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User: aaarrrgggh

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Comments · 4,145

  1. Re:Largest is probably in an earthquate zone on Bangladesh Considers Building World's 5th-largest Data Center In Earthquake Zone · · Score: 1

    I think largest would be The SuperNAP in Vegas in terms of power-- I think they are close to 80MW of UPS. No one facility in California compares to that. I would doubt Tokyo would have anything at that scale; it would be well outside the city.

  2. Re:The Government also ruined my washer and dryer on The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy · · Score: 1

    The secret is that you have to open the door and detergent tray on the washer, and the heat exchanger and lint tray need to be removed on the dryer, also with the door open.

    We had a nightmare with our washer when first installed due to bad controller boards, but it has been working reliably for several years now. Not sure if I would go Bosch again, but it does the job pretty well.

  3. Re:Found the IBM link. on IBM Solar Concentrator Can Produce12kW/day, Clean Water, and AC · · Score: 2

    Wind loading... why not just put it on an axle and let it spin to make even more kW per day and possibly even more cubic liters of water!!

  4. Re:Training Budget on Ask Slashdot: Who Should Pay Costs To Attend Conferences? · · Score: 1

    Forcing someone to train without paying them is illegal in most states. If someone like the OP wants to go to a conference for fun, professional development, networking, etc., that is all well and good; it is a shared benefit. Threats of being fired if you don't have certification X is unacceptable, but denial of future benefits is more fuzzy.

    The real problem is some people want to be life long students and milk professional development funds, and policies need to protect employers from that.

  5. Training Budget on Ask Slashdot: Who Should Pay Costs To Attend Conferences? · · Score: 1

    Public and companies with government contracts are different than the private sector, and selling taxpayers on a conference in Las Vegas can be difficult.

    In the private sector, companies should budget about 5% of annual salary for training. That includes time and expenses. Usually our approach is to make sure the employee has some skin in the game-- either pay part of the cost or take PTO to attend if it isn't after-hours.

    As an employer, I am generally torn on the matter though; much of the benefit is to the employee rather than the employer; I care that you can do your job not that you have a piece of paper that says you can do your job. New technologies, keeping skills sharp, networking... all of those things have a split benefit.

  6. Re:No issues here on Ask Slashdot: Is iOS 8 a Pig? · · Score: 1

    I don't have any of the problems with sluggishness, but boy is iOS 8 buggy, especially on the iPad! I've had about 8 reboots since Thursday with light usage.

    I really hate a lot of the changes they have made, especially Safari, and it doesn't feel like there is much substance to the new features.

  7. Re:IPTables and OpenVPN on Ask Slashdot: Advice On Building a Firewall With VPN Capabilities? · · Score: 1

    Ironically, it is the licensing of openvpn (not that open) that makes the problem.

  8. Re:eBay a Cisco ASA 5505 on Ask Slashdot: Advice On Building a Firewall With VPN Capabilities? · · Score: 1

    I love our work ASA5505, but it is a bear to configure properly unless you know what you are doing. High point with me is the ease of connecting on the client end.

  9. Re:IPTables and OpenVPN on Ask Slashdot: Advice On Building a Firewall With VPN Capabilities? · · Score: 1

    Do you use OpenVPN from iPhone/iPads in your environment? Can't stand the client I have from OpenVPN.com.

  10. Re:Why VPN? on Ask Slashdot: Advice On Building a Firewall With VPN Capabilities? · · Score: 1

    One big reason is to avoid all the "cloudy" ways to allow remote access to things like cameras, storage, security. Another incentive might be to route all (say) netflix traffic to a VPN so that it doesn't get throttled by your ISP.

  11. Re:geek or not on Ask Slashdot: Advice On Building a Firewall With VPN Capabilities? · · Score: 1

    I've had miserable experience with Buffalotech reliability, and would recommend Asus and the RT-AC-66U in a heartbeat. The custom firmware adds a lot of nice functionality including OpenVPN with GUI.

    For non-paranoid, non-geeks, avoid OpenVPN in my book.

  12. Re:CC system is flawed on Home Depot Confirms Breach of Its Payment Systems · · Score: 1

    It is easy if the security token is a single-purpose device; hard if it is a smart phone.

  13. Re:Junk quality; why bother? on Home Depot Confirms Breach of Its Payment Systems · · Score: 1

    Most local family-owned shops are effectively Ace or one of the other franchises. While not all the inventory comes from the franchiser, it's quality is usually lower to be at the same retail price. Lowes seems to have higher quality, higher-priced products consistently, but it seems to miss the balance on the value scale.

    I bought a Husky tool cabinet last year for under $300, where the comparable product from Lowes was $700. Lowes was hands-down better in terms of construction quality, design, and features... but for my needs the cost wasn't warranted.

    Know when you want/need quality, and know when you need to get the job done. The product is the key though, not the merchant.

  14. Re:CC system is flawed on Home Depot Confirms Breach of Its Payment Systems · · Score: 1

    It is easier than that; the token needs to have merchant, amount, date/time hashed in; you approve that information before entering your pin.

    There are hard issues... like what to do with credit reports that rely on a non-random 9-digit social security number as keys to the kingdom, but securing the transaction between consumer, merchant, and bank isn't that hard.

  15. Re:Anthropometrics on 3 Recent Flights Make Unscheduled Landings, After Disputes Over Knee Room · · Score: 1

    Where? I fly domestic first class, the same issue prevails. It is bad design, period. Either lock out recline or do the slider seat reclines. Only other option is to remove tray tables.

  16. Re:Anthropometrics on 3 Recent Flights Make Unscheduled Landings, After Disputes Over Knee Room · · Score: 1

    The solution is simple, make the recline shift the reclining passenger's seat forward so the recline stays within their volume of space.

    Or, eliminate the recline altogether.

  17. Re:Yes, we know that. on Power Grids: The Huge Battery Market You Never Knew Existed · · Score: 1

    You are mixing units to your detriment-- think in kW not kWh. You are also incorrect regarding efficiency; when you pay for your demand up front efficiency is much more incentivized.

  18. Re:It is a public safety issue on Airbnb To Hand Over Data On 124 Hosts To New York Attorney General · · Score: 1

    See, the rules work! ;)

    On a serious note though, fire regulations are only one of many differences; accessibility, ventilation, energy all are different between long term and short term housing.

  19. Re:LibreOffice on Munich Council Say Talk of LiMux Demise Is Greatly Exaggerated · · Score: 1

    The GP is referring to the classic problem of collaborating with a single document. Party A provides base information, B edits information, A reviews changes and makes further updates. Collaborating with a PDF is called markup, and relies on a single party to be responsible for editing. Not sure if Google Docs does a good enough job on resumes yet to work.

  20. Re:It is a public safety issue on Airbnb To Hand Over Data On 124 Hosts To New York Attorney General · · Score: 2

    Because transient residents are not intimately familiar with the fire escapes and layout of the building. Smoke compartments must be smaller, low-level exit signs are generally required (so someone can see them when crawling), and requirements for secondary exits are different. And... you must post a sign at the door indicating exit locations.

    I am torn on the issue; in a place like San Francisco or NYC, the issue of taking units out of the rental pool is quite serious. This becomes worse where you have rent control. On the flip side, it is nice to have options when you stay in a place without sufficient traditional lodging offerings. Bed and breakfast establishments aren't really my cup of tea personally, but having a small apartment or house for a few days can put you more in the center of a community.

  21. Re:Okay... and? on For Microsoft, $93B Abroad Means Avoiding $30B Tax Hit · · Score: 1

    It is hard to make that work in the US because taxes for a person and corporation are essentially treated the same (sans FICA/FUTA). This eliminates many of the easy tax shelters for individuals; a low corporate tax rate re-opens these issues.

  22. Re:Okay... and? on For Microsoft, $93B Abroad Means Avoiding $30B Tax Hit · · Score: 1

    While it has been 15 years since I had to deal with this, using your numbers you would owe no US taxes. You exclude the first roughly $100,000 in income, so the US would see your income as $100k, and you paid $68k in taxes already, and would have only owed about $25k in the US.

    The only gotcha is that you need to spend less than 35 days in the US per year.

    The capital gains is a bit of a bitch if you have anything meaningful, but that is a the price of entry into the US market.

  23. Re:Welcome to the Information Age! on It's Easy To Hack Traffic Lights · · Score: 1

    There is one option; the PLCs fail to a "safe" mode and ignore the network if the validation PLC (not networked) detects an anomaly. Stoplight timing is out the window, but green lights in all directions would not be possible.

  24. Re:Welcome to the Information Age! on It's Easy To Hack Traffic Lights · · Score: 1

    I started to rebut your comment... but then actually came to agree. The cost of fixing this problem is huge; any traffic light pedestal could be an entry point from a "trusted" point on the system, and I have seen several in Los Angeles unlocked. Effectively the problem is reduced to if you have physical access to the machine there isn't much you can do for security.

  25. Re:Welcome to the Information Age! on It's Easy To Hack Traffic Lights · · Score: 1

    "Standard of Care" would be the correct term.