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User: redelm

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  1. Re:Yes, turns -- Reynolds Number on Raised Flooring Obsolete or Not? · · Score: 1
    Yes, it is turns, but not from friction. More from inertia of the flowing gas, aggravated by things like vena contracta and vortex shedding that are worse on sharp turns. If you doubt it, calculate the Reynolds Number -- the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces.

    Personally, I think raised flors are obsolete in buildings with decently high ceilings. I'm more concerned to duct those heat exhausts away. Human accessways are more than enough for airflow. Raised floors are more for neat cabling which bitter experience has shown is best run in overhead trays.

  2. Think bank cards on Two Factor Authentication Systems? · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Something you have PLUS something you know. One without the other is no good. Neither needs to be extremely strong. A number of companies make "smartcards" that plug into kbds, USB devices and PCMCIA cards. Use them with "PINs"

  3. BOFH on Blizzard Made Me Change My Name · · Score: 2, Insightful
    This smacks of the BOfH (Bastard-Operator from H3ll). [Google it yerself] Perhaps it is policy, perhaps not, but your name should have been approvied/denied at entry or change, not later on.

    The lack of oversight/appeal is a pure Blizzard-management problem. They chose to allow the GMs to run free, and must accept the discontent so generated. It may not be much in each individual, but at the margin it does sway large number of potential customers.

  4. Re:Unconvincing on Why Talk About Internet Governance? · · Score: 1
    I'm not 100% convinced there needs to be a single resistrar for IP numbers. Certainly not for names--anyone can point their DNS at whichever server they like which will talk to them. Numbers are slightly more moreplex, but fundamentally belong to and are routed by ISPs. Dups may get blackholed. Most importantly, the rebels suffer the costs of rebellion. They cannot impose them on others

    Above this, I'm deeply concerned that "control" not pass to a political organization and that it stay obscure, technical and illegitimate. Those who possess legitimate power are very prone to exercise it! Concentrated minority interests always override diffuse majority interests even when on a weighted basis they should not. Inertia/threshold action..

  5. Unconvincing on Why Talk About Internet Governance? · · Score: 3, Insightful
    The essential arguement for governing the Internet is missing: Why does it need to be governed at all? Who, other than potential governors, is clamoring loudly for more regulation? What actual governance failures urgently need rapair?

    I'm sorry, but this looks like a power grab by control freaks. Taking advantage of anti-US sentiment (Iraq/Kyoto) to feather their own nests. Worse, I suspect they intend to provide a great deal more regulation than the minimal needed.

  6. Re:Legal? on Reverse Engineering Large Software Projects? · · Score: 2, Informative
    Alien overlord? I love it!

    "Human capital" is a rather common economics term to refer to those skills and knowledge that enable an employee to produce the desired works. Use the wiki, Luke. In this case, it is the experience and serenity which makes the Tao Master of programming worth several novice salaries :)

  7. Re:Legal? on Reverse Engineering Large Software Projects? · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I would presume that the code came from a liquidation/auction/takeover and the human capital the produced it is no longer available. First, I would try to hire one of the original sw architects to do some consulting. Who knows? They might have some email files that could be considered "part of the software".

  8. Profiling! on Reverse Engineering Large Software Projects? · · Score: 2, Informative
    First run the code under a profiler. This will give you some idea of where it spends it's time. Running under a first-class debugger (SoftICE?) will also help because you can haul off stack-traces and see what's been called from where.

  9. Forcing obsolescence on Sonic Torpedo Defense · · Score: 1
    This isn't entirely stupid. Sure, the Russians, Chinese, N.Koreans, Iranians and maybe Cubans will easily get around it by cushioning their detonators and triggering mechanisms. Or main explosive charges if necessary although those are extremely stable and hard to detonate (unexploded bombs & arty shells).

    The real interest is that this will obsolete all the surplus munitions that terrorists might access.

  10. Re:Paranoia is egotism on You Need Not Be Paranoid To Fear RFID · · Score: 1
    Well, sounds like he didn't want to leave a paper trail. And he didn't. But some people wanted to see one. Ooops.

    Everything has costs and benefits. Often the costs are hidden or not anticipated. If legal, He could have opened a bank account anytime he wanted, and worked up from there. He chose not to. Other people chose not to rent to an unknown. Everyone gets to chose.

  11. Re:Paranoia is egotism on You Need Not Be Paranoid To Fear RFID · · Score: 1
    I think there must be quite something to those "irregularities". People around here have little trouble getting credit after bankruptcy. But you may be living in someplace like the US NE where rent control or other measures tighten the market and force/allow landlords to be choosey.

  12. Paranoia is egotism on You Need Not Be Paranoid To Fear RFID · · Score: 1
    The real issue is: Who will care?

    Yes, there might be a lot of data, but who is going to pay for collecting and (more importantly) analysing it? Why would anyone be interesting in you?

    The general case is the TLAs who have the money also have no personal interest. The people with interest (parents, GFs) have no access to data, nor any money. Corps have some interst, but not differentiated interest. You're just one cusotmer, fungible. They may try some targetted margetting, but I can't see any harm in that. They'll also know when it doesn't work, 'cuz I won't buy.

  13. Hunh? Does Java even have gets()? on Java or C: Is One More Secure? · · Score: 1
    Almost all the exploits in `c` center around the implicit assumption that misbehaviour is tolerated when unexpected input is received. Yes, the stack can be somewhat protected against overflows, but this is a bolt-on.

    AFAIK, Java is considered a "strongly typed" language, so even if there is a gets(), it has an implied length.

  14. Re:MocK? on Japan Will Stage Mock Cyberattacks · · Score: 1

    LOL! The target seens -nothing-.

  15. Re:Well, ... on Japan Will Stage Mock Cyberattacks · · Score: 1
    Good point about disaster preparation. But backups are the first preparation in an and all cases.

  16. MocK? on Japan Will Stage Mock Cyberattacks · · Score: 3, Interesting
    What is a mock attack? One without deadly payload? How can that be done with cyberattackes when the attack is frequently without payload other than reproduction? Or rather, the volume of the attack is the payload.

    These are either full attacks (perhaps cancellable) or they will lead to false confidence (IMHO more an American than a Japanese trait).

  17. Nothing is confirmed until officially denied on No Office For Linux, MS Patents Rejected · · Score: 1
    ROTFL! MS will do whatever makes money. If big enough customers ask for Linux-MS-Office, or if MS sees a market (unlikely) then it will happen.

    On FAT, the only thing likely to be lost are the long filenames. And perhaps only writing them. FAT itself is 'way too old (1978?) and public to be patentable.

  18. Not root DNS but IP addr collison! on EU, UN to Wrestle Internet Control From US · · Score: 1
    I don't give a fig for the silly root DNS servers. That can be fixed by any country by coercing local ISPs, blocking direct DNS & forcing proxying.

    A much bigger issue is around IP address allocation, but even this is solveable (even if all hosts are not reachable -- probably a desired end).

    The real issue is grandstanding. Having once had control over their colonies, the EU chafes under US de-facto control.

  19. Linux-GPL = BSD on The GPL Impedes Linux More Than It Helps? · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Of course one can hypothesize and value whatever one wishes, but within some approximation, Linux without the GPL is just *BSD.

    Yes, Linus is a talented manager. But he also started without the tremendous codebase that BSD has always had.

    Personally, I'm getting a little fed up with the anti-GPL griping. I suspect the gripers of wanting to abuse code they didn't write. People married to the commercial commodity model of software so successfully exploited by Bill Gates. I have yet to hear an objection I find balanced. Most are just "I want more".

  20. Re:Media hysteria on The People Vs. Common Sense · · Score: 1
    I don't doubt there's a filtering effect as owners and advertisers wish to impose their views. There's also a journalist effect as the writers wish to impose their personal views. But just like sensationalist reporting, the real question is how often and seriously evil actually occurs.

    To be sure, examples like the influence of MS on computer magazines can be trotted out for all to see. That does not imply such influence is pervasive any more than looting&shooting was always and everywhere in Louisiana.

  21. Re:Speaking of irony on The People Vs. Common Sense · · Score: 1
    Deeply ironic that discussion of censorship should be itself censored.

    But that is the nature of all SiteBlockers. They make mistakes in both directions. Usually the false negatives (baddies that slip through) get all the attention. Occasionally, the false positives are highlighted like you have.

  22. Media hysteria on The People Vs. Common Sense · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The deep irony is that no-one would _dare_ censor "the news". Yet it is precisely this hysterical sensationalism that I'm most reluctant my kids watch. Simpsons & South Park may be caustic and tasteless, but are hardly as damaging. Network news is not, and I need to have long discussions with my kids afterwards to undo the damage.

    Frankly, I do not blame the media owner or employees. Both are too inept. They just chase ratings. The fault lies with human nature, or at least the many people who are overcautious or like being scared.

  23. Don't worry, be happy! on Electrical Shielding for the Homeowner? · · Score: 1
    Listen: The voltage means nothing -- you get more walking across the carpet. 50/60 Hz means little -- it's dead slow compared to molecular vibration, and 'way to fast for chemicals. But if you want, just go buy a microwave leakage detector at RatShack. I'd be more worried about your cellphone.

    The XFO is a _good_ sign. They can't leak much and already have a Faraday cage around them. Best of all, an XFO is usually in the middle of a section, far away from those spark-inducing section isolation breaks. They create all kinds of nasty noise and ozone.

  24. Re:Obsolete Before Operational on Last Peacekeeper Deactivated · · Score: 1
    Agreed the MX was mostly a dangerous invitation for the Soviets to strike first. But it still formed an important leg of the tripod if the oceans suddenly went transparant.

    The whole idea of stability is not perfect members, but enough of them so that if one fails, the others can carry the balance. The very heavy reliance the US has/d on nukes.

  25. So why hasn't this happened already? on Computer Security Still Totally Inadequate · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Nothing new in this article. The big question remains: if the potential is that large, why hasn't it happened already?

    I suspect it is for one of two reasons: Either doing physical damage to the PC (BIOS/MBR wipes) isn't that easy; or the machines are better protected than we think. Many people have hardware firewalls as part of their home routers. AOL can't be trusted to pass any packets..