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User: The+Hobo

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Comments · 204

  1. Re:Funny on Canada's Conference Board Found Plagiarizing Copyright Report · · Score: 1

    You're actually both wrong.

    It's both hockey and lacrosse.

    See the National Sports of Canada Act

  2. Also known as... on Bar Codes Keep Surgical Objects Outside Patients · · Score: 5, Funny

    Reference counting. Insert obvious garbage collection joke here.

    Tee hee.

  3. PeopleSoft on Teachers Give ERP Implementations Failing Grades · · Score: 1

    PeopleSoft 'implementations' have been making life miserable for those of us at UW (University of Waterloo) for years now. I'm guessing it's mostly due to vendor lock-in. It's not surprising to me that they're doing poorly elsewhere. Their systems are used for our co-op job system and our student information system (choose classes, view grades/transcripts, etc). Finally, as I'm about to graduate, they are using the talent we have at Waterloo to hire some co-op students to write our own system, at least for the job portion of it. Sigh.

  4. Re:Hosts file - don't surf without it on FTC To Examine Targeted Advertising · · Score: 2, Informative

    Adblock Plus + an auto-updating filter = I don't know how I used the web without it

    http://adblockplus.org/en/

  5. My favourite issue on Diebold Voting Machines Audited by California · · Score: 2, Informative

    From page 51:

    Issue 5.2.24: AV-TSX startup code contains blatant errors.

    287 TCHAR name;
    288 _stprintf(&name, _T(''\\Storage Card\\%s''), findData.cFileName);
    289 Install(&name, hInstance);

    Here, name is not a character array but a single character in memory. The stprintf function
    expects its first parameter to be a character array, so the programmer had to use the&operator
    to get the address of name, rather than its value. The result is an obvious buffer overflow. A
    string that includes the filename, which could be under an attacker's control, gets copied over
    whatever data resides in the memory region following name.
    That this code works at all seems purely accidental. Memory corruption occurs even when
    legitimate .ins files are used. An attacker who included a file with a long name or a name
    containing particular characters might be able to crash the program or, possibly, execute
    malicious code.
    This bug sheds light on the vendor's software engineering practices, because it is a very
    unusual error for an experienced C++ programmer to make. Characters and character arrays
    are very different constructs in C++. Students using the language for the first time might
    confuse the two, but experienced programmers who understand basic concepts like pointers
    would be unlikely to confuse them. The probability that an experienced C++ programmer
    would make such a mistake or overlook it during even a cursory review of the code is
    exceptionally low. This suggests to us that after this code was written it was not reviewed
    by any other engineers at Diebold.

    That's gold Jerry! Gold!

  6. Re:Information wants to be free, right? on ACLU Protests Police Scanning License Plates · · Score: 1

    And since this has always been publicly available... it is just information demanding to be released from it's bonds.

    it's = it is, contraction
    its = belongs to it, possessive form.

    As an example, "It's really not that hard to use each word in its proper manner."
    To test which you should use, simply replace its/it's with 'it is' and see if the sentence still makes sense.

    And to those who say 'who cares, you know what I meant!111', remember this: if your only native language is English and you can't master it, then you're the master of no language.

  7. Re:Lisa, get in here! on Perpetual Energy Machine Getting Lots of Attention · · Score: 2, Funny
  8. Re:Responsible disclosue? on Yahoo! XSS Flaw Endangers its Users · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It's a lot better for the submitter to link to his own blog post and put a personal, biased opinion on the submission instead of doing what you said. You'd think that editors would strip out such biased garbage from submissions and let, you know, the community make those statements instead of reporting them as news. Then again, it's not like they've ever cared to do that.

  9. Apple, Sony, Microsoft.. on Apple Hides Account Info in DRM-Free Music · · Score: 0, Troll

    Let's see how many people are outraged when Apple does something like this, as opposed to say, Sony or Microsoft. I'm definitely not approving or defending any company doing this kind of thing, but I do expect a bit of a disconnect as to the reaction. Call me cynical.

  10. Re:Are you sure ... on Conservative Sarkozy Wins Presidency of France · · Score: 1

    She did surrender. From the CBC story

    Sarkozy defeated his rival, Socialist Party Leader Ségolène Royal, who conceded minutes after polls closed at 8 p.m. local time

  11. Obligatory Simpsons reference on IBM's Snowflake Microchips · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ripped from snpp:

    Homer, meanwhile, uses a pickaxe to make some speed holes in his own
    car.

        Ned: Whatcha diddely-doin', neighbor?
    Homer: Aw, putting speed holes in my car. Makes it go faster.
        Ned: Is that so? Well, gee, maybe the old Flanders-mobile could use
                  some -- [a shot rings out] aah! [Ned collapses]
                    [he gets up slowly] Wow! Lucky I always keep a bible close to
                  my heart -- [boom!] aah! [Ned collapses]
                    [he gets up] Ho ho, lucky I was wearing an extra large piece of
                  the True Cross today. I think I'll go inside.
                    [a shot hits Homer's pick axe]
    Homer: What keeps doing that?
      Tony: I told you we should have bought more than three bullets. Let's
                  just grab him!
    -- Louie the henchman, not the marksman, "Homer the Clown"

  12. Re:huh? on Canadian Gov't Grants Olympics Ownership of Winter · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Our "amendments" are called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (I'd have used the official link but it seems the laws page of Justice Canada is down..)

    Our freedom of expression (freedom of speech) is listed in section 2. As far as the second amendment, we don't really have a need to carry guns.

  13. Re:Attention Slashdot owners! on Canadian Gov't Grants Olympics Ownership of Winter · · Score: 1

    You do realize what U.S.C stands for right? (here's a hint.. you wouldn't cite it in Canada..)

  14. Re:A what province? on Konami Slot Machines Flashing Subliminal Messages? · · Score: 1

    Quebec is actually the 'biggest' province by landmass, but yes, Ontario (where I'm from) is the biggest population-wise

  15. Re:How do you say on Bilingualism Delays Onset of Dementia · · Score: 1

    Où est-ce que j'ai laissé mes lunettes?

    I'm one of those bilingual Canadians. Where I come from, bilingual typically means French and English since they are the two official and most popular languages. Those who are bilingual are often that way from birth.. the way I see it is if you speak French in Ontario you speak English as well. You catch English like a cold, it's simply much easier. The concept of putting off dementia if you're bilingual is an interesting one, since I have some memories in French and some in English.

  16. Re:FrostWire on Alan Cox Files Patent For DRM · · Score: 1

    You win

  17. CmdrTaco's response on Time Magazine Person of the Year — It's You · · Score: 4, Funny

    No individual recognition. Less money than a nobel. Lame.

  18. Availability of garbage on Market Research Company Secretly Installs Spyware · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I find it sort of funny that whenever I want to find a place to download the garbage mentioned in stories, I can't.. I can only remember Gator letting you go on their website to directly download what it is you wanted.

    (For those wondering, sometimes I feel like downloading things just so I can play with it if I wanted to, in a VM for example, where a snapshot can make everything go away)

  19. Re:Enron-like crash looming? on Google Responds to AdWords Accusations · · Score: 1
  20. Canadian instance on Air Force Jams Garage Doors · · Score: 3, Informative

    This also happened in Ottawa in 2005. This story and this story sum up the incident. I was in Ottawa at the time, and I keenly remember the US Embassy lying to our face about using this signal. "Oddly" enough, the problem stopped once the CBC contacted the Embassy and asked them about it. Too bad those engineers didn't get to trace the signal back. What also got to me while trying to get through downtown is how the embassy is allowed to eat up a lane of traffic for their precious concrete walls, as if there was ever a real danger in Canada. I heard that those walls were tested in Canada because of the low risk, I guess it's convenient to test concrete walls and signal jamming here.

  21. Re:JESUS FRACKING CHRIST on Firefox Losing Its Way? · · Score: 1

    It's still not a license to write things the wrong way, nor an excuse for poor language skills. French is my first language and I know the difference between the two and employ the words correctly. If you forced yourself to get it right a long time ago, by now it would come naturally and you wouldn't have to think about it. As I say to all the anglophone apologists: if you're not good in your only tongue, then you're not good in ANY language.

  22. Obligatory on China Jails Porn Site Leader For Life · · Score: 5, Funny

    I visit the websites for the articles.

  23. Re:Obligitory on The Great Firewall of Canada · · Score: 1

    Sure it does

    I was going to go take pictures of it myself (I drink one of those pouches a day, almost), but it's easier to find it on the internets

    This is exactly what it looks like, I have 2 of those bags downstairs (and a few empty ones I haven't taken out of the fridge yet)

    The little thing on the bag is to cut open the milk, most pitchers have little holes specially made to fit the little clip on top

    I also found this image. Tee hee. (Again, that's exactly as you find it in stores today). I think this is what others refer to as 'full cream' milk (not skim/1|2%/low fat)

    There's a bit of a tribute site here but it's pretty old (based on what the bag of milk looks like).. The person also really sucks at cutting the hole, it usually comes out much nicer if you do it right

    P.S. I believe British Columbia may use the jugs, Ontario uses the bags (which is why I was bothered by California's milk, which comes in jugs, I'm used to the bags)

    P.P.S. In Australia, the norm is 'full cream' milk, and 2% (which is the norm here in Ontario) is not too normal there, another difference in milk I've experienced in the world

  24. Apple Product Lifecycle on Apple Orders 12 Million iPhones · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The headline reminded me of the (in?)famous lifecycle

  25. Mod parent up on Corporate Propaganda Still On the News · · Score: 0

    Well put.