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User: Decker-Mage

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  1. Re:the only thing Microsoft and others can do is.. on Hacker Bypasses Windows 7/8 Address Space Layout Randomization · · Score: 1

    In theory? Perhaps, although I can't be as sanguine here, nor will I ever. I've been using "PC" browsing appliances since very early days of VMWare (much, much earlier non-x86) and so long as I toss the VM afterwards, who cares if it was somehow compromised.

  2. Re:Fusion! A/C, Sterling on Manipulating Heat Like Light · · Score: 1

    A thermal cloaking effect was our first thought here. It's a cast iron bitch to try and hide a tank even with the thermal cloaking blankets today. I'd have to read (and think) so more before I can determine naval applications. [Naval background here.]

  3. Re:windows rt on Windows RT Jailbreak Tool Released · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually Microsoft had the same response, after thinking a bit, to the jailbreaking of Windows Phone 7. No matter how hard you try, if one human, or group of humans, comes up with a protection scheme, another will figure out a way through or around it. Nature of the beast and the sooner others (Sony!?) get a clue, the sooner everyone can start thinking of more innovative things to do rather than waste resources this way.

  4. Re:ive always thought the idea on Thorium Fuel Has Proliferation Risk · · Score: 0

    Iran getting "the bomb" frankly scares me very little. True, Amandinejad is more than a bit on the scary side but I don't think the Ayatollah Khameni would let him have a very long leash as to when/whether/where to use a nuclear weapon. All any of the existing powers would have to do is to have a standing order that in the event of a chemical or nuclear attack on Saudi Arabia or Israel, there would be several nuclear detonations over Qom [a Shi'ite holy site, like Jerusalem and Mecca to Shi'ites] as well as Tehran and all the other "major" cities and religious sites, just for good measure. Believe me, the leash would be extremely short as would the one on Hezbollah in Lebanon and elsewhere. Oh, and BTW, the Ayatollahs call Qom home. Kinda drives home the point.

    Before I was sent over to the middle east, and while it was still likely to go again, I took it upon myself to learn the actors. If I was going to be sent into "harm's way," I wanted to know who. especially among our "friends", might be doing the harming. Turned out it was a good call then, still is now. Sadly, most media organizations don't give you the history of the players let alone the real history of an entire region so you can figure who is doing what to whom and why.

  5. Re:Believe It Or Not, Discussed on Slashdot Before on Thorium Fuel Has Proliferation Risk · · Score: 1

    I can't tell anything here, either, due to the paywall. I'd like to run their work against the probability chains to see exactly what, if anything, is new. What I do get is that the threat is from some nation-state or non-nation-state actor seizing "spent" fuel rods and chemically separating out usable fractions of U-233. I have no clue, never needed one as a matter of fact despite having the clearance, what you need to achieve a critical mass, let alone with impurity levels you cited way back when. Damn paywalls. I don't have a university to back my readings anymore.

  6. Re:Even if this was true... on Is Intel Planning To Kill Enthusiast PCs? · · Score: 1

    Actually, the Age of the Workstation never left. Like mainframes, they just get a hell of a lot more capable as the years roll on.

  7. Re:Even if this was true... on Is Intel Planning To Kill Enthusiast PCs? · · Score: 1

    The term "enthusiasts" does not apply exclusiveness to people who try to squeeze performance from high powered system. Enthusiast can be someone who wants to build a very high autonomy mobile device for example, or bring the highest performance possible from a portable device.

    Got that one right. Before the term was mis-, or should that be mal-?, appropriated by the "Main-Stream-Media," we used to be known as hackers. I've been fixing, designing, building, and especially tweaking the hell out of hardware, firmware, and software for an extremely long time. However, I'm in no way, shape, or form a "hard-core gamer." I don't have the reflexes, let alone eye-hand coordination, to even make it worth my while. When I do game, it's usually strategic or simulation, and for most people it's about as exciting as watching grass grow or paint dry (to them). Whatever floats your boat.

    Where enthusiasm enters the picture in my case is designing hardware/software fusions that punch way, way above their weight class on a pretty damn limited budget. Everything in my systems are+ scrutinized right down the register values in the glue-chips (-bridge chips, for instance) and the OS's don't resemble anyone's idea of stock. There's a lot of kernel innards tossed into the bit bucket before I get finished and don't even get me started about tweaking Windows Server versions. You'll be looking for an exit, quick ;-). Anyway, that's my idea of fun. I've built some seriously kick-ass game machines over the years, but that wasn't the specific intent. During that period, emulation, virtualization, and gaming rigs all had pretty much the same hardware since simulation is an inherent aspect of high-end gaming.

    Back to the topic at hand, will this change how I work? I doubt it as the motherboards I get are usually just as quickly "obsolescent" as the processors, so both could be considered a single component. If I were to do anything with the processor, it would be to migrate it to a far smaller footprint device, I think. Then I'm pretty much out only the cost of the motherboard which is only a mild big deal. I'd have to break out the 2M (micro-minature) gear to separate one from the other and effect the transfer, but it depends on the value of my time at the time. I firmly believe that we're going to have devices tucked all over our places and spaces before we are done with conventional designs, and even then we may still have uses for the older generations. Be that as it may, from a QA/QC aspect, this may actually be a huge positive and for the novices of the world once you think about it.

  8. Re:Even if this was true... on Is Intel Planning To Kill Enthusiast PCs? · · Score: 1

    Actually, you can.

  9. Re:Even if this was true... on Is Intel Planning To Kill Enthusiast PCs? · · Score: 1

    Sure, if you want to go with a completely new set of ARM apps. Doesn't matter if Linux, Windows RT, or whatever. You can't run x86 apps.

    I call bullshit. ARM can do emulation and, speaking only for myself, it's about the only thing that seems to light up the cores on my tablet (N7). I've been using emulation for over a quarter century now on everything from big iron down to my personal machines during that entire period, and if you can get games to work, there is damn little out there that can't be run on ARM if you are willing to put a little work in, unless there has been a concerted effort to block such capability. Emulators for x86 already exist on ARM as do emulators for a half-dozen (at least) other CPU architecture/families.

    Anyone with embedded experience (have that too) is all too familiar with using emulation especially in the boot-strapping phase of development. To assert that ARM is incapable of emulating the x86 architecture shows complete ignorance on the subject on this hardware slight-of-hand.

    Been there, done that, burned the stupid t-shirt. [Apologies for rude tone, but....]

  10. Re:Off-topic on Google Targets Android Fragmentation With Updated Terms For SDK · · Score: 1, Insightful

    tl;dr

    An on-topic post really can be overrated with a score of 1, just as it can be on-topic and a troll, or one of the other negative scores aside from off-topic. While I usually use Overrated as a dissenting vote on up-mods (very rarely), I have also used it for a post (base Karma 1) that adds simply nothing to the topic under discussion. I've done that maybe twice in the years I've been here.

    I just happen to have mod points again (happens abut every two to three days), but I was not the person that did the mod; obviously since I'm posting under my username. I try to be rather conscientious about the whole mod duty thang, having been a CompuServe SysOp for a couple of decades including thread-police duties, and I do see evidence every day that most do seem to do their duty well. IAC, there is recourse. Another mod can come along to up it (Underrated is great for this), and/or it may also be picked up in the meta-mod voting as well if somebody really is using mods unwisely.

    Way more than needed to be said about the subject.

  11. Re:No SDK forks? on Google Targets Android Fragmentation With Updated Terms For SDK · · Score: 3

    If you'd bother to actually read the EULA, anything covered by a separate (prior) agreement such as the GPL is already grandfathered in a prior paragraph so it's still GPL'ed.

  12. Risk of Legal Compliance on Petraeus Case Illustrates FBI Authority To Read Email · · Score: 1

    "Do you know anyone these days who doesn't have IMAP accounts with 6+-month-old mail on them?"

    Myself. The highest backlog I've ever had was about 40 days, some 5,000 messages across a dozen accounts. I have no problem maintaining coherent backups across multiple devices and locations for the few hundred actually important emails (accounts, software activations, and the like), so there is no value in having them accessible by anyone other than myself. Seriously, I don't even have to think about it when it comes time to set up a blank machine, it's that automagical by now.

    While there is absolutely nothing of interest to the government or other players in anything that I keep, I can't see any reward, indeed much risk, with trusting others to maintain my privacy especially in the face of what I know to be unconstitutional (courts differ on that) means. [Some time ago I swore to "protect and defend the Constitution" so I took my duty seriously and studied it along with the Law around it. Not much left anymore for with to do either.]

    In any case, none of this is particularly relevant to the General's situation. Along with his security clearance, he entirely waived more than a few rights (as did I back then), so the email would be accessible no matter what, even if it only existed on backup tapes instead of online storage.

  13. Re:And? on Supersymmetry Theory Dealt a Blow · · Score: 1

    Why do techies completely miss that point, then, when the difference is 2000 years, and the subject is things for which they would have more experience than us?

    This techie (engineer) doesn't. I must admit having a Mom who's an anthropologist, having spent time in the field, and listened to whole buildings full of archeologists as well, might have colored my outlook. Just a smidgen.

    I can't speak for anyone else, but my ancestors weren't stupid. And we still can only guess at how they went about doing the "impossible" to this day. At least if civilization ends soon, I'll be one of the few that can make my own damn tools! [It probably would have helped if a certain library hadn't of burned.]

    As to the problem at hand, it'll take someone coming along, looking at all the weird, bat-shit problems and having a different take on how to "look" (imagine) the problem description. Been there, done that in other problem domains. And, yes, I was thought bat-shit crazy at the time.

    Actually, I still am ....

  14. Re:Bugs in the demo on The Shumway Open SWF Runtime Project · · Score: 1

    I bow to your superior sense of timing ;-).

  15. Re:What is Jenny McCarthy going to say? on HIV Vaccine Safe Enough To Pass Phase 1 Human Trials · · Score: 1

    Actually, if they are looking for volunteers, I'm more than willing. It wouldn't be the first time working around life-threatening biologicals. I was part of a team researching MRSA back in the '90's and the experimental vaccine we all had to have to work around it was no joke for side-effects (necrotizing fasciitis).

  16. Re:In other words on A Trail of Clicks, Culminating In Conflict · · Score: 1

    It isn't funny at all that I've been hearing the same argument, children's short attention spans, as the reason that education is the shit-pit it has ever been. And that truth covers the last fifty years. First it was TV, they they added music TV as the extended cause, then computers, now it's smart devices, and the list is rather endless. That doesn't even bring into the discussion theories about diet, parental involvement, etc., although I will give parental involvement a nod as something useful in disciplinary cases.

    I have been teaching, very successfully I might add, for the last forty years, since my early teens, at the grade levels, university, military, and in the classroom and out. I haven't had any trouble. Then again, every time I have taught, I have had to prove my effectiveness as a teacher.

    I have yet to see it discussed outside certain, very limited, academic circles the qualifications required to become a teacher, especially when it comes to academic rigor outside the education departments on our campuses, nor are they required to prove that they can teach effectively before being hired on a permanent basis, let alone had a lifetime sinecure. Should I have failed, my stint at teaching would have ended right away with no doubt as to why my condition was terminated.

    I have discussed this topic with many an effective, retired (notice that qualification), teacher over my lifetime and the constant refrain has always been that those that can't teach should be fired.

  17. Re:Call the statistics police on Breakthrough Promises Smartphones that Use Half the Power · · Score: 1

    Only if you provide the keycap code ;-).

  18. Re:Call the statistics police on Breakthrough Promises Smartphones that Use Half the Power · · Score: 4, Informative

    Probably due to the fact that all of IT consumes about 1% of all power globally. And notice in that statistic "about" which, if it comes above 0.0000...01% somehow gets magically gets rounded up (apparently using ceil (APL) function rather than a real rounding function). If they really want to save power generated capacity, they really should look at replacing all those power bricks out there with something remotely efficient before thinking about the power consumption drawn from an, also admittedly, inefficient battery, on the way to the power amps.

    Matters not much, methinks, as no one is going to take advantage of the new designs until (1) they are incorporated into "stock" parts and (2) they are cheaper than the designs they are replacing. Almost forgot, and no one is still running a fire sale on the old chips.

    Articles like these, long on promise, short on economics, or long on threat, and short on the same thing, economics, piss me off.

  19. Re:Invulnerable? on The Pirate Bay Starts Using Virtualized Servers · · Score: 1

    32.1 MB file names with magnet links. 1.15 GB for the whole database (add comments, etc). I find it in Other/Other under Browse Torrents.

  20. Re:Invulnerable? on The Pirate Bay Starts Using Virtualized Servers · · Score: 1

    Heck, if you want, you can get a (reasonably) current copy of the database right on TPB.

  21. Re:TPB owners living the life on The Pirate Bay Starts Using Virtualized Servers · · Score: 1

    Your example applies to used CDs, used vinyl, used tapes. Used physical items. Not to digital music. There is no such thing as used digital music. You guys said it yourself - people aren't supposed to be able to "own" bits of information, so why on earth should I consider your used-physical-product example as relevant to this discussion?

    You might want to check out ReDigi before making that assertion again.This one is already wending its way through the court system (Capitol Records brought the suit).

  22. Re:A timid way to express disagreement on Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Calls For Governments To End Patent Wars · · Score: 1

    ...we're starting to be in a world where they might start to stifle innovation. Governments may need to look at the patent system...

    Why has it become "good" writing to hedge everything you ever say? Out with it, man!

    And it's not even "good English." This is what you get when the CEO-speak is run through legal first. The one "nice" thing about Larry Ellison is that not everything he says get screened first. It's pretty refreshing in a bull in a China shop kind of way.

  23. Re:Make patents more expensive on Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Calls For Governments To End Patent Wars · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually they'll do what Hollywood and the others, such as patent trolling firms and that new entity created to house NorTel's patents, just spin off a LLC or LLP which has no real assets to speak of, houses just one, or a few, patent[s], and which can sue everyone in sight. Whatever you can think of, the lawyers and those politicians beholden to the corporate interests will circumvent either using loopholes embodied in the new law or via court cases that gut the new law on point. We have the best politicians money can buy. And honest because they generally stay bought.

    Hell, you can't even limit patents just to individuals or small groups of individuals since corporations are people too, in the eyes of the law. I used to be both a realist about "the system" since I grew up knowing the warts as well as the good and the good kept me somewhat optimistic. Now I can't see much good, if any, left. Thank Bastet that I don't have any kids.

  24. Backups on Ask Slashdot: Transporting Computers By Cargo Ship? · · Score: 1

    What with the "anti-terror" regulations, I'd give serious thought to a full online backup and leaving pretty much just the basics on the hard drives. And I'd zero the "empty" sectors. I know I'm being paranoid, its why I'm "trusted" about this kind of thing, but it removes one more, possible, reason for seizure (or delay).

  25. Re:WinRT is dead in the water on Notch Won't Certify Minecraft For Windows 8 · · Score: 1

    Which is why I reserve judgement. Until some of us, no longer under NDA, get our (sweaty) paws on one and see what the performance is like on comparable apps, who knows? If it is nicer to develop for, without all the prior API bloat, it might actually be a pleasure to write for it.