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User: denttford

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Comments · 249

  1. Re:Here is the thing... on Get the Family Dog Cloned · · Score: 1

    Dear Lord. As if that phrase isn't stupid enough - Judeo-Christian is now a noun?

  2. Which game? on Judge Recommends Guilty Verdict for Jack Thompson · · Score: 5, Funny

    So what videogame was he playing that turned him into a criminal?

  3. Re:Dual Boot on Securing Your Notebook Against US Customs · · Score: 1

    I assume you are just being silly. Obviously, a well encrypted drive is nice and will resist most attacks. I was responding to the simple dual boot a a means of hiding data/an OS configuration.

    However, even if you are using FDE, you are susceptible to rubber hose cryptanalysis. Additionally, it will single you out for further examination, perhaps by someone more competent. Just because you have security by design does not mean you go and surrender yourself to your opponent.

  4. Re:Dual Boot on Securing Your Notebook Against US Customs · · Score: 1

    Taking the attacker standpoint: I'm surprised no one's mentioned VMs.

    Run Windows|Mac + Parallels, VMWare, whatever. No dual boot hassle and you can carry the image on a small flash device and/or encrypt the disk image. Store some unencrypted Linux LiveCD ISOs or disk images on the HDD for added utility and plausible deniability.

    Much better than drawing attention to yourself with a Linux/dual boot solution (which additionally is useless against any decent forensic disk imaging and long term analysis) which may require calling over someone who actually has a clue.

  5. Re:Hopefully on SCO's McBride Testifies "Linux Is a copy of UNIX" · · Score: 1

    And the thing that Windows is?



    [Ok, rather, used to supposed to be when it was NT, but can be with a Cygwin or SFU. download.

  6. I've seen this before... on Xerox Demos Self-Erasing, Eco-Friendly Paper · · Score: 1

    Wait, I know!
    They reinvented thermal paper! On purpose!

  7. Re:Rest In Peace. on Arthur C. Clarke Is Dead At 90 · · Score: 1

    The Wired article links to this page of inventions presaged by him. I think Spaceguard belongs on that list, don't you?

  8. Re:From TFA on Arthur C. Clarke Is Dead At 90 · · Score: 1

    Additionally, in the book, HAL vents the atmosphere in the Discovery to prevent Bowman from returning as he did not have a full pressure suit. The scene never made it into the movie - I don't recall if it was shot and cut or never filmed at all. However it is the (unportrayed) reason that Dave Bowman is wearing his helmet again once he finally gets on board and through the famous "Daisy" scene.

  9. It's h@rd on the long tail. on Most Spam Comes From Just Six Botnets · · Score: 1

    So what this article is saying is that I wont get c1@l1s ads for my chinchilla?

    My chinchilla and his harem are greatly disappointed.

    N.B. No chincillas, real or fictional, were harmed in the making of this post.

  10. Re:Germany got it right... on Scientology Injunction Denied Against "Anonymous" · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sigh.

    Please stop posting.

    Just because you can't google image search for every text you'd like does not mean they are inaccessible. Sometimes, if there is no facimile edition of the text, or reputable printing, you actually have to go to the library where they are held and work. Shocking, I know. It's called scholarship. I also can't help but notice that you have shifted your argument from the current state of affairs to a "long, long history."

    In any case, I suspect you like things with "secret" in the title, so perhaps you should order this? Should you actually want to try some real work, fill out one of these out and go to a reading room.

  11. Re:Germany got it right... on Scientology Injunction Denied Against "Anonymous" · · Score: 2, Informative

    (-1, Uninformative.)

    I know several people who have used the Vatican's library, none were Catholic, all were doing proper academic work (i.e. not God's work), all had access to manuscripts 500-1000 years old.

    The "Kabbalah" mostly hides in plain site; there are plenty of publicly accessible places to buy texts that been considered heretical even by most Jewish mystics throughout the centuries, if you know where to look. Jewish mysticism's tradition of hiding relies less on lack of publication and more on illiteracy in rabbinic Hebrew/Aramaic, ignorance of traditional law and homily, ignorance of the multifaceted and particular use of the preceding in allegory. Most modern day "mystics" are plenty happy about writers like Crowley and Berg (well, they don't like Berg the man, rather the nonsense he peddles) because it keeps the curious masses away.

    Oh, and knock yourself out with the Dead Sea Scrolls. They're not in Italy. You can review almost all of it now. The secrecy rule disappeared almost 40 years ago. They're also kinda boring.
    Admittedly, a cheap printing of the whole thing as text would be nice, but any decent university library will have DJD.

    So, pretty much, there was nothing correct in your post.

  12. Re:Youtube Video on Nokia Unveils Shape Changing Nano-phone Concept · · Score: 1
  13. Re:LISTEN TO THE POPE!! on Pope Denounces Some Biotech as Affront to 'Human Dignity' · · Score: 1

    I normally stay away from these stories because of the idiotic invective they engender, but the "humans shouldn't play God" was too funny in context. I wonder if it was intentional.

  14. Another bullet point on his resume on Japanese Bureaucrats Reprimanded for Wikipedia Editing · · Score: 1

    Tsutomu Shimomura takes down wikihackers too!

    Book and movie to follow WITH Gundam suit!

  15. my hopes dashed. on Japanese Stealth Fighter Announced as 'Return of the Zero' · · Score: 1

    Honestly. I clicked on this hurriedly, expecting to find the resurrection of the Street Fighter franchise.

    Sigh.

  16. Re:New version of GIMP? on GIMP 2 for Photographers · · Score: 1

    Umm... it is the very lack of CMYK output makes GIMP useless for photography - if you care about printing. Honestly, I was hoping the title indicated there was new functionality in GIMP to allow just that.

    I don't get it; you could have simple needs, and not care about monitor calibration and perhaps, like most people, you might use an LCD while editing. If this is so, GIMP is equally as poor a choice as Photoshop for this kind of work. Cheaper and easier software exists.

    If you do care - and this includes every amateur photographer who bothered learning how to properly use a darkroom and print before moving to digital - than you have a workflow that (at least potentially) ends in a print, in which case Gimp cannot compare to Photoshop. Moreover, you hardly need CS3 - Photoshop 7 is more than capable as a "digital darkroom"* and does not cost more than any DSLR cameras - though you will have to look for it.


    *Yes, as Nikon D70 owner I know about .NEF and other Camera RAW issues, there are solutions; there is also CS.

  17. Re:be fair now.. on G.I. Joe No Longer the Real American Hero? · · Score: 1

    That's where it says, "Thou shalt not kill". From what is told in the OT, it seems obvious to me that the alternative rendering of "Thou shalt not murder" captures the intent better.

    Damn, it's not a preference in rendering, it's blatantly a mistranslation. Common biblical Hebrew verb root h.r.g, to cause something to die, roughly, to kill : irrespective of morality (Eccl. 3:3, Ex. 13:15, and Ps. 136:18 vs. Gen. 4:8 and a whole host of others), or even sentience of subject (Is. 22:13).

    The verb in question (Ex. 20 / Deut. 5) is of the root r.tz.ch., which roughly translates in modern English into murder. The use of the term can also encompass what would be thought of as manslaughter today, where there was some liability but no intent. Most examples of this verb root imply nasty actions, where the evil of the actor is blatant : those who kill (h.r.g) non-Israelite residents/converts and widows and murder (r.tz.ch) orphans (Ps. 94:6), etc.

    However, the section on cities of refuge uses the root repeatedly, to describe a murderer (Num. 35:16,17,18), one who committed manslaughter (Num 35:25), and the victim's "blood avenger," which the text exonerates (Num 35:27), but as one might think the intentional killing is wrong, the verb is used there as well. (As an aside, the other death verb used (and usually underlying the translation of "shall surely die") is m.w.t, in a causative construct - to cause to die. (Yes, this is the same root as Mot. Some Stargate characters are also common Hebrew words.)

    Yes, OT (pun intended) but I cannot believe that this still gets repeated as if it is of some great theological consequence. Asserting that someone suffers from cognitive dissonance because they derive value from the Bible and support, I dunno, the death penalty, is wrong - at least on the basis of "Thou shalt not kill." Christ, how people can invest so much of their belief in the divinity of a text and then use a fucking translation is beyond me.

    It's also well documented and easily explained. Doesn't make it any less frustrating. Back to my drink.
  18. This is truly frightening... on Hole in Asteroid Belt Reveals Extinction Asteroid · · Score: 1

    ...in this pre-9/11 world.

    70 years and five days to go.

  19. Re:What about the nokia n800? on Smartphone Shootout · · Score: 1

    FWIW, i use a iblue 757 pro with the n800. Since the developer of maemomapper owns an iblue, it is very functional with the Nokias. Integrated solar power (or usb charging) makes it pretty handy. It also doubles as a 50,000 waypoint logger. It handles NYC pretty well, though sometimes I think my sirf 3 usb does better. NYC, however, is possibly the worst place in the world to use a gps receiver , so you will most likely have fine reception.

  20. In light of recent news this reads like... on Top Ten Discoveries of the Mars Rovers · · Score: 4, Funny

    Obits for Nerds. Robots that mattered.

    Seriously, no band survives the greatest hits album.

  21. Re:Greetings from the Nation of Africa! on OLPC Mass Production Begins · · Score: 1

    While I agree that there is no need to cut off Nigerian IP blocks, to claim that it is a "few bad apples" is disingenuous. According to this article, 419 represents the 3rd-5th largest industry in Nigeria.

    Additionally, if any country had spam as its 3rd-5th largest industrial sector, I would understand (though disagree with) suggestions of cutting it off from the internet.

    Of course, If a private company blocked Nigerian IPs in house, well, that is their prerogative, for all the good it would do.

  22. Can I get the African diistribution? on OLPC Mass Production Begins · · Score: 3, Funny

    The one with the preloaded porn?

    It's for a... sociological study in aesthetics... purely educational...

  23. Re:Dupe? on Password Vulnerability In Firefox 2.0.0.5 · · Score: 1

    Yeah, the title seems to indicate that there is a vulnerability with specific to the new FF release, but no. Same story.

    Same solution (for FF) - which I got from a post in the previous story (thank you): Secure Login.

  24. With faltering businesses... on Next Generation Zune Coming for Holiday Season · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When in doubt, spend.

    (also applies to politics)

  25. Re:Not africa's biggest problem on Africa - Offline And Waiting for the Web · · Score: 1

    Yeah, the internet is one of the last things Africa needs.

    I'd say that Social, Political, and Agricultural reforms are FAR more important to the average African than the good old WWW.


    I do not mean to minimize any of the problems Africa faces. However, I think the printing press has had fair amount of success in effecting political and social change throughout history; how much more with its modern analogue when the cost of production approaches nil and the ability to post (for example) video of abuses is instantaneous and not easily controlled?