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User: grouchyDude

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  1. Re:Internet democracy on How PR Subverts Wikipedia · · Score: 1

    The bible seems to have been written starting around 1500 BC (the first books of the Old Testament) with later stuff coming ... uh .. later. Since the Ancient Greek civilization dates back to something like 6,000BC I don't really see any substantive inconsistency here.

  2. Re:saber rallying on Confessions of a Cyber Warrior · · Score: 0

    I am amazed by how utterly paranoid and cynical US citizens have become about their own government, except for the few that are 100% the opposite and equally polarized. While there no doubt the US government has made some bad calls, and maybe even some very bad ones, that's still a far cry from the utter cynicism one often sees here and elsewhere that ignores that many people in government might be attempting to do the right thing, even if they sometimes fail.

  3. It's the "role" of the Debian (community) to do the best thing for their users, both for the sake of the people at stake and for the heath and promotion of Debian (and UNIX) as a whole. Doing the "right" thing usually involves difficult compromises and judgement calls, and sticking to a strictly hard-line set of ideals is rarely compatible with the messy real world we all live in... that is my experience running a couple of organizations: people make mistakes and their organizations, or superiors, or "family" often need to clean up after/for them, even if it's not technically their job to do so, for the benefit of all concerned.

    I think the fight over the name, which caused the name change, was a mistake with consequences that could have been predicted. Even if it's the fault of the sysadmins who messed with their systems, finding a non-intrusive way to help them from getting nailed is in everybody's long term interest (except maybe Microsoft or other non-Linux vendors... and even they want a health Internet). In the worst-case scenario that this domains gets acquired by bad people and users get burned by this, it will make UNIX/Deb look bad, cause harm to various individuals, and potentially even lead to more spam or malware.

  4. Seems fair to me. The sense of entitlement is odd. on Universities Hold Transcripts Hostage Over Loans · · Score: 1

    Seems pretty fair to me: you pay to get a set of services including a transcript, and they are withheld if you don't pay. I think that same rules apply at the Supermarket or the gas station.

    The strange thing here is the sense of entitlement that people have regarding their debts. Now, the tuition prices at many US schools to seem crazily high, but the correct solution there is to go to a cheaper school. Of course, education is probably one area where it is definitely not a god idea to focus on the short-term cheap deal, but you do need to keep in mind that the price you pay actually has to be paid, even if a loan is involved.

  5. Re:Large organization doing something simple on NYT Paywall Cost $40 Million: How? · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Please do not save me a seat on the space shuttle you build.

  6. A joke, right? on Students Create Thought-Controlled Prosthetic Arm · · Score: 1

    This is not serious or credible. Building prosthetic devices is a serious challenge with a lot of ergonomic issues. This project and the reportage like some kids building a lego robot and expecting it to revolutionize the automobile industry. Great, they controlled some simple pneumatic with an alpha wave reader: yawn.

    How about Dean Kamen's TED talk as a reference point for what's really needed and where this game is at: http://www.ted.com/talks/dean_kamen_previews_a_new_prosthetic_arm.html

  7. Not all conferences are equal on Is Attending a CS Conference Worth the Time? · · Score: 1

    Some conferences are good, and some are mostly unfiltered junk. The junk conferences tend to have worse networking, less interesting content, and generally much less value. Good conferences are very important venues for scientific exchange, networking and hunting down new ideas and trends

    Low quality conferences can either been more social, local events, or even money grabs by the organizers. I believe CCSC is a local "unfiltered" conference that is a social event, but not a really high-value scientific exchange meeting. Such lower profile meetings can be a useful warmup to bigger events.

  8. Re:Its not zero day ... on Microsoft Helps Adobe Block PDF Zero-Day Exploit · · Score: 1

    Only in the USA. Everywhere else (even Canada) it means real cheese sliced into ... slices.

  9. Easy - no crap allowed on Preventing Networked Gizmo Use During Exams? · · Score: 1

    Just say no devices at all. It fair, even-handed and realistic. Make an exam that doesn't put such a premium on mindless calculations (for example allow them to submit an expression such as 112*121/11 instead of computing the result). More emphasis on brain and mind, less on fingers.

    Oh, and the can use their mind as a dictionary too.

    Sheesh.

  10. Re:Passwd is not the solution on First Malicious iPhone Worm In the Wild · · Score: 1

    OK smartie, here's what I was referring to:

    "The supplied UNIX passwd command in BSD Subsystem is broken for firmware 1.1.3 and 1.1.4.
    Attempting to change the password under firmware 1.1.3 or 1.1.4 will result in your device continuously rebooting.
    (The reboot fix involves holding both the Power button and the 'Home' button down for at least 30 seconds, then [upon seeing a triangle icon], plugging the device into iTunes for restoration.)"

    See: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080224231344798

    For newer (current) firmwares it fixed, but some people still run the old stuff.

  11. Re:Spite? on G-WAN, Another Free Web Server · · Score: 1

    MS has a lot of good developers (whatever you may think or their products or policies). Maybe he figures it will hurt them (aesthetically) to look at something lame?

  12. It's not the network, it's the keystrokes! on Network Security While Traveling? · · Score: 1

    I think SLL encryption as used by most serious places will be sufficient. The Royal Bank of Canada had a bad certificate for their main investment site for a while, but barring such foolishness the SSL and attention to warnings will probably be fine in terms of the actual network traffic. I think the biggest risk, however, is that there could be a key logger at a public site and these are easy to find and install, and a pain to circumvent unless you have control of some key parts of the process.

  13. Re:Encrypt your netbook, park data in the cloud on Network Security While Traveling? · · Score: 1

    If you are really hard core, as a backup in case of theft you can mail yourself an encrypted USB key at a hotel/hostel/post office you are willing to put on your itinerary, but getting the timing right will be tricky unless you have somebody stateside to send it.

  14. Re:dm-crypt on Network Security While Traveling? · · Score: 2, Informative

    Great idea if you don't do much. If you have multiple banks or other equivalently-important accounts then it's very tricky. If you use long secure non-algorithmic passwords and won't be able to visit the bank to re-init them, the keeping them recorded in encrypted form would be my choice. That way if you can't recall them all, or briefly forget one, you can recover them so long as you remember at least the master password.

  15. Passwd is not the solution on First Malicious iPhone Worm In the Wild · · Score: 1

    One reason why people might still be using the original password, and why this is all a hassle, is that the normal UNIX passwd program cannot be used on the iPhone.

    I believe one needs to manually edit a file called /etc/master.passwd

  16. Brought to you by the people who made the DMCA on Hulu Blocks International Access Via Witopia · · Score: 1

    Hulu: brought to you by the same people who thought up the DMCA. Big media conglomerates that would love to kill user-generated content, and who have a system that directly competes with YouTube. Even if it's free now, as soon as they have a hammerlock on things (again) the price will go up. Oh, and the content, even if it's fun, is to a large extent likely to reduce your creativity, productivity and emotional linkage to your community.

    In your own best interest, you should try to get your self and your community blocked by Hulu. It's evil.

  17. who cares on iPhone As a PC Game Controller · · Score: 1

    this is significant news? sheesh!

  18. Re:English is Author's Second Language? on Five Questions With Michael Widenius · · Score: 1

    Not a good enough excuse for a pointless article with little information. Hardly seems to justify promotion to the front page.

  19. Re:Don't be a douche on How Do I Manage Seasoned Programmers? · · Score: 1

    If you are serious about underperforming just enough to look better than your associates, than you still deserve to be fired. I expect people I work with, or who work for me (or for whom I work) to act as a mutually-supportive team, perform well, and provide their best effort. Not everybody is equally good, what you are describing is dishonest and I would not hesitate for a second to fire such a person.

    In addition, my experience is that is many cases people who think they can bullshit their way through a report and look good are often detected doing that, but for one reason or another it's not worth calling their bluff (yet).

  20. Re:Three Laws of Robotics on Packs of Robots Will Hunt Down Uncooperative Humans · · Score: 1

    Sorry, but i think its too late. Its too close to being profitable and the power is in the hands of corporate interests that won't care. There US military has had big plans for robotics for many years. Where were you then?

  21. Your just overstated the importance on Carnegie Mellon Wins Urban Challenge · · Score: 1

    The race is important, but not in the way you claimed.

    Intelligent vehicle research has been going on for years, and the US Dept. of Transportation funded autonomous vehicle research years ago that culminated in a vehicle that drove 97% of the way across the US using autonomous road following. There is a lot more to do, but many of the outstanding are legal, related to liability and infrastructure (as noted). (Reserved lanes for robot cars? Who takes the blame when one crashes?)

    This challenge encouraged and accelerated ongoing research, but I bet the effects on road fatalities are very small for a long time. More immediate effects will be on urban combat and luxury vehicles, and on the development of interesting component technologies. There are pictures and a few cost figures at this site, and a
    forum for
    participants here

  22. Re:They're not brick & Apple had no choice &am on Hacked iPhones Confirmed As Bricking With Latest Update · · Score: 1

    Link please? Making it up? Do a little work of your own: this deal has been in the news, and not just because of the phone itself, for a long time. If you can't be bothered to determine the background story, why are you cluttering things up with a posting?

    I'm keeping my nerd badge and asking for yours. Upgrading an unlocked phone puts it into a state with a strange IMEI number (in many cases), but I would definitely NOT call it bricked, in the normal sense that word is used by certified nerds.

    As far as people can tell, the 1.1.1 firmware also re-flashes the baseband (radio modem) firmware in a way that makes it incompatible with hacked firmware. There are rumors that that you can still call 911 on such phones, you can definitely query the IMEI and there is a good chance you will eventually be able to do a restore (but not yet). This doesn''t qualify as bricked.

  23. They're not brick & Apple had no choice & on Hacked iPhones Confirmed As Bricking With Latest Update · · Score: 2, Interesting

    1) Apple won concessions from AT&T that were unprecedented. Some of these were really good for users, like a cheap plan with unlimited internet access.

    ) Do do this, they had to make a deal with AT&T that included AT&T being the sole US service provider for 2 years. Unless AT&T has no lawyers (ha ha), you can be assured that the contract includes an obligation by Apple to shut down any hackers and keep them from opening the phone. Thus, Apple has not choice and will be forced to continue to stop hackers on the iPhone, even though insider's comments suggest people there may even personally like the activity.

    3)The new firmware does not "brick" the phone. The use of this term reflects the large number of newbies who don't know what that means. It returns the phone to an unhacked state from which one cannot escape (so far). If you were not using a normal AT&Y iPhone plan, you can't use your phone until you sign up. This applies to phones that have been hacked even a little bit.

    4) The new firmware may not be so easy to open up. My guess is that it will also be cracked, but I would not be surprised if it is more difficult than before since there are several things Apple can do fairly easily, and now they have an awareness of what they need to do. (Wherewas before it was very uncertain what hackers might emerge.)

  24. Ask why. on Review of Amazon's DRM-Less Music Download Store · · Score: 1

    Have you considered why Amazon is cheaper? It isn't due to Apple, it's because the music companies are attempting to break Apple's hold so that they can force them to use differential (higher) pricing. Bronfman has said this pretty explicitly already. It simple terms, that means the average prices will go up (you didn't think they were upset because they were getting TOO MUCH money, did you?).

    In short, using Amazon in this case will help the RIAA eventually raise download prices. Stay away from it.

  25. Shut up (here) and make a noise where it matters on Canadian Politicians Demand DMCA · · Score: 1

    What to make a difference? Stop preaching to the converted at Slashdot and write to the Canadian
    politicians, who might actually make a difference. Their web pages provide email addresses.

    The membership of the committee making these recommendations is here. The INDU report lists
    the "witnesses" in Appendix A: all big media and software businesses.

    Send each of these politicians an email message. That's how the system works. Use it or
    shut up about the consequences, because it'll be YOUR fault then. If can't write them all, at least write to the chaiman and a few others.