Posts by Captain DaFt 3821 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Jun 2007
Ignoring everything else, now the West is claiming that China and Russia can crack encryption with ease that Western spooks are leaning on their governments to ban because they themselves can't (so they claim) crack it?
Right, and I'm the Kwisatz Haderach.
(Now accepting bids from California for rain services)
"So, step 1: Kill the business model. Step 2: File for Chapter 7 bankruptcy? "
Um, if other similar scenarios are followed:
Step one: Kill business model
Step two: Release poorly thought out version of product
Step three: Kill product, citing "lack of demand"
Step four: Use patent portfolio to sue all successful maker of similar/not so similar products (AKA: Profit!)
"Then what happens when the next 7/7 or 9/11 happens on their watch and the public start yelling where the hell where you?!"
And if they were honest they'd answer:
"At my post, monitoring every thing you do, because if I didn't, things like this would happen."
"For the record I was raised out in rural derbyshire and lived close enough to farms to know what a mess an animal makes when you cut it open. That sort of visceral knowledge either turns you veggie or completely inures you to the whole thing. Fortunately for my tastebuds I soon came to the conclusion that piggies are at their best when they're sliced and smoked."
Have you ever noticed that most vegans and vegetarians tend to be city dwellers? It must be the disconnect from nature that produces such an aseptic mind set.
"It would certainly be nice to have the choice as a vegetarian of a high-end car without leather seats being obligatory."
Because obviously, as a vegetarian, you're appalled at utilising an animal (yourself, walking) as a mode of transportation. eh?
"Meat isn't the most efficient way of utilising land to produce protein for humans. Even given the need to eat multiple vegetable protein sources in one meal to get a balance doesn't make meat more efficient."
Depends on the meat and available resources.
In poor areas, it's much more efficient to raise chickens, that thrive on insects, food scraps and plants we find inedible, than it is to try to maintain numerous crops to provide equivalent protein, along with the subsistence crops needed for bare survival.
Plus chickens are durable than crops during droughts, floods, and other disasters.
Similar arguments can be made for sheep, goats, and swine, depending on the area, and its resources.
It's when massive factory farming comes in that the efficiency gets skewed.
"there is a 30% chance of rain in Atlanta today". At that very instant, it was throwing it down in buckets outside the terminal.
So, what does "there is a 30% probability of rain today" actually *mean*?"
It meant exactly what you observed.
Casual observations over the years show that, if you're in the southern US, anything less than a 60% chance may be safely ignored, unless it's 30%. Then it's guaranteed to be pissing down in buckets.
I suspect it's a little inside joke of the Weather Bureau.
"I'm still here, overweight, half dead, blind and bald but still quite capable of downing half a bottle of whiskey before a KFC breakfast bucket and still having time for a fag before going jogging ..."
Whoa, now that's just irresponsible! You can seriously damage yourself with too much jogging! Just ask Jim Fixx... wait, no, he died jogging, didn't he?
(Silly bugger, trying to outrun the Grim Reaper.)
"Keep quiet and let them figure out how we are taking out their C&C."
Or better yet, let it leak who clued them in, but not how.
Isn't that how intelligence agencies are supposed to work? Spread fear and mistrust among the baddies, not crow about how you did it to World + dog?
Looks like 'American Intelligence' ain't!
"the company has agreed to the payout on the condition it doesn't have to admit any wrongdoing."
And then it's free to boast 'cleared of any wrong doing' while negotiating its next contract. A nice way to keep 'clean' hands when dealing with companies that can't or won't do business with corps that have a black mark on their record.
At the very least, letting them use the 'doesn't have to admit any wrongdoing' clause should at least double the fine.
I take it you never go near any large bodies of water for fear of being shot and killed by a swimming dog carrying a loaded gun in its mouth, too? It's a higher risk than dying from a terrorist attack.
As long as the World's governments keep dancing to the terrorists' fiddle, the terrorists have won.
"Exec 1: You can take this product
exec 2: Piss off im not taking responsibility for that piece of crap, you take it.
exec 1: no way.
Rinse and repeat 75,000 times."
If it's like meetings I've been privy too, it'll be more along the lines of:
"OK, we'll table this discussion until another time."
Next meeting:
"Is everyone here?"
"No, Jim couldn't make it, family emergency."
"OK, first order of business; Jim gets appointed head of the department to handle 'product'. All in favor?"
"AYE!"
"All opposed?"
"... "
"The motion is carried. Sheryl, send Jim's office a notice congratulating him on his promotion."
(Based on a true event. 'Jim' resigned as soon as he found out."
"... you haven't been to 'space'. Fact."
Nope. Fact: You're in space right now, on a planet.
Now getting offworld is relatively easy, staying there is harder.
That said, I think these guys: http://copenhagensuborbitals.com/ are likely to get a paying passenger into 'space' before VG does.
(And it looks like it'll be a romper fudger ride!)
Back before the late '90s or so, no cellphones in class, and yet we're here today, alive and mostly well.
Seems the simplest solution would be a complete ban on cellphones in school, but the helicopter parents would undergo a freakout of major proportions to such a solution, wouldn't they?
If you want to make one, here's how:
http://www.brielcomputers.com/wordpress/?cat=17
Funny thing, according to Woz, the original Apple was based off plans and schematics he'd been passing around for months:
http://gizmodo.com/ben-heck-shows-you-how-to-build-an-apple-1-replica-from-1656803971
"The designs were passed out freely with no copyright notice so that others could build a useful computer at low cost. Others even had hand-built versions of this computer before Steve Jobs even knew it existed."
So... 'replica Apples' have been around longer than original Apples.
"Google Photos will not use images or videos uploaded onto Google Photos commercially for any promotional purposes, unless we ask for the user's explicit permission."
"If they won't ever use the uploads for promotions, why are the T&C's written that way?"
Just prepping the way for the quietly released terms and conditions change to 'you may opt out from our using your photos by signing in and filling out our 12 page questionnaire (to improve your web experience), then unchecking the, "yes, you don't have my permission to not use my photos" block.'.
"Would many people notice Media Center [sic] vanishing?"
Way too many, I assure you.
There's a tribe of Windows users out there, that although they'll happily click on and install whatever uninvited email link that shows up in their inbox; they will vehemently resist any software recommendation from friends with the cry, "I only trust Windows!"
Even Ripley can't believe how obtuse otherwise normal people can be when it comes to computers.
"If MS struggles to get apps with 3% market share how much harder is it going to be when you've got just more than 0%."
Simples. Offer something nobody else does, like a massive battery, multiple sim cards, and rugged build:
http://qz.com/411330/the-mystery-of-the-power-bank-phone-taking-over-ghana/
"They have DECADES of experience to back up their work."
And yet they just keep cramming the same loud annoying ads in everywhere they can find or intrude, decade after decade, with no discernible improvement on them.
Are they just that stupid? Insane? Don't give a fuck as long as they get paid?
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