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User: ComputerInsultant

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  1. And TESS has been released, to Slashdot to real world synchronization can now move to the next stage. With any luck full synchronization can be achieved in just a few days.

  2. Slashdot has gotten out of sync with the real world. In the real world, the webcast of the launch is still going on and TESS has not yet been released. Heck, the final burn has not even started.

  3. Re:A very good point on 'Don't Fear the Robopocalypse': the Case for Autonomous Weapons (thebulletin.org) · · Score: 1

    You insensitive clod! My belief system is based around small containers, usually with a closure, used especially for liquids.

  4. Re:Tree Style Tab on Safari Should Display Favicons in Its Tabs (daringfireball.net) · · Score: 3, Informative

    Tree Style Tab is planning on full functionality in FF57. You can track their progress here https://github.com/piroor/tree...

    Check your facts before yelling that the sky is falling.

  5. Re:The blogger complied with Zillow's demand on Zillow Drops Complaint Against Blogger After Backlash Over Copyright Claim (geekwire.com) · · Score: 2

    Please read the full EFF response letter. https://www.eff.org/files/2017... Zillow's TOS do not and *cannot* contain any basis for action in this case. Even the attribution line below the photos saying that they were found on Zillow.com is nominative fair use of the trademarked name.

  6. The web cast cut off video of the barge immediately after showing the rocket upright. So when do we get to see the new robot for anchoring and stabilizing the landed rocket (the roomba)?

  7. WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE! on NSA Halts Collection of Americans' Emails About Foreign Targets (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    Really. If we stop collecting this important data, WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!

  8. Re:They disrupeed our plans! We want blood! on Reddit Tells Label It Won't Cough Up IP Address of Prerelease Music Pirate (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    They need to go after the uploader and only Dropfile can identify the IP address from which the file was uploaded.

    But dropfile doesn't log IP addresses of uploaders or downloads, so that's a dead end. Reddit does log IP address, so you go after logs that exist.

  9. Re:Satellites on Ask Slashdot: After We're Gone, the Last Electrical Device Still Working? · · Score: 1

    Actually there are small bits of dust clustered around L2 (Gegenschein). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... L2 is not stable, but it takes a long time to clear out the things that are there.

  10. Re:The whole article is just trolling on How Our Botched Understanding of "Science" Ruins Everything · · Score: 1

    And you are assuming that there isn't a why. If our universe is just a simulation, then we might be able to detect information outside the universe, just as computer processes can detect whether they are running on dedicated hardware or sharing hardware with other processes.

    While far-fetched, we might communicate with the beings running the simulation. This would be science - based on measurements. To date we have no evidence to explain "why was the universe created?", but "It just was" is a defeatist answer that could keep us from looking deeper.

  11. Re:The whole article is just trolling on How Our Botched Understanding of "Science" Ruins Everything · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But science does not dismiss questions about why the universe was created, it merely discovers the limits of what we know. The big bang is how the universe was created. The inflation of the universe is the event that we cannot measure beyond with the tools we currently have. "Why?" is still a valid question; and science says we lack the tools to gather evidence of "why?".

  12. Re:Good thing the copyright has expired on Reproducing a Monet Painting With Aluminum Nanostructures · · Score: 1

    The copyright may have expired, but "The researchers adapted the original image with permission from Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, France/Giraudon/Bridgeman Images."

    So they completely ignored the fact that the art is public domain. Argh.

  13. Re:They're far from simple on DIY Space Suit Testing · · Score: 1

    Even when you spend all the time and money to get the right nut for a device you can learn that you did not understand the load case and environment. SpaceX lost the Falcon 1 flight 1 due to the failure of a nut. http://www.space.com/2643-falcon-1-failure-traced-busted-nut.html

    The cost of space rated hardware is the cost to understand the load case, not the cost of the item.

  14. Re:interesting take. on Mozilla Labs Experiment Distills Your History Into Interests · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The content and advertizing companies are already tracking us in ways that are frustrating and scary (https://panopticlick.eff.org/). This proposal is about making it easier for me to tell the advertizing companies what I want to see ads for. No more embarrassing ads about my fetishes when I visit amazon, firefox tells them what I want to see.

    This could be a good thing.

  15. Re:This is the 'user agent' idea... on Mozilla Labs Experiment Distills Your History Into Interests · · Score: 1

    I would welcome a browser that mediates Fish and Chips http://www.arthurtreachersfranchising.com/

  16. No seeds for the torrent, so why issue a takedown? on HBO Asks Google To Take Down "Infringing" VLC Media Player · · Score: 2

    Just to make sure, I tried downloading the torrent data to see if it really is VLC, not just a rename of Game of Thrones content. But there are no seeds, so there is no data.

    Why issue a takedown for a torrent with no seeds?

  17. Re: You really are butthurt about this. on Google Glass Teardown · · Score: 1

    You conflated drinking large sodas with murder and molestation. Congratulations!
    FTFY

  18. Re:That's the way the cookie crumbles on Ask Slashdot: How To Fight Copyright Violations With DMCA? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In the US this would almost certainly be considered 'fair use' because it is commentary on OP's original work.

    The US four factors test for fair use is largely met:
    Purpose: The authors of this video have added significant commentary that was not present in OP's original work.
    Nature: They are using OP's video not as a creative work, but as statements of facts to support their commentary.
    Portion: They used a large percentage of OP's video, but not all. This might be an item in your favor, but since this video is low res, they used as little as they could to make their point.
    Market: They are not likely to have reduced the commercial value of OP's video.

    So this seems to me that this is 'fair use' of OP's video. The commentary they present is certainly utter rubbish, but the law allows people to use evidence from original works as evidence for their arguments, even rubbish arguments.

    OP has already posted a comment that attests that this is an unauthorized use of his original video. That taints the authors and their message. I am not sure that any further action improves the situation.

  19. UltraVNC SC on Ask Slashdot: Options For FOSS Remote Support Software? · · Score: 1

    I've been using Ultra VNC Single Click http://www.uvnc.com/pchelpware/sc/index.html for years. It only works with Windows, but it is small, open source, and relatively secure.

    1 Your support client calls you
    2 You open VNC in listen mode
    3 Your support client runs a custom version of UltraVNC SC that is set to connect only to you.

    Easy. Fast. Cheap. And it works.

  20. Remember what happened to Space Bat on SpaceX Brownsville Space Port Opposed By Texas Environmentalists · · Score: 1

    You're right. Even Space Bat faced his death with dignity. Rode the rocket up as far as he could. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts119/launchbat.html

    We miss you Space Bat http://www.space-bat.com/

  21. Re:zero G sex on SpaceX and Bigelow Aerospace Team Up For Trips To Private Space Habitats · · Score: 1

    That is why the company is named Space Sex ... err SpaceX

  22. Congressional Approval on Engineers Ponder Easier Fix To Internet Problem · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do these engineers have approval from the US government to make these changes? Changes like this could break the ability to break the Internet. Can't have that.

  23. Re:public safety on Time To Close the Security Theater · · Score: 1

    So, the auto industry is still making Pintos with exploding gas tanks?

    Companies can and do meet the desires of their customers when there is competition and independent data for comparison. I agree that companies do abusive things when they believe that they will not be caught or can not be economically forced to change (monopoly), but the auto industry makes cars that are much safer today largely because many consumers buy safety.

    I value human life, but I understand that people make choices about safety every day. While a government regulated minimum safety level may be good public policy, companies can and will provide the safety their customers demand if customers have choice and data.

    You can certainly believe that every company will screw you each chance that they get, but that level of pessimism about the actions of others will not guide you to a better situation. Certainly the article here is saying that the TSA has said "oops" with people's lives many times. It is only a lack of terrorist intent that has kept these government failures from contributing to loss of lives.

    Companies are certainly out to make a buck, but perhaps the problem here is a willingness to accept government incompetence because of a fear of corporate incompetence. Personally I would rather let corporations handle security screening because the economic pressure has the possibility of making security a selling point. Economic and consumer pressure has little to no effect on government security.

  24. Re:public safety on Time To Close the Security Theater · · Score: 2

    Lets look at safety history.

    In the auto industry, the government moved first to require seat belts and passive restraints. After all the public would never buy a car with safety features. But ... after many years, we did start to see cars advertized based on their safety features. When the public values safety and can look at independent data (government crash tests, insurance claim rates) they can and do make decisions where safety is a factor and sometimes safety is the deciding factor. So a free market of security features can occur where there is competition and independent data. (The government still sets a minimum security level, but car makers routinely exceed it because it helps them make money.)

    In the air line industry, El Al still runs their own security independent of the TSA. Their customers have a choice and deliberately choose to use an air line with higher security.

    So tell me again, why is it that free market economics cannot drive effective and increasing security?

  25. Re:LOC vs DMCA on Intel Threatens DMCA Using HDCP Crack · · Score: 1

    The Library of Congress review that resulting in approval of jail-breaking is a part of the DMCA. So there is no question of precedence. The DMCA said that the Library of Congress was allowed to make this decision. The LOC did.