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User: bcat24

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Comments · 506

  1. Re:Yeah, right on Software Theft a Problem For Actual Thieves, Too · · Score: 1

    It depends. If you're a public place in the USA, I'm generally free to photograph you walking, talking on your cell phone, etc. Whereas if I walked up to you, grabbed your cell phone, and ran away with it, that's generally frowned upon by the law. :)

  2. Re:.com on Ask.com To Shut Down Bloglines · · Score: 2, Informative

    Dear mods,

    The parent post is funny, not offtopic.

    Kthxbye,
    Jonathan

  3. Re:Being pedantic... on Android Fork Brings Froyo To 12 Smartphones · · Score: 1

    No, Kubuntu is not a fork of Ubuntu. They share the same apt repos, release schedules, etc. The only difference between the two is which desktop packages are installed by default.

  4. Re:how much peer review is going on? on Android Fork Brings Froyo To 12 Smartphones · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It could be useful if you could install an app while denying it some of the rights it wants. Of course that could make the app unstable and useless, but at least you had the option to do so and it was your own free choice.

    I agree in principle, but I think this would make life suck for developers. Would you really want to deal with the inevitable people saying "I paid for this app and it doesn't work" when the only reason your app doesn't work is because these same people didn't grant it the necessary rights? Supporting software is hard enough as is; we don't need to make it even easier for well-intentioned—but not technically-minded—folks to break things.

  5. Re:Ok but... on Valve Trademarks 'DOTA' · · Score: 4, Funny

    What about Half Life? Is this franchise dead or something?

    I'm afraid the franchise has reached its half-life.

    So it's only mostly dead? There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.

  6. Re:This is not a repeat... on Touchscreens Open To Smudge Attacks · · Score: 1

    Heh heh, I was thinking exactly the same the thing.

  7. Re:False assumption on Sentence Spacing — 1 Space or 2? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    However, Google also says that Android code should use four-space indents.

  8. Re:Not this again... on The Hurt Locker Producers Sue First 5,000 File-Sharers · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Doing the right thing" and not stealing isn't moral relativism.

    And pirating movies isn't stealing. Stealing means I deprive someone else of their property. Copying said property is a different matter entirely.

  9. Re:Everyone gets to be an astronaut fireman rock s on Too Many College Graduates? · · Score: 1

    No marketing drone is worth hundreds or thousands of times what a sewer worker is worth. Yet our society says they are.

    I think there is a contradiction here. Worth is precisely what society says it is, no more and no less.

  10. Re:To keep spaces open for customers on The Parking Meter Turns 75 Today · · Score: 1

    So, taxes pay for the roads, the sidewalks, etc. If you pay taxes, and you park where these fucking abominations are, then you get the pleasure of paying another tax

    Do you use the same complaint against toll roads?

    Yes.

  11. Re:Trivia on The Murky Origins of Zork's Name · · Score: 1

    Is is there there an an echo echo in in here here??

  12. Re:Summary wrong on Golden Ratio Discovered In a Quantum World · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    How is the parent flamebait? Down mods are not meant to express the moderator's disagreement with the moderatee's opinion!

  13. Re:Does this do something SFU doesn't? on Cygwin 1.7 Released · · Score: 4, Informative

    andLinux only supports 32-bit versions of Windows, for one thing. I'd like to give it a spin on my 64-bit Windows 7 desktop, but I can't. Cygwin may not be ideal, but it has the advantage of actually being usable by me. :)

  14. Re:Bubby? Is that you? on German Killers Sue Wikipedia To Remove Their Names · · Score: 1

    Yeah, that's a fair point. I think a lot of it is history. It used to be much harder to get someone's personal information than it is now. Society's institutions haven't kept up with this increasingly open, public world. I agree that technology is the right place to look for a solution, but I think such technology will only gain ready acceptance when it's accompanied by a shift in society's views.

  15. Re:That's okay. on Two Earth-Sized Bodies With Oxygen-Rich Atmospheres · · Score: 1

    Oh yeah? Well, your mom is an Earth-sized body with an oxygen-rich atmosphere. If you know what I mean. ;)

  16. Re:Bubby? Is that you? on German Killers Sue Wikipedia To Remove Their Names · · Score: 1

    Your name, address, social security number, bank account balance, credit card transactions, passwords, medical history, and so on are simple facts. Should those who have access to that information be allowed to state those simple facts? In public, on the internet, where anyone and everyone can see it?

    Why not? People who really want these data will be able to get them no matter what. There is no privacy anymore; the only thing protecting most people is that they just aren't interesting enough for anyone else to care.

  17. Re:Life imitates Gilligan's Island on Cosmic Radiation Makes Trees Grow Faster · · Score: 1

    I am so glad this post is here. Slashdot has restored my faith in humanity.

  18. Re:Back in high school creative writing class ... on The LHC, the Higgs Boson, and Fate · · Score: 1

    That sounds like a pretty cool story. You should post it somewhere online.

  19. Re:Holy shit? on Heart Monitors In Middle School Gym Class? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And in the end, both groups are equally bad.

  20. Re:They're called digital cameras on Polaroid Lovers Try To Revive Its Instant Film · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not to mention that the quality of a Polaroid was awful at best and if you did get a great shot it's not like it was trivial to make copies of it or enlarge it.

    You say that like it's a bad thing. *Sigh*

  21. Re:They're called digital cameras on Polaroid Lovers Try To Revive Its Instant Film · · Score: 1

    Wow, that's the first meta-joke I've read in quite a while that's actually funny. Good job!

  22. Re:HA! on Copyright Infringement of Books · · Score: 1

    Please, don't bother "pointing out" that a Ph.D. outside of the hard sciences is worthless. It's not.

    Worthless, no. Worth little, quite possibly.

  23. Re:This might be controversial, but... on Princeton Boasts Its Kindle Project Is Noblest · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As a fellow college student, I have to agree with you. I would hate to have to use a Kindle for my school reading. If the Kindle textbooks were cheaper by a significant amount (i.e. a factor of ten), then I might be forced to reconsider my stance for economic reasons, but even then I wouldn't like it. As I see it, the Kindle offers two advantages over paper books: lack of weight and easy searchability. These are both nice things to have, but certainly they don't outweigh the many disadvantages of the Kindle: need for a battery, annoying interface, a proprietary file format, etc.

    For pleasure reading, the Kindle is even worse. When I read a book, I want to actually read a book, not some digital facsimile thereof. If I want to find something new to read, I want the ability to go to a bookstore or the library and browse actual, physical, paper books. If this makes me a snob or a technophobe, so be it.

    Finally, I find it very amusing that Princeton is being all high-and-mighty about its Kindle project being sustainable. Paper books, if properly cared for, can last hundreds of years. I have some books that my parents purchased before I was born which are still in good condition today, and I'd like to be able to pass them on to any future children I might have. Will Amazon still support today's Kindle format 50 years from now? Maybe they will, but I'm a bit skeptical.

  24. Meh on Intel Cache Poisoning Is Dangerously Easy On Linux · · Score: 1, Insightful

    So, basically the entire paper boils down to "OMG! Hardware works as advertised, and Linux lets root actually use said hardware." Color me unimpressed (and unconcerned).

  25. Re:Use Handbrake on Decent DVD-Ripping Solution For Linux? · · Score: 2, Informative

    Indeed. Handbrake and libdvdcss are all you need.