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User: Pharmboy

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Comments · 4,712

  1. Re:A bad thing? on Hackers Forced Announcement of 10th Planet Find · · Score: 1

    It is almost a crime to think that a vast majority of the US population believes that the Iraq war was due to 9/11.

    The vast majority do not. Sure, many polls say this, but we both know that polls and pollsters often have agendas. Many do not see Iraq as even part of the War on Terrorism, no less a cause for 9/11. Maybe in January 2002, but not now.

    Whether I agree or not with the WMD situation, I will openly admit that I would rather see terrorists go to Iraq to take on the US military, than come to the US to take on the citizens. My guess is that was Bush's goal to begin with, to "take the war to them", and away from the western hemisphere. Many would call this cynical, I would instead call it good tactics.

    On the WMD issue, Bush WAS wrong. So was every other country in the world and UN. Lets be intellectually honest about this. France, Germany, UK, US, Russia, EVERYONE thought he had WMDs, and Saddam ACTED like he did. Doesn't make Bush right, but he was in good company and I can forgive this mistake, since everyone made the same mistake, including the Europeans who hate Bush.

    I am not a Bush fan but I am not going to lie, make up stuff, or pretend that things I know to be false, are true. The truth is enough, it just doesn't apply to those two points.

    Patriot Act. Fetal tissue research. Overfunding an underperforming Education Dept. There are plenty of ligitimate complaints to pick from.

  2. Re:A bad thing? on Hackers Forced Announcement of 10th Planet Find · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    FUD. Bush has NEVER said Iraq had anything to do with 9/11. Lots of "sources" have said that he did, but it never happened. Even the NY Times admits that much. Yet, so many still persist that he did, similar to the whole "Al Gore said he invented the Internet" nonsense. Just because people keep saying that he said it, doesn't mean he said it. Either one of them.

    There are plenty of reasons to criticize Bush, (like the WDMs) but Iraq and 9/11 simply isn't one of them.

  3. Re:Bad typo, that: on Hackers Forced Announcement of 10th Planet Find · · Score: 1

    How'd you like to be plugging away on your end of term project and then get busted because someone at your school turned the exact results and report in the day before you did?

    And where exactly did this happen in this situation? Nowhere? Exactly.

    Yeah, by all means privacy should be dead. Long live the Patriot Act.

    WTF does this have to do with the Patriot Act? Or personal privacy, for that matter? He was keeping scientific data under wraps until he could verify it, but this isn't the same as privacy concerns for your Social Security number for Christs sake.

    What you say doesn't add up to the content of the article. A someone broke into thier server, and threatened to reveal the findings. The cracker didn't threaten to take the credit for the finding.

    No one is argueing the ethical lapse of the cracker, but both your arguements are simply not based on the facts of this particular case, and are more akin to standing on a soapbox, offtopic at best.

  4. Re:Good move on Novell's part on Novell Asks Court to Separate SCOsource Money · · Score: 1



    Actually, it might force SCO to raise their licensing for Linux. To still get $699, they would have to charge $13980 per CPU. This sounds like Novell trying to steal SCO's intellectual properly and income potential, just like IBM did, by making Linux unaffordable for the masses.

    </mainstreammedia>

  5. Re:"UNIX" title? on Novell Asks Court to Separate SCOsource Money · · Score: 1

    SCO wont die. Its assets will be sold.

    Since they don't own any IP, any copyrights and any licensing rights, what are we talking about? Office furnature? Water cooler?

  6. Re:Uhh on Microsoft To Begin Checking For Piracy · · Score: 1

    Did you even read the post? "Should have known" applies.

  7. Re:What? on Microsoft To Begin Checking For Piracy · · Score: 1

    And at least in the US, it's not legal to have stolen property, even if you didn't know that it was stolen.

    Wrong. In the US, you have to know it was stolen, or "a reasonable person would know" for it to be illegal. Buying it on ebay from a user with 500+ rating, stolen or not, a "reasonable person" would think it was legit, so buying it is NOT a crime unless you KNEW it was stolen.

  8. Re:wont stop anything on Microsoft To Begin Checking For Piracy · · Score: 1

    It would appear to me that MS's goal is not to make hackers buy legit copies of windows, but instead to force Mom, Dad and Grandma into telling them where they bought the computer with the bad copy of Windows. Grandma didn't want to steal it, and she will get a free copy, so she is "helping prevent theft" in her eyes.

    It appears logical that the problems with piracy isn't if you manage to put a copy on one of your computers, it is if you are selling dozens of computers a month with pirated copies, and charging people under the assumption that the copy is legit.

    I would hope that MS knows they can't prevent the individual hackers from having pirated copies, because they enjoy the act of defeating MS, and new "fixes" come out as soon as new measures are taken. They are also not what costs MS money, it is the people selling systems with pirated versions to the public.

  9. Re:Uhh on Microsoft To Begin Checking For Piracy · · Score: 3, Informative

    Recieving stolen goods is also a crime.

    In most states, KNOWINGLY receiving stolen goods is a crime, but not just receiving them. The usual standard is the old standby: "You knew or should have known" or "a reasonable person would have known".

    For instance: You could have bought a computer at a flea market, from a long time dealer, and had good reason to think it was not using pirated software, and not be guilty of crime, even though you received the goods.

  10. Re:Nothing for you to see here. Please move along. on World's Smallest MP3 Player · · Score: 1

    The author must have some big ass finger tips.

    More importantly, wtf couldn't they just say "24x24x24mm (about an inch cubed)" to begin with, so everyone could understand.

  11. Re:Why? on Why FreeBSD · · Score: 1

    If you bother to read the comment, I wasn't endorsing anything. I use FreeBSD, Linux and Wndows (except on servers). I have no preference as to BSD or GPL licensing. They each have strengths and weaknesses compared to each other, IMHO. Even PD has it's downside as well, if we are being intellectually honest. There is no "perfect" license, or there would only be one license.

    Of course the original doesn't go away. I know this. Everyone knows this. Apple does a fair job of sharing code, for example, but they don't share everything (or some of the best things). Again, I don't say this is good or bad, it is just factual.

    The question presented was why would IBM do this, not why I would. You read too much into it. I stand by my statement, as I think this is why IBM is so pro-Linux.

    IBM doesn't mind giving everyone their code, as long as MS can't close it up. IBM not wanting to help MS is not exactly a trade secret, after all. My guess is that the GPL serves them better than the BDS license for this purpose.

  12. Re:More trouble on Impact of Daylight Savings Time Changes? · · Score: 1

    Good question. I have a couple of the atomic clocks, very cool to not have to ever set them. My guess is they don't "know DST" but simply pickup and adjust according to the default time zone you choose to display (Eastern, in my case). But this is just a guess.

    Every car in the world should use atomic clocks. They are the worse about getting off time. They are also cheap now.

  13. Re:Why? on Why FreeBSD · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If IBM thinks FreeBSD is so incredibly awesome, then why are they shipping all of their server equipment with Linux?

    I suspect there is a VERY good reason for this: GPL

    IBM has made it clear they want to be a hardware and services company, not an OS company. They won't even endorse a single distro of Linux, even tho they are arguably the largest contributor to GNU/GPL.

    So why Linux? BSD software can be closed sourced (Like OS/X's really goodies) but GPL can't. If IBM can't make a successful operating system (and they can't, even tho I loved os/2) then they want to push an operating system that no one can own. Not Microsoft, no one.

    If IBM helped create a killer FreeBSD derived system, MS could take the code, close the source up and call it "Windows Hasta la Vista" and market it, because the BSD license allows this. This is one of the downsides of the "unlimited" freedom of the BSD license.

    They can likely provide exceptional service for Linux (and Unix) systems because they helped write a good part of the code, and no one can close the source up on them.

    So they say "fuck it, lets help with GNU/Linux, no one can close it up, we will be the experts, our hardware will always run super fast with it because we will create our own kernel hacks for it. We can make it pretty much like Unix, without the hassles of licensing."

  14. Re:No daylight savings time here on Impact of Daylight Savings Time Changes? · · Score: 1

    Good link and everything. Obviously, the sources have changed (late 80s when I lived there). There were many more than 30 wells back then as well. The 98 report showed 95% surface, compared with 98 in 2004, and a 2002 doc shows "over 90% from rivers" so I am guessing they are calling recycled water "surface water" for the stats now.

    I stand corrected.

  15. Re:Think of the Children... on Impact of Daylight Savings Time Changes? · · Score: 1

    but it's doesn't seem like Halloween would be the same when you can see just how cheap all the costumes and decorations really ar

    Not many people let their kids do much trick or treating anyway. All this paranoid soccer mom hysteria about poisen and razorblades (although all the cases of such were actually parents doing this to their own children, go figure). Oh, and if you do the math, more kids were kidnapped per capita in the 70s than today, by a large margin.

    Now days, most moms and dads dress their kids all alike, in costumes that do not represent devils or witches or other sinful things, and they go to the community center for apple bobbing and fellowship, so they will be protected and not corrupted.

    Its like communism, but everyone isn't broke. Makes me wanna barf. Modern parents can be such pussies, and of course, raising a whole generation of little pussies as well, afraid to go out, get dirty, light a firecracker, pick up a frog, etc. I am pretty sure the whole DST change ain't gonna change that.

  16. Re:I, for one... on Impact of Daylight Savings Time Changes? · · Score: 1

    or better yet, live on GMT so when you tell someone in another state/country what time to meet you dont have to compute time zones.

    I can see it now... "Why would you call me at 3pm? Its in the middle of the night!" Talk about causing confusion. I can + or - from GMT, and if the whole world used GMT, you would still have to calculate what hours they were open, when is it too early or too late to call, etc. That would be a worse nightmare.

  17. Re:More trouble on Impact of Daylight Savings Time Changes? · · Score: 1

    I predict that there will be some servers that are off by an hour for a while, but that it will not cause many problems.

    I though most servers ran on GMT, not local time. Mine do, anyway.

  18. Re:No daylight savings time here on Impact of Daylight Savings Time Changes? · · Score: 1

    Actually, the vast majority of water in Phoenix is from wells. Yes, wells, not surface water. Several of the wells have even been shut down, mainly due TCE pollution, and about 10-15 years ago, full recycling was finally implemented (but not for golf courses, they get virgin water, go figure..)

    Might want to check your facts next time. Even the irrigation system for watering lawns is from well water. I actually had to get up at 2am to start and 3am to shutdown the irrigation channel on my days when I lived there. Oh, I dealt in water purification systems when I lived there.\, hense the knowlege.

    Also, in summer, most construction and outside jobs start at about 5-6am so they can go home before it gets over 100 anyway. We didn't need DST, we just started earlier in the day...

  19. Re:Are you kidding me? on Win2000 Still Performs on 8-year-old Hardware · · Score: 1

    Actually, your threshold was too HIGH, not too low, but I'm a forgiving kind of guy ;)

  20. Re:Are you kidding me? on Win2000 Still Performs on 8-year-old Hardware · · Score: 1

    I was going to address the inaccuracies of you post, but it would have taken a whole page, so I gave up and just assume you are trolling or a rabid fanboy, since every point you made was factually incorrect.

    I just didn't want those with less experience to believe this nonsense. 95 is pretty easy to hack and get to run on minimum or pegged out hardware, IF you can get the drivers for your video, NIC and integrated stuff.

  21. Re:Commies at Pepsi on Ethanol More Trouble Than It's Worth? · · Score: 1

    Last fall, I spent a week in Moldova (between Ukraine and Romainia, former USSR) and can say that Pepsi has a larger presense, from what I could see. Tasted the same as in the US to me. Was afraid to drink the water in some areas (parts are very undeveloped) but would drink pepsi, knowing they filter the water.

    Price was about 80 cents US (6 Lei, I think) for a 12oz. bottle, which explains why the residents don't drink it much: Too expensive considering a $10/day average wage in a place with 50% unemployment.

    Diet Coke (Coke Light) in Belgium tasted different than US version. Can't say better or worse, but different, and there is no sugar/corn syrup in it.

  22. Re:The Answer Is... on Win2000 Still Performs on 8-year-old Hardware · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I do the same with windows 95. I have an emu aps sound studio hardware/software that doesn't run right on Win98+. No virus/trojan issues, although it isn't on the net full time and I keep AV/Firewall updated.

    If new MS versions were as tight and compact, and EASY to modify as 95 was, I wouldn't have so many Linux boses around. Assuming they updated to address more ram, ntfs, etc.

    Personally, I think an even more stripped down version of 95 would be a perfect 'internet appliance' because it was easy for newbs to use compared to XP now. As much as I love (and use) Linux, it still has too many options for new users.

  23. Re:Short translation of the article on The Internet Archive Sued Over Stored Pages · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't everyone have the right to ask a court to hear their case?

    Everyone has the right to have their case REVIEWED, but not heard. Everyone should be able to appeal if their case is rejected at review. But no, everyone should not be able to have their case heard. That would be an unreasonable burden on the taxpayers and too easy for large corps. to abuse.

    Using everyone's favorite whipping boy, Microsoft, in an example:

    Lets say in 1993 Bill G. sues Linus for infringement because you can run XWindows on Linux, and "this is an attempt to rip off Windows and damage us unfairly". His case must be heard, no matter how dumb it may seem under your logic. In 1993, Linus was pretty much broke and would have no way to defend himself. Few had heard of Linux, and fewer would be willing to donate to a legal fund "for some college student in some foreign country".

    Perl, PHP, Apache, Samba, Gimp and virtually every piece of useful FOSS would be at risk from a mountain of lawsuits, some by big companies, and some by proxy, some by "investor groups", because they are "unfair competition", "infringe" some imaginary concept, or for simply being "black on a sunny day". Same reason some people hunt: deer don't shoot back.

    The court systems are already dangerously biased toward large corporations. Forcing every case to be heard "in the interest of the little guy" would guarantee the little guy would cease to exist.

  24. Re:This is bull on GTA Sex Game Leads to ESRB Fracas · · Score: 1

    Perhaps a bit of self deprecating humor on the part of my fellow nerds? Most fellow nerds I know have a very good sense of humor (granted, the lay public might not always get the jokes...) and are actually fairly confident. I find it easy to make fun of myself, due mainly to the fact that I am confident enough to take it, and I am smart enough to not take myself so seriously to begin with.

    I have an expression I use frequently that goes "Sex is like Money: Those that have, don't talk. Those that talk, don't have."

    Yes, there is always a subgroup that couldn't get laid in a woman's prison, but this is a minority. There are plenty of overly shy, socially inept people who are NOT nerds. IQ is not inversely proportional to sexual gratification.

    Or perhaps we nerds like to talk about how nerds never get lovin', even if we are, thus making ourselves "exceptional". Who wants to be "average in luck" when it comes to getting laid, right?

  25. Re:It could be the default option during install on Windows Users Ignoring LUA Security · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Please explain how "the OS itself is built around you being an admin"? This is an application, not OS, problem. The OS provides the mechanisms for LUP

    Try running mainstream apps and see for yourself. Stuff like peachtree, or any other business app breaks like hell if you don't have admin priveleges. The problem IS in the OS, as the permissions in Windows is incredibly stupid (which is why Longhorn is changing to a Unix style permissions setup...)

    Even XP is based upon the old premise that one person uses a computer. The default is no login, no password needed. Adding a domain server after you already have the box installed is a pain too, since windows wants to rename the login, and considers "bob on the local machine" different than "bob when he is on the network". Its a total pain in the ass compared to unix.