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User: Jeremy+Erwin

Jeremy+Erwin's activity in the archive.

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  1. Re:Internet connection shouldn't be required on Ubisoft's Draconian DRM Patched? · · Score: 1

    Ah, there it goes.

    Note to self: Play more games, more often.

  2. Re:Internet connection shouldn't be required on Ubisoft's Draconian DRM Patched? · · Score: 2

    Hmm...

    unplugs ethernet cable, disables 802.11

    Didn't quite work out that way. Got a "Steam needs to be online to update" message. Perhaps the Mac client differs substantially from the Windows version.

  3. Internet connection shouldn't be required on Ubisoft's Draconian DRM Patched? · · Score: 0

    When my ISP went out for a day and a half, I wanted to play some games to pass the time, but the games that appealed to my state of mind were all on steam-- and thus useless to me. (Yes, I'm the anti-social type--I prefer single player scenarios).

  4. Re:Hahaha on Zimbabwe Gov't Websites Hit By Pro-WikiLeaks DDoS Attack · · Score: 1

    If various sites associated with Zanu-PF, such as the Herald could be hacked to republish the allegedly libelous cable:

    2. (C) On November 6, poloff met with Andrew Cranswick, the
    CEO of African Consolidated Resources (ACR), the
    publicly-traded British firm that had its Chiadzwa diamond
    claim in the Marange district of Manicaland seized by the
    government parastatal Minerals Marketing Corporation of
    Zimbabwe (MMCZ) in 2006 (reftel). According to Cranswick,
    there is a small group of high-ranking Zimbabwean officials
    who have been extracting tremendous diamond profits from
    Chiadzwa. Cranswick said that RBZ Governor Gideon Gono,
    Grace Mugabe, wife of President Robert Mugabe, Vice President
    Joyce Mujuru, Mines and Mining Development Minister Amos
    Midzi, General Constantine Chiwenga and wife Jocelyn, CIO
    Director Happyton Bonyongwe, Manicaland Governor Chris
    Mushowe, and several white Zimbabweans, including Ken Sharpe,
    Greg Scott, and Hendrik O,Neill, are all involved in the
    Marange diamond trade.

    source, then some good might come out of this. But DDOS is such a blunt instrument.

  5. Re:Wow on YouTube Legally Considered a TV Station In Italy · · Score: 1

    Italy will enforce it with fines, and raids on server farms and offices within Italy, and lawsuits and criminal prosecutions. How Youtube abides by its new obligations is up to them. It's not Italy's problem.

  6. Re:Mugabe on Wikileaks and Democracy In Zimbabwe · · Score: 1

    Luckily,FDR and Truman didn't make the same mistake that Woodrow Wilson did. Thanks to their efforts, the UN has a robust assassination bureau, known as the "Blue Hemet's" Working under the cover of an ordinary peace keeping force, specially trained Ninja Assasains fan out across the world dispensing vengeance, marking their victims with the sign of the Red Cross.

  7. Re:BASIC on Why Teach Programming With BASIC? · · Score: 1

    True; I was assuming that

    20 IF A$="plover" PRINT $A;" is a jerk" else 30

    was reasonably correct. The Applesoft emulator suggests that

    20 IF A$="PLOVER" PRINT A$;" is a jerk" else 30

    is closer to being correct, but Applesoft lacks an ELSE statement. At which point I realized that hacking the code to excise the ELSE statement would also correct the error I identified originally:

    once line 20 is parsed, control falls through to line 30, unless there is an intervening end statement like so.
     
    10 INPUT "Who is poster?";A$
    20 IF A$="plover" PRINT A$;" is a jerk" else 30
    25 END
    30 PRINT A$;" is not a jerk"
    35 END

    No guarantees on whether this will parse on any given machine.

    It's the equivalent of writing a C switch statement without break; statements.

  8. Re:BASIC on Why Teach Programming With BASIC? · · Score: 1

    Who is poster? plover
    plover is a jerk
    plover is not a jerk

  9. Re:Healthcare on DHS Seized Domains Based On Bad Evidence · · Score: 1

    If you're arrested by the ICE, then yes, they will be in charge of your healthcare. My guess is that's comparable to veterinary services on factory farms.

  10. Re:Ancestry.com on Best Open Source Genealogy Software? · · Score: 1

    Occasionally, interesting patterns do show up. My seventh great grandfather and his wife shared the same surname even prior to marriage. I think they were third or fourth cousins.

    A more common form of intermarrying is two sisters marrying two brothers. If you aren't in the habit of recording all the sons and daughters of a marriage, you'll miss the quaint little details.

    And if all the firstborn females in a particular branch are named "Mary", and all the firstborn males "Daniel", knowing that particular Daniel had 12 kids by three wives helps to differentiate him from the other Daniel who had five kids and only married once (before he was killed in battle).

    Of course, this all happened in the late 17th century, and most people who have traced back their roots that far will have bumped up against the 250 person limit even without a policy of recording every child.

  11. Re:Ancestry.com on Best Open Source Genealogy Software? · · Score: 1

    250 sounds a bit limiting, especially when you populate your databases with cousins.

  12. Re:Milking the cow... on H.R. Giger Returns To the Alien Franchise · · Score: 2

    Yeah, I hated that hobbit book

    The Hobbit (1937)
    The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955)

    Perhaps you're thinking of the Silmarillion (1977).

  13. Re:Description of hack? on Learning From Gawker's Failure · · Score: 1

    You're right. I forgot good ole' Fleshbot (porn)

  14. Re:Congratulations on Designer Arrested Over Anonymous Press Release · · Score: 2

    Well, he probably used software that he used in his design business. For a designer, anonymity is normally counterproductive, and in any case, non free software encourages or even requires"registration".

    He should have burned a LiveCD, and used the tools on that to maintain a semblance of anonymity.

  15. Re:Description of hack? on Learning From Gawker's Failure · · Score: 2

    Actually, Gawker owns and manages several websites: deadspin (sports), kotaku (computer gaming), jezebel (feminism, and other girly stuff), io9 (sci-fi) gizmodo (consumer electronics), lifehacker (computers), and jalopnik (cars). All of the accounts on those websites have been compromised, to some degree.

  16. Re:Filed by Ken Cuccinelli on Judge Declares Federal Healthcare Plan (Partly) Unconstitutional · · Score: 1

    Ah, perhaps there should be a second category--e.g. "Statesmen" ---reserved for officeholders who govern wisely.

  17. Re:Empty theatrics on Michael Moore Posts Julian Assange's Bail · · Score: 1

    "Penis In Vagina", of course. She's trying to deconstruct the myth that vaginal intercourse is "normal", and "PIV" helps it seem more alien.

  18. Re:Doomed on Michael Moore Posts Julian Assange's Bail · · Score: 1

    The release of information is filtered through four representatives of the mainstream media-- The Guardian, The New York Times (which leaches off the Guardian's access), Le Monde, and Der Spiegel. The full release of the documents won't be available until the Americans do something stupid.

  19. Re:Empty theatrics on Michael Moore Posts Julian Assange's Bail · · Score: 1

    Obviously, you haven't spent enought time among the feminist community. I reccomend that you start with Femonade

  20. Re:Filed by Ken Cuccinelli on Judge Declares Federal Healthcare Plan (Partly) Unconstitutional · · Score: 1

    Well doggie. The ad hominem is still a false argument in this case, although it is happy making to dance the puppet about and make fun of it. ;->

    There are many fallacies in debate. One such fallacy is the slippery slope-- a little regulation pushes a society inexorably towards Naziism.

    It is common, among people who are familiar with fallacies and little else to point this out.

    HA HA. You're wrong. That's a slippery slope.

    But, some slopes are slippery. Occasionally, a real life slippery slope will send someone caterwauling over a hidden cliff. Signs warning hikers of the danger should not be idly dismissed as fallacies. Instead, the smart hiker will look for stairs, or a less treacherous path.

    Similarly, the most effective argument against a slippery slope is not to loudly point it out, but to argue that that the descent from A-->D is in fact marked by distinct steps: A-->B, B-->C, and C-->D, and descent from policy A to policy D would require difficult, discrete and deliberate policy changes, unrelated to the implementation of policy A.

    But, hey, if you want to treat the rules of formal debate as a method for ignoring points of view that don't mesh with your own, that's your choice. We have limited lifetimes, and promoting style over substance can be a effective coping mechanism.

    I'll say it again: Cuccinelli is a political opportunist.

  21. Re:Filed by Ken Cuccinelli on Judge Declares Federal Healthcare Plan (Partly) Unconstitutional · · Score: 2

    The only reason he is being singled out here is because the VA suit is the first one that had traction.

    First one out of the gate! Woo hoo!

    Virginia's attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli II, is a man in a big, big hurry. He had promised to challenge the constitutionality of the newly enacted health care legislation "as soon as the ink is dry" on the president's signature. And—true to his word—less than five minutes after the bill was signed this week, Cuccinelli's staff sprinted over to Richmond's federal courthouse with a lawsuit aimed at blocking the measure. While 13 other state attorneys general hoofed it to court to file a joint lawsuit in Florida, Cuccinelli opted to go his own way, filing his own suit tethered to a brand-new Virginia law providing that "no resident of this Commonwealth shall be required to obtain or maintain" an insurance policy.

    Quick-Draw Cuccinelli
    Why high-speed lawyering can be hazardous to your health.

  22. Re:Filed by Ken Cuccinelli on Judge Declares Federal Healthcare Plan (Partly) Unconstitutional · · Score: 1

    According to some conservatives, including Burke, a politician's character matters, given that his role is to offer his judgement on behalf of his constituents. Therefore, ad hominems are entirely appropriate.

  23. Re:Holy Shit! on Righthaven Sues For Control of Drudge Report Domain · · Score: 2

    Well, then, aren't you glad they don't have brains?

  24. Re:Meanwhile, in Japan on 68% of US Broadband Connections Aren't Broadband · · Score: 1

    Maybe the problem is just that the american ISPs are cheap?

    Quite possibly.

    I apologize for offending your province, though perhaps you should take up issues of orthography with Wikipedia

  25. Re:Does it address what ports are open? on 68% of US Broadband Connections Aren't Broadband · · Score: 1

    True pier ti pier is like the wild west

    The wild west was a inland region, with very few ports.