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User: Trepidity

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  1. Re:I'm not an expert on Aussie Telco Telstra Agreed To Spy For America · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, this was reportedly done "with the blessing of the Australian government", so the odds of the Australian government punishing Telestra (or themselves) seem low.

  2. what is OpenStack? on Can OpenStack Avoid Fragmentation In China? · · Score: 2

    The summary does not tell me what this thing, apparently popular in Beijing, actually is! You could at least link their website. :)

    Anyway, looking at their website, it looks like it's a "cloud operating system", i.e. infrastructure for managing a cluster in a virtualized, "cloud-like" way. Does anyone know how it compares to other such platforms, like Eucalyptus and the confusingly-similar-in-name CloudStack?

  3. what kind of solution is that?! on Global Study Stresses Importance of Public Internet Access · · Score: 1

    Come on, jerks, the efficient solution has been known since 1980.

  4. Re:And what's that in metric? on Volkswagen Concept Car Averages 262 MPG · · Score: 2

    But when you say "goes 10x further per [unit fuel]" you're talking about it the other way! I.e. this one gets 110 km/L, 10 times more km per liter than your car that gets around 11 km/L.

    If instead you're comparing 9 L/100km to 0.9 L/100km, that's not talking about how much distance you get per liter, but about how many liters you use per distance, i.e. the rate of fuel consumption. Of course, they're equivalent ratios; it's just a reciprocal.

  5. Re:We need a new class of 'ultralight' cars on Volkswagen Concept Car Averages 262 MPG · · Score: 3, Informative

    There's a category of neighborhood electric vehicles that are basically glorified golf carts. They can go about 30 mph, in some states can legally go on roads up to posted speed limits of 45 mph, and don't weigh much.

  6. Re:And what's that in metric? on Volkswagen Concept Car Averages 262 MPG · · Score: 5, Informative

    Which of the two widely used metric standards do you want? ;-)

    If you're from one of the countries that uses the km/L measure (Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Korea, etc.), then this Volkswagen prototype gets about 110 km/L.

    If you're from one of the countries that uses the L/100km measure (Germany, Italy, Australia, etc.), then this prototype uses about 0.90 L/100km.

  7. Re:Worst department is pretty clear to me on China Environment Ministry Calls Itself One of Four Worst Departments In World · · Score: 1

    Perhaps they aren't wrecking the world's economy, but the Chinese Environmental Ministry is doing its best to damage the worldwide environment. Most noticeably in their region, where smog blankets Chinese cities and sometimes other countries' cities, too.

  8. If your local DMV has an online appointment system, it's way better than it used to be with the old show-up-and-wait system. Was in and out within 15 minutes last time.

  9. Re:My health is none of the government's business on Obamacare Software Glitch Will Limit Penalties Charged To Smokers · · Score: 1

    Nothing is stopping you from choosing to pay for your own healthcare in cash, out of pocket, ye olde free-market way.

  10. Re:A year? on Obamacare Software Glitch Will Limit Penalties Charged To Smokers · · Score: 1

    Welcome to Enterprise IT.

  11. Re:Avoids repeating TCP slow start on HTTP 2.0 Will Be a Binary Protocol · · Score: 1

    Digging around, they do also seem to be working on a transport-level protocol with some of the main features of SPDY (fast multiplexed encrypted streams), called QUIC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QUIC

    That feels like a better solution than shoving it into HTTP. But I guess if they want quick adoption, it's a lot easier to upgrade the application layer than the transport layer. Especially if you're Google and control both ends of the application (several widely used servers and a widely used browser), but not the networking equipment in between. So I can see why, pragmatically, they would be pushing HTTP/2.0.

  12. Re:It's really about multiplexing on HTTP 2.0 Will Be a Binary Protocol · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It reads almost like they reimplemented all of TCP inside of HTTP, complete with stream set-up and teardown, queuing, congestion control, etc. Why not just use... TCP to manage multiple streams?

  13. Re:Makes sense on HTTP 2.0 Will Be a Binary Protocol · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not particularly bloated or slow to parse, especially on modern hardware. HTTP/2.0, which is basically a minorly tweaked version of Google SPDY, doesn't even claim speedups more than about 10%.

  14. Re:Wrong strawman on UCSD Lecturer Releases Geotagging Application For "Dangerous Guns and Owners" · · Score: 1

    This map doesn't have any force of law, though, unlike the sex offender registry. You are not required to register yourself on the map each time you move, for example.

  15. Re:Flat structures never, ever happen on Former Valve Hardware Designer Recounts Management Difficulties · · Score: 2

    I agree structurelessness is problematic, but there are structures that work which are less hierarchical than traditional boss-and-subordinates tree-styled management structures. A common feature of Scandinavian workplaces, for example, is a set of committees with precisely specified areas of competence. It is relatively non-hierarchical but very structured and transparent: rather than informal cliques taking on different roles, formal committees with procedures take them on. Overall it works pretty well.

  16. Re:What this really is on Security Researchers Submit Brief For Andrew "Weev" Auernheimer · · Score: 1

    Yelling numbers in a public square is not exactly forging an ID.

  17. Re:24,000 Accounts? on 24,000 Nintendo Site Accounts Compromised · · Score: 1

    The article notes that they have 4 million users just in Japan, oddly enough. That's about 3% of Japan's population.

  18. Re:Sorry on Security Researchers Submit Brief For Andrew "Weev" Auernheimer · · Score: 1

    I agree trolling a federal judge is not a good idea, but that doesn't really excuse the judge inventing a sentence outside the federal sentencing guidelines based on a flimsy justification. Damages still have to be computed in a legitimate manner, and the judge is still restricted by the sentencing guidelines, even if they hate the defendant.

  19. Re:What this really is on Security Researchers Submit Brief For Andrew "Weev" Auernheimer · · Score: 2

    No, it isn't really related to that at all. Public-facing web servers, unlike houses, are not by default considered private. The public is expected to and routinely does enter. They are private property, but private property regularly offered to public use. If you require a physical space analogy, sort of like a plaza owned by a corporation, in front of its HQ, which has no fences around it and is regularly accessed by the public.

  20. Re:What Weev did on Security Researchers Submit Brief For Andrew "Weev" Auernheimer · · Score: 5, Informative

    He was also convicted of conspiracy to distribute those addresses for criminal purposes based on the fact that he... sold them to Russian fraudsters? No: disclosed them to a journalist. I guess the criminal purpose was embarrassing AT&T?

  21. Re:Slow on Improving 3-D Printing By Copying Nature · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you don't have high standards for your 2x4s (and if you're buying what your local home-improvement store sells, you probably don't), it's more like 15-20 years for some fast-growing pine lumber.

    </pedantry>

  22. Re:Non-toxic? on Improving 3-D Printing By Copying Nature · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The nontoxic part doesn't really make sense even taking adaptation into account. There are plenty of natural toxins that are toxic to us and other organisms. Nature sometimes "invents" them specifically for their toxicity, as in the case of reptile venom or mycotoxins.

    And as for natural vs. unnatural chemistry: chemical-weapons programs use "unnatural" chemistry, while biological-weapons programs use "natural" chemistry. But does that distinction mean anthrax is the earth-friendly "green" alternative to mustard gas?

  23. Re:Never trust eyewitnesses. on Boeing 777 Crashes At San Francisco Airport · · Score: 2

    Indeed, eyewitness misidentification plays a role in a large number of erroneous convictions.

  24. Re:Casualties doesn't mean fatalities on Boeing 777 Crashes At San Francisco Airport · · Score: 1

    Newspapers seem to seem the term in a somewhat mixed way. My guess is that they are quite aware of both the narrower and wider meanings, and sort of bounce between them as convenient.

  25. Re:Survivor Story on Boeing 777 Crashes At San Francisco Airport · · Score: 1

    it's full of talking heads speculating on every possible thing

    My favorite bit of talking-head speculation, which managed to veer from the merely inane to the entirely idiotic, was when the CNN anchors were dramatically playing up that they could not yet confirm whether there were passengers aboard the plane. Because Asiana just randomly flies empty plans ICN-SFO for fun.