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User: Kenshiro

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Comments · 56

  1. Re:Nail on the Head on Math And The Computer Science Major · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Wow - some asshole thinks *that*'s offtopic?

    Fine, let me put it another way, so that an idiot without rudimentary reading skills can understand.

    High schools are not interested in you excelling at math. All their money has to go to making sure everyone can achieve the same level.

    So it's up to you to pursue higher math education. I completed up to calc 4 in high school, but I was lucky that there were other interested students and administration support. I'm not sure I would have done it if the school (more than 10 years ago) hadn't made it easy to pursue.

    But if you're a high school student who has to pursue it on your own (ie by taking a night class at a junior college), it's worth it!

  2. Re:Nail on the Head on Math And The Computer Science Major · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    (Assuming that they're still *teaching* high school math. Grrr...)


    If they did that, a child might be left behind (you insensitive clod).
  3. Re:Don't underestimate Valenti on MIT Student Grills Valenti on Fair Use · · Score: 1

    And we know it's the choir because the pirates are at home, watching pirated copies of the movie that don't have the commercial.


    But you're missing the point - if you'd just buy 3 copies of the dvd - and I mean full price, not those bmg prices - you would be helping to make up for the ARRRR! pirates.

    So how about it? :-)
  4. Re:Good riddance to bad crap on Andromeda And Mutant X Cancelled · · Score: 1

    Back to Andromeda...I gave it a try or two for the first half season or so then promptly forgot about it. A couple years later when I revisited it during a bout of insomnia, I remember thinking that absolutely nothing was the same.


    So the fact that there might be an actual plot and things might change is a problem for you? :)

    Seriously though, they did in fact go through a major, disappointing shift. The changes you mention were the results (imo) of good, long term plot points. Later on, the series very consciously shifted to a more episode-by-episode everything must be wrapped up by the end of the hour approach, which really hurt the show.

    I'd love to see one more season, if it was in fact going to be the final season :(
  5. Re:VI is everywhere. on JOE Hits 3.0 · · Score: 1
    If you excuse is, oh its everywhere, then hell, GET A DAMN CDRW with everything GOOD, or USB key.


    Huh? "Excuse"? You're apparently the one too lazy to bother or too stupid to be able to learn the ubiquitous editor. What's your excuse?

    That's not to say I use vi "because it's everywhere". I just happen to like vi more than anything else I've used. But if it happened that the particular systems I have to use only had joe, I'd learn joe.
  6. Re:Command line is your friend on The Command Line - Best Newbie Interface? · · Score: 1

    Why not

    find . -name "*.log" -mtime 7 -exec "rm" "{}" \;

    ?

    Not that backticks aren't incredibly useful...

  7. Not so bad on Do You Have A License For Those Facts? · · Score: 3, Insightful
    From the text of the proposed legislation:


    SEC. 4. PERMITTED ACTS.

    (a) INDEPENDENTLY GENERATED OR GATHERED INFORMATION- This Act shall not restrict any person from independently generating or gathering information obtained by means other than extracting it from a database generated, gathered, or maintained by another person and making that information available in commerce.

    (b) ACTS OF MAKING AVAILABLE IN COMMERCE BY NONPROFIT EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC, OR RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS- The making available in commerce of a substantial part of a database by a nonprofit educational, scientific, and research institution, including an employee or agent of such institution acting within the scope of such employment or agency, for nonprofit educational, scientific, and research purposes shall not be prohibited by section 3 if the court determines that the making available in commerce of the information in the database is reasonable under the circumstances, taking into consideration the customary practices associated with such uses of such database by nonprofit educational, scientific, or research institutions and other factors that the court determines relevant.

    (c) HYPERLINKING- Nothing in this Act shall restrict the act of hyperlinking of one online location to another or the providing of a reference or pointer (including such reference or pointer in a directory or index) to a database.

    (d) NEWS REPORTING- Nothing in this Act shall restrict any person from making available in commerce information for the primary purpose of news reporting, including news and sports gathering, dissemination, and comment, unless the information is time sensitive and has been gathered by a news reporting entity, and making available in commerce the information is part of a consistent pattern engaged in for the purpose of direct competition.
  8. Re:Flawed business model? on The State of Automated Commercial Skipping · · Score: 1
    Survey results show that it just isn't that effective beyond initial product introductions. And they annoy people.
    I don't know... Of course people would say that in a survey. And I often feel that way. But to be honest, most of the time, if my tv is on, it's on while I'm running around making dinner, doing dishes, etc. And if what's on is at all interesting, I find myself hoping for the next commercial break so I can go finish the next step. And yes, since they crank up the volume for ads, I do hear them while I'm wiping the sink.
  9. Re:Flawed business model? on The State of Automated Commercial Skipping · · Score: 1
    For the life of me I can't figure out where people believe they should get TV for free.
    Because we own the airwaves, they do not.

    What makes you think they don't have a right to make money but you have the right to watch free TV?
    Noone said they don't have a right to make money. Not even close! What we're saying is they don't have a right to keep me from skipping commercials in shows taped off PUBLIC airwaves onto my OWN pvr.

    If they want to make money, they can make better commercials, encrypt their channel, use cable/satelite, or, as the parent post suggested, find a new way to make money! Wow, what a novel idea.

    What they cannot do, is say "I used to be able to make money this way, but now that business model is not viable. Please make a law to keep my business model viable so I can keep making easy money." How asinine!

  10. Re:XM is overpriced on Satellite Radio Subscriptions Rising · · Score: 1

    Check out http://www.ncta.com/industry_overview/aboutIND.cfm ?indOverviewID=58. Even HBO was around in 1972.

  11. Re:After looking at this closer... on Kurzweil Gets A Patent For Poetic Software · · Score: 1

    I disagree. Deciphering the author's meaning, and
    smiling at the word games which play with the
    poem's meaning and feeling, is what makes reading
    poetry - even the stuff you find online on poetry
    channels like isca's - fun.

    The problem with this is that you know the poem
    never had any meaning to begin with. Suddenly
    you're in "a beautiful mind" seeking enemy communiques
    in magazines.

    Still, it's a piece of the puzzle. Just because
    it doesn't generate real poetry by itself, doesn't
    mean it isn't a step in the right direction.

  12. visualization on How Do You Get Work Done? · · Score: 2
    What works for me is a slight variation on what athletes are always told to do: visualization.


    The surest way for me to have a productive day, is to spend the first 5 minutes of the day thinking about what I want to do, and how to go about it. Sometimes this leads to taking some notes, but it always leads to me sitting down excited about what I will be doing.

  13. Re:What about when they do both? on Youth Spend More Time on Web Than TV · · Score: 3, Funny
    Exactly. Tv makes a nice background whether surfing or working.

    Which inevitably leads to someone walking into the room, asking "What are you watching?", and receiving a confused "huh? I don't know..." in return.

  14. Re:You haven't looked very hard on Sony's New Vaio PCG-TR1A: 12" Powerbook Killer? · · Score: 1

    The P5k (which the top post linked to) has a 900mhz intel, not transmeta.

    I'm typing this from an older P, though, with an 800mhz crusoe.

  15. Re:Well on U.S. Imposes Big Tariffs On Korean Chipmakers · · Score: 1
    If someone else can sell something for less, why shouldn't they?
    Of course they should. But if you and I are each selling product X, my business is more competitive, but just as you're about to go out of business, your buddies cancel out all your debt, then we're no longer competing "fairly". Ignoring "right and wrong" (who's to say your buddies can't bail you out) as soon as I go out of business, you will raise your prices, so the whole situation is bad for consumers.
    Consumers today are trained to shop for the lowest prices (by advertisements, etc.), and will do so.
    And they still will :)
    Adapt or die.
    Imposing a tarriff is adaptation :)
  16. Re:Key/mouse bindings aren't flexible at all on EvilWM - Minimalist Window Manager · · Score: 1

    Come on, the whole source tree is 2600 lines, including Changelog/INSTALL! That's shorter than the config files for some window managers :)

    events.c *is* your config file.

    (No, I haven't tried evilwm yet, but it looks promising)

  17. Re:Paper and Pencil on Seeking The Source For Ireland's E-Voting System · · Score: 2, Funny
    So is there any real reason to replace that with a system that is not transparent and where you have to blindly trust some tech companies?

    Of course: because we all know that "The computer doesn't lie.

    :)

  18. Re:Door closer seems a little off base on Office-Hour Habits of the North American Professor · · Score: 1

    The simple fact is, too many people see an open door as an invitation to come in and chat about life. So no, I would/will not have my door open most of the time, though I will make it clear the first day of semester that you are welcome.

    I know you think that, as an ugrad, "I am an adult" and all that shit. I'm here to tell you you'll grow as much as an undergad as you did in high school. So when you say

    And say whatever you may about my psyche, but there's nothing merely academic that will get me to knock on that door under those circumstances

    I would say work on that, because it's a trait which will always be a big handicap. And believe that, even if a professor really didn't want to be bothered in the first place, s/he will be delighted by an intelligent question.

  19. Re:Clie and Linux on Review of Sony Clie TG-50 · · Score: 1

    It runs palmos. All the linux palm software (ie pilot-xfer) should work, one would assume. Someone tell me if I'm wrong...

  20. voice recorder on Review of Sony Clie TG-50 · · Score: 1
    The Digital Voice Recorder is a very nice feature to have incorporated in this handheld. There have been countless occasions while driving or doing other things, when I was unable to jot a note to myself, or I found myself without paper and pen. Having a recorder at your disposal can be a valuable asset.

    Uh, yeah - so can having a PDA at your disposal...

    (don't get me wrong, I'd love to have one :)

  21. Re:Not really ... on RIAA Chats With Song Swappers · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Now corecion, and harrasing people after a judge said that what was going on wasn't illegal ?

    No judge said anything like that. Rather, he held that distributing software which can be used for illegal purposes does not hold you liable when it is used for those purposes.

  22. Money on Ballmer on Windows Server 2003, Linux · · Score: 1

    Are you happy with the growth of Xbox? Yes. We're a clear No. 2 in the market. We are coming on strong. It is probably going to take us another turn of the crank, from a product cycle perspective, before we make money. But most of the things we do as a company successfully today we worked at for years before they made money.

    Boy, how many companies wish they could do this?

  23. Re:Well, he does have a point. (Hear me out) on Charlie Northrup's One-Man Patent Grab Continues · · Score: 1

    > You, a programmer, create some wonderful technology.

    Imagine the following situation: You recognize a problem, a tough one! You spend months, or years, and a great deal of your own capital finding a solution. At last, you've got it! It's brilliant!

    Next day, I hear about your solution from your secretary. Hah, I say. The schmuck - now I'll implement his solution and make a fortune!

    That, it seems to me, is what patents are supposed to prevent. It is not what happened here. Rather, this guy saw a technology, immediately - with no effort or cost to himself - saw where it was headed, which was apparently so obvious that 5 years later most of the world ran on the idea (how many people did internet banking and shopping before 99? 96? Of course you did!) and decided to file a patent.

  24. Re:How about the ten LOWEST tech cars? on 10 Techno-Cool Cars · · Score: 1

    Here in east germany, there appears to still be
    quite a market for the Trabant, the car which east
    germany produced during its communist era. This is
    a (imo) really ugly car, but beautiful in its
    simplicity. Fiberglass body to achieve your rust-
    free goal. Simple two-stroke engine which anyone
    can fix at home.

    I admit, I personally pine for the days of simple
    60's musclecars. Even in the 80s, you could at
    least usually find the error codes yourself. Now
    you're left little choice but to pay $80 to have
    someone read a little code of the computer. That's
    wrong!

  25. Re:... right now they're removing phone service on In-flight Broadband Internet Access Trial's Success · · Score: 1

    As to "who would pay for this":

    Up front, I would very rarely do it.

    If I could decide mid-air that I needed it, *that* would be great. "Shit, I forgot I needed to download that set of modules in order to get my work done. "

    But in any case, keep in mind this is not so much intended for a little 3-hour flight from chicago to dc. If I'm spending 18 hours traveling, I may as well pay $30 for access during a 9 hour leg, rather than pay $10 at some internet cafe, to update the people picking me up on expected arrival times.