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Comment Last device standing... (Score 1) 403

based on current tech, will be the generators themselves. My best guess is that it will either be a solar generator (no moving parts) or else possibly one of the other renewable/low-fuel options: Wind, hydro or nuclear. None of them would last more than 20 years or so without maintenance (Fallout series not-withstanding).

Comment Re: For work I use really bad passwords (Score 1) 136

I have a similar categorization scheme, but I "salt" the PWs with a mnemonic that I use to vary the PW within each category. That way I only have to hurry and reset all my PWs in the category if two or more sites in the category get compromised, which increases the risk that the mnemonic can be derived. For a brute-force attack, if someone knows my password MiXedABUPC, it's just as hard to decrypt MiXedxyUPz as it is to decrypt adfOYcqC1B. Of course if you know (or assume) that I use a pattern, it's probably easier to try to guess what the pattern is than a pure brute-force attack.

Comment Re:Check their work or check the summary? (Score 2) 486

And there goes another grad student's research thesis up in smoke. CS departments need to have more courses that distinguish between abstract theory (raw algorithms) and software engineering (practical effects of choosing specific languages and features). It's clear the authors of this are in an ivory tower where every string type is the same type of construct in every language.

Comment Re:Steve Jobs is the Monkeywrench (Score 2) 114

Yeah, even Florida requires the actual text of the proposed amendment to be put on the ballot.

It's a sad reflection on society that "right to work" laws and non-compete contracts are touted as engines to grow the economy, while things like a living minimum wage are denigrated as class warfare. When your middle class is disappearing, you actually get more economic bang for the buck when the money goes to consumers rather than investors. The fact that consumers have more money to spend creates true investment opportunities due to increases in demand. Giving incentives to investors when business opportunities are limited by lack of demand just throws money at get-rich-quick schemes.

Comment Gotta love the irony... (Score 5, Insightful) 216

of a bunch of politicians who were soap-boxing about freedom of the press and "je suis Charlie" engaging in this kind of censorship. All speech is free, but some speech is more free than others. I don't think there's anyone alive who is in a position to form an unbiased judgment of whether a terrorist site, a porn site or Charlie Hebdo is more offensive. Offense, like beauty, is in the mind of the beholder.

Comment Re:The elephant in the room.. (Score 2) 292

Agreed. The "blue platypus" requirements on the tech ads are, in many cases, just to provide cover so that they can bring in an H1B person because "nobody fit the job requirements". This ignores the fact that he H1B import doesn't fit the original requirements either.

Don't blame Dice though. Any company smart/unethical enough to do this is also smart enough not to admit it, even in an anonymous survey.

Comment Who says they even need a 2.0 Release? (Score 1) 208

They're still selling millions of copies of 1.x each year, plus all the pocket editions and console editions. And some people shell out $15-20 a month for a Minecraft Realms server. There's an insane revenue stream here for them even if they never do release a 2.0. That's why their original acquisition announcement said that they expect to recoup their investment sometime in 2015.

I'm sure there will be a 2.0 release sometime, but if we're going to be speculating, cynical and sarcastic about MS, remember that they are experts at milking cash cows like Minecraft.

Comment Even if you accept that new jobs will be created.. (Score 1) 257

Even if you accept the premise that new jobs will be created by the new technologies, there are still risks.
1) The new more-demanding jobs will be beyond the intelligence and abilities of a larger and larger portion of the population. What happens when the computers and robots are smarter than the average bear/human?
2) Even if a person is capable of performing one of these more-demanding jobs, the new jobs will demand that they spend more and more years in training and learning. Without a significant increase in human life-span there will be a point of diminishing returns where a live person spends so much time learning and training that they don't nave enough time to actually work and earn money after that.
3) If the technologies keep accelerating, it's very likely that the machines will become flexible enough and smart enough that they can learn any task faster than a human. Even some "creative" tasks are really just applications of logic and reason (science). At that point the alternatives are between a) a massive redistribution of wealth so that all people share in the bounty created by the robots, b) we ban artificial intelligence or c) if there is any spark of human creativity that is beyond the capabilities of robots and computers, that will be the last refuge of human labor..

But even if we all become painters and singers and mimes, poverty will still be real: 90% of everything created by people is crap. So the creative society is still likely to require a massive redistribution of wealth.

I suppose another alternative is a massive depopulation of the human species on earth. That can easily be accomplished if the struggle for wealth distribution devolves into war.

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