Posts by Tom 13

Re: would it be legal for the peeped

No it wouldn't.

But you wouldn't find me voting to convict if I were to somehow manage to be seated on such a jury.

Re: Bob Camp

Bob doesn't get out of his mother's basement much. He thinks the only skirts women wear are the ones he finds on TGP sites.

Re: So Yeah, Really.

Generally speaking you are correct, but not necessarily. Again a lot of it has to do with intent, which is admittedly a tricky area to get into.

For example a lot of states have laws that allow the prosecution of someone who goes to a beach and takes pictures of people in a manner intended to arouse. Think of it as, it's okay to take a picture of a pretty girl at the beach in any of a number of standard posses. But if you take a series of pictures that increasing focus on genitalia such that the final pictures are only of the genitalia you are breaking the law.

Re: Wrong law.

We're talking about Taxachusettes here. You know the state that produced the idiot who thought he'd look good with his head sticking up out of tank. Same state that thought it was a good idea to let repeat violent felons out on unsupervised leave. If they didn't have so much old money in Taxachusettes, California's financial problems would be unknown because of the attention focused on it.

Re: "Public interest"

Never forget the journalists ultimate get of jail free card (especially in the US): I didn't claim it, I quoted someone.

Re: Great Journalism

Steve Jackson got it right in 1993 when he developed the board game Hacker: Newsleak.

And IIRC they had a difficulty level right on par with Squishysoft.

Re: just the local journalists being incompetent.

Could be the editor.

In college I was an elected leader in our Astro Club. Student reporter came to us for an interview. We gave it to her and explained all the stuff we did and when we'd have an open house for the public to come look through the big scopes (Halley's comet year). We closed the interview by saying the club had been founded in the 60s by some flowerkids and we'd never gotten around to correcting the errors in the charter because we figured we'd just wind up with even more problems from student government, but we were the Astronomy club which was science based and not the Astrology club which was hocus pocus. Sure enough when the article came out it said we made astrological equipment available to the public. I called her and she said her editor changed it. The editor said since it was in a public document they could use it even if we specifically told them not to.

I'd like to say that it isn't possible for my opinion of journalists to sink any lower than it already is, but I've learned not to temp fate like that.

Re: wouldn't go camp out in someone's front yard to scream questions at them.

I had a journalism class here in the US. One journalism class. Because that's exactly what they teach you to do in your very first journalism class.

Re: Wouldn't be a good start to their relaunched print edition

There's one small problem with that theory.

Regardless of whether or not this is the guy who invented Bitcoin, so long as the rest of the information about him is correct, he seems like the sort of chap who can do his sums. Now that sort of person is likely to do the sums on launching the case. Given Newsleak's prior record, and the fact that they are currently a start-up, it doesn't seem likely they have the million to begin with. So the only effect of launching the lawsuit would be to deplete this guys savings account. And that's assuming he wins the case. Sadly, on this side of the pond the courts seem to be more like a roulette wheel in a gambling house than a system designed to produce just outcomes.

Re: Amazing

It is a freedom of speech issue even if that doesn't comport with your narrow view of the world. It might not be a 1st amendment issue in the sense that the government is seeking to censor something. Then again, given the 1st amendment has been incorporated against states, counties, municipalities and cities, and the one of the astroturf groups pressing the issue is Mayors Against Illegal Guns, maybe it is. Certainly FB are allowed to set their own rules. But it is bad Karma to piss off gun owners and their sympathizers. We vote and shop in accordance with our beliefs. Trample on our rights we trample on your sales or your votes as is appropriate.

Re: There are *legal* gun sales online?

Yes and no.

You can find any information you want about just about any firearm, legally online, including prices. After you find the information you have to go to a physical location to complete the transaction. Given that 90%+ firearms sales in the US are through licensed gun dealers, that means all the obstacles the government has placed in the path of legitimate gun purchases have to be met and overcome. Private sales from person to person have always been allowed under US law and are not prohibited even though our misinformed author believes otherwise.

Re: n the knitting trading forum

Actually, Facebook haven't changed anything. They aren't a sales site and they've re-affirmed that policy.

See this link for a different take on what happened:

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/03/05/NRA-Beats-Bloomberg-Moms-Demand-Action-In-Facebook-Battle

Re: think I still do prefer 98

98SE was the sweet spot for non-secure MS OSes.

XP is/(was?) the sweet spot for secure MS OSes.

And I think NT4 sitting in a room and not connect to another PC or the internet is still the only one that was Red Book certified.

@NeverMindTheBullocks

Please read Rule Number 2.

Re: Vista/7/8 are all the same underlying architecture

Actually no. MS really muddied the waters here because Windows 8 has two underlying architectures. One is similar to 7, the other is radically different. We tend to overlook it because one of the architectures, the one not like 7, is selling to the one for 7 like Windows 8 total sales compare to Windows 7.

Re: one API for everything

Yeah, yeah. Everybody is always looking for the One Ring.

Louis Sullivan coined the phrase "Form follows function" to describe architecture, but its even more true in computing. While it is true that both ranch houses and skyscrapers have walls and windows the infrastructure supporting, and even the nature of the walls and windows built into the structures is completely different. In the same way, the needed light weight, low memory requirements of a phone or a tablet are different than the needs of a workstation or server. There's no need for the OS on the phone to support the overhead necessary on the server. Therefore the OSes which optimize for the two systems will always be different, sometimes radically so. This is true even with Linux. The difference with Linux is that since it has a modular approach to its construction, even though the loaded OSes are radically different for the different devices, it has a commonality that makes it feel the same. And despite all their press releases, MS still haven't learned how to do that.

Re: It'll be because most of the world don't really care about OS.

Actually I think they do. Not so much because they want to, but because they have to. I very much doubt all of those systems that are still running XP are 12 year old (or more) systems. I think half of them were people who specifically bought an XP system right before MS pulled the OEM licenses. They bought it because they wanted hardware they knew was going to be good for another 4+ years while they could still get the OS all the rest of their software runs on. Think about it. How much do you spend on the PC, and how much do you spend for the rest of the software that runs on it? In most cases you have more invested in the software than you do in the PC, even if you consider the OS part of the PC when it is properly part of the software. People are tired of spending that much money on all that additional software every time an MS CEO sees his shadow.

Re: end customers haven't pulled their heads out of their arses

I'd try to explain it to you, but it is beyond the ability of mere mortals to explain it to anyone who can write the above line with a straight face. If you can't be arsed to remember rule #1, you are a lost cause:

Rule number 1: The customer is always right.

Rule number 2: If the customer is wrong, refer to rule #1.

Re: That has got to be embarrassing for Microsoft

Yes there is a new kernel underneath, or at least a new proprietary lock in, which is an even bigger reason Win 8 has such lousy uptake. It's not just the lousy new skin.

Re: devious master plan behind dropping support for XP

Not so much a devious plan as a grave of their own making. Windows 7 may actually be superior to XP, but the average consumer can't buy it right now. Every time I look at an add for consumer level hardware here in the US the OS is Windows 8*, which is even more pants than Vista was. So the consumer is stuck between using a functional but unsupported OS or a piece of crap they don't want. Of course they're opting for the unsupported OS.

*The sole exception to this seems to be Lenovo, who sell Windows 7 and had solid earnings numbers for hardware last year. Of course, being based in China sort of proves the point about US manufacturers.

Re: Microsoft should have done is reskinned Windows 8

Yes, except for one tiny little detail.

Windows 8 wasn't about re-skinning Windows 7, it was about shifting the market dynamics so Microsoft has a reliable future revenue stream. And you can't really re-skin that.

There's really only one was for MS to displace their entrenched XP users, and in 12+ years they haven't been able to do it: Make an obviously superior OS that people want to buy.

If you look at those numbers I think what you see is enterprise has adopted Windows 7 because they needed the support contracts while consumers mostly stayed on XP. The other people you have moving to Windows 7 were those foolish enough to have tried Vista. And old the committed Kool-Aid drinkers are adopting Windows 8.

Re: Hold on..

You're forgetting about the MS kick-, er rebates to Dell for their licensing agreements.

Re: The fundamental problem...

Data for astro is often this sketchy. And so long as one doesn't become ideologically attached to the hypothesis, it's ok to air them. If the speculation causes some one to run the equations and make a prediction that pans out, you have a plausible theory. You just have to be prepared to walk away if the equations don't work or the predictions come up wrong.

Re: Tricky to parse those first paragraphs.

Yes you missed a key point:

and added that he disqualified himself from the eBay board when they worked to separate Skype and eBay.

which means the CEO didn't order Skype be sold.

Re: so has anyone taken a serious look at his allegation.

Didn't read the article did you?

Andreessen added that he disqualified himself from the eBay board when they worked to separate Skype and eBay.

If you disqualify yourself from any votes or proceedings dealing with a transaction in which you have a potential conflict or even the appearance of a conflict of interest you have met your fiduciary responsibility. Case closed.

Re: I'm surprised

El Reg said:

Icahn repeated his allegation that Andreessen had a "clear and insurmountable" conflict of interest

That's an accusation that Andreessen committed a felony, which absent reasonable cause for such an allegation is slander, not fair criticism. Having been on a board when such an accusation was made by a member*, I know how lawyers respond to that sort of thing. Particularly given Andreessen's statement:

he disqualified himself from the eBay board when they worked to separate Skype and eBay.

which should be easily confirmed by consulting the minutes of the meetings and further constitutes malicious intent on the part of Ichan.

*title of the email sent to the entire membership of the corporation: "YOU F*CKING THIEVES!!!!!"

Which is essentially what Ichan is saying about Andreessen.

Re: PETAbyte

I thought those were the "people" your MPs are so anxious to keep off the internet.

Re: Rumsfeld

Like Rummy, it's not the known unknowns that bother me so much. It's the unknown unknowns that do.

Re: debunked so many times

The argument that the argument that the sun can't be the source has been bedunked so many times it's like trying to kill a lich.

And I do wish members of the Warmist Cult would listen to Moynihan instead of merely trying to use him as a cudgel.

Re: If a model is 60% "good" why not take it as 60% good?

Well that's a new number coming from you.

If Warmist Cult were advertising a 60% good model I might have been interested. You didn't. You claimed it was "settled science" and that skeptics were "denialists". And that we need to divert Quadrillions of dollars RFN to avert the death of the earth as we know it within the foreseeable future.

So, no I don't have any interest in your new-found reasonableness. You blew up the bridge of goodwill a long, long time ago. The frog may have fallen for the scorpions sob story, but I'm not a frog.

Re: Ergo, a computer model cannot be used to support a hypothesis.

Not exactly true, and the exactly true statement is the more damning.

A computer model can be used to support a hypothesis. If you have an equation or set of equations which interact in a subtle way to describe a slowly changing characteristic you can build a computer model using those equations. Then you input data about the current state of the system and run the model faster than the actual event. If when you arrive at the elapsed time the data match the prediction from the model, you have support for your hypothesis.

The problem for AWG is that so far:

model prediction =/= data

in real science this invalidates the hypothesis. In the Warmist Cult it means you try to convince the rest of the tribe to sacrifice the denialist to appease the Climate Gods before you throw the bones again.

Re: it's total input/output is next to even.

minor nit: true so long as the rain forest remains in place. When you burn it you do transfer a fair portion of the previously cycle locked carbon into the atmosphere.

But I concur the Warmist Cult distorts the real facts in this case.

Re: Physics, Chemistry, Biology

Which wouldn't be so bad except they don't even have the physics bit worked out properly yet.