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User: gstrickler

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  1. Re:I guess that means... on SHA-3 Winner Announced · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's only silly if mainstream implementations actually make use of varying those parameters across each installation. However, if something like Windows uses the same parameters for several hundred million installations, a rainbow table will be just fine. Given the history of major software vendors, that's not a guaranteed outcome. If they use the salt properly (randomly generated for each installation, or each encoded item), then it should make them rainbow tables pointless.

  2. Re:Range of that Weather-Balloon's WiFi on LightSquared Wants To Share Weather-Balloon Frequencies for LTE · · Score: 1

    I'm not going defend LS (they're just whining because they're not getting their way), but if they're willing to pay for changing the weather balloons to another (lower) frequency, this might be viable. The weather sondes could still be made cheaply if they were moved to something like the old TV frequencies, possibly even a whitespace frequency. The lower frequency would propagate better, and possibly require less power. The bandwidth, data rate, and power levels shouldn't be a problem. The ground stations might need upgrades to receive the lower frequency, and LS should have t pay for those, as well as any development costs for new sondes.

    So, while I'm skeptical, it might be viable IF LS is willing to pay for the changes. Of course, this only applies if weather balloons are the only use of the frequencies in question, AND they demonstrate that their use won't cause interference with GPS (still close in frequency) or other nearby frequencies.

  3. Re:Just pay for proper spectrum already! on LightSquared Wants To Share Weather-Balloon Frequencies for LTE · · Score: 1

    Ummm, that's how it works now. Spectrum is never sold, only allocated for a given timeframe while it's "in the public interest".

  4. Some suggestions on Ask Slashdot: What Would You Include In a New Building? · · Score: 3, Informative

    Most important items are a wiring and equipment closet and several dedicated wiring channels (at no more than 30% capacity) do you can more easily upgrade the wiring and infrastructure in the future. The easier and less costly it is to upgrade your wiring/fiber, the easier it will be to make upgrades. Make sure the equipment closet is climate controlled and has a good air filtration system, dust from your CNC operations is not nice to equipment, especially metallic dust.

    As for what to put there now, I recommend Cat 6 cabling plus any specialized cabling that you currently require.

  5. Re:Why? on Innocence of Muslims Filmmaker Arrested, Jailed · · Score: 1

    But your point is irrelevant. The fact is that his actions lead to the deaths. Whether he is legally culpable for the deaths is a separate issue. But the fact that his actions resulted in the deaths made it virtually certain that he would be arrested on the probation violations.

  6. Re:Why? on Innocence of Muslims Filmmaker Arrested, Jailed · · Score: 1

    It's called "reckless disregard". He knew the film would create outrage and protests that could endanger others.

    He used aliases (in violation of his probation) in making the film because he knew using his own name would be an impediment to making it. He distributed it via the internet (again, in violation of his probation) knowing that would reach a wider audience, including those he knew he was offending.

    The results of his actions were reasonably predictable, and he took them anyway, and violated two conditions of his probation to achieve that result. Whether or not he can be held accountable for negligence, the fact is that if he hadn't violated his probation, a number of people would still be alive. His actions did result is harm to, and deaths of, others.

  7. Re:Why? on Innocence of Muslims Filmmaker Arrested, Jailed · · Score: 1

    Had his violations been "harmless", it might not have been prosecuted. However, people have died as a result of his parole violations. Tell us again how this shouldn't be prosecuted?

  8. No 7B years ago on Gamma-Ray Photon Observations Indicate Space-Time Is Smooth · · Score: -1

    At least, not in our causal reference. It happened here very recently. It happened as a space-time distance of 7B ly. It was only 7B ly ago in the frame of reference of the origin.

  9. Re:Spec'd the Kindle on State Dept. Cancels $16.5M Kindle Contract · · Score: 1

    "While in a strict lower cost item sense it's bad"

    Cost != price.

    You sort of addressed that in your later comments, but your comment perpetuates the common misconception that price = cost. I practice, cost = price plus lifetime support and accessory/software/add-on costs. And that's still not the relevant question. The relevant question is cost per year, so take the above divided be average usable life.

  10. Re:I visited the National Ignition Facility this y on Paul Ryan's Record On Science and Government · · Score: 1

    We don't have "high taxes", not compared to what they were prior to 1981, and not compared to most developed countries in the world. Certainly, no one wants to pay more taxes, but if you look at what we've paid historically, and what other developed countries are paying, there is no way you can conclude we're paying "high taxes".

    What we need is a discussion about what services govt should and shouldn't be providing, how much those will cost, then set taxes at a level to pay for those services and balance the budget.

    And as for the military, why is the US military spending greater than the next 25 countries combined? Who are we protecting against? Oh, that's right, we're fighting foreign wars, funding insurrections, and trying to the the world police. It's no wonder 1/2 the world hates us. We do need a military, and a strong one, but seriously, more than the next 25 countries combined? Stop trying to be the world police, get out of the foreign wars and stop getting in every other country's business, and cut the military budget in half (maybe even less).

  11. Re:Actually... only 157 million miles away on Upgrading Software From 350 Million Miles Away · · Score: 1

    It's not about the path the craft travels, it's current distance. Radio waves travel in an essentially straight line, so current distance is what effects the transmission propagation time.

    Exception would be if we can't transmit through the sun, in which case then Mars is opposite the sun, the transmission would either have to be delayed until we can transmit, or relayed off a satellite such as STEREO.

  12. Re:Actually... only 157 million miles away on Upgrading Software From 350 Million Miles Away · · Score: 1

    More to the point, Mars is never more than 2AU + ~38M mi =~225M mi from earth, and that only when it's directly on the opposite side of the sun.

  13. Re:It's a big world on Bad Software Runs the World · · Score: 1

    There are plenty of good coders, but not so many very good or great coders. Obviously, you want the best coders you can afford. The main problem is the lack of (or lack of use) of a good software architect and proper design documents. Exactly what constitutes "proper" will vary with the scope of the project, complexity of the project, and size and skill of the coding team, but the documents are necessary. Time-frame is not one of the considerations; if you don't have time to perform a requirements analysis, design the architecture, and create design documents, your chances of having a successful implementation are very low anyway, unless it's a relatively small project with 3 or fewer developers, one of whom is a decent architect.

    There probably is a shortage of competent software architects, I certainly haven't met many, but being one myself, I may be a bit biased.

  14. Re:Apple on Wired Writer Hack Shows Need For Tighter Cloud Security · · Score: 1

    Only the fist 6 and last 1 are "not random". The first 6 are the ISO number (formerly the BIN - Bank Identification Number) and are assigned to the card issuer, and the last is a check digit calculated from the full card number excluding the last digit. However, the last 4 are commonly printed on receipts, so they're not exactly "secret". But on a 16 digit number, that leaves digits 7-12 as relatively unknown (unless you have the full card number).

  15. Penalty proposal. on NASA's Own Video of Curiosity Landing Crashes Into a DMCA Takedown · · Score: 1

    Rights holders issuing fraudulent (materially incorrect) DMCA takedown notices, shall immediately have ALL their copyrighted content taken down for 30 days, or 10x as long as the material they made a fraudulent claim upon was down, whichever is longer. This includes all sites they control, including any such things as YouTube channels they control, their corporate website, etc. In addition, they will pay a $5000 fine per instance to the US Govt, pay $1000 or actual expenses (whichever is greater) to the provider they issued the notice to, and pay damages of 3x the actual losses of the entity who does have the copyright to the material in question, but in no case less than $5000, to that entity.

    That should give them sufficient incentive to make sure it's their material and not something covered under "fair use" before issuing a notice.

  16. These machines must be secure... on US Missile Defense Staff Told To Stop Watching Porn · · Score: 1

    ...so from now on, bring you own porn to work in the form of a magazine.

  17. Re:duh on Existing Solar Tech Could Power Entire US, Says NREL · · Score: 1

    Or, you could read the report, and find that the rural PV "available" land area they used for their estimates was 3,186,995 km2, which is ~32% of the total US land area. No need to look at the other forms because they're all smaller land area, and mostly overlap the area for rural PV, plus, the potential for rural PV alone is ~10x the current US energy consumption. That's all energy, not just electricity. Using the NREL estimates, we could supply all our current energy using about 3.2% of rural land in the US. That would need to be a combination of PV with batteries, and or CSP to allow continuous power production. And, you have to supply peak demand, so you might need twice that much (6.4%), and/or have other good peak and baseload sources online. PV can be used in most states, but the report indicates that CSP isn't viable in the eastern half of the country or Alaska, so it's going to require major upgrades to the grid to get power from CSP plants in the southwest to the rest of the country or to build massive energy storage facilities around the country, in order to have 24/7 availability.

    When I did my own calculation on this about 6 months ago, I calculated you would need about 7.6% of US land area to supply current energy demand, which is about 15% more than the above suggests, but most of that difference is because I accounted for access roads, distribution grid, etc.

    Current electricity demand is only about 1/8 of that amount, so electric alone could be replaces using about 1% of the land, but that still leaves us heavily dependent upon fossil fuels for heating, autos, etc. It would easy the problem, but not eliminate it, and it still requires major grid upgrades.

    The potential is there, but it will take a lot of land and infrastructure, and many trillions of dollars to make it a reality.

  18. Re:But...but... on Images Show Apollo Moon Flags Still Standing · · Score: 2, Funny

    They'll just say these photos are fake. They have to keep up the illusion.

  19. It's a simple rule, really... on Researcher Wows Black Hat With NFC-based Smartphone Hacking Demo · · Score: 2

    Another network or communications port = another attack vector.

    The question is why to vendors think they need to keep adding new communication methods faster than they can test and debug those ports?

  20. Re:twisted pair, twisted logic on Who Really Invented the Internet? · · Score: 1

    He could have been more clear and specific. But exactly which part of his statement if demonstrably, factually incorrect?

    As I said, it's misleading, but it's technically sound.

  21. Re:twisted pair, twisted logic on Who Really Invented the Internet? · · Score: 1

    They do NOT mean the same thing. You've focused on one word that is common to 2 of 6 definitions, and in doing so, and you've taken that word out of context. While one word of their definitions suggests they may sometimes be synonyms, none of their other definitions are the same. To invent, means to bring something new (e.g. previously unknown) into existence, not merely to produce it. Whereas, create has no requirement that it was something previously unknown. It may or may not have been known before, but you did produce an instance or copy. Create also means "give rise to", and providing funding is certainly part of "giving rise to". Gore's statement was technically sound, but rather misleading.

  22. Re:I like my drives on Asus Delivers Speed Boost With USB Attached SCSI Protocol · · Score: 1

    I like my women on my drive.

  23. Re:I'll take The Macallan on High Security Handcuffs Opened With 3D-Printed and Laser-Cut Keys · · Score: 1

    Me too. Cask Strength if you want a real kick.

  24. Re:Facebook is a public place on Facebook Scans Chats and Posts For Criminal Activity · · Score: 1

    I said no such thing. I never said you have a right to a soapbox, I simply stated you have not right to mine and I'm under no obligation to provide you one. That doesn't imply that you have a right to your own soapbox, but like the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness, you do have the right to create your own soapbox, using your own resources, no one has to provide you with one to use. And that's perfectly consistent with "no government can deprive you of them" (without due process of law).

  25. Re:Facebook is a public place on Facebook Scans Chats and Posts For Criminal Activity · · Score: 1

    OMG, someone who can't comprehend the difference between "I don't care whether you agree with it" and "I don't care what you think".

    OMG, someone who thinks it's ok to ignore the relevant facts to make his point is now responding with OMG! When you address the ToS, the law, and the expectation of privacy, then you might have a chance at making a point, but as long as you ignore them, you can't even begin to make a point.

    OMG, I can use OMG and sarcasm too.