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User: wherrera

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  1. No data loss necessarily,with that type of restore on Rootkit Infection Requires Windows Reinstall · · Score: 1

    This is the Windows 7 System restore option, which is as follows according to MS:
    see: System Restore

    ---
    Restores your computer's system files to an earlier point in time without affecting your files, such as email, documents, or photos.

    If you use System Restore from the System Recovery Options menu, you cannot undo the restore operation. However, you can run System Restore again and choose a different restore point, if one exists. For more information, see What is System Restore? and System Restore: frequently asked questions.

    ----

  2. I love Plos One... on DNA Analysis Hints At a Fourth Domain of Life · · Score: 2

    Plos One, the New Internet Age's online quicker-to-publish-than-verify journal.

    Its record: 10% genuine breakthroughs, 50% hype, and 40% bad data. (Caveat: the previous sentence may be bad data.)

    Your call on this one.

  3. Do category 6 on Suggestions For a Coax-To-Ethernet Solution? · · Score: 1

    Category 6 is better for high speed multimedia, and the small extra cost is worth it.

  4. nerve growth unsuppressed == tumors? on Method To Repair Damaged Adult Nerves Discovered · · Score: 0

    watch out guys

  5. swords into plowshares on CERN Physicist Warns About Uranium Shortage · · Score: 1

    Use the weapons for electricity, of course

  6. hope for the best on Asimov Estate Authorizes New I, Robot Books · · Score: 2

    Especially, hope that they are not as spotty in quality as the post Frank Herbert Dune sequels.

  7. atom barebones on Low-Power Home Linux Server? · · Score: 1

    Consider one of there:

    atom barebones

  8. fMRI is notoriously variable in results on Dead Salmon's "Brain Activity" Cautions fMRI Researchers · · Score: 1

    This is a good example of why one should never use a predefined threshold for significance when measuring a notoriously poorly calibrated and wildly variable biological characteristic.

    I'd rather measure the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow (any kind) :).

  9. Re:Cripple Ware on Insurance Won't Cover Smartphones, When Pricey Alternatives Exist · · Score: 1

    Yes, mod this up.

    The insurance companies face exactly this bind with regard to electric scooters already. Hot tubs and swimming pools are other examples.

  10. But pay-fer sites will want ads too on Will Mainstream Media Embrace Adblockers? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Look at paid cable service channels. Almost all those channels have ads. So would the paid news sites, I expect.

  11. Re:I am in the market for a new camera. on Panasonic Begins To Lock Out 3d-Party Camera Batteries · · Score: 5, Informative

    yeah, but it's apparently legal for a battery maker to clone their battery "feature":

    http://www.pcworld.com/article/121327/supreme_court_rebuffs_lexmark_in_toner_cartridge_fight.html

  12. It was NOT cannabis they used on the rats on Marijuana Could Prevent Alzheimer's, New Study · · Score: 0

    The substance was a specifically extracted cannabinoid type pharmaceutical. It was NOT THC, the main psychoactive component of cannabis. Cannabis containing THC, taken in daily doses, generally causes an increase in psychiatric disease and also causes a slight to mild memory impairment; this has been demonstrated with many other sedative style drugs in large doses, notably alcohol and benzodiazepines.

    Why would MJ hurt memory if taken daily, and yet this newly derived cannabinoid help preserve memory in rats used daily? Cannabis is a complex herbal substance, which probably contains multiple similar components which may be partially agonists and partially antagonists at the same or similar sites in the brain. So it's likely that taking an extractive that helped Alzheimers would be like smoking sawdust for your typical pot user. Most likely it would give them no buzz at all.

    The pharmaceutical community is always looking for ways to derive good medications from herbal poisons. This is not really that different a situation.

  13. Re:Simple... on iTunes DRM-Free Files Contain Personal Info · · Score: 1

    Yes, there is plenty of other customer information in the file. This should not normally be a problem. If it is, the following is not simple, but generally works:

    ---------
    #!/usr/bin/perl

    use Tk;
    use Cwd;
    use strict;
    use warnings;
    use Audio::M4P::QuickTime;

    my $backup_requested = "yes";

    my $win = new MainWindow;
    my $frm = $win->Frame()->pack;
    $frm->Label(
    -text => "Anonymize Apple iTunes Plus .m4a Files",
    -font => "Garamond 20 bold",
    )->pack;

    my $do_backup_choice = $frm->Radiobutton(
    -text=> "Back Up (append .old.m4a to old files)",
    -value => 'yes',
    -variable => \$backup_requested,
    -font => "Garamond 14 bold",
    )->pack;

    my $do_no_backup_choice = $frm->Radiobutton(
    -text => "Do Not Back Up (files will be over-written!)",
    -value=> 'no',
    -variable => \$backup_requested,
    -font => "Garamond 14 bold",
    )->pack;

    my $convert_button = $win->Button(
    -text=> "Convert Files",
    -command => \&push_button,
    -font => "Garamond 17 bold",
    )->pack;

    my $exit_button = $win->Button(
    -text=> "Exit",
    -command => sub { exit 0 },
    -font => "Garamond 17 bold",
    )->pack;

    MainLoop;

    sub push_button {
    my $write_extension = $backup_requested eq 'no' ? '' : '.old.m4a';
    my @file_list = $win->getOpenFile(
    -defaultextension => ".pl",
    -filetypes=> [ [ 'MP4a files', '.m4a', ], [ 'All Files', '*', ], ],
    -initialdir => Cwd::cwd(),
    -initialfile=> "getopenfile",
    -title=> "Choose Purchased Apple iTunes Plus Files to Anonymize",
    -multiple => 1,
    );

    foreach my $filename (@file_list) {
    my $qt = Audio::M4P::QuickTime->new( file => $filename );
    if ( $qt->FindAtom("mp4a") ) {
    $qt->CleanAppleM4aPersonalData();
    rename( $filename, $filename . $write_extension );
    $qt->WriteFile($filename);
    }
    else {
    $win->messageBox(
    -message => "Error: $filename is not a valid m4a file.",
    -type=> 'ok',
    -icon=> 'error'
    );
    }
    }
    }

  14. not to worry.... on Researcher Warns of "Digital Dark Age" · · Score: 1

    I'm not so sure that every megabyte of those old data disks is worth preserving. What of the past centuries' romance of the lost maps that had told of hidden treasure? Let there still be space for legends in future generations. Let the sleeping floppies lie :).

  15. In other news... on Are 68 Molecules Enough To Understand Diseases? · · Score: 1

    ...a distinguished chemist has announced that by his calculations less than 100 elements are required to explain the material composition of all of the earth's problems How simple it all seems, suddenly. :)

  16. widowhood shortens life expectancy on Research Suggests Polygamous Men Live Longer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The selection bias of polygamous men (mentioned already here) for richer and healthier persons over those who die younger likely explains the differences enough, but, in addition, it's long been known that widowers have a reduced lifespan. It's likely that the survival of the second wife protects against that reduction somewhat.

  17. innocent til shown guilty on Apparent Suicide In Anthrax Case · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Unfortunately unless he wrote a confession note it's possible that he was simply depressed and the news of being prosecuted as his co-worker was acted as a last impetus to suicide. TIme will tell I suppose.

  18. Re:You can use the Vista boot loader on Dual Boot Not Trusted, Rejected By Vista SP1 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yes, our family laptop is Vista Ultimate and Ubuntu, set up this way, and took Vista SP1 without a hiccup. Have Vista's bootup load the linux GRUB bootloader.

    Ubuntu's Wifi is much more reliable on the same hardware, but Ubuntu won't run Adobe CS3 properly.

  19. and then there's horse piss... :) on NASA Contractor Needs Urine · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Of course, this is not the first large scale industrial use of urine. A venerable brand of pharmacy industry estrogen replacement treatment for women ( Premarin) is made from vast quantities of horse (pregnant mare) urine. The horses spend their pregnancy hooked to a catheter. There are lots of synthetic versions now, of course.

  20. Obligatory Hindenberg reference on Boeing-Skyhook Airship Faces Technical Challenges · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    "oh the humanity..." Hindenburg disaster

  21. Maybe Descartes wasn't so far off... on New Map IDs the Core of the Human Brain · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Their newly mapped "medial and parietal cortex hub" is pretty close to the pineal gland, after all :).

  22. so, I want help... on Shopping Centers Track Customers Via Cell Phone Signals · · Score: 3, Funny

    Okay, fine, so now I want to use SMS to send my shopping list to the mall, and get in return directions to the aisle and row of the widget I want, with the price displayed on the map on my phone of the mall, with directions if I ask, so I can decide which of two competing stores to go to. Better still, I would not mind if the the higher priced store might offer me a deal when they see me entering their competitor's shop. And no colluding on price, please, I will go to another mall...

  23. there must be a ulterior motive on New Vista Random Numbers to Include NSA Backdoor? · · Score: 1

    ...because this one seems too obvious. So, perhaps the NSA crypto folks have a couple of found back doors in some of the other algorithms, and this is a bit of misdirection to keep people from noticing what they really intend to use... :)

  24. A working solution today: whirlpool on NIST Opens Competition for a New Hash Algorithm · · Score: 1
  25. It can be a service to the buyer on eBay Sellers Seething Over Targeted Ads · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If I am trying to see what my maximum bid should be and I follow a targeted ad which shows me a retailer selling that same item for $50 with $5 shippping, then I know the total of maximum bid and seller's shipping should be less than $55. If the seller does not like this, they should be sure they can compete. If the ad were to get in the way of my viewing the auction, then I'd complain.