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User: inca34

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Comments · 196

  1. Re:Ken Murray's blog on How Doctors Die · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You have my condolences and sympathies. I have similarly wrestled with those issues and simultaneously had a strong desire verbally destroy bullshit, and the purveyors of the bullshit. Within the hospital there is no lack for this. To cope I read the literature on cancer, at first simply looking for a definition. What is cancer? To the best of our knowledge, after roughly a century of study, it is still a fairly abstract definition that nearly applies as much to weeds in your garden as the tumors of cancer in a body: a malignant and invasive proliferation (growth) that may metastasize (spread). I suppose we can thank the biologists for the lack of meaningful technical specifications as much as the fact that there are thousands of cancer variants, so conflicting evidence and mis-diagnosis is common. The whole situation is depressing. In the end I was not able to impact the situation technically but have retained the curiosity of picking experts' minds as I come across their paths.

    What I have found in the mean time is that the placebo effect is too real to ignore. Suddenly the bullshit and the theatre have significance beyond our cultural ties to mysticism and ritual. Feeling good and positive about life is about as important as living it. Ignoring reality in pursuit of your dreams seems like the standard these days, so why not embrace it for a dying loved one? I am partly not being serious, but wondering aloud, why be realistic when reality sucks? Sure, take care of the obligations that you must, be responsible and all that, but that is not very much work. The rest should be spent enjoyably.

  2. Re:$40,000? on Ask Slashdot: Crowdfunding For Science — Can It Succeed? · · Score: 2

    It's really amazing what $40k can do for an ambitious team or renaissance man working independently. Use-rate style renting of expensive specialized equipment, thrifty surplus purchases, allocating the increasingly available shared workspace resources, and open-source project management have shown just a few ways one can leverage R&D dollars beyond any institutional development rate. Also, depending on the mission and scope of the project, $40k for fund raising can easily turn into $400k within a year if the need is communicated and marketed appropriately.

    This is really exciting for those highly capable individuals and teams who are held back by the classic division of labor and modern management structures which are really great for doing the same thing until the end of time. It's time for a return of the renaissance man as the "secrets" of trade become commoditized one overpriced piece of "professional lab" equipment at a time. =)

  3. Re:There is Always More Work to Do on The Real Job Threat · · Score: 1

    I have no idea which post to begin with, but how about here for a start. The reactionary claim that technology (or outsourcing) destroys more jobs than it creates is categorically false. On the consumption side, given a middle-class which can actually consume what it produces, say that item A undergoes outsourcing/automation/efficiency optimization. Thus A becomes cheaper due to competition. The consumer can now afford A and B for the former cost of the pre-optimized item A. The producer spends less labor time per unit of A produced, so they are now capable of increasing volume and quality, reducing lead time, or producing a new product C.

    To be cliché, "Work smarter, not harder." The point is that the need for narrowly educated specialists is fading away in exchange for the generalist, the renaissance man. In order to run a modern end-mill or lathe the machinist must be a programmer as well. Each technological advancement should be a platform for increasing the rate of innovation. If someone loses their job because their role consisted of moving pile A to pile B, repeatedly, then I am afraid I am going to have to coldly say, so be it. I think there should be an incentive to retrain and learn new skills on a regular basis. I don't think that any job should or could ever exist in perpetuity without change.

  4. Cheers and farewell on Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot · · Score: 1

    I have not been here as long as some, but I did enjoy the pre-Web2.0 Web 2.0 means of becoming informed. Slashdot stayed true to their values, never removed comments (that did not bring down the server), our record of free speech, and strived to inform through the peer review of stories. As with peer-reviewed things, it we were usually a week behind but the quality of content was the balance. Thank you, Rob Malda. I hope that your next innovation will deliver us the already over-promised Web 3.0. Cheers!

  5. Unequivocal yes. on Ask Slashdot: Do We Need Pseudonymous Social Networking? · · Score: 1

    Subject is the message.

  6. Re:CFO's glad they didn't take the next step on Google Bid Pi Billion Dollars For Nortel Patents · · Score: 1

    Thanks! It is true, I forgot to mention that or the simplest assumption for a zero crossing. It is interesting the differentiating loses information and integration adds it.

  7. Re:As well they should on WikiLeaks To Sue Visa/MasterCard · · Score: 1

    Actually, it is our place to determine who they can do business with given the fact that they are granted partial monopolies on the backbone of consumer culture. How they operate their business directly affects the economy of the planet, so it would behoove us to settle on policy which is ethical and sustainable unless we would like to have yet another monopolistic overlord to please in order to even begin serving market needs.

    In the entrepreneurial spirit, I believe it is very important to remove concern and barriers to entry so that we can actually see some of those market forces do some good. Cheers.

  8. Re:CFO's glad they didn't take the next step on Google Bid Pi Billion Dollars For Nortel Patents · · Score: 1

    Tau seems more mathematically correct given the nature of calculus and the relationship between instantaneous slope and areas under curves, or derivatives and integrals, respectively.

    Consider the equations of motion of an object given a constance acceleration, C.
    Accel = C
    We know the relative velocity through integration with respect to time.
    Velocity = C * t
    We know the relative position through integration with respect to time.
    Position = 1/2 C * t^2

    As we move from integrating and differentiating with respect to time toward space, especially conicals, we begin to see meaning of these fractions in a way where it seems Tau is more natural than Pi given the derivation of the radii/surface area/volume relationships.

  9. Re:2 weeks on Lawsuit Claims Sony Canned Security Staff Just Before Data Breach · · Score: 1

    I think that's about enough plot to make a movie! Do AC's have copyrights?!

  10. Re:Until costs go down... on US Funding Five Game-Changing Energy Projects · · Score: 1

    Nevertheless, your point is null and void.

    Wait and act presumes the lack of actionable information. The lack of actionable information is, by definition, ignorance. If you choose to espouse ignorance, then sure, wait and perhaps the apple will drop for you. The rest of the world will continue to move.

  11. Re:Until costs go down... on US Funding Five Game-Changing Energy Projects · · Score: 1

    It is hard to refute GP's actual argument which is that because the current incarnation of capitalist markets are short-sighted, the government should act in a populist manner to serve the interests of the commonwealth. Neither the premise or the conclusion are far-fetcher and I find your talking points to be fettered with straw. Good job, GP!

  12. Re:Minus Xbox = Win (for me) on Microsoft CEO Says Kinect To Support PCs Eventually · · Score: 1

    Used Xbox 360's are $100. The Kinect is $150. Kinect sports is $50. That's really not too bad for first adopter access to first gen remote-less motion capture gaming. The sensor may also be the solution to the robot perception problem... and for $150 the sensor is quite reasonably priced compared to the industrial SICK LIDAR sensors, which haven't changed in 20 years, that go for $5k a pop and still use RS232 interfaces... =)

  13. Ben Goldacre and Bad Science on Why Published Research Findings Are Often False · · Score: 2

    Ben Goldacre, an MD from UK, has been at the detecting pseudoscience game for a while now. I have just started reading his book, Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks. I find it refreshingly topical and well-focused on the problem: evidence-based decision making.

    Similar to Goldacre's findings, my experience has been that evidence, which has been produced by some test, requires the nature of that test to be disclosed. Following the model of the scientific process, evidence requires the following before it is complete: a testable idea, a test (or series of). To facilitate TFA's issue of replication, it is often nice to include the test setup, the procedure for executing the test, results of running the test given some inputs, etc.

    --I apologize for any weirdness. I have been trying to edit this but apparently copy/paste is broken for my mode of /. viewing and Mac OS X 10.6.5 Safari 5.0.3.

  14. Regulatory capture on If the FCC Had Regulated the Internet From the Start · · Score: 1

    Regulatory capture is the relevant mechanism.

    To which I humbly ask, for an organization which result is easier to achieve: success or failure?

    Now, given the fact that we tend to elect as representatives those who openly subvert the intentions of the standing institutions of government, then as they twist the already plunged keys-of-good-faith from our nation like a dagger in the side, proceed to sell short public opinion in the very organization they swore to uphold, all the while riding the 24/7 rating-making-machine straight into their next election like a prophetic hero, how reasonably can we expect success?

  15. Re:he's right on Mathematics As the Most Misunderstood Subject · · Score: 2

    The way to mastery typically involves teaching. =)

    While teaching could be a speciality, I hold that it is an essential skill. If one cannot teach others, it is hard to imagine that this person could correctly teach himself correctly in the first place. In addition, teaching others helps remove personal biases and provides new opportunities to reconsider the original assumptions/axioms, without which we reach lower plateaus.

    And so it is said that the good idea will stand the tests of time. I used to think that this required sheer technical correctness. Perhaps, at most, I was half correct. Now I believe that in addition to technical correctness, the rhetoric (aesthetic/attractiveness) of an idea determines reception. No idea matters if none listen. Form and function, rhetoric and logic... =)

    Cheers

  16. Re:Many eyes make bugs / backdoors shallow on FBI Alleged To Have Backdoored OpenBSD's IPSEC Stack · · Score: 1

    My apologies. In my haste I forgot to click the No Karma option.

  17. Re:Many eyes make bugs / backdoors shallow on FBI Alleged To Have Backdoored OpenBSD's IPSEC Stack · · Score: 5, Informative

    It seems that link may have been /.ed. They are doing precisely as you say.

    Here is a dump of the information, last I had it.

    IRC: irc.freenode.net #openbsd
    Twitter: OpenBSDGate

    The etherpad (most detailed and up to date):
    OPENBSD IPSEC STACK VERIFICATION

    Original Email:

    http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=129236621626462&w=2

    The code:

    http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/sys/netinet/ipsec_input.c
    http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/sys/netinet/ipsec_output.c

    Misc:

    What other software includes the OpenBSD IPSEC implementation?

    Not Linux:
    Triaging Linux; git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tglx/history.git
    Initial commit 6c55c29fa, Oct 2002, Alexey Kuznetsov
    Does not appear to be derived from the above? (checking strings from ipsec_input.c version 1.54.2.3, Oct 2002). Neither copyright information nor comment strings match. Linux's IPSec implementation looks original.
    'git log -p --grep=IPSEC' on the above clone shows complete history for the period.

    Communications:
    IRC: irc.freenode.net #openbsd
    Twitter: OpenBSDGate
    PublicPad (this document); http://piratenpad.de/condition-beige

    Press:

    http://blogs.forbes.com/taylorbuley/2010/12/14/fbi-accusedipsec-of-decade-old-cryptography-code-conspiracy/
    http://bsd.slashdot.org/story/10/12/15/004235/FBI-Alleged-To-Have-Backd

    We have never allowed US citizens or foreign citizens working in the US
    to hack on crypto code (Niels Provos used to make trips to Canada to
    develop OpenSSH for this reason), so direct interference in the crypto
    code is unlikely. It would also be fairly obvious - the crypto code
    works as pretty basic block transform API, and there aren't many places
    where one could smuggle key bytes out. We always used arcrandom() for
    generating random numbers when we needed them, so deliberate biases of
    key material, etc would be quite visible.
    oored-OpenBSDs-IPSEC-Stack
    http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/elw0x/allegations_regarding_openbsd_ipsec_fbi_backdoors/
    http://www.metafilter.com/98547/Subject-Allegations-regarding-OpenBSD-IPSEC

    Docs:

    http://web.archive.org/web/20000621015208/www.netsec.net/gsa.html
    https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/ref_text/GS35F0040K/GS35F0040K_online.htm
    http://web.archive.org/web/19980101000000-20040101235959*sh_re_sr_1nr_30/http://www.netsec.net/*
    http://web.archive.org/web/20000816024729/www.netsec.net/ltr_doj.html

    Source Contributors:
    Jason: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonwright

    Possibility #1: (eldragon)
    http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvs

  18. Re:Many eyes make bugs / backdoors shallow on FBI Alleged To Have Backdoored OpenBSD's IPSEC Stack · · Score: 4, Informative
  19. Re:On the contrary on Interpol Issues Wanted Notice For Julian Assange · · Score: 1

    It is a strange phenomenon, indeed. I was just wondering about this myself. Truly, does it take one to know one? Are the most informed of criminal affairs not the criminals themselves? We speak and write best about those things we know. We come to know some things only after the intimacy of doing. Those who best know what is amiss with the world most likely have been an active part of that aspect for the last 40 years. Willingly or not, I suppose it is what is.

  20. Re:Water? on UK-Developed 'DNA Spray' Marks Dutch Thieves With Trackable Water · · Score: 1

    pH-adjusted bleach should do it. For example, chlorox and vinegar.

  21. Re:How is this legal? on Droid X Self-Destructs If You Try To Mod · · Score: 1

    Is this not the very reason for class action suits? File on behalf of everyone, make it worth your while.

  22. Re:Lynx!--Mod parent up on Best Browser For Using Complex Web Applications? · · Score: 1

    Indeed there are such people who will only resort to an outdated version of Firefox when lynx fails. I used to think that this was misguided or Luddite. Though I have come to appreciate the simplicity of user interfaces, especially those that work with lynx. The basis for my appreciation stems from technical uses of the web, typically involved in some sort of literature search, which were faster and easier to do using the lynx/telnet interfaces.

    Someone above has been posting about focusing on the best user experience as opposed to just using web interfaces for everything. I am not a web developer but this intuitively makes sense to me as a web user and hardware developer. If we use the right tool for the job, it shows in the end via ease of use and quantity of use. Cheers

  23. Re:Lynx!--Mod parent up on Best Browser For Using Complex Web Applications? · · Score: 1

    I am not sure why this was modded funny in such a serious debate over sensible browsers *s*.

    If your web page does not work in Lynx, perhaps you should reconsider your basic assumptions, including using the web to deliver the user experience for this application.

    Cheers.

  24. Re:Result on Man Tries To Use Explosive Device On US Flight · · Score: 1

    I'm curious. Are you in the States right now? I would like to know why and how Switzerland has its personal accountability complex, which is awesome, and Americans have the no accountability complex? I figured it might be something related to mandatory service, common experiences, same-team kind of stuff so the disillusionment could at least be standardized. =)

    Cheers

  25. Re:Result on Man Tries To Use Explosive Device On US Flight · · Score: 1

    You really have no idea what you're talking about. I hate starting comments like that, because it makes people defensive, but alas I have other things I need to do today. If there were one thing I could change about America, it would be a mandatory service much like that employed in Switzerland.

    Sure, you are a better programmer than soldier. So what? Half of the USAF does nothing but sit behind computer screens all day. Violence is the least of what we can do to serve our country and represent the nation's best interests.

    The point that I'd like to make is really this: we are a divide states of America. We do not know how lucky and resourceful we really are. I've seen people who sell drugs on the streets because that's all they know. By and large, their negative attitude toward America and the opportunity available is shared by most citizens. We talk about "them" and "their" government holding "us" down in some way or another. The fallacy is that we /are/ the government. We are the United States of America. When our politicians fail us, we are supposed to get pissed and stay pissed until we get what we want: their heads on a spike.

    I invite you not to respond to this post with yet another post but instead, a trip to Zurich, Switzerland. Contact some of the folks on http://www.couchsurfing.org/ so that you may be hosted by a proper Suisse, and learn. They are older and wiser as a culture with a penchant for excellence and perfection. They are the best program management/system integrators in our little planet. Truly, some of what makes them who they are is the mandatory service and the fact that every Suisse household has a standard issue military weapon and, at the end of every year, freshly shipped ammunition from the government for it. Interesting, indeed.

    Cheers