Posts by dssf

Live blog: Facebook's 'screw you' to Google revealed at last

First Questions can be DANGEROUS

Good thing I had not had any qualifications for being there. I would have asked, "hey, behoodied one... Have you ever heard of Visual Analytics?

http://www.visualanalytics.com/

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&gl=US&q=visual+analytics&sa=X&oi=image_result_group

http://www.sas.com/technologies/bi/visual-analytics.html

http://www.sas.com/technologies/bi/visual-analytics.html#section=4

I would have pointed out that the first time *I* saw it was around 1999, and that what fb are offering is NOT stellarly new.

Second, I would have pointed out that if users really have exportable data, they could dump it out and go for the next Open Source social or mining app that acts like Visual Analytics.

Third, I would have pointed out that any slick SQL database with a user-friendly GUI and abiity to process billions of records could do that. Hell, for that matter, Lotus Approach, as a front end, could to most of it:

1. Find only my friends, or find all "not = my friends"

2. Create a "stored find" of just my friends, or of those

3. Using stored find, further constrain found set to find all records containing value "x" or "x, y, z"

As long as the records contain content correct for the columns' name, not much data sanitization need be done.

And, any government agency needing such features (in case fb expect to wow world governments) can roll their own tools while awaiting the results of a valid warrant for any and all persons related to or having contacted person or persons "x", "y", or "z", or all persons having a temporal or proximity association in this geographic area during these time points.

What fb is talking about is NOT going to boost their shares values. Maybe he is trying to build a hood-wearing cult? If so, he should get into the sweater-making business, one that embeds Wi-Fi and fb into the cloth...

Zuck on that! Instagram loses HALF its hipsters in a month

Re: Hmmm Water-Steg

A Sharp phone I bought in Tokyo in 2004, and other phones I've seen in Korea in 2012, will let users add painted-on-like info to the photo. Now, if the site to which the photo is uploaded dares to remove THAT, and dares to try to justify it by saying some sh*t such as "viewers of your photos do not want to be distracted by textual copyright info...", I'd say really, REALLY run over such an asshole with a steam roller. If viewers can read text and crayon-like text describing the location, time of day, and feelings, then the image can carry "copyright/full-attribution/no-sales or resales/no 3rd-party-collection-use" info.

If only the damned phones in the USA came with such watermarking AND steganographic software BY DEFAULT, rather than for free, users could be taught their inalienable right to not have their copyright stolen from them. But, then, fb, instagram, and all number of other sites would scream murder and end the world -- or the lives of those such as us who decry their greed for free photos they intend to monetize without permission and without compensation.

Hobbyists who misappropriate works without attribution get slammed in courts, and depending on the medium, get ungodly fines. Corporations do it, and most of them could expect to get off free, even if the work they use is the next undiscovered Ansel Adams photo. Stripping the metadata makes it nearly impossible for the specific originator of a photo to be found or compensated, even if out of 985 claimants only 1 or two have originals that are exact vantage/shooting point matches.

Engineers and others are taught to be clear, concise, accurate, honest, and more, such as citing their sources, with their work and notes, in the name of preserving the integrity in and the respect for their respective fields. Marketers and boards of directors, driven by profits, seem to not value such admonitions.

And, now, fecal-skinned politicos and lobbyists advocating the analogous wild west on IP against individuals by claiming orphaned works, it is almost akin to declaring war on the inventor. This should be smacked down harder and more painfully than any fake wresting *appears* to look.

What nerve.

Z-Axis Minus .5 User Base....

What really should matter statistically is how many new users of phones or acquirers of phones with Instagram preinstalled is how many of them:

-- seek to remove it from the phone

-- don't activate an acccount

-- dissociate their accounts (if for a weird reason fb/phone carriers prearrange this as some "seamless experience") from Instagram and their logins and mobile

-- seek firewall tools to block Instagram-user phone connecttivity

-- take down their Instagram sites

-- start redirection of their Instagram-related URLs/link

-- are reported by photo hosting reporters as hunting for new photo repositories

-- take to twittter to announce redirectt URLs

I am not saying this to torpedo Instagram (FD: I do not have an Instagram account). But, this article could some day be updated if trending information shows more momentum that undermines the fallacy of "new users", since "new users" are aquired more akin to a Baleen whale intake rather than a self-chosen march to Instagram.

Re: Heartening

Utterly DISheartening!

Is the UK government desperately trying to create aNOTHER exodus of "pilgrims. How in the hell do these MPs and business cronies of theirs think they can just co-opt individual artistic property rights? So long as material is not criminal, seditious, or war-starting, they can go retire before they get fired by the masses. If they co-opt by power of law the art of an ordinary person who needs to earn money in order to pay taxes to avoid going to jail/prison while trying to live an ordinary life, they they are being piratical. And, we know what governments feel about pirates (IP, maritime, etc). Copy MY stuff and try to blatantly use or down-stream license it, you will never see the end of me. All Artists, writers, makers, etc, have the right to control distrtribution of his/her works, and if an intending acquirer cannot gain rights, TOUGH. It doesn't mattter the price or the benefits proffered, NO means NO! Some Artists may not want money, but also may not want their work stolen, bastardized, or repurposed for things incompatible with the Artist's goals.

Now, (assuming the UK doesn't call in a favor for a special extradition of me to some nondescript place for the "troublemakers") I suppose that I had better not try to EVER visit the UK (am I overreactting), but this is a passionate, rage-inducing turn of events, that some well-off class of power holders thinks it can dictate to makers what will become of their property if they dare to tip off the world that it exists. They'd better morph any stolen art/creations so extensively that the ripped-off artist cannot recognize his or her own works in play without compensation.

Where is the galactic fly swatter to smack down unctuous officials when they get out of hand. Entroy is good for life and invention, but bullshit it heinous.

If I am ranting incorrectly, please, do please tell me where I am going off the handle.

British armed forces get first new pistol since World War II

Re: Suck my Glock..

You owe me two keyboards....

Can the septicaemia-inducing ginger stay on the tip long enough at the speed the bullet is going? I am assuming friction/heat will take it off the bullet unless the person is shot under 50 feet.

Would be interesting to see the coroner reports collations if garlic-induced septicaemia started popping up around the world.

(On a humorous side: Makes me wonder whether Ginger Team had a local set of human mutants or vampire equivalents, but required ginger vice garlic. )

Re: I bleive that US army used to allow privatly owned wepons

Reminds me of in high school in JROTC and from watching one of the Vietnam war movies:

"THIS is my RIFLE, THIS is my GUN. THIS is for REAL, THIS is for FUN!"

Another possible use for a sidearm is for hostage taking --assuming one is not going to take a shot in the infamous (real life or TV) instant paralysis zone. And, assuming the person with the pistol at his or her head/neck/rib cage is not an expert and disarming and dodging CQB bullets. (Or, that general in Mars Attacks... Didn't he use a pistol?)

Does anyone know whether zmodem is real or a bot? He/she/it sure did lure in a lot of feeding, hehehe.

OT/Asides...

Anyway, unless I have significant, extensive, professional and paid-for range time and training, I probably not ever going to be confident of a 1-shot-1-kill with most pistols unless the barrel is self-landing with a Center of Mass audio cue. And, no, I would not care to use movie-style red lasers for pointing. All those lasers make me wonder who is the military or armory specialist advising the scriptwriters and director. I'd think that by now, some sort of IR or acoustic, signature-matching-for-raid-teams gizmo would exist so that there is insurance against bumping up against the targets using the same spectrum red. Might lead to a case of NO ONE firing, when they should, until it is too late.

And, if one is positing using a .50 cal DE at 500 yards or even 50 yards, why not go whole hog and start equipping battlefield soldiers with combat bows and arrows or 2,000 pound/pull, 7000 g-force black hole-generating arrow bombs? Hell, the whistling alone might open up a time-freezing rift. But, then that might spoil somebody's fun on the field of flames, assuming the arrows had boron or some solid fuel in their cores.... Hey, that might lead to 5-mile range arrows. Would give even Hercules a major boner.... But, maybe taking things up a notch with boron-fueled, FAE-speweing, timeline-freezing bomb-tipped arrow heads. What kind of treaty or arms limitations talks would have to be written for that shit to not become reality?

OK, enough of that OT of mine... (just wanted to inject some off-beat "humor" just in case it is useful...)

Re: You honestly think

The larger of the DEs may be good for possibly two things:

When undiscovered: Fire for effect (to get the enemy to die from excessive laughter)

When trapped/outnumbered/meeting one's maker: fire to break one's own neck.

I think I fired a DE on a controlled, indoor range, in 1992, and that mother***cker was heavy, and LOUD. I thought the DEAD could be awoken with it. The recoil definitely was a pure bitch. I thought it was shittier than a .45 cal, and I almost never hit ANYthing with a .45. I had better accuracy with smaller, easier to hold 9mm pistols, and had more confidence given the relative quietness and lesser recoil. The reverb in the range was a bitch, even with ear muffs on. Made me long for my JROTC days of .22 cal match rifles, when compared to the DE on an indoor range.

As for CQB, either shotguns, grenades, or "The Room Broom" are probably the more desirable weapons even from a list of 50 pistol/short-stock options. No way in hell you can reliably safe a room -- unless the target is "Blade's" very fast "Biscuit Boy"....

Rather than launching by gun, more excitement in getting into enemy confines might come from Tesla Grenades: lobby a trunk load into an area, then after a timer count, they start bouncing, like Bouncing Betties, lighting up the place, and going BOOM to some sort of masturbatory macho sound track for the benefit of the tosser/thrower/hurler. Clearing a room with a pistol is lunacy unless you have one of Shalon's people's TLC (Time Line Controller?) from Six Million Dollar Man, or one of those Scalosian Time Acceleration thingies from STTOS. Too many FPS games can make reality boring, eh?

Kill that Java plugin now! New 0-day exploit running wild online

Patch/Fix Coming Soon?

Per:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2025171/oracle-says-java-update-coming-tuesday.html

It is coming Tuesday... More at the URL.

White House rejects Death Star petition: '$850qn too pricey'

How much would it cost to build a Galactica, TRS type?

Since we can see the WH would not go for a Death Star, then, what about BSG-type ships? Instead of going after expensive future tech for planet-slicing laser/maser/plaser beams, hyperlight jumps, and being the size of a planet, why not build frames, then haul partial factories out to the promising A belts, then finish construction there?

Then, build, locally, the ships and vehicles necessary to haul to other planets the various suitable spheres and domes to our own solar system planets. Over time, if mounting from asteroids or comets or other suitable rocky bodies with less gravity, we could probably launch vastly heavier, better-shielded, slightly faster ships to go out on farther exploratory runs.

Just asking. So, how much would a Galactica type of ship cost? Same hull, with the landing bays supporting excavators, then mid body having the factories, and the fwd end the habitability section. It could even. Be modular so the ship could almost operate like a very huge Moon Base Alpha Lunar Lander/Eagle Shuttle. The Hab/Engine section could haul the factories around and maybe even the landing bays could detach or go with the hauler as required for various mining missions. Get all the interested nations involved. Then apply those platinum coins to it.

But, what might be scary is if on those asteroids, 6 BILLION TONS of platinum suddenly are discovered. Talk about astronomical inflation...Would their screams be heard from that far in space?

Re: This

No, that was another morphing, which became "the right to HARM bears"....

OAN, I would like to see a Death Star try to take on a Borg cube, or take on the Xindi. The Andorians might cut tail and run, though. And, the Thoilians might as well kiss their slow, diamond-shaped asses goodbye with their slo-mo electric yarn in space thingy. And, how about a Death Star against a Dyson's Sphere (the one in STTNG)?

And, boy, wouldn't it be fun to see Species 8472 make mince meat out of a Death Star crew. Shrieking and shrilling would haunt Darthy to no end.

Facebook testing $100 fee to mail Mark Zuckerberg

Is there much or any risk that....

Just to kill this line of business, hackers/crackers might just raid banking accounts and paypal cards and apply to them charges from reaching all the MPs, behoodiedones, majesties, etc? Might be a way to inform more of the world of whom the behoodied one is just in case....

But, how about the reverse scenario of paying $100 to talk to somone. What if we can charge the tax authorities, city council, etc, to get a piece of OUR time. Wait... I must be off my purple pill....Or, is it green today?

Vibrator guru on pleasure tech: 'Of all the places you'd want a quality UI....'

Re: @Franklin: A bit ironic, really.

Maybe a waveguide and a parabolic dish may accentuate the gain.... Tuner, coupler, grounding straps, F1, F2, F3 layer charts, maybe even a red and black patch panel. Don't forget the freq plan...

(Anyone not a naval or mil radio operator or born after 1988 might not get the inferences...)

Re: A bit ironic, really.

Rubbish? For a sec, I had to decide whether it was super ticklish or garbage.

The Speeds and Pattterns were not bug, they are features, as in Spatterns, sans the missing accessories...

State of the art today might be hooking vibers up to Xbox, maybe even SirFace or Surf Face or Surface, whichever works out to be an appropos marketing name suitably distanced from MS the mother ship... Attach 3D eyewear, wired-up fingerpro... Umm, tips, and some tension tools with regenerative braking and this could be a verry real "Sexerciser". Of course, it might give Total Fitness and the informercial stars a serious workout.

Re: Lies, damned lies, and... What?!

Figures don't lie, but liars sure can fig yers, lol!

And, what prod duct was it that in the end was rejected? Was it an animatronic Real Doll? Was it remote controlled, waterproof, and HIGHLY DUCTILE? Was it a highy R-tickle-yoo-late, resizable and undulating sub-lingual tool for him or for her? (Reminds me of when in high school, working part time at a pizza restaurant, one of the co-workers laid down a wax sheet on the dough weighing scale and produced/displayed he had 22lbs of tongue force in the downward direction against the scale. Freaked out some co-workers, excited others, but nobody got into trouble, hahaha. Boys AND girls competed, yours truly among since we were kids competing. I was for better or for worse, not anywhere near the max end of the scale. I think one or two customers picking up their pizzas sighted the activity, but nothing became of it... ( That was around, ohh, 1983... In Calif...)

Medical Mannquins brings to mind medical man o' kins.

Latest exoplanet discovery is a virtual CLONE of Earth

Re: How old is the star?

Ah, but, what if that "now-dead advanced civilisation" sported sentient-being-satellites? Hopefully, they would have avoided excessive world wars, and hopefully they even managed to have"their-a-world-a-formed" (since they probably would not have called themselves Terrans) one or more of their moons or nearby planets. If they did that, even if they are extinct, and even ifffff they have not links to us a la Battlestar Galactica (TRS), it would be Earth-shattering a find if something creature-made were discovered operating as a beacon.

GODS, this is so exciting. Unfortunately, I feel that we will not in the next 45 years or so uncontrollably discover nor publicly be told of such a discovery. Still, finds such as these get me all giddy.

Help a US gov't agency switch to open source, win $3 million

OpenVista/MedSphere

https://medsphere.org/tour

From Vista to OpenVista:

http://www.medsphere.com/vista-to-openvista

In the spirit of Open Source, if it is going to be so seleccted, then please, please ensure that it runs neutrally on tablets and phones, and not on any one platform. Specifically, and deliberately, I feel compelled to say, "buy American" should NOT apply if all it results in is Apple devices winning that section of development. If that happens, then hospitals, clinics, paramedics, other first responders, and even audit agencies may all be coerced into dumping Android-based systems, even if they are on hardware designed by US firms/entities/corporations. At the same time, some schlocky/slapped-together- domestic hardware should also be disqualified if the software it runs won't run on Apple or anything other than itself. The devss really need to look at Eclipse, KDevelop, Trolltech's successors, wxWidgets, or whatever is OS-agnostic. IIUC, the truly OS-agfnostic developer tools compile from a general starting or development stage, and then only the most minimal of OS-specific bits may compile but not break the overall functionality, continuity, or value of the app. This probably means that Apple & Windows-centric devs ought not/need not apply unless they guarantee the VA a truly OS-agnostic tool. I feel the VA MUST not just should demand or amend the challenge to be a result that is OS-agnostic, if that is not already stated. By OS-agnostic, I mean that the base backup, server, maintenance, and forward-going baseline app must compile at the push of a button to the target OS, but absolutely must not play games with the data, must be accessible from clients of the other 2 or 3 OS types, and must be able to roll back to a stable version and then be compiled forward to a differing OS target in case economic soundness calls for reducing the deployment of a specific OS or hardware type.

In the name/spirit of HIPAA, the VA probably should say (and I suspect some politicians will demand), that the hardware that may be ancillary or accessory or required to go with any software winning the prize MUST be "Made in the USA". This of course being to reduce fears that special forces retirees or actives should not fear nor have to fear backdoors in chips or in code. I am assuming that that is the unspoken part of the "Must be a corporation... Principally operating in the USA..." code language.

For you enterprising types who are in the USA, search Google for "medical database schema", and also look at the schemas and HIPAA requirements. No point in trying to enter and compete if not enough security is baked in right at the beginning.

And, be mindful of how much risk may be involved depending on the amount of Java and JavaScript are injected into the project.

Not that I have any real say in any of this, even though I am a subje... Umm, by-birth citizen of the USA.

Good Luck!

NASA: There are 17 BEEELLION Earth-sized worlds in Milky Way

Re: If we can find them

But, what if instead of Gorn, Talshyar, Naussicans, etc, they are a bunch of Organians? They might sport weed of a higher grade than San Fransideshow. Or, what if they rendered war to cleaner from bloody via use of Disintegration Chambers... Or, no matter their harvesting or tech superiority, suppose they have vastly greater wit, humor, and insult skills? Or, suppose they can supply a steady, sultry stream of age-legal Orion slave girls and boys?

Re: There are 17 BEEELLION Earth-like worlds in Milky Way!!!

"Why DO aliens always seem to pop up in CORN FIELDS?", Jonathan Archer, Captain, Starfleet...

Twin brothers nabbed for scrap over sex with 'shared' girlfriend

Re: Have they never... it angle

3-somes? Maybe they each have only 3 chromoSOMES? That could lead to unstately coonnections

Connecticut? Maybe she pulled a connect(shun)cut on them via organic MAC attack?

She BUSted their bus network?

Tore doen their partially connected mesh?

Maybe she is lucky she unrandomly dropped their headers and packets and cut their unshielded, possibly twisted pairs and pears?

I wonder whether their topology was star or round robbin... How long have they had their maws on her MAU?

Then again, if not for the connection errors, they might have gotten into hybridized, switched, heartbeat-augmented, extendable, scalable daisy chain top awe low-g...

Yes, bad bad bad....

Takes me back to sys admin courses in the 90s... Groping and poking...

As for a musical angle... Sounds like a Bizarre Love Triangle for a Blue Monday of a New Order...

Connecticut? Maybe she pulled a connect(shun)cut on them via organic MAC attack?

She BUSted their bus network?

Tore doen their partially connected mesh?

Maybe she is lucky she unrandomly dropped their headers and packets and cut their unshielded, possibly twisted pairs and pears?

I wonder whether their topology was star or round robbin... How long have they had their maws on her MAU?

Then again, if not for the connection errors, they might have gotten into hybridized, switched, heartbeat-augmented, extendable, scalable daisy chain top awe low-g...

Yes, bad bad bad....

Takes me back to sys admin courses in the 90s... Groping and poking...

US Patent Office seeks public input on software patents' future

One Approach

Compel the submitter of a patent to disclose how many competitors' apps and how many non competitors' similarly-capable apps the submitter tried to use. Force the submitter to disclose whether or not the alternative programming or processing apps fully, partially, and unacceptably recreated the purported novel features claimed in the patent filing.

Get the submitter to agree under oath and risk of finding of purjury and punishment of forfeiture of the right to in the future submit a patrnt by self OR proxy, and to disclose all parties already involves in the patent being submitted, as well as unnamed sponsors of it, to prevent doing an end run around the filing ban punishment.

If my my purported wonder app can be reproduced in Alpha 5, ms access, Borland paradox, filemaker, et al, thenthe ONLY legitimate claim I can or should be allowed to claim would be the actual style or design, rendering my application null, and steering me to a frickin COPYRIGHT in most cases. If lucky, i might qualify for a restricted utility or function patent if the competing apps are too burdensome to provide to a regular user the output or functionality sought or claimed.

**I** am willing to accept those conditions or limitations, all in the name of leveling the playing field so poor devs and ordinary people can try to make a living without fear of being screwed over by corps or shotgunning lawyers blasting out illegit scare letters.

Traffic app Waze 'turned down Apple's $400m, wants $750m' - report

Re: You actually use 19th avenue to get to the GG bridge?

Absolutely! One of my Korean friends INSISTED on using the map app to get to my place, and every time it caused him delays. I too told him to take Sunset Avenue, and it took him maybe the 5th or 6th visit to finally get it right. Whoever puts in 19th Ave for any destination along 19th ave or GG Bridge for a drive that is before 1AM needs to be kneecapped literally and figuratively.

OTOH, Sunset Blv is prone to having occasional crashes, and these are by no means "mere accidents". I saw a totally smashed-up Honda, and the younger driver and his passenger probably will regret that event all their lives. And, it was mid-day. IIRC, I have seen at least several more, and it. May be due to the easy-speeding temptation.

'SHUT THE F**K UP!' The moment Linus Torvalds ruined a dev's year

"Open

Sores" is what I thought for a sec, then trembled and my mind restored the missing "u".

But, public humiliation could definitely lead to Open Sores....

Re: Linux audio... Audio, OH Audio, where for art thou, Audio? Adio?

Thanks! I really needed the humor, since I am down to my last 100 or so in my banking account.

In an instant, I thougght of Linux Audio, and how it spuriously breaks on me, and makes me wonder whether some of my crashes even today or yesterday are related to faulty info relay related to sound and sound drivers. I wonder whether Vbox, Linux, Pulsa Audio, and others clash during suspends and unsuspends.

I also have been one of those people who had to be yelled at or embarrassed in front of coworkers or within earshot. I don't like it. I have called out people for bullying or suspected bullying, and I despise bullying. But, on reflection, I accept that sometimes I indeed have been part of a problem.

Then again, yes, it is not always best at all to be PC or molly-coddly in some cases. For example, on a ship, duringg UNREP/CONREP (Underway Replenishment/Connected Replenishment), one person not paying attention is all it takes for a role to slip from the hands of 8 others on that rope team. One person overlooking flawed maintenance is all it takes for a which to fail under tension, and that 100 feet of paid-out wire rope can come slinging back in fury, tearing through deck houses and 1/4 inch steel bulkheads. Rare, but it has cut men in half. In one case, the rope came back to coil around but not actually scratch the person it wound around. So, yelling,and public berating , for life-saving and mission-critical reasons (but, not forum commenting reasons, hehehe) is sometimes absolutely necessary.

Broken Linux audio would rightly be a major show stopper for anyone considering Linux. Maybe not in 1979 or 1991, but in 2012, even as far back as 1997, audio importance is not something to dismiss casually.

And, yes, sometimes Linus' outbursts are entertaining. But, since I am not so funny or important, I probably won't be lucky enough to have my outbursts dismissed or found entertaining... But, I hope I am wrong on that count...

China turns the screws on netizens with real-name registration plans

Go to McDonalds, KFC, etc, to sur, and you

Must provide a mobile phone number or something identifying. Check in to a motel, and wifi is open and frfee, but, the motel has your name, credit card, passport number, room number, and all your traffic. This was the case for me in Qingdao and Shanghai.

China switches on 'BDS' civilian nav-sat rival to GPS

Stages, GPS, INS, Cruise, Descent, Ballistics...

From reading:

http://www.faqs.org/espionage/An-Ba/Ballistic-Missiles.html

, it seems to me that GPS *might* be used, but if it is, it would be during launch. That makes sense since during launch, if a launching nation's GPS system is still intact, a missile can know its position AT launch and maybe for a few minutes during the ascent phase. Otherwise, I presume that GPS inputs are fed to the missile for as long as GPS is not knocked out.

Then, during ascent, the missile is constantly calculating/computing all along its path. At some point, during cruise (if cruise is well above the atmosphere, far enough to count as having "exited" the Earth), it may or may not launch one or more MIRVs, and then, during descent, launch off one or more, or all remaining warheads, which may or may not be finned for maneuvering. If finned, or if using thrusters, they then would be MaRVs, or Maneuvering Re-Entry Vehicles. I thought, in my past thinking that is, that MarVS maneuvered not so much to improve targetting accurace, but to ACTIVELY and not passively evade countermeasures or anti-missile missile systems. I knew in the past of decoys in MIRVs, but thought that I in the past read the MaRV systems were good enough and fast enough to not need decoys, meaning more RVs could be carried, or they could be lighter RVs to move a bit faster before launching the warheads.

I though that the MaRVs could do things like cork-screw maneuvers, too, not just fire off decoys and counter measures. Been a long, lonnnng time since I last read this stuff, since maybe the mid 80's. I even forgot about the MX missile. The article was a nice refresher about the diffs tween SLBMs and ICBMs and how the USAF distinguishes ICBMs by ranges (Short, Medium, Long) whereas the USN does not.

Also, it was interesting to read that the V(#) rockets, some 580 of which were launched into the UK (I suppose as terrror devices, not anti-military infrastructure weapons) were, to this date, the deadlies ballistic missiles.

Re: ICBM's navigation

Sorry, I think I may have misread you ant thought that you were positing that the USN invented the sextant.

Anyway, along the lines off the sextant, this may interest some:

http://www.westsea.com/tsg3/octlocker/octchart.htm

But, on my first quick pass of the article, I found nothing in it discussing how, according to Gavin Menzies, the Chinese were able to circumvent... Ummm, circumnavigate the globe by their own sextant or quadrant-like/astrolage-like instruments. Per his book from circa 2003/2004, or when i read it, the Chinese Eunuch Admiral Zheng He ("Jung Huh", not "zzeng hee") and other 1421-era Chinese fleets could start from China and sail to ANY point on the globe, and arrive to within a few miles of their intended destination, at which point land sightings would make up for minor error. Per his book, when the Portuguese, Spanish, or others attempted the same level of accuracey, even years or decades later, they were dozens if not hundreds of miles off course, but managed to close the error gap, but only more years later, and with more modern instruments that had then become available. I do not know how accurate Menzies' account of history is, but if he is correct, it could be sobering.

Just imagine if China had not abandoned her earlier maritime feats. Might have changed the course of history since the 1700s had China had maintained her robust, most-powerful navy. But, it seems the economy, fiefdoms, civil wars, shifting borders, and incurrsions by outsiders from at least 3 up-and-coming powers expoited the local disarray. (Plus, Vietnam would probably have just run out of trees by the 1730s, and Vn is probably STILL seething over all those trees that were cut down.)

Cheers!

Re: "who reserve the option of denying GPS service, though this has never actually happened."

In the early 90s, I worked for a courier company that IIRC considered using Trimble Navigation devices. We used to deliver their gear to local area outfits, and IIRC, sometimes to airlines for shipping. I recall around Java Avenue, Montague Expwy, Lawrence Expwy, and a few other places seeing old beat-up cars with huge tubes/cans and whip antennae swinging to and fro, some tied to the hood (bonnet in the UK?) all the way from the trunk (boot in the UK?) of the car. Then, within years, such sightings vanished or diminished greatly as smaller devices from competitors and Trimble came along.

Ahh, nostalgia/memory lane....

Re: ICBM's navigation

Huh? Invented by the US Navy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sextant

"Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727) invented the principle of the doubly reflecting navigation instrument (a reflecting quadrant—see Octant (instrument)), but never published it. Two men independently developed the octant around 1730: John Hadley (1682–1744), an English mathematician, and Thomas Godfrey (1704–1749), a glazier in Philadelphia. John Bird made the first sextant in 1757. The octant and later the sextant, replaced the Davis quadrant as the main instrument for navigation."

2012: The year that netbooks DIED

Re: Netbooks are the perfect travel device

I already partly explained that.

Also, it should be obvious if you really are a computer user of more than a few years that when doing CAD, it is wholly convenient to be able to open multiple instances of an app not just on one machine, but on as many as you have a license for if the need is to use a machine as a reference. Also, some apps are not worth actually reacquiring a license for, but the contenet generated in them is. Hence, again, a reference machine. Any new machine can bugger up and die, and it has happened to me at least twice. It is a crippling event to have working drives, but a dead machine.

Why do you assume that I have whatever runes or magical powers you might have? Great for you, and I do applaud you if you have that band with and can cast spells or draw upon deep powers of recollection. Some of us do not, and it is justt not an option to leave a machine 6,000 miles behind, or even to buy a new one at the destination.

Also, some VERSIONS of the apps I run won't run on the new machine, and are not worth the hassle to try to virtualize in the cramped disk space I have. Plus, I tend to do some amount of troubleshooting for some maritime related apps, and if I can avoid corrupting or changing the OS or other versioon underneath them, then my comments to developers are not moving the goal posts or changing the environment on them. And, haven't you experienced the frustration with having to too many times Alt+Tab just to look at something? Sometimes, it is easier to just run two laptops side-by-side. Before my trip, I had 3 side-by-side, and planned on a much longer-than-8-months trip, and figured on replicating my before-travel workbench environment. It just happened to turn out that my main laptop is still working just fine, was not stolen, and that all the files i DID transfer were good enough. But, in IT, in documentation, in CAD, what are we if we do not plan for redundancy or disaster?

(I guess now had I written all that out, i could have averted the down vote, but then again, had I included it, I'd have gotten one for being too lengthy. Or, for bringing up fully-fledged laptops, despite others broaching non-Netbooks. Not trying to spar with you, mind you... )

Netbooks are great -- for those who need them. They are great for some of my Korean friends who are highly accustomed to carrying LIGHTWEIGHT devices. One was aghast in 2008 when he saw my 17" Gateway, referring to it as "nanjango", or "refrigerator" in Korean. But, after I pointed out that I was editing multiple docs, doing how-tos, and using multiple CAD or CAD-like systems, he didn't laugh as much anymore. Another Korean friend had one Netbook stolen from him when his car was broken into. He went out and replaced it with yet another Netbook, for cost , size, weight, and battery charge duration reasons. But, whenever I had to help him with his papers, it was murder on me because for me Netbooks FEEL too small, and some of the keys are in confusing locations... It is bad enough dealing with full-sized laptops never having keys consistently in the same place...

Segue here: (one reason why one laptop is less used, but 17" Gateway display aspect ration is too square, the battery is shot, and RAM is maxed at 2GB. The 17" HP has a NICE aspect ratio, but the keys are too slick and snag on my sleeves, and snag my wrist hair (very little, but it hurts like a bitch when that laptop snags my arm hair), and the screen is too reflectiive, it is as noisy as a racing engine, and is almost 8lbs, but both STILL are useful as reference machines for drawings that cannot be or are best not transferred, and/or because I need to preserve their state based on the limitations of the machines and the versions of the software versions....). End Segue

... So, sometimes, when time was not an issue, I had him micro-usb me a file, then we'd edit it on my machine, then put it back on his. I cannot type quickly enough on a Netbook (well, not his at least). But, it was quite enviable to see how LONG his netbook lasted. I know: smaller screeen, fewer energy vampires, tightly-integrated MS-battery vendor algorithms....)

I really do hope you understand now why I had taken three machines. If you still cannot, then so be it. We probably just are using machines in different contexts.

Cheers!

Re: Netbooks are the perfect travel device

Nobody? Well, I am in the minority. I traveled to Asia with THREE laptops: two 17" and one 15" the 15" being the newest. I use them for CAD mostly, and when I do word processing of long documents, the 17" screens are more useful than the 15". But, in full disclosure, I actually only regularly used ONE, the 15", but one 17" stayed bagged up for months. The other 17" only got fired up to check some old files I had not transferred.

The WEIGHT is the biggest drag. And, the accessories for each weigh in second. Planes are tighter now than I seem to recall 8 years ago, and the Air Canada 767 tightness nixed my use of even my 15". Another thing that nixed my using my 15" was that my mouse is bluetooth. Verbotten in-flight are bluetooth and wifi. :-( My Galaxy Tab was low on juice, and so I charged it via the back-of-headrest 3-pole outlet, and then watched The Bourne Legacy and then slept the rest of the way.

I saw people on the plane using iPads and Galay or other tablets, and they preferred those to the "in-flight entertainment".

If 15" and 17" laptops could in the next 3 years stay at their current pricing, but go thinner, lighter, and sport longer-lived batteries, it might slow the uptake of tablets for some users.

China 'enhances' Great Firewall, teaches it to choke off VPNs

Hmmm... I wonder what enterprising hack groups

Will expose the non-indigenous companies selling the code and switches to China are these days. Hurt their investor relatioons a bit, and they might cut off or reduce support of such a regime. But, we know that that has not crimped Cisco enough.

But, imagine the government in cahoots with spammers.... Yikes!

Re: Not exactly business-friendly, is it?

Imagine pre-quarterly reports by big companies having to go out by briefcase.

A response market, however, might involve the use of optical signaling. Microwave would require a local or national permit. Light signaling might not affect anyone, but the distance, and attempts to reach a satellite would be prohibitive. Even if feasible to transceive, the payload would probably be astonishingly low.

During the summer, I was in Shanghai, and I could not without a VPN reach fb. I was, however, able to set up a google plus account, but it was spottty, laggy, and seemed as if someone was screwing around with it, delaying my posts for hours if not days.

Countries expecting to be considered Tier One should not be allowed in the club if they behave this way.

I was recently considering sublicensing to Chinese nationals for manufacture some product ideas i had. After experiencing inability to see word press, facebook, wikipedia, and a slew of other sites I could outside of China, i decided to remove China from my list of business planning. So long as they act this way, I will NOT return to that country even if it is an all-expenses-paid trip.

They can spy on and inhibit their OWN people all they want, but, block me from getting useful info or distractive entertainment that is on the wrong side of they firewall.... Well, you do NOT deserve my money.

Grow up, China. End the corruption. Either jail or execute the most corrupt. Replace them with the "untested", but show them the execution or early-retirement vids. Allow foreigners WHO AGREE TO BE ON THEIR BEST BEHAIVOR to go about surfing as usual. Spy on them if you must. But, only go after individual violators,.

One coup for China is that businesses that cannot dare sent financial or competitive or HR or privacy info vial plain traffic will simply pack up and leave, leaving China with a little more than infrastructure-- it will get nearly full ownership of left-behind assets. Carrier pigeons cannot carry cases of papers nor relay optical traffic, and optical messaging just won't carry the bandwidth. The WTO and WIPO should slam China for these and a handful of reasons alone. It is oppressive, anti-competitive, and tantamount to government-sanctioned data theft beyone crime reduction.

Sigh. Maybe the world SHOULD have ended...

Motorola pulls out of China, leaves locals behind till of Android shop

For a sec...

I thought the article was going to relate to VPN banning/blocking running off a major company. But, how great is the reality that foreign companies relying upon VPNs may pack up and leave?

IF (and that is just an if) foreign companies leave a here and there, what is the likely business model pain they will feel? Did many of them have to turn over to locals some 51% of the venture/entity in order to be allowed to "play" in the country? If so, then it seems to me that blocking VPNs would be an interesting way to take overe "abandoned" companies.

But, the article is about GoogoRola's inability to compete.

In August, in Shanghai, I was looking at a brand of local Android phone. It began with a C, IIRC, and it was in one of the major e-box stores, a local version of Best Buy (which probably spelt doom for the long-vacant Best Buy building a few blocks away), selling all sorts of electronics plus refrigerators, portable air conditioners, heaters, washers, dryers, and such. Anyway, at the time, someone local told me not to consider buying the Chinese version of the phone (it was rather nice-looking, but cost only some US $100) since it reportedly had main board or circuitry problems. And, it would not work in the US if I decided to try to use it there. And, that it might try to phone home, no matter where I connected it to a network. That was dissuasive/persuasive enough.

With these apps being knocked off and shamelessly even keeping the headers or dev memos, it will be just a matter of time before the local devs reverse engineer, improve upon, and make it extremely difficult for just about ANYone with a profit motive from planting a flag there. If the music apps are already upping in quality, then so long to so many other types of apps.

As for domestic security, this probably plays very well into the hands of the departments that want clean, smooth access into apps and devices.

Chill out, biz barons... your new IT system might not look like the old one

Re: What the fuck does "overly prescriptive" mean?

Maybe it means when sites become too anal about controlling what users do on the site based on what devices they use to access a site.

I just noticed that on my tablet, two different browsers, that when I try to copy text from an article, I see "Save Image" and other options. But, "pubads.g.doubleclick" appear in the page's URL...

Of the sites I currently have open in my browsers, it seems to be only in The Register. Turning java script and flash of do not restore copy and paste. Docked and undocked, my tablet behaves this way. Is it The Register, or am I using a flawed configuration?

From my laptop, there is no problem.

Facebook tests feature to let strangers pay to message you

Spoonerism Alert

Ahh, reminiscent. Since the 90s, PooperSacs came to my mind. You revived that memory fragment.

If SuperPACs take hold of fb, it truly WOULD becoming a PooperSac, and that would truly earn it the name revision of an "e" inserted between fa and ce in te UK, and the replacing of the "a" with an "e" in the US...

FB might feel pressure to create astro-accounts...

But, where it would backfire is when the PMB (Pay-Mail-Bomber) payor demands the age, average access time, average daily inbox count, average related email reply to inbox messages, and so on. If the PMBs do not feel their metrics are being addressed, they will not pay to play that game. They could also aggregate their response misses and that could become a way for the SEC and others to more meaningfully gauge how many active, valuable accounts or subscribers fb really likely has.

Re: No win for the uesr

Not what I interpreted. I read it as the known sender gets to send one message per week, but it probably is one message per week per distinct recipient. This would reduce the amount of pay-mail-bombing (PMB, if you will) a given person receives from a given sender. Mail Fatigue would turn against fb if, say, a product hawker hit someone 11 times per week, like a certain database company does to me, or feels as if it does to me.

OTOH, if the PMBs were allowed to saturate individual recipients, and their expectations were, say, "10% impressions success leading to a sale", and then the PMBs reverse-subjected themselves to PMB fatigue, then they themselves would find fb's scheme non-gratifying. So, from that perspective, fb might be trying to stave off PMB payor fatigue.

Just my off-the-cuff take on it.

Re: As long as I...

The only way I suspect that you could get satisfaction is if the recipient replied with your quoted "fuck off". Otherwise, for all we know, fb would just in advance set up a word substitution algorithm to soften your response. Your gratification would be truncated or unfulfillable end-to-end.

Does the plan include making sure that locked down privacy-set accounts are going to be be pay-mail-bombed, too?

Re: Oh, maaa-aaan, they really got this one wrong...

This is one reason why I last week or so ago called FB "faecebook", but, boy did I take a HELL of a resounding pummeling, to the tune of over 100 down thumbs....

I agree. FB should pay either in cash or funny money. But, I've also locked down my privacy settings to be that I can only receive emails from friends. What gives fb the right to override my wish?

Surely, there are othr business models fb can pursue...

Kickstarted mobe charger 'kicked to death by Apple'

Re: But, does it seem he is trying to screw any customers?

As of 11 hours ago (it is 0320 PST for me), the KS project appears to still be on. It just to me seems the CS site creators may have undergone some angst over their understanding of KS' refund policy, modified heavily by the uncertainty of Apple's pending decision. On the KS comments at:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/siminoff/pop-the-intersection-of-charging-and-design/comments

It seems that Apple is not asking for a license to use the cable alongside other USB cables. The CS site creator appears to be promising he will hand deliver a funder her product when it is ready to ship. Seems he is committing himself to a coast-to-coast flight from Jersey to Santa Monica/nearby.

Interesting.

But, does it seem he is trying to screw any customers?

I just read:

https://secure.christiestreet.com/about

And the sponsorship/supporing, and refundidng mechnanism explanation are what I wish I read about on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

It is almost an amalgem of traditional invention submission/inventor society type ingress, but supported by crowd funding instead of investor funding.

I like that they release 1/3 of the funding after the campaign ends, so the inventors can run off to a suitable IP attorney and factory (matched by Christtie Street? I don't know) to get prototypes made. I do not recall reading such support in KS or IGG material on their respective sites.

Now, if CS is going to be really successful, and do something I think KS and IGG are not doing, then CS needs to partner with IP lawyers, patent filing experts, and local area manufacturers to drive down the costs associated with patenting.

That's an atttactive lure, especially since KS and IGG and similar crowdfunding sites suggest that creators/inventors do not advert more than 2 simultaneous campaigns, in order to avoid "donor fatigue". With KS, it appears that a creator has good luck and good timing, s/he can advert and release products on staged timing cyces and if up front about his/her campaign's, products' progress, then might avert the fear of "donor fatigue". If a product reaches a sufficient amount of funding prior to the end of the campaign, and if the money could be escrowed and in part released for document vetting and patent filing, and AS LONG AS the donors agree to it prior to donating, then CS might be THE best crowdfunding site to come along, as long as they are and remain professional and are not taking a cut so huge you're almost no different from being with equity funding.

If all this is true, then CS is the very idea I thought of a few weeks ago. In the name of integrity and sincerity, I wanted to deliberately have my Indiegogo campaign spell out the risks along with the rewards, and to up-front tell the donors that I wanted to escrow their fundings and self-limit myself to taking and using initially ONLY what it would take to officially certify and file the invention docs, then get a prototype going. This could only partially be met on IGG, as I think that IGG does not explicitly demand a physical, non-photo-realistic product to appear on the site. That is what turned me off to KS.

Unfortunately, as much as I am tempted to jump to CS, they for now appear to have only ONE displayed campaign. If they start getting plugged by major news outlets and carry a few hundred tech or geek or other inventors, then I will DEFINITELY swing to them. I would do so because I am not dumb enough to display my sketches ahead of having a physical prototype. And, without money, I cannot yet show a prototype. If I did, I'd be beaten to manufacture. The trick is to show enough of the prototype sketch, but then maybe receive directional votes from funders, and get their blessing to crank out two prototype sketch finalists once the first 1/3 of funding is released for filing. This allows the inventor to sidestep the last-minute discovery of a patent protected invention discovered too late to warn the funders.

I think that if CS is legit and worthy of a shift, we'll in a few months see more tech/geeky products move to there or advert in parallel as a hedge. Having production assistance in the loop (if they do not behave as equity investors or sharks) can remove several nearly-insurmountable obstacles.

Re: The Reg would never report the whole story would it...

Why didn't they go to Indiegogo? Indiegogo, IIUC, has existed before July 2012, so if they had looked at the refund policies, and had they considered it, they might have gone to Indiegogo.

IIUC, on Kickstarter, your physical projects campaigns need a real, existing product or prototype, not a photorealistic presentation, to be cleared by Kickstarter project/campaign approvers. IIUC, Indiegogo does not, and that is what swayed me to seriously look at and start to like Indiegogo. Otherwise, Kickstarter probably has a more solid tech reputation.

Still, boo on Kickstarter for not making it possible to do refunds, if that bit of the story is factual. Otherwise, I find it bizarre that Kickstarter would not facilitate the refunding process since they have all the necessary info. If a donor is anonymous, and pitches in, say, $25,000, and a create/creator is sufficiently hungry enough, he or she could say, "due to privacy reasons and Kickstarter's own policies, I have no way of knowing who my anonymous donors are, and you cannot prove you are one, or 7 claimed when only 3 actuals existed. Sorry, I will keep the money unless you REALLY can prove it AND have tenacioius attorneys....

Forget about fondling that slab... within 2 years, it'll fondle YOU

Re: Leading the way in Immersive "Play"

Drop yer linens and start yer grinnin, because ...

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/12/17/company-developing-fully-immersive-virtual-reality-sex-game/

"Finally Here"? Hmmm,

Once, a few months ago in a Best Buy, i joked that Microsoft could fund immersive sex gaming and rebrand it so it would not taint the brand of the XBox. Otherwise, XBox would become known very quicky as SexBox, or ScexxBocc, etc., as it takes hold

Imagine the new adult babbling sounds on buses and in other places if there is no longer a modicum of decency...

Now, if Wii, XBox, IBM's thing, and thise immersive app all join forces it might usher in a new era of global stability. Not available in all areas.... Availability subject to local government approval. Satisfaction not guaranteed. Past performance not an indicator of future success. Investmwisely, use carefully. Not to be used by those on medications or treatments for... Well, standard disclaimers might take more time than the basic advert.

File-sharing mom begs US Supremes to void bloated RIAA fine

Re: Can we send money?

If you do, be sure to be an anonymous donor, via untraceable paths.

Otherwise, if not afraid, and if reasonably clean, set up a crowd funding campaign to build a clearing house/escrowed donation system to pay for victims of excessive court or lawsuit-driven fines and fees.

Just, don't make payouts on behalf of the vict, umm, the accused until the lowest likely fine has been set, lest the attackers come back for even *more* money and blood.

Internet Explorer tracks cursor even when minimised

Re: @ dssf

Thanks, :-)

I slept it off. It is a new day. I will leave my posts visible, partly to knock myself in the head to remember to use fewer polarizing, inventive, (except, iexploDer, whic I first saw in IT around 1997, loked, and used when a fitting context arose) words. Otherwise, i will incur more negs faster than any positive recovery.

Again, thanks.

Re: Faecebook Next? @dssf

Now, i will give my first -1 JUST because you had the unctuous temerity to accuse me of going after a badge. I do NOT gie a fuck about the posting badge. I never had any say in its arrival, and i do not know how to turn it off. My posting count is well over 650, and when the badge arrived, i was over 600 or so. So, go give yourself a cold, self-aggrandizing shower.

I rarely, if ever see people downvoted for calling facebook facefuck or other names.

As an ac, you have the luxury of not being doenmodded every time you post. But, i do not post as ac for any reason, especially not for the purpose of criticizing anyone. And, i do not vendetra rate, either.

So, keep the run-him-away downmods. Oming. When the management wakes up, if ever it gets around to changing hands, it might enhance the voting code go nullify malicious voding and weed out vicious downvoters. But, we shall see...

Re: Faecebook Next? @dssf

GROW UP. You do not know me, and have no real need to go off on personal attacks when I didn't single you out as a person. Why do you think I need a shrink? Yes, I incorrectly spelled a word, but reasonable people go for the intent, not the minor spelling error. Disclaimer: I am guilty of occasionally making hints about a spelling error in a post, but I try to elicit humor, not negativity, since I despise bullies or those behaving as bullies.

Re: Faecebook Next?

See, there's is tthe problem... Trying to "enhance" or read into someone else's (my lame) lame jokes to your own satisfaction. Why not just WRITE your own instead of being a voice killer. I wasn't trying to be imaginative. I WAS conveying displeasure with those products. Imagine if I could muster up 50 or 60 friends, or a bot farm, and just start geographically originating down mods randomly or against everything *I* was a lame joke, or a strong opinion. If I got caught, I'd be banned. If not a bot, then rank or position would spare me if I were high enough. I am not directly attacking the moderator, but I **DO** strongly feel that unfettered assailing of a fellow commentart is tantamount to bullying. Unfortunately, hardly ever is there a counterforce to clamp down at the commentard level, and then whinging to the moderator of a typical site justs elicits not much. If I designed a moderator system, it would be heuristic, and it would reward positive behaivor, not mood-killing behavior. Attack politicians, stupid corporate behavior, not a thought out missive or half-baked (but non-radioactive) joke.

Now, I will probably incure 40-50 more hits for daring to defend myself or to appear to be "lecturing"....

I do not think in the entire year + that I have commented on this forum that I have EVER down-modded anyone. I do not go and just randomly up-mod, either, but I do occasionally upmod. I disparage events, and lame corporate behavior, but I try not to tear down or berate fellow commentards unless I am singled out or feel singled out. Unfortunately, trying to reason with what should be reasonable people is like an ant trying to move a bulldozer.

Sigh.

Re: Faecebook Next?

I gave. You a thumbs up, since you helped me feel a bit better about the detritus hurled at me.

I think it IS a good idea for me to not give a damn about the rank rankings of the feeble-minded, the shills, and the rabid-fans of whomever my comments are aimed at. It just would be pretty kewl if downthumbers were algorithm-managed to prevent a$$holes from flexing their muscles too much. No down-thumbing without justification, point by point. No downthumbing with anonymity, to balance out the hit-and-run attacks. But, NO decent programmers or moderators dare invoke such a system lest they face the wrath of their commentards, who probably donate or influence in some way a huge number of forums out there.

Sad state of affairs. But, 635 + and 652- is probably a good trend .Just this morning, I was around 637+ and 602 -, and the ms, apple, and fb shils ripped my ass from continent to continent.... To leave me INcontinent....