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User: Black+Art

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  1. The solution is... on UK Politicians Push For FOSTA SESTA-Style Sex Censorship (engadget.com) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Forced castration for anyone who votes for this peice of legislation. If you don't want people to use their sexual organs, you don't get to use yours.

  2. Linux Journal has been around for a very long time. I have been reading it since almost the beginning. It always has something worth my time. For many it has converted casual users into power users of the OS. Because of that, it has a lot of fans. It is an institution in the industry and needs to carry on doing what it does best... Teaching.

  3. The Debian developers kept getting confused on Mozilla Thunderbird Finally Makes Its Way Back Into Debian's Repos (softpedia.com) · · Score: 1

    Thunderbird is their drink of choice.

  4. I already did that back in the 90s on Energy Company Trials Computer Servers To Heat Homes · · Score: 1

    It is called a Seagate 10000rpm SCSI drive.

  5. As a wise man once said... on Friendly Reminder: Do Not Place Your iPhone In a Microwave · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Put your head in a microwave and get yourself a tan."

    You must dare to be stupid.

  6. This approach has been tried before on AMD Develops New Linux Open-Source Driver Model · · Score: 1

    The X community has said specifically that this sort of end-run around the GPL is strictly forbidden. I expect yet another flame war over this at any moment.

  7. Graphics were great, software, not so much on Myst Was Supposed To Change the Face of Gaming. What Is Its Legacy? · · Score: 1

    The biggest problem with the Myst games is that to run it on Windows you had to install the buggy Quicktime software. It was always breaking, either because of upgrade issues or just plain bugs. I think a lot of people gave up on it because of how hard it was to keep running if you had other games on the system.

    The game was ahead of its time. It would have been much better with a 3d render software engine like Unreal. (Which did not exist at that time.)

    Also, you did not get to kill anything. Modern gamers need a body count.

  8. Here is how I did it on Ask Slashdot: Getting Hired As a Self-Taught Old Guy? · · Score: 1

    Find a large tech company that hires contractors. Get hired as a contractor. Work your ass off and show them you know more than any of the youngsters. Get them to convert you to full time real employee.

    Worked for me. Now I get to play with cool toys from the future.

  9. Comcast and CenturyLink on Caltech and UVic Set 339Gbps Internet Speed Record · · Score: 1

    Comcast and CenturyLink would still block you after using more than 250 gigs of bandwidth.

    In the future "unlimited" will mean "just a second".

  10. Microsoft has always dealt with bugs as a PR issue on Does Microsoft Need Bug Bounties? · · Score: 1

    Since Microsoft has a habit of ignoring the issues that get reported without a bounty, I don't see how adding one would improve the issue.

    One of the reasons for Full Disclosure is to pressure companies that think of security vulnerabilities as a PR problem instead of an urgent technical issue. If the first reaction you get from a company is "this only effects a small handful of users" then they are trying to patch through spin instead of fixing the problem. Microsoft is not the only one that does this, but they have been one of the biggest offenders.

    BTW, "this only effects a small handful of users" has been used by Microsoft so many times that they have grounds to trademark the phrase.

  11. Re:Rainbow Dash on Intel Designs Faster, 3D Transistor · · Score: 2

    If it uses 50% less power, it will be cooler. The Atom processors generate very little heat compared with the more power-hungry Xeon and Core Duo chipsets.

    Intel has become very aware of power usage as well as heat. The days of the room heating CPU are hopefully behind us.

  12. Casio F-91W wristwatch on WikiLeaks Releases Guantanamo Prisoner Files · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well now I know what to give for Christmas...

  13. There needs to be an "anti-patent" on Robert Bunsen, Open Source Pioneer? · · Score: 1

    There needs to be an "anti-patent" that you can file that says "I invented this first, but I choose not to patent it". Something that would be legally binding and prevent later patents from people who look for things and ideas without patents and then file the patents for themselves.

  14. Re:well, he might be right on MS Global Strategy Chief: Tablets Are a Fad · · Score: 2

    The iPad is an upscaled iPod Touch with two really big batteries and a bigger screen. (Take a look at the pictures of a disassembled iPad if you don't believe me.)

    Most other tablets are just flat netbooks with a touchscreen instead of a keyboard.

  15. Tablets will replace netbooks on MS Global Strategy Chief: Tablets Are a Fad · · Score: 1

    Tablets serve the same niche that netbooks do. A smaller machine that is more portable than a laptop or desktop that handles tasks that are needed while traveling or away from your more permanent machine. Also something that is not as expensive as your laptop and won't be as painful if lost or stolen.

    There seems to be an assumption by the industry that people want to own just one machine that does everything. What is happening is that they own multiple devices that may or may not share similar tasks, but have different levels of portability. You may have one device that stays at home and one that you take on the bus to work with you. Another may be just for long trips. The hard part is not the form factor, but getting those devices to share data in a transparent and secure manner.

    Another reason that Microsoft may be grousing about tablets is it breaks the usage model for Windows. Most windows software wants at least a two button mouse. Click for select and right click for context menus. With a tablet you have no right or left mouse buttons so you have to come up with replacements for those actions. Apple has an easier time converting because they were mostly one button instead of two. (And X windows users have three buttons to contend with. (Though two are just cut and paste.))

    I expect that tablets will almost entirely replace the netbook market by 2015. By then the OS issues will be worked out and they will "just work".

  16. Every time they talk about the cloud... on Amazon, Rackspace Add New Cloud Capabilities · · Score: 1

    I hear bong water bubbling in the background.

  17. What I want to know is... on Bjarne Stroustrup Reflects On 25 Years of C++ · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does Bjarne Stroustrop think of women as objects?

  18. My question for the ACLU on Careful What You Post, the FBI Has More of These · · Score: 1

    What I want to know is if I find a device attached to my car, can I sell it on eBay?

    What can they charge me with if I put it on someone else's car?

  19. When do we get to add...? on Toyota Adds External Speakers To Warn Pedestrians · · Score: 1

    When do we get to add high powered lasers to alert deaf people to the oncoming Priapus?

  20. Re:Linux on Latest Top 500 Supercomputer List Released · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In my experience Windows admins require *MUCH* more training than Linux admins. There is much more "black magic" that they need to know to be good at their jobs.

    A Windows admin needs to know all the secret registry hacks to make things run well. They need to know all the non-intuitive places that Microsoft hides the settings for whatever services need to be configured. They also need to know how to recover things when it all goes horribly wrong.

    Most Linux systems have text files to configure things. The files are in a predictable place. Updates are pretty easy and clear.

    But Microsoft has scammed people into believing that leaving it harder than just putting up with the same old crap. In this case I just wish that people did get what they pay for...

       

  21. Sounds like the HP iPAQ on Scary Smartphone Motion Control Patent Granted · · Score: 1

    This sounds like the motion sensors in the HP iPAQ from around 2000.

    Patents like this show why the patent system needs to be dismantled.

  22. Rituals help focus the mind on Why Programming Rituals Work · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I can fully understand using such rituals. It helps you get in the right head space for writing code. It gets you focused on the task and flush out all the other crap trying to get your attention.

    I have found that if I am not in the right frame of mind before starting, the code takes much longer or is just plain wrong. If I am in the right head space, the task is quick and done before you know it.

  23. When I was that age... on Best Introduction To Programming For Bright 11-14-Year-Olds? · · Score: 1

    When I was 10 I learned Fortran... On cards... On a big mainframe.

    And we were grateful!

    Boy I feel old.

  24. Everyone is plotting against you on US Army Sees Twitter As Possible Terrorist "Operation Tool" · · Score: 1

    Every tool of communication can be used to plot against the government.

    It used to be that all they had to do was tap your land-line phones and read your mail. Now they have to tap your phones, fax, text messages, in-game chats, web pages, e-mail, viral videos, and the secret messages contained in your spam.

    The more options of communication you have, the more chances you have to be plotting against them.

    Obviously you must be stopped while they still can.

    They bring new meaning to the term "Communications Tool".

  25. Why I don't use Subversion on Practical Reasons To Choose Git Or Subversion? · · Score: 1

    Subversion is built around the notion that you meant to do that. Someone checked in their entire hard drive to the repository by mistake? they meant to do that! Getting it out now involves rebuilding the whole frikin repository.

    It also does not deal well with large projects. I tried checking in about 25,000 stored procedures. It became glacially slow.

    There are also some interesting bug that occur if two people add the same file from two different machines in the same tree. (Working from the same tarball, for example.) Both can add, but only one can check in. The one who checks in second gets to hack on the metadata before he can check in again.

    Subversion is much better than CVS. Git is much better than Subversion.

    I would repeat a quote from Linus Torvalds about Subversion, but it would trigger to many work-place profanity filters.