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User: Mr.+Ascii

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  1. So you are saying, "Standing Next To a Nuclear Reactor Exposes People To Less Radiation Than Flying in Airplanes".

    That sounds better and makes me less apt to visit their site. It also shows that the tolerances for radiation in nuclear facilities is nice and low.

  2. Didn't Jar Jar become a senator? on Star Wars TV Show Tainted By Memories of Jar Jar · · Score: 1

    "when most of the Jedi and anti-emperor politicians were hunted down and killed."

    You know what to do George.

  3. Re:vote absentee by mail on WV Voters Say Machines Are Switching Votes · · Score: 1

    What good will this or a take home receipt do?

    Unless everyone brings their "receipt" back and they physically count those, they don't prove or ensure anything.

    How are you going to know if /you're/ vote wasn't counted properly in the first place? "I'm sure Kang would have gotten 10,304,234 votes, but he only got 10,304,233, my vote was the one they didn't count!"

  4. Re:Just for the sake of argument- on UK Moves to Outlaw 'Hacker Tools' · · Score: 1

    The idea is analogous to how, in New York at least, it's illegal for random people to carry lockpicks. But criminalizing lockpicks is stupid. The assumption behind the ban is that burglers use lockpicks to commit their crimes. But they don't. They use hammers, crowbars, wire cutters, bolt cutters, screwdrivers and bricks. It is much faster to bash out a window or jimmy a lock than it is to pick it. So, they should ban "random" people from owning those sorts of burgler tools. But they won't, because they are useful to a greater segment of the population.

    But they need to do something to show how tough they are on crime, so they go after the specialized/mysterious tools that not everyone understands. They are punishing the imagined ability to commit a crime, pre-crime as it were.

    It's not the tools, it's the criminal.

    By the way, I've picked locks (that I owned or had the permission of the owner) with paper clips and hair pins. Should those be outlawed too?
  5. Re:How often do you hear of spammers getting buste on Spam is Back With A Vengence · · Score: 1

    If we could link spammers to terrorism, we might have a chance.

    Surely terrorist organizations have figured out that they can anonymously make money using the various spam/virus/malware schemes out there. If a connection could be established, law enforcement would take notice. Likewise, organized crime is involved with the schemes. The pump and dump stock schemes aren't run by individuals, it takes coordination to hide your tracks and keep the SEC alarms from going off.

  6. That's why... on Apple Releases 31 Security Fixes · · Score: 1

    I use CP/M. I am not aware of any published security holes for it.

  7. Re:Cross-Platform Compatibility? on No Virtual PC for Intel-based Macs · · Score: 1

    No, no! It's true!

    They make sure their software works on Windows Vista Home, Windows Vista Professional, Windows Vista Crippled, Windows Vista Premium, Windows Vista Student, and all the rest.

    It has always annoyed me that in Microsoft Speak, "cross-platform" means that it works on different versions of Windows.

  8. Re:Music for Celebrating Sysadmin Day on Happy System Administrator Appreciation Day! · · Score: 1

    Excellent song/video!!

  9. Dell Support on Your Favorite Support Anecdote · · Score: 1
    Every call to Dell support is an adventure. A couple months back, I did an interactive chat to report a problem with the onboard gigabit NIC on an Optiplex. It worked fine on a Cisco 100-Mbit switch, but when plugged into a Dell gigabit switch, the system crashed. It occured during POST, so it wasn't a software issue.

    I did an information dump explaining the various diagnostic steps that I had taken and related a previous, very similar, problem with an identical machine that was fixed with a motherboard swap. I was told that basically, if the machine worked with the NIC unplugged, then it was fine and doing anything beyond that, like using it, wasn't covered under the warranty.

    • Agent: "Based on the information you have provided, this type of issue is not covered by Dell's Harware Warranty Support groups."
    • Agent: "Dell has a fee-based telephone support service call Dell On Call. They are specially trained technicians that can help with issues that are not covered by Dell's standard Hardware Warranty."
    • Agent: "If you're interested, I can provide you the Dell On Call toll-free number. It will connect you to a sales representative that can discuss pricing options and specific services that can assist you. They will then transfer you to the specific technician gro"
    • Me: "Why is it not covered by the warranty?"
    • Me: "It is a hardware part (the motherboard) which will not perform as designed (operate at Gbit speeds)."
    • Agent: "no, your warranty does not cover advanced configurations such as the 100 Mbit hub to a Dell Gbit being that it was not with the original system purchase..."
    • Me: "Pardon? So you are saying that unless I purchase my Dell Gbit switch at the same time as my computer you do not warrent the internal NIC to work?"
    • Me: "Plugging a Gbit NIC into a Gbit switch is hardly an "advanced configuration". It is the normal configuration."
    • Agent: "The warranty is for original system setup from the factory. you can add hard ware to that warranted list through the customer care department prior to the purchase of new hardware...."
    • Me: "I have not added any hardware to the system. I am connecting it through a Cat-5e cable to a Gbit Switch."
    • Agent: "As i said this is an advanced configuration problem.. does the system function properly when not connected?"
    • Me: "Yes. But it is hardly useful without connecting it to a network."
    • Agent: "ok then the system is fine this is a configuration issue or hardware conflict with your Gbit Switch... Your warranty will not cover this problem."
    I called back and got another tech to send out a replacement motherboard, which fixed the problem.
  10. Re:Microsoft Business Plan on Microsoft Developing iPod, iTMS Competitor · · Score: 1

    It has been "Whatever Apple/Novell/Wordperfect/Lotus/Netscape/Yahoo/AOL is doing..." for years.

    I know I missed a bunch.

  11. Re:Will the Mac version ship concurently or after? on 3D Realms Won't Rush Duke Nukem Forever · · Score: 1

    Perhaps OS XV.

  12. Re:The human factor on Web Users Angered by Anti-Spam 'Captcha' · · Score: 1
    If I wanted to be really sadistic, I could instead present site readers with a sentence, in which they have to fill in either "their," "there," or "they're."
    That's a GREAT idea. Except, rather than have them fill in a blank, run a grammer/spell check on the post and reject it if it doesn't pass. You could give them a couple of chances to fix problems, then make them start over.

    It wouldn't work 100% of the time, but it would cut down on annoying posts that aren't really spam and the spam that did get through would be easier to read. As a side benefit, the grammer/spelling nazis would have to find something else to complain about.
  13. That's why I shop at Walgreen's... on The CVS Cop-Out · · Score: 1

    Obviously didn't RTFA, didn't even RTFP.

  14. Re:*cough*ASTROTURF*cough* on Everyone Still Rumbling About PS3 · · Score: 1

    The Nintendo Wii is going to be TOTALLY AWESOME!

    Actually... I have no idea. They all seem expensive to me, I just wanted to show off my four digit UID.

  15. Re:An important detail seems to be missing on Busting People for Pointing Out Security Flaws · · Score: 1

    The article isn't completely clear on the timeline for McDanel's actions.

    The way I read it is this: He used the company email system while an employee to send out something that the company didn't want sent out. Since they didn't like it, they considered the action to be unauthorized use and he was prosecuted based on that. He left the company's employ after he sent the email.

    In my experience, company resources are generally authorized for company use only. Using ANY resource (vehicles, computers, phones, etc.) in a way that harms the company would be cause for dismissal, and in extreme cases, prosecution. If I picked up the phone and called my company's clients and said something to the effect of "our widgets aren't as good as we claim they are", it could hurt sales and alienate customers. I would be fired and potentially sued or prosecuted for corporate sabotage.

  16. Re:pfft ... 20k lines of C on How The THX Noise Was Created · · Score: 1

    Or one line of APL.

    But it requires a special keyboard and you can't read it once written.

  17. Re:Too bad it's not John C. Dvorak, instead. on Will Apple Disappoint on 30th Anniversary? · · Score: 1

    Apple doesn't want a rep as a vaporware provider.

    Yeah, would't want that. Copland.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copland

  18. It doesn't affect me... on Nineteen Registrars Decry ICANN Arrangement · · Score: 1

    I use New.net.

    (Joking!)

  19. Re:Apparently they were sold on Nineteen Registrars Decry ICANN Arrangement · · Score: 1

    I must have been out sick that day. Or maybe I had just written them both off by then .

  20. Re:Age Wasn't Behind Connery's Departure From Bond on Harrison Ford Confirms Indiana Jones IV Production · · Score: 1

    Roger Moore is 3 years OLDER than Connery. Moore was born Oct 1927, Connery Aug 1930.

    Connery came back after Lazenby for $1.25 million up front, 12.5% of the gross. He gave it to the Scottish International Trust. That was Diamonds are Forever in 1971.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066995

  21. Re:Ideology and where do the moviefile go? on X-Men Trailer Released · · Score: 2

    You can set the plug-in to save the movie file in your cache. (It's on the drop down on the plug-in controls.) Then go grab the big .mov file from your cache directory and rename as you wish.

    Remember to set your connection speed as high as possible to get the best res movie.

    Of course you still need tools to convert from QuickTime to MPEG.

  22. Re:Thats great but what about other OS's? on Quake 1 GPL'ed · · Score: 1
    Bear in mind that, among others, Valve licensed the codebase for Quake, and in spite of the fact that they rewrote 70% of it, having to release the codebase for HL, OF, TFC, and TFC2 would probably hurt them greatly.
    Ahh, but then maybe we could see Half Life on the Mac.
  23. palm iii on Gameboy on your PalmPilot? · · Score: 1

    > Who needs a contact manager -- I'm just after the Universal Remote Control program!

    The range isn't that great 2m. Not sufficient to change channels from my couch.

    Of course you can buy a high powered IR port that plugs into the serial port.

  24. It is a joke! on Seriously Overpriced Books · · Score: 1

    The slashdotA is a referrer code. If one of us was fool enough to buy the book, Sashdot would get a cut.

    As someone has already pointed out. The price is for 24 copies of the book.

    -cpc-

  25. Good Rebuttal on Open Source Acid Test Revisted · · Score: 1

    Maybe I'll read the original article now that I have some perspective.