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User: Peter+Mork

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Comments · 274

  1. Re:Hydrogen != Green on Spinach Could Be Used For Hydrogen Fuel · · Score: 1

    Viewed from that perspective, your only real option is nuclear as a source of energy. Everything else just moves energy from one form to another whereas fission and fusion convert mass into energy. (Even solar energy is ultimately nuclear, no?)

  2. Re:The price of easy and automatic on USB Autorun Attacks Against Linux · · Score: 1

    I find Autorun very convenient. I carry my personal files on an encrypted USB drive. When I plug the drive into a USB port, it's convenient to have the Truecrypt mounting software auto-mount the encrypted drive automatically (well, prompting for the password automatically). Navigating to Start, Computer, arrowing to the right USB drive, opening that drive, arrowing to the auto-run file, and entering a password is much more complicated than entering a password. This is an operation that I perform on average once or twice a day, but sometimes more if I'm moving from computer to computer.

  3. Re:Anyone looking at the evidence knows MS cheats on Microsoft Vehemently Denies Google's "Bing Sting" · · Score: 1

    Okay, here's the dictionary. Although this lacks the background analysis.

  4. Re:Anyone looking at the evidence knows MS cheats on Microsoft Vehemently Denies Google's "Bing Sting" · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure if you're being serious, but here's a description of why it is, indeed, "just deserts."

  5. Re:Anyone looking at the evidence knows MS cheats on Microsoft Vehemently Denies Google's "Bing Sting" · · Score: 0

    Actually, the phrase really is "just deserts." Just desserts might mean eating cake and ice cream for dinner.

  6. Re:Ban guns on Congresswoman and Staff Gunned Down · · Score: 1

    I need to see some data. For example, handgun data suggest that Switzerland enjoys similarly high levels of handgun violence. I'm certainly no expert on the topic, but the other data I've seen also suggest that Switzerland has high levels of firearm violence.

  7. Re:Oh please you old windbag on Al Franken Makes a Case For Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    This is not censorship. Censorship would be if the state prevented you from hosting that website anywhere

    Censorship does not require a state actor. Untangling the definition of censorship: censorship = the act or practice of censoring; censor (verb) = to examine and act upon as a censor; and censor (noun) = any person who supervises the manners or morality of others

    In this particular case, I agree that Acme ISP blocking the anti-ACME-ISP website is not censorship, but only because their decision is amoral. They are blocking access for monopolistic (financial) reasons, not because they think anti-ACME-ISP will harm-the-children.

  8. Re:Shit like this annoys me on Microsoft Puts the Kibosh On Kinect Sex Game Plans · · Score: 1

    What is more annoying is when people claim businesses are guilty of censorship.

    I think you are confusing the First Amendment "Freedom of Speech" clause, which only applies to government, with censorship. Unwinding the definition: censorship = the act or practice of censoring; censor (verb) = to examine and act upon as a censor; and finally censor (noun) = any person who supervises the manners or morality of others.

    So, anyone can be guilty of censorship. However, most of us don't have the power to do much as a censor. Governments and corporations, by virtue of their size, do have the power to censor. In this situation, Microsoft is guilty of censorship.

  9. Re:I like many things about Opera on Opera Goes To 11, With Extensions and Tab Stacks · · Score: 1

    Well, you've convinced me that these UI actions should all be customizable. I hadn't thought about not having a middle mouse button. (The pop-up blocker interacting with the UI action is also very counter-intuitive!)

  10. Re:I like many things about Opera on Opera Goes To 11, With Extensions and Tab Stacks · · Score: 1

    Is center-click "an equivalent option?" I will confess that I tend to use the right-click pop-up menu to open a link in a background tab, but the default center-click behavior is (I think) the CTRL-Click functionality you're looking for. (I can't be positive because I rarely use other browsers.)

  11. For medical records? Really? on New Programming Language Weaves Security Into Code · · Score: 1

    Ultimately, it is the patient who should control access to her medical information. This is the central tenet of privacy. Labeling Java classes with security markings won't work because you need the equivalent of row-level access policies. And, the row-label is usually: ask the patient. However, this approach doesn't scale. So, color me skeptical.

    As a concrete alternative: What we need is a way for patients to specify their privacy expectations and for the system to enforce those expectations. This approach also requires good defaults, for example specified collaboratively by privacy advocates (favoring sharing limitations) and health care advocates (favoring information sharing for specific purposes).

  12. Re:Search? on Disc-Free Netflix Streaming Arrives For the PS3 and Wii · · Score: 1

    It was inconvenient. So much so, that I've only watched one movie on the Wii (most of the items in my queue aren't available streaming). With this upgrade, I'll probably give Netflix on the Wii another chance.

  13. Re:Privacy & Security? on Minnesota Moving To Microsoft's Cloud · · Score: 1

    I'd personally be scared crapless that somebody could get to the wrong documents and publish them or steal the numbers or whatnot.

    If you host the data on machines in your basement, you have to worry about security. If you rent dedicated space from a server farm, you have to worry about security. If you rent fungible space in a "cloud," you have to worry about security. In my experience, having looked at clouds for biomedical data sharing, security is not a particularly worrisome aspect of clouds (relative to other on-line alternatives.

    The big danger is coping with non-standard interfaces. If the cloud looks like a Linux or Windows box, life is good. If you have to learn a new API to move files around, life is bad. (The big benefit is cost savings, for small- and mid-sized organizations.)

  14. Re:Forward thinkers on When the Senate Tried To Ban Dial Telephones · · Score: 1

    In a recent Rachel Ray article, I read that when comparing two grocery lines, you should always choose the line with fewer people, not the line with fewer groceries. Why? Because the social interaction cost* per customer is more significant than the minuscule amount of time spent scanning each item. The article didn't compare self-scanning (slow, but no social interaction cost) to cashier scanning (fast, but with a social interaction cost).

    *The time required for the social handshake: "Good morning, how are you? Paper or plastic? How will you be paying? Etc."

  15. Re:Forward thinkers on When the Senate Tried To Ban Dial Telephones · · Score: 1

    I agree that scanning your groceries at checkout is slow and error-prone. However, at the Giant I shop at, you can scan your groceries as you go. Then, when you get to the checkout, you swipe your credit card and go. (Okay, there's an annoying delay to select the 5-cent canvas back discount eight times, but no delays due to incorrect weight.)

  16. Re:So.. on PostgreSQL 9.0 Released · · Score: 1

    I love Postgres, but I think the author of that article is overselling Postgres' support for materialized views. Sure, a developer can hand-roll a materialized view using triggers. That doesn't mean Postgres has materialized views, only that it has triggers. A developer can construct many features from atomic capabilities, but that doesn't mean the platform natively supports those features.

    What the GP and I would like is the ability to say "CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW AS ...". It's up to the database system to convert that declaration into the equivalent set of triggers so that I don't have to think about the logic.

    In fact, there was a great paper from 2000 ("Practical Applications of Triggers and Constraints: Success and Lingering Issues" by Ceri, et al.) that basically concludes that triggers can be a nightmare for developers, but a great way to implement advanced features such as materialized views.

  17. Re:Waiting for a capable PostgreSQL front-end on PostgreSQL 9.0 Released · · Score: 1

    Wow! I didn't realize I was in such rare (elite?) company. I love starting development in Access (because of the intuitive interface), moving the backend to a more powerful database system as needed. The ease with which one can perform cross-database queries using Access is particularly welcome.

  18. Re:ah this will be fun on Indian Police Using Facebook to Catch Scofflaw Drivers · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This type of shenanigan is already being done in Montgomery County (Maryland). High school students first find a teacher that owns a vehicle that resembles one they own. They then print out a fake license plate, tape it over their own license plate, and blow through a speed camera at a high velocity. It shouldn't take long for Indians to replicate this game.

  19. Re:To be fair... on Daily Kos Pollster Made Up Numbers · · Score: 1

    I'll (probably foolishly) take the bait: What bothers me is insufficient funds for the government to 1) monitor product safety, especially food and drugs, 2) protect the environment, and 3) fund scientific research for which there is no immediate commercial application. Simply put, I think there are activities that can only be accomplished (effectively) in aggregate. I don't want to rely on Consumer Reports to determine if my milk contains a slow-acting neurotoxin. The other two issues are even thornier in that they run counter to any economic optimization obtained through a free market. Ooh, there's #4) prosecute businesses that engage in anti-competitive monopolistic behavior.

  20. Re:I'm Tired of Living in Harmony with Nature on Volcanic Ash Heading Towards North America · · Score: 1

    I was reading a recent JAMA in the doctor's waiting room today. It included a copy of an article published in JAMA 100 years ago. The article pertained to the health impacts of water pollution, particularly from industrial dumping. So, scientists cared about the environment, probably long before anybody else.

  21. Re:The use and abuse of statistics. on Science and the Shortcomings of Statistics · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And then there are the social nonsenses^W sciences... If practitioners of some discipline do not understand how to use quantitative methods, they should limit themselves to qualitative argument only.

    Has it ever been demonstrated that social scientists have a worse understanding of statistics than physical scientists? I ask because my observations are the opposite. The physical scientists run a t-test and declare the matter resolved (significant or not-significant). Given the complexities of social sciences, these scientists check the assumptions required to use a test (e.g., normalcy) and have a good understanding of the statistics involved. (The obligatory exception is statistical genetics: physical science with a solid statistical basis.)

  22. Re:Apostrophe's on Study Shows TV Makes Kids Fat, Computers Don't · · Score: 1

    I did have a lot of fun figuring out how to pronounce Je'su's, assuming the apostrophes denote full glottal stops: Hay-Sue-S. The final stop+sibilant sounds neat. Thanks!

  23. Re:Another reason not to fly via Heathrow on "No Scan, No Fly" At Heathrow and Manchester · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It very well might, but I think it does suggest that we're already doing enough. Increasingly draconian measures are not needed.

  24. Re:Another reason not to fly via Heathrow on "No Scan, No Fly" At Heathrow and Manchester · · Score: 4, Informative

    Thankfully somebody has already run the numbers. Even accounting for all of the 9/11 deaths, the skies are much safer than they were in the 70s and 80s.

  25. Re:Safety Critical on Toyota Pedal Issue Highlights Move To Electronics · · Score: 1

    Thanks for this response. To add another data point: In high school, I drove an automatic. One day, when pulling onto the highway, the valve that controls gas-flow got stuck in the fully open position. Prying up on the accelerator did nothing because the problem was not the pedal. Pressing the brake to the floor kept my top speed below 80 mph or so, but I was still hurtling down the road. The only solution was to pop the car into neutral and to turn off the key. (Of course, I lost power steering at that point, but I was able to drift into a parking lot.) So, long story short, the brakes could not overcome the engine.