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User: putzin

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  1. Re:shit sandwiching on Parts of SOPA Hiding Inside a Boring Case About Invisible Braces · · Score: 1

    For the right price, you can pay for legislation that would create a new federal agency that would do those inspections for you. And by god, before anyone states it's the lib dems that would be the ones who do it, you could pay either side of the aisle to do it.

  2. Re:100% Effective threat detection algorithm on 100kb of Unusual Code Protecting Nuclear, ATC and United Nations Systems · · Score: 1

    // In practice, any claims that software is this effective require detailed, convincing explanation and proof.

    Having been a grunt and a manager in corporate SW environments for a while now, I can attest that claims like this don't require details or proof, just convincing.

  3. Re:Great marketing on Volvo Self-Parking Car Hits People Because Owner Didn't Pay For Extra Feature · · Score: 1

    Only if it also includes easily-exploitable security holes.

    It does.

  4. Older Windows pry not on Will Robot Cars Need Windows? · · Score: 1

    Only if they want the cars to crash! I hear if they have 10, it should be much better, and able to be used on cars big and small. Pry still buggy and crash prone. Why would you want your car to crash?

  5. Re:Cartooney. on 'Citizenfour' Producers Sued Over Edward Snowden Leaks · · Score: 1

    Maybe you can provide some clarification here. I read the article as this dude is suing the movie (producers, studio, distributors, et al), and not Snowden directly. I think this makes it even less likely he has standing. If he does, then it seems anyone can sue any movie studio, publisher, or entertainment type service claiming that the money they are making is unjust for reason X and they need to take all their profits and stuff them into a trust for Y. Then the trust for Y either goes back to the government in this case, or is distributed to the legal team and some coffee and cookies goes out to 'mericuh. (Sorry, this isn't done by an American, it's being perpetrated by someone who lives in 'mericuh and all the absurdity that surrounds that sub culture)

    Where will the money go if he wins? As a side note, if it goes back to the gov't, it might be a good way to help reduce taxes. Sue all the entertainers, stuff all the trust monies into the treasury, ..., profit!

  6. Re:Chicago, Illinois: The Real Problem on James Watson's Nobel Prize Goes On Auction This Week · · Score: 1

    The tests indicate that our great nation would probably be more effective if Chicago and its descendents didn't exist at all. Genetically they will forever be poor and stupid, attached to the glass teat clamoring for more concussions while wallowing about in their fetid sties. Drunk and unable to form simple sentences, our once prosperous country will be held back from truly succeeding.

    OH god, Thursday versus the Cowboys with my Irish, Polish, and German buddies is all rushing back to me. How can something so obviously farce/sarcasm be so absolutely true? Honestly, my friends and I drank heavily watching the Bears get slapped about. One has an Irish background, and two of them are Polish. I've got a German background. Plus, there was a very lazy guy from India there as well, so we can mostly just add more here if you want.

  7. A basic need, I guess... on New Atomic Clock Reaches the Boundaries of Timekeeping · · Score: 1

    Does this new clock solve a real problem?

  8. Re:I want this to be true but... on Battery Breakthrough: Researchers Claim 70% Charge In 2 Minutes, 20-Year Life · · Score: 1

    I have so missed the near constant weekly stream of new battery articles on /.. Used to get them all of the time. You'd have figured that by 2009 batteries would be powering the world with limitless storage and immediate recharge based on the articles in '07 and '08. Honestly, I just complained about this to a friend of mine at Google that we haven't had a good new battery technology pass through here in a while. Phew, I can rest easy. I refuse to care about these announcements until someone actually makes a car or phone with (currently) unrealistic power storage capabilities.

  9. Re:Dangerous on Ask Slashdot: Are AdBlock's Days Numbered? · · Score: 1

    Web site operators have the attitude that their revenue stream is more important than the integrity of their visitors computer.

    In other news, major corporations consider their revenue streams more important than anyones integrity. The NSA considers the ignoring the rights of Americans more important than constitutional integrity. Al Queda considers the rights of dead virgins to have sex with homely bearded unshowered men living in caves strapped to bombs more important than the dude sitting having coffee and a donut's rights or integrity.

  10. Re:zero tolerance and who owns my computer on Ask Slashdot: Are AdBlock's Days Numbered? · · Score: 1

    The Internet was much better before it was infested with a bazillion sites which only exist to bring in advertising revenue.

    Yes, hamster dance was the pinnacle of the internet revolution.

  11. Re:And so it begins.... on Ask Slashdot: Are AdBlock's Days Numbered? · · Score: 2

    until one side builds an a-bomb so big that the world is afraid the Internet will split in two if detonated.

    Yes, it's called legislation. Apple. Google, and the other multi-billion dollar ad servers will eventually go to congress to try to find a legislative way to make sure you watch advertisements if everyone stops viewing ads via whatever means. Just convince some idiot Senator who thinks the internet is made of tubes that advertisement and java blockers threaten security and the American way. I would argue this is a long shot, but not incomprehensible. There is a lot of money involved, and those who own the largest share of that money train would scorch the earth to keep it.

    This is just free market economics at work. If ad blockers work well enough, most likely, creative people will find a new way to advertise. Then we find a new way to ignore the new ads. Rinse, repeat. Or, you can vote with your wallets. Just don't visit the sites with horrific advertising setups. Visit the sites that handle it gracefully. Very few people would complain about Google or Bing advertising. Just saying.

  12. Haven't heard this one yet on Fuel Cell-Powered Data Centers Could Cut Costs and Carbon · · Score: 1

    Find all articles related to renewable energy in the last 10 years. Too many hits to count. Find all articles related to massive improvement in battery technology in the last 10 years. Too many hits to count. The broken record continues to turn.

  13. Re:There is a fascinating parallel... on Why Are Some Hell-Bent On Teaching Intelligent Design? · · Score: 1

    There is an enormous number of references to "Scientists" and "Texans" as some magical group of uniform thinking individuals. Thank god (lower case on purpose) there are a bunch of people with Science related degrees who perform jobs/hobbies that make use of scientific principles who can all think uniquely. Same with a bunch of individual thinking people in Texas. If we just had a bunch of Scientists and Texans, then it would be a very polar world, probably a good basis for an original Star Trek or Outer Limits episode.

    In our attempts to make points, do we have to make the classic mistake of grouping large amounts of people into one group or another? Apparently, @seebs talks to scientists all the time who very clearly support his view. Flattering, being a Scientist and all, but still...

  14. Re:The U.S. government is EXTREMELY corrupt. on Joining Lavabit Et Al, Groklaw Shuts Down Because of NSA Dragnet · · Score: 1

    The Rome comparison is apt. I have made attempts to explain it before, but no one would stop watching a Gladiator marathon on TBS to listen to me. My leet hacker buddy Nero just bought a fiddle though.

  15. Re:ESPN is the key on Why Internet Television Isn't Quite Ready To Save Us From Cable TV · · Score: 1

    Most people I know who still subscribe would gladly ditch cable/satellite if they could stream ESPN even if it cost $20/month

    This is the biggest problem, and why Cable/Hollywood/Big Four Sports all need cable to stick around. I'm just two channels shy of ditching cable completely, Fox Sports and NBCSN. I basically only watch live sports on TV, nothing else. My wife watches a bunch of stuff, but it's all on Netflix/Roku/Web so it doesn't hurt her to dump cable. I have MythTV that can record free OTA HD. But until I can watch the Bulls/Cubs (well...)/Blackhawks live, I'm out of luck, and face the issue of paying for cable. I may hate it, but right now, that's the choice. This is why the MLB, NHL, and NBA black out the local teams broadcast on their streaming services. Because Fox/ESPN/NBC/CBS force contracts that say they must (I doubt that clause is ever disputed). This is why people like me will chose to pay for content they don't care about to watch the content they do care about. I'd pay major sports double what they're charging now for online access to get local teams.

    And good luck getting al a carte. HA!!! The FCC is simply making noise to at least look like they care about consumers. I'll be walking on Mars before they push that one through.

    As a side note, the way channel costs are divided up are somewhat entertaining, as is the now regular fights between content providers and cable/sat companies.I think ESPN pry makes up almost $5 of the total cost of your bill on it's own and a small collection of big channels make up half of the total cost you pay. Whereas HGTV might be less than $.40 cents. It should be capitalism at it's best, but I think since there are like 4 or 5 content providers, it's pry more oligarchical than a good competition. This is here in the states, and based on some tables I saw a few years ago. I don't think it has changed much since then, or would assume not much based on a cable package costing somewhere between $60 and $80. Cable company has to make money too.

  16. More ways to sped on Is $100 Million Per Year Too Little For The Brain Map Initiative? · · Score: 1, Insightful

    While I'm all for government research. We need to spend less, not more. BRAIN sounds great, but so does a hundred other potential research projects that aren't even up for funding.

  17. Re:Why is it always the little guys? on North Korea Threatens US With Preemptive Nuclear Strike · · Score: 1

    We'll be happy to keep sending you D-list celebrities...

    Hell, send ALL the d-list celebs! A good chunk of the C and B could go too.

  18. Re:I'll believe it when I see... on Warp Drive Might Be Less Impossible Than Previously Thought · · Score: 1

    But hey, maybe it's not a causal universe!

    Dang. I was really looking forward to Causal Friday.

    Nah, everyone gets casual everyday. I'm sitting here, at work, in jeans and a t-shirt. I'm the center of the universe, and master of all in it. Therefore, it is a casual universe. Feel free to use this excuse when you come to work on not so casual Monday in jeans and a t-shirt.

  19. Re:What did I tell you? on Warp Drive Might Be Less Impossible Than Previously Thought · · Score: 1
    Hubert Farnsworth wins again!

    The ship does not actually move itself, but, using the Dark Matter Accelerator, it moves the universe around it as stated by Professor Farnsworth, and later realized by Cubert Farnsworth.

    http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Planet_Express_ship

  20. Re:No on Polish Researcher: Oracle Knew For Months About Java Zero-Day · · Score: 1

    Saying Lotus runs requires a better metaphor to counter than all the smartest minds on earth are capable of.

  21. Re:Why give something like this the publicity ? on 'Wiki Weapon Project' Wants Your 3D-Printable Guns · · Score: 1

    Your first three paragraphs are well written and smack of good, rational thinking. The second two paragraphs are well written, but are a different narrative than the first three. It is important to note that crazy people are still well versed in being crazy even in nations where compulsory weapons training is endemic. You effectively say this in your second paragraph, even though you make the point about being lone.

    the problem comes when the guy carrying a dozen handguns is the only guy like that in a crowded place when he snaps and decides to go all murder-happy.

    It's also important to note that even in well versed and trained military scenarios, when a lot of people start shooting, innocent people start dying (e.g. Pat Tillman, the many civilian deaths in Irag/Afghanistan/etc...). I would argue that there is no credible evidence or example scenarios for the "give everyone a gun and some training" to make us all safer postulate. Imagine the carnage if everyone was shooting back on the south side of Chicago these days. Plus, the Aurora, CO shooting should prove that making it legal to carry weapons isn't a solution (to an extent). In CO, it's legal to carry concealed firearms, but no one in the theater was, or they didn't want to use them. And to be honest, the last place I want to be is where it's entirely possible that there are multiple shooters in a dark room with lots of noise and confusion. I think it can be argued it's at least possible that a lone shooter resulted in fewer deaths than otherwise may have happened.

    The biggest problem here is that most of this is assumption and based on personal feelings. In the end, nothing really changes one way or another. So like all the deaths due to drunk driving (we certainly aren't going to give up alcohol, and most don't really care that much), we should just accept that people are going to die like this every now and then, let it happen, and move on.

  22. Finally! on RIAA Wants To Scrap Anti-Piracy OPEN Act · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Someone outside of the minority of educated humans may see the hypocrisy involved here.

  23. Re:Lowest customer satisfaction rankings on Comcast Accused of Congestion By Choice · · Score: 1

    Well, in the past, lots of people have pointed out that Comcast is essentially a monopoly in places, so, it's not like they're competing with anybody.

    They simply have no incentive to spend money. They've got all of these customers now, and spending money on infrastructure isn't going to make them any more money, so why do it? Upgrading is just straight cost, and without a benefit to them, why do it?

    The very cynical answer is that until they're more or less forced to upgrade, they have no incentive to. They make money by overselling a service -- the closer to maxed out the service is, the more money they make. They don't really care about you, they care about their profits -- they're not gonna spend profits just so some people have a faster connection.

    And, they're not going to give up on the revenue of having people co-locate with them, so they're doubly uninterested in fixing their capacity issues.

    Welcome to the "free" market, it isn't really about customer choice and value -- it's abut maximizing profits and giving you the least amount of service they can get away with. This is a perfectly logical situation when you look at it from their point of view.

    This is very true. It's effectively how Capitalism and the free market are supposed to work. Comcast isn't doing anything wrong from that standpoint. However, another poster noted that they have what is effectively a granted monopoly of duopoly, as there can usually be only a limited number of cable cos in one area. But, there are choices. In chicago, I can get ATT, RCN, Comcast, or DirecTV. RCN is my choice, but they certainly aren't perfect. And Comcast in my area isn't even locking you in with a contract, so after reading this, everyone in Chicago *could* just leave in droves. We're a lazy consumer population is what is the biggest problem.

  24. Re:Comcast needs to be stoped befor NBC goes cable on Comcast Accused of Congestion By Choice · · Score: 1

    I'm waiting for the day CSN is a web available service. That's the day I can finally cute the cord on my cable (which is not Comcast BTW). I don't actually mind paying Hulu $10 for their service, and then forking out another $10 to Comcast for CSN (if/when available) for internet delivery. My cable bill is almost $200 with internet service, so cutting that down to the $60 for internet plus some set of subscriptions (say another $50), and I'm still saving a ton of money. I think this is something that scares the bejeezus out of cable cos. The thought that they would be relegated to simply being an ISP probably makes them sleep less well every night.

  25. Re:Games too on Is Apple's Attack On Flash Really About Video? · · Score: 1

    I don't think this is about making money directly. My guess is that Apple's real money will come from selling them new and shiny iPhones every 2 years that perform better and better and have that perpetual upgrade path.

    No, this is specifically about controlling how Apple can make money now that they own a very large walled garden. I think it is interesting that Apple clearly created a natural monopoly. Steve must thank whatever deity he believes in for Android, or he would own a near complete monopoly in the mobile space right now. The iPhone was timed perfectly, with hardware and software built to exacting standards. Apparently, now it's time to find new revenue streams out of that. To me, it's fairly obvious where Apple is going now that iAd is being shopped (and from what I've read, at fairly steep costs to users). It seems that Apple just needs to own all the mechanisms for getting ad content into their devices. Adobe would be a competitor here, with a mechanism for delivering ads outside of Apples direct control. And the ad market using Flash is huge, so the effort for moving into the Apple space would be minimal. Plus, even if the profit is meager, Apple doesn't want to lose revenue generated by the app store.

    I think Apple is attempting to build a not so subtle monopoly. They saw Microsoft get away with it, and realized the regulatory control and potential punishment is minimal any may not impact the bottom line short term in any meaningful way. Why not do it? They built some wonderful devices that make an extraordinary profit. Why not insulate themselves from competition?