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Comment Re:We're so smart (Score 2, Insightful) 855

Why the hell would you want to change a user's password from what they entered?

So I'm the Luser and type "pink ponies " for my new password.
Your software silently changes it to "pink ponies"
Tomorrow I get to call the help desk because my new password doesn't work.
Now your calling me a luser since I can't remember a password for 24hrs.

Comment Re:I'm only going to say (Score 1) 1912

Another view is that the Banks who were "forced" by the CRA to give out "subprime" loans (following CRA rules) found them to be profitable, and the risk was no worse compared to prime loans.

Then a bunch of greedy wall street people realize they can make money by getting into the subprime market.

According to law professor Michael S. Barr, a Treasury Department official under President Clinton
"More than half of subprime loans were made by independent mortgage companies not subject to comprehensive federal supervision"

And here is a link to a study showing this as well.
It also shows that CRA banks were more likely to hold on to the mortgage instead of sell it as a security
http://www.traigerlaw.com/publications/traiger_hinckley_llp_cra_foreclosure_study_1-7-08.pdf

Programming

Submission + - What do you use to document your projects?

Matt writes: What do you use to document your projects in a Windows environment?

Despite the face-lift Word 2007 still likes to auto-format and move stuff around on me. I just don't understand how its going to react to my input. I am looking for some way to create some decent looking documentation. Pretty basic stuff, some text, some lists, some tables, maybe a couple screen shots.

In the past I have played around with Nvu http://www.nvu.com/ to make an html file, which I would then print to a pdf. That was a very round-about way to get a pdf.
Now I just found proTeXT http://www.tug.org/protext/ and will try learning TeX. Any other suggestions?
Linux Business

Submission + - Have money, want GPL solution, none available? 2

pooslinger writes: I know little to nothing about programming but would like to start, fund, and maintain a GPL linux POS application. I see there are a few available with the majority being closed source. I am currently starting a business and really despise the fact that I will have to spend $2-$5k on a proprietary solution. I would like to create an application where you could take a midrange PC: connect inexpensive touchscreens, barcode readers, thermal printers, credit card readers, etc; scan/input inventory; and begin selling. Something like a Debian POS distribution that boots into X and starts our POS terminal. Am I just trying to reinvent the wheel? Where do I find the talent (paid) to write the initial foundation? How do I make sure their code choices best benefit the community?
The Courts

Submission + - Apple, Jobs, AT&T sued over iPhone price cut (appleinsider.com)

mytrip writes: "Apple Inc., along with its chief executive and exclusive U.S. iPhone wireless partner AT&T, have been hit with a new lawsuit from a disgruntled customer who charges the trio with a variety of offenses stemming from the recent iPhone price cut.

Dongmei Li like thousands of others, the suit claims, is now the victim of price discrimination in that she cannot resell her iPhone for the same profit as customers who purchased the device after price drop. Similarly, she cannot trade up to 8GB model she had initially hoped to obtain and is now left with a product that has been discontinued."

Data Storage

Submission + - data recovery for katrina survivor

doginthewoods writes: "I need some serious advice about data recovery for a friend who had two non RAID drives underwater in New Orleans' Katrina Flood. BTW, we can thanks Bush's government for the flood and for the long delay in getting our hands on the drives, but that is another rant.

Friend was in the mixdown stage of a CD when Katrina hit. All that escaped was a preliminary mix CD. The studio did not make off site back ups. F*($^&(!!!. Excuse me. And friend really wants to finish this project, not only for the music itself, but to close the door on Katrina. This is the last thing that is keeping the door open to that horror.

I have the drives (two 40 Gig), and examined them all over with a magnifying glass. The HD frame and circuit board are dirty, but not too. i can see gunk & corrosion on the PC board resistors. I carefully opened the lid to visually inspect the platter, and they platters are mirror clean. It looks like water didn't enter the platter housings at all. I am not sure how freely they spin,- I'm going to take a chance on a power-up.

The person I am helping is still putting a life back together and is pretty short of money. But is emotionally ready to finish work on the album.

I am asking the Community if there is anything that I can do before spending the money to send to drives out to a data recovery house. I am wondering about swapping the drive circuit board, maybe a bearing lubricant, if needed. I know electronics and drives well enough to be able to swap the circuit boards. But I don't want to risk losing the data, if my meddling may cause problems. But if I can save some money, and I hear data recovery can cost $1000 USD for both drives, and I understand the limits of safety, I would like to give it a try.

Thanks to any who reply, thank you for helping a gifted New Orleans singer, and I look forward to your help."
Networking (Apple)

Submission + - Apple IIe as Linux serial terminal (dataswamp.net)

quag7 writes: "About a month ago I bought an Apple IIe from ebay. After playing around with Zork III for awhile, I wondered if I could find a more utilitarian purpose for the system in order to justify the considerable space it was taking up in my office. I thought, why not make it into a serial terminal for my Gentoo Linux box? In an effort to save at least a handful of old Apple 8 bits from obsolescence, I documented the procedure and included a few photographs of the result. I tell myself that this is useful, but in practice I just like zoning out in deep digital green."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Lumines Exploit Allows Homebrew on All PSPs

YokimaSun writes: Noobz have today released a new exploit in the game Lumines — allowing unsigned code to be ran!, from the article:" Following research in conjunction with Archaemic, Noobz are proud to present the first ever all-firmware exploit for the PSP. Based on Lumines, the "Illuminati" exploit is a user-mode exploit using a buffer overflow in the savedata file — similar to the GTA exploit. That's right — if you've got a legal UMD copy of Lumines, then you can run homebrew on your PSP — whatever the firmware version. That includes v3.50! Right now, the only homebrew is the Hello World demo released below — but in future we intend to release a HEN and downgrader."

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