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User: Sir_Lewk

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Comments · 2,649

  1. Re:Can't afford this army on US Army Considers a Smartphone For Every Soldier · · Score: 1

    Do you realize how much money we currently spend per solider? We might as well be giving them an extra ration of dental floss for how much this is actually going to add in the grand scheme of things.

    Don't undermine the good arguments for cutting military spending by focusing on trivial crap like this.

  2. Re:Ron Paul on WikiLeaks, Money, and Ron Paul · · Score: 1

    If there's one thing Tron Paul gets it's the Constitution.

    How about a Daft Punk soundtrack too? I think that'd work pretty well...

  3. Re:The Land Before CPUs on All-Analog DIY Segway Project · · Score: 1

    I'm not really sure what to make of this comment. You are aware that the Apollo missions used extraordinary advanced integrated circuit computers, right? The Apollo Guidance Computer was no analog computer...

  4. Re:Cryptonomicon on WikiLeaks Starts Mass Mirroring Effort · · Score: 2

    Bitcoins is an attempt at that, and seems to actually be getting off the ground.

    What we need is for it to be embraced and adopted.

  5. Re:Make it static. on WikiLeaks Starts Mass Mirroring Effort · · Score: 1

    Nice save attempt, but you're not that smooth. :P

  6. Re:Make it static. on WikiLeaks Starts Mass Mirroring Effort · · Score: 5, Interesting

    he's not the dictatorial leader of wikileaks that everyone imagines. I wish there was both a way to verify this and a way to disseminate the info so that everybody else would realise

    While true, it is not in wikileaks interest for this to become commonly known. Assange's job is to be the shit-shield for wikileaks, while everybody wastes their time hurling smear campaigns and arrest warrants against him, wikileaks is able to continue it's mission as before.

    Do you notice the dozens and dozens of replies to every wikileaks article that follow the general form: "I wouldn't be opposed to wikileaks, but Assange is a [tool/jerk/douche/rapist/spy/...]"? That is wikileaks strategy in action. Since you are in on the truth, feel free to laugh at them :)

  7. Re:Make it static. on WikiLeaks Starts Mass Mirroring Effort · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Correction: By releasing them in small batches, they are ensuring that each story gets the attention it deserves .

    Any shitstorm that results from this isn't at the hands of wikileaks, but at the hands of those who actually caused the shitstorm. The people the cables are about.

  8. Re:Make it static. on WikiLeaks Starts Mass Mirroring Effort · · Score: 4, Informative

    non-paraphrased:

    Why not release everything now?

    The embassy cables will be released in stages over the next few months. The subject matter of these cables is of such importance, and the geographical spread so broad, that to do otherwise would not do this material justice.

    We owe it to the people who entrusted us with the documents to ensure that there is time for them to be written about, commented on and discussed widely in public, something that is impossible if hundreds of thousands of documents are released at once. We will therefore be releasing the documents gradually over the coming weeks and months.

  9. Re:give keys? on WikiLeaks Starts Mass Mirroring Effort · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You don't give them your keys, you simply allow them to authenticate with their private key by adding their pubic key to your authorized keys list.

    You control your server, so if you're paranoid take some precautions. Set up an account (or better yet, an accout on a new VM) specifically for this with limited permissions and access. If you're really paranoid, you obviously won't be doing this at all.

  10. Re:Make it static. on WikiLeaks Starts Mass Mirroring Effort · · Score: 2

    Wikileak's stated intention is to release these cables all over a period of several months because "doing them all at once would not do justice to them" (paraphrased).

    Now what they could (and supposedly have) do is release all the cables in an encrypted format, continue to release them in batches as they are currently doing, and leak the key if there is ever a problem. Supposedly this is what their "insurance" file from a while ago is for.

  11. Re:Programming lesson on Pac-Man's Ghost Behavior Algorithms · · Score: 0

    No, he is suggesting that it is an important factor. As a male with very poor vision in my left eye, I can assure you it is quite important.

    Next time you're trying to parallel park try closing one of your eyes. Will it be possible? Of course. It'll also be a shitton more difficult.

  12. Re:The Business Case Against Root-Tolerance on Nook Color Rooted — Will B&N Embrace the Tablet? · · Score: 1

    You know what works great?

    Browsing the web on my Kindle 3 for freely available/public domain books from 3rd party websites, and having my unhacked Kindle download them straight into my collection for me.

    Yeah, that's some real heavy lockdown there.

    Not supporting Epub is nothing more than an annoyance. It's trivial to convert books to mobi, or other formats. Calibre does it for me...

  13. Re:The man is a hack. on Ray Kurzweil's Slippery Futurism · · Score: 1

    Nobody is saying that a Turing machine cannot emulate the brain (or that the brain cannot emulate a Turing machine, at least with enough external "tape").

    thinking about the brain as an approximation to a Turing machine is a pretty bad model.

    Nevertheless, it is valid.

  14. Re:The man is a hack. on Ray Kurzweil's Slippery Futurism · · Score: 1

    Turing machines represent the limit of computability as we know it. Unless you have some pretty serious and solid contributions to make to the field of mathematics, then Turing machines are far more computationally powerful than brains. Unlike brains, Turing machines have unlimited tape, otherwise they are identical.

    Now, we can chose to assume that human brains are more powerful than Turing machines, with no proposed mechanism to explain it, and no evidence to back it up. It's also possible to assume that there is really a giant sky-daddy who made us all, with no proposed mechanism to explain it, and no evidence to back it up.

    Such assumptions are made on faith, not science.

  15. Re:The man is a hack. on Ray Kurzweil's Slippery Futurism · · Score: 1

    Barring religious mumbo-jumbo about a "soul", yes it is.

  16. Re:What does Wikileaks get from this? on UK Asks News Outlets Not To Publish WikiLeaks Bombshell, US Prepares For Fallout · · Score: 1

    Fun fact: The US has not "been at war" since the Second World War.

    Look it up.

  17. Re:Active Medical Material? on FedEx Misplaces Radioactive Rods · · Score: 1

    Fiestaware is completely safe, the only real danger it could possibly present is heavy metal poisoning and even that is not terribly credible.

    Let me guess, you think only trained and certified people should be allowed to change the batteries in smoke detectors too. Or did you not know they contained radioactive materials? Hell, even analogue wristwatches commonly contain radioactive materials. Do you think we should start sticking great big "DANGER: RADIOACTIVE" stickers on those too? ...wait a second. You don't happen to be employed be the State of California, do you?

  18. Re:Editors shouldn't be allowed to post stories. on Google, Microsoft Cheat On Slow-Start — Should You? · · Score: 1

    kdawson writes

    No, our gripe really is with kdawson.

  19. Re:Active Medical Material? on FedEx Misplaces Radioactive Rods · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why do you have a problem with me using Fedex to ship somebody across the country some radioactive fiesta-ware they bought from me on eBay?

    "Radioactive" doesn't automatically signify "dangerous".

  20. Re:So no one is caught but it works? on The Sensible Body Scan Alternative · · Score: 2, Insightful

    khasim has a rock that repels crocodile. khasim has not been attacked by crocodiles.

    You do not have this rock!

    I strongly advise that you purchase a crocodile repelling rock from him, as you apparently cannot rule out the rock as preventing the crocodile attacks.

  21. Re:Suitable for cold climates, I'm sure. on Nokia Builds a Touchscreen Display Made of Ice · · Score: 1

    With the amount of power the lamps in projectors take, I think you could pretty easily heat a normal display to keep it operational.

  22. Re:cool on Nokia Builds a Touchscreen Display Made of Ice · · Score: 1

    You realize it still hurts like hell right? Speaking from personal experience, I can assure you that "don't lick metal poles during winter" is very sound advice.

  23. Re:no thanks on Estonian Economist Suggests Abandoning Cash · · Score: 1

    http://www.bitcoin.org/

    Other more elegant/anonymous schemes are possible as well.

  24. Re:Good. Hope this keeps up on US Marshals Saved 35,000 Full Body Scans · · Score: 1

    I'm reminded of my local bank and the solid blocks of plexiglas that are between me and the teller. If I had a gun, grabbed a random woman in line, dragged her over to the teller window and said, "Give me what I want or I'll blow her brains all over your pretty plexiglas!" I'm pretty sure the teller would give me what I want. They wouldn't sit there and say, "Nah, go ahead. I'm safe."

    That would have worked 10 years ago, but it won't now. Pilots and passengers "know" that if somebody takes control of the plane, they will all die. Honestly, because of that realization the locked doors themselves are probably a good deal of overkill, (but hey, it's cheap overkill that doesn't infringe anybody's civil liberties so no biggie)

    We even saw this in action 9 years ago on the last plane. When the passengers realized that they were all going to die if they didn't do something, they fought back. Since then we've seen it again with every single incident on a plane that has occurred. People have the tendency to (usually very very stupidly) "play the hero" already (see: bank robberies going wrong), give them a little incentive and you'll never have the issue of "who first?".

  25. Re:defense spending cuts should be happening on Iron Man Is Another Step Closer To a Reality · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Of all the things the military spends trillions of dollars on, you complain about science and engineering?

    You need to get your priorities straightened out.