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User: dapic

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  1. maybe it's because of the Spring Festival homerush on Chinese Government Appears To Be Blocking GitHub Via DNS · · Score: 5, Informative

    Usual totalitarian bashing aside, this may actually be the real reason:

    Back ground info: Spring Festival is coming (this year it's Feb. 10th), which calls for all people to go home to unite with their family. And this makes the train tickets very difficult to obtain and the beginning and ending the holidays. The railway ministry in China has build an online train-ticket buying/reserving system (12306.cn) a couple years back and it is now well known when new tickets would be available online, and they sell out within minutes.

    A while ago some Chinese programmer wrote a (naive) browser plugin to automate the ticket reserving operation. A few factors contributed to this plugin causing a lot of extra strain on the already burdened 12306.cn site: it would poll the site repeatedly if the service was not available; as it relies on some Javascript hosted on GitHub and it tries to load that repeatedly as well; the plugin is packaged in some binary distribution of a couple Chinese re-branded browsers which brags about it's ability to "help you grab the ticket".

    As a result, it brought down GitHub a couple weeks ago (when the grabbing of this years tickets begin), and the ticket sellout windows went from minutes to seconds.

    The railway ministry is pissed and claim that this practice is "illegal" or "immoral" and should be banned. Blocking Github could just be the attempt at blocking that "ticket assistant" plugin: No Github, no plugin.

    refernce: http://www.techinasia.com/china-railway-ministry-asks-kingsoft-shut-browser-addon/

  2. Re:Google, FTW!!! on Google Hacked, May Pull Out of China · · Score: 1

    1,890,000 results on google http://www.google.cn/search?hl=zh-CN&newwindow=1&q=tianamen+square+massacre&start=90&sa=N
    174 results on baidu.com http://www.baidu.com/s?wd=tianamen+square+massacre

    yes, that's right, 174!
    there is a line on the google result page that says:

    'In compliance to the local laws and regulations, some search results are not displayed"

  3. Re:Interesting concept on 100-MPG Air-Powered Car Headed To US Next Year · · Score: 1

    If you run out of gas in the middle of nowhere, just get out the pump from the accessory compartment in the trunk, hook it up, and start pedalling. After 3-4 hours of fat burning cardiovascular workout, you will have enough stored energy to move your car 20 miles down the road to the service station. And as an added bonus, you'll be in fantastic shape!

    There is something wrong with this picture.

    Let's compare it with another picture. Say your car is equipped with pedals just like a bicycle. Could you pedal your car 20 miles in 3-4 hours?

    Now factor in the efficiency of compressing/decompressing the air...

    The way I see it, if you're out of gas and you don't want to call a service, it's still easier walk to the closest gas station and bring back a gallon of gas.

  4. Re:Tip: import MS, convert to OOo, export to MS on OpenOffice.Org in a Corporate Environment? · · Score: 1

    Uh... don't we hate pdf too?

  5. But the money saved could be spent ELSEWHERE on Economist's Take On Open Source Development · · Score: 1

    Does your macroeconomics textbook say otherwise?

  6. Cats? What are they thinking? on Ladies and Gentlemen Allow Me to Introduce the Cat Car · · Score: 1

    Why the heck don't they just use mice directly?

  7. Next thing you know, swimming pools owners on BBC In Trouble Over Free Music · · Score: 1

    would sue the government for cleaning up the beaches and opening them to public..

  8. Re:Silly Americans on GTA Sex Game Leads to ESRB Fracas · · Score: 1

    wasn't sure if only you guys "invented" the nuclear weapons-it's not like you guys sold the Russians the patent. But it's pretty certain that only you guys ever used it though.

  9. I've always wondered... on Owner of the Word Stealth 'Protecting' Rights · · Score: 2, Funny

    what "squatting" means without "cyber". Now I know. :(

    My new business model:
    1. Register trademark for cool words in all industries
    2. wait for someone actually develops product that can be described using the word
    3. wait more so the "damage" becomes extensive
    4. file lawsuit
    5. Profit!!!

  10. so THAT's why you have to kick it to make it work: on The Tin-Whisker Menace · · Score: 1

    to shake down the whiskers shortening the circuit. :)

  11. It's a brilliant idea on Lawsuit Filed Against Software Copyright · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you guys bothered to look at this guys website, which is named http://www.bustpatents.com/, you'd see that he is really against software patents.

    I think what he is trying to do here, is perform a publicity stunt to show that patent laws (in its current messed-up form) actually could COVER copyright laws since copyright laws says others can't distribute your (non-free) software, while patent law says they can't even distribute software that DOES THE SAME THING as your (patented) software.

  12. Re:So many peanuts, so little gallery. on China Bans Game Recognizing Taiwan Independence · · Score: 1

    You are assuming all Chinese people reside in China.

  13. Re:Excel is a real word too! on Excel Registered as Trademark, 19 Years Late · · Score: 1

    So is "sun". Duh!

  14. If you actually read past the first paragraph, on Make Money Fast · · Score: 2, Interesting
    You'd see this:

    There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services.

  15. Isn't this why dupes cost so much too? on Microsoft Blames Anti-trust Legal Fees for Price Increases · · Score: 1

    you know, the risk of getting legal troubles, and the fact that its users can't just "quit" it?

  16. Re:There has to be an alternative motive here... on Microsoft Allows Pirates to Install XP SP2 · · Score: 1

    I would suspect that it's in the contract between Sony and MS that the copy of OS that comes with the laptop be made only installable on a Sony machine, presumably for Sony to get the OEM price. Because I don't see any incentive for Sony in doing so volunteerily.

    Also is it possible NOT to get an OEM version of MS Windows with his new Sony laptop? I'd guess not. Otherwise there's no stopping him from returning the full version of MS Windows and demanding a refund or just selling it.

    I guess you could say that he could've gone with another brand, but which brand? At least I know how to locate a pirated copy of MS Windows.

  17. Re:A truly global economy on Intel Chief: Don't Call Us Benedict Arnold CEOs · · Score: 1

    So you think US or EU laws should be applicable to the whole world? Why is it that those codes be held as the bottomline?

    Besides, whatif the company does not "hire" any worker, but only purchases the (i.e. programming) service? There's no labor law saying a company has to pay how much for developing a software.

  18. Re:A truly global economy on Intel Chief: Don't Call Us Benedict Arnold CEOs · · Score: 1

    um, no, a true global economy would mean that workers can move to where the jobs are and that there is a world wide rate of pay that differs little from one location to the next.

    Would it make things better if there's no "H-1B" quota so that every willing programmer in the world is able to apply the job in America?

  19. Re:"good for the economy" my ass.-outsourcing CEO' on Intel Chief: Don't Call Us Benedict Arnold CEOs · · Score: 1

    I have no problem with people getting rich if they've earned in a way that's equitable to all but getting multi-million dollar bonuses for taking away peoples' livelyhoods? That's just disgusting blood money.

    But that also depends on who you refer to as "people"; some think Indians are "people" too. The only thing that takes away "people's" livelyhoods are the machines, not other people.

    Let's face it, it's not the CEO's taking you Americans' jobs away. It's capitalism.

  20. Re:Actually... on Winamp 2 + Winamp 3 = Winamp 5! · · Score: 1
    Perhaps you should concider reading the entire page before bitching about it on Slashdot. It makes you look like a jackass. :P
    No. Actually it just make him look like a veteran slashdotter.
  21. Re:Not "Taikonaut", the term is "Yuhangyuan" on China Sends First Taikonaut To Space · · Score: 1

    "yu-huang-yuan" = astronaut
    "tai-kong-ren" = spaceman

  22. considering the ecomical climate on Renegade Reverse Engineering - John Woo Style · · Score: 1

    could you imagine how many people would love to see it?

  23. That doesn't stop me from buying a PC? on New G5 Power Macs "Fastest Desktop In The World" · · Score: 1

    that's because I KNOW that in 18 months, some dudes from Redmond, WA would come up with something that's twice as bloated than the stuff everybody uses now.

  24. Re:who's to say? on Profile of a Hard-Core Gamer · · Score: 1

    simple. the difference lies in the emphasis: "hard-core" is more of a quality-wise measurement, while "addict" is more quantitively speaking. Of course they overlap.

  25. So you have small wrists but big finger tips... on Wired's Wish List For 2013 · · Score: 1

    are you him(or them?) who was NOT nominated for the Oscar this year? ;)