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User: Minupla

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Comments · 687

  1. Freedom of speech? on NSA Planned To Discredit Radicals Based On Web-Browsing Habits · · Score: 2

    You know, it's funny but I don't believe I recall seeing "...until we don't agree with your speech, at which point we'll collect dirt on you and blackmail you with it" in the first amendment. Must be in the second edition.

    The Great Firewall of China begins to look like a useful protection for their citizens at this point.

    (Yes, I realize that the majority of these people were not on US soil, but it's purportedly a principle, and one the US criticizes any country who does not espouse, and as such should apply more broadly then just to people standing on US soil at the time).

    Min

  2. Re:so tell me again... on Microsoft, Apple and Others Launch Huge Patent Strike at Android · · Score: 1

    How about this:

    http://web.archive.org/web/19961025120541/http://www.lycos.com/

    Want a nice copy of MIcrosoft Money anyone (ironic eh?)

    Min

  3. Re:One of my former bosses knew this. on Communications Protocol Leaves Power Grid Vulnerable · · Score: 2

    Yep, I saw this talk:

    http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3831956/Black+Hat+Exposes+Smart+Grid+Security+Risks.htm at blackhat in 2009, so what, at least 4 years?

    Min

  4. Re:If that's true, Most parents are NUTS! on Most Parents Allow Unsupervised Internet Access To Children At Age 8 · · Score: 2

    And when they go over to their friends' houses and get access to an unfiltered internet connection, will they have the skill set to self filter?

    At the moment our daughter has access to an unfiltered network connection (she's 5) through one of our PCs. She uses it to go to abcmouse.com.

    I don't think she'll get a PC in her room, and all our computers are in a public space in the house, but I'm realistic about my ability to shelter her, and more importantly, realistic about her probable eventual abilities to circumvent the filtering at school. She's attended her first Defcon after all.

    Just like everything else, I work on blocking the biggest risks and educate about the low incident-but-high impact ones. I don't live my life assuming the worst will happen to me, and don't (or at least try not to) live my daughter's life like the worst will happen to her either.

    Min

    Min

  5. Re:Yup, I'm one of those parents... on Most Parents Allow Unsupervised Internet Access To Children At Age 8 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Perhaps not horse porn, but I knew where the kids stashed their playboy collections in a vacant lot.

  6. Re:If the US was smart they'd back this... on China's State Press Calls For 'Building a De-Americanized World' · · Score: 1

    Yes, the US is playing Civ, and they keep forgetting the other victory conditions other then military :)

    Min

  7. If the US was smart they'd back this... on China's State Press Calls For 'Building a De-Americanized World' · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've been saying for awhile that the smartest thing the US could do would be to get behind a world government NOW, while it still has the clout. It's been obvious for a decade now that the US's time in the spotlight is up. History tells us it couldn't go on forever. If you're thinking 'too big to fail', look at the Roman Empire. THAT was too big to fail. Or the British one.

    If the US were as smart as they like to believe, they'd see the writing on the wall now and get behind providing more authority to the world bodies which work to ensure that countries treat each other in a civilized manner, because the US is REALLY going to wish they had down the road, when we're all talking about the ______ian/ise/etc Empire.

    Min

  8. Re:Summary says it all on China's State Press Calls For 'Building a De-Americanized World' · · Score: 0

    Darn, no mod points, otherwise I'd mod up this AC.

    Min

  9. Re:Short form: on Dangerous VBulletin Exploit In the Wild · · Score: 1

    Agreed - my message was not intended to suggest that the software was excused, more c/p-ing the remediation instructions from TFA as a public service.

    Min

  10. Short form: on Dangerous VBulletin Exploit In the Wild · · Score: 5, Informative

    For the TL;DR crowd:

    * Delete /core/install and /install directory in all 4.x and 5.x vBulletin installs or block access to same. Do it now.

    Min

  11. Re:No adult left behind on US Adults Score Poorly On Worldwide Test · · Score: 4, Informative

    Take a look at the countries with better education rates then the US. A lot of them have political systems that are more socialized (education, health, etc) then the US.

    If you want to solve problems you need to stop throwing idiology at each other and start thinking.

    My (US born) wife and I were discussing last night. The word "unamercian" is thrown out a lot on conversations about these things. We live in Canada, and can't recall hearing the phrase "uncanadian", as in, it sounds odd to our ears, feels weird to say.

    It's sad that there is a word in the lexicon in a country settled by immigrants and which claims to espouse the ideals of equality which means "You don't belong with us".

    Now back to the topic,

    If there's one thing I've learned from the political narrative in the US, it is that teachers are government employees, too incompetent to tie their own shoes

    Canadian schools are publicly funded, 94.4% of children here are enrolled in public schools (vs private). The US has 90% enrollment in public as opposed to private schools (data taken from statistics Canada and US Institute of Educational Sciences - the latter via google cache due to govt shutdown).

    This suggests to me, given Canada's ranking above the US on every survey category mentioned that the "government is too involved in education" answer is at least not the sole deciding factor in the relative rankings.

    Min

  12. Re:Who shut down the government? on Lockheed To Furlough 3,000 On Monday, Layoffs Also Kicking In · · Score: 1

    An interesting tidbit - Obamacare is apparently going forward (check Google news if you don't believe me.)

    How could this be since the money is still being held up, as the house has refused to fund it?

    Well the answer is that the stuff in the budget that the House approves isn't all the money that the government is authorized to spend. Some things are funded in multiyear chunks for example and can therefore continue to utilize the money allocated to them while the House/Senate/Pres discuss this year's budget.

    Obama care is one of these. The ask from the House was not to remove funding for Obama care from the budget they were voting on. That would have been one thing. The House was/is holding the budget hostage against the president/senate agreeing to delay implementation of Obama care by 12 months.

    That to me is a whole different thing then if the money for Obama care was in the stack that the house was approving, and they said, "we don't approve this piece over here". Obamacare got funded when the original vote passed the House. What the house is doing is the legislative equivalent of saying "Dat's a nice goverment you have over there. Be a shame if something were to happen to it.... mehaps if you delay Obamacare we could provide some protection to ensure nothing unfortunate happens to it."

    And I'm very sorry you got laid off today. That sucks rocks.

    Min

  13. Re:yep on Obamacare Could Help Fuel a Tech Start-Up Boom · · Score: 4, Interesting

    *shrugs*

    I know GPs who have done a stint in the US and moved back here to practice. When I ask them, the answer boiled down to "Money aint everything kid."

    I guess a few years later I can understand. My (US citizen by birth) wife and I are here in Canada with our daughter. I've had offers to go down to the US at substantial salary increases. I run them by my wife and she thumbs down them all. "Not worth it - after you calculate in health care and private school for the kid, the extra money goes quick".

    At one point she was paying 500$/mo out of her 10$/hr job for health insurance. Her huge crime? She was born with a congenital heart defect (e.g. a preexisting condition).

    Incidentally - her Dad was a vet. They went bankrupt on her infant open heart surgery.

    I don't know if Obamacare is the right answer or not, but I gotta tell you folks, I wouldn't trade ya. Sorry.

    Min

  14. Re:Cashing in on the Chick-fil-A effect on Social Networks Force Barilla Chairman To Apologize For His Anti-gay Remarks · · Score: 1

    There is a danger in this -

    I do the grocery shopping for our house. Pasta is a "which is cheapest" decision.

    Typically it's a dime or so difference and about 2 seconds of decision making process. Sometimes I go for the cheapest, sometimes I step up a level, depending largely on my gut reaction that day. Typically "up a level" is Barilla. Now if I buy Barilla I'm supporting someone whose views I don't agree with, so it's more likely I'll save the 20 cents and go no-name.

    Min

  15. Re:Diminishing returns on Schneier: We Need To Relearn How To Accept Risk · · Score: 1

    You forgot the impact axis:

                  Impact -> Low Med High
    Prob
          |
          \/
    Low
    Med
    High

    If the impact is high/critical, you'll wanna do something about it even if it's got a probability of occurring once every 10 years, since the impact would be corporate bankruptcy. Generally the powers that be prefer to avoid bankruptcy every 10 years. I know there's exceptions. I try not to work for those companies!

  16. Re:So is this because... on Tor Usage More Than Doubles In August · · Score: 1

    c) the fact that Defcon was in august meaning ~15,000 ppl needed to get onto Tor

  17. Re:Power to the people on How To Compete With NSA By Hacking a Verizon Network Extender · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You'd be surprised. I once caught someone embezzling from the company we worked over discussing it via IM with their accomplice, full confession via IM, ON THEIR WORK COMPUTER. Pawned.

    After a few years in corporate security it would not shock me in the slightest. People get sloppy.

    Even professionals. See the Opsec talk summary here: https://www.blackhat.com/us-13/briefings.html#Cole

    Min

  18. Re:Feds probably go there to recruit, too... on DEF CON Advises Feds Not To Attend Conference · · Score: 1

    Heck, last year the NSA had a fscking recruiting booth there (and an enigma machine, which was frankly cool)!

    DoD has been recruiting there for years. Fortunately being non-US, the conversations are shorter for me.

    Min

  19. Re:problem mistated. on Orson Scott Card Pleads 'Tolerance' For Ender's Game Movie · · Score: 1

    I find it odd then that when I got married by a government official that I received a marriage certificate, not a 'civil union' certificate?

    Min

  20. Re:Misunderstanding on the part of backers on The Dangers of Beating Your Kickstarter Goal · · Score: 1

    oh well, I just hope elite turns out ok eventually! if not then it's money paid as compensation for pirating frontier and ffe!

    It amused me greatly that Shroud of the Avatar had a tier for people who had pirated ultima or a previous game and were cleansing their karma :)

    Min

  21. Re:Misunderstanding on the part of backers on The Dangers of Beating Your Kickstarter Goal · · Score: 2

    ... and this is what I get for not going with a car analogy! :)

  22. Re:Misunderstanding on the part of backers on The Dangers of Beating Your Kickstarter Goal · · Score: 1

    I'm certain that artists throughout history have made similar claims, human's don't change that much :).

    And similarly, I'm sure patrons said "It'd be even more awesome if you made it 10' taller, with the same delivery date. What about it? There's an extra sovereign in it for ya?"

    There's was a sign hanging on my boss's wall when I first started in IT (yes, it was a granite tablet). It sayth:
    "You can have it Fast, Good or Cheap, pick any 2 of 3"

    Min

  23. Misunderstanding on the part of backers on The Dangers of Beating Your Kickstarter Goal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The issue comes from backers believing they're preordering a product.

    This is not what is going on here. What is going on is more akin to the Medieval practice of being a patron to an artist.

    We hand our collective money to an artist who says "I want to make something like this... And the more you provide me in funding the bigger and more grand a statue I can make."

    We as a group come together and pool our money and hand it to the artist saying "We like your vision. Here is a bucket of gold coins, go forth and create awesomeness".

    This makes more sense when you consider that the high end rewards are usually something like "A copy of the widget, plus lunch with the widget visionary"

    Noone pays 1000$ for a game. People pay 1000$ for artistic vision and being a part of seeing the vision realized.

    Min

  24. Re:Plex on Roku on Boxee Sold To Samsung · · Score: 1

    Mostly resource starved - the resource being my time.

    I've done it with Mythtv and XBMC, and the fact of the matter is I have fewer issues with the Roku/Plex solution. Plex runs on the household ESX server along with the firewall and assorted lab boxes which require power anyways, and the Roku plugs into the TV and provides a frontend simple enough for my 4 yr old to use.

    Min

  25. Plex on Roku on Boxee Sold To Samsung · · Score: 0

    We've migrated to using Plex + Roku for video playback to the large non-touch tablet in the living room.

    It seems to work well enough for the purposes, and avoids the XBMC issue of needing a general purpose computing device in the living room.

    Remote connectivity to android devices comes as a convenient plus.

    Min