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User: allypally

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  1. Red flags on Will the Google Car Turn Out To Be the Apple Newton of Automobiles? · · Score: 1

    For safety, we should enact laws that require a robot with a red flag to walk in front of any driverless car.

    There is precedence: http://www.greatachievements.o...

  2. Re:Not for deaf/hard of hearing... on Unintended Consequences For Traffic Safety Feature · · Score: 1

    Where I live we have a twirly thing that works well for blind and other disabilities:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blog...

    Just needs scaling up so 5+ pedestrians waiting to cross can check one while the motorists have no clue (until they upgrade their Google LightChange App of course -- there is no end to this escalating lights war).

  3. Ignorance is no excuse on NSA's Novel Claim: Our Systems Are Too Complex To Obey the Law · · Score: 1

    A basic legal principle is that ignorance of the law is no excuse.

    It may be a factor in applying penalties, but it does not affect the finding of fact re guilty or not guilty.

    If the NSA has historically used perceived complexity of operation as a reason for turning a blind eye to their legal obligations, they may be guilty of massed conspiracy.

  4. Re:Common problem. on Swedish Police Use WhatsApp For Surveillance Ops, Share Intel With Civilians · · Score: 1

    > all passwords must be at least seven characters an include mixed case and punctuation

    People can and will work around any barrier that stops them working, even if they are now working in an unsafe environment.

    I worked somewhere once with those rules, plus the password had to be changed monthly, and no reuse of ones you'd used previously.

    Pretty much everyone would have a compliant password today that was a slight variant on the unforgettable:

              Feb.2014

  5. Mainframe exit on Ask Slashdot: What's the Most Often-Run Piece of Code -- Ever? · · Score: 1

    Returning from a routine (sub or main) on an IBM mainframe or PC (plug compatible) will have happened billions of times before the other PC was even invented. That head start may have been eclipsed by later, more widespread, architectures, but we'd need an intern at a tech job interview to estimate when that happened.

            LM 14,12, 12(13) restore content
            SLR 15,14 set completion code to zero (implies success)
            BR 14 return to caller/op sys

  6. HP Improved keyboard on Stop Trying To 'Innovate' Keyboards, You're Just Making Them Worse · · Score: 1

    I have a HP/Compaq laptop where they "improved" the keyboard by adding a column of keys to the left of ctrl/shift/caps lock/tab/esc.

    The added row of keys are useless things like "open print control panel" "start calculator". It took my muscle memory months not to be starting the printer whenever I wanted to press ctrl.

    There were ways to disable all but one of the extraneous keys, but no way to map them to anything useful.

    That one ergonomic horroshow has put HP/Compaq off my preferred supplier list forever.

  7. Re:NoScript on Ask Slashdot: Are AdBlock's Days Numbered? · · Score: 1

    You make lots of good points.

    My computer is, among other things, a gateway to my valuable data. I'd be mad to consider running untrusted code on it.

    Now, if the ads come as signed and certified and verified and have insurance for any damage they cause -- well, then I might take the risk.

    But random code freshly downloaded? No way.

  8. Public domain even worse on Irish Politician Calls For Crackdown On Open Source Internet Browsers · · Score: 1

    The big problem is that criminals are accessing the internet using public-domain inventions that are intrinsically anonymous. I mean, of course, by using keyboards.

    Until we have a properly secure keyboard -- with govt approved letter order, built-in camera, and a mandatory license needed before you can use it -- the bad guys will continue to score easy wins against our freedoms.

  9. Re:And the opinon of the NY Times matters because? on The New York Times Pushes For Clemency For Snowden · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Snowden has mainly revealed metadata -- what info collection programs exist, rather than actual data -- what was collected.

    The NSA has emphasised what it does is benign as in mainly collects metadata.

    Metadata -- no harm. no foul on either side.

  10. Artifical behavior on Can a Japanese AI Get Into University? · · Score: 0

    But could it spend a year boozing and partying when it gets there?

  11. Re:Yes, there is a simple fix on New JavaScript-Based Timing Attack Steals All Browser Source Data · · Score: 0

    Slightly simpler fix: disable all unsigned Javascript.

    Javascript should come with guarantees that it does not contain malicious code, an auditable path back to who wrote it, and industry-backed insurance against it damaging the machines it runs on.

    That way, many more of us will be happier to let this (currently) malware vector run on our machines.

    Of course that would require a little bit of infrastructure to enable. But the main beneficiaries -- the advertizers -- have known they have been edging toward the Jayacalypse for a long time. They should have had a "Secure JS" mode up and running years ago.

  12. Re:Wow, just wow. on KWin Maintainer: Fanboys and Trolls Are the Cancer Killing Free Software · · Score: 0

    Any form of writing is a form of censorship.

    If you write "Mary had a little lamb" you have forcibly suppressed an infinite number of other statements you could have written in order to write that one.

    Worse, you have deliberately written "Mary had a little lamb" instead of cogently arguing a position I hold.

    By failing to publish cogent remarks in favor of my position, you have censored me.

    That's my completely reasonable assertion based on your definition of censorship.

    If you argue otherwise, or if you ignore me, that is censorship.

  13. Primes closer together? on Major Advance Towards a Proof of the Twin Prime Conjecture · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Also means that there must be at least one prime in every sequence of 70 million integers.

    Means I can put an upper bound on my prime search script....If it searches 70,000,001 consecutive integers and claims to have found no primes, I'll know the bugged little script is lying.

    That's a helpful debugging heuristic. Thank you, Pure Math.

  14. Picky on UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects? · · Score: 0

    A good rule of thumb is:

    If you are going to be a meat eater, don't be a picky one.

    Eat cow but not horse? Picky!

    Eat crab but not spider? Picky!

    Eat dog but not cat? Picky!

  15. Plain truth on The FAA Will Let Boeing's 787 Dreamliner Fly Again · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh, when will the world learn that battery state of the art is simply inadequate for mobile devices such as iPhones and Dreamliners?

    Stick to tethered devices that draw mains power through cords - such as xboxes and trains - and all will run much more smoothly.

  16. Long time problem on Speeding Ticket Robots — Laws As Algorithms · · Score: 1

    This has long been a problem if you drive through different jurisdictions in one journey.

    You get caught on five small towns' radars or speed cams between pee breaks. The tickets arrive in the post weeks later.

    But the question of fairness is secondary to the finding of fact. To paraphrase an old criminal maxim: if you can't pay the fine, don't do the crime.

  17. Re:Logic on EFF Urges Court To Protect Privacy of Text Messages · · Score: 1

    Why not give it a try!?

    A simple FOI request to your local police department should suffice to get some idea of whether the principle is sound or not.

  18. Terrifying on Making Robots Mimic the Human Hand · · Score: 1

    We now have a robot that can remove our tires.

    What hath we wrought!?

    What when this thing escapes the lab and goes feral on city streets?

    We puny humans may be able to guard our cars against this menace. But what of the self-driving Googlecars? They will be helpless against its stealth attacks.

    We invented the wheel, we should not just give that up to the robots or it'll be Judgement Day all over again.

  19. Lost opportunity on NASA Trailer To Be Shown Before Star Trek: Into Darkness · · Score: 1

    Just think how much more awesomer this would have been if made by the IRS. Cheaper too - they already have a Star Trek set and costumes.

  20. Re:The difference between science and religion on Study Finds Universe Is 100 Million Years Older Than Previously Thought · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The Bible has been under continual re-interpretation.

    Take any Bibical statement:
    * don't eat shellfish
    * keep slaves
    * don't be gay

    We can show fuzzy date ranges for which the statement was uncontroversally true through to it being considered symbolic only.

    From that, we can scientifically predict the half-life of a Biblical truth. Thus, today:

    * we do longer need to kill witches
    * we don't really need to keep the sabbath holy
    * gays are pretty much normal people to god now
    * being wealthy no bar to heaven

    And tomorrow? Just apply the Biblical truth half-life test to predict!

  21. Re:You get what you ask for on UK Bloggers Could Face Libel Fines Unless Registered As Press · · Score: 1

    Voight-Kampff is a highly expensive and time-intensive way of detecting replicants, and may fail with Nexus 8 and above. What we need is foolproof ways of separating humans from xenomorphs of all types (including droids, mutants and intelligent shades of the color blue). If we don't spend megadollars on this, the non-terranists will have won.

  22. Re:You get what you ask for on UK Bloggers Could Face Libel Fines Unless Registered As Press · · Score: 1

    Yep, and the worst of all is having to register before voting. Voting is a human right. If you can pass the HSA human check at the poll booth, you get to vote. No limits other than that in a democracy.

  23. Re:Well this is happening in Sweden ... on Game Site Wonders 'What Next?' When 50% of Users Block Ads · · Score: 1

    Agreed. And more.

    The average ad these days is some sort of script they they want to run on my device.

    Any program I run on my device should have at least a certificate so I know the code has been verified by an independent authority,

    And, as the script is running mainly for a third-party's benefit, I'd like to know that they are covering the insurance for any loss or damaged caused by their property running wild on my device.

    Then I might sit back and watch the ad.

    Until then, it's a wee too dangerous for me to consider.

  24. Drones with frickking lasers on Drone Comes Within 200 Feet of Airliner Over New York · · Score: 1

    We already have problems with ground based idiots shining recreational lasers into aircraft cockpits. What hope for aviation when the recreational lasers are mounted on recreational drones? The US will long regret not having built an underground railroad network for safe consumer transport.