Slashdot Mirror


User: mrbester

mrbester's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
1,722
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 1,722

  1. Re:What's a lost dragon called? on Dragons, Nuclear Weapons, and Game of Thrones (thebulletin.org) · · Score: 1

    They're both still forms of drake. While the words have a common root, they were disambiguated. European dragons have six limbs (Smaug, Y Ddraig Goch, the one St George clobbered, etc.). There's also a wyverex, which has no legs and two wings.

  2. Re:Ley's see what will happen on Wikileaks Co-founder Julian Assange Arrested in London (theguardian.com) · · Score: 4, Informative

    He was never inaccessible. The Swedish prosecutor consistently refused to send someone to interview him (as had been done in several cases of suspected murder with the accused out of the country) and was censured for it (and subsequently resigned) because she only wanted to make a name for herself by prosecuting a high profile target. Instead, she issued the EAW to try and get him returned to Sweden because US had secretly agreed an extradition with her.

    That way, she could claim credit for apprehending and prosecuting a fugitive and US could get their hands on a whistleblower who embarrassed them.

  3. Re:Can't this be fixed with extensions? on Chrome, Safari and Opera Criticised For Removing Privacy Setting (sophos.com) · · Score: 1

    Don't forget to send such data as pings blocked back to the mother ship with navigator.sendBeacon so you can aggregate the block count and show it on your site in a flashy box: "this really works! 2,046,732,755 pings blocked and counting!"

  4. Re:Keeps the toilet clean on What's The Correct Way to Pronounce 'GIF'? (thenewstack.io) · · Score: 1

    Interesting. That makes the name change even more "we want it called the same everywhere because reasons" than the corporate line of "we're saving money by cutting down on printing costs"

  5. Re:Keeps the toilet clean on What's The Correct Way to Pronounce 'GIF'? (thenewstack.io) · · Score: 2

    It was always called Cif in Europe, but when launched in UK, naming something that sounds like the colloquialism for a sexually transmitted disease wasn't thought to be a good idea.

    Then, decades later, it was renamed Cif in line with Europe for the reason that it would cost less to print the labels. Seeing as each country had their primary language describing the product on the label anyway, this seemed incongruous.

    Oh, and Vim is a cleaning product used for scouring pans.

  6. Re:Light from a vacuum on Physicists Predict a Way To Squeeze Light From the Vacuum of Empty Space (sciencemag.org) · · Score: 1

    My cordless handheld has a light that comes on when I'm recharging it.

  7. Re:Sensors are physical objects on Boeing Unveils 737 Max Software Fixes (cnbc.com) · · Score: 1

    Reminds me of something I watched about erroneous reporting of multiple AE-35 unit failures by supposedly bug free software. There was only one survivor of that incident.

  8. Re:Permanent DST is a mistake as well. on EU Parliament Votes To End Daylight Savings (dw.com) · · Score: 1

    So, rather than getting rid of changing your clocks twice a year, you advocate changing your clocks every single day?

    Hint: look up "analemma". No, not "anal Emma". Unless that's your thing.

  9. Are you in your home as mentioned in the 2008 Supreme Court Heller self-defence decision? If not, are you part of a well regulated militia?

  10. Re:67 KiB says you are wrong on Online Petition Site Crashed By Millions of 'Cancel Brexit' Signers (time.com) · · Score: 1

    The page polled every 10s to get the latest count. A at the same time, the backend was regenerating a heat map based on the locations of those who had signed. It does this with every live petition on the site as a batch job, and couldn't cope with the load.

  11. Re: Nobody saw this comming. on 750,000 Medtronic Defibrillators Vulnerable To Hacking (startribune.com) · · Score: 1

    Already happened: The Cryptobanker (The Blacklist season 6 episode 10). Aired a fortnight ago.

  12. Dues a Prius handle the same as a Camry? They're both Toyotas so why not?

    You, of course, understand that having to have pilots undergo additional training because some automatic system that can't be disabled might continually fuck up and crashes aircraft isn't conducive to safe air travel?

    But you go right ahead and continue to defend Boeing and FAA. Happy trails.

  13. > "Going against a long Boeing tradition of giving the pilot complete control of the aircraft, the MAX's new MCAS automatic flight control system was designed to act in the background, without pilot input"

    Or notify them either, it seems. Or be disabled when it erroneously kicks in over 20 times causing unexpected dives. Fuck everything about this system. Even if they fix it I'm not flying on any aircraft that has this.

    > "this extra kick downward of the nose would make the plane feel the same to a pilot as the older-model 737s"

    And that's also ridiculous. Because of the change in the engine configuration it is an aircraft that handles differently. "Compensating" so the pilot doesn't know the difference causes confusion, something you don't need when in charge of a passenger jet. Do they make 747s feel like you're flying a TriStar? Of course not.

  14. Re: Life & cells is just chemistry on Scientists Reawaken Cells From a 28,000-Year-Old Mammoth (vice.com) · · Score: 2

    > there is no "quickening"...

    Juan Villa-Lobosh Ramireszh would dishagree.

  15. The web was envisaged as being open by design. As it originated as something running on a closed corporate network, such openness such as identifiable information of the user wasn't considered remotely dodgy. It's only subsequently that such information has been considered to be morally dubious thanks to those who spotted a potential revenue source and exploited it.

  16. Full of noise and fury, signifying nothing on Facebook Sues China-Based Companies For Selling Fake Accounts (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Who cares? The companies and individuals in China don't care because US law doesn't apply there. Rest of world doesn't care because federal court also doesn't mean anything outside US.

    Why even bother filing suit? All it does is provide more proof that Facebook is a steaming pile of dingos kidneys that scams can be set up so readily.

  17. They'll know that I'm a woman's man, which is fine by me.

  18. How about "Wok Like An Egyptian"?

  19. Seeing as the fines can be €20m, or 4% of annual global turnover, whichever is higher, that's a dangerous bet to make, even for $5.27.

  20. It hasn't been in force long enough for a meaty case to be brought (because they take months to resolve). That's why the last fine Google had was small, as the amount was calculated using the old legislation. Give it time, the cases are coming.

  21. Sorry (not sorry) on Facebook Will Shut Down Its Spyware VPN App Onavo (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 1

    > "Market research helps companies build better products for people."

    Missing from the quote: "But slurping all the data gets us more profits from selling it than any product improvement can and we're annoyed that we got found out."

  22. Re:I remember reading on Scientists Dressed Horses Like Zebras To Figure Out Why They Have Stripes (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    Except lions, like all cats, can see colours, just not as many as a human can. This can be attributed to more rods in the retina to aid hunting in low light conditions.

  23. > "While the database would be prohibited from storing criminal or medical records alongside the DNA samples, it would require the samples be accompanied by the person's name, Social Security number, date of birth and last known address"

    Yeah, totally separate so totally safe to contribute to. We're not going to crosscheck with any other database when we feel like it, matching on common fields, honest. We also won't update the other databases with this data either, pinky swear.

    One for the GFY pile, particularly when people are to be charged for it.

  24. It's the Spinal Tap version of more plural, specifically 1 pluraller (in lowercase Roman numerals).

  25. Re:Seems like they don't have a "leg" to stand on on Lufthansa Sues Passenger Who Missed His Flight in an Apparent Bid To Clamp Down on 'Hidden City' Trick (cnn.com) · · Score: 1

    Fuck that noise. If I don't want to avail myself of a good or service I've paid for, you can't make me. Perhaps you'd like to try tying me to the sofa because I haven't used my Netflix subscription in this month.