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Comment Use the source (Score 1) 981

(Assuming 50/50 change of boy/girl and no twins.)
There is only one source; "I have two children, one of whom is a boy born on a Tuesday."
The answer is 50%. (excluding complexities on how to interpret the line mathematically.)

As soon as you add a second source the answer changes;
Foo says: Bob has two children.
Bar says: Bob has a son.
Now the answer to Bob having two boys becomes 33 1/3%

The stick or switch problem (can't think of the more common name) has two sources, first the random choice and the second caused by elimination action after this.

Comment Reality (Legal is different) (Score 1) 447

work itself

Has a cost once. (Extra work adding extra cost.)
The work that has already been done has no extra cost. It is only greed wanting to gain without giving.

leave his toolbox

Plumber looses what he has but with IP a copy isn't a loss.

The client has paid only for the results of the labour

Source code is a result of labour.

ownership of the code has a value

Greed has value.

pre-existing libraries

Cost has already been paid for.

Comment Re:This will be one of the shorter X-Prize contest (Score 1) 175

My understanding is very little has changed in the last 10 years. Slashdot keeps posting on supposed BCI progress but it just seems more of what has been available beforehand is making the headlines.

The problem seems almost like asking for true AI but people are so board of hearing it for 60 years, something different has been set.

Comment Bank responce (one year before "Cambridge resear") (Score 0, Offtopic) 243

To: ive_seen_a_scam@smile.co.uk 23/02/2009

Please forward this to someone with the ability to assess the risk of such security breach. (Preferably with basic knowledge of SSL and cross site scripting.)

A web site (not smiles) is asking for my accounts memorable name. I shouldn't be entering this information anywhere other than into a secure smile web site.

[Other sites that take payment using pay-pal I can trust as I see they redirect to a pay-pal server for me to enter my account details.] Perhaps you should take a look at how pay-pal processes such orders.

As the site I was ordering from should probably be trusted I choose to enter it this time and to then change the memorable name as soon as the order had complete.

Specifically;
http://www.smile.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?cid=1076315830501&pagename=Smile%2FPage%
2FsmView&rendermode=preview&c=Page
Suggests I don't enter details into "computers that aren't your own" which I also assume applies to supplying to sites that aren't smiles.

http://www.smile.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?cid=1124867052028&pagename=Smile%2FPage%2FsmView&c=Page&loc=l
"all secure messages between us travel in a closed environment, so they can’t be read by anyone else" but this is a 3rd party asking for my memorable name and not smile.

Order was from;
http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk
Appears to use
https://www.netbanx.com
to make the payment then it either takes the memorable name in this site or uses an embedded site from;
https://secure5.arcot.com

Please contact me if you require more information.

----
Reply: 23/02/2009
Thanks for your message.

I can understand your security concerns with the verified by visa scheme.

For more information with all aspects of this please visit our site
(www.smile.co.uk) then click the security link at the top. Once there
select the verified by visa link on the left and this will then be able to
give you all the information you need.

----
My responce: 23/02/2009
Q: Is Verified by Visa (VbV) easy to use?
A: Yes. When you make an online purchase, a window from the Bank will be displayed and prompt you for your memorable name/VbV password. Simply enter your memorable name/VbV password and complete your purchase.

My problem is no apparent window from the bank is shown so it appears like (don't know if this is true or not) I am giving my security details directly to a third party. (It is very easy to create a malicious secure web site that looks just like the one I saw.)

----
Reply: 24/02/2009
I'm sorry you have concerns about your online security.

When you sign in to a Verified by Visa site using your smile card, you'll
automatically be asked for your memorable name. This will confirm that
you've been connected to smile behind the scenes. Other banks will ask
different questions, however being asked memorable names will confirm it is
us.

The original brief from Visa stated banks could introduce individual
questions for each customer, that's not been fully introduced yet, however
we'll be reviewing this in the near future. At the moment we're reviewing
and looking to implement other security procedures.

Please make sure the website you're using to make the online transaction is
a website that you trust, this is important as using a trusted website will
greatly reduce the likelihood of there being a scam.

Please also check that your PC is fully protected with antivirus, firewall
and anti-spyware software plus the relevant phishing filters available with
your chosen web browser. Please let me know if you need any more advice on
this.

Thanks for taking the time to contact us, I appreciate your concerns and
comments and have raised it internally for further consideration.

Comment I never knew they changed.I stick with competition (Score 1) 130

Don't see much newsworthy content here. Spotify was sign up before so nothing much changed. (Seems more free PR than anything for them.)

A change to the real competition would be news. Free streaming music without registration.
In the UK;
http://www.we7.com/

The US equivalent;
http://www.lala.com/

Comment Re:Off the edge of civilization (Score 1) 128

Correction: 8 miles, which still seems far for the UK. (16 miles is the round trip.)

I think there are good roads so not a massive amount of time needed to make the trip. Being on life critical duty is the reason it is hard.

O.T. The furthest point from the coast in the UK;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/3090539.stm

Comment Rappelz (Score 1) 157

Even if your one of the free players you see some players are paying $$ thousands into the cash shop.

Best of all the cash shop items are tradeable for in game items, so free players may not entirely loose out, (but at the cost of farming more.) Latest addition is an alter donation system that may take money out of the games economy by giving rewards to the rich, seems better than the lottery most F2P games have.

The free game give the violence and sex. The cash shop adds the gambling (can you get the rare pet) and drugs (Stamina Savers - double experience.)

Doubt the revenues will be made public though.

Comment Re:hey (Score 1) 162

If you mean to sign up for this, don't bother. Tabula rasa went "free" but for whatever reason they still needed your credit card number to sign up.

Not for me it didn't. Just a message to their support team as was written. (maybe it was changed after.)

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