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User: ArbitraryName

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Comments · 419

  1. Re:Will never be able to trust a U.S. company agai on Google Wants To Help You Tiptoe Around the NSA & the Great Firewall of China · · Score: 1

    When it is released to the public it will be released under the Apache2 license.

  2. Re:why not just raise the gas tax instead? on Oregon Extends Push To Track, Tax Drivers Per Mile · · Score: 1

    Seems like an SUV would be rough on the carpet.

  3. Re:Can someone please explain ... on Oregon Extends Push To Track, Tax Drivers Per Mile · · Score: 1

    Raising the gas tax wouldn't raise the price of consumer goods? So am I imagining things like the UPS fuel surcharge? Are consumer goods magically teleported to their destination rather than driven there by trucks paying fuel taxes?

  4. Re:Wow, I'm going through this now.... on Wikipedia Actively Battling PR Sockpuppets · · Score: 2

    Did you really just say that a District Attorney would never make a mistake? The ownership of Backpage.com is trivially verifiable, you can read about the split between the publishing side and the backpage.com side all over the internet and you can read that the owners of each side are not named Dan Pulcrano.

  5. Re:Totally different suggestion... on Wikipedia Actively Battling PR Sockpuppets · · Score: 1

    He could simply add that information to the biography on his personal or government web page and it could be added to Wiki from there. Adding information like that shouldn't violate any rules.

  6. Re:I'm seeing this more on the biography side on Wikipedia Actively Battling PR Sockpuppets · · Score: 1

    Wikipedia should no longer publish information about living people? That seems counterproductive to its purpose.

  7. Re:Wow, I'm going through this now.... on Wikipedia Actively Battling PR Sockpuppets · · Score: 4, Informative

    He also has a site (backpage.com)

    Your edit was reverted because it was factually incorrect as demonstrated by your own links. Backpage.com is owned by Village Voice Media. Dan Pulcrano has no ownership interest in VVM or Backpage. It looks like Backpage pays for a link from the metroactive.com website but that's about the extent of it.

  8. Re:Stallman would have something to say about this on Call Yourself a Hacker, Lose Your 4th Amendment Rights · · Score: 1

    Vote him out, and vote in a different, more savvy judge next time.

    Federal judges are not elected. They are appointed by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and serve for life.

  9. Re: new iPads on Oregon Extends Push To Track, Tax Drivers Per Mile · · Score: 1

    Does Apple sell cars in Oregon now?

  10. Re:This is why I'm keeping my truck for forever on Oregon Extends Push To Track, Tax Drivers Per Mile · · Score: 1

    No it doesn't. You can buy untaxed dyed diesel fuel for use only on private property (commonly used in farm equipment) and if you're a regular user of gasoline on private property (commonly construction vehicles that are trucked from site to site) you can get your gas taxes refunded. Since we're talking about Oregon, here's their forms.

  11. Re:What is this ... on Oregon Extends Push To Track, Tax Drivers Per Mile · · Score: 1

    One of these should work.

  12. Re:The OBDII Port is for REPAIRS, NOT TRACKING on Oregon Extends Push To Track, Tax Drivers Per Mile · · Score: 1

    The OBDII port is there for on-board diagnostics and to facilitate repairs. It is NOT there as a facility for the State to invade peoples' privacy.

    No, that's exactly what the OBD port is for. You have an OBD-II port specifically because California passed a law requiring it for their emissions testing program. Prior to that OBD-type ports were sketchy and proprietary, existing solely so automakers could lock you in to "authorized" repair shops, which of course cost a great deal of money to become. Not to mention how expensive the proprietary readers were, assuming you could even get one.

    You can thank California's desire to massively invade your privacy for your incidental ability to get better diagnostic information.

  13. Re:but not on Google Fiber on Google Wants To Help You Tiptoe Around the NSA & the Great Firewall of China · · Score: 4, Informative

    And immediately afterwards Google updated their policies to clarify that personal servers were allowed. Non-commercial VPN is explicitly allowed.

  14. The Tor Browser bundle with HTTPS Everywhere works perfectly fine with Google.

  15. Re:Captain Obvious on Google Wants To Help You Tiptoe Around the NSA & the Great Firewall of China · · Score: 2

    Obscurity of the right things is a fundamental layer of security. When the phrase "security by obscurity" is used correctly, it is to deride a reliance on keeping the wrong things obscure, like fundamental algorithms.

  16. Re:expanding... on Why Does Windows Have Terrible Battery Life? · · Score: 1

    (1) there is so much cruft under the surface in Windows (fake DOS calls, umpteen levels of virtualism, etc) that the machine expends a ton of cycles doing what is NOP in newer systems not supporting 1980 calls.

    64 bit versions of Windows have never had this sort of cruft.

  17. Re:x86 versus ARM Processors on Why Does Windows Have Terrible Battery Life? · · Score: 1

    Well now you have.

  18. Re: Historically inefficient OS is Inefficient on Why Does Windows Have Terrible Battery Life? · · Score: 1

    Your experience is highly atypical. Try a simple google search for "windows vs linux battery life" and see what you come up with.

  19. Re:Washington State Law disagrees... on Connecting To Unsecured Bluetooth Car Systems To Monitor Traffic Flow · · Score: 1

    They're not connecting or gaining access to anything. They're merely passively recording the information your device is broadcasting.

  20. Re:I don't get it on US Should Cancel Plutonium Plant, Say Scientists · · Score: 1

    Nope.

  21. Re:Not just for weapons on US Should Cancel Plutonium Plant, Say Scientists · · Score: 5, Informative

    While there is an easier way to specifically produce Pu-238, it is a byproduct of Pu-239 production.

  22. Not just for weapons on US Should Cancel Plutonium Plant, Say Scientists · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I thought we needed to restart plutonium production for spacecraft RTGs?

  23. Re:Easy. on OCZ May Be On Its Last Legs · · Score: 1

    . Note that return rates are returns to the store of purchase - they reflect product dissatisfaction within a few days/weeks of purchase, not due to a failure months down the road (which was the common complaint in forums about OCZ drives).

    No that's not true. The rates in the link come a specific large online retailer and are defective returns after six months to a year.

  24. Re:actual "platform" on A Ray of Hope For Americans and Scientific Literacy? · · Score: 1

    They were mostly wary of standing armies, yes (though not a Navy, which looking back from today's world is an interesting perspective). Madison was interesting in taking the more extreme Anti-Federalist stance on the issue despite mostly being a strong Federalist. A more typical Federalist opinion comes from Alexander Hamilton, "These powers ought to exist without limitation: because it is impossible to foresee or define the extent or variety of national exigencies, or the correspondent extent & variety of the means which may be necessary to satisfy them."

    Regardless, I was simply pointing out the Constitutional authority for standing armies, not having historical debate about how we arrived at it.

  25. Re:Everything is easier today! on Crossing the Divide From Software Dev To Hardware Dev · · Score: 1

    But if the claim is that it is easy to do the hardware and software for a complete system on a par with contemporary designs? No friggin' way. Period.

    No one made that claim, Don Quixote. Settle down. It's a lot easier to do what you did in the 80's and 90's now though, simply because there's a lot more easy to find information.