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Comment Re:Since encryption is the topic (Score 1) 261

Doesn't OS X have any filesystem-level encryption like ecryptfs or encfs on Linux? Seems like a weird oversight.

Yes it does and it is built in. But it is not supported for the boot partition.

As the parent to your post said, you can easily create encrypted disk images that grow as they are used which you can mount by double-clicking on it. OS X will then ask for the key before the image is mounted.

Comment Re:GOTO... (Score 1) 394

There's nothing wrong with goto.

Correct. It is the labels that mess things up.

{ // long, long code //
a = 1;
a_label:
b = 2;
return a*b;
}

When reading code, the label messes up what you know about the state of the program. What are we returning here? You have to scan the entire function and find the gotos to know.

Comment Units... (Score 1) 507

Why do we talk about power consumption in units of kWh/year. Why not simply measure average consumption in kW (kilowatts)?

And why do we pay by the kWh and not by the MJ (Megajoule)?

Don't they teach everyone stuff like this in school?

Comment Because people suck at math (Score 1) 1140

Most people believe that a widescreen 20" monitor gives you "more/better screen" than a "non--widescreen" 20" monitor.

The opposite is true. The 20" measurement is the diagonal of the screen. You get the largest area when the height/width is equal.
The more you increase the width (and reduce the height), the smaller area you get.

The manufacturers benefit because they can sell a 20" screen with less pixels and make it sound more desirable.

Think of a circle where the radius is the screen size...

Comment Re:Loose potrait mode for good, and go with landsc (Score 4, Insightful) 1140

Do you read?
Books, magazines, etc print text in portrait mode.

Heck, the newspapers even print the text in several columns to avoid very long lines, as that makes text more difficult to read. (I hate programmers that create 200-character statements on one line.)

For people using computers for text (documents, programming, etc) rather than watching movies, the vertical resolution is valuable.

Comment Re:Why I don't like software patents (Score 1) 175

The problem with this is that if I decide to patent "Online Purchasing of Movies", then I will effectivly shut off all other people and get a monopoly on it

Well, a patent IS a monopoly granted by the state to individuals or corporations.

Patents == monopolies. Let that sink in.

I am a proponent of free markets where anyone can compete. I think monopolies should be abolished. Monopolies or guilds should not exist in a free market economy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild

Comment Re:Why not shut the sites down instead? (Score 4, Interesting) 254

I think that "430 child pornography sites" is a bluff. I'm calling it. What sites? Which countries? Did the Australian authorities contact the police in those countries? What happened? Did they give up and are calling for blankets?

It needs to be asked since international lobbying groups are exploiting "child pornography" to establish censorship as being normal on the internet.

Read this:
http://christianengstrom.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/ifpis-child-porn-strategy/

Do these lobbying groups operate in Australia?

What do Australian families think about commercial entities exploiting child pornography?

Comment Why not shut the sites down instead? (Score 4, Interesting) 254

'According to the latest information I have here from the [Australian Communications and Media Authority], there are 430 child pornography sites on the [World Wide Web] ... that are accessible to anyone...[Malcolm Turnbull] has to explain to Australian families that he is prepared to do nothing about blocking access to those sites,' Conroy added.

Maybe Conroy could explain to Australian families why hanging a blanket in front of the sites is better than shutting the sites down and prosecute the operators? Especially since it is so easy to peer behind the blanket by using a proxy, or alternate DNS resolver, etc, etc.

Are all those sites operating from countries where child pornography is legal? Which countries and sits are we talking about?

Comment Software? (Score 4, Insightful) 715

The "computer" is not only the hardware. In My experience, software failures cause more data loss, or loss of service, than hardware failures do.

Sometimes the software fails because it is too complex to use, and the operators don't quite understand it and use it wrongly. Or the software designers haven't tested it enough.

For example, I have seen more RAID systems lose data because of failures within the disk software, than I have seen disk crashes. (I'm not saying RAID is bad, but use quality products with care and don't let RAID replace backups.)

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