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User: bluethundr

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  1. cool story on 40 Years of Multics, 1969-2009 · · Score: 1

    cool story, bro. full of WIN!!! but /. needs to be moar facebookable these days. images don't show up anymore when posting linkages... :-(((

  2. Not Possible on Activating Vista Enterprise Using a Spoofed Server · · Score: 1

    But..but..but..I thought Vista was unhackable!

    Trust your feelings. You know this to be true.

  3. token_ring on Does Anyone Still Use Token Ring? · · Score: 1

    int token_ring=bsd;

  4. Has the market for tech dipped? on Tech Support to the Stars · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I work as a techie in NYC. Since the late nineties the starting salaries in NY were $55k a year! My last job lasted 5 years and I ended up making $65 a year.

    "Technicians like Mr. Kapellen are paid about $32,000 a year, the industry average for computer technicians, according to the Association of Support Professionals.

    Could this be a regional issue? Or is $55 the norm for computer lackeys in the Big Apple because soda in 20oz bottles go for $1.50 a pop and generally that's an analogue to how expensive everyithing else is making the same work provide the same quality of life (virtually speaking) in NYC as it does for the Geek Squads in Demoins Iowa? Or are the Geek Squads just generally extremely underpaid.

    I'm on the job hunt now and have had some balk at $65, but just recently dropped my price by $10gs just get hired. At the $55 level, people don't even blink. The only reason my my compensation rose so high was because I'd mastered an arcane level of Ghost on the Enterprise level which streamlined efficiency to a high degree. But try explaining that to a shop that has never used Ghost and they just go..."Uh huh".

    But what puzzles me is that $55k seemed the norm in 1998???!!! So, how can it STILL be the norm starting price, in addition to all the experience I've gotten since then be priced at that level? That doesn't even keep up with inflation!

    And added to that, wouldn't anyone feel underpaid for this stressful job at merely $32 a year? I understand there are different costs of living around the country but this seems like a dramatic difference!

  5. What nerdy kids will want for Christmas... on DNA of Woolly Mammoth Fully Sequenced · · Score: 2, Funny

    Instead of the word pony, you'll hear the whiney phrase "Mommy, Daddy, can I have a fully sequenced Woolly Mammoth for Christmas?"

  6. Finlay Windows follows X on Vista's Graphics To Be Moved Out of the Kernel · · Score: 1

    So, correct me if I'm wrong, but will the movement of the UI into user mode allow one to tailor the environment according to the user's preference as opposed to just the developer's presence, harkening back to the days of uwm only or Microsoft?

  7. Re:Doesn't it depend... on Xbox 360 Very Unstable · · Score: 1

    "whether or not you crash your rod before the first lap"

    I don't believe that has anything to do with racing personally...


    Obviosuly someone's bullshit detector is a little anemic today.

    My original post should've been modded down as redundant, because I had failed to read the earlier posts. Someone had apparently beaten me to the joke. (that poster got modded a +5 Funny). So, my advice, friend, is take your bullshit detector down to Pep Boys for a little tune-up. My guess would be a faulty Isotrometer, but it's hard to tell without a $90 minimum diagnostic routine.

    Sincerely, Manny, Moe and Jack.

  8. Doesn't it depend... on Xbox 360 Very Unstable · · Score: 0

    Project Gotham Racing 3 crashes before finishing the first lap.

    Doesn't it depend on the skill of the driver whether or not you crash your rod before the first lap or not?

  9. Wndows and Linux KVMing on Maintaining Windows XP System Performance? · · Score: 1

    It's interesting. I have a Windows XP machine that is a pretty barebones configuration that I use mainly (okay, almost solely) for gaming purposes. And I have another machine attached to the same monitor via a KVM. The machines are identical in every way (1.6GHz Athlons with 1GB Ram, only the windows machine has a monster video card).

    But when my Windows machine starts boggin' down I just fire up X on my debian box and the speed difference is inCREDIBLE. The pointer just moves so fast on that GUI that I can barely keep up with it! So I even play some games on it using WINE (like the classic Starcraft). Not particularly helpful for your situation, but it sure illustrates for _me_ the difference in how the two OS'es make use of system resources.

  10. Re:I Have ADD on Flushing the Net Down the Tubes · · Score: 1

    why in the name of all things holy is this modded insightful?

    You've got got me! I'd intended it as deadpan humour! Then that sort of humor doesn't translate that well to the web.

  11. Brother Leo Said It Best on Gaming Fanatics Show Hallmarks of Drug Addiction · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Leo Laporte mentioned recently on the excellent podcast TWIT (This Week In Tech) in extended discussion with his old chronies from when TechTV's ScreenSavers was in its hayday (in otherwords before G4 TV bought it, moved it from the Bay area, replaced everyone who wasn't telegenic with pretty faces staring stiff and stupid into the camera - in short made it suck donkey ass) observed that Blizzzard's World of Warcraft redered one "Only _marginally_ functional as an adult"

    A fact to which my level 31 Mage can readily attest. Apparently Leo has a level *blah* Paladin in that game.

    Also, of note in that same podcast it was mentioned that there are "Latin American sweatshops" where US citizens pay those less of the less fortunate nations to spend the hours on end it takes to "level up" their character so that when they log in "voila"! They can stomp around the land of Azeroth as a Level 60 fill in the blank. Now, I may be an addict, but where the hell is the fun in that? Also, as in other games is the amazing fact that people are selling characters, equipment and "gold" for umtpeen _hundreds_ to a _thousand_ or more real US 'Mercian DOLLARS!

    The Cyberworld never ceases to shock and amaze...

  12. I Have ADD on Flushing the Net Down the Tubes · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Someone please read this for me and tell me what it means.

  13. An Inexpensive and Flexible upgrade path on Creating a Functional Network for a Radio Station? · · Score: 2, Funny

    Two of 6 Win98 PCs need to have the ability to broadcast audio data from any source on the network. The other 4 of 6 computers must be able to transfer files on the network w/o taking too much bandwidth away from the streams. I'm thinking of QoS, but how should it be implemented? What does the slashdot community look for, and suggest, in making a high-bandwidth network?"

    I have a suggestion...Upgrade the entire network to Macintosh 512's and PhoneNet and VOILA! Problem solved!

  14. Mavis Beacon on Sites or Software for a Budding Typist? · · Score: 3, Informative
  15. Re:Yeah right! on Rave Reviews for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger · · Score: 1

    You cant even ctrl-alt-del or use safemode to restore to a previuosly good config.

    Nothing is worse than a "know it all". No, there's no "safe mode" (yeah, a sign of a "real operating system") but there is "single user mode" just as there is on all *NIX boxes. Command key+s on startup gets you there. If you know what you're doing you can do a lot once you're in single user mode.

    As to no "Ctrl+Alt+Del" even the inventor of that particular convention, (as reported previously here on slashdot) said it was intended to be cumbersome and inconvenient so that you wouldn't hit it incorrectly. He never dreamed that Microsoft would turn it into the convention that it has evolved (devolved?) into.

  16. What for? on Indian Call Center Employees Hack US Bank Accounts · · Score: 1

    Why would these Indian folks need to steal from banks? I mean they already have casinos f'r crissakes! ....ooooohhhh. nevermind. I understand now.

  17. This explains it! on Too Many Computers Hurt Learning · · Score: 1

    The entire phenomenon of trolling! SOLVE!

  18. It was Union Carbide on Bhopal Disaster Revisited [updated] · · Score: 1

    I seem to recall that it was Union Carbide not Dow that was responsible for the incident. Unless one is a subsidiary of the other.

  19. Re:It was fun while it lasted on Paralyzed Woman Walks Again · · Score: 1

    If Americans were more in tune with the idea of preventive medicine we'd probably have fewer in the hospitals and fewer who end up on maintenance drugs for the rest of their lives. But I know the story; eat, smoke, drink yourself into a bad medical position and complain that medical science can do nothing for your life of excess.

    Point taken, but this is way off topic. We're talking about a possible/probbable/hopeful cure for those with spinal chord injuries due to accidents like Christopher Reaves and degenerative diseases like Lou Gherig's disease (ALS) and others like it. Hopefully, this is big news for those of us who have been stricken with such injuries/diseases in our families. What are you trying to accomplish by taking a knock at American's admittedly debauched lifestyles?

  20. Not Funny? on Brain Scans May Unlock Candidates' Appeal · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This story may be "hard news" and "serious science" but why the hell this isn't also under the category of "It's Funny, Laugh!" is beyond me! I know I did!

  21. H2G2 on 2004 IF Competition Games Available · · Score: 1

    It's some funny timing for me to see this story. This past August, I found a copy of Douglas Adams' Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Infocom on the Amiga (yes, occasionally I like to old school it with my Amigas...) and found I had a blast reliving my youth by playing it. It was written by the man himself I believe and it's incredibly clever (well, duh!).

    Maybe I'll give these new games a spin to see what they have to offer!

  22. Re:no mas no mas! on SciFi Channel To Air A New Galactica Series · · Score: 1

    Woops! A few mistakes there. No terminating anchor on a link and a few misspeel1n6s. Meant to say turn off that DAMN computer. sigh.

  23. Re:no mas no mas! on SciFi Channel To Air A New Galactica Series · · Score: 1
    I'll put that $120/mo into something more worth while and any shows that I deem worthy enough to waste my time watching, I'll just grab from bit torrent.

    Too well said! Hat's off to you my friend (be it black or white ;). You are wise beyond your years sir, for one who is not yet 30!

    But I'd like two remind you of 2 basic hacker tenets:
    • Conservation of energy. i.e. Laziness as a virtue, not a vice.
    • Computers are toys to be played with.

    Now, with that in mind I can think of some MUCH better uses of that $120 per month.

    First things first, hop on over to levenger for some book storage. When I'm through with you you'll turn off that idiot-box altogether! Well, except for quality DVDs and TV shows (which are becoming all the more scarcer by the moment, don't even get me started on that topic!)!

    So, unless you already have an AMPLE solution (meaning a decent bookcase with lots of pictures, carded star wars figures, hummels or whatever the heck you may be into) you're gonna NEED some first rate book-stashage! :D

    Not that there's anything at all with grabbing a bit-torrent of something that's not yet out on DVD. And in my mind Netflix is a perfectly fine solution! Just more convenient than torrenting, less brain cycles that could be devoted to reading. If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend treating yourself to Lain and to Cowboy BeBop, as well as City of Lost Children.

    But if you're a coder, I really honestly feel that developing fascility with Assembly is a good move. I am only part way through a great book from No Starch called [CAUTION:PDF] the "Art of Assembly" that (in the short time I've been reading it) has allowed me to tighten up my C++ code a bit! I cant wait to see the result when I am finished! I also planning to read another book I have on Assembly, but this one is so good I'm not sure how much I'll need it! I'll probably read that second book anyway though. The author contends that no matter WHAT the language in question, be it C, C++, Java, Perl, Ruby, Python, or Lisp, your coding will benefit.

    I accidentally ran into the president of No Starch at the last 2600 conference. His name is Bill, and he's a really mellow very nice dude! I've been emailing him back and forth and he was nice enough to email me sample chapters from the upcoming title "Enterprise Linux Clustering". Honestly I haven't given them a thorough read, just a perusal but it seems top notch so far! I honeslty believe that No Starch is developing into the "New O'Reilly". Not in every sense of course, because O'Reilly's website is far more developed in the form of information and online instructive articles and news. Not even to mention that I have yet to be disappointed by an O'Reilly release! But NS is DEFINETLY an admirable up and commer!

    Once you're through a good set of skill building in Assmebler, you can reinforce your mad skillz by moving onto what will eventually be a 3 part series specifically written for people wo like their High languages like C++ or Perl or whatever called "Writing Great Code" by the same author as the Assembly book. I understand the series to focus mostly on machine archictecture, rather than assembly which will benefit every coder from Assember on up to C or maybe even VB. From there you can move onto some more interesting uses for your newfound knowledge (sorry if I'm incorrectly assuming you to not be a veteran Assembly yoda). What's the fun of writing ANY language if all you get to write is "Hello World" shite? So you can move on to cool and useful things like how to crackpro

  24. Worse news. on New Ring Around Saturn · · Score: 1

    There could be a new ring around Uranus.

    Klingons could be orbiting it. May transport hemorrhoidian agents to pollute the climate.

  25. Re:200 students? that's it? on IT's Musical Habits · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Elton John, The Beatles, U2, Coldplay, Radiohead.... You're right. What do THEY know about music?!??!?!?

    <brogue> Never NEVER utter that phrase to a laddy who's lookin' as irish as paddy's pig! </brogue>