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User: Greg@RageNet

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  1. NASA Ames & the Googlejet on Lawsuits Fly Over Google Founders' Party Plane · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now you all know why Google signed the deal for office space at NASA Ames. It's not some expansion into the orbial launch business or some plot to be the intergalactic search engine. They signed a deal with NASA Ames so they could land their 767 on Moffett Federal's nine thousand foot runway biking distance from the Google campus. Must be nice to be all special like that.

  2. Re:Question for Brin on Google Committed to Chinese Business · · Score: 1

    I personally feel providing some information is better than providing none. It's not like Google is actively producing propaganda for China or something.

    That's a lame argument. Google is materially providing support to the oppresive regime in China because they operate there.

    1) Their chinese subsidiary pays taxes to the chinese government.

    2) The chinese government benefits directly from using google.

    3) By censoring they are perpetuating the chinese government's propaganda by showing only it's world-view. Now it's not just the chinese government that says nothing happened in tiananmen square, ask google.cn, and their engine will not have a single bad thing to say about tiananmen square either.

    4) Their economy benefits from the use of google (think productivity increases). Their economic engine directly supports their regime via tax revenue.

    So google is benefiting the regime directly by providing tax revenues for more tanks and missles; and indirectly by reenforcing and perpetuating their government's propaganda.

  3. I'm still waiting... on Democrats May Promise Broadband for All · · Score: 1

    for my bread and circuses

    -- Greg

  4. It does cause interference on Study Says Cell Phones Can Interfere With Planes · · Score: 1

    I have a good friend who's a senior 747 captain for a major US carrier. Cellphone emmisions can interfere with VOR navigation systems, and more importantly, with ILS (Instrument Landing System) radios. So that knucklehead next to you who can't wait 5 minutes and starts making calls on final approach could be causing chaos in the cockpit. The chance of a cellphone interfering with a navigation system is small. But do you feel comfortable if it's interference in one case out of 100,000 causes a crash? No? Neither does the FAA.

    -- Greg

  5. The real unspoken taboo on The Unspoken Taboo - The Never Expiring Password · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Look, let me bring some flippin reality to this whole security thing..

    The only thing that stands between you and total compromise is a brick and a person with the willpower to put it through your window.

    Are never-expiring passwords not so great? yeah. but what's the alternative? The friggin recomended password policies that are generated by the so called security experts are something along the lines of using a completely unique password for every situation, make each of those passwords not be any combination of numbers and letters that could be remotely construed as a real word in your native language, make sure it's nothing personally identifying, and change it once a month.

    In other words have totally unrememberable passwords! And oh by the way don't write them down!

    It's a completely unworkable system and if you enforce password policy systematically.. guess what? your users are forced to write the passwords down and then the people who instigate 85% of all unathorized accesses (your own employees) just need to look for the yellow postits near the keyboards.

    -- Greg

  6. Re:Commentary on w3's captcha-inaccessibility page on Defeating Captcha · · Score: 1

    > - logic puzzles
    > - sound output
    That's fine for the blind, but now you are breaking it for the deaf and dumb.

    -G

  7. Obligatory on France National Library Attacks Google Book Effort · · Score: 2, Funny
  8. Yeah, gimme internet like the DMV on Anti-Muni Broadband Bills Country Wide · · Score: 1

    So you guys want internet from the folks who brought you the shining example of efficiency that is the DMV? That is friggin idiotic.

    At least if a corporation does a bad job it's competetors go out of business. If a government does a bad job it outlaws the competitors.

    -- Greg

  9. Why should they care? on U.S. Kids Don't Understand First Amendment · · Score: 1

    Why should they care about the first amendment? The kids have been taught that the first amendment doesn't really apply if what you say might offend someone. None of the other amendments in the bill of rights seems to get much consideration either.

    How many people support the second amendment here?

    All we have to do is label someone a terrorist or pirate or pedophile (or whatever the boogeyman of the day is) to circumvent the 4th through 8th amendments.

    The 'commerce clause' has beaten the 9th and 10th amendments to a pulp for years..

    Lets start putting soldiers in our houses (3rd amendment) so we can finish wiping our backsides with this archaic document.

    -- G

  10. Stem cell harvesting not outlawed. on US Stem Cells Contaminated · · Score: 3, Insightful

    New stem cell harvesting was outlawed in the USA by a 2001 Executive Order from President Bush.

    This is slashdot, with the journalistic integrity of Dan Rather.. I should not have expected any different.

    Stem cell harvesting is not illegal, so harvest away. What you can't do accoring to that 2001 executive order is harvest stem cells and expect the government to pay for it. It's like saying Bush outlawed cars because he won't buy you one.

    That's fine with me anyway, it's beyond me why the government pays for reasearch that does not go into the public domain. Let pfizer pay for their own research! They don't need my subsidy.

    -- Greg

  11. Re:A legitimate problem! on Spammers Sue Spamee · · Score: 1

    It's not a legitimate problem.

    I have no problem recieving notifications from companies who I've agreed to recieve email from...

    I do have problems with companies (including very large companies) that feel that because at one time or another I did business with them they have full right to fill my inbox with drivel and resell my address to their partners to do the same. Often they even do this when I've checked the 'I would not like to be notified of new products' (or whatever).

    So if ifilm, or travelocity, or whoever else can't manage to run their email notification system in a manner that does not offend a good chunk of the recipients then they deserve to be blacklisted. There are ways to do this easily (checkbox opt-out, and double opt-in come to mind) but aren't implemented because the marketing folks know that puts their mailing lists in the toilet because the truth is that MOST people DON'T want to get emails every few days promoting this or that.

    -- Greg

  12. better then where he used to live. on One Last Campout for Star Wars Fans · · Score: 1

    With his parents.

    -G

  13. WiFi VoIP phones unimpressive on Vonage to Produce a WiFi Phone · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I hope the vonage effort finally brings a good voip/wifi phone to the market. I have a WiSIP and so far it's been unimpressive. Flakey, difficult to configure and use, and underpowered (audio quality degrades sharply when using 128bit WEP). Lots of room in this market to make a better product!

    -- Greg

  14. Count the number of interviews... on Defining Google · · Score: 1

    ... and remember that's the number of folks you'll have to deal with to get anything done in your new position.

    The interview process is a two way street and the efficency of the process is an indication as to the efficiency of the organization.

    Just my $0.02 micropayment.

    -- Greg

  15. ... never made a dime ... on Inventor of Optical Storage Gets Little Reward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    never made a dime

    Yes, as an employee of Battelle I am sure he was compensated for his time working in their lab. He made whatever he negotiated as a salary.

    Oh, nevermind, I fell off the corp-bashing bandwagon again. corp bad, tree good, unless the tree is a bush, then it's bad. Somebody get this guy some socialized healthcare or something!

    -- greg

  16. Re:Good! Widen the field! on Burt Rutan On Future Of SpaceShipOne (and Two) · · Score: 1

    I think the barrier to entry for spaceflight is slightly higher than an old 486 and a cheapbytes linux CD.

    -- Greg

  17. Re:Rutan is my hero. on Burt Rutan On Future Of SpaceShipOne (and Two) · · Score: 1

    Cause' rutan only launched one missile.

    -g

  18. yeah, that's right on Former CIA Head Calls for Limiting Access to the Internet · · Score: 1

    And if you don't comply and your box is compromised and used to launch DDoS attacks you'll be provided an all expenses paid permanent vacation to beautiful Guantanimo and be awarded the prestigous status of 'enemy combatant'. *bleh*

    -- Greg

  19. Re:Food for thought on Bhopal Disaster Revisited [updated] · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We won't let your so-called 'facts' get in the way of our rampant corp-bashing here at slashdot.

  20. Proof that capitalism is bad! on Bhopal Disaster Revisited [updated] · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I can't believe we haven't realized that capitalism is bad, and all corporations are evil. Why can't we just have government, our savior, do everything for us. These sorts of disasters would never happen then.. Thinking of how caring and thoughtful communist governments are towards their people makes me glow green with envy... or is that just the residual radiation from the reactors at chernobyl...

    -- Greg

  21. Re:Okay, lets try again to get it right. on GlobalFlyer Aims To Go Voyager One Better · · Score: 1

    I didn't mention her because she wasn't mentioned in the slashdot article. I'm glad they didn't mention her, they'd probably have her down as the first person to break the sound barrier.

  22. Okay, lets try again to get it right. on GlobalFlyer Aims To Go Voyager One Better · · Score: 1, Informative

    Well I guess we shouldn't be so hard on those that post comments without reading the articles apparently nobody working for slashdot reads them either... What do they pay there, minimum wage?

    Lets straighten this out...

    Burt Rutan: Designer of Voyager and GlobalFlyer (and Spaceship1 in case you haven't heard)

    Dick Rutan: Pilot of Voyager, brother of Burt Rutan; leaves aircraft designing to his brother.

    Steve Fossett: Pilot of GlobalFlyer, didn't pilot Voyager; professional record-breaker on land sea and air.

    Honorable Mention - Sir Richard Branson: Financing the project, runs Virgin Airways

    -- Greg

  23. stating the obvious on EA Games: The Human Story · · Score: 0

    If you don't like your job, work somewhere else.

    If it really sucks then quit immediately and live off your savings while finding the next thing. You do have savings don't you? No, being able to pawn your big-screen plasma TV doesn't qualify as savings. And the shiny new (expensive) car in the driveway doesn't count as savings either.

    Everyone makes their own bed, and at the end of the day must sleep in it. It's not like syberian labor camps here in the USA.

    -- Greg

  24. More sms goodness on Google Launches SMS Search Service · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've been playing around with SMS services for a while, since it's a great way to get information out to folks without them carrying any extra devices (everyone has cellphones now). I created a tool to send traffic reports via SMS for Californians, KnowTraffic and it'll even give you stock quotes if you send a message 'quote TICKER'. SMS is pretty powerful stuff that hasn't really been exploited much in the US yet.

    -- Greg

  25. Re:Space Junk... on Space Tourism is Off and Running · · Score: 1

    aside from novelty flights is there any practical application to all of this in the next ten years?

    Rich aristocrats and their 'toy' flying machines in the early 19th century lead to us being able to fly across the world today in a few hours for a fraction of what it'd cost to travel via ocean liner.

    All the flights are suborbital, so the components fall back to earth instead of causing the 'orbital ecological distaster' you imply. But I hope a booster stage falls on a spotted owl anyways, just to make a hippie cry.

    -- Greg