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User: nimbius

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  1. now thats what i call on Drones Within a Drone Riding a Balloon · · Score: 1

    a drones drone.

  2. you cant spend on US Report Sees Perils To America's Tech Future · · Score: 5, Insightful

    30+ years chiseling away at workers rights, outsourcing skilled trade to other countries, and eviscerating education funding
    only to reflect upon your work and remark, "gosh, people arent that smart and we dont do much with technology but consume it"

    you chose it as a model of hypercapitalism. when we agreed to shuffle the working class, the middle class, into early retirement, fast food dead end jobs, and bankrupted private pensions it was a choice. when we caved the stock market and drained dry the last cent from the 401k of the middle class, we did so knowing it could only make the rich richer, and the poor poorer. as we danced in our lemon socialism and hapilly bailed out the wealthiest conglomerates and banks, we were instructed that the hardship would be socialized and the profit would be privatized. "americans," the ones that do most of the living and working in our society, dont do much because they cant do much; this has been assured by the government of the people, for the people, and it has no right to question its work.

    we are reaping the benefit of generations of obscene wealth, fueled by trickle down reagonomics and stoked by politicians who consider market capitalism a golden calf that does no evil. Our society is driven by profit, and so long as the goal is profit, the outcome and returns will be consolidated to a plutocracy that doesnt care if little johnny learns to read or write, so long as he works enough hours at the walmart to consume the products at the walmart.

  3. at some point on Canadian Gov't Considers Plan To Block Public Domain · · Score: 4, Insightful

    America has forgotten something important about canadian parliament. Namely, that it is a wholly divorced entity from the united states and free to make laws, rules and regulations sans-input from it; which is coincidentally completely divorced from the concept of 'soverign nationality.'

    if the wikileaks cables expose anything, its the fact that america hasnt just been instructing the cadence to which the world will march, its been fitting the boots and tightening the slacks in which the world marches as well.

    So as an american taxpayer who believes in a free and democratic, soverign nation for all those who seek it, I can only hope canada will through consideration completely disregard this attack on the rights and freedoms of canadian citizens.

  4. the most dangerous thing china on US 'Space Warplane' Spying On Chinese Spacelab · · Score: 3, Insightful

    or any other "axis of evil" power for that matter can do in the wake of american foreign policy and dominionism is to be peaceful. if iran's nuclear program never moves beyond nuclear fuel for reactors, and chinas space aspirations remain seated in the exploration of the cosmos, then america is left without a boogeyman for the immediate future.

  5. in other news on Google Punishing Chrome Results For 60 Days · · Score: -1, Troll

    another major multinational conglomerate finds its just easier to do it and say "oops, sorry" than to adhere to the standards they have no inherent business interest in adhering to in the first place.

  6. i shrug when i read this. on Actual Damages For 1 Download = Cost of a 1 License · · Score: 2

    http://prokitchensoftware.com/ for reference as to what they stole. if you're running a business, you know presumably how the game is played. part of that game is licenced software, albeit many companies skirt this reality. its nice to see boris and leo (actual names of defendants) sticking up for sensibility in copyright, but as business owners i have no pity. the law exists for all business owners and arguably they would have done the exact same thing had someone plagiarized or stolen a kitchen design from them. if the defendants are reading, might i suggest giving open source drafting and design tools a whirl? gimp, blender, inkscape, Kerkythea and sketchboard are alternatives, although it means you'll not have an automated nail or screw calculator. if you're that large a firm, buy the software or support a project and request the features.

  7. the terrifying thing here on Tensions Over Hormuz Raise Ugly Possibilities For War · · Score: 4, Insightful

    is that america has been toeing the line with war against iran for decades, just itching for a reason to inexplicably bombard a nation of 75 million peaceful civillians and arguably the largest jewish minority in the middle east.
    that america, despite the fact that iran has captured our most sophisticated reconnosance robotics, still considers iran a soft and easy target is to awaken the memory of the cold war when we assumed the tupolev was nothing more than a biplane. . Iran has enjoyed american diplomacy first hand at the overthrow of their democratically elected government through sponsored terrorism; it understands america to be a fairweather friend at best. despite numerous invasive and exhaustive probes by the IAEA there is no evidence of a thermonuclear weapons program and given the size of the state, a nuclear energy program seems completely reasonable, justified and expected. Iran has roughly 1/4th the population of the united states.
    but thanks to the carter doctrine of international diplomacy in the middle east, despite the fact that a minority of american oil is actually produced in the region we must still charge dick-first into the any arabian country in the region to appear even remotely modern, self sufficient, and untameable by antiquated american colonialist policy.

    lets all agree the easiest thing to do to keep the straight clear is to admit the fact that we screwed up the spy game just as we had numerous times during the cold war, apologise and consider formal talks or a prisoner exchange if we want the drone, and move on to bigger problems like the utter financial collapse that keeps plaguing the country, or alternative energy sources to keep us from having to engage in this trite pedantic pissing contest we call a foreign policy.

  8. how this works: on Verizon Backtracks On $2 Convenience Fee · · Score: 1

    DELETE from TRANSACTION_TYPE where fee='2' and type='card';
    INSERT INTO general_fees VALUES (2,'general telecommunications surcharge');

  9. agreed. on Recent Discovery Contains Oldest Depiction of the Tower of Babel · · Score: -1, Troll

    get this crap out of my slashdot. not news for nerds, and arguably since it includes no geological or archaeological data it is not "stuff that matters."

  10. while this on IBM Granted Your-Paychecks-Are-What-You-Eat Patent · · Score: 1

    personally doesnt affect me as im vegan and eat alot of generally nutritious healthy food, i do see a few problems with the idea.
    1. say hello to the fast food and entertainment lobby. places that serve hot wings beer and pizza for lunch to unsuspecting or careless office workers will fight against your effort no matter how well intentioned. after all, they make money off the aforementioned 30 pounds of extra fat at the desk
    2. its been my observation that most americans cant cook anything more than a microwave TV dinner or boil some macaroni. while the plan outlines steps to be taken to ensure in mr potters words, 'a thrifty working class' it doesnt seem to provide any education to the employee.

    I cant say i hate the idea entirely though. the non-smokers clause on my health insurance is worthwhile and was done correctly as it provides free cessation classes and education. free gyms or discounted memberships at work are also a refreshing alternative to 'lets all go to the taco truck and eat until we puke.'

  11. the electric vehicle on Tesla Motors Announces Prices For Their Upcoming Models · · Score: 3, Insightful

    i was waiting for picked me up this morning, didnt need to find parking, and costs less than a cup of coffee. the only people still masturbating furiously over Tesla motors and electric cars in general are people who dont understand that the automobile as a means of personal conveyance is unsustainable no matter what you fuel you choose. If you dont believe me, try getting from long beach to downtown LA at 7:30 am.

  12. i stop respecting on Domestic Surveillance Drones On the Rise · · Score: 3, Interesting

    any source that measures the rate in fiscal years at which immigrants are incarcerated
    and any source that implies floundering white flight suburbia has somehow become inoculated against any need for drone surveillance in the 21st century, yet dense urban areas are teeming shit-holes that must be policed and patrolled up to the minute.

    I live in downtown Los Angeles. our "drones" are piloted police helicopters affectionately referred to as "the birds" which have canvassed the city for nearly 40 years. They started downtown when white-flight basically mandated them to prevent the scourges of economic collapse and urban decay from ever encroaching upon bob and his trophy wife in the burbs. soon they began patrolling hollywood, and santa monica, and pretty soon the ubiquitous helicopter-with-searchlight was patrolling the skies of every street in LA from sepulveda to sierra madre villa. its simple. if you dont like drones, dont accept them. address problems like crime, unemployment, and social inequality and for god sake recognize the fact that every meal you've eaten at a restaurant in the past year has at some point been prepared on some level by an "illegal."
    or dont do anything about the problem. blame victims, move away from trouble neighbourhoods and avert your eyes. vote the party line and soon enough, you'll enjoy all the wonders police state surveillance at cost to you.

  13. the SLS system on Inside a Last-Ditch Effort To Save the Space Shuttle · · Score: 1

    for reference, albeit somewhat off topic, is the american effort to remedy discomfort experienced when utilizing a superior system developed by soviet engineers decades ago to quickly and inexpensively launch orbital and interstellar spacecraft. It was arguably not outsourced to a corporation as we would know it during its inception.

  14. The future of battle tech on The Future of Battle Tech · · Score: 2

    is what is has always been: death. thirty years ago we cloaked the cold war in 'tech' in the hopes it would be the solution to a horrific conflict caused by humankind, and all it served to do was amplify the tone of that conflict, to push us ever closer to the precipice. in the nineties we did the same thing with guided ballistics and slaughtered countless innocents in our zeal to decree global weapons superiority in the balkans. In iraq we developed the latest, the greatest, the drones, and with a moral superiority not seen since the 1600's we proudly declared our mission accomplished as millions of iraqis died in the streets and not a single predator stood by to prevent the atrocities at abu grahib..

    so let me reiterate, the future of battle tech is a bleached-white skull rotting in the latest theatre of the most righteous conflict at the hands of the most just nation it is the carbonized ashes of a house of innocents, and the eviscerated corpses of scores as they flee from an enemy that cannot be reasoned with not because it is incapable as a machine, but because its masters stopped caring long ago.

  15. this isnt as on Ask Slashdot: Protecting Tech Gear From Smash-and-Grab Theft? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    tech related a question as you hoped. If you really want to fix it you need to address inherent flaws in consumer capitalism, market driven sales, and social inequality.

    churches, children, whatever the hell a five minute window is, are not all universally shared and certified as morally sanctified places; in other words, thieves dont care. asking slaskdot what product we would consume in order to protect the products we consume is perpetuating the very same problem that causes the kinds of thefts you've outlined in the first place.
    the only reasonable solution is to buy a reasonably sized laptop that does what you need; perhaps something used on ebay. Bring the laptop where and when you think you will need it, and its dated appearance will likely serve the dual purpose of deterring thieves who want a very nice looking laptop, as well as preventing you from using it as a suburbanite status symbol. backup your data often so that if and when the laptop is stolen, a quick restore to another relatively inexpensive ebay laptop will solve the bulk of your problems.

  16. and so we cannot on Time's Person of the Year Is "The Protester" · · Score: 1

    reason with them, for to reason with them would cost us our power.
    we cannot fight them, for to fight them will further galvanize their resolve and demonize our ideology.
    we cannot buy them, for they cannot be bought
    we cannot laugh at them, for they make a valid point softly echoed by even our own elite

    so we will marginalize them into the pages of pop culture. immortalized on times front cover, their message dilute and hazy, their image another iconic touchstone of american history to fall into the ranks of parachute pants, snap bracelets, and most importantly, obscurity.

  17. more american saber rattling, as per usual. on The Undeclared "Cyber Cold War" With China · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "it is easier and cheaper to steal rather than develop the legal way."
    this sentiment is emanating from a nation that has no credibility on 'the legal way' to develop anything in the 21st century. A nation comprised of just a few megacorporations that hover over an infinite sea of frivolous patents, casting them forth like pokemon at the slightest sight of national or international competition that cannot be bought, licensed, bribed, or outlawed by their pre-pay capitalist representatives in government.

    information assets amount to the brainfarts of talented engineers and scientists who are in many cases ostracized entirely from the most meaningful components of their work such as the revenue stream and general application.
    yeah, its an ideological battle that americans immediately jump around and compare to the cold war, but its the ideology of
    ideas come from people, and they must be nurtured and encouraged for the good of all humankind
    versus
    ideas come from people, and they must be incarcerated, exploited, litigated and profiteered until a group of old white men get another yacht.

  18. while there likely wont be on MythBusters Bust House · · Score: 1

    any criminal charges, you can be sure the guys producing mythbusters will see lawsuits from a car insurance company, and a homeowners insurance group assuming the insurance covers siege by cannon fire. depending on the neighbourhood there may also be a lawsuit from the homeowners association

  19. another goofy footnote on US Launches Virtual Embassy For Iran · · Score: 1

    in the embarrassing decades-long chapter of American detest for a country with a population larger than great britain, that most of its citizens cant even find on a map.

    just once, instead of pissing away money and resources on a country that presently seems just as content to leave us all the fuck alone, id like to hear a compelling reason why we're working so hard to make the lives of seventy-five million people so god-damn miserable with sanctions on international goods and services. The only thing we arent sanctioning is oil, because we're terrified it might negatively impact the global economy that america helped cast into ruin.

    yeah its off topic, but i think its asinine to watch the United states, of which i am a citizen, simultaneously propose a content-rich international website for the people of iran while at the same time ignoring the fact that United Nations Security Council Resolution 1737 will eventually leave them with rolling blackouts from the Mesbah Energy Company or Kala-Electric, and standing up to their tits in garbage uncollected by the Pars Trash Company.

  20. how do you as a single person? on Ask Slashdot: Getting a Grip On an Inherited IT Mess? · · Score: 1

    its simple, you cant. you can however make a resounding case to your employers that you will need more help. learn more about the business, how it works, and interrelate your infrastructure to their bottom line in order to secure extra funding and more hands. management is tasked to ensure you as an engineer have everything you need to do the job, and if your job scope has grown then so to must your resources.

    do not try to handle the entirety of the infrastructure on your own; help desk, development, and sysadmin. I pulled that plate-balancing kind of act for the first three years of my career and it amounted to a thanklessly low paying job, a long commute, and an unrelenting amount of stress. if there are bandaids placed everywhere then its because the last guy couldnt communicate the things he really needed (servers, cooling, switches, a real lunch break with actual hot food.)

  21. its what we refer to as on Email Offline At the Home of Sendmail · · Score: 1

    a cascade failure.
    1. data storage failure.
    2. database crash, presumably due to the fault in data storage
    3. heavy backlog of deferred mail begins hammering a generally neglected piece of Berkeley IT.

    email, calendaring, and instant messaging arent mythical, and they need constant competent care
    just like any part of the IT infrastructure. Having worked on complex email systems for the better half of my career
    some of the fault lies with the berkeley teams "set it and forget it" mentality as shel waggener scolds the audience about at the start of the video.
    is that backend database known to the DBA and in a healthy state? are the front-end components configured for email as it ran in 1993 or have they
    over time been upgraded with new features to address email as it operates in the 21st century.

  22. we didnt get to be on Red Hat's Linux Changes Raise New Questions · · Score: 2

    linux by just doing what we've always done. if we did, Linus would still be grading papers, Stallman would probably use use BSD, and the phone in my pocket would probably never exist.
    part of what makes me love linux is the undying urge to try something new. granted, thats not everyones opinion. its a bunch of nerds and hackers and really cool people coming together and having the courage to say, "i just made this new thing."

    To Red Hat: thanks for trying something new. i really hope it works out and im eager to try it too. just remember, haters are always going to hate. and because its the community that makes up linux, theres a linux for them too.

  23. the scope seems grander on Internet Monitoring: Who Watches the Watchers? · · Score: 4, Informative

    than we're really willing to conclude. The American perspective is obvious that somehow if their technology should fall through the invisible hands of free market into the lap of a reigning dictator, then and only then is there a problem.

    Americans have traded everything from stinger missiles to M16's with terrorists like al-quaeda as well as despots like iran and egypt for decades, and quite lucratively as well. Israel renders Palestine cities in flaming ruin not through sorcery, but the F-16 and apache gunship of american design and sale. our private corporations willfully bow to the will of islamic dictatorships and 'communist when it suits us' regimes like china as they mandate the strictest control of their citizens through censorship. our senate and library of congress are prohibited from searching wikileaks, and our schools ban searches for concepts like 'hacking.' thoughtcrimes like taking pictures of a well designed airport causeway or a large building are likewise branded terrorist acts.

    The answer is that the problem does not exist in the systems created to censor; those from bluecoat or mcafee or even humble BSD and Linux. the bureaucrats, and plutocracy that control and vend these systems are in many cases tacit participants in their creation. They subsist garnering profits through dividends in their investment of bluecoat shares, and through securing the praise and reward of their constituency and corporate lobbying groups when a new deal is inked.

    as if to turn a blind eye to the rest of the world, Security Week completely ignores the wrath of ACTA, DMCA, and the forcible seizure of domains registered abroad as though that which is the doctrine of kind-hearted multi-billion dollar industries is without question in the good service of all mankind.

  24. good news everyone! on Terahertz Wireless Chip Will Bring 30Gbps Networks · · Score: 1

    here in the future the 30Gbps wireless service is all seeing, all knowing, and spans across the city uninterrupted with a lemony fresh scent.

    Cancers however continue to elude us. We've taken to naming them after impressive sounding former presidents, or basing cartoon characters upon their loose interpretation. Incidentally, if you come across any historic manuscripts related to airport scanner safety, we would be quite interested.

  25. lets reconsider this on AT&T Customer Phone Hacking Tied To Terrorists · · Score: 1

    Have you ever hacked into AT&T customer accounts and diverted money to terrorism-financing?

    not sure its even required. being the largest telecommunications conglomerate on the planet, i already pay for its service. the funds
    i give it allow AT&T to provide warrantless wiretaps and direct communications surveillance services to the US government. The US Government is an agency that has
    financed the taliban in the past, as well as overthrew the shah of iran in 1953. They construct secret prisons
    , torture the innocent, and bomb peaceful works projects in other countries

    this story is really only shocking for americans. for the rest of the world, its par for the course.