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User: Darius+Jedburgh

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Comments · 306

  1. Re:The CD is dead on After Brief Respite Music Industry Slump Deepens · · Score: 2, Informative
    public awareness of copy-protection on cds and the decline of sales
    Dream on! Most of the CD buying public have't a clue what the issues with copy protection are and those who do won't let it stop them buying music. Few people who go out to buy a Britney Spears album are thinking "could this patch my kernel to make it vulnerable to trojans?"
  2. s/moands/monads/ on Gender Gap in Computer Science Growing · · Score: 1

    Goddamn slow fingers!

  3. Functional is fine... on Gender Gap in Computer Science Growing · · Score: 1

    ...but just be careful about the side effects that might arise from using moands.

  4. Re:Law School on Where Do All of the Old Programmers Go? · · Score: 1

    At what age did you switch to law school?

  5. Re:Nice trick these researchers have discovered on Algorithms Determine Mona Lisa's True Emotions · · Score: 1
    In the specific context, it provides for an analysis unbiased by human emotion attached to a famous work.
    And how exactly did the computer remove the bias when it was trained using the opinions of real, emoting humans?

    Your 2nd and 3rd points are quite valid, however I was talking about the specific application to the Mona Lisa.

  6. Re:Nice trick these researchers have discovered on Algorithms Determine Mona Lisa's True Emotions · · Score: 1

    So tell me, what value did this research add to just taking a sample of random opinions of what expression the picture portrayed?

  7. Nice trick these researchers have discovered on Algorithms Determine Mona Lisa's True Emotions · · Score: 5, Insightful
    1. Invent algorithm
    2. Apply it in a domain where your work can't be falsified
    3. ???
    4. Profit!
  8. Re:Thank you on Algorithms Determine Mona Lisa's True Emotions · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Thank you for posting a trite timeworn cliche yet again in order to gain karma.

  9. Acceptable fraud levels on eBay Slammed Over Levels of Fraud · · Score: 1

    I've had over 100 transaction on ebay buying and seeling everything from video games to lawn flamingoes. I once had someone complain that a hard drive was dead on arrival and refunded them the price even though they never sent the item back. And I once received a fake GBA game, though it plays fine and looks exactly like the real thing (the suspicious packaging gave it away). I consider that 2% rate pretty acceptable considering the money I've made through sales and the money I've saved through purchases. This is a success rate way over my expectations and I've been so pleased overall that I consider ebay to be evidence that surprisingly many people are honest.

  10. Re:eBay don't care! on eBay Slammed Over Levels of Fraud · · Score: 1

    They try to deal with some pirated stuff, though not very discerningly. When I tried to sell legal copies of some Adobe products my auction was shut down pre-emptively. I got them reinstated after sending them an irate email.

  11. they make it so easy on CD Ripping Services Compared · · Score: 1

    Believe me, it's not easy to fit half a ton of CDs into the mailbox.

  12. This is easy on Limiting Kids' Computer Time? · · Score: 3, Funny

    What you need is a device like a Basic Stamp which you can connect to the Mac (possibly using a USB->Serial adapter). You can then connect that to a relay board that can switch high voltages such as this. Now you install a pair of flat metal plates on the seat your kids sit on when using the computer and hook them up to a relay on the relay board. Now you can write a simple app that gives your kids a 110V shock after a designated time. My kids complained at first because they said it didn't give them much warning. So later I added a pair of step down transformers to give them shocks at 30V and 60V before going for the big one. Let me tell you: I've had no problem with computer overuse.

  13. Re:First things first on E-Paper On Cereal Boxes · · Score: 1

    The iRex is way too big. I might as well carry round a large format paperback book. I'd like small paperback size.

  14. Re:Soon on E-Paper On Cereal Boxes · · Score: 1

    Who needs to inhale it? Just seeing the word is enough to make me salivate like a Pavlovian dog. Luckily I don't know where to get one around here.

  15. Re:Soon on E-Paper On Cereal Boxes · · Score: 1

    Why injections?. Plenty of companies are doing fine with inhalable compounds that do exactly this.

  16. Correlation != Cause on It's "1984" in Europe, What About Your Country? · · Score: 1
    If you lack privacy, tyrants can go unchecked in power.
    You've got that backwards. When tyrants are unchecked in power you'll lose your privacy. Having privacy isn't going to stop tyrants (though you might like to keep believing that to help justifying keeping your pr0n collection secret), but when you start losing your privacy that's a good indicator that someone is on their way towards tyranny.
  17. Re:and on Apple Holding Back the Music Business? · · Score: 1

    $15 for something that gives hours of listening pleasure? How is that "draconian"? Over its lifetime, one CD probably relieves the boredom of many tens, if not hundreds of hours of driving in the car. That's easily worth $15 to me. And seeing as "lousy pop music" has always existed it's clearly not the cause of any recent slump in sales.

  18. Re:Small?? on New Object Found at Edge of Solar System · · Score: 1

    I don't understand what 'humbling' has to do anything. My value system doesn't have anything to do with physical size. I don't think a person is worth less because they're shorter than me. I don't think Jupiter is more important than the Earth because it's bigger. (Certainly not, my friends and family live on Earth.) I don't see the slightest little inkling of a hint of a shadow of a connection between physical size and value. I might find the size of the galaxy, say, awe inspiring, but I've no idea what 'humbling' has to do with anything. If I look up humble using google I get this definition "low or inferior in station or quality". How does this connect in any way with size? My friends and family, say, are worth more to me than a billion galaxies (unless it turns out those galaxies are full of interesting lifeforms in which case I'll dump the friends and family for them).

  19. Re:It's called "maximizing shareholder value". on Fixing Windows Boxes that Crash After Blackouts? · · Score: 1
    I have PLENTY of experience with Windows being unreliable.
    I'd keep quiet about that if I were you. People on /. might make fun of you. Even my mother can run an XP box reliably.
  20. Re:Small?? on New Object Found at Edge of Solar System · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It stems from a confusion between 'small' as in size and 'small' as in insignificant. For some reason people seem to think that the fact that they are physically small compared to a galaxy, say, makes them insignificant, as if significance is a thing handed to you by the universe rather than being something humans find or make. I guess some people can't tell the difference between a literal and a metaphorical statement.

  21. Re:Pity there are few completer-finishers on Linux Boots on Treo 650 · · Score: 1

    If I were a completer-finisher myself I'd be delighted that my skills were in even higher demand. Alas, I'm not, and without an employer standing over me telling me what to do I'd start many more projects than I'd finish.

  22. Re:The joke is on all of you. on Reality TV "Astronauts" Lift Off · · Score: 1
    Right, because once one person figures it out they have to throw all the props in the trash because in order to use them again they would have to, oh I don't know, go out and find half a dozen more people, and that's just crazy talk.
    Yes.
  23. Pity there are few completer-finishers on Linux Boots on Treo 650 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm sure this will be yet another one of those ports where someone proves it can be done but nobody actually finishes the job to the point where someone could actually use it for something, let alone actually supporting it.

  24. Re:A little bit biased, isn't it? on Chimpanzees Beat out Children in Reasoning Test · · Score: 1

    So you would have predicted that chimp brains develop problem solving abilities faster than human brains? Not just relative to their full adult ability but in absolute terms?

  25. Re:A little bit biased, isn't it? on Chimpanzees Beat out Children in Reasoning Test · · Score: 1
    So you're saying that the chimps only appeared to be smarter because humans are slow?

    Anyway - a priori who would you have predicted to have done better on the test?