gonna continue to try anyway.

  11. Re:measure your fridge from the air? on Laser Cannons Coming to an F-16 Near You · · Score: 2, Funny

    As has been observed elsewhere, while measuring your fridge the device can simultaneously heat a very large, specially designed jiffy pop enclosure. Versatile!

  12. A Modest Proposal on Is the iPod Shuffle Playing Favorites? · · Score: 3, Funny

    If i Hear Fiona APPLE one more time, I'll kill myself.

    Perhaps you could remove it from your iPod Shuffle loadout?

  13. Re:NASA... on Saturn's Moon Iapetus Has A 'Belt' · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's no moon.

    It's a SPACE STATION!

    I have a very bad feeling about this...

  14. Re:dual boot on Tax Time Again: Any Linux Solutions? · · Score: 1

    I'll take a break from Linux and boot into WinXP Home (which I bought a $89 OEM license for). I'll buy a copy of Turbo Tax from Walmart for $30 bucks and submit my return online.

    For me it's not about the OS, it's about the $30. Like many (maybe?) on Slashdot, my finances are very simple... I can fill out the 1040EZ in about eight minutes flat, and would not benefit from the longer forms. My income is over the cutoff for the free e-file programs I'm aware of. Call me cheap, I won't argue, I just wanna get the speedy refund benefit of e-file and not pay privilege.

    It cannot cost $30 to process? 30 cents, even?

  15. rehash of an old issue on Laser Painting Could Lead to 25-Year Prison Term · · Score: 1

    The issue of lasers as a hazard to airborne navigation popped up as a pretty big issue in the laser display industry about a decade ago.

    The issue from a pilot's point of view.

    The SAE G-10T working group took the lead hammering it out; more here.

    The resulting FAA regulation is Chapter 29 of FAA Order 7400.2E.

    Also enjoy a brief video clip providing a pilot's eye view of a high-powered display laser illuminating a cockpit.

  16. Re:I always wanted to do this... ;) on Star Wars TV Show, And An Unmade Trilogy · · Score: 1

    yer mirror looks to be about one octet short of an IPv4

  17. Re:Why 900mhz phones are the SPAWN OF SATAN on 2.4GHz-Friendly Phones? · · Score: 1

    correlation != causation

    Of course not. In fact, people often infer the inverse case: "the phone has always been there, and, sometimes when I'm on it I don't have this problem." I'm actually talking about a repeatable, demonstrable phenomenon wherein intermittent, transient DSL sync loss can be caused by a telephone devices with an HF electronic element.

    When this occurs, removing the device successfully prevents recurrence of the sync loss, as verified by extensive monitoring of noise margins on affected circuits. Took me a year of doing this stuff to find the correlation, and quite a number of test cases before I became somewhat comfortable with the hypothesis.

    After a couple hundred carefully monitor examples, it starts to look like a causal relationship :)

  18. Extra fun with Battlefield Earth... on What's the Worst Movie You've Ever Seen? · · Score: 1

    If you're having a hard time paying attention, try finding the one shot in the film where the framing is actually parallel to the ground rather than at some rakish (arty?) angle. I dare you. I double-dare you.

    Chicken.

  19. Re:Why 900mhz phones are the SPAWN OF SATAN on 2.4GHz-Friendly Phones? · · Score: 1

    Yes, and I'm quite certain that this is true for many, many, many people. I even had one myself for a bit that never ever caused a problem.

    What I do know, from hundreds of customer troubleshoots, is that when a line that's been working for ages suddenly goes intermittent, the DSLAM stats show substantial signal strength fluctuation on the downstream side but no variance on the upstream side, and the MLT shows a clean loop from the CO, 9 times out of 10 the problem will be fixed by disconnecting a 900mhz phone.

    I'm not saying it always happens with every phone, I'm just saying that this symptom set correlates strongly with these devices allowing HF onto the phone copper (sometimes after years of no problems). Mostly this was a "nobody understands me" rant about a unique element of my job.

    I'm amused to see I got modded troll... I guess I deserved that.

    -hamsterspeed

  20. Why 900mhz phones are the SPAWN OF SATAN on 2.4GHz-Friendly Phones? · · Score: 0, Troll

    Repeat after me: 900mhz phones will screw up your DSL.

    I don't care if you've had that phone forever and it's never been a problem before. I don't care if there's a microfilter on it. I don't care if there's five microfilters on it. I don't care if it's plugged in all the way on the other end of your house. I don't care if you've got a CAT5 homerun from the demarc (unless you've installed a frequency splitter to go with it, and if I'm talking to you, YOU HAVEN'T).

    I DON'T CARE. Throw your 900mhz cordless phone away. It is why your DSL keeps disconnecting and the speeds are slow.

    -hamsterspeed provides excellent customer support for a Major Independent Broadband Provider

  21. Re:Why? on Virtual Real Estate Boom Draws Real Dollars · · Score: 1

    All I know is that I have Boardwalk AND Park Place.. oh sorry.. wrong game.

    I love playing against folks like you, because I'm the guy who *never* lands on either of 'em. I usually lace it right onto Luxury Tax, which, well, beats the alternatives.

  22. Re:Mirror on ElectriClerk Computer Of The Future · · Score: 1

    There seems to be a mirror (with pictures that load) here.

    uh, looks like not for long...

  23. cannot! CANnot! on Saruman Completely Cut from 'Return of the King' · · Score: 1

    Gandalf: "You shall not pass! Until you answer me these questions three, what is your name?"

    CANnot! "You CANNOT pass!" It's not an argument; it's a statement of fact. In other words, do not meddle in the affairs of wizards...

    ok I'm gonna go lie down now, please carry on :)

    -hamsterspeed
  24. Re:RTFA (Or at least the actual headline) on Red Hat's CEO Suggests Windows For Home Users · · Score: 1

    You will note that the posting says nothing about "home users" while the headline of the ZDNet article clearly says "home users."


    "classic consumer purchaser" == "home user."

    -hamsterspeed
  25. Re:As an economist... on Speakeasy Introduces Broadband WiFi Sharing Plan · · Score: 1

    Um, since when did "bandwidth and colocation space" become *not* high fixed costs? Since when did the telcos not get to charge a fee for access to the line they maintain? There isn't a broadband ISP in the US that's turned a profit.