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User: mcferguson

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Comments · 17

  1. Re:Effectiveness on Chinese iPad Factory Staff Forced To Sign 'No Suicide' Pledge · · Score: 1

    Imagine you live in a communist country with no hope of freedom, democracy, or a living wage. Your job is to toil your entire life in miserable conditions and make frivolous, expensive toys for your rich neighbor across the ocean. Now, is suicide really an irrational response to that Kafkaesque environment?

  2. Re:Sad on Mahara 1.2 EPortfolios · · Score: 1

    It took me several minutes of reading through their marketing speak, but I believe it is a content management system with some additional features like mailing lists tacked on (I cannot be 100% sure, though... even after going through the sample sites). If the product description is any indication, the code is probably a mess.

  3. The fix... on Apple To Issue a 'Fix' For iPhone 4 Reception Perception · · Score: 3, Funny

    Steve Jobs's Fix: cut off users' hands. They are clearly defective.

  4. Re:jack on Some Google Searches Now Blocked In China · · Score: 1

    Good point -- we act like sheep and obey unjust laws! Nothing ever bad has happened from taking that attitude.

  5. Just don't concatenate to form SQL strings n00b on Kaminsky Offers Injection Antidote · · Score: 1

    I think most (?) languages already have this. It's called using a parameters collection or prepared statements instead of SQL & "CONCATENATION" & HAX. The frameworks already exist. The solution is to fire or brutally "retrain" the programmers who are writing this sloppy code to begin with. The security problem is so widespread that the language or compiler should flag any concatenated string as "dirty" and disallow passing it into the database API to begin with... Maybe that is what this "framework" from Kaminsky is actually doing.

  6. Tea needs milk (really) on Starbucks Frees Wi-Fi · · Score: 1

    Try your tea with milk (the way many people in other countries drink it). Starbucks will also make it this way upon request. Chai tea lattes are great. :D

  7. Re:Can You Spot the Difference? on Bill Gates's New Version of the Einstein Letter · · Score: 1

    Yes, Bill's target net wealth when he dies is $0, and he is working through his foundation to reach that goal. Hopefully that makes everyone feel a little better about all those copies of Win 95 we bought back in the day, right? ;)

  8. Resume Opportunity on Getting Paid Fairly When Job Responsibilities Spiral? · · Score: 1

    Build your resume (hopefully with a focus on what you want to be doing long term), and dump your current employer once you get a better opportunity. And you will, if you focus on the right business / IT combination. The economy will eventually get better. And besides, it will take you a lot longer to realize your true potential in earnings if you stay with the same company.

  9. Excellent training! on MA High School Forces All Students To Buy MacBooks · · Score: 1

    Right -- computer experience with a Mac. Just what they'll need to get a job in corporate America!

  10. Re:When you gain it fair and square. on Google Slams Apple Over iPhone Ad Ban · · Score: 1

    After a quick Google Search... Here is an article on Ars Technica that reports data from Gartner saying that Apple has 99.x% of the market share for mobile app sales. I believe 99% constitutes a majority. Of course this article is 6 months old, so who knows where Android and BB app sales are now.

  11. Re:When you gain it fair and square. on Google Slams Apple Over iPhone Ad Ban · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, a corollary: 1) Apple has a majority of the market share in smart phone app sales. Good for them. 2) Apple uses its majority market share in smart phone app sales to force everyone into their mobile ad platform. Monopolistic behavior, bad for the economy.

  12. Re:Join removal is cool on What Is New In PostgreSQL 9.0 · · Score: 1

    You would need an FK to the other table's unique index / PK, and then the inner join could be removed (if it is not referenced in the select list). In theory the FK has already been checked so the join is not really acting as part of the predicate / filter in that situation.

  13. Re:Join removal is cool on What Is New In PostgreSQL 9.0 · · Score: 2, Informative
    Actually, here are the entire conditions for join removal (from Robert Hass's blog):

    (1) it's a left join, (2) there is a unique index on all or a subset of the join columns, and (3) none of the attributes from the nullable side of the join are used elsewhere in the query

  14. Re:Join removal is cool on What Is New In PostgreSQL 9.0 · · Score: 1

    Note that join removal is only going to work on OUTER joins in some cases, as an INNER join is implicitly part of the predicate. If the joined columns are already related by a constraint, though, it may still be able to eliminate an INNER join.

  15. Density? on Intelligence Density and the Creative Class · · Score: 1

    Smart people are more tightly compact when.... the entire population is more tightly compact? Whoa! This is some serious science. He could have maybe (I don't know) thrown in some statistics to see if the density of degree holders (what a great definition of "smart") is greater than the mean you would expect for the density in question. But whatever... San Francisco #1!!!!

  16. Re:Or you could get an... MCTS on Mixed Signs On the State of IT Education · · Score: 1

    Oops, MCSE does not really exist anymore. Microsoft's new certification lines are "MCTS" and "MCITP". And if those are a joke (the TS line is pretty easy -- ITP somewhat more challenging), then I'm sure the Linux certs, in whatever form they come, are equally useless or useful in determining your level of knowledge. Hell, even someone with 5+ years of "work experience" may be a complete joke... but you've got to go on SOMETHING, right?

  17. Airport Kiosks on Dell Rethinking the Direct-Sales Market · · Score: 1

    Dell has actually had "brick and mortar" kiosks inside airports for a couple years now. Their salesmen are always dressed in blue Dell polo shirts and khaki pants. The kiosks seem to get a lot of foot traffic, but I have no idea what kind of sales they bring in. I imagine if Dell opens up inside another retail store, they'll probably opt for the same type of setup.