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User: maxwell+demon

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Comments · 12,279

  1. Re:Next is corporate logo pets... on Hypo-Allergenic Cats Now Available for Pre-Order · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, after all we already have animals looking quite similar to the Linux logo ...

  2. Re:$3500 for a cat... on Hypo-Allergenic Cats Now Available for Pre-Order · · Score: 1

    So then, does your cat also live in a bin? You know, /bin/cat ...

  3. Re:And what happens... on Hypo-Allergenic Cats Now Available for Pre-Order · · Score: 1

    Well, since they genetically engeneer that cat anyway, there's no need for manual neutering. They can just remove some genes necessary for reproduction.

  4. Re:GNU/HURD on Linus on All Sorts of Stuff · · Score: 2, Funny
    Hurd runs on idealism

    Now I understand. Of course, that slows down development a lot, because idealism is rarely found these days. Probably the FSF has only outdated versions of idealism, running on old hardware where each compile needs aeons. Maybe they should rewrite the system to run on some more popular platform.

    I have never got Hurd to work

    Probably you had an incompatible version of idealism. Actually idealism suffered from many different versions, having differences ranging from subtle to large. That's probably a reason why this platform finally got unpopular.
  5. Re:This is so unfair on Using RFID Tags to Make Teeth · · Score: 3, Funny

    Actually they should adopt bluetooth. Because it's not that clear that the dentist knows how to configure Wi-Fi, but a dentist usually knows everything about every sort of tooth.

  6. Re:We knew this day would come on Beware 'Fedora-Redhat' Fake Security Alert · · Score: 1
    The trouble again would be that most clueless users won't understand what the window asking;

    Do you want to allow application
    "W1NPR0C32.EXE" to execute?

    [YES] [NO]

    means, which leads to the same "yes click reflex" problem I described above.

    This can be solved by a simple redesign of the dialog box:


    An unknown application (W1NPR0C32.EXE) wants to open. This might be a security problem. Deny the start of the program?
    [YES] [NO]


    In this case, the "YES" reflex would actually cause the program not to execute.
  7. Re:interferance on WiMax Operator's Manual: Building 802.16 Wireless · · Score: 2, Funny

    Actually, your post seems to show interference effects. :-)

  8. Re:2GB a minute? on WiMax Operator's Manual: Building 802.16 Wireless · · Score: 1

    Even an acoustic coupler is much better than that. 268 mbps is just 2 Bytes per minute!
    (BTW, milli is written with two 'l')

  9. Re:Simple solution on American Passports to Have RFID Chips · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or just carry your passport in your tinfoil hat.

  10. No enyryption of the data on American Passports to Have RFID Chips · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the article:
    Security experts said the U.S. government decided not to encrypt the data because of the risks involved in sharing the method of decryption with other countries.

    And those very same security "experts" obviously don't know that there are methods for secure encryption known throughout the world even now? You don't need to be an expert to know that!

    And no, I can't see any other explanation. It cannot be the possibility of unallowed reading of the data: That's even easier if the data isn't encrypted at all. And it cannot be the possibility of making forged passports: Having data not encrypted makes this not any harder than having it encrypted with a known encryption.

    Even in the worst case scenario, when the decryption key was made public by some other state, the situation couldn't get worse than without any encryption at all. Of course, the USA could just decide not to give the key (or any specification at all) to countries they don't trust. Those countries would then just have to do what they do now: Rely on the non-RFID portion of the passport (which is currently all that is in a passport).

    So there is really no excuse to store unencrypted data on the RFID chip.
  11. Re:Heh :: Profit on Free Software Friendly Graphics Card? · · Score: 2, Funny
    No, actually it's just missing the final line:
    • Being loved by Open Source enthusiasts: priceless
  12. Re:This is old news on Warm Offices Boost Productivity · · Score: 2, Funny
    One of the first productivity studies was in a factory where the researcher first reduced the light, and productivity increased; then the researcher increased the light, and productivity still increased.

    So the most efficient environment is one with a flickering light?
  13. Re:OK, that explains it... on Software Piracy Due to Expensive Hardware, Says Ballmer · · Score: 5, Funny
    I wonder what color the sky is in his world?

    Blue with white text on it.
  14. Re:The Solution is Obvious on E-Voting Problems Are Mostly User Error, Says ITAA · · Score: 1
    Stupid people shouldn't vote....period!

    Ok, then I propose the following voting method:

    For each candidate, there's a different puzzle to solve. You vote by solving the appropriate puzzle and writing your solution on the ballot. This way, anly people with appropriate intelligence can vote.
  15. Re:Not very subtle, these folks on E-Voting Problems Are Mostly User Error, Says ITAA · · Score: 1
    Yes, with any voting system, there will always be some idiots who will mess it up. But the number should be south of 1%.

    This is the reason why it happened in Florida: It's a quite southern state.
  16. Re:HA!-Features. on Linux Takes On Automotive Apps · · Score: 1

    Binary drivers? Do you mean twins?

  17. Re:Question for the Slashdot crowd on CherryOS Not All It's Cracked Up To Be · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The most obvious difference is that this is not just unauthorized copy (i.e. "piracy"), but actually plagiarism. I don't think any open source or free software advocate would defend plagiarism.

  18. Re:POSTER IS A TROLL on A Tapeless Digital Camcorder For Your Pocket · · Score: 1
    Although internet "backbone" pipes practically have more bandwidth than God

    Got has limited bandwidth, ant that is even lower than that of internet backbone pipes? If so, then surely this bandwidth is more than exhausted by all those prayers, effectively contributing to a worldwide DoS attack on God.

    Actually that explains a lot :-)
  19. Not something I would buy ... on A Tapeless Digital Camcorder For Your Pocket · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Following the link in the review and another one to the actual product description, I've found out the following facts (OK, some have also been somewhat in the review):
    • storage format is MPEG4.

      While MPEG4 may be a nice format to store finished video in, it is not a good idea to use it as a storage format:
      • If you want to cut, you don't want to have any format which contains non-keyframes
      • If you don't want to cut, but burn on DVD, you have to recode, which means some quality loss.
    • Image format 640x480

      DV has a resolution of 720x480 (NTSC) or 720x576 (PAL). I'm not even sure if 640x480 is a standard DVD format (720x480/720x576 is); if not, this means recoding to different pixel size for DVD, which means quality loss independent of the encoding itself
    • No Firewire

      Ok, this point might see some disagreement, but I consider it quite unfortunate that the trend goes away from FW to USB2.

  20. Re:Thats all nice.......but on DVB-T STB/MPEG2 Player That Can Access SMB Shares · · Score: 1

    According to the article, 299 EUR.

  21. Re:Extremely interesting... on Microsoft Advised To Learn To Love Linux · · Score: 1

    But Office is on Linux. Ever heared of CrossOver?

  22. Re:Okay on Every 5th Call At Dell Is Spyware-Related · · Score: 1

    Well, if 90% of the computers out there are running spyware, but only 5.1% of the PCs ... ... then more than 89% of all computers must be non-PCs!

  23. Re:Overly optimistic? on Ray Kurzweil On IT And The Future of Technology · · Score: 1

    Well, he didn't say "2020 AD", did he? Maybe he's using the moslemic calendar, then we still have more than 600 years to develop this technology :-)

  24. Re:At what speed? on To Mars and Back in Ninety Days · · Score: 1

    Maybe you should drink your coffee :-)

    You said that DeltaV = acceleration. Noe DeltaV/DeltaT is average acceleration (other than average doen't make sense with Delta).
    Now if DeltaV = acceleration and DeltaV/DeltaT = acceleration, then DeltaV/DeltaT = DeltaV, which implies DeltaT = 1.

    DeltaV != 0 implies that there is/was an acceleration. Bit DeltaV is not an acceleration. It doesn't even have the correct units for an acceleration.

    And no, you don't have to explain me the difference between average and instantaneous acceleration (nowhere did I even mention the latter). I know that very well.

  25. Re:Sign me up... on To Mars and Back in Ninety Days · · Score: 1

    Depends on how many have the tech to get to the asteroids. As long as there's only one, he has only to compete with earth-mined metals, and he can avoid the metals getting abundant. Of course once more space-miners appear (and assuming they don't form a cartell) the price will drop rapidly (though not arbitrary low, since every space miner will have the cost of actually going there).