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User: falconwolf

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  1. What is ironic and eating at me, on Homeland Security Changes Laptop Search Policy · · Score: 1

    I could swear I remember seeing a slashdot article where some TSA droid was harassing another airline customer. Except in this one, the TSA guy told reporters that it was the fact the person was carrying a copy of the bill of rights, and some cash, and he was flagged for additional inspection because of those two items alone.

    There's been at least one article like this. Last year during the campaign a Ron Paul campaign worker was stopped and questioned because he carried a locked metal cash box as well as pamphlets, stickers, t-shirts, and other stuff from a convention.

    Sadly, google is giving me no love on finding it.

    I found that article googling airport tsa cashbox search campaign St Louis, it was the first result, but I didn't find the slashdot thread on it using Google.

    Falcon

  2. Re:Well that sounds reasonable on Homeland Security Changes Laptop Search Policy · · Score: 1

    I was once asked to leave my backpack at the counter of a liquor store in Vegas. I had my work laptop in it with a lot of sensitive information involved in setting up one of our events. When the keeper asked me to do this I promptly left as I won't do business with people that treat me like a criminal.

    I've done the same, walked out when asked to turn my backpack over. I've also walked away from a cash register when I was asked for ID when making a purchase even though I was going to pay in cash.

    Why should we treat incoming travelers like criminals? The vast majority are regular people who don't like being treated as though they have committed a crime anymore that I like to.

    After buying and using Windows PCs for about 10 years I switched. For my desktop, er server, I got a PC with Linux preinstalled. And I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro. Why did I switch? One reason was because I hate it that Microsoft treats it's customers like criminals. Okay, I accept requiring license keys but I do not accept having to Activate Windows by allowing it to connect to MS servers or calling MS. Nor do I accept the spyware MS includes.

  3. Re:Well that sounds reasonable on Homeland Security Changes Laptop Search Policy · · Score: 1

    Which is exactly why there ought to be legislation of some kind to prohibit the kind of thinking that makes American businesses not required to obey the Constitution when it doesn't involve dealings on American soil. American soil or not, the business operates in America, where such rights are supposedly "protected".

    There is such a law that allows foreigners to sue businesses in US courts for wrongs they commit or for which they supported in other countries. The Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) of 1789 was created just for this. It has been used to sue a number businesses, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, and other large corporations have been sued using the ATCA. Shell was sued for supporting the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and other Nigerian by the Nigerian military rulers. Chevron was sued in LA for the shooting of peaceful protesters at "Chevron's Parabe offshore platform and the destruction of two villages by soldiers in Chevron helicopters and boats" in Nigeria. Of course during his presidency Bush tried to Bush even tried to get the US Supreme Court to disallow human rights violation lawsuits, more evidence he supported torture.

    Falcon

  4. Re:Note to self: buy another laptop on Homeland Security Changes Laptop Search Policy · · Score: 1

    Fine, *process* your stuff on the laptop, for which you may need all kinds of horsepower. But the files themselves shouldn't be there; have your apps access them remotely.

    Working with multi-megabyte files that are stored non-locally can be very tedious. The frame size of 35mm film is 24×36mm or 1.34×1.42 inches. My scanner scans at 6400dpi with a colour depth of 48 bits. A Photoshop file can be hundreds of megabytes. Non-destructive editors such as Apple's Aperture or Adobe Lightroom can balloon file sizes. Storage solutions for pro photographers can easily reach terabytes.

    Quite simply working on files stored non-locally can be prohibitive.

    Falcon

  5. Re:Note to self: buy another laptop on Homeland Security Changes Laptop Search Policy · · Score: 1

    Bingo. My laptop has no data on it, and with rare and temporary exceptions, it will stay that way. All data is in boxes that stay in secured areas, which I access via encrypted VPN.

    Nope, I bought a MacBook Pro because I wanted a pro machine I could do design, development, and graphics work on.

    Falcon

  6. searching laptops on Homeland Security Changes Laptop Search Policy · · Score: 1

    I wonder if the other 954 laptops required passwords for login...

    I'm inclined to believe it's the other way around. While I haven't done any international travel, from what I understand as told to me by co-workers who do travel abroad, laptops (and in some cases, Blackberries) have to be decrypted and ready to inspect.

    ie Truecrypt. Don't just encrypt data, hide it. Purely as an exercise in seeing how draconian security has gotten to board a plane one day I plan to install it and use it to hide the Constitution of the USA, the Declaration of Independence, and maybe the "Federalist Papers" then walk through an airport with my laptop in my backpack. If I could I'd like to do it using a clean hard disk drive with only the OS and hidden files. Then include an external drive also with the DOI and Constitution hidden.

    I can see the reaction now, "He's hiding something. He must be a terrorist!" Then when those papers are revealed, "he is a terrorist!"

    I was kind of hoping this Bullshit would end when Obama became president. Ended up it was false hope, now I have no hope.

    Falcon

    "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants," Thomas Jefferson

  7. Re:Careful what you wish for... on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    I can go out and buy dedicated private networks between my offices

    2009 calling. People are complaining about the rising costs of health care now, dedicated networks will drive costs higher. A day doesn't go by when I don't hear about the health care crisis. And that's just in the US, not Africa or India.

    Falcon

  8. US Constitution on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    The constitution was written in the 18th century, of course internet is not specifically mentioned, this is ridiculous literalism.

    The US Constitution is a concrete document, even if you and others want to make it say what it does not say. And it does provide a method by which it make be changed, by amendments. And unlike constitutions others have written, I'm looking at the 1000 plus page EU constitution, the US Constitution including the amendments can fit on only a few pages and is a limit on what the federal government can do not what it must do.

    local news are published locally

    Except there is little local news now. A lot of the print news comes from services like the Associated Press. For radio large businesses such as Clear Channel tape shows which they then distribute to the various stations they own. Take for example the stations in a North Dakota town. Clear Channel owned all 6 non-religious commercial radio stations, all of which were on autopilot. When a train derailed leaking toxic chemicals there was nobody at the stations to broadcast a warning. In other disasters such as when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans it was hams, shortwave radio broadcasters, who helped not Clear Channel or other commercial broadcasters.

    Falcon

  9. Re:free downloads on Apple To Ship Mac OS X Snow Leopard On August 28 · · Score: 1

    And again, you didn't read my post. We seem to be stuck here. I DID click and read those links. Almost none of that is Apple software. The VAST bulk of it is merely shareware/freeware 3rd party software for OSX, and Demo's for paid software.

    So you change the rules. First you say Apple doesn't provide downloads so I provide a link to Apple dowloads. You then say Apple doesn't provide Apple update, service packs, or other software downloads so I provide links to those. Now you're saying Apple only provides links for shareware/freeware software. I didn't know Adobe Maya, one of the links I provided, was shareware or freeware.

    Changing the rules as you have done only makes you look like a troll.

    Falcon

  10. capping unlimited service on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    The real issue, IMO, is when they cap 'unlimited' connections, which is false advertising.

    That's one issue. Another was that broadband providers were given billions of taxpayer money to build out but didn't. A third issue is that they also have duopolies if not monopolies.

    Falcon

  11. Re:free downloads on Apple To Ship Mac OS X Snow Leopard On August 28 · · Score: 1

    Other than itunes, and safari, there is practically no real software.

    Again, you didn't read and click links. For Aperture Apple lists 93 downloads, there are 277 audio downloads, and business and finance shows 204. Those are just 3 categories of software Apple offers downloads in, and I doubt 5% of them are Apple software. In open source Apple includes NeoOffice, PHP, Apache, Samba, and more than 80 more downloads.

    Microsoft offers windows media player and Internet explorer which offsets those two. And then it offers a shit-ton of utilities, power toys, honest to goodness applications

    Apple offers 369 System/Disk Utilities, 453 productivity tools, and 314 imaging and 3D downloads. The first one, most recent download, right now is Autodesk Maya 2010.

    My point was that Apple develops and releases this class of features as part of the "OSX upgrade package", whereas Microsoft has been building thme, but making them available separately (and for free).

    Most of Apple's downloads are free stuff, or do you think OS X requires Maya?

    The service packs and hotfixes are readily available via download. I have an NT4 VM I still occasionally fire up myself. They've been moved around a few times, but I can't recall them ever not being available.

    As I said, little more than 3 years after I bought my NT4 PC I had to order, and pay for, the latest updates for NT. And I bought it 1 year after NT4 came out.

    ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/fixes/usa/nt40/

    Thanks for the link, I bookmarked it so I can use it later. The last tyme I ran Windows Update in NT4 the MS website said I had to order the updates on CD, that was in January 2000.

    They even have the service packs for 3.5 and 3.51 if you'd like them, including stuff for the mips and alpha chips...

    My NT4 PC has an Alpha CPU. Following links in the one you provided I read one readme that said what .exe to download for Alphas. However the last tyme I ran Windows Update a message box popped up telling me I had to order the update on CD. I'd like to upgrade the PC, add more RAM and replace the 2 HDDs with bigger ones. I'd also like to add Firewire and USB as well as Gigabit Ethernet. Now that I know where to look for some updates I just need to find the hardware. The PC is still good and I don't want it to go to waste.

    Falcon

  12. Re:Careful what you wish for... on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    Telesurgery isn't practical where there aren't local surgeons,

    What's so hard about understanding that nurses and generalists can be directed by specialists? Telesurgery is more practical than having a bunch of specialists everywhere.

    Falcon

  13. Re:Careful what you wish for... on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    There at least need to be a surgeon who can sew you back up and a anesthesiologist available.

    Nurses can sew you back up, a specialized surgeon isn't needed. And an anesthesiologist can direct a trained nurse as well.

    Falcon

  14. censorship on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    there's already borderline porngraphy on basic cable,

    Where? I don't see any. I see a lot of violence though.

    I dont see censorship as really being an issue, what is it that you'd like to see/hear more of on TV that you don't already?

    Almost all I watch on TV is CNN and the movies I bought and own on tape or DVDs. I watch the History channel some but not more than say 1/2 hour here and there.

    When was the last time you said "Man, that episode of Everybody loves Raymond would have been so much better if there was some nice big tits in it... and people saying fuck a lot... yeah.. that'd be cool"

    I've never said it, I never watched that show. The last series I watched on TV were "Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman" and "Touched by an Angel", that was about 10 years ago. Right now as I'm typing this I have "Mr. Majestyk" playing on DVD. It's almost over, then I might put "Casablanca" in the player. Or another of the hundreds of movies on media I own.

  15. I found this post interesting. Why? on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    Because I am a Comcast subscriber that came on through a buyout.

    In my case indirectly I became a ComCast broadband customer through an exchange. When I signed up Time Warner owned the cable system but then they exchanged some locations they owned for some locations ComCast owned.

    If I had another choice I would drop them like a bad habit.

    Luckily I do have a choice, I can also get DSL where I live. I didn't know before, I don't have landline phone service and my ISP wanted it to look up whether DSL was available, however I learned someone in another apartment in the building got DSL a few months ago. Now my question would be if I had to have landline phone service to get DSL, all I have is a cellphone and service for it.

    Falcon

  16. Re:How does this grant you freedom? on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    If you were to restrict net neutrality to markets where there was NO choice in providers, you might have a valid argument.

    And in most places there is no choice for broadband. Many people in the US can't even get broadband but most of those who can can get either cable or DSL, but not both. The only choice is broadband from one company or no broadband. There is no competition.

    Falcon

  17. Re:big government on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    So they need to blame themselves and each other. Both the left and right, far and near, want big government. The only difference is what part of government they want big.

    That's not true. Libertarians, who you could consider the "far right" most definitely do not want big government.

    I am far from the right and I am a libertarian. Fact is in the US the far right wants big government. They want big military, big police, and they want to tell people how to live their own private lives. All of these are big government. No, on a political scale of the US I call Libertarians Centrists. They want liberty and small government.

    Falcon

  18. Re:Cue complaints on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    Interstate Commerce clause,

    I can not find "internet" anywhere in the Constitution, and that includes the Interstate Commerce Clause. What I do see is the ICC saying the feds can regulate interstate commerce, which rules out local ISPs. Using the ICC as the Supreme Court, and you, have done would mean the government could regulate news too. Most news outlets are owned by national if not international businesses.

    along with roads and post.

    Both roads and the post are specifically mentioned in the Constitution.

    Falcon

  19. Re:Port blocking is part of Net Neutraility! on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    I really want to take the don't regulate it and let the company do as it chooses stance, let a competitor do better than them and the people with vote with their dollars attitude. On the other hand ISPs are usually a regional duopoly or oligopoly with technical limitations preventing the introduction of viable competitors.

    I don't like regulations either, however I think separation of infrastructure from ownership of the service the infrastructure can provide would increase competition for those services. One entity could own the infrastructure they then have to have open access to any other entities who want to use it to provide whatever it can deliver. I'd apply this to cable, fiber, phone, and powerlines.

    Falcon

  20. Watermelon biofuel on Watermelon Juice Makes Great Biofuel · · Score: 1

    Rather than grow fields of the fruit for the purpose, the report suggests that farmers capitalize on the 20% of each annual watermelon crop that is left in the field because of surface blemishes or because they are misshapen."

    And what's the likelihood farmers are going sell watermelons for food if they can make more selling them for biofuel?

    Also TFA doesn't say how much ethanol an acre can produce. How does it compare to switchgrass, for instance?

    Falcon

  21. Re:Careful what you wish for... on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    Overselling is necessary to reduce the cost to the consumers.

    Since auto comparisons are frequently used on slashdot, here's one from me. If I were to sell cars I would not plug or block 2 cylinders in an 8 banger, cylinder, engine never mind a 4 banger and say the buyer can go full speed ahead. In the same way cable companies shouldn't be selling unlimited 1.5Mb access then capping downloads or throttling speeds. Nor should they be settling arbitrary caps, burying. or hiding those caps

    Falcon

  22. Re:Good guys my ass on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    I see all kinds of nudity, drugs, booze and swearing on TV . I think it could use a little more censorship to be honest.

    It's easy to censor your TV, change the station or turn it off. Just don't tell others they can't watch on their own TV something you don't like.

    Falcon

  23. FCC on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    They're prudes, but they're about as pro-consumer/anti-business as an agency can get.

    This certainly doesn't describe the FCC, ask anybody who setup a pirate radio station in an under served area in the US. It doesn't matter if your station only covers a few blocks, if Clear Channel learns of your station you'll have the FCC send the goon squad knock down your door.

    Falcon

  24. competition on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    Normally i'm against regulation and would say "let the market decide" but there are some areas that only have one provider with no competition.

    It was government that created the conditions where there was no competition, governments did that by giving businesses exclusive rights to use easements with no open access requirements.

    Falcon

  25. Re:Cue complaints on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    Well, to be fair this does seem like the kind of thing that should be established in, you know, a law or act or something.

    Can you point out where the Constitution of the USA gives the power to pass "a law or act or something" to regulate the internet to government?

    Falcon