Comment Undoing mod (Score 1) 225
The buggy Slashdot mod system made me mod "overrated" by accident.
This post will undo it.
Battlefield 4 Banned In China 380
hypnosec writes "The Chinese government has officially banned Battlefield 4, stating that Electronic Arts has developed a game that not only threatens national security of the country, but is also a form of cultural invasion. The country's Ministry of Culture has issued a notice banning all material retailed to the game in any form, including the game itself, related downloads, demos, patches and even news reports. According to PCGames.com.cn [Chinese language], Battlefield 4 has been characterized as illegal game on the grounds that the game endangers national security and cultural aggression."
Scientists Extract RSA Key From GnuPG Using Sound of CPU 264
kthreadd writes "In their research paper titled RSA Key Extraction via Low-Bandwidth Acoustic Cryptanalysis, Daniel Genkin, Adi Shamir and Eran Tromer et al. present a method for extracting decryption keys from the GnuPG security suite using an interesting side-channel attack. By analysing the acoustic sound made by the CPU they were able to extract a 4096-bit RSA key in about an hour (PDF). A modern mobile phone placed next to the computer is sufficient to carry out the attack, but up to four meters have been successfully tested using specially designed microphones."
Comment Re:Misleading (Score 1) 606
Might I add, it's good to have a conversation on slashdot with a total stranger with your manners. Most here simply throw bricks at others.
I'm glad you you liked the converstation. However, I occasionally fall into obsessive internet arguments like this:
http://xkcd.com/386/
Gradually, I am improving, but occasionally I have a relapse.
Comment Re:Misleading (Score 1) 606
I think we simply have a different definition of "work". Work, in my mind, isn't a noun, it's a verb. You are correct in what you said about union laws and that. However, I don't understand: "So striking is 'having the cake and eating it too'." If job=cake, then eating=?
I used that proverb in a very general sense. Maybe too general. What I meant is that by striking, you withhold your productive power, but because of labor laws, the company is forbidden from replacing you. So you get to refuse a job condition you didn't like, but without having to find another job. The end result is that you get a raise for little effort.
I am not saying that unions are evil; I am just saying that they are not angels, and there needs to be some moderation when designing labor laws otherwise you ruin the industry.
Also, if you mod a comment here, then commenting in that thread yourself, removes the mod.
This is what I meant. I accidentally modded you flamebait, then removed that mod by commenting in the article.
Comment Wrong; value is at least partly subjective (Score 1) 606
They do work, they get paid for part of the value of their work (if they got paid the full value of their work, it wouldn't be profitable for their employer to hire them)
You assume that value is 100% objective, the same for everyone. That is of course wrong. If I buy soft drink for a dollar, I do it because I value soft drink more than a dollar; the soft drink company does it because it values a dollar more than the soft drink.
Voluntary transactions are not a zero-sum game. Suppose I have two hammers and no nails; you have 100 nails and no hammer. Both of us need to hammer 50 nails. If you give me 50 nails and I give you one hammer, both sides profit.
Comment Misleading (Score 1) 606
Seriously, if you don't want the work don't take it. Nobody forces you to work at Amazon
And, what the hell do you think a strike is, anyway?
You can argue that strikes are good, but that argument didn't cut it.
The grand-parent was arguing that if you don't like the work, you should find another one.
You argue that this is what a strike is; wrong. The company is prohibited by law from firing strikers. So striking is "having the cake and eating it too".
(also, I modded you "flamebait" by accident, and I am undoing it now)
Comment Reliable sources (Score 1) 107
The problem is that they define "propaganda" as broadly as possible, to the point where even talking about homosexuality in a non-negative light is criminalized. Gatherings of gay groups is also criminalized (and not just parades, this includes political groups), whether a minor is present or not. In fact the law is worded in such a way that it doesn't really matter if a minor is present
Do you have reliable, impartial, non-activist sources on your claims?
Comment Reading comprehension (Score 1) 107
You don't "necessarily support" this law?
Correct, because I do not have the details, and am too busy to spend time
studying a Russian law which I have no way to change.
you're upset people are coming out against it?
Wrong. I am upset that people are using outrageous logical fallacies for
political reasons. Politics is already dominated by logical fallacies, it is
a huge problem. We don't need more of it.
And saying "At least they aren't shooting people!" isn't the greatest
defense.
Except that I didn't say that. Read my post and read its parent. I was
exemplifying what hyperbole is and what it isn't.
Comment Re:Hyperbole (Score 2) 107
Yeah, it's as hyperbolic as pointing out that Castro imprisoned people for saying stuff he didn't like.
Fidel Castro was not content with imprisioning, he shot them. And saying that is not hyperbole, because it actually describes objectively what Fidel Castro did, without exageration.
Sorry, but the excuse that it's "not because they're gay but because they're speading gay propaganda" line is simply bullshit.
The law (which I do not necessarily support) forbids people from spreading a specific kind of propaganda to minors. You are implying that people get arrested for being attracted to the same sex (that is, beging gay). That is undeniably hyperbole.
If you can't understand words based on their definition, lets try an analogy.
The government of Elbonia forbids spreading alcochol propaganda to minors. Then someone says "Oh my God, that is fascism, they are imprisioning people who like beer!".
Would not that be hyperbole?
Comment Hyperbole (Score 1, Offtopic) 107
people being locked up in prison for being gay
Hyperbole much?
Army Laser Passes Drone-Killing Test 173
Nerval's Lobster writes "Commercial package-delivery drones such as those revealed by Amazon and DHL could face danger from more than shotgun-toting, UAV-hunting yahoos following the successful test of a drone-killing laser by the U.S. Army. Though it's more likely to take aim at enemy observation drones than Amazon's package-deliver 'copters, the U.S. Army's High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL-MD) did prove itself in tests last week by shooting down 90 incoming mortars and a series of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The original goal during the test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was to burn out or blow up mortar rounds and blind the cameras or other sensors carried by drones. The laser proved capable enough to damage or slice off the tails of target drones, which brought them down, according to Terry Bauer, HEL MD program manager, as quoted in the Dec. 11 Army announcement of the test. The quarter-sized beam of super-focused light set off the explosives in the 60-millimeter mortars in mid-flight, leaving the rest to fall 'like a rock,' Bauer said. The laser could target only one mortar at a time, but could switch targets quickly enough to bring down several mortars fired in a single volley. The laser and its power source are contained in a single 500-horsepower, four-axle truck but was directed by a separate Enhanced Multi Mode Radar system. The next step is a move from New Mexico to a testing range in Florida early next year 'to test it in rain and fog and things like that,' according to Bauer."
Next-Gen Windshield Wipers To Be Based On Jet Fighter "Forcefield" Tech 237
cartechboy writes "It looks like the old-school windshield wiper is about to be replaced by new technology — but not until 2015. British car-maker McLaren is apparently developing a new window cleaning system that is modeled from fighter jet tech. The company isn't revealing exactly how it will work, but the idea comes from the chief designer simply asking a military source why you don't see wipers on jets as they land. Experts expect McClaren to use constantly active, high-frequency sound waves outside the range of human hearing that will effectively create a force field across a car's windshield to repel water, ice insects and other debris. Similar sound waves are used by dentists to remove plaque from teeth."
Comment Democracy is not necessarily free (Score 1) 1146
You are free to choose: that's what the ballot box is for.
Capitalistic "freedom of choice" is weighted by the size of your wallet.
I am not a libertarian (nor do I oppose reasonable environmental regulations) but I take offsense at your suggestion that I should always obey what the majority decides at the ballot box.
Majority decision is reasoanble in many situations, but in other situations it leads to the majority trampling over the rights of dissenting individuals. At the very very least, we need checks and balances - multiple levels of government (local, state, federal), multiple branches at each level, and all limited by a good Constitution. Like the USA was supposed to be.
North Korea Erases Executed Official From the Internet 276
itwbennett writes "The North Korean state propaganda machine has edited and deleted hundreds of news articles that mention Jang Song Thaek, the former top government and party official and uncle to leader Kim Jong Un, who was executed Thursday. Earlier this week, Jang was arrested in front of hundreds of senior members of the ruling Worker's Party of Korea and denounced for numerous alleged acts against the state and Kim Jong Un. From arrest to trial to death took only four days and the unprecedented fall from grace is widely being interpreted as an attempt by Kim Jong Un to keep officials loyal and scared."
