Posts by Charles 9

Re: fingerprint

"Given a sentence for not disclosing a password or encryption key might be less of an offense than what they'd have if they could have a nice rummage through your files."

But the the problem is, last I read, the offence can be REPEATED.

Re: "passwords should be dropped in favor of [...] biometric technology"

"An authenticator must be private, rescindable and changeable."

The problem being that ALSO (by default) makes it easy to lose, easy to mess up, and easier to get stolen. And human minds are fickle things. Try a solution for people, for example, with really bad memories (now was that "correcthorsebatterystaple" or "donkeyenginepaperclipwrong"?), and yes they exist all over the place; I deal with them regularly.

Re: Way, way, way too much hassle

But eventually you run into the ONE place that has that thing you need. It WILL happen eventually, at which point you either bend over or lose business...

Re: Dementia

Or just people with really bad memories. Now was that "correcthorsebatterystaple" or "donkeyenginepaperclipwrong"?

Re: Its the story of the Internet

Nah, it's the Siege Problem. The defender has to be lucky all the time, the attacker only has to be lucky once. Even one-time pads have their weak points.

Re: Its the story of the Internet

"Now any design should include the possibility of misuse and spoofing as a key parameter. This doesn't necessarily mean tying up the protocol in a welter of key infrastructure hacks -- they're useful but they're really a Band-Aid trying to stop a hemorrhage -- but at least put basic security into it if the information it carries has a private content. Put simply -- "We should know better"."

Thing is, just about ANYTHING can be abused if someone demented enough thinks hard enough. Quite simply, we just can't have nice things.

Re: Heineken…

Unless they have no e-mail to speak of and are international, meaning the phone rates are atrocious and the post takes forever.

Re: Heineken…

And if it's the ONLY contact you have with your family (because there's no "Internet" there, just Facebook)? For some. It's basically a decision to get disowned...

Re: The token, we're told, is not the problem

Ever thought it might be a "dual use" problem? You know, like knives...?

Re: "Patent free" is a big mistake

No, that's not safe, either, because people with better lawyers will just try to find ways around the patents themselves...

Re: Just copying TV

It kinda was at the time because cathode ray tubes required a certain mininum rigid depth to work, and the liquid crystal display, to say nothing of fast-responding crystals and color-filtering elements, were still some distance off.

Re: Why the hell isn't the existing code prior art?

Especially with the USPTO being starved to death by conservative policies against nigh anything government.

Re: Ban software patents.

And that's a bad thing? Perhaps it'll encourage people to have different ideas instead. What's wrong with a little variety?

A better idea would be to shorten nonphysical patents to just a few years. Since expired patents become public domain, this would expand the knowledge pool two ways.

Re: Ban software patents.

Too late. Microchips are physical and can implement logical algorithms.

What you need is to alter patent terms based on industry. While slow-moving industries like medicine and mechanics have use for longer patents, fast-moving industries like electronics need shorter terms like, say, three years.

Remember, this also means the methods become public domain afterward. And if shortened terms encourage squirrelling, so will aboloshing nonphysical patents.

Re: S or R?

Nope, because nothing is more precious to us than our identity. It's damn instinct, ecen.

Then you're playing a mug's game, as there's no way to guarantee future performance regardless of your preparations.

If trust can never be regained, then the eventual endgame is a DTA world.

Re: No shielding?

Shielding is actually detrimental against drag. The problem isn't the storm itself but the fact said storms kick up the high atmosphere, which is still prevalent in such a low orbit. Basically, the storm stirred up extra turbulence, causing the satellites to de-orbit early due to the increased drag. It's an unfortunate trade-off when you insist on low-latency satellite communications. Speed of light and all that.

OK, this "snake detection theory" seems to carry at least some weight and can't be dismissed out of hand. Definitely something for further study.

Conservative Republicans (read: closet authoritarians) are far from a party of one. And they're likely even more legion than classic car fans. Look at all the political turmoul over the last few years in all parts of government down to the local level...a lot of which is ongoing...

But as you say, you'll need an intermediary step to the intermediary step: the ability to detect and describe those cars incapable of joining the mesh. There is also the risk of the network going down or being jammed or sabotaged, in which case you'll need the fallback methods anyway. I can just picture pea-soup fog at the same time as the network goes down. Look up "1990 Interstate 75 fog disaster" for a picture of just how bad it can get, and this is before modern traffic densities and habits.

Re: Magic Mouse

"My keybr0ad has had a dedicated octothorpe (<shift>3) for a lot longer than twitter has been around (the VT-05 came out in, what, '70?). IBM's Selectrics used <shift>3 from the early 1960s."

Dedicated meaning you don't need to use a modifier key to access. If you look to the keypad, you'll see dedicated keys for asterisk (for emphasis and multiplication), slash (for dates and division), minus (for dates and subtraction), plus, and period. No octothorpe.

Re: in case it is useful info to some...

Sounds like an X analogue to AutoHotKey.

Re: Yet another useful function

That's an interesting feature request, as middle-clicking and right-clicking on the Maximize are undefined right now in Windows. Maybe a right-click to only maximize vertically and a middle-click to maximize horizontally.

Re: Open background in new tab

That's the thing. Unless I'm gaming, I usually have either both hands on the keyboard or no hands. Usually, I mouse with my right hand and hold something else in my left.

The Alt-Space will work even on a maximized window. Often it'll even work on a full screen. If Move is disabled because the window is maximized, then Restore (as in restore the standard window mode) becomes enabled, which then enables Move.

Re: Open background in new tab

But middle-clicking only uses one hand, handy if your other hand is doing something else besides typing. I prefer middle-clicking to Ctrl-clicking.