ccccc - Slashdot User

Comment Huh? (Score 5, Informative) 289

by ccccc on Thursday September 13, 2012 @08:55AM (#41322471) Attached to: QR Codes As Anti-Forgery On Currency Could Infect Banks

A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode. A pretty decent way to embed a serial number. What exactly about the idea makes the poster believe the banks' scanning software would jump to some arbitrary website after the scan? Presumably, a much more sane and secure thing to do would be to look up the serial number in a database on a single, secure site.

Comment Re:Python (Score 1) 530

by ccccc on Monday May 07, 2012 @01:20PM (#39917137) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Language Should a Former Coder Dig Into?

I might be confused with another product, but I think Visual Studio Express expires after a month demo period.

It only expires if you don't do the e-mail registration.

Submission + - TSA Investigates ...People Who Complain about TSA

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens writes

on Friday April 15, 2011 @04:39PM

Hugh Pickens writes writes: "CNN has obtained a list of roughly 70 "behavioral indicators" that TSA behavior detection officers use to identify potentially "high risk" passengers at the nation's airports and report that arrogant complaining about airport security is one indicator TSA officers consider when looking for possible criminals and terrorists and when combined with other behavioral indicators, it could result in a traveler facing additional scrutiny. "Expressing your contempt about airport procedures — that's a First Amendment-protected right," says Michael German, a former FBI agent who now works as legal counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "It's circular reasoning where, you know, I'm going to ask someone to surrender their rights; if they refuse, that's evidence that I need to take their rights away from them. And it's simply inappropriate." Interestingly enough some experts say terrorists are much more likely to avoid confrontations with authorities, saying an al Qaeda training manual instructs members to blend in. "I think the idea that they would try to draw attention to themselves by being arrogant at airport security, it fails the common sense test," says CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen."

Comment It can be worthwhile (Score 1) 834

by ccccc on Monday May 11, 2009 @09:37AM (#27905553) Attached to: Go For a Masters, Or Not?

In my case, going for a master's let me get a 30% increase in pay over the job I had with an undergraduate degree, and to work in a field more closely aligned with my interests. I consider this to be a good use of two years of my time, but I was also under a sizable scholarship (about 25% of the undergrad degree pay, tuition waived.)

It really depends on how research-oriented your job is going to be. If it has a lot of algorithmic work, then there are probably a lot of former academics in the company who would look highly upon a graduate degree since they have ones themselves.

Submission + - Should we have the right to breed? 11

Submitted by on Tuesday December 04, 2007 @07:28PM

An anonymous reader writes: I just finished reading Garret Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons and I'm having a little trouble coming to grips with it. In the essay Hardin argues that in a world with finite resources we must stabilize the population at less than the carrying capacity in order to maintain quality of life. However, "Confronted with appeals to limit breeding, some people will undoubtedly respond to the plea more than others. Those who have more children will produce a larger fraction of the next generation than those with more susceptible consciences. The differences will be accentuated, generation by generation." Hardin therefore suggests that we must legally restrict freedom to breed.

However such restrictions would require a invasion of our privacy to a degree that strikes me as simply intolerable. But I'm curious, what do slashdot readers think? Is Hardin's logic sound? If it is, is controlling the population important enough that we should give up what we have long accepted as some of our most basic rights in order to achieve it?

A Review of the $200 Wal-Mart Linux PC 235

Posted by kdawson on Sunday November 25, 2007 @08:58AM from the green-around-the-edges dept.

bcrowell writes "Wal-Mart's new $200 Linux PC has generated a lot of buzz in geek circles. Although they're sold out of stores, I bought one for my daughter via mail order, and have written up a review of the system. The hardware seems fine for anyone but a hardcore gamer, but the pre-installed gOS flavor of Ubuntu has a lot of rough edges."

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