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User: maxwell+demon

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Comments · 12,279

  1. Re:Why not MIDI? on Open-Source Bach; Copyright-Free Goldbergs · · Score: 1

    I guess it's that MIDI doesn't support notational details which don't add to the music, but add to the readability and/or playability of the music (e.g. which notes should be played with the left or right hand; synthesizers tend to not have any hands, after all).

  2. Re:Heavily Prepared on Ask Slashdot: How Prepared Are You For a Major Emergency? · · Score: 1

    Just in case the earth gets demolished by a Vogon fleet I've got plenty paper bags for all sizes of human heads. Just send me youre Name, Visa Card (for age verification), Social security number (I don't have a good reason for this one), telephone number, address, and your medical record and I'll be happy to ship you bags for the whole family. As a bonus I will add a bag of peanuts (the size they used to but not serve anymore on airlines) containing salt which everyone knows you'll need a lot of in such situations.

    Actually, for that case I always have my towel ready. However I've still not managed to get an electronic thumb.

  3. Re:Seen a few on Ask Slashdot: How Prepared Are You For a Major Emergency? · · Score: 1

    Firearms? Will they help set your broken leg?

    Depends on the type. I guess a rifle could be used to splint your leg. :-)

  4. Re:Where is the line? on Dutch Court Rules WiFi Hacking Not a Criminal Offense · · Score: 1

    Think of it this way: if your minivan is on my land without my permission is the crime of me unlocking it to see what's in it still the same as if I did that while it was outside my land?

    It may not be exactly the same, but I'm pretty sure it would still be a crime. Just because someone did put it on your land doesn't mean that you have any right to enter it. You would have the right to remove it (or call towing service to do that for you). But you'd not have the right to break in.

    But in this case I'm permitted by law to "put the minivan on your land": As long as the power is in the allowed range, and the frequency is in the allowed range (and possibly a few other conditions), I'm explicitly allowed to send out those waves, even if they pass your property.

    But anyway, that question is largely irrelevant for breaking into the WLAN, because in order to do so, you have to (remotely) manipulate the access point (to make it pass your packets on to the internet), and that access point is not on your property. To keep the minivan analogy: The minivan is parking outside your land, and you captured the remote key signal, analyzed it and then sent your own signal to open the minivan's door. Don't you think that would (and should) be illegal?

  5. Re:Where is the line? on Dutch Court Rules WiFi Hacking Not a Criminal Offense · · Score: 2

    Even if he did not cause financial loss it's still an act which should be illegal. After all, breaking into a private house is a crime even if you don't steal anything, don't read the diary of the owner, and don't damage anything in the process of breaking in.
    And if the connection is encrypted, you can't even say the door was wide open. "The door lock wasn't strong enough" isn't a valid excuse.

  6. Re:It is a pity on Richard Stallman: Cell Phones Are 'Stalin's Dream' · · Score: 1

    You know, you can switch those things off.
    If your phone is off, you don't get calls (except on your voice box, if enabled). And you can switch it on at any time if you want to make a call (public phones are not exactly frequent these days).

  7. Re:Bad Programmers on Hacking a Car With Music · · Score: 2

    Well, I'd not be surprised that much about audio codec vulnerabilities than about the possibility to use the radio to attack other parts of the car. The radio should be a self-contained unit which apart from speaker cables and power supply has no connection to the rest of the car.

  8. Re:I've done this before! on Nuclear Emergency Declared At 2 Plants In Japan · · Score: 2

    Why not?

    Because fusion electrons whoosh much more.

  9. Re:One thing about wind power on Nuclear Emergency Declared At 2 Plants In Japan · · Score: 1

    Wind power isn't completely without its dangers. Wouldn't want to be near that. :P

    Yes, but there's no way such a failing would affect anyone not near to it. What you cannot exactly say about a nuclear power plant. Chernbobyl failing in Russia had bad effects in Western Europe. I cannot imagine the same happening with any form of wind power.

  10. Re:disel generators inland on a hill, not on shore on Nuclear Emergency Declared At 2 Plants In Japan · · Score: 1

    But wouldn't the cables from the the generators to the plant be likely destroyed by the Tsunami?
    Also, I guess it would be a security risk to put the generators outside of the secured area of the nuclear plant. Remember, the nuclear plant isn't only threatened by natural dangers).

  11. Re:Ignorant journalist on Nuclear Emergency Declared At 2 Plants In Japan · · Score: 1

    Huh? It wasn't a nuclear explosion (it couldn't have been), and the reporter says it wasn't a nuclear explosion. How is that lying?
    Of course it would be better if the reporter would have added that a nuclear explosion would not be possible anyway. And yes, he probably has no idea about if it could or not. Yes, he's probably ignorant about nuclear plants, just as you are obviously ignorant about the correct meaning of "lying". But he didn't say anything untrue.

    Well, strictly speaking it could have been a lie if the reporter (incorrectly) believed that it was a nuclear explosion, but still claimed (correctly, but against his believe) that it wasn't. But I assume that wasn't the case.

  12. Re:Thanks EU on New EU Net Rules Set To Make Cookies Crumble · · Score: 1

    In order to have a monopoly on the user data?

  13. Re:EU = make things harder on New EU Net Rules Set To Make Cookies Crumble · · Score: 1

    What is an "anonymous" cookie?

    A cookie without a name, of course. :-)

  14. Re:EU = make things harder on New EU Net Rules Set To Make Cookies Crumble · · Score: 1

    California seems to be the only state that actually cares about its citizens privacy, and it's constantly butting heads with Federal as a result.

    Maybe it's related to the fact that Schwarzenegger is originally Austrian?

  15. Re:EU = make things harder on New EU Net Rules Set To Make Cookies Crumble · · Score: 1

    You must have a very strange version of C, where /= divides the right argument by the left. All C versions I know divide the left argument by the right.

  16. Re:We didn't evolve from Chimps... on Why Men Don't Have Sensory Whiskers and Spiny Genitals · · Score: 2

    The summary doesn't say we evolved from chimps. It says we have evolutionary divergence from chimps, which means that we evolved differently than the chimps did. Which obviously is true.

  17. Re:EU = make things harder on New EU Net Rules Set To Make Cookies Crumble · · Score: 1

    And why should Google require login? I can use Google with cookies disabled just fine.

  18. Re:So if I leave wifi on? on Wi-Fi Shown To Interfere With Aircraft Systems · · Score: 2

    Actually my experience (in Europe) is that during start/landing, all electronic gadgets are disallowed, even MP3 players. Once in the sky, only active transmitters are disallowed.

  19. Re:The vodka is good, but the meat is rotten! on Unmasking Anonymous Email Senders · · Score: 1

    With Lost in translation I get:

    The meat is weak person, but the spirit is immediate.

    That's without including Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. If I include them, I get

    It correctly warms up the key in and [in

    Of course the "original" was already wrong ...

  20. Re:This is gonna be very rant like on Is Software Driving a Falling Demand For Brains? · · Score: 1

    You may not be aware of it, but there are black people outside of the USA. Some of them are pretty fast too, despite having no ancestors who were slow enough to get caught by slave traders and subjected to the selective breeding program you claim exists.

    You just gave an argument against your own position. :-)
    If those who remained there were not the slow ones, they obviously were the fast ones.

  21. Re:This is gonna be very rant like on Is Software Driving a Falling Demand For Brains? · · Score: 1

    maybe at the cost of loosing any positive mod points on the post

    Or even losing them. :-)

  22. Re:This is gonna be very rant like on Is Software Driving a Falling Demand For Brains? · · Score: 1

    I don't entirely buy their estimate on extreme long term, but it's probably accurate for this century.

    If you read the very beginning of it, you'll see that they explicitly say that those long term numbers are not to be taken as predictions.

  23. Re:you're not thinking broadly enough on Is Software Driving a Falling Demand For Brains? · · Score: 1

    there will still be a market for edison-style incadescent bulbs long after LEDs become cheap and plentiful.

    Unless the government forbids them.

    Well, OK, there might be a black market. I can't await the time when the mafia starts smuggling light bulbs ...

  24. Re:No One is Immune on Is Software Driving a Falling Demand For Brains? · · Score: 1

    I hear they use Slashdot story editing as testing ground. :-)

  25. Re:Surely it's a rising demand for brains on Is Software Driving a Falling Demand For Brains? · · Score: 1

    That assumes that machines will never be able to understand a specification document of the sort marketing can produce.

    However, if computers get to that point, I'm pretty sure the marketing department will go away as well. Because, after all, the customer can just put his demands into the machine himself.