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User: r00t

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Comments · 3,049

  1. source could be the impact site on Meteorite Causes Illness in Peru · · Score: 1

    Suppose it crashed into a storage shed full of pesticide, etc.

  2. building programs on quicksand on Guido and Bruce Eckel Discuss Python 3000 · · Score: 1

    This language lacks a standard. There is no ISO specification. There is one working implementation, and a few half-done clones that are "broken" because they aren't identical to the primary implementation. Now they talk about incompatible changes!!!

    That's less standard than Microsoft OOXML.

    I can't take this language seriously, and I'm certainly not going to rely on it for anything that has to last through the years or be deployed out in the wild.

    I can rely on C. It was standardized by ANSI in 1989, by the ISO around 1992, and again by the ISO in 1999. There wasn't any crap like "remove puts because people can just use printf", but this is exactly what we see with Python.

    I can rely on the Bourne shell, also standardized by the ISO. (joint effort by the Open Group and IEEE) I can sort of rely on C++ and Pascal. I can rely on Ada, FORTRAN, and even COBOL.

  3. perfect for a burglery on Owning a Wireless Camera, Its User and Its Network · · Score: 1

    You can get the image. You can DoS the camera. You can impersonate the camera.

    Oh boy. What would you like the security camera to show?

    How about somebody else, who was previously captured on video?

  4. So, hypothetically... on Internal Emails of An RIAA Attack Dog Leaked · · Score: 1

    What could a person do with this? Ideas? Another poster said bank routing info too.

    Vague guesses:

    Sell their home?

    Buy shares to prop up a crappy stock (like SCOX) for pump-and-dump?

    File a messed-up tax return? (maybe trigger an audit or eliminate a refund)

    Purchase child porn from an FBI agent?

    Start a dumb lawsuit in their name? (them as plaintif)

    Get them a divorce?

    Come on now, let's have some ideas... not that any of us would ever abuse such respectable people...

  5. should have kept quiet about the source on Internal Emails of An RIAA Attack Dog Leaked · · Score: 1

    A continuing leak would be valuable.

    Hopefully the passwords were put to use.

  6. wrong! on Microsoft Installs New Software Without Permission · · Score: 1

    I never visit a windowsupdate site. I never even run IE. I keep updates set to perform the download ONLY, without running the install.

    A few days or a week ago, I was shutting down. (in a hurry I might add; I needed to leave) Windows decides that it can't just shut down. It has to install stuff. WTF? It then reboots several times, installing all sorts of random Microsoft crap.

  7. I got hit, using download-but-no-install on Microsoft Installs New Software Without Permission · · Score: 1

    When I shut down my machine, Windows did several reboots to install stuff.

    NOTHING was supposed to be getting installed.

  8. Price did not rise much outside of the USA. on OLPC Cost Rises To $188 Per Laptop · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Come on now. "currency fluctuation" refers to the US dollar sinking.

    That's not going to matter in Argintina, Brazil, Nigeria (well maybe there...), and so on.

  9. yes, tivoized: all normal game console devices on Richard Stallman Proclaims Don't Follow Linus Torvalds · · Score: 1

    Xbox, Xbox360, PS2, PS3, N64, WII...

  10. What about gaming systems? on Richard Stallman Proclaims Don't Follow Linus Torvalds · · Score: 3, Interesting

    GPLv3 seems to prevent measures to block cheaters. Running GPLv3 software on a gaming platform means that the user not only gets the source and gets to replace it, but also means that the replacement must be able to appear on the gaming network exactly as unmodified software would. The user running modified software can't even be flagged as such, to warn the other users.

  11. better yet, have more questions like this on Numerically Approximating the Wave Equation? · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot has been getting infested with non-nerds lately. We need some weed-out topics. They should appear as pop-up windows and pop-under windows in addition to appearing as normal articles. Nerds will only see one (very enjoyable) copy; non-nerds will face three terrifying articles that resemble the cruel word problems of their childhood.

  12. California is not alone. on Green Cars You Can't Buy · · Score: 1

    All states with pollution agencies prior to the creation of the EPA are allowed to continue regulating as that had done before.

    New Jersey is one. I think New York is another; there are 5 to 7 of them I think.

  13. excellent method for a pipe organ on Pitch Perception Skewed By Modern Tuning · · Score: 1

    Normally, pipe organ tuning is destructive. You shave the inside of the end of a pipe, or you cut the pipe.

    Per-pipe gas mixture solves this.

    Per-pipe heating lamps might be another good way.

  14. how to tune a fish on Pitch Perception Skewed By Modern Tuning · · Score: 1

    Set an electronic tuner on a good solid table. Grab the fish by the tail, and slap it against the table near the tuner. If the tuner says that the pitch is a bit low, use your fillet knife to reduce the mass of your fish. If the tuner says that the pitch is a bit high, add some stuffing.

  15. those ports on Comcast Forging Packets To Filter Torrents · · Score: 1

    DHCP and BOOTP, Microsoft file sharing vulnerability, RIP router protocol, socks attack/spam proxy, and port 512.

    I have port 512 listed as "exec". While that sounds rather dangerous, it also sounds REALLY extinct. I think it's for accepting and running shell commands from any random place on the internet, kind of like rsh. Probably this is not the port 512 we're looking for.

  16. extreme network neutrality on Comcast Forging Packets To Filter Torrents · · Score: 1

    They route all your packets, without the normal IP bias, including: AppleTalk, NetBEUI, IPX, DecNET, SNA...

    Packets containing unrecognized protocols are broadcast to all users on their network.

  17. a $(MYCOUNTRY) child is worth more on US May Invoke "State Secrets" To Stop Banking Suit · · Score: 1

    To a normal American, of course an American child is worth more than a child from some other country. This is not wrong and should not be surprising.

    What country doesn't value it's own children most? Such a country, if it existed, would be failing the "survival of the fittest" test.

  18. mirror, mirror, on the RAID on The Really Fair Scheduler · · Score: 3, Funny

    Who's the fairest scheduler made?

  19. no additional CX overhead on AMD Unveils SSE5 Instruction Set · · Score: 1

    This isn't adding new registers. It doesn't have the MMX defect. It's just more SSE stuff.

  20. excise tax, registration tax, sales tax, etc. on US Teen Trades Hacked iPhone for Nissan 350Z · · Score: 1

    It's 7% of the car's value here. :-(

  21. no SSE on Via Unveils 1-Watt x86 CPU · · Score: 1

    The Geode NX has SSE. It's really an Athlon. It eats power too.

    The Geode GX and Geode LX do not have SSE. They are derived from the Cyrix MediaGX. (which passed through National Semiconductor before AMD bought it) They have MMX, 3dNow!, and a vector sqrt() function.

  22. here, see the problem on Antigua May Be Allowed To Violate US Copyrights · · Score: 1

    We're all stuck living in this one world. That's you, me, casino operators, gamblers, and so on.

    Sometimes people have problems. Their problems affect you and me.

    For example, a drunk might hit you with a car. Ideally his drinking is his problem, not something the government should regulate, but... that doesn't work so well.

    We require school. This reduces crime and generally helps the economy. Sure, we could just try punishing the criminals, but we'd get a lot more of them. That's costly in many ways: the crime itself, the loss of potentially productive workers, and the cost of running prisons

    We don't let people run around with untreated tuberculosis. Ideally we'd not infringe people's rights like this, but... I hope you can see why this is needed.

    Gambling preys on the feeble-minded. These people get hopelessly in debt. These people then default on loans (pushing rates higher) and leave bills unpaid (you pay the costs, ultimately). Often these people turn to crime, either for money or because of frustration and anger about their debt.

    Casinos are places of tragedy for regular folk. This really makes society worse for everybody.

    As long as we have to share this one world, we need laws that discourage people from messing up OUR lives by messing up THEIR lives.

  23. this is what will sink it on Free Tuition for Math, Science, and Engineering? · · Score: 1

    Obviously, degree X is important too, so we must fund that as well. Oh look, the program is more expensive now and isn't anything special. Cut it.

    You'll see "X" being everything, especially the cultural and political stuff:

    women's studies, latino studies, whatever-they-call-it-today (black) studies, gay studies...

    art history, music history, Islam, hippie culture...

    modern dance, photography, sculpture, trombone, kazoo, body painting...

    socialogy, marketing, counseling, political science, criminal justice...

  24. spanking on Failing Our Geniuses · · Score: 1

    That's an interesting one.

    Some places in Europe won't let parents spank. Texas lets even the teachers spank.

    The problems are a mix of some spankers being dumb/evil, some potential observers being uncomfortable with discipline, and the cruel fact that some kids are naturally far more unruly than others. I certainly don't want some idiot school teacher disciplining my kid. There are people who will report spanking as child abuse; the Massachusetts kid snatchers lost a case in the state supreme court over this. People who have been blessed with 100% eager-to-please kids (common today, with such small families being the norm) have NO CLUE about dealing with a stubborn hyper kid.

    Often I am saddened by the sight of an ill-behaved child manipulating his parent. The child gets his way while the parent ineffectively screams, bargins, and begs. That is far more detrimental to the childs long-term mental health than a bit of imperfect traditional discipline.

  25. fixing asshole terrorists on Another Way To Erase Memories · · Score: 1

    Say, we'd like to empty out Guantanimo Bay, right? Well, we can't just do that now because all those people have terrorist training and jihad indoctrination. One injection later... they HAD terrorist training and jihad indoctrination. Now they can start fresh as Southern Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, or Mormon.

    "That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight. Losing my religion..."