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User: bagofbeans

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  1. MATE or Cinnamon OR X/Lubuntu on Ask Slashdot: Rescuing a PC That's Been Hit By Scammers? · · Score: 1

    Actually... whichever, just set up a separate /home partition from /, so it's easy to toss on a different install later without losing their stuff.

  2. MATE or Cinnamon OR X/Lubuntu on Ask Slashdot: Rescuing a PC That's Been Hit By Scammers? · · Score: 1

    Lubuntu, thanks!

  3. Re:No surprise. on Facebook Shares Retreat Below IPO Price · · Score: 1

    And it sells very detailed portraits of populations that governments want to track, more intimately that Google can extrapolate from searches due to the cross-relationships.

    The time FB dies is the time FB stops violating user privacy, because violating privacy forms the main product they can sell in the future, becoming the more valuable as time goes by.

  4. Has ANYONE read the paywalled article? on Quantifying the Risk of Texting Drivers · · Score: 1

    Is that 4.6 second TOTAL PER TEXT, i.e. a sum of quick glances (just like looking in a mirror), or 4.6 secs average per interaction with the device?

    There is a big difference between the two...

  5. Salvage... and backup on Ask Slashdot: DIY NAS For a Variety of Legacy Drives? · · Score: 2

    Create a Truecrypt file filling each old drive, after a full format. Use for full (not incremental backups) every 6 months, starting with the smallest sizes (to use them up). Then put them in your Mum's garage, suitably labelled.

    Last tip for backups. Do "dir /on /s > backup_2012_04_23" for each drive after filling it, and keep the list on your main machine, so you can see if you've got a copy of something (and where) before fishing around.

  6. 'spect you're right, but reading down, yours was the first condescending answer that also offered no help.

    In the engineering fields I'm experienced in, I find newbie questions produce alternative answers from other people that I've not come across before...

  7. Re:Anti-FUD on Full Disk Encryption Hard For Law Enforcement To Crack · · Score: 1

    Hundreds of thousands of US servicepeople had access to the stuff put on wikileaks (network was open to every grade), but only one leaked it.

    So, yes, open secrets can be kept.

  8. cost of electricity ... lower than gasoline on 1 MW Cold Fusion Plant Supposedly To Come Online · · Score: 1

    You mean retail price, not cost. The cost of gasoline is not related to crude barrel cost in USA, and heavily loaded by taxes in UK (for example). The cost of electricity generation is often discounted by government; best example being nuclear electricity generation which is priced artificially cheap.

  9. Re:FreeNAS on Entry-Level NAS Storage Servers Compared · · Score: 1

    ...and you should budget for 8GB memory to run the ZFS filing system properly. Oh, and FreeNAS runs from a 2GB (min) USB stick, doesn't waste a HDD.

    To soft-start the investment, you could buy the MB + RAM first, set it up in a cardboard box with a spare PSU and 5 any-size SATA HDDs you have kicking around.

  10. FreeNAS on Entry-Level NAS Storage Servers Compared · · Score: 1

    I got a Fractal Design Array R2 Mini-ITX NAS Case which is gorgeous, takes 6 HDD in a small case. MB is Sapphire Pure Fusion Mini E350 AMD Dual Core E350 which is very low power, 5 x SATA III + 1 eSATA II, USB 3, GbEthernet.

    FreeNAS 8 supports the hardware, and ZFS filing system is reliable.

    Not enterprise level, but excellent for home use.

  11. Of course Stella Wormholes exists! on Stellar Wormholes May Exist · · Score: 1

    In fact she married Bill Posters while he was in prison...

  12. Perhaps it's a simple strategy... on Goldman Sachs Says No Facebook Shares For US Investors · · Score: 1

    ...to alleviate post-offer depression in the price, but there's a sizeable market of US investors who want to get in, and that'll keep the prices up for a while. Of course, initial investors can sell some then, for instant profit.

  13. BBC Master with USB on Preserving Great Tech For Posterity — the 6502 · · Score: 2

    Care to share details of the USB implementation?

    And you may be interested in John Kortink's MMC card storage system for BBC B and Master (at http://web.inter.nl.net/users/J.Kortink/home/hardware/gommc/index.htm )

  14. The data is very weasely... on London Police Credit CCTV Cameras With Six Solved Crimes Per Day · · Score: 2

    Lede says "Six crimes a day solved by CCTV, Met says" when body says "CCTV cameras across London help solve almost six crimes a day". help solve is not the same thing as solved.

    Then we have "The number of suspects who were identified using the cameras went up from 1,970 in 2009 to 2,512 this year."

    How many perps? Well "The Met said among the 2,512 suspects caught this year, four were suspected murderers, 23 rapists and sex attackers and five wanted gunmen.". That adds up to 32 to me... for how many CCTVs in the Metro area of London?

  15. CFLs vs LEDs on African Villages Glow With Renewable Energy · · Score: 1

    Yup, CFLs and LEDs offer about the same efficiacy (lumens/watt) although most people prefer LEDs because colour temperature is warmer (less blue in the mix). However a 155V/230V AC operating CCFL is cheap to produce - the active components are only two transistors. Cheap AC operating LED lamps use capacitive droppers and typically have short life (see FTC lawsuit: www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/09/lightsofamerica.shtm ).

    What's happening here is that the solar/battery system is low voltage only (so low cost), driving LEDs through probably just a resistive dropper and providing 5V USB outputs to charge the phones.

  16. In related news... on A Third of World's Spam From One Russian Man · · Score: 5, Funny

    The FBI believes that one third of the western world's news articles are being generated by one 79-year-old Australian-born American man. Rupert Murdoch is being blamed for...

  17. PLEASE mod parent up on A Tidal Wave of Java Flaw Exploitation · · Score: 1

    ..laughed my cotton socks off. Thanks.

  18. One more level... on Distinguishing Encrypted Data From Random Data? · · Score: 1

    Imagine if investigators simply state that their analysis, not disclosable under state secrets privilege, shows hidden text saying "We'll bomb the Eiffel Tower on Thursday". The suspect is now stuffed with no defense.

  19. Actually, you've spotted the problem on Distinguishing Encrypted Data From Random Data? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    All the investigators need to do is run some fake but seemingly complex program that looks at the file under inspection and says "yes, stenography in use". Then the full weight of the law comes down, because now the suspect has to prove the negative - impossible of course.

    So actually what is needed is a suspect's right that investigators prove any assertion that files have been hidden if that assertion/analysis is used as evidence in court.

  20. Gotta be picky, it's Thursday after all... on 25% of Worms Spread Via USB · · Score: 1

    As further proof, 27 percent confirmed that the source of the infection was a USB device connected to a computer.

    Actually that's evidence, not proof.

  21. Well, at $5... on DRM-Free Game Suffers 90% Piracy, Offers Amnesty · · Score: 1

    ...my immediate reaction was to buy a copy, downloading now. Also bought The Humble Indie Bundle (pay what you want for five awesome indie games), which has Samarost2.

    My point? At $5 I'll impulse purchase it, no worries Bruce.

  22. NPC? on Information On Philips' "Coffee" Machine? · · Score: 1

    Nippon Precision Components?? It's the Netherlands, not Japan. Shirley you mean NXP....

  23. This is part one of the plan.. on White House Unveils Plans For "Trusted Identities In Cyberspace" · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ..where the common ID is voluntary, reasonable, useful.
    Part two is the law forcing all ecommerce to use the ID for taxation.
    Part three is the law forcing all political discourse comment (blogs etc) to use the ID to protect the children and prevent terrorism.

  24. locating terrorist on Marine Mammals Used To Fight Terrorism · · Score: 4, Funny

    A dolphin quickly located a terrorist

    Shouldn't TSA be given this detection technology to, ya know, help 'em out a little?

  25. EFF submission shows how FBI cell tracking works on Feds Push For Warrantless Cell Phone Tracking · · Score: 4, Informative

    See EFF page http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/02/08, but the interesting bit is FBI testimony from page 39 in this document http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/celltracking/Filed%20Cell%20Tracking%20Brief.pdf