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User: Surt

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Comments · 8,792

  1. Re:Short-sighted argument. on Debugging Indian Computer Programmers · · Score: 1

    You can't just move to any country you want to and take a job. They have laws about that, just like the US does.

  2. Re:Oh no on USPS Service Kiosks Taking Pictures of Customers · · Score: 1

    I thought that paying with duplicate serials was mildly funny. :-)

  3. Re:Paying disproportionate share of taxes? on Debugging Indian Computer Programmers · · Score: 1

    It's simple math. If you have more than the average, then your share minus the average, divided by the number of people, is an amount that I could have if your wealth above the average were redistributed. Therefore, I'd be better off if you (and everyone else above the average) weren't above the average. (Assuming we start with me below the average).

  4. Re:Paying disproportionate share of taxes? on Debugging Indian Computer Programmers · · Score: 1

    No, it doesn't cost more, but the value they receive is much greater, that's the point.

    The burden of the wealthy is in proportion to the capital they sequester. The more any one person has in disproportion to the average, the greater their burden to the average.

  5. Re:Short-sighted argument. on Debugging Indian Computer Programmers · · Score: 1

    Ah, now that would make it fair, if we were all free to move to other countries in search of employment, as are the companies who offer it. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to do so, which is what makes complaining about offshoring valid.

  6. Re:Paying disproportionate share of taxes? on Debugging Indian Computer Programmers · · Score: 1

    No, the wealthy are taxed far less than they take advantage of. Try to imagine how long they'd hold on to their wealth without police protections. Guess at the wealth they save when their home is saved by firefighters vs a family renting an apartment. The wealthy get a far better deal from taxation than the poor.

  7. Re:Availability? on Illinois Gov. Seeks Violent Video Game Ban · · Score: 1

    Sadly, the government has research on its side. The government's recommended policies are considerably better for child development than what most parents employ.

  8. Re:Oh no on USPS Service Kiosks Taking Pictures of Customers · · Score: 1

    That's what you think. Where'd you get that cash? ATM? Change from another store? Vending machine? All trackable. Unless you go seriously out of your way these days, the serial numbers on the bills you spend can fairly easily be tracked back to you.

  9. Re:Oh no on USPS Service Kiosks Taking Pictures of Customers · · Score: 1

    It does as soon as you pay. And if you don't pay, well, that's the camera's identified purpose.

  10. Re:Advantage? on NVIDIA 6200 w/ TurboCache Released · · Score: 1

    Yep, I frequently screenshot in doom 3, switch to photoshop, edit it up, send to friends.

  11. Re:Don't just take this lying down, IMO on DJB Announces 44 Security Holes In *nix Software · · Score: 1

    Actually, it seems obvious to me that the correct line of attack is to write a software checker to automate the finding of the bugs. Then you can reasonably hope to find a significant fraction of them. Only have to find 25% (maybe just one category) of exploit to reach 10 from 44.

  12. Re:Don't just take this lying down, IMO on DJB Announces 44 Security Holes In *nix Software · · Score: 1

    Clearly there must have been a very large number of holes for any student to find even 1 of the 44 holes out of all the open source programs out there.

    However, that basically leaves your grade to luck. To have a reasonable chance to find 10 will require an automated software checking tool, and that's not an easy undergrad semester course appropriate project.

    Professors are generally required by university policy to have reasonable and completeable workloads. If none of the students in a course can complete the assigned workload, that's generally a bad sign. It's a particularly bad sign when the students who differentiate in one dimension (test grades) fail to differentiate in another dimension (hole find rate).

    All signs suggest the professor was in error here.

  13. Re:Don't just take this lying down, IMO on DJB Announces 44 Security Holes In *nix Software · · Score: 1

    Most schools have policies about your grade not depending on any activity not on the syllabus. You might want to check with your dean.

  14. Re:Well, duh... on What Interests High-School Students? · · Score: 1

    Haven't you heard, lesbianism is so rampant in the schools they're afraid to let girls go to the restroom more than one at a time.

  15. dating 100 people not that hard on Mathematics and Sex · · Score: 1

    That's say 1 weekend to meet someone + 3 weekend dates = 1 month each for about 7-8 years. Take twice as long and still get married by 30. The key here is that you have to commit yourself to keeping the early relationships short, or possibly juggle multiple relationships.

  16. Re:How can you compare without use? on IT Practice Within Microsoft · · Score: 1

    Well, you do if you want to be competitive. You can't trust your customers to know or express everything that they want. Better to know what your competitors are up to than to be blindsided by a superior product your customers didn't know to demand.

  17. Re:I know a lot of people are saying paper first on Open Source Math Software For Education? · · Score: 1

    Yes, when learning to visualize graphs of complex functions in 3 or more dimensions, let me tell you, there is no substitute for starting your path to learning with pencil and paper.

  18. Re:My Password on Password Security Not Easy · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's a fairly large Picanese hybrid greyhound you've got there.

  19. Re:"Splitting hairs" on New Advances Bring Fusion Closer to Reality · · Score: 1

    The point I'm trying to make is that the amount of radioactive particles available to kill you on the planet actually rises with nuclear plants. Conventional plants just move existing radioactive particles to locations that are more likely to kill you. The amount available to kill you doesn't change.

  20. Re:Indecision 2004 on Argument Held in $565 mil Microsoft Patent Case · · Score: 1

    Both LZW and RSA are actually pretty straightforward if you're familiar with those areas of mathematics. So I would have to have said that no, those algorithms were not worthy of patent.

    I do get a lot done in a 40 hour week though.

  21. Re:"Splitting atoms" on New Advances Bring Fusion Closer to Reality · · Score: 1

    Note though that the coal doesn't produce radioactive waste, it contains radioactive waste. Coal plants release existing radioactive 'waste'. Nuclear plants produce new radioactive 'waste'.

  22. Re:Years away on New Advances Bring Fusion Closer to Reality · · Score: 1

    RTFP. He explicitly mentioned main phase.

  23. Re:Crustless PB&J? on How to Fix U.S. Patents · · Score: 1

    Come on! Where was the spoiler alert there. I just saw v1 on cable free weekend, I haven't seen part 2 yet!!!

    Damn You!!!!

  24. Re:Reduce patent lengths on How to Fix U.S. Patents · · Score: 1

    Waiting it out is what the length of the term is designed to prevent. You don't want your invention suppressed for 5 years while a corporation waits to market it. You don't want to try to build an effective distribution for a new product in 5 years either, it takes more time than that.

    The term has to be long enough to allow you to build a distribution network to work around the existing corps if they won't work out a deal with you (would rather wait out the patent term).

  25. Re:Yay for bigger DVDs full of commercials! on Studios Face Off in Next-Gen DVD Format War · · Score: 1

    Yeah, that's the brand all right. Mine cost $40 at Wal-Mart. It has survived two trips cost country in the trunk of my car. It plays every disc i've ever put in it (including cd's with varieties of mpegs burned on them, picture-cds in various formats, etc). It will skip anything I want it too. Fantastic product, one of the best purchasing decisions i've ever made.