Slashdot Mirror


User: Cyberax

Cyberax's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
5,567
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 5,567

  1. Re:Thermite - One concoction to rule them all... on Web Videos Show Off the Wonders of Chemistry · · Score: 1

    There's nothing complex about it, you can create more powerful thermite mixes with additional oxidizers (like potassium permanganate or potassium nitrate). They are described in a lot of chemical literature, there's nothing secret in it.

    Of course, all this stuff is incredibly dangerous - it can burn through almost ANYTHING.

  2. Tanenbaum was right! on DARPA Funds Development on Modular Satellite Network · · Score: 2, Funny

    Linux monolithic kernel is obso....

    Errr...

  3. Re:Not everyone is a lifelong learner... on Correcting Misperceptions About Evolution · · Score: 1

    "Evidence of a deity" - that's something new!

  4. Re:people still use freebsd? on What's New In FreeBSD 7.0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, but it is a part of GNU tools (which you most certainly can use on FreeBSD).

    But it's not present in the 'native' FreeBSD userland.

  5. Re:CAPTCHA is for weak minds on Gmail CAPTCHA Cracked · · Score: 4, Informative

    One word that is shown to you is always known. The second one is unknown. In your case, you entered the known word correctly.

    As anti-bot measure, reCAPTCHA starts showing pictures with BOTH known words if you (anyone with your IP) incorrectly guess two words in one hour, AFAIR.

  6. Re:people still use freebsd? on What's New In FreeBSD 7.0 · · Score: 1

    I don't know. I think the best reason to use FreeBSD now is habit. And there's a huge number of working FreeBSD systems, so people just gradually upgrade them - no sense to fix something when it is not broken...

    The other reasons are not very convincing. Personally, I like GNU userland better ("screen" - I love you!), for example. Glibc may not nice, but it works fine (I only looked at its sources when I needed to build a cross-platform toolchain).

    Oh, and Linux has much better hardware support.

  7. Re:End Religion and End Human Suffering! on Pakistan Blocks YouTube · · Score: 1

    Actually, it's not known if Stalin was an atheist. Lenin certainly was, but Stalin had never said he was an atheist.

    He certainly acted against the Orthodox Church, but it is not clear if he acted against the religion itself.

  8. Re:End Religion and End Human Suffering! on Pakistan Blocks YouTube · · Score: 1

    Actually, Brezhnev has not killed or imprisoned many people. Learn the history.

    And Stalin studied at theological seminary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin#Childhood_and_education.2C_1878.E2.80.931899).

    Whoops.

  9. Fingerprint Reader on Child-Suitable Alternatives To Passwords? · · Score: 1

    You can buy a cheap fingerprint reader, like: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-DG2-00002-Fingerprint-Reader/dp/B0002WPSB2 and set it up using http://www.reactivated.net/fprint/wiki/Main_Page

    I use it for my home computer without problems.

  10. Re:Only a 24-hour lifespan? on Google Interested in Wireless Bandwidth Balloons · · Score: 1

    No, helium is getting expensive because government stopped subsidizing it.

    There's a lot of helium in natural gas, but gas companies did not even bother extracting it. With the rising helium prices they are already looking into helium extraction.

  11. Re:Only a 24-hour lifespan? on Google Interested in Wireless Bandwidth Balloons · · Score: 1

    I went on a several trips with climate scientists while I was in a university. I distinctly remember that meteo balloons were not that easy to pop.

    And they also don't cost much. For example, I found this price: http://him-wettershop.com/ENG_276_EUR_0_722__.html - 11 euro for a balloon is quite OK. It should be even less if you buy them in quantity.

    Helium is expensive, but there are VAST quantities of it. In any case, balloons do not require much of it.

    Also, balloons will fly over the clouds, so they can use solar power during the day.

    And I imagine that it's possible to create balloons with more lift.

  12. Re:Only a 24-hour lifespan? on Google Interested in Wireless Bandwidth Balloons · · Score: 4, Informative

    Weather balloons do not 'pop' like common toy balloons.

    If you make a tear in balloons fabric - it will slowly descend as the helium inside the balloon leaks.

    Of course, if you tear balloon apart - it will fall lake a lead weight. But it's rather hard to do.

  13. Re:talk about bs... on China Plans to Surpass the U.S. in Nanotech Development · · Score: 1

    Because just several European gunships were able to conquer the China?

    Chinese inventions were treated as novelties, they were not put into practical use.

  14. Re:The problem with security,,, on A Look at the State of Wireless Security · · Score: 1

    We used EAP-TLS with RADIUS (last time I checked they even started to use smartcards) in the 'secured' perimter and everything worked with the built-in Windows wireless.

    The outside VPN client required stupid Intel VPN, which is very annoying and not very stable.

  15. Re:The same has been said of the GPL on Developers Warned over OOXML Patent Risk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The _intent_ of GPL is perfectly clear, it's written in plain English in the preamble. Literal meaning is also crystal clear.

    Now, _technical_ _details_ of GPL enforcement, of course, won't be the same in all jurisdictions. For example, GPL technically was not enforceable in Russia a year ago.

    But you don't NEED to know all technical details of GPL to understand most of GPL consequences. And you also can read nice FAQs on GPL from the FSF.

  16. Re:The problem with security,,, on A Look at the State of Wireless Security · · Score: 1

    Yes, we tried it.

    It turned out that it's easier to work without active VPN connection using only built-in Windows wireless. Besides, we have some additional security on VPN.

  17. Re:try again on A Look at the State of Wireless Security · · Score: 2, Informative

    Get the token at the manufacturing plant that makes the things, or someplace in the supply train. Compromise an individual who has authorized access to the inside of the building.
    Tokens are useless until they are initialized. It's possible to compromise individual who has authorized access, but it's much harder. You probably won't be doing it unless you need to steal something VERY important.

    Your example with Tony Blair is a bad one - there was no security breach, it was that just low-level security did not know the true situation.
  18. Re:The same has been said of the GPL on Developers Warned over OOXML Patent Risk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    On the contrary, GPL is written in a fairly comprehensible language.

    I was able to understand it without any problem, and English is not even my native language.

  19. Re:The problem with security,,, on A Look at the State of Wireless Security · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In the last company I worked, we had TWO wireless networks. One worked for anyone with only minimal authorization (WEP key pasted on the wall) and it didn't have access to the corporate internal network.

    The second one had strong WPA encryption with heavy logging and intrusion control.

  20. Re:Security is relative -to you or your relatives on A Look at the State of Wireless Security · · Score: 1

    There ARE ways to beat 'thermorectal cryptoanalysis' (i.e. shoving blowtorch up someone's ass), military have been using it since forever.

    For example, a hacker won't be able to access the net without being present in the building.

    Another way: use hardware authorization tokens which are forbidden to be taken from the building.

  21. Re:Oblig. on Artificial Intelligence at Human Level by 2029? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yes, that's about right. Human brain contains about 1.5kg of brain matter (and it's estimated that around 700g is necessary for high-order brain functions), and mouse brain contains about 1g.

    I have made the same estimation personally few years ago :)

  22. Re:Linux doesn't need it. It has D-BUS on Should IBM's SOM/DSOM Be Open Sourced? · · Score: 1

    What use is SOM then? You can write D-BUS services directly in your native language (most D-BUS language bindings have their own IDL and proxy compilers).

    SOM is more comparable with KParts and Bonobo. KParts have already evolved quite a bit ahead of SOM and Bonobo is slowly evolving too.

  23. Re:D-BUS != COM/SOM on Should IBM's SOM/DSOM Be Open Sourced? · · Score: 1

    GObjects take the same niche as non-OLE2 COM objects in Windows. GNOME Bonobo is roughly the same as OLE2 and automation in Windows. Bonobo is now deprecated and GNOME team plans to move away from CORBA to D-BUS (http://live.gnome.org/DoYouKnow) and other solutions.

    COM/SOM/CORBA are just plain too hard to use, so they are becoming obsolete very fast.

  24. Re:D-BUS != COM/SOM on Should IBM's SOM/DSOM Be Open Sourced? · · Score: 1

    It can be used for intraprocess communication, but is not really the best tool for it.

    It's much easier to use GObjects or KParts or your favorite component tool. And then use D-BUS to connect all of them together (for drag&drop, for example).

  25. Linux doesn't need it. It has D-BUS on Should IBM's SOM/DSOM Be Open Sourced? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Linux already has more more powerful D-BUS system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBUS). It's already a base for PolicyKit, HAL daemons, soon it will be used in Upstart and so on.

    It's MUCH MUCH easier to use than COM or SOM. And I still remember working with OpenDoc, so I don't really share good feelings toward SOM.