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User: Aragorn+DeLunar

Aragorn+DeLunar's activity in the archive.

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  1. Re:Pfft... on White House Worried About Discrimination Through Analytics · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Let's just be honest the leaders don't give a fuck, Obama is a typical statist.

    FTFY. If you're making this about (R) vs (D), you're part of the problem.

  2. Re:What's good for the goose on Counterpoint: Why Edward Snowden May Not Deserve Clemency · · Score: 2

    ...you've sided with people I consider morally bankrupt and I consider it your ethical duty to extricate yourself as soon as responsibly possible.

    After all the ethical people leave the military, who is left? And do you want those leftovers in complete control of our armed forces?

  3. Non-antibacterial Liquid Soap on FDA To Decide Fate of Triclosan, Commonly Used In Antibacterial Soaps · · Score: 2
  4. Why Privacy? on Sonic.net's CEO On Why ISPs Should Only Keep User Logs Two Weeks · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because a government that can search any person at any time can falsely incriminate anyone, and motives for doing so are abundantly self-evident.

    "During a routine anti-terrorism sweep, civil liberties activist John Doe was found to be in possession of methamphetamine, child pornography, explosive-making material, and pirated ABBA songs. He was immediately taken into custody and is being held at an undisclosed location for the public's safety..."

    Right now we have an important check in the form of a search warrant. Before searching me, a law enforcement agent must demonstrate to a judge probable cause that I have committed, or will commit, a crime. It's not perfect, and there are notable loopholes, but at least there is some documentation and accountability.

  5. Re:Actuarially, no. on Government Should Ban Skinny Models To Curb Anorexia, Say Researchers · · Score: 1

    The people who are ill are not the the problem. The people who are fine and think they can use a "free" service as much as they like are.

    If only there were some way to dis-incentivize abuse of the system. Perhaps by attaching some sort of monetary cost to health care, in proportion to the level of labor and resources required to produce the service. But how would we determine the appropriate monetary cost? It's not like this sort of calculation happens invisibly and automatically.

  6. Re:So *that* is how it works... on Facebook Billionaire Gives Money To Legalize Marijuana · · Score: 1

    There should be campaign finance laws, of course, but the law is a blunt instrument. The problem has to be attacked at its root.

    Precisely. The root cause is that the government is in the business of taking large sums of money from some groups and giving it to other groups. This creates incentives for lobbying, whereby people seek to get a slice of the government pie, at the expense of real production which enriches a nation.

  7. So...? on 'The Laws Are Written By Lobbyists,' Says Google's Schmidt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who do you want writing laws that govern complicated industries (high-tech, medical, etc.): a bunch of politicians, or people who actually work in those respective industries? Does the average congressman with a law degree understand the nuances of intertube technology (too soon? nah.), for example? I have no problem with industries proposing or even drafting legislation, provided that our elected representatives and their staffs actually read and digest the bills to ensure that the law is fair, enforceable, and beneficial.

  8. Re:Dark Wizard for Sega CD on The Best Video Games On Awful Systems · · Score: 1

    Dark Wizard and the Lunar series for Sega CD are easily in my all-time top 10. I find myself wondering why we haven't seen any Sega CD games on Virtual Console, since there are games for other CD-based systems.

    The cynic in me tends to think that Nintendo has discovered that time spent playing classic games means less money spent on new releases. The recent trend for Virtual Console and WiiWare leans heavily toward novelty games with a short lifespan.

  9. Why Privacy? on GPS Tracking Without a Warrant Declared Legal · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Because a government that can search any person at any time can incriminate anyone it wants.

    "During a routine anti-terrorism sweep, civil liberties activist John Doe was found to be in possession of methamphetamine, child pornography, concealed weapons, and pirated ABBA songs. He was immediately taken into custody and is being held at an undisclosed location for the public's safety..."

    Right now we have an important check in the form of a search warrant. Before searching me, a law enforcement agent must demonstrate to a judge probable cause that I have committed, or will commit, a crime. It's not perfect, and there are notable loopholes, but at least there is some documentation and accountability.

  10. Re:Meh. on AMD's Fusion Processor Combines CPU and GPU · · Score: 1

    I'm probably in the minority, but I prefer being able to take my components ala carte. There were many times in the past 25 years that I couldn't afford the best of all components TODAY, so I built a system with a very high-end mobo and CPU, but using my old soundboard, RAM, etc until I could afford individually to replace those components with peer-quality stuff.

    Yes, but when was the last time you upgraded the video card or CPU in your laptop?

  11. Well, f*ck it... on Cutting Through the 4G Hype · · Score: 1
  12. WoW on All the Best Games May Be NP-Hard · · Score: 1

    What does this say about WoW, if it can be played quite successfully by a bot?

  13. Cost money? Nah, it will be free... on FCC's Broadband Plan May Cost You Money · · Score: 1

    Free as in unicorns.

  14. Cell Phone Analogy on Free-To-Play Switch Going Well For D&D Online · · Score: 1

    For casual players, I see this as a nice pay-as-you-go alternative to a monthly subscription. If I'm not going to consume $15 of content in a month, I may as well only pay for what I'm going to use, when I'm going to use it. I also wouldn't feel obligated to play just because I'm paying monthly fees.

  15. Re:My guess is... on Garlic Farmer Wards Off High-Speed Internet · · Score: 1

    You missed one significant detail: Vampires don't hang out on MySpace; they use 4chan.

  16. Re:The Whole Point if the Internet... on Who Will Fix the Internet? No One, Apparently · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In other words, "An ISP big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have."

  17. Re:DOSBox install instructions on Bethesda Releases Daggerfall For Free · · Score: 3, Informative

    Windows users can also make a shortcut to launch the game directly:

    Target: "C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.73\dosbox.exe" c:\games\magic\magic.exe

    I still have my original manuals for Master of Magic, plus the 2" thick Prima Strategy Guide, chock full of tables and calculations. If ever a game needed to be open-sourced, this is the one, because I'd hate for anyone to have to re-code all those game rules again.

  18. Re:I have to say I'm a little frustrated.... on Pentagon Seeks a New Generation of Hackers · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So what should be taught in a computer security course?

    You're assuming that we're only talking about breaking computer security. How about:
    -Security models, such as the reference monitor concept and access control methods.
    -Formal methods for verification.
    -The history of computer security development, so you don't reinvent the wheel (happens all the time).
    -Risk assessment and mitigation.
    -Legal and policy frameworks.
    -Methodologies for reverse engineering and disassembly.
    -Proper implementation of cryptology (hint: anyone who writes their own crypto module is either an idiot or a genius).
    -Managing and training end users.
    -Secure lifecycle management.

    As you stated, all of these elements build on the more general CS fundamentals, but we can't assume that they will be automatically inferred by students. This is where education should introduce us to ideas that we may not encounter or generate on our own. There is more to computer security than just blocking ports and running signature-based detection software.

  19. Re:A recruiting aid for unclearable personnel on Pentagon Seeks a New Generation of Hackers · · Score: 3, Informative

    The purpose of the polygraph isn't to find out if you are lily-white. It is largely to determine if you can be blackmailed. If you are truthful about your "indiscretions", you can't be blackmailed. On the other hand, someone who is willing to lie on a polygraph clearly has some shame issues that could be exploited by a hostile agent. Obviously, admitting to a felony or intent to subvert the government isn't going to get you anywhere.

  20. Re:I have to say I'm a little frustrated.... on Pentagon Seeks a New Generation of Hackers · · Score: 1

    Don't completely discount formal education. Technologies come and go, but principles last forever. There is nothing new under the sun. All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.

  21. Sega CD on VC? on Wii System Menu 4.0 Released · · Score: 1

    I wonder if the larger storage space means we could see Sega CD titles on the Virtual Console. I'd love to play the Lunar series or Dark Wizard again.

  22. Interstate '76 on How Steam Revived a Dead Game · · Score: 1

    Never get out of the car. I'm looking at you, Interstate '82.

  23. Re:Officers are Managerial Generalists on How Do Militaries Treat Their Nerds? · · Score: 1

    That isn't to imply that managers don't need to learn and understand the work they supervise, but a good officer shouldn't be tied to a specific specialty.

    What about the officers we train to fly aircraft?

  24. Re:Feature Request on Homemade PDF Patch Beats Adobe By Two Weeks · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And this is why we need to get away from labeling dialog box buttons "Yes", "No", "Cancel", etc. We can label them anything we want, so why not be descriptive? Try "Safe", "Unsafe", "Really Stupid", "Don't click this -- ever!"

    The same applies to the save dialogs. I like how OO.org 3.0 handles the "Do you want to save?" dialog when closing the program: The buttons are labeled "Save", "Discard", and "Cancel". Of course, "Cancel" could be better described as "Return to Program."

  25. Because Incentives Influence Behavior on DRM-Free Classic Games Store Opens To Public · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How about this rationale: By increasing the profit potential for really good games (even a decade after their original release!), we encourage game companies to make more really good games. Otherwise they'll just focus on short-term gains with yet another Sims expansion pack.