Posts by sisk

Climate change will 'cause huge increase in murder, robbery and rape'

This is what I mean when I start talking about insanity in the climate change debate.

Terrifying photo special: 'Electric Cannon' anal orgasmo-probe in use ... on a BULL

Ah memories

My grandfather raised cattle. I grew up working on that farm. Nuff said.

BOFH: He... made... you... HE made YOU a DOMAIN ADMIN?

I remember that day.

Yes, it happened in our office. It was the morning we came in to find someone had applied a Frontpage theme to the entire website. (Yes, we had FPSE. No, I was not given a say in the matter.) In investigating to narrow down the potential suspects we found that we had somehow ended up with about 50 domain admins. Sadly there was no way of knowing which heads to roll in our case.

TV scraper Aereo pulled off air in six US states after tellyco court injunction victory

It's not often I disagree with EFF, but....

It costs the telcos money in licensing fees to be able to transmit over the airwaves. They recoup this cost through advertising seen by people who pick up those signals and watch them. So far what Aero is doing sounds good for them because it means more people see the ads. And it probably is, so realistically I think it's pretty dumb of them to complain.

Here's the legal sticking point though (since when do law and reality reside in the same realm?). IT COSTS THEM MONEY in licensing fees to be able to transmit. Aero is essentially letting the telcos foot the biggest chunk of the operating costs in order to provide their service by not having to pay any licensing fees (or have satellites to get feeds, or even a fraction of the broadcasting power, or dealing with advertisers, ect.). It's rather like splitting the lunch ticket evenly between someone who had a side salad and someone who had a 12oz ribeye.

You'll NEVER guess who's building the first Ubuntu phones in 2014

If I ever get an Ubuntu phone the first thing I'll do is replace Ubuntu with Debian.

It's possible my dislike of Ubuntu has overrun my sense in this instance, but dang that's a turd of a distro.

Silk Road admins: Sorry for the hack, we're sorting out refunds

Re: Isn't Bitcoin itself ...

Crypto currency is a gamble

Not much of a gamble if you do it the way I have been. I haven't bought anything for mining. I'm just using what I have and, currently, doing a hair better than breakeven. Actually probably a lot better than breakeven when you consider my computers never got shut down before I started mining. If (and I realize that's a big if) the value of them gets back up to what it was in December I'll have made a tidy profit with basically 0 investment. If they tank, then I've paid another $10 on my electric bill. If they skyrocket like they did last year I might just have enough to buy a better system capable of mining faster.

Now those guys buying $5000 ASICs, THAT'S a gamble. I did the math on that once. By the time you actually get your hands on an ASIC you preordered the difficulty of Bitcoin will have gone up so much that it'll take you years before you're making a profit if the pattern for the ones currently available holds.

Re: Once again

Yes, but I know that they know that I know that they know that I know, so if they know that I know that they know if I ask then perhaps they know that I know that they know that I have a suspicion of where they put the money. I know that they know that I know that they have it.

And yes, they know that I know that I need a tinfoil hat.

Re: Isn't Bitcoin itself ...

How is hyper-inflation avoided if a "coin" can be pulled out of thin air

The more of them there are, the harder it is to mint one, and there is a hard limit on how many will ever be made (which we'll hit in 2041, provided the system survives that long). Add to that the fact that a lot of bitcoin vanishes due to lost or confiscated wallets, and you've got your answer.

In fact the value of the things has soared ever since the US legislature decided they are, in fact, legal. When I first looked at them they were worth $0.20 and relatively easy to mine (my math at the time said I could reasonably expect to get one every month solo mining - if the pools were around yet I didn't know about them). I gave them a pass, thinking that they'd never be worth the effort. (Yes, I'm kicking myself now.) Today they're worth $625, and that's AFTER taking a huge nosedive in value thanks to Mt. Gox's antics.

Tata says USA rejecting HALF of Indians' work visa requests

Re: Xenophobes rule..

I don't think it's xenophobia at all. Outsourcing is, at best, short term gain - long term loss. When you outsource labor you (sometimes) pay less in wages, but you're removing money from the economy that supports your company. A few companies outsourcing a few positions isn't a big deal, but when you have hundreds of companies outsourcing thousands of jobs each that's a lot of money leaving your own economy. When you damage your economy you damage your own bottom line.

I guess what I'm saying is that it simply doesn't make economic sense in the long run to outsource more than a few jobs, and then only if you can't find local talent able to do it for a reasonable salary.

Re: 50% Rejection Not Bad

For Mexicans it is -50% (that it, we import 50% more than we're legally permitted).

Not to defend illegal immigration, but there's a bit of a difference. Indian IT workers are typically doing jobs that would be high paying for Americans and that Americans are willing and able to do.

Illegal Mexican immigrants, on the other hand, typically do low paying work that Americans are unwilling to do for any kind of affordable wage. I spent a summer doing the kind of work that illegals normally get during the summer between high school and college. It was back breaking manual labor, 60 hour weeks of it, and I made a measly $400 a week.* Few Americans are willing to work those hours for that pay, especially if said work involves a more intense workout than you can get at the gym.

*They got around minimum wage by making it a flat rate. So much money for each task, the task in this case being to weed a bean field, with the value being determined by how dense the weeds were in the given field, so a field that took longer paid more. I don't recall all the details, this being 15 years ago and me, at the time, being more interested in being handed a check than worrying about how the wage was calculated.

Facebook adds 50+ gender options: Stalking your 'Friends' just got more LGBT-friendly

Re: WTF!

Personally, I think that gender roles are the expression of a number of mostly biological factors and gender is loosely coupled to sex and sexuality,

I would say very loosely. While most peoples' gender does indeed match their sexual equipment there are many who don't. Furthermore not all people who are biologically gay have gender identities that don't match their sex. There are, for example, some very masculine gay men. Where it gets confusing is when you start dealing with asexuals, bigendered people, and true transexuals (as opposed to a transvestite -- there is a lot of crossover, but not all transvestites suffer from gender dysphoria).

I do believe that there are certain things which, for whatever reason, are more interesting to one gender or the other. For instance men like to hunt more than women do in general(which is probably a holdover from way back when hunting was a necessity of survival and usually handle by the physically stronger men). There are things women are attracted to universally across cultural lines similar to hunting for men, but its late and none come to mind. However a lot of it is socially ingrained. Why, for instance, are men interested in cars? Or, even better, why aren't men interested in sewing (almost a necessary survival skill since everyone has damaged clothes at times that could be saved by rudimentary sewing skills).

Re: Sex is Not Gender

Or have the definitions changed around again? I can't keep up.

People who say gender is fluid haven't ever tried to keep up with the politically correct terms that surround gender.

'No representation without taxation!' urges venerable tech VC

This idea is so colossally stupid I can't believe anyone would seriously suggest it. The fact that American elections can be bought is part of the problem, and he wants to make buying elections a more direct process. Just pay a million dollars and get a million votes. Idiot.

Besides we have people screaming bloody murder over the rather obvious idea of having to show proof of citizenship when you go to vote. Can you imagine the outcry if the powers that be tried to implement this?

Imprisoned Norwegian mass murderer says PlayStation 2 is 'KILLING HIM'

Appropriate reaction

When my kids complain that some toy or game they have isn't good enough, I take it away and don't replace it. You're in prison dude. Be glad you have something to do other than stare at blank walls.

John McAfee declares war on Android

So basically you're saying ditch all the things that make Android so versatile and remove the ability for developers to make a profit directly while adding a layer of complexity for them. If smartphones used the model you're proposing they'd never have taken off.

Wouldn't the type of person who would use this app already be paying attention to the permissions that the apps request via the dialog you get when you go to install them? What's the point of duplicating functionality like this? Or have I missed something?

MtGox takes heat as reasons for Bitcoin FAIL surface

At which point I'm baffled as to why someone would want somebody else to look after their wallet

Personally I think of my wallets on the exchange I use (not Mt Gox) more like a bank account than a wallet. You make deposits and withdrawals against them just like you would for your savings account. Presumably a trade account with a stock broker would be a better analogy, especially given the way I use mine, but I don't have one of those. (Or rather I do, but my financial advisor -- provided by my employer in case you're wondering -- handles everything dealing with it for me and just tells me how much money I have every few months so I really don't understand how it works.)

A single entity storing wallets is surely a much juicier target than some old-mate with 0.02 of a coin on his local machine

Just like a bank with $500,000 in the vault is a juicier target than some guy with $5 in his pocket. Like I said, the exchange wallets are like bank accounts. Only unlike bank accounts they're not insured. They also don't have as stringent security regulations, though I think most of the respectable ones would meet the regulations for online banking.*

*Bare in mind that the respectable exchanges are far outnumbered by the shady ones.

Re: not chucking out the contract baby with the fraud bathwater

I would rather the possibility of money laundering than knowing everything I bought and everyone I paid, could be traced.

Likewise. I never claimed the system was perfect, only that laundering with it is difficult bordering on impossible. The point about botnets being able to pull it off is a valid one though. My own wallet peaked at around 0.002 bitcoin, which says wonders about how much stock I put in the system. Though with prices dropping like a stone I might just buy one full one and then wait for (and hope like heck) the price to go back up.*

*Hey, it's a better bet than the lottery. Barely.

Re: not chucking out the contract baby with the fraud bathwater

then of course there is the issue of money laundering

That one is a myth. Every transaction on the Bitcoin network is visible to the public, which makes it virtually impossible to launder money on it. You'd have to transfer the funds out of Bitcoin and then back in to have any success at laundering the money.

Yahoo! Mail users see crying baby who says firm is 'over capacity'

Re: Wait, people still use Yahoo! Mail?

Really? Why?

I give my yahoo address (which I've had for 15 years now) to places I know or suspect will be selling my email address to spammers. It only gets about 500 emails a day last time I checked.

RISE of the MACHINES and Bitcoin: Bill Gates' Reddit tech predictions

Bitcoin IS tracable

Every single Bitcoin transaction is out there in the blockchain for the world to examine. Most of those transactions, if you follow the trail long enough, will lead to a wallet tied to someone's account on Mt. Gox or some other exchange where you can trade 'real' money for virtual currency, and most of those exchanges will tell you who owns said account if you slap them with a court order. Failing that they'll probably also lead you to an online store that has to have the customer's shipping address on file, and if they're in the US (or, probably, anywhere else in the 1st world) they can be served a court order to hand over that information. All in all it's less anonymous and more traceable than cash or precious gems (excluding diamonds).

Basically the BC is semi-anonymous, but if the authorities feel the need to track you down through your transactions they can easily do so.

Friends don't do tech support for friends running Windows XP

@Matthew Taylor-

I see two things here to point out. First off, Ubuntu's a turd. It always has been. They pull the experimental branch of Debian (one step below the 'unstable' branch in the stability tree) to create a new version every six months or so and hack the heck out of it trying to fix the bugs (or rather that's what they did last time I cared enough to check. They may have changed their process by now, but it certainly hasn't improved the end product). This doesn't make for a good choice of distro for any kind of enterprise application. RHEL or SUSE Enterprise edition are the go-to distros for that sort of thing, with CentOS being not far behind. If you have experience with Linux there are other distros that work well for it, but I would never recommend Ubuntu in a corporate setting. Honestly how it got the following it has is beyond me.

That said, the bug you're describing was not a problem with Ubuntu itself. It's bad, but not that bad. Since you were using a pre-generated image from your vendor I'm guessing they screwed up either the image or the VM settings.

Disclaimer: Yes, I'm a Linux geek, but I tell people to use what works for them. If Windows works for you, use Windows. You're set up and running with it now, so don't take this post as a suggestion that you should give Linux another go. All I ask of anyone is that they make an informed choice, and I try to help people with that.

Linux?

I have several friend who have been quite happy with the Linux upgrades I helped them with. In fact the few I have who've taken that route are happier with Linux than the one who ran out and bought a Windows 8 machine against my advice (which was "I'll help you upgrade to 7 or set up Linux for you if you don't want to spend the money, but for the love of all that's holy stay away from Windows 8") I found the article on the subject (linked in this article) to be very uninformed about Linux. (The bit about Ubuntu 'missing Minecraft' was particularly jarring. You install Minecraft on Linux the exact same way you do on Windows: log into your account on minecraft.com, download it, and run it. The fact that it's a paid-for product keeps it out of repositories like Ubuntu's Software Centre that lack a mechanism to pay for apps, something I would expect any tech literate parent to understand immediately.)

Woz he talking about? Apple co-founder wants iPhones to run Android

I had a G4 that ran Debian at one point. It was given to me and it took me about 15 minutes to decide OSX had to go.

I can see his point. Apple's hardware isn't bad, but I loath iOS with a passion. I wouldn't buy an Apple Android even if they did exist. Nor would any other fandroid. Nor would any fanboi. It would get relegated to the technically ignorant crowd who'd see it as simply "That new iPhone with more buttons"

JavaScript is everywhere. So are we all OK with that?

Re: Getting started in programming

“If I was just getting started in programming, and I didn't know what language to pick, I would pick JavaScript,"

Personally I tell people to start with Python. Sure, it's not real popular, but it has an advantage for newbie programmers that no other language I've seen has: it forces you to develop good whitespace management habits. (I have a friend who started by teaching himself C++ and never was introduced to the concept of using whitespace till he asked me for help with a program. The only reason he had multiple lines was because of word wrap in his IDE. It was frightening to say the least.)

Plus you can treat Python as a very simple language or as an OO language, so you get a couple different techniques with it. Once you learn one programming language (any language really) it's much easier to move on to others.

Re: Coudn't agree more

A site should be able to offer it's core function without JS and this isn't actually that hard to do. Not if I can manage it.

This is exactly why I shake my head in disbelief when I see people using JS for things like rollovers. CSS can do those and not break when someone has JS disabled. CSS3 can even animate them nicely, all without any scripts being executed.

I still occasionally find myself fixing DHTML apps. Yeah, we've got some web apps that have been around that long and are still being used. I'm slowly getting them replaced with newer versions, but when you've got an app that's been around that long there's always some resistance to the new version.

Re: JavaScript's OK ...

"If a mobile developer can use HTML5 and JavaScript to build a potentially 'ubiquitous' app capable of running everywhere, then why wouldn’t they?"

Maybe in a few years you'll be able to do that. Maybe.

Depending upon exactly what said app needs to do it's sometimes possible now. Trust me, I've done it. It's not always possible by any stretch of the imagination, but there are some really useful JavaScript powered webapps running around that just really don't care what device you use to access them.

Jean Michel Jarre: Je voudrais un MUSIC TAX sur VOTRE MOBE

Stupidity

I've always liked Jarre's music and I've bought quite a lot of it. But if he's going to be spouting this stupidity I may not be buying any more. I like to see the artists get paid to, but not by dipping into my pocket every time I buy a new device. And, last time I checked, music wasn't usually free if you obtained it legally (which I do).

Want to remotely control a car? $20 in parts, some oily fingers, and you're in command

Don't the Mythbusters' remote control rigs usually depend on operating the gas, brakes, and steering wheels mechanically rather than plugging directly into the electronics? You just need a little robotics know-how for that sort of thing, not even as advanced as the hobbiests who build battle bots really.

So basically the concern here is a high tech version of cutting the brake lines? Other than causing wrecks (which, don't get me wrong, would be bad) the only other potential for mischief I see here would be pranks. Dangerous, stupid pranks, but still pranks. Or am I missing something?

Yeah it should be locked down, but I don't see it being a real high priority for the auto makers.

Re: Yes please

Oh, so you have a PoS brand security system? I used to have one of those. Worked marvelously to. Forget to lock your doors? No worries. Leave your windows down? You're fine as long as it doesn't rain. Go into work and forget to turn the car off?* It'll still be there idling when you get out that evening. There are advantages to having a car no one wants to steal.

*I didn't have time to get my coffee that day. This is why I say caffeine should be listed as an essential nutrient.

Think British weather is bad? It's nothing to this WOBBLY ALIEN planet

Re: 2300 light years distance.. just 4 years to change anything from here?

Do you not see the irony of accusing someone of babbling after making that comment?

Sense: Your statements make none.

MAC TO THE FUTURE: 30 years of hindsight and smart-arsery

Personally I still think putting a disk in the original iPod was a mistake. Marketing saved the day though. If J. Random Musiclover had known that you can't realistically expect a hard drive to survive for long when it's reading while strapped to the arm of a jogger the things would never have caught on, but Apple managed to keep that fact out of public knowledge somehow.

Boffins build electronic tongue that can distinguish between BEERS

Re: Old Handle

Thank you so much for that mental image from a bad anime. Geh.

Someone pass the brain bleach.

Re: American beer?

Where do you live, Utah?

Not Utah, but just as bad. No alcohol sold between midnight and 6am, none at all on Sundays, and you can't get it in grocery stores any time. And heaven help you if you crack one open with a child in the room (I have a friend who had to prove he wasn't an alcoholic to child services because his 4 year old said something to the effect of "Daddy likes beer").

Yes, but none of them are terribly nice, are they? My experience of US craft beers (limited to Sam Adams and a couple of New Jersey/new England microbreweries was that they were all a bit 'hoppy' for my taste

They run the gambit really. You can get really hoppy ones or meads with no hops at all. I found a honey mead I liked (yes, yes, not technically beer, I know), but I can't get it in this state anymore thanks to our insane religion inspired liquor laws.

Someone told me that Amstel for import to the US is watered down from 4.6% alcohol to 2.5, although I don't know how true that is.

I wouldn't be surprised. It's a lot easier to transport 2.5% around the US than anything higher.

American beer?

Most of what my fellow Americans call beer would more accurately be described as 'swill'. There are some good microbrews to be found if you know where to look, but in general my advice to those visiting the US would be to stick to the whisky. The microbrews can be hard to find, and they're typically not served in bars at all. The mainstream stuff that you can find easily is just plain nasty.

EU warns United States: SHAPE UP on data protection OR ELSE

US legislative action by summer?

You're kidding, right? To have any sort of legislative action in place by summer Congress would have had to started moving on it in August....of 2012.

Apple and Samsung STILL in bitchfight over banning ancient mobes

And the lawyers laugh all the way to the bank.

Man sues NASA: Mystery Mars rock is a UFO – an unidentified 'FUNGUS' object

What I find interesting is that the shop of the object in the after picture is a perfect match to the shape of what appears to be an indention in the rock in the before picture. If these things were on Earth I'd say the object was probably ice formed from moisture that collected in the indention, but I don't think there's enough moisture on Mars for that explanation.

Re: Backfiring Logic

Elvis alive and living on Mars? No.

Oh come on. Everyone knows Elvis is living on one of Jupiter's moons and only occasionally visits Mars or Las Vegas. The cold is keeping him fresh so he doesn't die of old age.

On a more serious note, yes conspiracies do happen, even in the modern world. The problem I have with a lot of popular conspiracy theories would require the US government to be far more competent than they actually are. Plus NASA really has nothing to hide (unless you think little green men who've cracked warp speed are interested in a bunch of hairless apes).

Ditch IE7 and we'll give you a FREE COMPUTER, says incautious US firm

Re: Rare pragmatic response

I doubt it was really cheaper. More than likely, they designed their new site without proper thought and then realised "oh shit, it doesn't work on IE7 and all our customers use it". And now it's cheaper to do this than rework it all.

I don't doubt it was cheaper at all. You'd be shocked at how quickly costs rise when you add another browser to support, especially when its one that doesn't support the standard tech that every other browser does.

Facebook app now reads your smartphone's text messages? THE TRUTH

Re: Lazy people to blame, as usual

At least our security model is moderately translucent, unlike Big A's black box

I'd call Android's security model translucent. It's confusing, but if you actually do understand it you know what it's doing. That's not to say it doesn't have problems. Only a fool or a fandroid would call it perfect.

Prince sues 22 music file-sharers for ONE MEEELLION dollars each

Re: The Internet's full of numbers

The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated.

That would be about the time MTV stopped playing music and started playing crappy reality shows, right?

Got a TorMail account to avoid Uncle Sam's web snoops? About that...

Re: US postal inspector???

One of the many frightening things you can find on TOR is a thriving black market for physical goods. Guess how the goods get sent to the customers. Though, to be fair, anyone dumb enough to order something illegal and have it delivered to their mailbox deserves a visit from some very interested police.

Candy Crush King went 'too far' when it candy crushed my app – dev

A trademark on CANDY? Are they serious?

And if so I'm going to apply for a trademark on 'the' and charge everyone a royalty fee of one genuine smile for each use of my trademark. (Hey, at least I'll be making the world a happier place instead of being a soulless money grubber.)

Mystery 'doughnut' materializes in front of Mars rover: 'OH MY GOD! It wasn't there before!'

Dang it!

I KNEW I shouldn't have sat my doughnut on that teleport pad.....

MANIC MINERS: Ten Bitcoin generating machines

Re: Genuine question albeit probably stupid.

It's a valid question. At one point in time I heated my bedroom with servers. Obviously this was when I was single and still convinced that I'd make up for lost sleep when I died, but I had a really nice setup in my room.

Re: Re. bitcoin

I read an article on coinbase about a sysadmin who plans to use his schools computer lab to mine coins over the summer while the school is out. Well he's just going to end up with a big electric bill and not very many coins... again... unless his school lab all has Radeon 290x's in them in crossfire...

Correction: The school will end up with a big electric bill and he'll end up with somewhere between half a bit coin and a couple bit coins, depending on the size of the lab. Which he'll need, seeing as how he probably won't have a job anymore. That's assuming a moderate sized school. It could be higher if it's a big school or it could be laughably low if it's a small one.