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User: Animaether

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  1. ESTA form on Australian Visitors Must Declare Illegal Porn To Customs Officers · · Score: 1

    You can see some of these questions on the ESTA form on-line:
    https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/esta.html?_flowExecutionKey=_cAA87A45D-BB10-BD69-546C-3A6C110CDB26_kC5D1910B-3EF3-ABDD-96D4-8BFFE65F97A5

    This replaces the I94 (Visa Waiver) form that you'd fill out on the flight / at arrival.

    For the privilege of filling it in online now, you pay $4 administration costs (by credit card only... you're welcome to have the info, Uncle Sam)... and an additional $10 if the application has been approved*, which is used to promote tourism (Travel Promotion Act) to the U.S**.

    * of course it's only the application that's been approved.. if the border-control-person is having an off day and you look at 'm funny, they'll still send you back after a little chat.

    ** not charging and getting rid of the security theater might promote tourism better, eh? But the act is loved all-around as it practically costs U.S. taxpayers and businesses squat.. seeing as previous visitors effectively end up paying a good chunk of it. Well played!

    The questions start after the two "yeah, yeah... I understand I must bend over.. take me to the form" pages.
    I wonder what happened to the questions of whether or not the person has been to any farmland/soil recently. Come to think of it.. maybe that was Australia.

  2. Re:Volt is not a measurement of power on Cooking With Your USB Ports · · Score: 1

    Because some people enjoy the challenge of creating something fun, new, original and, yes, pointless.

    ...I'm sure it was fun and pointless, but as fo for the new and original...

    http://www.stylehive.com/bookmark/thinkgeek-usb-mug-warmer-hub-59352

    That's like saying 5 blades is "new, original" compared to 4 blades.

  3. Re:Disguised keyboard emulators on FSF Announces Hardware Endorsement Criteria · · Score: 1

    Those endorsements / badges are typically by choice of the vendor, though.

    I don't think this applies to a list of compatible systems on the back of a box (i.e. "Compatible with: Windows, Mac OS X and Ubuntu* (*For a complete list, visit www.vendor.com/support/"). These are just the little logos and stickers that you get to slap on the box/product -if- you meet certain requirements. For example: your installer must be Windows Installer based. If you use NSIS or InnoSetup: no sticker for you. But conversely, it doesn't mean that if you use WiX that you then -must- put the sticker on there.

    So I don't see the problem except with managers (led by marketers) who deeply believe the sticker is something people look for and base purchasing decisions on and is vital to the success of the product.

  4. Re:Cat and Mouse on Proving 0.999... Is Equal To 1 · · Score: 1

    TL;DR: 0.999... != 1. It's just really, really close.

    Perhaps you should add that one to...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ConMan/Proof_that_0.999..._does_not_equal_1 ;)

  5. Re:This is second place on Proving 0.999... Is Equal To 1 · · Score: 1

    The questions can get more complex, though... repeating numbers an infinite number of times is problematic simply because infinity is problematic - at least to wrap your head around, as it's not quantifiable. I.e. you can't say 'infinity - infinity == zero'.

    My aunt is a substitute teacher and I've seen her throw this one at kids in 'basisschool' (elementary school, of sorts, ages 4-13 or so.. yes, the demonstration (not proof) that 0.99(9) == 1 was given to kids back then) just before the summer recess ('zomervakantie') as a parting gift to torment their minds if you will...

    If 0.99(9) == 1.. then what happens if you add 0.00(0)1?
    Or spoken out in words, as the notation above may be incorrect (similar to the notation "0.000...1")
    If you have the value zero point nine nine nine nine nine nine and so on an infinite number of times, and you add a value of zero point zero zero zero zero and so on an infinite number of times -followed by- a 1.. what value do you get?

    You might see a bunch of kids trying to argue that 0.99(9) is in fact not 1 (completely discarding the proof offered just minutes before), but that it simply approaches 1, and 0.00(0)1 is not zero but just approaches zero, "and thus.. uhm.." and their head explodes ;)

    For what it's worth.. I was as confused as those kids, discarded the question swiftly, and resumed packing my aunt's stuff in the car for her vacation.

  6. Re:4 USB ports? on Sony HDTVs To Come With Google TV Interface · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Mouse and/or keyboard for those things that just don't work so well with the fancy remote, external HDD to play back content from (instead of a media center thing that plays back over HDMI and needing an HDMI switch), camera/card reader (presuming it doesn't have a built-in card reader)... yeah, those 4 could end up being used simultaneously just fine.

  7. Re:Not thwarted by reflections. on Erasing Objects From Video In Real Time · · Score: 1

    And here I thought it was a vampire cellphone and the video was shot from the mirror world.

  8. Re:I wold love a car that drives itself... on Google Secretly Tests Autonomous Cars In Traffic · · Score: 1

    being the DD then finding out the bar you're at has La Fin du Monde on tap and tonight's dollar-off-imports night would hurt. Like, physically.

    I guess I'm probably coming off like a party animal or an alcoholic in this thread,

    Ya think? ;)

    That said.. true - cities in the U.S. do tend to be more sprawling and, in part due to the ubiquity of car ownership and car-oriented transportation facilities, friends do tend to live further apart while still saying "Let's get together at $Bar in 10".. and having to drive people around.. at least if they're obnoxious when intoxicated ..wouldn't be much fun. But, again, where I'm from.. sometimes that's me having to deal with that.. the next time it'll be somebody else.. and that's while we do have excellent alternatives around :)

  9. Re:I wold love a car that drives itself... on Google Secretly Tests Autonomous Cars In Traffic · · Score: 1

    It'd be awesome not to need a DD (or risk a DUI)

    I've seen this mindset before... The "feh.. I'll just risk a DUI".. usually defended by arguments like "just 'cos YOU can't handle 8 beers doesn't mean I can't - the law is injust! *hiccup*".. where does that come from? The same place as "I'll just risk getting an STD"? Why risk such things at all?

    though I bet the MADD assholes will lobby to make it still illegal, somehow, and probably try to force a breathalyzer to turn the damn auto-drive on in the first place.

    Probably. I don't agree with MADD's position as of late (i.e. since their first 'win', pretty much). On the other hand.. if this system does need human intervention in special circumstances... then why shouldn't it be illegal to be Under the Influence of alcohol/medicine/whatnot? At the point that your intervention is needed, you're the one Driving, after all.

    Perhaps if the system was absolutely perfect, it'd be a different story.. but given the crazy things that can go wrong in free traffic (as opposed to monorails, trains, etc. on relatively fixed tracks - and see how often even those go wrong), I don't think that we'll be seeing that anytime soon.

    because I know being a DD sucks and wouldn't impose on someone like that. [...] I'd be far more inclined to accompany other friends who go more frequently if the transportation weren't an issue.

    Honestly? You think being the designated driver is such an atrociously horrendous thing to be that you wouldn't 'impose' on someone that they be the DD? We just rotate or volunteer over here.. every once in a while I'm the DD, every once in in another while somebody else is the DD. I guess if you don't have a good time unless you get intoxicated, or if your friends make you feel like you are no fun unless you get intoxicated; yeah.

  10. Re:No, that's not it at all on Firefighters Let House Burn Because Owner Didn't Pay Fee · · Score: 1

    As for his pets, those were his fault. They were his responsibility and he failed them.

    Harsh. What if it was some babies/young kids? yeah, "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!", I know - but tons of common sense changes as soon as it's no longer animals, but humans, and the laws reflect this.

    I don't know if they were aware of the animals' presence or, even if they were, whether the seriousness of the fire would have even permitted them to try and rescue the animals. But if they were and could have, they should have.. and then let the house burn down if they must.

    Letting people, or animals, die in a fire just to make a statement is way up there on the effed up list.

  11. Re:Seems strange they approved it at all on Apple Accepts, Then Rejects BitTorrent iPhone App · · Score: 1

    But it's not actually 'doing BitTorrent' anymore than your remote control is 'doing TV reception'.

  12. Re:right to not incriminate yourself? on British Teen Jailed Over Encryption Password · · Score: 1

    Then you need to review your password policies?

  13. Re:Do not want on Toshiba To Launch No-Glasses 3D TV This Year · · Score: 1

    You're making the flaw most defenders of the "BAH! GIMME A GOOD PLOT INSTEAD!"-posts make..

    I'm not saying you can't make a good movie -without- 3D, CGI, HD, surround sound, color, etc... of course you can.

    I'm not even saying that using that tech available would make a movie that was already good even better.. that's just not a given.

    I'm saying there's no reason that these should be considered mutually exclusive.
    Would Forrest Gump have been a lesser movie if, instead of digitally inserting Tom Hanks in existing footage, they got some look-alikes to re-enact those scenes instead? Probably not. Does that mean we should decry the Forrest Gump moviemakers for using CGI to insert him and automatically dismiss the movie altogether? Heck no.

    Conversely.. if a movie has a crappy plot/crappy acting, making that movie in 3D isn't going to make that any worse, or any better.

  14. Re:Great, if it scales up. on Toshiba To Launch No-Glasses 3D TV This Year · · Score: 1

    Well, personally I think the aesthetic thing is hogwash... sure, there will be the cheap cardboard things, just as there will be the rather bulky ones required for current shutter glasses... but the RealD glasses I get at the theater now are already reasonably good looking.. sure, they're not Oakleys or RayBans or whatever is 'in' these days in the sunglasses market.. but I've seen worse on some fashionista's faces. The best part, at least where it concerns polarization, is that this could be added to practically any (sun)glasses.

    As far as parallax goes.. absolutely! Keep in mind that implied with this is a sufficient number of viewing angles to give a smooth progression as you move your head (at the moment, that means you're likely to be limited to real-time generated content - which could be processed from stereo pairs to an extent) and even a small movement of your head is going to give that '3D' illusion by way of changes in parallax and surface appearance (wet surfaces, oily skn, reflections in eyes, etc.). Although I don't think people would be bobbing their head from side-to-side to get this effect continually, it is present even with just subtle head motions.

  15. Re:PDF warning? on Analyzing CAPTCHAs · · Score: 1

    Don't you check what links are before you click them?

    Just plugging a FireFox add-on related to that...
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3199/ - Link Alert

  16. Re:Do not want on Toshiba To Launch No-Glasses 3D TV This Year · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I didn't realize scrip/acting and 3D were mutually exclusive.. does the same apply to CGI, HD video at home, surround sound and color, too?

  17. Re:Great, if it scales up. on Toshiba To Launch No-Glasses 3D TV This Year · · Score: 1

    No magic way, no.. but there's certainly other forms of 3D display.

    From stacking a bunch of LCDs behind eachother to projecting images onto a rapidly spinning disc.

    Or, even, drop the stereoscopic aspect and exploit other 3D visual cues - such as parallax when changing the observing angle ( remember that youtube wiimote headtracking vid? )

    Thing is.. they all have problems of their own. Stereoscopic 3D with glasses is simply the most efficient with the least problems at this point in time; but as people have such an aversion to them for aesthetic reasons (see comments regarding 'silly, 'goofy', 'stupid-looking', etc. glasses - sometimes thinly hidden behind other arguments), I do suspect it will remain a niche use.. a niche I'll gladly help fill.

  18. Re:old hardware, probably on 66% of All Windows Users Still Use Windows XP · · Score: 1

    Mostly because it's a simplification of the problem at hand.

    yes, you can search for content only
    but does that actually return the results that it should?

    The question is "which results -should- it return?"

    Windows 7's Windows Explorer fancy search basically determines this based on indexing options, search options, folder and file options, and a slew more things; suffice it to say, it won't return -all- possible results.

    i.e. if you have "hello world" in a file that hasn't been indexed, the search service is going to throw a big fat nothing at you.

    On the other hand.. if you have it in a Word document that it has indexed, it'll find it.. while a lower level search tool might not (if the Word file was packed in such a way that the string would not exist as 'plaintext' or as a simple "h.e.l.l.o. .w.o.r.l.d" regex match in the file).

    I'd imagine there -is- a way to tweak things so that all instances would be found, but the thread referenced in the follow-up post here currently moderated as Troll seems to suggest otherwise.

    Now personally I don't care.. I use Total Commander for that sort of stuff under Windows, and the aforementioned thread points out Grep for Windows which tends to largely solve the issue for those who just need to search.
    For those who need to search and insist on using the Windows Search thing... well.. that thread is still open to further - justified, mind you, ranting.

  19. JPEG XR on Google Releases New Image Format Called WebP · · Score: 1

    gah... and what probably doesn't help Microsoft either is its constant renaming of the darn thing. Windows Media Photo -> HD Photo -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG_XR

  20. Re:Not as Sharp on Google Releases New Image Format Called WebP · · Score: 1

    JPEG-2000 is fraught with licensing issues, however.

    There was also Microsoft's attempt, HD Photo.. not going anywhere either, probably for similar reasons.

    WebP has that one major advantage.. Google won't be as trigger-happy on wanting licensing moneys / suing people - yet they, too, have potential patent problems.

    ---

    by the way.. JPEG also supports an encoding called "progressive"; although I've not seen this implemented anywhere, there's no reason the browser couldn't stop downloading the JPEG after the first, 2nd, 3rd level if the use resolution is smaller than the native resolution.

  21. Re:How do I know what I trust? on Many More Android Apps Leaking User Data · · Score: 1

    mod parent anon up, if you could.

    I understand that a company at least -somewhat- vetting the apps in their store is better than the company that says "not our problem", but ultimately it -is- the end user's responsibility and decision of whether or not to trust the app/author.

    I download extensions for FireFox and Mozilla certainly isn't certifying that they do nothing nefarious.. and I can't be bothered to check the code.. I *trust* the authors not to do anything wonky, but I fully acknowledge that the basis of that trust is a house of flimsy argument cards.

  22. Wallpaper App - sure. Navigation App - now what? on Many More Android Apps Leaking User Data · · Score: 1

    When you're about to install a dumb wallpaper app and your phone says that it wants access to your location, the internet, and your call log, that should be a giant warning sign.

    Sure... but now try a navigation app.

    The navigation app wants access to your position - sounds reasonable, right? Difficult to do that turn-by-turn thing otherwise.
    The navigation app wants access to the internet - sounds reasonable, too, right? Lets you download map updates, POI data, etc.

    But that doesn't mean there can't be a piece of code in there that uploads your position to some server.

    Can't really protect against that sort of thing either except with code review... but who's going to review the code of all those apps? Even Apple let a few sneaky things through.

    At some point, warnings or no warnings, you just have to decide whether you trust the app/author or not.

  23. Re:Oh no. Not again. on Star Wars Films In 3D Due In 2012 · · Score: 1

    The only thing missing is his reviews of Episodes 4, 5 and 6.

    It's all good and well to, as somebody above pointed out, nerdrage about the first 3 episodes - but in all fairness, the older episodes weren't exactly masterpieces of cinema either.. but either that reviewer thinks otherwise, or he realizes that wasting hours reviewing those movies in the same manner would just destroy the polarization he so carefully set up.

  24. Re:Translation on Soviet Shuttle Buran Found In a Junk Heap · · Score: 1

    I started this small, unknown, a good thing to hear, many people are in machine translation is complete, there is a very good place. You May Have on the fire ;)

  25. Re:3.5 years until everybody in France is offline on In France, Hadopi Reporting Begins, With (Only) 10,000 IP Addresses Per Day · · Score: 1

    You make a lot of assumptions, though.. odds are it would be much less time.

    You assume that the 62M all have internet connections, which you admit is rather generous. They don't, so the time would be cut down.. let's say it's maybe 40M, which is still pretty generous if I look at the age statistics, internet distribution, sharing of connections (2 adults in 1 household = 1 connection) etc.

    However, you also assume that each and every one of them would be written to. Believe it or not, not -everybody- downloads stuff they have no explicit or implicit license to download.. so this would already change the time it would take into 'infinity'.. some people would simply never have to deal with this. But just for the sake of argument: this is where numbers get pulled out of orifices.. let's say 80% do, however... 32M.
    Then you also assume that those who do, are caught.. looking around at people I know who download, I know several of them use proxies.. so those wouldn't have to deal with this either. Let's say that's a paltry 5%, so we're left with 30.4M.
    Then you assume that those who are caught, and get their first warning, will turn it into a sport to get warning 2 the next day and be cut off on the 3rd day.. I guess some might do that on principle, but most people will just bow their head and clamor to their internet connection for general use more than their gotta-have-that-latest-movie fix. Say a third of the population does make it to Strike 3 for whatever reason. 10.1(3)M.

    10.1(3)M / 0.15M/day = 67.(5)days or about 2 months + 2 days drop-off assuming that Strikes follow day-upon-day.. which also seems unlikely.. say there's at least 1 month between strikes, and it's closer to 4 months time in which all Contrefacteurs would be dealt with.

    Seems rather speedy... where's the popcorn?

    But then again.. orifice-numbers.