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User: Valdrax

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Comments · 4,919

  1. Re:Global Warming? on The Arctic Doomsday Seed Vault · · Score: 1

    The only conspiracies that seem to be missing from it are ones about shape-shifting blood-drinking reptile aliens, Dick Cheney, and the Queen Mother...

    Why is the word "ones" plural in this sentence?

  2. Re:Good idea but... on The Arctic Doomsday Seed Vault · · Score: 1

    I'd much rather see some sort of fail-safe built into this vault. Humans have to periodically check in on the vault and press the button. If they don't press it after, say, 1,000 years, the vault goes into "reseed" mode.

    Sure. Why not? We'll get right on that after we invent AI farmers and colonists, assuming that AI farmers and colonists aren't what wipe us out in the first place.

  3. Maybe for now, but... on The Arctic Doomsday Seed Vault · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, the new drought-resistant, high-yield strains are wonderful things that allow the starving masses to feed 'themselfs'. But by throwing in a genetic time bomb and neutering the crops, Monsanto is in effect resting on its laurels and obviating the need for further innovation.

    Maybe for now, but patents expire. Someone's going to make a small bundle by making terminator-free varieties once the patents on them expire. Of course, by then, we'll have an entire generation of farmers used to paying the piper for their seeds, and I'm sure that Monsanto will have something new to offer by the end of 20 years.

  4. Oh, yes they are... on How To Beat Congress's Ban Of Humans On Mars · · Score: 1

    You need to dial your Cynacism-O-Meter up a notch and realize Libertarians are not so far from Democrats/Republicans as you may think.

    Unlike Democrats and Republicans, they'll never have to worry about actually getting elected and are free to keep the purity of their beliefs away from all that nasty lobbyist money.

  5. I agree. on DoJ Sides With RIAA On Damages · · Score: 1

    As much as my personal political leanings lead me to believe that the Democrats are more often on the right side of issues of rights and decency than the Republicans are on most issues, it's important that everyone remember we have no friends in Washington on issues of civil rights vs. intellectual property rights.

    The Democrats sell us out happily on issues that Hollywood and the recording industry find important, and you'll find absolutely no disagreement from the Republicans on a sop to one of America's largest export industries. Don't expect much help from the Libertarians either -- they're pretty divided on the issue themselves, with many of the rather large contingency that places property rights over all other rights wanting this extended to IP as well.

  6. Win-win situation. on Spam Trap Claims 10x-100x Accuracy Gain · · Score: 1

    Oh, great. Anonymous coward renames spam to Mohammad, in an effort to trigger religious persecution of spam. Unfortunately, the violation is the naming. Notice how the teddy bear skated through the crisis unscathed. Now all anonymous cowards are to be flogged and deported (at least the ones operating out of Sudan).

    Explain to us the problem.

  7. Still doesn't make sense & GP is not a troll, on Spam Trap Claims 10x-100x Accuracy Gain · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Over 99 percent spam blocking means fewer than one mistake in every 100 messages processed. That's 10 to 100 times fewer mistakes than any other available systems.

    That still means that the best other systems make a mistake on 1 out of every 10 messages, and the worst ones make a mistake on every single message. That's still ridiculous hyperbole.

    (Personally, I'll take the system that makes 100% mistakes, and I'll use the Spam folder as my Inbox.)

    Now if you said that it has 1/10 to 1/100 the error rate of normal clients (which is what they're actually claiming, I think), THAT would make mathematical sense AND be an achievement. The Slashdot title of the story is just bad no matter how you spin it.

  8. Re:However you have to remember the other side on How Best Buy Tried To Whip The Geek Squad Into Shape · · Score: 1

    Actually, no -- Computer Science. I'm just a fan of irony.

  9. Re:However you have to remember the other side on How Best Buy Tried To Whip The Geek Squad Into Shape · · Score: 2, Funny

    What do you call a liberal arts major? "Check please!"

    That would be, "How do you call a liberal arts major?"
    "What do you call a liberal arts major?" would be answered, "Waiter!" or "Waitress!"

    Geez. Those who can't, criticize.

  10. A good manager alone... on Area 51's Lead Designer Admits Project Was 'F'd Up' · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The success or failure of a game can not be attributed to one person.

    A good manager alone can't guarantee success, but a bad one alone can guarantee failure.

    Not that I'm saying that's what happened in this case. I've watched a game during development and seen all its promise destroyed by a publisher's deadlines (Master of Orion 3), but I won't agree that it isn't ever possible to attribute the failure of a product to one person.

  11. Re:Commodity on New Type of Fatigue Discovered in Silicon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A) No, certain grades of silicon are not cheap. (Price out solar panels some time.)
    B) This affects the longevity of systems that were assumed to never wear out and limits the applications that they can be used in.
    C) When is disposability an excuse for waste?

  12. Thank you. on Facebook Users Complain of New Ad-Based Tracking · · Score: 1

    Thanks for this tip. As much as I HATE the concept of Facebook (and publicizing anyting but the vaguest info about yourself on the internet in general), it looks like I'm going to have to join eventually if I want to be at all socially involved with my fellow students now that I've returned to school.

    This story was giving me irritated twitches as I read it, and I was just about to ask if there was anything that I could do to protect myself.

  13. Re:"free speech zones" in USA anyone? on Russian Police Seize Kasparov · · Score: 1

    The difference is that he'd be let go, would have any charges against him thrown out of court, and most likely have a chance of pursuing a section 1983 tort against local or state police and a Bivens action against federal officers.

    "Free speech zones" are complete BS, but we're not as bad as Russia yet. There's still some rule of law.

  14. You keep using that word, I do not think it means- on Russian Police Seize Kasparov · · Score: 1

    Free speech doesn't mean freedom from being called an idiot for saying stupid things.
    It means the opposite. Welcome to dissent -- you must be new here!

  15. Re:Meet the new boss... on Russian Police Seize Kasparov · · Score: 1

    What if you did campaign for the opposition and do your best to educate people in a state that voted 75% for Bush? I mean, sometimes there's a limit on how much you can take responsibility for based on the limits of what's possible to accomplish.

  16. Mod Parent Up on Russian Police Seize Kasparov · · Score: 1

    A Google search verifies this.
    (Though I'd post AC too if I was admitting that I recognized a quote from that stupid show.)

  17. Not in Russia, apparently. on Russian Police Seize Kasparov · · Score: 1

    The right to express dissent is not worth forfeiting for any economic gain.

    Apparently most Russians would disagree with a six to one favoring of a strong economy over a strong democracy.
    Depressing.

  18. Re:Never heard of it on Ask MST3k Creator Joel Hodgson · · Score: 1

    I have never heard of MST3k either. It must be a Yank thing.

    It was. That show and imports of the original UK version of "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" helped establish Comedy Central as a TV network in its early days. Basically, the show was a bunch of people making fun of really bad movies. It varied between being occasionally funny and nothing short of awesome. An awful lot of jokes from the show are a huge part of American geek culture.

    I was just being trollish to the original poster who said "never heard of it" in that belittling internet manner that suggests "must not be important/good." No biggie if you haven't because you're from across the pond.

  19. Re:Never heard of it on Ask MST3k Creator Joel Hodgson · · Score: 2, Funny

    So, what was it like growing up watching the Teletubbies?
    I didn't think your generation was big enough to be on the net yet. Welcome!

  20. Re:Fat or muscle? on KDE 4.0 RC 1 Released · · Score: 1

    Interesting. I didn't have poppler installed on my system until I installed KPDF last week. Still, evince feels a LOT more sluggish on my system. It takes about 10 seconds to open a file and 5-7 seconds of unresponsiveness after each change to the window (such as resizing the window, turning off "continuous," and turning on "best fit" like I have to do EVERY SINGLE TIME I open a file to read). HATRED.

    Anyway, the CD burning functionality in nautilus is too basic, and I don't like brasero either because it doesn't verify burned disks -- a must have feature for me since I'm usually deleting files immediately after they're burned.

  21. Re:Fat or muscle? on KDE 4.0 RC 1 Released · · Score: 1

    When Brasero can verify a disk created on the fly, we'll talk.

    (I honestly can't believe that people don't bother to check if their files are properly burned before clearing them off disk!)

    As for mail programs, I don't know. Neither Evolution nor KMail particularly impressed me. I use Thunderbird (and I don't like it that much either).

  22. Re:Yeah, well show me a PSK solution for browsers. on Spying On Tor · · Score: 1

    You are right to suggest that tight security may require that the certs/keys be exchanged in person.

    Which is basically what I'm saying. PKI is an issue of trust, and MitM attacks work by taking advantage of that trust.

  23. Re:Yeah, well show me a PSK solution for browsers. on Spying On Tor · · Score: 2, Interesting

    [1]Who said this was about e-commerce? [2]Under what conditions should online commerce be kept secret from the government? [3]Or by "single point of failure" are are implying that a CA will have its private key STOLEN by private crooks?? The latter would be a really stupid assumption to make, esp since they can revoke stolen keys.

    (Numbers added by me)
    1. E-commerce is the single most common use of SSL encryption.
    2. Under any and all situations in which the government does not have a warrant.
    3. No. By government crooks under the guise of national security.

    Why would you even mention ssh here?

    Because the person I originally replied to brought it up first, asking if you check your SSH fingerprints (as a way of avoiding MitM attacks). Do actually attempt to read the thread you're posting in.

    At least the browser comes with built-in keys that allow you to reject any known crypto attack except for a compromised CA.

    So does SSH. It's the server fingerprint. Much like a certificate, unless you have knowledge of what it should be prior to the connection, it's hard to know you're compromised. The problem is exacerbated by inexperienced users, but fundamentally it's the issue of trusting an unknown set of credentials.

  24. Yeah, well show me a PSK solution for browsers. on Spying On Tor · · Score: 1

    You either trust a third-party CA, or the communicating parties setup their own keys (preferably in person). Those are the fundamental mechanics of trust when using electronic communications, and the modern browser covers them. Need to use a "joe random" CA? Just plug it into your browser preferences. Inconvenient? Too bad, ssh is no better.

    In person? Oh, really. Just what browser implements TLS-PSK today?

    No, you're pretty much entirely stuck with the first choice -- blindly trusting a third-party CA which can be a single point of security failure for a large number of sites. That's the problem. E-commerce requires trust where none should be assumed, especially in the case of a network like TOR that funnels all traffic into a handful of potentially compromised exit nodes.

    There is no perfect technical solution for the problem when using PKI.

  25. Fat or muscle? on KDE 4.0 RC 1 Released · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And yet I find myself installing more and more KDE apps on my GNOME system because of how slow or boneheadedly featureless their GNOME equivalents are. (Evince, I stab at thee! So much hatred for its sluggish rendering and inability to change its default view.)

    And when is GNOME ever going to get a good burning app like K3b?