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User: Anomalous+Cowbird

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Comments · 73

  1. "that would eliminate half the Web" on Websites That Don't Need to Be Made Anymore · · Score: 1

    You say that like that would be a bad thing . . . .

  2. Japanese Spacecraft? on Japanese Spacecraft Bringing Back Space Rock · · Score: 1

    Is that a Hawkwind tribute band?

  3. 'IT' will only give way to some similar vague term on Do You Hate Being Called an "IT Guy?" · · Score: 1

    Before it was 'IT,' it was 'IS' (Information Systems), which had been called 'DS' (Data Systems), which previously had been referred to as 'DP' (Data Processing). For those outside the field, anyone working with IT (or whatever it's called this season) will be lumped in with the 'IT guys.' I've concluded that it's pointless (as well as futile) to expect everyone else to grasp the differences between the 'network guys', the 'database guys,' the 'programmer guys,' etc.

  4. Re:Great on Visually Impaired Gamer Sues Sony · · Score: 1

    The first part of his suit seems reasonable.

    Precisely as reasonable as saying that the NBA should make their league more accessible to wheelchair basketball players . . . .

  5. Re:Oh noes! on World's Oldest Bible Going Online · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Christians -- at least, English-speaking Christians -- seem to be alone among the world's major religions in relying exclusively upon translations of their sacred texts. Muslims believe that one can truly understand the Koran only in the original Arabic; Jews are instructed in Hebrew in their youth; Hindus learn Sanskrit in order to read the Bhagavad Gita and other writings. But among Christians, only scholars and specialists have even the slightest knowledge of the Greek in which the New Testament is written.

    Curious . . . .

  6. Re:Humbug on World's Oldest Bible Going Online · · Score: 1

    If this book was just as old, but NOT the bible, would it have been submitted?

    Yes, yes, (forgive the expression) my god, YES! Have you no idea how rare books of this age are? This would be worthy of interest no matter what the subject.

  7. Why shouldn't oil companies diversify? on Pickens Plans On Wind Power · · Score: 1

    Why is it wrong for "the oil companies to position themselves to . . . provide the alternative energy sources?" This is just good business sense, to recognize changing realities and adapt to them.

    My great-grandfather was a blacksmith; and when the first automobiles appeared in his county, he added a gas pump to his shop and learned to work on cars. That was a wise decision on his part; just as it is a wise decision for Exxon, et al. to diversify into other energy sources.

    You seem to share the reflexive disdain for business which is all too common (especially on /.) . . .

  8. For some reason, a song keeps running thru my head on Darl McBride Takes the Stand In Novell v. SCO · · Score: 1

    "Singing hi, hi, hey, it's a watery day
    "On my way to an unhappy grave."

    - Iggy Pop, "The Ballad of Cookie McBride"

  9. How can they do this in Germany? on German Firms Patent Scented Text Messaging · · Score: 1

    I thought the German courts took a very dim view of scentology . . . .

  10. This sort of thing has happened before . . . on Antitrust Suit Filed To Halt Apple 'Music Monopoly' · · Score: 1

    I remember when I first bought a CD player, and found that it would not play either vinyl records or cassette tapes!

  11. I would gladly . . . on 10 Great Snake-Oil Gadgets · · Score: 4, Funny

    . . . go quite a non-meterian distance to obtain a device which emits "non-Hertzian frequencies."

    Especially if I can pay for it with non-monetary currency.

  12. But what I've wondered for years is . . . on Rob Malda Answers Your Questions · · Score: 1

    "Cmdr" . . . is that "Commander" or "Commodore"?

  13. Re:I respect a man who can admit he was wrong on Daniel Lyons of Forbes Admits Being Snowed by SCO · · Score: 1

    I hope everybody shows class and doesn't rub his nose in it.

    You must be new here . . . .

  14. Re:Copyright concerns on Heinlein Archives Put Online · · Score: 1

    . . . do they have permission from Heilien's estate to do this?

    Why is it so much easier to post an uninformed question than to RTFA . . . ?

  15. Re:Fighting terrorists with bombs on Russia Tests World's Largest Non-Nuclear Bomb · · Score: 1

    I don't doubt that, but it still won't fight terrorism - killing people creates more terrorists, not less.

    Only if you stop too soon . . . .

  16. The base of the argument is flawed on Should We Spam Proxies to China? · · Score: 1

    Spam is bad because the costs to society are greater than the benefits.

    No. Sorry, but the "costs to society" don't enter into it. "Spam is bad because" the costs are borne by the recipient without his consent. This is why spam is fundamentally different from junk mail (with which it is often -- but erroneously -- equated). If someone sends me unsolicited mail, he bears the cost of its postage. I can choose to read it or discard it, but the cost to me is nil. However, if someone sends me unsolicited email, I am paying to receive it, without the choice of whether to do so because I have no knowledge of it until the transaction has already been made.

    This is why spammers are evil; they are parasitic thieves, stealing bandwidth and storage from every single one of their addressees.

  17. Re:This is stupid. on High School Students Forced To Declare A Major · · Score: 1

    So stupid, in fact, that only a professional educator could have thought of it.

    Seriously, such early over-specialization can only be detrimental to the goal of developing a truly educated person. What is needed is broader general education; those whose knowlege, however great, is limited entirely to their own narrow field of interest will have no understanding of how their particular discipline relates to -- affects, and is affected by -- the rest of the world.

  18. Re:Journalists versus Citizens on Federal Journalist Shield Law Advances · · Score: 1

    Journalists have all the rights of regular citizens. No more, not fewer. If the government starts setting up special privileges for journalists, the interests of journalists and citizens diverge, and there goes the press' incentive to protect our rights.

    True, and insightful. Makes me wish I had mod points today.

    To equate "freedom of the press" to "the right never to reveal a source no matter what" reflects either faulty logic or a deliberate attempt to mislead. Guaranteeing the right to write and publish does not imply the establishment of a protected class immune from the laws that govern the citizenry.

    Suppose for example that someone reveals to you information concerning a crime which has been committed. Under the "shield law" logic, if you tell one person what you heard, but refuse to reveal your source, this could be a crime; but if you tell a million people, and likewise refuse to reveal your source, this is a noble gesture, worthy of legal protection?

    I strongly believe in freedom of the press, but I think that absolute protection for any and all anonymous sources will only contribute to an increase in journalistic irresponsibility.

  19. Am I the only one . . . on It's Not News, It's Fark · · Score: 1

    . . . who has never even heard of Fark?

    I'm off to look for it right now . . . .

  20. Consider the source on Resolution To Impeach VP Cheney Submitted · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Kucinich is such a marginal figure that even his democratic colleagues are distancing themselves from his antics:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/04/24/AR2007042402341.html?hpid=sec-politi cs
  21. Re:Death throes of American culture on U2 Bringing Spider-man to Broadway · · Score: 1

    What happened to original stories? What happened to character-driven drama? Did all those starving playwrights and composers actually die off? How do we go from West Side Story, The King and I, and Cabaret to Big, Legally Blonde, and Spiderman?

    "Original stories . . . ." Let's see, now:

    West Side Story -- Romeo and Juliet

    The King and I -- Anna and the King of Siam

    Cabaret -- Berlin Stories

    Adaptation has been a major part of the theater from its inception. Shakespeare never really came up with an orignial plot; nor, for that matter, did the ancient Greek dramatists. At the moment, I can't think of any of the classic American musicals that were not based on material from another medium.

    Which is not to defend this specific work (for all I know, it could be the biggest Spidey-fiasco since the clone saga); but being an adaptation should not necessarily be a strike against it.

  22. Re:His sources of funding... on Scientists Threatened For "Climate Denial" · · Score: 1

    "The PR companies want to take this to the people rather than to the journals."

    Exactly as Al Gore is doing . . . ?

  23. Using the heat on What Bizarre IT Setups Have You Seen? · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have been told that, back in the late 70s or early 80s, when a new courthouse/office building was built in a nearby county, someone got the idea to use the heat generated in the computer room to augment the building's heating system.

    As I heard it, during the first winter, the gas company sent inspectors to check the pipelines, test the meters, etc., because they couldn't imagine that a building of that size could use so little gas in the wintertime.

  24. Oh, for the days . . . on Predicting the Internet in 1995 · · Score: 1

    . . . when someone could actually write, in all sincerity, "There's not much that's bad on the Net."

  25. Re:YRO? on Google Search Convicts Hacker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Because now you have a lot fewer of those rights.

    In what way? To claim that a "right" has been violated here seems tantamount to making an assertion such as "Of course I may leave footprints, but no one has a right to follow them."

    Why should an electronic trail have legal protections that a physical trail does not?