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User: kinnell

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Comments · 706

  1. Re:Newsflash! on Windows XP EULA Compared to GPL · · Score: 1
    The short version: Koalas are nicer

    That's what everyone thinks until they encounter a drop bear

  2. Genetic elite? on The Rights of GM Humans · · Score: 2, Interesting

    People always go on about how genetic engineering will result in a elite group consisting of only those rich enough to afford the treatment. Can someone explain why the treatment will be so expensive that only the rich can afford it? Surely a retro virus that enhances one person will work on everybody? And since when were virii hard to mass produce? Sure, a group of rich people could try and keep it away from the general public, but in the long term this would be practically impossible, given the potential profit for anyone sneaky enough to leak it to the black market. I just don't get the maths. Economies of scale would result in much higher profits by selling cheap to everybody than by selling at a high price to a select group.

    IANAG but this seems like luddite nonsense to me.

  3. Re:Well then on New Terminator 3 Trailer Released · · Score: 1
    but if a movie has gatling guns it automatically makes it about twice as good

    While I agree that gattling guns dramatically increase the quality of an action film, I find them a bit passe. This is a sci-fi film, and that means they can do anything within reason, so why not be a bit more inventive? Why not a gattling rocket launcher? When will we see the first railgun in a film?

  4. Re:Damages on Aussies Face Jail Over MP3s · · Score: 1
    The piece of information I want the most at this point is the source of these numbers

    Just speculation, but my guess is...

    Loss = Mean income from each son x Number of MP3 downloaders worldwide

  5. Re:wow on The Virus Did It · · Score: 1
    did he just think his computer slowerd overnight?

    Isn't that normal for a windows machine?

  6. Re:What's the Point... on The Virus Did It · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Well, for the sake of argument, if someone had a grudge against the guy and wanted to cause him hell without being found out, they would have done an outstanding job.

  7. Re:That trick is no longer valid! on Pew Internet Project Study on Internet Non-Users · · Score: 1
    That trick doesn't work any more. It started a couple of days ago. I think New York Times finally noticed this. :P

    Probably due to the frequent slashdotting of their archive server

  8. Re:What's the issue? on Should You Hire a Hacker? · · Score: 2, Funny
    Will you hire a convicted rapist as a bodyguard for your daughter?

    A convicted rapist is unlikely to make a good bodyguard for my daughter. An axe murderer who is known to be overly protective of women might, however.

  9. What's the issue? on Should You Hire a Hacker? · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Criminals who have done their time should be allowed to work however they want, within the law.

    Companies should be allowed to hire anyone they want, whether they have a criminal conviction or not.

    What's the problem?

  10. Irony on Former DoubleClick Exec Named Privacy Czar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Who says Americans don't have a sense of irony.

  11. Re:all in one on Philips iPronto Does It with Linux · · Score: 1
    So now, with one small device, I can control the porn on TV, the porn on the web, AND the porn streaming from my computer

    If it's designed for one handed operation, they'll make a killing

  12. Shocking! on NASA Wires Chips With Nanotubes · · Score: 1

    Imagine a railgun made of carbon nanotubes

  13. Re:Moores law will never fail! on NASA Wires Chips With Nanotubes · · Score: 1
    I figure at current rates that is only about 60 years away.

    ...and it always will be.

  14. Re:This will take a while to seep down to home use on NASA Wires Chips With Nanotubes · · Score: 5, Informative
    there are very few companies who are geared for this kind of manufacturing since everyone so far has been using copper for the past umpteen years

    That's completely untrue. For most of the history of the semiconductor industry, aluminium has been used, because the manufacturing process for copper was much more difficult. Copper has only recently become commonplace.

    changing over to this kind of manufacturing will be a massive capital investment for a company, especially the companies in the East (asia not new york) where are a lot of these chips/boards are made

    Changing to new manufacturing processes is a fact of life in the semiconductor industry and happens regularly. It always requires massive capital investment, yet somehow, they seem to manage (see above).

    there are AFAIK no companies that make nanotubes in sufficient quantity and quality to feed the demand for the tubes at the moment

    There are also no companies which manufacture nano scale copper wires for routing layers on ICs. This is because it's not done that way. Once you have a process for growing carbon nano-tubes on chips, you just have make it cost effective - just like any other semiconductor manufacturing technology.

    unless you are a gamer home computers are more than fast enough now for what we want (internet/email/minor word processing) this kind of tech will only benefit the "Power User" community..

    There's no amount of processing power that the desktop software industry will not be able to squander.

  15. Moores law will never fail! on NASA Wires Chips With Nanotubes · · Score: 3, Funny

    I for one am confident that the media and marketing people will be sufficiently creative to keep people believing in the Moores law myth well into the 23rd century.

  16. Re: What worries me on "Super-DMCA" Outlaws Ph.D. Thesis · · Score: 1
    Caesar is a name, not a title

    Actually, although it started out as a name, it was eventually adopted as the title of the roman emperor. The german word for emperor, Kaiser, comes from Caesar. King George the Monkey Faced sounds better, though.

  17. Re:Why does he think he can just move it? on "Super-DMCA" Outlaws Ph.D. Thesis · · Score: 2, Informative
    if I live in Michigan (which I don't), would it be illegal for me to view the docs on the web? I mean, once having viewed them, I would have a cached copy on my computer.

    ISTR a while ago, when they were trying to work out how to apply copyrighting of images published on the internet, they decided that a copy in the cache is not legally a copy - it's only a copy when you deliberately save it to your hard drive. Otherwise, there is no way to enforce copyright protection of online images and publish them, short of illegalising caching mechanisms, which would be absurd. So copies in your cache are legally invisible, sort of.

    Disclaimer: IANAL

  18. What worries me on "Super-DMCA" Outlaws Ph.D. Thesis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... is that the US will use it's diplomatic muscle to force laws like this on those of us who live in the free world.

  19. Re:MARS NEEDS WOMEN! on US & Russia Pencil in Mars Launch by 2018 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Why not an all female crew?

    PMT in outer space? Sounds dangerous to me.

  20. Re:DEATH TO THE FACIST USA on Lycoris Build 71 Beckons For Your Desktop · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    The present government was created in theory to function along the lines of Plato's Republic

    This isn't even remotely close to the truth. If you had actually read Plato's Republic, this would be obvious to you. The USA was created to function along the lines of the political philosophy of John Locke. In fact much of the american constitution and bill of rights was directly quoted from Locke.

  21. Radio Interference on Internet via the Power Grid, Again · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There are already trials going on in Scotland for IP over power lines, which aparently have been very successful. The only problem is that RF engineers are up in arms over the interference caused by transmitting high frequency signals through overhead power lines. They may have a point - the RF spectrum is a precious resource, and it would be a shame to waste it to save a bit of effort laying cables.

  22. Re:Splat! on Microsoft Shared Source -- With a Twist · · Score: 1, Funny
    "It's the interface you know! It's the apps you know!"

    "It's as reliable as your desktop PC!"

  23. The end is nigh... on Concorde to be Grounded · · Score: 2, Insightful
    While the picture is bleak for commercial jet fuel demand, the losses for refiners are partially offset by the military's jet fuel consumption

    Is it just me, or does this sound like the collapse of civilisation?

  24. Re:Purpose? on Benetton Says No to RFIDs ... For Now · · Score: 2, Informative
    seriously what is the point?

    Inventory tracking

  25. Benetton: Clothing for Paranoiacs on Benetton Says No to RFIDs ... For Now · · Score: 3, Funny

    In response to customer requests, Benetton will be premiering their new "tin hat" range on the catwalks of New York, Paris and Milan.