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User: Sir+Unimaginative

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  1. Re:What I don't understand. on Voting Machines Banned by Dutch Minister · · Score: 1

    Two issues here:

    First, chilling effects. Knowing that bribes and threats affected even ONE vote lowers the value of the vote for everyone.

    Second, YOU. The fact that you try so hard not to care is a sign of a greater epidemic of citizen apathy toward electoral failures pretty much everywhere.

  2. Re:So 'they' want on Will the U.S. Lose Control of the Internet? · · Score: 1

    And how much of the world already uses latin character-sets? Oh, only about seventy, eighty percent? Face it, when it comes to addresses, you need something unambiguous, and right now, the Latin character set (which isn't just English, Tim) is the one that more people can type things with than any other.

    Of course, we could go back to entering IPs directly, which would work well (aside from the fact that you wouldn't remember any of them, see phone numbers) until IPv6 comes out, in which case we're back up the creek.

  3. Re:I'm poor man on Vista to Allow "One Significant" Hardware Upgrade · · Score: 1

    Until you could figure out how to stick ten memory modules on the RAM stick and keep it from dying you wouldn't be able to buy a 5 gig stick in ANY case.

  4. You know... on ACLU Drops Challenge Over Patriot Act · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Its all find and dandy that the ACLU is trying to protect my civil liberties but when they are pushing to have a cross on the side of a road where someone has died be removed or pushing to have a stone ten commandments be removed, how are these civil liberties away from anyone?"

    There's something going on if you can't tell the difference between different types of public land.

    Roads are public in the COMMON sense - a cross memorialising someone who died on a particular stretch doesn't actually impose on anything besides things like "Hey, keep in mind some crap driver (maybe on something) killed a person here. Remember them, and, you know, heads up.". I would CERTAINLY remind my local ACLU chapter they have bigger fish to fry if they were going after any of these.

    Courthouses are public in the sense of PUBLIC SECTOR. As in Government. This should go without saying, but I get the sensation it bears repeating here. Putting a stone tablature of the Commandments is problematic for a reason; namely that propping them in the rotunda of your local International House of Law acts as an implicit "We (the law) enforce this in these parts" (Which someone who actually cares about freedom of religion or right of consent SHOULD take issue with, or at least with the left half and possibly #7) and at worst serves as a state endorsement of religion (While not as bad as actually erecting a state religious sect, it's ALSO covered under 1st Amendment concerns).

  5. Principle of VLA systems: on The Largest Digital Photo · · Score: 1

    A lot of small receivers pointed at the same thing behave similarly to how a much larger hypothetical single receiver could be expected to in the same situation.

    Expect multi-lens and/or multi-sensor digital cameras to become more common than they are now. Don't expect them to be portable in any sense but the most loosely technically adherent, or consumer-affordable for a couple generations after that, but still.

  6. Re:Her website is damn UGLY!! on Slashdot's Vastu · · Score: 1

    oh god my brain is crying WHAT THE HELL DID THAT PAGE DO?

    it doesn't even have tear ducts....

  7. Re:not quite as bad on Quebec Bans Electronic Voting · · Score: 1

    Well, the thinking IS regressivist, but in the Wi-Fi case, it's a matter of contract, though the "captive audience" factor can soundly mess up any argument that "the issue is ethically sound because, hey, contract".

    As for the voting, there's no issue at all: The government's saying how it intends to mind its own business, and the way it chose is less problematic than the one the neophiles would choose. Big deal; if it gets to the same place without being tampered with, there is no issue.

  8. Two words follow: on Male Blood Elves Get Pumped Up · · Score: 1

    Procedural Generation.

    They no longer have any excuse.

  9. Re:So... how long? on EU Considering Regulating Video Bloggers · · Score: 1

    Never would have held up in court - in fact, the Confederacy would probably be alive and well today if they didn't fire first.

    Yeah, it's pretty much a no-go these days, but mostly because of Texas v White which resulted in the revocation of any possibility of secession... and Texas getting $150M in Reconstruction bonds (halfway down).

  10. Re:Only suckers buy Apple anyways on Do Big Screens Make Employees More Productive? · · Score: 1

    Gimme a call when you can get your hands on monitors that sit next to each other seamlessly.

  11. There's also another minor detail. on Valley Firms Push California Oil Tax · · Score: 1

    California constitutes about 1100 billion dollars of GNP. That translates to a lot of tax money.

    And if the oil stops, so does that.

    The fed would FORCE them to sell - and despite any laws that exist against forced transactions, they'd make a way for it to be legal.

  12. Re:Breaking your own rules on Microsoft Vista User Interface Guidelines Published · · Score: 1

    For the love of... the first one looks like old Windows 3.1 style! (With a tiny bit of gussying up, of course.)
     
    And the second is just hideous.

  13. I remember the days... on How a Wiring Rack Should Look · · Score: 1

    ... when one kept the million lines of spaghetti code INside the computer.

  14. Simple. on Tech Lobbyist Named to DHS Top Security Post · · Score: 1

    Bring back the trucks.

  15. Well... on RSS Feed Feed — Ultimate News Portal? · · Score: 1

    Well, sorry I got you all killed.

  16. The irony of course on Virgin Atlantic Bans Dell, Apple Laptops · · Score: 1

    that after all the 'precautions' at the airport these days ON TOP OF: -getting to the airport -waiting for the plane (in multiple chunks of time depending on delays and security &cet.) -waiting for checked baggage -getting to wherever (hotel/meeting/&cet.) that the time difference between the two probably isn't all that much for distances below (educated pull out the arse) 500 miles.

  17. Thank you but no. on Asus PW191 LCD Review · · Score: 1
    It isn't that bad looking of a job.

    But I'm with the guy who said he wants a zero-border LCD. Right now I've got a Samsung SyncMaster 930b and while it was probably downright midrange when I got it, it's a solid performer and I'd choose it over that any day.

    Also: Why aren't there any monitors with real 16:9 aspect these days? (Do the math: 1440:900 is 8:5.)

  18. Obvious Safety Application: on Organic LED Could Replace Light Bulbs? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Drop a couple AAs into a pouch in a jacket or something, wire it up to strips of this: Suddenly drivers etc. can see you at night. I wonder if there's any feasible way to do this in a torch format....

  19. Because this is all about OSX? on Mass Microsoft Defections to Apple Possible · · Score: 1
    How much profit does Apple make when they sell an iMac?

    How much profit does Apple make when they sell a copy of OSX?

    OSX is just the vector; the machine is the goal.

  20. I think you may have misinterpreted me. on Alleged British Hacker Fears Guantanamo · · Score: 1
    Yes, the whole Middle East campaign will run out of steam once those most-visible opponents of America are dealt with.

    The problem, though, is that the United States government has managed to garner a fair bit of power from War on Terror resolutions, and they probably won't want to part with it. As long as they can either count on or fake the spectre of terrorism, the War, in their eyes, never has to end, unless we actually get some ethics back into the Hill and the West Wing.

  21. Could HAVE been. on No GoldenEye For Xbox Live · · Score: 1

    Nintendo doesn't have much access to Goldeneye anymore; the Rare bits are in Microsoft's hands and the EA licencing is... well, EA.

  22. When the War on Terror is over? on Alleged British Hacker Fears Guantanamo · · Score: 1
    What conditions do you think would cause the War on Terror to ever be over?

    We could (theoretically; given that random ideas can pop into people's heads in much the same way as genetic mutation occurs, this isn't likely to happen) take out all the terrorists.
    Hell, we could have entire days or weeks without violent crime. (See above.)

    But as long as there is power to be gained by holding the spectre of terr'ists over the heads of the people, the War on Terror will never be over.

  23. Hmm. on Useful Apps for First-Time Windows Users? · · Score: 1
    Everyone else has pretty much covered everything else (though I'd recommend 7-Zip or IZArc for compression and no IM at all - leave that in Macland; you're safer), so I'm limiting my recommendations quite a bit, mostly to games.

    Galactic Civilizations II, Transcendence, and Future Pinball are all that come up off the top of my head at the moment. For the latter, you'll want to pick up tables at VP-Originals. A ton of other games can be found at places like Abandonia Reloaded.

    Also, Stardock offers the Object Desktop suite if you want to make Windows XP look less... XP-y.

  24. How about "We take our ball and go home"? on Chinese Telecom Company Launches 'RedBerry' · · Score: 3, Interesting
    After God-knows-how-many years of "most favoured nation" trade status, a freakishly large amount of production takes place in China; they also have a lot of our foreign debt.

    Now imagine either of two scenarios:

    1) China ceases production for the US market. (They could easily turn to produce for their own domestic market, and at not too dissimilar revenue levels.)
    2) China calls in our tab.

    Sleep tight.

  25. Uh.... on KOffice 1.5 Released · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The really awesome thing about OpenDocument is that the suites never have to merge.

    And you're right, it won't ever happen. Because some people will want some killer feature only KOffice has, and some people will want some feature only OpenOffice has.

    Unity? Pah. The whole point of open source is that unity is neither necessary nor (typically) desirable. If you CAN use the same stuff in ANYTHING, ON anything, WHY would you want to use it in only ONE thing?