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User: serutan

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  1. Re:Neither "multi-target" nor "for the masses" on Multiple-Target Hyperlinks for the Masses · · Score: 1

    Scathing but useful critique. Sort of a moot point though, since the guy's site is already horked so nobody will be able to download the code anyway.

  2. And not looking at the right numbers. on Ethanol More Trouble Than It's Worth? · · Score: 1

    Critics of ethanol are always bringing up government subsidies and process efficiency. What they never do is weigh those against the ongoing cost of defending and protecting our access to overseas oil, which amounts to hundreds of billions per year. No matter HOW inefficient producing ethanol is, we won't have the cost of invading Iowa to keep our corn supply flowing.

  3. Similar idea to cause spammers pain on SpamSlayer - should we DDOS spammers? · · Score: 1

    DDOS is an offensive maneuver. Here's an old but interesting article about a more defensive approach to inflict pain on spammers... a "dynamic tarpit" that identifies incoming messages as spam AS THEY ARE RECEIVED and then slows down the socket so the spam takes longer to deliver, consuming less resources at the receiving end and more at the sending end.

  4. Re:Making Up Lost Ground on Win2000 Still Performs on 8-year-old Hardware · · Score: 1

    Interesting and helpful page! Weird posting though -- I don't look at the longevity of old products as impeding the sales of new ones. That's like saying healthy people who live longer "impede" sales of drugs and coffins.

  5. Re:Bit of a waste, surely? on Got Spyware? Throw out the Computer! · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I agree. According to the article a CS professor claimed "his two teenage sons were balking at spending the hours needed to scrub the old one clean of viruses, worms and adware."

    Reformatting a hard drive (and maybe installing Linux?) doesn't take hours. Maybe his sons were balking at keeping a 2-year-old computer when their dad was willing to buy a new one.

  6. Re:Outstanding on Longhorn to Require Monitor-Based DRM · · Score: 1

    I never thought of it that way but that's an Excellent analysis, very clearly stated without ranting.

  7. Re:What about other sites... on Australian Man Found Guilty for Hyperlinking · · Score: 1

    Congress should pass a law prohibiting bills from coattail-riding on other unrelated bills.

    Also on the wish list:

    - Congress should represent the people who voted for them instead of the ones who bribe them with contributions.

    Like that's ever gonna happen.

  8. Minor Bug on Check Boxes and Radio Buttons Conquered by DHTML · · Score: 1

    In Firefox if you hold down Ctrl while clicking these checkboxes, the article page is reopened in a new tab. This doesn't happen with a normal checkbox.

  9. Not so fast! on Study Shows One Third of All Studies Are Nonsense · · Score: 1

    I want to know what the other two studies concluded.

  10. Re:Reminds me off... on How to Build a 17-ft Wind Turbine · · Score: 1

    I remember a guy doing that back in the 80s, but authorities forced him to remove his equipment because the stream was listed somewhere as "navigable" and therefore it was illegal to obstruct or alter the flow in any way. It was a ridiculous claim of course, the stream being like 8 ft wide, but the bureaucrats insisted on following their rules to the letter. Wonder if it was the same guy?

  11. Dammit! on How to Build a 17-ft Wind Turbine · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nice, but I need plans for an 18-ft turbine.

  12. Re:More Questions then Answers on Harry Potter's 'Half Blood Prince' Leaked · · Score: 1

    Heck, you can get an autograph any time Rowling does a book tour through your area, no big deal. The sex might not be quite as easy.

    After the smoke clears and this stupid court order is forgotten, I bet one of these early copies with a dated receipt will be a hot item on EBay.

  13. Re:McDonalds on Dungeon Master's Guide II · · Score: 1

    In other words, you don't like AD&D. Millions of people disagree with you. That's life.

  14. Huzzah! on Attack of the Corporate Weasel Words · · Score: 1

    Personally I've been waiting for this ever since I first heard "time frame" back in 1979.

  15. Re:why are you comparing book prices to laptop pri on Arizona School Won't Use Textbooks · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe I misunderstood but the article says the school is going to "hand" each student an $850 laptop for the whole year. Sounds to me like the students don't have to pay for them. They are just being issued like public schools issue textbooks.

    Here's tThe part that gets me:
    the move to electronic materials gets teachers away from the habit of simply marching through a textbook each year.

    Like hell. Uninspired teachers who simply trudge through a curriculum, or essentially read the textbook to the students, will do the same thing whether the material is on paper or on a series of websites. Probably sounds good in a school board meeting though.

  16. Anyway, about the Review... on Dungeon Master's Guide II · · Score: 1

    All the discussion about D&D is interesting, but what did you think of the review, guys? I thought this was a well written and well thought out review. The comments on Saltmarsh and the business system in particular make me want to at least page through the book.

    One thing I'd like to know is what does the "II" in "Dungeon Master's Guide II" actually mean? I own a full set of the First Edition books, a few of the 2nd Edition and the 3rd Ed DMG and PH. I've lost interest in re-buying this stuff, but I hear it's up to 3.5 or something now. So when the reviewer calls the new book "a worthy successor to the original Dungeon Master's Guide" I sort of wonder which one he considers "original."

  17. Re:Optional literature? on Dungeon Master's Guide II · · Score: 1

    Sounds like a MacGiver episode. Didn't he once construct a particle beam weapon using only a ten-sided die, an AA battery a paper clip?

  18. Trespassing? on 'Whispering' Wireless Internet · · Score: 3, Insightful

    although trespassing is not the right word, because we're allowed to transmit a signal if it doesn't interfere with other, stronger signals...

    Damn right it's not the right word, and it wouldn't be even if it weren't legal to transmit on those same freqs. You can't trespass on frequencies because frequencies are not anyone's property. We gotta shake off this relentless trend of treating rights and licenses as property. To use a more familiar example, nobody "owns" music, not even the composer. Rights holders don't own anything at all, they merely control the rights to do specific things for a limited time.

    The distinction isn't semantic nitpicking, it's very important because treating rights as property gives the copyright control industry an unfair advantage in any public discussions about rights issues. They like to play the part of the plucky little old lady chasing down a purse snatcher, or the outraged homeowner defending his castle against burglars and government goons. They get away with it because the public has been taught to overlay the simple and familiar concept of property on much more complicated issues. Treat rights as what they are -- temporary conditions set by the government -- and various rights and DRM issues suddenly require a lot more thought, which they should.

  19. Re:More Questions then Answers on Harry Potter's 'Half Blood Prince' Leaked · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The court instructed "... anyone who has directly or indirectly received a copy or any other form of disclosure of Harry Potter 6 from John/Jane Does to deliver to the plaintiff Raincoast Books Distribution Ltd. forthwith any and all copies of Harry Potter 6 in their possession ..."

    So the BC Supreme Court seizes private property now, just because the seller wants it back? Three words for that:
    Ha!
    Ha!
    Ha!

    It will be interesting to see how far they are willing to go to enforce this decree. If I had one of those copies I'd take it camping with me and come back on the 16th and claim ignorance. What a RIDICULOUS waste of the taxpayers' money!

  20. Here's a possible test on Alex, The Brainy Parrot Who Knows About Zero · · Score: 1

    The way they describe their experiments it doesn't sound to me like evidence that the bird understands Zero. It could just as well be indicating "I don't know" or "none of the above."

    Here's an idea: they could try to teach the bird to count backwards with a command word like "less." After it answers a numerical question they could give it the "less" command right away and reward it if it selected the number that is one less. If it learns to go consistently from 5 to 4 to 3 with repeated "less" commands, see if it can continue counting down without being specifically trained on the lower numbers. That would demonstrate an awareness of a relationship between the numbers, and if the bird selected the Zero button after the One button without being taught, then I would be more willing to believe it actually has Zero as a concept.

  21. Re:Danger! on NASA to Research Antimatter Rocket · · Score: 1

    I think you can bleed off the excess energy into subspace by modulating the shield frequencies. Or something.

  22. Re:Street Dates are Important... on Old-Fashioned DRM Protects Harry Potter Book · · Score: 1

    Maybe in general, but with this book every retailer is going to sell every single copy they have, and they all know that. If a Barnes and Noble store receives their shipment 12 hours before the store down the street, because of trucking differences or whatever, it just means they'll run out 12 hours sooner. I think that in this case all the sychronized delivery crap is being done purely to heighten the excitement and make it more of an event.

  23. Nuclear Rockets on NASA to Research Antimatter Rocket · · Score: 1

    Time to slip in my usual plug for Gas Core Nuclear Reactor rockets. The basic design, sometimes referred to as a "nuclear light bulb," involves a bulb of pure synthetic quartz containing gaseous uranium hexafluoride which is compressed to criticality by a buffer gas swirled around it, which also prevents the UH6 from touching the inside of the bulb. The reaction gets so hot it radiates intensely in the ultraviolet, which passes 100% through the quartz. Hydrogen gas flowing over the outer surface of the bulb absorbs the UV, gets superheated, expands and shoots out through the rocket nozzle to provide thrust. The radioactive reactants are confined to the bulb so they do not contaminate the exhaust stream, and the hydrogen itself does not become radioactive.

    Here's a fascinating article that describes a design for a non-polluting, 100% reusable GCNR rocket based on the Saturn-V form factor, capable of lifting one thousand tons of payload into orbit and returning the same size payload to a powered landing. That's enough lifting power to take up a whole space hotel in one go. A nuclear rocket could also power a point-and-shoot Mars mission that would take half as long as the contemplated gravity-assist strategies, and carry enough radiation shielding to make the trip actually survivable for the astronauts.

  24. Re:Point Missed on Old-Fashioned DRM Protects Harry Potter Book · · Score: 1

    Cool, a warp in the space-time continuum! The whole publishing industry couldn't have been able to function before these strict release practices were invented. But it did. But it couldn't have. But it did. But, but...

  25. Hey, here's an idea! on Old-Fashioned DRM Protects Harry Potter Book · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Think how much cheaper and easier it would be if they just used an E-book s with DRM.

    Think how much cheaper and easier it would be if they just shipped it out like other books and didn't fucking worry about it.
    Naww, crazy idea, don't know what came over me!