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  1. Re:Lawyers gave a crash course is Java?? on Oracle, Google Move To Streamline Java Suit · · Score: 1

    Obviously it's a crash course in Java from a legal perspective, which is totally different than from a programming perspective. Which programmer cares whether there's established legal precedents to determine whether the JVM creates additional 'copies' of infringing software from a damages perspective?

  2. Seems good on Automatic Life Jacket Detection For Drones · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nice positioning. Search and rescue staff will still fly around in helicopters with mk1 eyeballs because they don't trust the drone. However, while trying to sell the image-recognition package as a bolt-on to a heli will fail due to pushback from observers, selling in a drone package will be considerably more palatable, psychologically.

  3. Re:openness on Clinton Calls For "Ground Rules" Protecting Internet · · Score: 2
  4. Re:So if everyone knows the time to avoid on Aussie Government Competition To Predict Commute Times · · Score: 1
    Er, no.
    1. Not everyone has access to the web at work to find out. Often, the first you hear about traffic congestion is via the radio in your car.
    2. Not everyone has flexible work hours
    3. Not everyone has many choices of route home
    4. People are lazy.
  5. He can complain all he likes on Australia's Privacy Boss Slams Gov't Data-Retention Scheme · · Score: 1

    I wasn't aware that the privacy commissioner actually had any power. Perhaps he's just realised, and that's why he's grumpy.

  6. Re:Well at least... on Sudden Demand For Logicians On Wall Street · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How long can this trend be maintained before major problems arise in the economy ?

    before problems arise? Have you not been paying attention for the last two years?

  7. bikes, not cars? on Austria Converts Phone Booths To EV Chargers · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seems more practical to recharge bikes (either electric-assisted, or motorcycles), rather than cars.

    • You can physically get a bike closer to the telephone box than you can a car.
    • You can fill a bike battery an appreciable amount in an hour, given the system's power generation constraints.
    • You can fit a bunch of charging bikes around a box with bike rack technology
    • There's thousands of bike riders in that country already, unlike the car-heavy US
  8. Re:Anyone else think is was a .NET Fortran? on An Interview With F# Creator Don Syme · · Score: 1, Interesting

    According to wikipedia (yeah, I know, I know), FORTRAN is "a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing.".

    F#, on the other hand, is a "multi-paradigm programming language [...] that encompasses functional programming as well as imperative object-oriented programming disciplines."

    In summary, FORTRAN is for Formula Translation, I guess? F# is Functional, but with language support for OO or C-style programming.

    I admit I know bugger all about Fortran, but I suspect it doesn't have the full functional programming support that, say, Haskell boasts. At any rate, even if it did, it's likely that the last 50 years have advanced the field of programming sufficiently to make a new language worthwhile. So if you're up for functional programming on the .NET platform, F# is a great addition.

  9. Asking for it on Studies Reveal Why Kids Get Bullied and Rejected · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wow, that article really has a 'blame the victim' mentality, with the coda "and here's why".

    The article even ends with the appeasement of "what can you change about the way you act to avoid being bullied"

    Just like Battered Wife Syndrome, bullying is something that, ultimately, is the fault of the aggressor. Appeasement is not the solution.

  10. Twilight on Can Curiosity Be Programmed? · · Score: 2, Interesting
    This article reminds me of the short story Twilight by John W. Campbell. I read it when I was a kid and it left a lasting impression that, should humans lose their curiosity, the striving for knowledge might yet continue.

    And then when I read about the current state of the education system, I get just a bit worried...

  11. Sometimes they startup their own on Company Trains the Autistic To Test Software · · Score: 1

    Honestly, besides grocery store jobs, I have never seen other types of companies hiring these individuals.

    ASD isn't a barrier to founding three startup companies or Dealing with other people in a business environment.

    Although it can be hard to register your car...

  12. What's in it? on Landmark Health Insurance Bill Passes House · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Insurance industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions would be banned, and insurers would no longer be able to charge higher premiums on the basis of gender or medical history.

    I'm not from the US, but isn't that the main bit of you guys' healthcare system that's most in need of fixing?

    In my country, pre-existing conditions just mean that you can't claim anything for 12 months after joining. It doesn't affect premiums or anything, and no health insurance provider can reject your application.

    So, I guess, welcome to the 20th century!

  13. Re:Bean Sprout Farming on Moving Away From the IT Field? · · Score: 1

    Laugh all you want. If my IT job weren't freaking awesome, I'd farm bean sprouts.

    Eyeballing the numbers, I'd work 6 days a week, but make well over 100k per year.

  14. Bean Sprout Farming on Moving Away From the IT Field? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously. You can start with one bag of seed and a few plastic buckets and sell to local businesses (especially organic businesses and asian stores since they sell larger quantities) and scale up from there. Inventory isn't a huge problem since it only takes 72 hours to grow the sprouts, and you can buy the seed by the 25kg bag.

    Obviously, I'm simplifying things, but honestly it's a business that's incredibly easy to get into, resistant to non-local competition due to the perishability of the sprouts, and if you can 'get it right', you can definitely market on quality

  15. Re:Proposed Categories on AU Classification Board To Censor Mobile Apps · · Score: 1

    3. Mediocre girl-girl
    4. Wicked Awesome girl-girl

    4.5: Suicide Girl

  16. like hell it isn't on AU Classification Board To Censor Mobile Apps · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is not censorship: this is rating, like done with movies and so already.

    Yes, but anything that is refused classification is unable to be sold. That's what censorship is. It's ironic that the predecessor to the OFLC was the Film Censorship Board, yet anything they didn't review was available to sell. i.e. they didn't censor.

  17. I'll get right on that on AU Classification Board To Censor Mobile Apps · · Score: 1

    I wonder if they know that there are over 80,000 applications on the iPhone platform alone?"

    Maybe I'll call him on my so-called mobile phone and let him know.

  18. mirrors on Activists Use Wikipedia To Test Aussie Net Censors · · Score: 3, Informative
  19. Update: full block list available on wikileaks on Activists Use Wikipedia To Test Aussie Net Censors · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those who are interested, the Sydney Morning herald reports that the full internet filter list has been leaked. It's pretty interesting - there's a lot of not-actually-illegal content on it (including a dentist's site?).

    It's interesting to note that this is the minimum that will be blocked in Australia; the gov may (and will) add to this. This sounds like much more of a test of the censors than what TFA writes about...

  20. English, Motherfscker on IBM Wants Patent For Lotus Notes-Free Meetings · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Do you speak it?

  21. For those who like to watch... on Solar Cells — Made In a Pizza Oven · · Score: 5, Interesting
    For those who like to watch:

    Nominee video of Nicole Kuepper

    Vodcast of People's Choice awards ceremony (Look for ep 26, 2008)

  22. Central America: You're not alone on CAFTA Treaty Exports DMCA · · Score: 1

    As an Australian IT professional, I'm well aware of the USA's tactics; it's political suicide for a foreign government to knock back a free trade agreement with such an august country as the US. So, the really nasty DMCA/IP laws get inserted into the country's laws as a predicate to signing the agreement.

    It has already happened in Australia, and I believe it also occurred when the Singaporeans signed their FTA.

    Now, I don't begrudge the USA for trying this; hey, each country is out for all it can get, right? What I'm dismayed about is the position these other countries are now in: forced to enact bad laws for marginal FTA returns on a population base that will be paying the cost long after the politicians who signed the agreement retire.

  23. Re:A little goes a long way on Ophthalmologists, Physicists Design Bionic Eye · · Score: 1

    The article states that they have a few dozen pizels today, and are aiming for 50-100 pixels. That's not awesomely revolutionary, considering tests of 16 pixels were being conducted in the late 1990's.

    However, other researchers have managed 5000 pixels (70x70) although they don't have hard numbers about how many of those can be seen by patients.

    From what I gather, most of these experiments rely on the patient having decent optics to start with; by any large, they're trying to fix detached retinas, not shortsightedness or whatever.

  24. Re:No, they want to keep their integrity. on Will Sun's Java Go Open Source? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You can say that with a straight face, after the debacle with Microsoft's J++ Runtime of Incompatibility?

    You may have heard of the court case. Took years to resolve. Somehow, I think Sun has learned its lesson about relinquishing control over what is, and isn't, Java(tm)./p.

  25. I am Jack's Total Lack of Suprise on Australia-U.S. Trade Agreement Takes First Strike · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think anyone who's been keeping up to date with international agreements could see this coming a mile away. Australia is just the latest in a series of countries that have signed up for a Free Trade Agreement with the United States and received a bonus kick in the nuts to their copyright laws.

    As an Australian, however, it's a lot more personal. I read /. I keep up to date on stuff like this. I sent letters to all political parties about this, with little success. My problem is this: I can talk to the politicians, but in an issue such as this, which politician will stand on principles to block the copyright amendments and subject themselves to "blocking Australian jobs" and other, more emotionally-laden epithets?

    We know why the copyright amendments are in there; the USA is willing to sacrifice protectionism in a few key markets for a bigger stick on copyright. The USA wins: they get to stop the popular-but-expensive subsidies, while being popular in the electorate for their copyright stance.

    The other country, my country, thinks it's getting a good deal, but ends up with an Intellectual property deficit. The politicians don't care - they reap the political benefits now.

    Sorry for the rant. I guess it's just sour grapes - one would think that after helping the US with that crazy War on Terror thing, that we'd at least get the courtesy of lube before the big event.