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Comment Re:Updating? (Score 1) 61

I have concluded that a rolling distro would be incredibly stupid.

What we need is something like Ubuntu, with its 6-12 month release cycle, but also supporting a rolling repository. Ubuntu has backports repository for select updates; a rolling repository would extend this, caveat only the latest version of all software and the non-rolling version of all software are supported. So Ubuntu 14.04 is supported, Ubuntu 14.04 rolling with today's updates is supported, but Ubuntu 14.04 with some middling release of Firefox from last week--fully stable, latest patched Firefox 29 when Firefox 30 just came out and is now in rolling--is *not* supported, at all.

The normal release could base on a rolling snapshot. I dunno.

Comment Re:Ocean garbage patches? (Score 1) 139

More like a combination between a queen excluder and an inclined plane, so the dolphins would be rejected out an alternate chute. It didn't matter if some oil and/or water went, too, because it would just get sucked back in.

Intake was a suck-start trap siphon, a big round opening that was above sea level at the top but dipped down like a J trap, then came up and over and down. Water was pumped in above the down flow, which had open exit to air, but would be blocked by mass of water: the moving water created vacuum, drawing water at the intake down (into the J, to create a seal), then up, then over into the down flow, completing the siphon cycle. Gravity won't keep this going because it begins and terminates at sea level: you have to constantly pump water in and down, using the sea water at the bottom of the storage tank.

Comment Re:People assume they're watched. (Score 2) 195

At one school I frequent there is a strict policy on inappropriate content. One professor accidentally visited a pornographic website. It was immediately logged and reported via automated email. Within a short time he was called to schedule a meeting. The logs reported that the session that connected to the website was open for four seconds. I know this because the log was printed and hung up for all to see as a warning. Under the zero-tolerance rules he got the boot.

That seems exploitable. Say someone sends an e-mail to a handful of the managers of said company, with the e-mail saying something like "managers of [sadi cmpany[ unloading stock - confidential press release imminent", with "confidential press release" being a bit.ly link to a porn site. It doesn't have to be an e-mail either - a post on a message board you know someone frequents might do the job too. Even a support ticket with a choice link.
By going through a free cloud service, you can even change the redirect based on fingerprinting the visitors, to reduce collateral damage.

User Journal

Journal Journal: Mars, Ho! Chapter Twenty Five

Note: There will be a chapter inserted between chapters nine and ten. Chapters have been renumbered in the manuscript.

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Journal Journal: Orbital mechanics problem solved!

First, I want to thank you folks for your suggestions, although I didn't see them until I logged in this morning. The answer came to me last night when I was sitting on my porch with a beer in my hand and several in my gut.

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Journal Journal: Ask Slashdot: Orbital Mechanics 4

I'm having a math and physics problem: math and physics is getting in the way of the plot in Mars, Ho!

I originally thought it would be a six month trip, but math got in the way since they were getting gravity from propulsion. So I shortened it to a two month trip, and to do that I had to have Earth and Mars on opposite sides of the sun -- but orbital mechanics makes waiting shorten the time.

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