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The Internet

Internet Commenting Growing Away From Anonymity 384

An article from the Associated Press makes the case that internet commenting is slowly but surely transitioning away from widespread anonymity. More and more sites are finding that the prevalence of vitriolic comments is driving away new readers, not to mention other, more reasonable commenters. Sites like YouTube and the Huffington Post are leading the charge, requiring users to log in via Google+ and Facebook respectively in order to establish a real-world identity. The Post's managing editor, Jimmy Soni, said, 'We are reaching a place where the Internet is growing up. These changes represent a maturing (online) environment.' "Nearly three-quarters of teens and young adults think people are more likely to use discriminatory language online or in text messages than in face to face conversations, according to a recent poll ... Newspapers are also turning toward regulated comments. Of the largest 137 U.S. newspapers — those with daily circulation above 50,000 — nearly 49 percent ban anonymous commenting, according to Arthur Santana, assistant communications professor at the University of Houston. Nearly 42 percent allow anonymity, while 9 percent do not have comments at all.

Comment Re:Why can't we make it here? (Score 1) 1160

Even if it were made here, the next argument that will surface will be revealing the identity of the physicians who administer the drugs. Since these are controlled substances, a physician has to prescribe them. I SHIT YOU NOT! So the Missouri Department of Corrections has to pay doctors to be present at executions to load the drugs and push the buttons. As you can imagine, they keep the identities a secret.

There was a shortage o doctors for a while who wanted to do this and the state had to reach out and find some that would. At that time, the defendant was arguing that it was cruel and unusal to have a non-physician administer the drugs.

IANAL but my father is

Comment A better explanation of problems (Score 2) 211

This article explains the problems better.

In still others, workers seemed flummoxed by procedures that accompanied the new equipment, especially for accepting ballots when the scanners did not function. At times the frustration boiled over, and there were shouting matches between voters and poll workers.

At least some of the problems are caused by incompetent election officials. Perhaps that could work on reading comprehension?

Comment And once you get there... (Score 3, Informative) 283

... it's not going to be much better. Mars does not have a spinning core so no radiation belts to deflect evil radiation on the surface either. Surface exposure would have to be limited.

http://mars-one.com/en/faq-en/19-faq-health/185-will-the-astronauts-suffer-from-radiation

However, I would still go. I mean, if we can actually get people to Mars, we shoudl have no problem getting around the radiation problem.

Comment SLightly confusing summary (Score 2) 260

So, this article is basically saying that if you receive credit card payments from PayPal and you aren't registered then you have to pay more? well, paypal has to pay more, but the savings will be passed on to you. Is there any source of what transactional data is shared? As someone who works with electornic funds transfer software, I only ever see non-personablly identifiable info in transactions. I can't say I blame Mastercard either, fraud is a major problem in this world. so until I see some real evidence, I will just assume that the author here is some tin-foil hat wearing privacy nut. but I will hapiily change my opinion if there are new facts....

Comment Really? (Score 2) 482

I never even considered this possibility until right now. I mean killing someone for hacking? I would generally say no, but what if its an infrastructure sort of thing. Like they hacked into a hospital and fiddles with patient records and people died, or they hacked into ATC and caused plane crashes? Should they be tried for murder? If we are at war with that country should they just be attacked by drones and killed off like an enemy combatant? I don't really like where this train of thought is heading, it's like the futuristic dystopia is almost here!

Comment Re:Connectivity (Score 2) 199

When I was in high school and did the LAN party scene we never connected our LANs to the internet. Usually the upper-middle class kids hosted, and they had the expensive "high-speed" internet. Which at that time (2000-2002) was ~2Mbps on cable. Most of the attendees still had dial-up. So connecting the network to the internet was a bad idea, since people quickly forgot the point of a LAN party...

Comment Re:This reminds me of the good 90s (Score 1) 142

So, I don't really use, or frequently recommend Norton or other assorted Symantec products. (except for Ghost).

However, Norton consumer products have greatly improved in the last few years. The interfaces have been improved and simplified, and the code has been cleaned up and more streamlined.

Problems still happen, but I recommend people use the basic version of the software, since it lacks the firewall. The firewall driver is almost always the cause of problems with security software causing computer problems. At least for what I see of it, which is a lot.

If you hate Norton and vow to never use their products again, I would suggest taking a look at the Norton Power Eraser.. It's a free on-demand anti-malware scanning and removal tool that's pretty useful.

Comment Re:Mod parent funny (Score 2) 142

I am not sure if you are joking or not, but they still make Ghost. Although I use Ghost 8 frequently at my job for drive cloning, the latest version is Ghost 15, you can buy it at any reputable electronics/software retailer. http://us.norton.com/ghost/ Newer versions of ghost can ghost drives to virtual disk image files, so they can be opened in virtualization software.

Comment Re:Ah the joys... (Score 1) 551

The staff absolutely will unbox equipment to answer questions like that, because there will also be other customers asking the same thing


You mean there will be other customers asking if a computer runs linux? I honestly think that number might not be that high.

If you walked into the BestBuy I worked at (yes, I work for Geeksquad, but before you start throwing flames I am Linux+ certified) and we didn't have a floor model open available for you to test on, a sales associate who has no idea what you are talking about would come find me and I would look it up for you.

However, I am told that my store is much nicer than most other BestBuys...

Comment Re:It's down to the cost of one disk? (Score 1) 551

However, each disc is usually locked to a single model, and does some sort of check that prevents it from running on any other model even if it has all the necessary drivers.


You are correct! On HP and Toshiba models this is referred to as Tattooing. If you ever had your motherboard replaced with a different model, you would have to have your new board retattooed, however, both HP and Toshiba keep the DMI (tatooing) utilities locked up, so you may have trouble getting them if you aren't an authorized service provider. :)

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