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Comment Re:"new regulations could hinder THE DEVELOPMENT.. (Score 2, Insightful) 239

Net neutrality _means_ internet access to the whole internet, unfiltered, uncensored, ungoverned, including all ports, protocols, and pr0n therein. Amen. We pay the local connection fee to the ISP. The content handling is mostly paid for by advertising and click-thru-purchases, as I understand it. Shouldn't they be mandated to explain EXACTLY how they are throttling the service we are paying for, instead of obfuscating that information? What, exactly, is the difference between throttling something to the edge of usability and flat-out denying access? Please, tell me. Money trickles down, or companies go out of business. That's how it works currently, and you can see LOTS of revenue being made as-is. The internet is not going bankrupt under the current management. Mind you, 18 Republicans support deregulation. REPUBLICANS! When you begin to charge a fee for any larger segment of the internet, you are sliding headlong down the slippery slope towards information control. When you begin to throttle the connection of those deemed 'undesirable' where EXACTLY do you, sir, draw the line of desirability? Aha. Are the corporations and lobbyist groups the guarantors of online rights and privileges? Or is the internet a greater entity, a medium, which must be protected as speech is? We are deciding these tenets of our future society now. I would prefer a world of equals to a world of powerful tyrants, but perhaps you'll sell me something shiny instead. These corporate lobbyist groups and their Republican handlers don't have a great track record when it comes to honesty or altruism. "you and I are not much different than they are" - MindlessAutomata indeed! You are an apologist for the corporate excesses that have bankrupted our world economy. I'm not damning ALL corporations, I'm damning the IDEA that corporate rights are synonymous with human dignities and that they are granted the rights in our constitution. They are not living beings. They are not citizens. They are profit motivated collections of groupthink consumerist elites hell bent on world domination. Spin it as you like. A corporation cannot vote, cannot be drafted, cannot own a firearm or be shot dead by one. They do not require, and should not be granted, such inalienable rights as we are. Our only hope is in rallying behind organizations like the EFF to fight for our future rights online and the very shape of our future society. They are our champions. Not congress. NOT Comcast! They are willing conspirators of control, if for different motives. They cannot be trusted to act benevolently, now or in the future. As for the mindless automata, willing to trade freedom for convenience, may your simple dreams be the nightmares of those who went before. Repeat history as you will.

Comment Re:In other news... (Score 1) 351

No no no, it's flying cars, THEN Linux desktop. Just read Balmers blog, it answers all these questions and more. This is precisely why I deleted all my certificates, and now manually verify each site line by line in a sandboxed 16bit hex. Did you know that Paypal is actually run by a guy named Moxie Marlinspike? This is a pretty elaborate prank, obviously.

Comment Re:Percentage? (Score 2, Interesting) 333

Well, consider that they had a board CUSTOM MADE for them, which means custom BIOS fitments, custom feature implementations, custom BUGS Then add the reality that is DRAM - an imperfect 'art' form of data storage and retrieval. No two chips are EXACTLY the same... though very close. Manufacturing defects may not manifest themselves under normal conditions, and require heating/cooling cycles or fluctuating voltages to break down. Running ECC performs a basic parity check, nothing more, and it's still possible to pass bad bits with ECC enabled, just much less likely. The idea is that you can't really test subcomponents individually and have them check out, and then assemble a system and expect it to just 'work'. Some ram is pretty damn finicky. Standards are anything but.

Comment Re:Doomsday Machine - Peace insurance. (Score 1) 638

What a strange thing it is to pursue total annihilation in the interest of world peace. Yet the horror of war is the greatest force for peace. Seeing as how the nuclear weapons haven't been used since the first time(s), I fail to see how they can CAUSE these small conflicts. I could see an argument that they facilitate lesser combat more readily because the conflicts CANNOT escalate, and therefore the larger military force with nuclear weapons is more disposed to attack conventionally, knowing it cannot be overcome conventionally. However, nuclear weapons also prevent the TYPE of warfare that they embody - TOTAL WAR. They stand as a warning against atrocity. We could conceivably use nukes as retaliation against biological, chemical, or similar attacks from lesser non-nuclear rogue states. No state would dare use WMD of any type in any capacity because of M.A.D. Of course, terrorists could be immune to M.A.D. They could also be used in the case of an all-out invasion or similar major theater warfare, for example if India invaded Pakistan. With such stakes, even the most hawkish generals are forced to reconcile their ambitions with the chance of worst case scenarios. The nuclear genie is out the bottle, perhaps, but I would argue that we resealed the bottle in horror after we realized the ramifications. The most dangerous nuclear weapons are the smallest ones. The less collateral damage, the more likely they'll be used. The newest low-yield nuclear bunker busters would open the door to 'conventionalized' nuclear weapons worldwide. Conventionalized nuclear war, now that is truly frightening. Thank god for the doomsday machine, it served its purpose, real or not.

Comment Re:Marketing (Score 2, Insightful) 228

Agreed, this is tastefully tasteless, tongue in cheek, and WAY better than EA's other marketing. Besides, bribing game reviewers blatantly? We knew they did anyway, but this smacks of BRASS BALLS! I love it. The wooden cases with pillows were a nice touch... heck, I'd write a favorable blog article for that alone.

Comment Re:Less Lethal... (Score 0) 334

In the future, heroin will be replaced by pure Colombian electricity and the streets will be filled with hordes of electricity-depraved zombies. Now, you could waste precious ammunition on these pour souls, but why? Just set the Tase-more mine, flip the switch, and run along. The zombies get their daily fix of electrified needles and fall into a peaceful slumber. Problem solved. Meanwhile, you've saved your buckshot for the REAL enemy of the people; the comcast horde and its mighty flotilla of death vans! If the comcastinites were ever to get their hands on Taser technology... we would surely pay a price. After 6 months, we would pay more.

Comment Re:Wired (Score 3, Insightful) 334

Most /. readers USED TO BE Wired readers, back in the 90's when it was relevant, interesting, and had actual production value (of a sort). Now it's just geek playboy. A couple interesting articles, 60 pages of glossy shwag for sale, and a desperate sense of self-promotion. Well, maybe it hasn't changed THAT much... maybe my gadget pr0n tastes have evolved. Either way, leave it on Digg.

Comment Re:Citation Needed (Score 0) 616

There have been many studies linking and many disproving a link between EM radiation and cancer. Even at extremely high levels, most people don't get cancer. In fact, one theory posits that exposure to low-level radiation at early stages can boost the immune system. No one can say either way for certain, because this is all scientific heresy until someone credible crunches the numbers and they are significant. This is happening all the time as science constantly evolving, but at this time 'most' don't recognize this link. Anyone who does is likely a crackpot... reads popular science, orders blueprints, that sort of thing. Now, devil's advocate, imagine the potential ramifications if some credible scientific study came out rigorously pointing to a link between even high-level EM radiation and a carcinogenic effect... The lawsuits would block out the sun. Pandemonium. Economies would fail, and people would starve. Seriously. The world economy could not afford to take that gut-check at this time. It would destroy us. So then, it would be in the best interest of the 'powers that be' to deny, discredit, obfuscate, and in any way DISPROVE a link between EM radiation and cancer. Well-heeled corporations can afford LOTS of 'science'. With as much as they've invested in cell phones, radio, radar systems... imagine asking them to turn it off? Yeah. Suddenly the link is a possibility again. Let's crunch those numbers one more time.

Comment Re:A 21st Century Contact Lens (Score 0) 196

Dude, wake up... the heisenberg compensator is CURRENT technology, albeit from the future-past. It's complicated, but they make it simple. I'm constructing an H.L. Mencken device, which makes it possible to lose money underestimating the intelligence of the great masses. Popular science is popular for a reason, Luser. Try to keep up, eh?

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