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User: NotQuiteReal

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Comments · 2,706

  1. Don't use plaintext on Google Finds Vulnerability In SSL 3.0 Web Encryption · · Score: 4, Funny

    Become a sesquipedalian - use fancy fonts, Bold, ALL CAPS, whatever it takes to be plaintext free!

  2. I hope they remove the Sticky! on Companies Genetically Engineer Spider Silk · · Score: 2

    Spider-Silk garments - how tacky!

  3. Democracy is tyranny on NSA To Scientists: We Won't Tell You What We've Told You; That's Classified · · Score: 1

    Democracy is tyranny... that is why we tried to have a Republic, for a while.

    Ben Franklin - on the day the Republic was declared, opined that we had "A republic, if you can keep it."

  4. Re:BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL !! on Kmart Says Its Payment System Was Hacked · · Score: 1

    umm... the color blue? Loose associations come easily to those who drink-n-post.

  5. Latin? on Goodbye, World? 5 Languages That Might Not Be Long For This World · · Score: 1

    I've heard that Latin is a "dead" language, but people refer to it all the time, and even act smug if they know it!

  6. Even in the Middle East? on Dubai Police To Use Google Glass For Facial Recognition · · Score: 1

    With all those gutras, agals, keffiyah and turbins, as well as hijabs, burqas, niqabs, and chandors.

    Toss in a variety of Ray Bans...

    Well, you see the problem? (But not much of a face.)

  7. Where do you get the answer key? on How Computer Vision Algorithms Cope With Detecting Human Figures In Art · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In some cases, the "detection" of an object in Art (or meaning in literature) is in the eye of the beholder, unless the artist tells you that is what they meant.

  8. dog meat nutrition on Is an Octopus Too Smart For Us To Eat? · · Score: 1

    The Wikipedia entry on Meat lists the commonly consumed mammals. Curiously, only dog meat has a nutrition label.

    I am pretty sure your local butcher would NOT appreciate you printing up some of those labels and leaving them around his store...

  9. Re:Cost on World's Smallest 3G Module Will Connect Everything To the Internet · · Score: 1

    free reign

    free rein

    free rain? (varies by jurisdiction if you actually own the rain that falls on your land).

  10. Re: Taxing the Congested Skies on Nearly 2,000 Chicago Flights Canceled After Worker Sets Fire At Radar Center · · Score: 1

    depends on how transparent the breakdown is... I do recall some airfares that were pretty close to 50/50 fare/taxes+fees, and I certainly have long distance phone bills that clearly show pennies worth of calls and dollars worth of "fees" that are carefully described as "not taxes".

    So, while everything isn't "taxes", they are larger than you think, but the "profit" part is generally pretty small. For example, the current "profit margin" for American Airlines is negative That can't be good...

  11. Re:Taxing the Congested Skies on Nearly 2,000 Chicago Flights Canceled After Worker Sets Fire At Radar Center · · Score: 1

    These are not the trollsocks you want...

  12. Speaking of water... on Water Discovered In Exoplanet Atmosphere · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    If you can build oil pipelines hundreds of miles long, why don't "they" build water pipelines to the desert of southern California? Maybe it is because oil is (statistically speaking) infinitely more valuable than oil)?

    OTOH -- maybe driving away from a desert is more cost effective than living there...

  13. Release the Gnomes on GNOME 3.14 Released · · Score: 1

    That doesn't sound nearly as intimidating as Release the Kraken! (or even Release the hounds...)

    Just sayin...

  14. CRTC = Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission


    Radio? No
    Television? No
    Telecommunications? Maybe

    In as far as Netflix is using "telecommunications" infrastructure... I guess that gets the camel's nose into the tent?

    But the same could be said of any web site - why doesn't the CRTC ask YouTube, or even Slashdot for subscriber data? What's the difference? They are all web sites pushing on-demand content to users - not broadcasting. Besides, even if they were "broadcasting", one could argue they would only have an interest in making sure the content was not inappropriate, not who the potential recipients were.

    If you are a fan of net neutrality then you should be just as wary of governments gumming up things as carriers playing favorites.

  15. want vs settle? on Phablet Reviews: Before and After the iPhone 6 · · Score: 1

    what you want vs getting what your finances force you to settle for

    These are not the only choices.

  16. other people's money on Anonymous Peer-review Comments May Spark Legal Battle · · Score: 1

    Salaries in the academic world are crazy, and still getting worse - for example, rather than heralding how budget conscious the UC system is, paying chancellors "only" $319K, instead, they "fixed the problem" with a 20% across the board pay raise.

    Just in time, I am sure, without making over $380K, I am sure all those administrators would just go work somewhere else and you wouldn't be able to find anyone qualified for such paltry salaries.

  17. CNC machines on Why You Can't Manufacture Like Apple · · Score: 1

    But they had to buy 10k CNC machines to build 1M bodies? Doesn't sound right. Only 100 per machine.

    They were battery operated, and looked cool! No seams for battery doors or holes for pesky charger ports!

  18. What do Terrorists use? on Apple's "Warrant Canary" Has Died · · Score: 1, Funny

    Obviously they are not hipster enough for Apple products, ironic beards not withstanding.

    Android products are too "free", and therefore would encourage infidel proclivities.

    They kill all their own intellectuals who could create a new phone, so... they must use WINDOWS!!!!

  19. Re:4 cities... on Airbnb To Start Collecting Hotel Tax On Rentals In San Francisco · · Score: 2

    Yes, in Europe, the price stated, is the price you pay, but, at least while shopping via the Internet, it is common to point out that the VAT is included. For example, go to booking.com, select a European city, pick a random hotel and it will give the price - AND - the notation "Included 20% VAT" (London) or "Included 25% VAT" (Copenhagen), "Included: 6% VAT, Not included: € 2 city tax per person per night." (Bruges).

    While it is nice to have an all-inclusive price, it is important to be transparent on the amount of taxes being paid. In Europe, just as in the US, taxes vary wildly state-by-state.

  20. 4 cities... on Airbnb To Start Collecting Hotel Tax On Rentals In San Francisco · · Score: 3, Informative

    I live in California, but stayed in hotels in several other states in the last couple of weeks... 14% occupancy tax does seem high, but this is San Francisco, they love taxes up there...

    Dallas = Room + 2% DTPID Fee + 7.1% City Tax + 6.1% State Tax
    NYC = Room + Sales Tax 8.875% + Occupancy Tax 5.875% + Room Tax $2.00 + Room Unit Tax $1.55
    Boston = Room + State Tax 5.7% + City Tax 6% + CCF Tax 2.75%
    Philadelphia = Room + Lodging Tax 8.5% + Sales Tax 8%


    In Europe they are much more civilized about it -- they just toss in some huge VAT tax (like 20%) and may or may not mention that it is "included" (how thoughtful of them.) In some places there are still more taxes - in Dublin Ireland, my hotel bill had the room fee, with VAT included, but also added "other local taxes and fees" amounting to 9.25% of that...

    In general, the observation that taxing visitors is popular is accurate, and accelerating, it seems.

  21. You don't have to sit quietly on Comcast Allegedly Asking Customers to Stop Using Tor · · Score: 2

    This situation is what belch and fart smartphone apps are for.

  22. About 1/2 of 1 percent of their budget on City of Turin To Switch From Windows To Linux and Save 6M Euros · · Score: 2

    hopes to save 6 million Euro over five years by switching from Windows XP to Ubuntu Linux in all of its offices. The move will mean installing the open source operating system on 8,300 PCs, which will generate an immediate saving of roughly €300 per machine (almost €2.5m altogether, made up from the cost of Windows and Office licences)

    €6,000,000/8,300 = €723 Euro per machine. Subtract 300, up-front (OS/Office) = €85 per year savings, after the licenses.

    Let's say the average city employee makes €40,000/year (I have no idea what they make, but assuming one employee per workstation, those workers are about 1/4 of the cities annual budget of €1,266,000,000)

    So, the half a day's wage saved (€85) per year isn't a big deal either way - either they are happy with the open source systems and they make out, or they go back to proprietary software and spend a couple of days wages, if needed.

    And why does it need to be all or nothing? People should use what makes them most productive... within the support capabilities of the IT staff. Out of 8300 workstations I wouldn't be surprised if a large share of them could get by with basically running a web browser, but for those who need Windows or MacOS to get their work done, so be it.

  23. From the summary... on Massive Study Searching For Genes Behind Intelligence Finds Little · · Score: 2

    They were looking for "academic achievement", not necessarily intelligence, per se.

  24. which side of Earth? on X-Class Solar Flare Coming Friday · · Score: 1

    Didn't RTFA, did they mention which side of our fine planet will be facing the worst of it? How long is the stream going to pummel us?

  25. Re:80 million people? on UK's National Health Service Moves To NoSQL Running On an Open-Source Stack · · Score: 2

    At least these ghosts are just being kept healthy, if they lived in Chicago, they'd probably be voting too.