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  1. Re:Except there is a flaw in your logic on Foxconn Begins To Assemble Its Robot Army · · Score: 1

    http://www.whywork.org/rethinking/whywork/abolition.html

    Many great minds have pondered the question of what to do when and if technology brings society to a point that we no longer need all citizens working to sustain a high standard of living for all. Many more think we're already there. That essay is a good starting point.

  2. Re:Too bad my wallet isn't exploding on The Saga of the Virtual Wallet · · Score: 1

    Good point. I was working inside the implied scope of the article relating to the subset of phones that'd work with this wallet tech. My assumption is NFC equipped phones.

  3. Re:Too bad my wallet isn't exploding on The Saga of the Virtual Wallet · · Score: 1

    Store your loyalty cards bar codes on the phone. A couple of screen taps and the phone can reproduce it for the scanner.

  4. Re:And there it is... on Law Enforcement Still Wants Mandatory ISP Log Retention · · Score: 1

    ISPs are already required to capture traffic when a warrant is requested. Not having the capability in place to immediately execute warrants it punishable by severe fines. Look up CALEA:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Assistance_for_Law_Enforcement_Act

  5. Re:Just for rioting? Seriously? on Using Crowdsourcing To Identify Vancouver Rioters · · Score: 1

    A friend just corrected me. It's not trespassing laws that count here. It's castle laws. Being inside someones house without their consent is what will put you in an especially dangerous situation.

  6. Re:Just for rioting? Seriously? on Using Crowdsourcing To Identify Vancouver Rioters · · Score: 1

    You misunderstood. It's not the trespassing that deserves the fatal response. It's the theft.. it's just that trespassing is likely the most available legal excuse. It conveniently covers a whole lot of potential ways someone else can fuck with you. It works as a sort of blanket license to provide incentive not to fuck with people.

  7. Re:Just for rioting? Seriously? on Using Crowdsourcing To Identify Vancouver Rioters · · Score: 2

    you guys sound like the sort of vengeful, soulless libertarians who would shoot a man rather than let him walk away with your TV

    Not a libertarian but if you have my TV then you're trespassing, and I probably will shoot you if you try to leave with it. Put it down and try to flee.. 50/50 chance I'll shoot you. Stay where you are while the friendly local police pay a visit, and you're safe.

    Sounds like a reasonable deal to me.

    Also not a vigilante. I'm only concerned if the TV is mine. If it belongs to somebody else I'll just let them shoot you. I'm not looking for reasons to shoot you. I just spent a lot of time doing work I'd prefer not to do to get that TV. If you're taking it then it shows a complete lack of respect for basic civility and, more importantly, for me. Therefore, I feel no need to respect simple things like your continued existence.

    Oh, and you're safe in that dark alley with me (assuming you're not holding my TV).

  8. Re:Just for rioting? Seriously? on Using Crowdsourcing To Identify Vancouver Rioters · · Score: 1

    My kingdom for some mod points.

  9. Re:Yay for Facebook! on Using Crowdsourcing To Identify Vancouver Rioters · · Score: 0

    While I don't necessarily disagree, there are other things to consider. I suggest http://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/02/10/deindividuation/ for further reading. Any attempt I make to discuss it would pale in comparison.

  10. Re:My psychic prediction on Open Source More Expensive Says MS Report · · Score: 1

    So you bought a piece of hardware that is incompatible with the software you wanted to use. What is the point you're trying to make? If it's that you should buy components known to work together then, yes, I wholeheartedly agree.

    Unfortunately it's not always easy knowing what hardware will work well, and performing due diligence before purchasing hardware can be a pain. Even the hardware vendors can overstate the quality of support.

    It seems Phoronix is planning to launch a comprehensive HCL as part of openbenchmarking.org. Despite how much I hate the trollish, passive aggressive, childish way Phoronix reports the news this new site might turn out to be a great resource.

  11. Re:Turning the table on Open Source More Expensive Says MS Report · · Score: 1

    I'd settle for simply the ability to diagnose a problem. At least then procedural and configuration workarounds can be applied that won't place that sort of burden on you. I've stopped counting the number of times just being able to see the source would have answered all my questions in a tenth the time poking and prodding with performance monitors, debuggers, etc takes.

    Then, if you can provide a proposed fix or a useful test case to reproduce, that's where distribution vendors can help if upstream is slow to play ball. Distribution packagers can cover it in the interim. Just the ability to talk right to the packagers and developers to point out a problem provides far more visibility and ability to affect change than you'll get elsewhere. Sometimes just having an open bug tracker is a blessing.

    Very few organizations powerful enough and with enough money can get the kind of access needed, but, for most people, it's not going to happen.

  12. Re:Turning the table on Open Source More Expensive Says MS Report · · Score: 1

    Large vendors are as susceptible to poor support as anyone else. I've dealt with more than enough large vendors that sold extremely expensive enterprise support contracts only to be presented with long hold times, failure to return calls/emails, sudden unexplained closings of escalated cases, etc. While I'm not going to throw names around here, lets just say they are very high profile and traditional enterprise providers.

  13. Re:Great logic there Lou on Yahoo IPv6 Upgrade Could Shut Out 1M Users · · Score: 1

    First benefit that comes to mind is no need to dick around with nat and that vpn.

  14. Re:no process on How Facebook Ships Code · · Score: 1

    No need to be curious. The GP is merely inept as is anyone who says "could care less"

  15. Re:crime? on Amazon EC2 Enables Cheap Brute-Force Attacks · · Score: 1

    Well, to be fair, your friends Smith and Wesson have a special exception just for them from any liability of any kind. However, fundamentally, you're correct. :)

  16. Re:Physical Keyboard is a must... on Smartphones For Text SSH Use Re-Revisited · · Score: 1

    The samsung moment and samsung epic with sprint have 4 row keyboards with |, `, ~, and all the brackets with a single modifier key, and the keyboard is the wide horizontal variety with very easy to feel buttons. It's a SSH machine :)

  17. Re:Hypocrites on Why WikiLeaks Is Unlike the Pentagon Papers · · Score: 1

    I don't, but that's more due to my general disdain for the war on drugs.

    A better example that more people could maybe agree with is infiltrating an organized extortion racket or similar.

  18. Re:Quote on Apple's $1 Billion Data Center Mystery · · Score: 1

    *whoosh*

    You asked what they _won't_ do...

  19. Re:Condoms prevent AIDS pretty well on One Night Stands May Be Genetic · · Score: 1

    that was kinda the point

  20. Re:i'm impressed on Kentucky Announces Creationism Theme Park · · Score: 1

    Actually, yes it should. That's the entire point. Government funding of a church establishes it. It fails all 3 aspects of the Lemon Test.

  21. Re:Only 2000 packages on Red Hat Releases RHEL 6 · · Score: 1

    That's a very backwards way of looking at things. The definition of stability a distribution like redhat uses is: "continuance without change; permanence."

    Think about that... your development environment _will not change_ for _7 years_. Not at all. Not even a minor version bump. The API, ABI, tools will work the same way in 7 years as they do now, and you call this tedious to support and a huge pain in the ass? Really?

    Your entire premise is based on the assumption that newer is better. I see no evidence to support this assumption in the context of critical applications that need to just work for long periods of time.

    Now, in the context of play I'm with you 100%. I want to follow the trends and get my hands on the coolest new toys and tools, but redhat is not built for that. You should not be using it if that is your goal.

  22. Re:Only 2000 packages on Red Hat Releases RHEL 6 · · Score: 1

    You've got it backwards. If any change needs to happen it is that web developers need to focus on remaining relevant on RHEL. It's about the only linux distribution any professional server administrator will take seriously (with SUSE a distant 2nd). There's a reason people use it, and if the software I intend to run on it doesn't also provide a long support life time so I don't have to jump through hoops every year to install the "latest and greatest" unsupported packages to perform an upgrade to an incompatible version then I'm really not interested in it.

    Fortunately, it looks like this TurboGears package takes such matters seriously. According to its requirements it will run even on (the still supported) RHEL4 with stock packages (and a work around for a RHEL4 bug built into the app!!). These guys got it right, so kudos to them.

    Compare this to the current MySQL gem for ruby which will refuse to install on a RHEL5 system. This gem is a requirement for Rails.

  23. Re:Recipes aren't necessarily copyrightable on Cook's Magazine Claims Web Is Public Domain · · Score: 1

    whoosh

  24. Re:Should be good for the economy on 2010 Election Results Are In · · Score: 1

    whoosh

  25. Re:Should be good for the economy on 2010 Election Results Are In · · Score: 1

    Are you out of your mind? The beggar at the corner might disagree with you there.

    Society is what allows you to keep all your cool toys without maintaining a personal standing army. Society is what maintains and enforces the laws and social structures that allow you to accumulate wealth in a peaceful setting. All that you have an all that you are is thanks to a society that has created the conditions to allow it.

    You see, we've all come together as a large group of people and collectively said, "lets live in peace and create a social structure that allows us to efficiently utilize and distribute the wealth of our land and knowledge."

    That you can sit in your underwear secure in your financial future and show a complete lack of understanding of why you are in such a position is testament to all that you owe society.

    The spare change under the couch cushions that we give to those in need so we don't have people dying on the streets alone is hardly the extent of societies benefits.

    Grow up.