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Comment Re:Anatomy of the Hack (Score 1) 415

Thats because the America Revolution wasn't "domestic terrorism".

Many techniques used were in fact labelled as terrorism even back then. And if one uses current de-facto political definitions (as various governments, including some western ones, do), could be construed to be such: guerilla warfare, vandalism, theft, obstruction of legal system...This does not diminish value or righteousness of revolution, just points out dangers of using a label without context; and especially fallacy of equating current laws with moral.

So: given that american colonies were part of English rule, and many activities were criminal (thanks to malevolent laws etc), yes, much of it was technically domestic terrorism. And no, there was nothing wrong with that; due to corruptness of the (legal, political) system of the time.

Comment Re:Cyber terrorisim (Score 1) 334

While it is true that underdogs typically use more of dirty tactics (since they have to, for the most part), how does this absolve either side? Two wrongs do not make right; so as wrong and deplorable as it is to use human shields, it is at least as bad to shoot those children. This is what I do not understand, except maybe as indication of mental maturity level of person arguing the case -- it is a kindergarten kid argument ("but he started it!").

Comment Re:Bitter from competition? (Score 1) 278

Forget for a moment about the irony of bickering over "ownership" of stolen documents.

"Stolen" should be in quotes -- it may unauthorized copying, but as far as I know, original owners still have said documents and what Wikileaks has are copies.

This may sound like nitpicking but it has real life implications, whatwith MPAA's "pirate" labeling of unauthorized copying and other incidents where owners of "intellectual property" are abusing legal system.

Comment Re:Cart Before Horse, Please! (Score 1) 323

I find Android slow, clunky, and Java-based SDK's (like Eclipse and the Blackberry dev environment) to be the same - where XCode is smoothe and elegant

Really? I have not used XCode heavily, but from my colleagues who have, they all swear XCode is biggest pile of crap they have ever used. I am pretty ok with Eclipse in general, but Android plug-in has always been shaky whenever I have had to use it (to help others work around issue Android platform causes with normally well functioning java libs). So I can see why it might make life bit more difficult.

I suspect there is lots of inertia both ways; those who start with obj-C, XCode find it much more appealing than those going the other way. But still... my impression has been that XCode and obj-C both feel bit antiquated, all things considered, which is in odd contrast with modern sleek design of the phone and hardware itself.

Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft ports NetBSD to eMIPS (netbsd.org)

MC Negro writes: Microsoft Research has ported NetBSD to the eMIPS platform and committed the code and copyright back to the NetBSD foundation.

Comment Re:Mid-Level $132k, really? (Score 1) 337

Right, all I am saying is just that it'd be even lower in most other states. In WA 140k$ would be kind of high, for example. Not that offers in CA might be stellar per se; and from what I have heard, 140k$ does sound bit low And yes, there are tons of unsolicited contacts currently... job market for s/w engineers is rather hot these days. At least experienced ones.

Comment Re:Mid-Level $132k, really? (Score 1) 337

No, definitely not -- Bay Area has relatively hot job market; and while there are more expensive areas (northeast?) most states have much lower salaries. At least my experience between pacific northerwest and CA suggests that latter has significantly higher salaries, and is confirmed by sites that compare cost of living & compensation.

Comment Re:Software engineer vs. computer programmer? (Score 1) 337

I doubt that. I know full well it makes sense to use term "software engineer" when we discuss compensation (for PHBs it sounds better, hence price disparity; and there is no harm in choosing it over alternative anyway). I would also consider anyone who thinks there is a functional distinction to be a fool with big T.

Comment Re:50 Billion, really? (Score 1) 295

It is bit high, but nothing extra-ordinary. Amazon seems to have P/E of 75 (fluctuates, but this is quite typical value over recent years), and it is much more mature business. And theoretically Facebook's revenue could raise nicely as there is no physical inventory. Netflix has had high P/E too (now at 68), and so on.

Investors are momentum oriented though, so valuation has more to do with explosive growth of Facebook. It is big, way (too) big; I don't use it, but only significant groups of non-users seem to be people without Internet connection and hard-core geeks. :-)

Whether it is overpriced, well, we'll see. It is impossible to know what future brings; investing that drives prices up is pretty pure speculation, and with very strong feedback loops. So there is no "real value", it's all based on opinions; and looking for fundamental correct valuation is a fool's errand.

Comment Re:You know, this could be a good thing. (Score 1) 813

I am not the official, so whether I would try to stop or not is quite different from whether society should stop them. But yes, if and when spanking is illegal, police should stop it; this should be obvious to everyone. Police is there to enforce the laws.

And your argument of "parent vs societal" is a strawman argument -- choice is between individuals, parent and child. Parents do not have absolute rights to risk lives of their children; parental rights do not outrank rights of children. Especially not "parents right to choose" over "child's right to stay alive".

Comment Re:You know, this could be a good thing. (Score 1) 813

I don't agree, we have to allow those who don't have common sense to suffer the consequences.

If this was about adults themselves declining vaccinations, maybe (just maybe because of reduced herd immunity, i.e. public hazard for others). But it is not, it is about irresponsible adults putting their children directly in harm's way. There are child-protection laws that allow society to take custody of children for protection; and this is a simple example where parental control should be overridden.

At least I can not see that educational value of an innocent child dying just to "teach" common-sense-less adults the right way.

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