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Comment Re:Just use encryption. (Score 2) 166

> There is probably not even a need to limit or ban encryption, because in a sense the Internet is already heavily regulated and not what it used to be. Thanks to all kinds of NATs, packet filters, and "intelligent" routers, the times when you could just connect one computer to another one to transmit information are long gone. Nowadays, if you want to be sure that your message reaches the destination without using a central server (which can be surveilled, subpoenaed, put under draconian laws, etc.) you need to dig through miriads of obscure heuristic NAT traversal techniques and use all kinds of hacks like ICMP tunneling or whatever.

So basically what you're saying is: "traffic can be intercepted, therefore the government doesn't need to outlaw encryption." Surely you understand that the entire fucking point of encrypting a connection is to make intercepted data useless? Your argument makes no sense at all. With encryption, why worry about your traffic passing through the ominously named 'central server'?

Comment Re:dibs (Score 1) 266

> Or simply harvest nitrogen from the atmosphere.

The earth's atmosphere is 78% nitrogen. On Mars the atmosphere is only 3% nitrogen, and it's much, much thinner than on earth. "Simply" harvesting a useful amount of nitrogen from the atmosphere is nowhere near as simple as you would have us believe.

Comment Re:Don't (Score 1) 454

What a ridiculous rule. Back when I went to school you weren't allowed to use a cell phone *during* class, but were free to have one with you (if it didn't produce any noise, of course), and you were free to use it between classes. What is the point of banning cell phones in situations where they are not disruptive?

Comment Re:Best deterrent for this idiocy (Score 1) 133

Are you suggesting 100% of murders get solved?

Meanwhile in reality, the odds of getting caught are ostensibly significantly lower when there are no witnesses. Since the rape-scenario will usually involve but a single witness, one that already happens to be overpowered and at the mercy of the perpetrator, the solution seems obvious...

Putting people in a situation where they have nothing to lose (and a 98% chance of execution (to use your numbers) would mean 'nothing to lose' to most people (98% of them, in fact ;))) is never a good idea.

> Or do you think that maybe the Critter will keep his tackle in the box so that he does not risk getting "shot while resiting arrest"?

Are you suggesting the police murdering suspects of serious crimes is a desirable deterrent?

Comment Re:Dumb idea. (Score -1, Offtopic) 395

Doesn't a HTTP request already include a version (usually HTTP/1.1)? Perhaps this could be used; HTTP/5.0 would be the current version, and whenever WHATWG makes up something new they'll bump the second number, and whet W3C creates a new version (which should include all the changes that WHATWG has made) they bump the first number, and the second number starts at 0 again.

On second thought, you're right, this will be a disaster.

Comment Re:How about the low hanging fruit first? (Score 1) 561

> 4. Establish a general policy of erring on the side of pacing the class to the speed of the top 50% of the class, not the bottom 50%. If the bottom cannot keep up, offer them tutoring; if they fail objectively, fail them for the year.

So the slowest students would be stuck at some level until enough of them accumulate to drag the speed down significantly and some of them get into the next year, where the same thing would happen again?

Comment Re:Still Evil (Score 5, Insightful) 195

Seems like a lot of trouble. Wouldn't it be much easier to steal the car the old-fashioned way? Presumably your method would result in the organisation having a picture of you (from your fake id), and the monitoring system would reveal the car mysteriously disappearing when entering your steel walled warehouse. So basically the police now know your face and your hideout.
Even if that does not lead to your capture, they can put your picture in a database and the next time you attempt to steal a car you'll get flagged and arrested.

Comment Re:Control (Score 1) 793

I'll take that as a "I took the quiz but didn't get a perfect score" ;-)

C has so much undefined behaviour it's not even funny. Of course in some instances it's nice because it allows more aggressive optimization by the compiler, but most of the time it just makes it easier to shoot yourself in the foot.

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