* Posts by J 3

896 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

Page:

Fedora 12 debuts after Halloween slippage

J 3
Go

17.7 million unique IP addresses

As I'm sure I won't be the only one to mention, this is an overestimate, and surely a large one, of the number of installations. After all, most people at home have DHCP from their ISP.

More useful, even if still not perfect, would be to know the daily number of unique IP addresses downloading updates -- since it's much less likely that the same installation will perform updates in one day using different IP addresses. That could be presented as either an average (not so good, since a few days after updates are out most will have applied them, numbers fluctuate and skew the average) or as a graph of the raw numbers. Or some combination, like the average for the peak day in a month. Something else, because 17.7 million since 2007 means nothing. Could be 100,000, or 1 million, or more, or less. How many times in a year does the average home computer change IP address?

That might give a better idea of the number of Fedora installations out there.

V-22 Osprey, stealth jumpjet 'need refrigerated landing pads'

J 3
FAIL

Hm...

Didn't the people who designed this thing think about that? If they did, why hasn't anybody listened to their previous research? Oh, the military is part of the government, that explains it -- since according to most Merkins the government can't do anything right, which implies the US military sucks too.

I mean, I have no clue about aircraft (or other) design, but first thing I would think about a bloody VTOL airplane is: "how hot is the exhaust", and "what surfaces can it be used on".

Oh well, too simplistic, so I must be wrong.

DNSSec update deadline penciled in for 2011

J 3
Paris Hilton

But most important...

But most important, when will .xxx start using DNSSec? DNSSex? Oh.

Do I use the Paris or the joke icon, hm... Well, it's bad anyway.

Apple seeks OS-jacking advert patent

J 3
Jobs Horns

Very evil

First of all, they are patenting a general (and evil) idea, sounds like from the article -- I will never be arsed to look up a patent application to check. Is that allowed? I thought it wasn't.

Anyway, it's not as if Apple distributes their stuff for free and then makes money off of ads, as per Google, for example.

Down with Apple if this is ever implemented in their products.

Cambridge Uni cheerleaders in naming FAIL

J 3
Coat

@Corvidae Sean, Cambridge Cougar

If you're a Cougar, your handle (Corvidae) is named after the wrong animals, then!

Where has the bird icon gone? Oh, well, none of them are the right family anyway...

Dell resells customized Cray baby super

J 3
IT Angle

Cool, but...

Windows only? Useless for the scientific computing we do, then. Can't recommend these Dell boxes to the university's HPC group. Maybe that's a good thing?

MS patent looks just like Unix command, critics howl

J 3
Thumb Down

From the snippets here...

Yeah, that's sudo. If you throw in the GUI, then call it kdesudo or gnome-sudo instead.

Anyway, obvious idea, if that's all there is to it..

MS exec gets shot down after 'inaccurate' Windows 7 spiel

J 3
Stop

Imitating OS X?

Gee, if W7 is imitating OS X then I don't want to see W7. I hate the OS X interface, can't stand it. And I've tried, we have a Mac Mini in the lab for projection and lab meetings. Apparently there is a certain proportion of people who can't get to like the Mac interface, and it would seem I'm included.

I just hope the Linux DE stop trying to ape Mac. The "dumbification" of KDE is getting annoying already.

NASA: the world will not end in 2012

J 3
Alien

"Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012," NASA states*

And they are right, obviously.

Or do you think a bloody *huge planet* has any concept of good or bad, or even care? :-)

So, nothing bad has ever happened to Earth, and nothing good either. And never will. To the critters infesting its surface though...

Anyway, these stupid end-of-the-world stories are only good for making catastrophe movies, and even that is very debatable. Nowadays, with all the computer graphics, it's not even fun to try and imagine how the effects could have been done. It's always some large farm of Linux computers crunching numbers and all that.

Meh.

Adobe slips good-bye note to 10% of stafff

J 3
FAIL

Really...

So, gouging people for their software is not giving that great results, it seems. I mean, my girlfriend is a design student, and they have little choice but using Adobe software. It is good stuff apparently, but charging some $500 (student rate), if I remember right, for the upgrade to CS4 is ridiculous. But people have no choice, so they pay. When they can't pay any more due to having to eat and things like that, then...

Baying mob turns on miniskirted Brazilian uni student

J 3
Thumb Down

Shame

That's a horrible shame. That university, which is basically a diploma mill, is huge and very profitable, but of low reputation among people from the public universities -- I have taught some of their students in short Summer courses, and most don't receive the minimum acceptable education in Biology. Some of them can't even write very well, but pass the "SAT" anyway. That some (well, a lot) of their low level students would behave like that is sad, but not totally surprising. That the school's administration would condone their actions is completely flabbergasting.

I myself will refer to this university as UniTaliban from now on.

Mandriva flashes its small aggressive penguin

J 3
Linux

@Kobus Botes

"In mitigation ,though, it could be that this particular distro was locked down by Linux Format Magazine"

Nope, that's just the way *buntu is. And it's on purpose, I suspect. First, it has to fit in a CD. Second, it's supposed to be a beginner's distro, so the installation scenario you want is completely out of the question. It is already too complicated for most users as it is! Imagine when they see a list of Gnome, KDE, server, etc (I remember SuSE having such a list years ago). Let alone if they see the list of text editors and the like (vi, Emacs, Abiword, KOffice, etc., etc. what!?)... They have no clue what to answer and will get nervous -- I'm gonna break the machine if I choose wrong! Therefore, click cancel, throw the install CD in the bin and boot back in XP (cue noobs sigh of relief). Abundance of choice is only useful if you know what you are doing, otherwise it's counterproductive. At least that's my experience -- I hate long restaurant menus. :-)

STRONG REAL SEX? That's not porn, rules ASA

J 3
WTF?

Oh, c'mon...

I just went search for the image of the poster... And there's no nudity there. One can see the guys back, and that's it -- if that counts as nudity in the UK, let me know and I'll start laughing at you. OK, from the pose it is clear what it is they are doing. But if you already know...

Bug in latest Linux gives untrusted users root access

J 3
FAIL

Fail

Wine is not a desktop environment, as many other commentards are likely to have pointed out before me.

Early adopters bloodied by Ubuntu's Karmic Koala

J 3
WTF?

That's bad...

Quite bad that so many people are having trouble. As the article says, it's usually not the completely clueless Joe Windows User who ventures into installing, let alone upgrading, an OS. Specially a Linux OS. And even then, the rate of failure is high.

A question though: have they performed the equivalent poll when 9.04 was released? What about 8.10, 8.04, etc.? Maybe things are getting better? (probably not, or people wouldn't start creating polls all of a sudden now)

For the record, fortunately I am in the camp that had both a flawless install (of Ubuntu Netbook Remix on a Eee 1000HE) and a flawless upgrade from 9.04 (Kubuntu on an ancient FrankenPC with 1.8 GHz CPU and 1 GB RAM -- apparently they finally fixed the damn update manager that was a disgrace in 9.04, or at least it has worked fine so far and much more capable).

Scots slam Germans for 'tight-arsed' slur

J 3
Paris Hilton

Wow...

When a Conservative tells you to lighten up about something, things must sure be weird...

Anyway, would the SNP blokes want to trade stereotypes with us Brazilians? Or are Scottish women already considered beautiful, but also easy sluts? Just the former? Just the latter? None?

Is Paris of Scottish descent? I'm not.

Microsoft in Bing jingle kiddie vid outrage

J 3
Coffee/keyboard

Ugh...

I think I just vomited a little here.

What's with MS and bad ads, dammit... The song itself is OK, chorus that sticks to the head (yuck) and all that, for a marketing thing. The MS marketing team just needed to throw in some puppies in there to make it complete.

(have to say though that there's a funny ad, involving puppies (rental puppies, more specifically), for some alcoholic beverage showing on TV here in the US these days, so it can be done.)

Norway warns Amazon against Kindle launch

J 3
Joke

Wow...

An entity that says "screw you" to the mega-corps to protect mere consumers? What next, liberty and justice for all too? Shenanigans.

Facebook to share more user data with advertisers

J 3
IT Angle

Eh?

"Users who set their profile as viewable by everyone"

Is there anyone stupid like that out there? I mean, someone who's not a public figure using the site as marketing/ad space, that is.

Nikon D3000 digital SLR

J 3
Go

Noisy

A nice camera but... Wow, quite noisy images there, in the ISO sequence. I'd say fine until ISO 400 (but already easily visible). From 800 and up it's a lot. Anyway, seems like good value for the price indeed. And I for one am glad it does not have movie mode making it more expensive and failure-prone.

@Mike Richards

Yeah, as you sure know people are more interested in brand name than actual specs/quality of the product. So you have people look at you funny unless you are carrying something named either Canon or Nikon. I myself use Pentax, since: 1) I want to keep using my old lenses from K1000 days; 2) P gives better camera for less money. Pentax, in my opinion, gives much more features for the same price point of their competitors (see dpreview.com for real comparisons), AND can use any K-mount lens ever made. Good glass for cheap out there, if you're able to shoot manually.

OK, if you want the top of the top pro cameras, then there's only C and N as choices -- but then you're spending several 1,000s, not 100s. But for middle range or beginner levels, unless they already have a stash of lenses that can still be used with the new C or N camera, people would be silly not to look at Sony, Pentax, Samsung, Olympus, etc. Most people will rarely overgrow these cameras anyway...

Ubuntu's Karmic Koala bares fangs at Windows 7

J 3
Go

@steogede Netbooks

Very easy: use Unetbootin. Have you even tried to read the UNR installation instructions at all? It's all there, and runs on Windows or Linux.

It gets any ISO from any distro (it will download it for you, if it's available in the program's menu, or you can use your own) and makes a bootable USB drive from any 1GB key. Has worked well for me since 9.04, I think.

J 3
Linux

@anti-brown whiners

What are you talking about, brown? My Ubuntu installations do not look brown at all.

OK, I don't like the default color scheme that much either, but what do you whiners think you are running, an Apple OS? :-P

For good or for evil, you can change all that in any Linux distro with a few clicks of the mouse. About 2.5 minutes after installation, my panels are semi-transparent, the colors are a mix of blue and gray, and the desktop picture is one of my sky photos. Looks *very* different from the screen shots in the article. It will only look brown if you want it to look brown, lazy arses.

Geeks play Guitar Hero without guitars

J 3
Coat

Muscle activity?

What the hell, do they think I'm Arnie or something? This muscle talk thingy got me tired already. Where is the head band that reads my neuronal firings (hm, even that sounds like too much work), so I don't need to move a muscle.

I need to go have a nap after all this typing, excuse me.

Top drug boffin renews criticism of cannabis policy

J 3
Black Helicopters

The real people against legalization...

Who would be most likely to NOT want these recreational drugs legalized?

The drug barons, cartels, dealers. Obviously. Not to mention the corrupt police, politicians and drug agencies that get bribed to let drugs and weapons pass under the table.

Their product is much more profitable that way -- and nearly tax-free too (if you discount the above "corruption tax"). How much does a six pack of beer or a cigarette carton cost? How much would they cost if banned? Less overall volume would be sold, of course, but whoever sells them would make much more money.

Firefox 3.5.4 fixes critical memory flaws

J 3
Grenade

Er...

"The number of IE updates I get these days is much less than new Firefox releases."

Could it possibly be because the flaws in IE are being ignored and/or not getting fixed? Duh...

(maybe yes, maybe no, of course -- I don't really care too much because I don't run Windows. I'm just making the point that some people jump at their preferred conclusions without any thought as to why things are they way they are)

And we could always use the good old "critical mass" argument against your preferred browser: nobody uses that, so of course nobody finds vulnerabilities. Security by obscurity, etc. Or not. Isn't it fun to play knee-jerk fanboi?

Governator in acrostic 'f**k you' outrage

J 3
Terminator

Funny

Whatever the issues involved and sides taken, funny.

Karmic Koala RC drops into the wild

J 3
Linux

@KenBW2

Aw, and I hadn't even had time to praise the netbook remixes yet!

And if some praise and feedback (positive and/or negative) are what I can do to pay a little back to the people who supply, for free (both as in beer and as in freedom), the software I use to earn my living and also for entertainment at home, then I'll gladly be enlisted among the fanbois! :-)

Re: the netbook remixes, I tested both the regular Ubuntu and the new Kubuntu NRs, on my Asus Eee 1000HE, running from a USB key. I very much like the redesign of the Ubuntu NR version -- that's of course personal and you might hate it. Sound and WiFi worked perfectly -- I didn't test the integrated webcam and mic though, sorry... They got rid of the right hand panel, the one with the silly (in my opinion) "favorite folders" and (not silly) volume icons. These are now in a tab on the left. Better use of the screen. Only little "bug" I saw in my computer was a design one, where the icons sometimes do not fit perfectly at the bottom of the screen (the Games tab, more specifically), overflowing it. Before you ask, yes, I did submit a bug report on that, even it not being exactly important.

Now, the Kubuntu NR is not so much to my taste. Maybe it will get better for 10.04 -- they do say it's a testing ground and all that, and not a release to be used by the faint of heart. I always like KDE better, but in the netbook remixes, the Gnome version is organized in a much better way -- too many clicks to do things in the new KDE NR one. The only thing I liked a little better in the KDE NR in the quick test (long term usage might change my mind) was that when you maximize apps they take the whole screen (not the same as choosing "full screen" from the menu; window decorations and menus, etc. remain visible). That make the little netbook screen feel larger and more capable than with the other display schemes that still use some of the precious pixels for system pieces (top bar, in UNR). Of course, this being Linux, there ways around these things and multiple ways of doing everything. Anyway, will see what 6 more months of development bring us.

J 3
Linux

Hm...

If you want to download it today, don't even try the HTTP download right now (5 pm EST), it's *really* slow. The torrent is coming fast and nice though.

I (dual boot) installed a "daily live" version on one of our student's laptop earlier this week (using UNetbootin and a USB key), and it worked beautifully, from sound to wireless to video and apps. It seemed very polished, even before the RC. The student had never worked on Linux, and he really loved Synaptic specially. He was also quite excited to see Amharic (his native language) in the live USB first screen (we gave that a try just for shiggles, and it was cool). Let's see how long his enthusiasm will last -- but right now he says he might stay in Ubuntu most of the time, since it is so much faster than his current XP installation in the other partition.

Torrent just finished downloading, that was fast...

Yahoo! nukes GeoCities

J 3
Coat

@Aha

...yup, that and the big banners announcing the fact along the top of the page.

Looks funny and nostalgic, but not nostalgic enough for me to want to see sites like that anymore.

Free download turns BlackBerry into remote bugging device

J 3
Big Brother

silent mode and auto-answer?

"Surely every phone with a silent mode and auto-answer can do exactly the same thing?"

Those would show up on the phone's screen, wouldn't they? Also in the call history? Not very stealth, I'd say. Unless you are using it yourself on your phone "forgotten" somewhere else, but anyway...

Stallman calls on EU to set MySQL free

J 3
Troll

@Cazzo Enorme

First of all, I have a certain suspicion that your handle is false advertising.

Anyway, NO, the helpfully provided FAQ does not just boil down to "fork but don't use the name". I too thought that was the case, before reading it. Go and read again, since you clearly did not understand. Pay attention this time, specially to the point about exclusive copyright and the ability of the forkers to use the code in a commercial manner with non-GPL code.

So, no, they can't kill the code. But they can kill the commercial product.

Not that I care, I use MySQL in an academic setting and it works great for the things we do.

Republican men hormonally emasculated by US election

J 3
Paris Hilton

@John 104

Nah, it just goes to prove you can't read.

I do agree Democrats are hopeless pansies though. They should have long ago steamrolled the cretins that the Republicans are. Imagine what the Repubes would be doing if they had the presidency, majority in the House and "super" majority in the Senate. They'd be doing whatever they want (usually horrible things), which is what they have done in the past. In the meantime, the idiotic Democrats keep fighting each other, being bribed by the corporations, and speaking of "bipartisanship". Stupid idiots.

@ john chludzinski

Ah, clearly much better to hire a war dodger to run a war, then. Hell, the idiot dodged even the cushy National Guard service arranged by daddy.

Another common sense rule that we get from what usually happens in Republican circles is that: the more macho posing, anti-gay, Christian "moral family values" toting a certain guy is, the more likely he is to be a wife-cheating, drug addled, closet homosexual hypocrite. A few names from recent scandals come to mind. Just saying, so you think twice before protesting too much...

Apple Store down - new cultware coming?

J 3
Go

Why?

Because it's good marketing, that's why.

Otherwise, would we have heard of it as soon and as much?

If there's one thing everyone must agree the Fruit sure knows how to do well, that is marketing.

Or not.

Revolting postmen force early Windows 7 launch

J 3
Joke

Nice of them

That said...

"Yay, our vial of smallpox is arriving a few days earlier than expected!"

Sorry.

Neanderthal woman could whup Schwarzenegger

J 3
Coat

Ugh ugh.

"For example, I don't believe you can accurately calculate how fast someone was running from some ancient footprints."

And I don't believe you have ever heard of biophysics, and how they estimate these things.

Granted, there is sure quite some guesstimating involved, depending on the circumstances -- you have to know how long the legs are -- but it's hardly rocket science. If the individual was shorter than estimated, then the calculation will have underestimated the speed, for example.

"But do we use our brains more than our ancestors?"

I would hope so but would not want to bet money... :-)

"i also suggest that maybe a modern 10 year old would happily outwit a fully grown adult from that era?"

Maybe, maybe not. But I'd say the 10 year old would happily outwit the fully grown adult (?) who wrote your post...

Robert Crumb begets Book of Genesis

J 3
Troll

bwahaha...

"It is turning the Bible into titillation. It seems wholly inappropriate for what is essentially God's rescue plan for mankind."

I'll come back to write a comment after I stop laughing.

J 3
Alien

OK, I'm back

"Where did Cain's wife come from, anyway?"

That's easy. He was a mofo. Or sisfo, maybe? Oh well, I have read Christians openly accepting the inevitability of incest due to the simple fact that Cain had no one else to have his kids with...

152 comments on queue!? Sheesh... far from me inflating that even more, then.

Aussie Sex Party in evangelist head-to-head

J 3
Gates Horns

Sheesh...

I don't know if I should say I'm glad or alarmed that this sort of idiotic fundie is not exclusive to the USA...

Did the IDiots (I would bet they are fans of "intelligent" design too) ask themselves the following simple questions?

- was that really blood?

- even if yes, was that from a ritual/sacrifice?

- is it possible that some kid is having some practical joke time?

And shouldn't the fundies in question get in trouble with the police? Did they report that to the police for investigation? What if it is human blood after all and maybe evidence of a crime?

Oh, well. I guess that asking for displays of intelligence from these people is asking for too much.

Bloggers howl after conference snoops on 'secure' network

J 3
Terminator

Gee...

The conference guys sure have a point, whatever the legality of the whole thing... I mean, common folks (like me) would think that you are safe when you have an encrypted connection. Problem is that we don't just not know that; we don't know how to be safe to begin with.

Now what about using the coffee shop's/airport's free, unencrypted connection that scores of people use? We iz all doomd...

MS, US take aim at data protection laws cyber trade barriers

J 3
Black Helicopters

Very well, but...

All very nice and all, to have world-wide policies. But then comes the real question, which the article already alludes to: *whose* idea will be implemented? The highest bidder's idea? Or will it be by consensus? We all know how well that works in the UN, eh? With first class participants having veto power. If this will be the same, we get nowhere, and fast.

Hands on with Acer's dual-OS netbook

J 3
Go

Great

Great for the spread of Linux and its derivatives, or at least to show people they actually don't need Windows. I mean, if it's done right, and not the Asus disaster (from what I've heard) with the original Linux shipped with the first Eee PCs.

You know, since the thing boots quick into that OS, why not, someday, take a look around. Go to the web from there, why not. Listen to some music or copy some pictures. Etc. etc. For the people who do indeed need Windows only software, the need to click the button to go to W7 will always be there. But it might be interesting to see how many people would start seeing what their real netbook computing needs are, and that they could fulfill them with *any* OS.

That was the hope when the first Eees came out, and it didn't work. Will it next time?

Apple breaks jailbreakers' hearts with iPhone 3GS patch

J 3
WTF?

They don't want my money...

Fine. I keep looking at the Touch 16 or 32GB to replace my aging first gen nano. The Touch is great for me and does everything I want in a nice way. But since jailbreaking is such a sore afair, I can't risk losing the money. You see, I run Linux, and that's where all my 20 GB of music is. I don't have, nor want, a computer running the latest Windows (shudder) or (shudder even more) OSX just to run iTunes. Now go and look how full of uncertainties the process of managing a Touch in Linux is... I don't want to risk some $300 to then have a luxury paper-weight. I don't care (yet) about installing non-Apple-store apps in the thing. I just want to be able to use it. If they let the hackers in peace, like it was more the case with the older iPods, then I'd gladly use a Touch -- as I have used the nano perfectly since it was first released.

Anyway, you guys contradict yourselves in the Apple-defense, methinks. Apple revenue from the store must be low, because apps are cheap, therefore Apple only wants to keep the experience intact (for the sake of devs and users)? Only a tiny proportion of user jailbreak their devices? These two sort of kill each other. If only a tiny amount of users jailbreak (is it true?), and these tend to be more technical people who won't get confused by changes in the "experience" anyway (is it true?), then why would they care? If 99% still have the original experience, what's the problem? The tiny minority shouldn't interfere with anything. Or is the jailbroken experience so much better than the Apple-locked one that they are afraid the other people will see, and the 1% will become 10%, then 20%, 50%, etc.?

Federal boffins: 'Giant invading snakes' will soon rule USA

J 3
Joke

their camouflaged coloration

"in the wild these snakes are extremely difficult to find since their camouflaged colouration enables them to blend in well with their surroundings"

Ha, this must be a fake announcement! No American boffin would write "colouration"!

@ how to Hawaii?

Well, the same way they got from Asia and S. America to the lower States...

(This part is serious. Sorta.)

Translation outfit seeks Glaswegian speakers

J 3
Pint

I wouldn't be surprised

As a Brazilian living in the US for 7 years, I wouldn't be surprised if the lady's experience was real.

I've met two Scottish guys here. One of them I could understand fairly well, although sometimes I needed to ask him to repeat things he said (I don't know exactly what part of Scotland he is from). The other guy though, I know he is from Glasgow. I could get one quarter of the words he said, at the best of times. Terrible accent. With time, it improved a little, maybe to a third of words in the first hearing.

So, maybe to you British and other native speakers of English it's not so much of a problem to understand that particular Glasgow fellow. But for *people who need interpreter/translators* (which is the whole point of the original situation, piss taking asides) it sure can be.

Moon orbiter detects pole-plunge hotspots in dark bottom

J 3
Joke

ALW

Oh, no, anthropogenic lunar warming has begun!

@Bah!

You need new glasses. I can clearly see the hot spot in the after impact row, a little below center.

Microsoft yawns at Google's chillerless data center antidote

J 3
Headmaster

last last month more more data the the fly

Stuttering?

Anyway, follow the Moon... What if it is new moon? :-P

I guess "follow the darkness" wouldn't sound as appealing to a company that "does no evil" (sic), eh?

Zeppelin-borne boffins in Bay Area alien 'extremophile' hunt

J 3
Alien

@Hyrdogen? Safe?

Hm... I don't know how exactly these nuclear powered flying things could be built to be safe, but it sounds like a good recipe for disaster. Blow up in the air or fall somewhere, and you've got quite a bit of highly radioactive material being sprayed all over some area -- and wherever in the vicinity the air currents will take it. It would be an "unsinkable" thing, you say?

With nuclear submarines at least the thing would sink to deep waters.

Ralph Lauren says sorry for incredible shrinking pelvis

J 3
WTF?

Integrity?

That shape makes me think of a District 9 prawn badly disguised as human... Although as far as I can remember even the prawns had more proportional bodies.

They talk about integrity... In my opinion, any claim of integrity goes out of the window every time photography processing ("photoshopping") enters the stage for anything more than lighting correction, cropping and the like (hell, even changing the background a bit would be fine, given the leeway for such works of fantasy as marketing). Specially in changing how *people* look -- for better or for worse, of course.

Honda slips motorised unicycle into e-car

J 3
Alien

Damn...

And I'll still have to use my own energy in order to get the unicycle out of the door, configure it, move out of the car's seat and onto the unicycle's? Gee, I feel tired already...

Gay man offered lesbian neighbours slug pellet curry

J 3
FAIL

WTF^2

"mutated into a flamewar about cats pretty quickly"

What the hell would that look like, I don't want to know. How can people have a flamewar about cats?

Anyway, one more vote for "bad Reg" being homophobic and all that.

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