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User: ignorant_coward

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  1. The perfect MS employee on Microsoft's Personnel Puzzle · · Score: 1


    So, what are the advantages of each of these sorting algorithms? (shows a list of options)

    Baaa!

    Yes, I see. Okay, if you wanted to set up a database backend for a website, what architecture would you pursue?

    Baaa!

    That's an interesting approach. Hmmm...can you spot the bug in this sample of C++ code?

    Baaa!

    You found it! Only a handful of people come through here and can spot that one!

    Baaa! (smiles)

    Good, very good, we'll get an offer though HR right away. I look forward to working with you, Ms. Ewe.

    Baaa! (waves goodbye)

  2. Novell vs. RedHat? on Novell Linux Desktop 9 Vs. Redhat Enterprise WS? · · Score: 3, Funny


    It's a tough choice, but I guess I'd go with Solaris 10.

  3. Microsoft Announces New Marketing Campaign on Windows AntiSpyware Downgrades Claria Detections · · Score: 1


    Microsoft announced, today, that they will mount an exhaustive, yet satisfying, marketing campaign with famed pop star, Britney Spears. The customer-grabbing theme of the campaign will be Britney's new hit song, I think we should just trust Microsoft in every decision they make. Already, millions rocked along with her on The Today Show, and they think the real clincher will be purchasing the next two weeks' air time on Cable TV news stations. A Microsoft spokesman said, "Yeah, people believe anything that looks like news, and if the next two weeks are the same thing over and over, it isn't like anyone will notice...the subtlety is genius."

  4. Re:Maybe 4 bombs on Six Bomb Blasts Around Central London · · Score: 1


    Wah wah wah. The pseudo-I-care-no-I-really-do-wait-is-Judge-Judy-on -next-oh-god-I-can't-miss-this comfortably tucked far away from London soapbox gets pretty annoying, too, when these things happen.

  5. Re:Maybe 4 bombs on Six Bomb Blasts Around Central London · · Score: 1


    Thank god I don't have cable. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News will be running this 24/7 for the next month, along with every self-proclaimed expert and commentator on the planet, saying nothing over and over until they wonder if there is a world outside their studio worth going back to.

  6. Re:What is the Red Hat distro of choice? on Fedora Core 4 Reviewer Finds It Bloated · · Score: 1

    "(to the extent of being able to use Debian repositories safely, unlike Ubuntu)"

    It never ceases to amaze me how many compatible but not compatible distributions of Linux are out there. It seems these things fork for the most basic political squabbles, even though the amount of effort required to maintain a new distribution is _immense_.

    The operating system fashion show is getting really old. IMO, that's why many people are going back to Mac OS and Solaris after dancing with Linux for a while.

  7. Re:Cut down the number of installers! on Windows 24 Hr Vulnerabilty Patch - Would It Help? · · Score: 1

    Updating a program in UNIX involves deleting the old version and installing the new executable (or patch, delete, rename) and restarting whichever programs were using that file.

    You can even leave the old program running on the old files, if the old file's inodes can be left intact for a while.

    UNIX has stood the test of 30+ years of use, and much of it is basically the same, in principle. Windows is only now catching up on the basics, too (Windows is doomed to re-invent UNIX eventually...but poorly). This is why OpenSolaris is so much bigger than people give it credit for, and why Linux is never going away. The UNIX model is flexible enough and layered enough that the shortcomings are slowly but surely going away. I mean, who'd have imagined gorgeous UNIX desktop environments fifteen years ago?

  8. The answer is obvious on Windows 24 Hr Vulnerabilty Patch - Would It Help? · · Score: 2, Interesting


    and it is: no.

    Microsoft has spent so many years breeding a developer and user culture of ignorance, complacency, irresponsibility, negligence, incompetence, stupidity, insecurity, instability, undebuggability, unusability, and inconsistency that they are either beyond hope or they will take another decade to correct their course.

  9. Re:Boring jobs on Debian Struggling With Security · · Score: 1

    Okay, please tell me how you pay for these people who need a paycheck.

    Sun, IBM, HP, Novell, Red Hat, SuSE, etc. for non-Debian FOSS development.

    Debian doesn't exactly have a profit generation model.

    That was the path they chose.

  10. Re:Mystery of the computer industry on Longhorn Preview · · Score: 1


    How many different ways are there to design a given LxWxH box?

    It's like cars. Most cars are pretty damn ugly, too, but we just live with them given no other choice.

  11. Re:Oh my God on Longhorn Preview · · Score: 1


    I especially love the green-on-blue and red-on-blue color scheme for buttons. I mean, it isn't like decades of UI research resulting in dark-on-light schemes really mattered, anyway.

  12. Re:That's because there's not much else there on Longhorn Preview · · Score: 4, Insightful


    Where in UNIX can an ordinary user install drivers into the kernel?

  13. Boring jobs on Debian Struggling With Security · · Score: 3, Insightful


    It isn't any suprise that the boring and the mundane tasks fall short in manpower.

    This is why there needs to be more commercial involvement in FOSS, so that people who just want a day job and a paycheck can do these sorts of things.

  14. Re:No, it's true--humans shouldn't drink milk on Sunscreen Not So Good for You? · · Score: 1

    The ability for humans to drink milk is, as you pointed out, a mutation.

    Probably one that gave us huge advantages for survival during hard times. We're omnivorous (sp?), and can eat just about anything and derive food value from it. So, learning to milk a Yak probaby saved more than a few humans back in the day. Also, cheese and yogurt takes nearly forever to spoil relative to many other high protein foods, so that's yet another advantage of adapting to eat dairy.

  15. Re:so you're the scientific authority? on Sunscreen Not So Good for You? · · Score: 1


    There are so many variables: packaging, pasteurization, additives (do your organic ones add vanilla flavor?), etc.

    I've found that most health food is 90% marketing fluff and 10% any real difference from other junk, but with a 200% price markup.

    Talk about a cash cow! One they really like to milk! (couldn't resist)

    I especially love the organic foods packaged in plastic, unrecycled paperboard, along with unidentified inks, all displayed under harsh flourescent light, in a store with artificial flooring, carpets, etc.

    I mean, if they really cared, they'd do more than just take everyone's money.

  16. Re:Man is like no other animal on Sunscreen Not So Good for You? · · Score: 0, Offtopic


    I hate the part where dogs dig it back up and eat it!

  17. Re:Common sense on Sunscreen Not So Good for You? · · Score: 1


    On the packaging of a health-food dairy product: "According to the FDA, no significant difference has been shown, and no test can now distinguish between milk from rGBH treated cows and untreated cows."

    My absolute favorite from a box of expensive health food cereal: "organic evaporated cane juice" as the _second_ ingredient. It don't have sugar in the ingredients, so it ain't junk food! ROFL!!!

    Fucking morons.

  18. Re:Garbage on Windows Software Ugly, Boring & Uninspired · · Score: 1


    That's interesting. Only 5MB shared?!? Looking at Firefox running on UNIX (Solaris pmap output) only 45 to 50MB is _not_ shared out of nearly 140MB total process size.

    Is Mac OS not as efficient at memory usage as other UNIX systems?

  19. Re:It's a tool, not a piece of art on Windows Software Ugly, Boring & Uninspired · · Score: 1

    "'intuitive' and 'consistent' makes things easy to use"

    Ha ha, Windows apps fail at this miserably, too. Even Windows itself trips up on internal stuff. Too much legacy nonsense floating around.

    Though UNIX desktops are getting better, there's still a loooonng way to go, there, too. Let's see, there's Xt, Motif, gtk, Qt, Swing all right here on mine.

  20. Re:Garbage on Windows Software Ugly, Boring & Uninspired · · Score: 1, Insightful


    How much of that reported usage is shared libraries?

    You say the total is 1GB usage...I'd bet it's closer to that 150MB reported for each client, because it's nearly all shared.

  21. Re:Considering the lack of experience demanded. on SAGE 2004-2005 Salary Survey Announced · · Score: 1


    In the US, I'd say anything less than 30K/year household income is poverty. Try raising a family of four in a single-wide mobile home, because that's what 30K/year will buy you these days.

    Housing is the real killer, IMO. Where I live, housing is going up 10%/year, which is modest relative to the insanity of the west coast. The cost of housing basically doubles every decade, and that _sucks_ for the middle class.

    Food really hasn't gone up much, because I've managed to switch to store brands when the brand names jack up their prices. Doing that buys a few years inflation. Things like cable TV and cell phones are optional, and there's no reason to buy any clothing at retail price.

    But housing...anyone buying a house is going to be fucked. Proof of the problem: the popularity of interest-only mortgages (bbbaaaarrrrrffffff!).

  22. Re:Wait a minute? on 83,431 Recited Digits of Pi · · Score: 1


    Yeah, but once the judges fall asleep, who cares?

  23. Re:Wait a minute? on 83,431 Recited Digits of Pi · · Score: 1


    What do you mean. Pi is just 22/7, right?

  24. Re:Mod parent down on 83,431 Recited Digits of Pi · · Score: 1


    Bad knees bad backs twisted ankles hit by cars yup running is a real boon for health.

  25. Re:Partnering with Sun? on Sun Announces Its First Laptop · · Score: 1


    It doesn't matter that Sun EOLd their Xeon servers. You'll get a couple years service out of them in your cluster or whatever, then as you rotate in new servers, the older ones will get repurposed as printer servers and mail servers like all older hardware does. Hell, stick a video card in one and bolt it on the side of your desk. Instant dual CPU SCSI workstation.