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User: Tablizer

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  1. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in on Criminal Inquiry Sought Over Hillary Clinton's Personal Email Server · · Score: 1

    Bull. The retention laws were vague.

    I agree she exercised poor judgement in this regard, but "illegal" has yet to be established.

  2. Battle of the Lawyers on Criminal Inquiry Sought Over Hillary Clinton's Personal Email Server · · Score: 1

    if one of us little people had pulled such a stunt we'd be rotting in jail

    That's largely because you need the best lawyers to navigate the complicated legal process. Only the wealthy and connected can afford the best lawyers.

    In general, the laws governing this appear to be vague*, potentially contradictory, written by technically clueless lawyers, and interpreted by technically clueless judges. There's a lot of wiggle-room for interpretation, and the best lawyers can leverage that wiggle room to their advantage.

    If you get a cheap lawyer, like the rest of us would have to, then the other side can use that fuzzy wiggle room against our C-grade lawyer, and we end up in jail with a cellmate named "Bubba".

    * I've yet to see one clear-cut law that nails Mrs. C., despite lofty claims otherwise.

  3. Tricky sell to "the suits" on What Non-Experts Can Learn From Experts About Real Online Security · · Score: 1

    Updates are often expensive and disruptive to an organization. The security expert may not care because it's "somebody else's problem". (I suppose this works both ways.)

    Software often depends on multiple layers. Updating one layer often breaks another. Typical steps involve:

    1. Keep an eye out for updates
    2. Read up on any changes
    3. Create a test stack or station to test an update in your org's environment and/or with the other layers.
    4. Fix or devise work-arounds for any problems caused by the update found by the testing
    5. Schedule the update deployment
    6. Prepare a contingency or roll-back plan if there are problems
    7. Coordinate and announce down-time during deployment
    8. Test production after deployment
    9. Educate users of changes
    10. Answer questions and/or study new problems or user confusion over new features/behavior.

    That's not only labor intensive, but if something goes wrong, managers often ask, "If ain't broke, why did you fix it?"

    You can then reply that it reduces security risks to be up-to-date, but the managers or owners often view it as a concrete expenditure and disruption weighed against a fairly unlikely hypothetical, i.e. "being hacked". They are going to want solid evidence of breach probabilities to weigh against the costs of update labor & headaches, which are here-and-now costs and user disruption.

    You can't just say, "updates are good for you, like broccoli". The suits often see it as make-work job security games. Better and presentable evidence is needed.

  4. Re:Too Far Away on NASA Spies Earth-Sized Exoplanet Orbiting Sun-Like Star · · Score: 1

    We don't have to have 2-way communication to know if there is intelligent life there. If we receive their TV signals, for example, we'll know, even though we cannot reply in our life-time. (I hope they don't have Kardashians also.....hmm, maybe the Kardashians are from there.)

    And, we may be able to pick up the spectrum of life-related chemicals from here if we get powerful/big enough telescopes. But, we wouldn't know much about the nature of the animals (or equiv.) from that alone.

  5. Re:Drifters on Studies Find Genetic Signature of Native Australians In the Americas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    around 80+ people required to start a colony...

    The existing evidence is only of DNA signatures; it says nothing about settlements or being first. A lone person who arrives into an existing population can spread their DNA that way.

  6. Enough stories about the Republican candidates already.

  7. Drifters on Studies Find Genetic Signature of Native Australians In the Americas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It must have been fairly common that fishermen/fisherwomen in small boats occasionally got lost or caught in a storm, and eventually ended up in the Americas. They could keep themselves alive for such a long journey by fishing and capturing rain, with a little luck.

    Those who settled in Australia were probably relatively skilled at boating already, or else they wouldn't have ended up in Australia. Thus, it could be the same group & niche at work in both continents.

  8. Re:Someone in America probably opened a pub... on Studies Find Genetic Signature of Native Australians In the Americas · · Score: 5, Funny

    The first H1B

    The ad: "Wanted: fisherman, brewer, chicken farmer, corn farmer, weaver, arrow-point maker, haruspicist, spail chekker, and juggler. C++ a plus (no pun intended). Must not have a family to distract you, can work long hours without complaining, and at 20% below prevailing wages. And won't rat-fink on us to the local labor board."

  9. Re:Oldest? on What's the Oldest Technology You've Used In a Production Environment? · · Score: 1

    In the old days we used Ruby Off Rails.

  10. Re:Oldest? on What's the Oldest Technology You've Used In a Production Environment? · · Score: 1

    That's just your boss giving you busy-work to keep you from screwing up the database side.

  11. Re:Oldest? on What's the Oldest Technology You've Used In a Production Environment? · · Score: 4, Funny

    One of the servers was on wheels. Wheels

    You lucky devil; we had to push our stone servers ourselves across the ground.

  12. Haven't parts of TCP/IP been around since the early 70's also?

  13. Re: Why directional? on Comet Lander Falls Silent; Scientists Fear It Has Moved · · Score: 1

    Many probes have both a unidirectional antenna for high throughput, and an omni-directional antenna for emergencies. The omni-directional one typically would send & receive a very slow and simple signal with basic tracking and status info.

  14. Wrong problem on California Legislation May Allow First Responders To Take Out Drones · · Score: 1

    [A bill] would grant 'immunity to any emergency responder who damages an unmanned aircraft in the course of firefighting, air ambulance, or search-and-rescue operations

    Seems to me a bigger problem is damage or injury caused by a falling drone after being disabled.

  15. What ever you do on Smithsonian Using Kickstart Campaign To Save Armstrong's Moon Suit · · Score: 1

    please, don't hand it to the bloke who lost the original tapes.

  16. Re:keep the stains on Smithsonian Using Kickstart Campaign To Save Armstrong's Moon Suit · · Score: 1

    I don't want the stains removed. They're part of history.

    Generated when Neil first beheld the set in the basement of Universal Studios. "You want me to WHAT?"

  17. Details details on NASA Funded Study States People Could Be On the Moon By 2021 For $10 Billion · · Score: 1

    Okay, but what happens when you add in the part about people getting back home?

  18. Re:Missing ingredient: consumers on Robots Appear To Raise Productivity Without Causing Total Work Hours To Decline · · Score: 1

    So there's no in-between stage; it just pops into place? I don't know what you are getting at. We'd probably have to establish tons of working sub-definitions before we try to iron this out, it seems like.

    Also I'm considering this from the USA's perspective to simplify the discussion. The political and economic systems vary widely per country.

    Note that Rome faced a similar problem as slaves did and could do most of the "grunt work". There were more citizens than jobs. It's one of the reasons for building coliseums: giving citizens something to do so that they didn't riot or mill around inebriated.

  19. Re:Missing ingredient: consumers on Robots Appear To Raise Productivity Without Causing Total Work Hours To Decline · · Score: 1

    Fine, but you are NOT addressing levels in between.

  20. Re:At least it wasn't Beta on A Note On Thursday's Downtime · · Score: 1

    If it were Beta, we wouldn't know the difference.

  21. Timing on A Note On Thursday's Downtime · · Score: 1

    And right before the Pluto flyby.

    Seriously, though, imagine the thoughts going through NASA minds when the probe crapped out a week before the big encounter. Their toilets must have been full of bricks.

    It's not like rover problems where you can continue where you left off after you fix it. New Horizons couldn't stop.

  22. Re:NSA backup on A Note On Thursday's Downtime · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't NSA world's most famous backup solution?

    Yes, but they have to kill you after they restore your data.

    Try Chinese gov't instead.

  23. Let me guess on Asteroid Mining Company's First Satellite Launches From Space Station · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Called the "Barnum 5000"

  24. Re:Missing ingredient: consumers on Robots Appear To Raise Productivity Without Causing Total Work Hours To Decline · · Score: 1

    Yes it would, we are gradually moving into such a world. It's not an all or nothing thing.

  25. Bum rap on Researchers Discover Largest Ever Dinosaur With Birdlike Wings and Feathers · · Score: 1, Funny

    It would suck to be a dino: your front arms are too short to yank off.