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User: Tanaric

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  1. Seems reasonable on In UK, Computer Science Graduates the Least Employable · · Score: 1

    When a Lit or Women's Studies or CA major fails to get a job related to their field, they instead get a job as a secretary, or retail manager, or human resources, myriad other jobs that require a degree but have no obvious/prevalent corresponding major. When a CS major fails to get a job related to their field, they live with their parents making a website that will "make it big someday."

  2. It's not a slippery slope yet. on Google Remotely Nukes Apps From Android Phones · · Score: 1

    If Google nukes a less-questionable app sometime after this, all your slippery slope arguments are valid. Claiming slippery slope on a single case of anything is mindless paranoia.

  3. Re:As someone who was better than average... on BC Prof Suggests Young Children Need Less Formal Math, Not More · · Score: 1

    We already are using the lowest common denominator enough, if we keep on this way you won't learn anything.

    Unfortunately, students under Professor Peter Gray's proposed curriculum won't understand what "lowest common denominator" means.

  4. 0-day? on Zero-Day Vulnerabilities In Firefox Extensions · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is the second story recently that tosses the term "0-day" around when "new" would suffice. Yes, 0-day sounds cool, and yes, it's a helpful description in, say, the warez scene (do we still call it that?), but in articles about bugs/exploits it just makes you sound stupid.

  5. Re:Client or server? on Flash Vulnerability Found, Adobe Says No Fix Forthcoming · · Score: 1

    How, precisely, is Flash going to send links to everyone on your friends list? Or access anything on your account? It doesn't magically get a pipe to the database or to the underlying server code just because it's served up from the same base URL. At worst, it can do some HTML scraping and load in your images and then POST them off to an "attackers" server... but it'd be a lot easier to do that with... you know... any other programming language deployed in any other possible way, or manually via a browser.

  6. Re:agreed. on Tired of Flash? HTML5 Viewer For YouTube · · Score: 1

    Except that Flash can't handle animation. Toss a few animated clips on the stage, move 'em around a little bit, and watch your performance tank. The biggest deal since Flash 8 (for anybody who cares about performance, anyway) is that it allows you direct access to underlying bitmap data, so those who apply some programmatic effort can get around Flash player's shitty vector implementation and make something that performs reasonably well.

  7. Re:It's about the tools on Adobe's iPhone Hail Mary · · Score: 1

    Very few people use the Flash IDE for serious development. Code is contained per animation frame which is absolute hell for anything more complicated than a single button banner ad, and Flash IDE files are completely unmergable via source control tools. The only people using the Flash IDE are banner ad developers and cartoon developers (of which there are surprisingly many -- even broadcast animations are often done in Flash these days, and then exported to Quicktime for delivery). If you're making games or apps for Flash, you're using the command-line compiler (either directly, or more typically, indirectly via Flex Builder). Further, if you're doing anything that requires good performance, you're using the (not very good) bitmap support, and completely avoiding the vector drawing model, as it's so slow to be unusable in most interactive contexts. Flash exists because Flash exists, and for no other reason. It's not a particularly compelling environment compared to, say, Unity3D or some of the other recent browser-and-desktop plugins. Hell, even Java is generally more pleasant to work in. The sole advantage to Flash is that everybody already has Flash installed.

  8. Re:Um, Duh! on Americans Don't Want Targeted Ads · · Score: 2, Funny

    I suspect you're actually a very clever marketing agent for Chevy. Or, depending how much faith I have in humanity today, for Ford.

  9. Re:keep their monitor in view on When Should You Buy Your Kid A Laptop? · · Score: 1

    Agreed. I had an internet enabled computer in my room during most of my childhood. I looked at porn, played online games, swore, had random people on IM ask me for sex, was tricked into looking at Tubgirl/Goatse, and all the rest that goes along with net culture. If your kid is well-adjusted and raised intelligently, he'll learn from it and grow. And if not... well, the world gained another McDonald's employee, but that's true regardless of his free access to the internet.

  10. Re:Rip-Off Britain - Possibly $100 a game! on Xbox 360 for $300 · · Score: 1

    I call bullshit.

    British prices for games tend to be close to the price as American games—a new game will cost £35–40, which (in the current exchange rate) is about $55–75. This seems high until you realize that these prices were all based around the typical exchange rates of years past ($1.40–$1.50 to £1), as compared to the atypical, high exchange rates now which are closer to $1.8–2.0 to £1 that it is now.

    This stuff isn't any more expensive for you than it is for us; you just perceive it as being expensive because your economy is strong compared to everybody else. Still want to whine? Fine. Fix it. Import your products cheaply, and the price level in Britain will fall. Want to have your prices based around worldwide averages? Fine. Adopt the Euro. But don't bitch that things are "expensive" because you have your own currency and your own economy.

  11. Re:This is sad . on Debris Seen Falling Off Shuttle During Launch · · Score: 1

    The B-52 routinely loses panels in flight. Sometimes, depending on the mission, they don't even replace them before taking off again; they use "speed tape" (basically, sheet metal with adhesive) to mend or bond a temporary panel back to the plane. The fact is, government aircraft are designed for different operational requirements than civilian aircraft are, and your comparison with a 747 is completely invalid

  12. Re:Does it matter though? on Massive Business Model Wars · · Score: 1

    ArenaNet has stated that the addons will be the same size of the original game, but will also be about the same price. I'd link the source, but WebSense blocks me at work.

  13. Re:Don't confuse the market segments. on Asa Dotzler on Why Linux Isn't Ready for the Desktop · · Score: 1

    So, Win2K, a 5-6 year old OS, wasn't as easy as FC4, which came out less than a year ago? Say it isn't so!

  14. Re:Wow -- way to go Microsoft! I'm blown away on Windows Longhorn Beta Screenshots · · Score: 1

    So... where's the proof that this is Genuine Windows (pun intended)? For all we know, couldn't this be a not-so-elaborate hoax?

  15. Re:Ethical problem with guesses not the real probl on Slashback: Summer, Sail, Sex Offenders · · Score: 1

    ...the US already has the longest incarceration rates in the US...

    That's a serious problem! I demand our government do something about this!

  16. Re:GW vs WoW on Final Guild Wars Beta Weekend · · Score: 1

    There actually are voiceovers; they were in the last BWE, at least (I haven't checked this one's beginning yet). ArenaNet has stated they intend to flesh out the cutscenes before release and provide voices for all of them. I imagine the prohibiting factor for beta is that all data must be acquired over the internet. Stuff like voice data will be on the CDs, thus reducing the cost for ArenaNet and the wait for the players.

  17. Re:Why Java open-source will never happen on Will Sun's Java Go Open Source? · · Score: 1

    "Java is now so big and so corporate that stability is far more valuable to its constituents than innovation." Um, what? Where were you when Java 5.0 came out? The new Java generics package is absolutely beautiful, the enum implementation allows for more control than you could ask for, and the new for loop, combined with autoboxing of primitives, gets rid of a lot of the wordy code Java had before. I'm leaving out the rest of the cool features of 5.0, or the work of external parties like Eclipse (compilation at type-time owns). How did Java stop innovating?