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User: mschaffer

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  1. FedEx's and the airline's shareholders ... on TSA Luggage Lock Master Keys Are Compromised · · Score: 3, Interesting

    FedEx's and the airline's shareholders thank you for their increased profit. However this is not a viable option for many people.
    Also, it's not as if FedEx is much better than the airlines. Personally, I have had more problems with FedEx than with the airlines.

  2. I don't care how much they paid for them... on Unearthed E.T. Atari Game Cartridges Score $108K At Auction · · Score: 1

    I don't care how much they paid for them. The game still sucks!

  3. H2O Bolt Wireless 4G on Ask Slashdot: Best Data Provider When Traveling In the US? · · Score: 1

    I have been a fan of H2O Bolt Wireless 4G service.
    Basically, it's re-branded AT&T service.
    https://bolt.h2owirelessnow.co...

  4. Poor excuse on Kansas Secretary of State Blocks Release of Voting Machine Tapes · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, if the government stores information in an inconvenient format, that makes it exempt from freedom of information requests?
    Pathetic.

  5. whole Internet is powered by Linux?? on Happy Birthday, Linux! An OS At 24 · · Score: 2

    I love over-reaching statements that are obviously wrong.
    So, everything that comprises the whole internet is running a Linux kernel?
    I doubt it.

  6. Believe what you want... on Ebola Vaccine 100% Successful In Guinea Trial · · Score: 1

    Believe what you want. This is just bad statistics. Are there any real epidemiologists or statisticians in the study that claim it's 100% effective?
    If there were only 16 cases in the delayed vaccination groups, you simply do not have enough information to calculate the real efficacy.

  7. How does it taste? on Olympic Organizer Wants To Feed Athletes Fukushima Produce · · Score: 1

    If it tastes good and it doesn't glow too much, why not eat it?

  8. Tail wagging the dog. on Ask Slashdot: Giving Users Extra-Firewall Access For Sites Normally Blocked? · · Score: 0

    It is not the IT department's place to tell the users what sites are appropriate---let alone how long they should be able to access them.
    Sure, blocking access to sites may reduce the IT department's workload. However, the money-making part of the company has their job to do.

  9. Wrong person for the job? on How Computer Science Education Got Practical (Again) · · Score: 1

    If you are hiring a bricklayer to do the work of an architect, or vice versa, you probably have the wrong person for the job.
    If you are hiring a script kiddie to doe the work of a software engineer, or vice versa, you probably have the wrong person for the job.

    Just keep in mind that in many areas, using an unlicensed engineer on certain projects is illegal. When is software engineering going to finally step up to the plate?

  10. Re:Sluggish Windows on Ask Slashdot: Are Post-Install Windows Slowdowns Inevitable? · · Score: 1

    This is true of all OSs, but the saying goes: "Intel giveth and Microsoft taketh away."

  11. messed up or unkempt on Ask Slashdot: Are Post-Install Windows Slowdowns Inevitable? · · Score: 1

    I have been using win7 and win8.1 on many windows systems for several years without noticing this kind of slowdown.
    Something is either messed up or unkempt.
    Uninstall stuff you don't use, make sure the registry is OK, and keep the PATH trimmed. Also, keep your non SSD drives defragmented.

  12. Sign me up! on Lenovo Could Remake the ThinkPad X300 With Current Technologies · · Score: 1

    Perhaps Lenovo reads their mail. I have sent many suggestions to them like this.

  13. Veracrypt on Two Years After Snowden Leaks, Encryption Tools Are Gaining Users · · Score: 1
  14. Re:Theft of Intellectual Property on Taylor Swift: Apple's Disdain For Royalties Is 'Shocking, Disappointing' · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Apple usurps other's IP and copyrighted content all of the time. Nothing new here to see. Just move along...

  15. Apple can do no wrong... on Taylor Swift: Apple's Disdain For Royalties Is 'Shocking, Disappointing' · · Score: 1

    Apple can do no wrong. Just get used to it---unless you have more lawyers than they do.

  16. The UK could learn a thing or two from... on British Government Instituted 3-Month Deletion Policy, Apparently To Evade FOIA · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The UK government could learn a thing or two from Hillary Clinton.
    Just keep everything on your personal server. Then pick and choose what you want to disclose.

  17. With security like this... on SF86 Data Captured In OPM Hack · · Score: 2

    With security like this, who needs Snowden?

  18. Metadata only? on New Test Could Reveal Every Virus That's Ever Infected You · · Score: 5, Funny

    Next they will be saying that the test only looks at the Virus' metadata. They will only be logging the numbers of those who infected you, but not look at the actual antibodies.

  19. What else is new... on Global Business Leaders Say They Don't Know Enough About Technology To Succeed · · Score: 5, Funny

    So what else is new? Most "Global Business Leaders" don't know much about anything else, yet some succeed due to blind luck and sheer force of money.

    A man in a hot air balloon realised he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am." The woman below replied, "You're in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude." "You must be an engineer," said the balloonist."I am," replied the woman, "How did you know?" "Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I've no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've delayed my trip."
    The woman below responded, "You must be in Management." "I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?" "Well," said the woman, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."

  20. ART exhibit? on Laptop Destroyed Over Snowden Leaks Is Now an Art Exhibit · · Score: 1

    This is an ART exhibit? It may be art, and it definitely belongs in a museum, but not because it's art.

  21. Apparently, you are in the boondocks. on If You Want To Buy an Apple Watch In-Store, You'll Need a Reservation · · Score: 1

    Apple has decreed that you are in the boondocks.
    You must be outside of the walled garden. :-)

  22. Thin the herd. on How Walking With Smartphones May Have Changed Pedestrian Etiquette · · Score: 0

    Run them over.
    Knock them down.
    Thin the herd.

    I have seen videos of phone-toting idiots falling into fountains while looking at their phone. What's next?

  23. Re:ignorance is bliss... on Ask Slashdot: Are General Engineering Skills Undervalued In Web Development? · · Score: 1

    Again, more ignorance...and you are neck deep in it.
    I understand that you simply don't know any better.
    Perhaps, when you grow up, there may be hope for you.

  24. ignorance is bliss... on Ask Slashdot: Are General Engineering Skills Undervalued In Web Development? · · Score: 1

    Well, if it is on Wikipedia it must be true. Such a great defense to your argument!

    You can build an industry around anything. It still doesn't make it a science.

    In the meantime some may wait for you to actually "discover" an algorithm. Perhaps some will call this activity "angel'o'sphere's folly".

  25. Re:engineering is applied science on Ask Slashdot: Are General Engineering Skills Undervalued In Web Development? · · Score: 1

    Sticking your fingers in your ears and saying something doesn't make it so.
    Perhaps you need to study a bit more philosophy. So-called computer science is a philosophy based on arbitrary foundations and assumptions.

    Let's look at how you are asserting the opposite:
    First, are algorithms invented or discovered? Algorithms can only be invented. When someone "discovers" an algorithm, where was it hiding? What form does it have? Quite simply, algorithms have no physical form so they cannot be discovered.

    Second, somehow you feel that simply asserting that developing a "software system" proves that it is engineering. Quite simply, it isn't.
    Since you mentioned clay---software is not at all like clay. Software does not have physical form beyond the system that was arbitrarily develop to record some aspects of it. If it does, how would you describe it?

    Finally, "give me three statements about bubble sort and three about quick sort...without CS you could not do that". What does that prove aside from that people can write things about anything? If I write a tome about pixies does that make pixies a science? Certainly not!

    Le'ts put this in terms you may be able to understand.
    Computer "science" is an applied philosophy. In this way it is a great deal like mathematics and very unlike physics.