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User: SleepyHappyDoc

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Comments · 580

  1. Re:Mining? on NASA Proposes Manned Asteroid Mission · · Score: 1

    The idea of mining in space kinda scares me. To me, it seems inevitable that a good chunk of whatever they mine out there will be brought back to Earth, if it's even vaguely scarce or valuable (is there oil in asteroids? coal? gold? diamonds?). I suppose it would only improve my own quality of life, but how would generations of bringing minerals from space to the Earth affect the planet, long after we're dead? Could we bring back enough to affect our gravity (for example)?

  2. Re:You almost had that analogy right on Are New DRM Technologies Setting Vista Up For Failure? · · Score: 1

    That's one way of looking at it, certainly, but I'm a touch more suspicious. I think, when hardware that supports ICT is in the hands of enough people, it will be enabled on the media. By then, it'll have been active-but-not-used on most people's players and displays for some time, and turning it on on the media won't be noticed by the majority of their customers. They're just biding their time until the amount of players and displays (mainly displays) reaches the critical mass they need. And when that mass is reached, everyone who isn't on board will feel the pinch. I seriously doubt they bothered to include it without a long-term plan.

  3. Re:Don't think it will take out new media though on Are New DRM Technologies Setting Vista Up For Failure? · · Score: 1

    For one thing, the ICT flag (which controls the ability to display high-resolution video on and unprotected display) is off in media and will be off for some time, so users will not notice that particular bit of DRM

    An analogy that describes how I see this goes something like "There's a firing squad deployed outside your front door to shoot at you, but for the first little while they'll be shooting blanks, so you don't have to worry about getting killed."

    Once the means are entrenched, you can be sure they'll be used.

  4. Re:Digital archaeologists on Intel Releases 4004 Microprocessor Schematics · · Score: 1

    Before that, people actually had sex.

    I sure am glad we got out of the dark ages.

  5. Re:I'll be the first in line on Google Envisions Free Cell Phones For All · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now, if Google would give me a tzatziki chicken sub for viewing ads, I would definitely be interested.

  6. Re:No, really? on 4 Seconds Loading Time Is Maximum For Websurfers · · Score: 1

    Um, would you pay for CowboyNeal to come up in less than four seconds?

  7. Re:No impact on the Open Source Community on Worst Christmas Ever For Gadgets? · · Score: 1

    What a great idea! I'm sure the kids of the world will be thrilled when they look in their stockings on Christmas morning and find little slips of paper with Freshmeat urls on them.

  8. GPS? on Throwable Game Controllers · · Score: 1

    In case Clark Kent wants to try Madden?

  9. Re:I wonder how many people will point this one ou on How MythTV Detects and Flags Commercials · · Score: 1

    Perhaps their lack of 'killer app' status is due to the incredible inaccuracy of their SmartSkip algorithm. I've gotten to the point where I don't even use it; instead, I just fast-forward manually...seems a lot easier than hitting the Skip, finding myself at the end of the next commercial break 20 mins later, and having to rewind to find where I was before the bad SmartSkip point.

  10. Re:Sounds like a great waste of time all around on Tainted "Piracy" Statistics · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Do you really object to restrictions on [...] mentally ill people obtaining firearms [...]?

    Wow, that question sends a chill down my spine. Who defines who is sufficiently 'mentally ill' to warrant restrictions? Would this category include those Stalin deemed to be mentally ill due to their opposition to his politics? What about homosexual people 50 years ago?

    If you open the door to arbitrary restictions on liberties, things becomes very cloudy when you need to decide where to close it. I agree that keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous psychotic individuals is desireable, but I have no idea how that could be implemented fairly and without the potential for abuse.

  11. Re:Physics on Wikipedia's $100 Million Dream · · Score: 1

    Yep. You caught me.

  12. Physics on Wikipedia's $100 Million Dream · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'd love to see them acquire The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Opening up a classic resource for 'normal' people, to everyone, would be huge.

  13. Re:Ewww!! on A Hands-On Zune Review · · Score: 2, Insightful

    2old2play is what happens to the shared song on the fourth day. Kind of an apt name.

  14. Beyond Jericho? on Battlestar Galactica 'Webisodes' Conflict Brewing · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder if this is related or similar to what happened to the Jericho webisodes...there was one, corresponding to the pilot, but now the CBS website has been re-worked to remove all references to it.

  15. Re:This is just taking things too far on School Bans 'Tag' · · Score: 1

    can't phone an ambulance without the parents permission

    That is mind-blowing. What if you had had a seizure or an embolism, or some other time-critical, life-threatening event, and your parents couldn't be reached in the 5 minutes before you died right there in the school yard?

    I'd be interested to hear what school district has such a reckless policy, so I can make good and sure my children and the children of my family and friends never go there.

  16. I had to grab my calendar to be sure... on DVDs w/ Built in USB Ports for Copy Protection · · Score: 1

    ...but doesn't April 1st come before October?

  17. Re:Don't be upset Apple on iPods Come Complete With Windows Virus · · Score: 1

    Perhaps they could implement RFC 3514 to help facilitate that.

  18. Re:Long Term Benefit? on Google Campus to Become Solar-powered · · Score: 1

    I'd take that job, if it came with a Google salary and benefits.

  19. Re:Oh I see on McDonalds Japan Distributes Infected MP3 Players · · Score: 1

    No, no...next week McAfee will sue McDonalds for entering the computer virus business and diluting their trademark. McAfee may be willing to settle for a license to provide fries with every virus scan.

  20. strategic patent - not intended for direct use on Cisco Patents the Triple Play · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This sounds to me like a patent Cisco would use as leverage, not for direct revenue. (insert company here) could be swayed to buy products or license other patents from Cisco, to avoid being called on the carpet with respect to their 'triple-play' offerings. Maybe now we'll see (if we don't already) telcos and cable ISPs using Cisco hardware exclusively (paid for by the customer, of course, but mandated by the ISP at Cisco's behest)..that would be a huge financial win for Cisco, and would probably be the path of least resistance for the ISPs.

  21. Re:Idiotic on Content Owners to Charge Royalties for Searching? · · Score: 1

    If you purchase a sound recording or sheet to learn the lyrics, the lyricist gets paid. If you download a free sound recording or sheet, the lyricist does not.

    So the question, as always, develoves back to the root; the inherent validity of the copyright concept, whether or not you think that lyricists should get paid for using their works.


    Good straw man. What about people who purchase a sound recording (thus paying the lyricist), then want to learn the lyrics...should they have to pay twice to the lyricist because the singer had marbles in his mouth?

  22. Re:This is it! on Can Linux Pick Up Users Abandoning Win98? · · Score: 1

    If that's all you can picture when someone says "heavy Linux desktop penetration", you need a more diverse fantasy life. Just the words 'heavy' and 'penetration' summon pictures all on their own...

  23. Re:Prices have dropped a lot on Sony's PSP Memory Stick Entertainment Packs Shipping · · Score: 1

    Funny, I can't find the SD slot anywhere on my PSP. Do I need a different revision?

  24. Re:Porn Should NEVER Be High Def on Blu-ray vs. HD DVD Round Two · · Score: 1

    Stick to ASCII porn...you don't get much lower resolution than that. I'm proud to say I was motivated to learn my first Linux system by the sheer fact that I could watch my videos in the console with aalib.

  25. Re:Prices have dropped a lot on Sony's PSP Memory Stick Entertainment Packs Shipping · · Score: 1

    It also addresses the utter failure of UMD as a movie format. By providing media on a device that's actually good for something else (ok, maybe it's not interoperable with anything that doesn't say 'Sony', you can still use the Memory Stick for other uses after you're finished with the movie, be it PSP games or pictures in your Sony digital camera), that deals with a big stopper on their previous attempts to make people adopt their proprietary formats; the 'I can't stick this UMD disc (MiniDisc/Beta tape) into anything else or do anything else with it' factor.

    Maybe it'll catch on better than NetMD or whatever that attempt was to make MiniDisc into a second-rate MP3 player platform.