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Recent Posts

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3551
Living Room / Re: Bill Gates has donated over $36,854,000,000 in his lifetime
« Last post by Renegade on February 09, 2013, 02:31 AM »
So... there's a lot of billionaires that don't give anywhere near as much.  And when one does, we say 'whatever, it doesn't mean anything anyway'?  Hmmm...
-wraith808 (February 09, 2013, 01:14 AM)

I vaguely recall a parable about a poor old woman and a rich merchant. They both donate to something and the resultant praise at the end is for the poor old woman because she gave so much compared to what she had, and that not being much at all. (Maybe someone recalls the parable better, or has a link.)

I think that's the thing pointed out above. Someone correct me if I've missed the point or misrepresented anything.
3552
Living Room / Re: Bill Gates has donated over $36,854,000,000 in his lifetime
« Last post by Renegade on February 09, 2013, 12:42 AM »
Pfft!  No!  Half of 100x more than I could ever spend* in a lifetime?  No!  Not impressed. 
-Rover (February 08, 2013, 11:29 PM)

I can understand that.

I'm not impressed because I've looked into what his money is doing, but that's another question.

But as for giving away half? Seems like an impressive number to me. I think it's just that after a certain amount, "more" becomes basically meaningless. If you have $10 billion, will another $10 billion really change your lifestyle or do anything for you that you can't already do? Well, other than perhaps funding wars & coups and other things that most normal people don't really think of as a part of their lifestyle. :D
3553
Living Room / Re: Bill Gates has donated over $36,854,000,000 in his lifetime
« Last post by Renegade on February 08, 2013, 11:15 PM »
Has anyone ever actually asked him what he meant by that quote?  And if he meant birth control being delivered knowingly in vaccines in areas where the population growth is out of control, is that a bad thing?  Just playing Devil's Advocate here.
-wraith808 (February 08, 2013, 11:00 PM)

I'm content to sniff wafts of smoke here. :)
3554
Living Room / Re: Bill Gates has donated over $36,854,000,000 in his lifetime
« Last post by Renegade on February 08, 2013, 10:15 PM »
That's awesome! It's nice to know there are still philanthropic, magnanimous souls.
-kyrathaba (February 08, 2013, 09:43 PM)

I'm a bit more skeptical there.

Merely questioning things a little bit. i.e. Being offensive.

The world today has 6.8 billion people... that's headed up to about 9 billion. Now if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent.
-Bill Gates on population reduction

Advocates what could easily be interpreted as eugenics? Buys stock in Monsanto? Pays for newspaper articles for positive coverage?

I smell smoke.

Put the following alphabetically arranged words in their proper order:

  • a
  • clothing
  • in
  • sheep's
  • wolf

3555
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by Renegade on February 08, 2013, 08:33 PM »
Basically it just melts these little glue "sticks" into liquidy gel which you apply to the area.. and it bonds very quickly
-mouser (February 08, 2013, 04:03 AM)
Just don't let it drip on your hands or you'll find yourself doing one of those dancing-screaming routines  :o
-cranioscopical (February 08, 2013, 02:53 PM)

I've done the dancing-cursing routine! :)
3556
Living Room / Re: Yet another reason why I often wish I lived in Massachusettes
« Last post by Renegade on February 08, 2013, 08:14 PM »
  • surcharge tax
  • unfair tax
  • heavily taxed
-Tinman57 (February 08, 2013, 07:52 PM)

Pleonasmw: The use of successive synonyms. The opposite of an oxymoron. e.g. "government intelligence" is an oxymoron, whereas "government incompetence" is a pleonasm. ;D
3557
General Software Discussion / Re: Avast Installs Chrome
« Last post by Renegade on February 08, 2013, 10:09 AM »
Last I checked, the CNET installers were just stubs for a web installer. The download I had was 90 MB or something like that, so I figured it was clean.

Then, during the install, it appeared to be a normal installer, with nothing in it, so I didn't suspect anything (I always look for opt outs). Then... Chrome launches...

It seems they've changed things from simple web stubs to full installers.

-- FWIW - I didn't install AVG because the download was too small, and I figured it was a web installer to install more crap.  :-\
3558
Living Room / Re: Yet another reason why I often wish I lived in Massachusettes
« Last post by Renegade on February 08, 2013, 08:55 AM »
Going down the drain or being flushed? ;)

Hey, are those dots turds? :P ;D
3559
Living Room / Re: Yet another reason why I often wish I lived in Massachusettes
« Last post by Renegade on February 08, 2013, 08:17 AM »
+1 for 40hz there.

And in this particular case, I don't think that a "flat" tax (despite it surface appeal) is really an answer - unless you have a fundamentally socialist system and with a regulated economy where prices are controlled and much of what is privately provided in the USA would be handled by the government.
-40hz (February 08, 2013, 08:11 AM)

Then we get around to how the extreme left and right wrap around and there's no real difference between socialism and fascism. My how things get even messier~! :P ;D

Yep. No easy answers at all. ;)
3560
General Software Discussion / Re: Avast Installs Chrome
« Last post by Renegade on February 08, 2013, 06:17 AM »
But from what I've read in several places, it seems to be on the rise again. And IIRC, it was always Chrome that got installed - which make me wonder what incentives Google is offering to software authors that this is now happening.
-40hz (February 08, 2013, 06:07 AM)

Quite.

Guess it's not evil to slip your software onto someone's computer without letting them know about it. :P Nope. No evil here. These are not the evils you're looking for. Move along... ;)

At least with Open Candy it's right out in the open and obvious and you can opt out or opt in if you like.
3561
General Software Discussion / Re: Avast Installs Chrome
« Last post by Renegade on February 08, 2013, 02:02 AM »
I can't say I remember the last time I saw anything like it happen to me. I try not to install any software if possible, and am pretty careful about the software I do install. I almost thought it was a thing of the past now. Guess I was wrong.
3562
Living Room / Re: Michel In Guides!
« Last post by Renegade on February 08, 2013, 01:47 AM »
Clever way to get around being accused of playing with their trademark. But he's still a squatter. Just a squatter that knows he's landed a nice sized fish.
3563
General Software Discussion / Avast Installs Chrome
« Last post by Renegade on February 07, 2013, 10:09 PM »
I just set up a new VM, installed Avast, and it installed Chrome, but never prompted me anywhere about it. It just installed it without asking. Now, I was going to install Chrome anyways, but... (From the download at CNET.)
3564
Living Room / "Download" vs. "Manufacture"
« Last post by Renegade on February 07, 2013, 09:51 PM »
Just read a very interesting article and argument over at Falkvinge that talks about using language properly, and specifically about "download" vs. "make/manufacture".

http://falkvinge.net...r-manufacturing-one/

...

What really happens is that you have instructed your system to listen to a complex series of protocol packets, and using them as instructions, you manufacture a copy at your end. You are making a copy using your own resources and property, by listening to instructions online. If nobody listened to these instructions at the time, no copy would get manufactured. The copy isn’t downloaded, it is manufactured. This technical distinction is crucial for three reasons of net liberty.

The first reason is language. Compare the following four sentences:

  • “He downloaded a copy of Avengers for free.”
  • “He got a copy of Avengers without paying for it.”
  • “He manufactured a copy of Avengers for free.”
  • “He made a copy of Avengers without paying for it.”

...

Very interesting argument. Also, technically correct. Any "copy" is merely an internal configuration inside of some sort of memory device, be that RAM or storage. e.g. When I "give" my copy to you, I give you instructions for you to "manufacture" it inside of your own storage, and then we both have a copy.

e.g. The text on this web page exists inside of the DC server in its storage, and now exists in your computer as a copy made from instructions sent to you.

It's a very interesting perspective.
3565
Living Room / Payphones - Thoughts?
« Last post by Renegade on February 07, 2013, 07:12 AM »
I'm sure more than a few people here remember payphones, but I can't recall the last time I saw one recently.

I had a quick little search, and lo and behold, they're even in the news still!

http://www.brisbanet...-20130201-2dqcl.html

THE sight of Telstra payphones on city footpaths and in country towns is secure for the next 20 years following a historical shift in the way payphones are funded in Australia.

For the first time, the federal government is paying Telstra directly to maintain its suite of payphones on a 20-year contract worth $40 million per year. But the future of private payphones is less secure.

Few Australians drop coins into payphones on a regular basis - the number of mobile phones exceeds our population - but everyone wants one nearby in an emergency.

Currently there are 35,000 payphones in Australia, according to the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. Telstra owns 18,900 of these and the remaining 16,100 are placed by private businesses in hotels, shopping centres and busy districts.

To be honest, I'd hate to see them go. If for no other reason than they offer the possibility of actually being somewhat anonymous in a world increasingly dominated by perpetual ubiquitous surveillance and tracking.

Anyone have any thoughts/memories about payphones?
3566
Living Room / Re: Mp3 File Format Issue Split From Silly Humor Thread
« Last post by Renegade on February 07, 2013, 05:28 AM »
Meh, file formats and compression are just some of those fun things!  :-*
3567
Living Room / Re: Legitimate app breaks popular encryption - EFS, BitLocker, TrueCrypt ...
« Last post by Renegade on February 07, 2013, 05:00 AM »
@ewemoa - Thanks for posting that quickly... My heart sunk a bit and my stomach dropped when I first read the description. It sounded like they'd effectively gotten around the encryption entirely. Glad to hear that it's still password-based... Phew!
3568
Developer's Corner / Re: Discourse - A discussion platform by StackExchange's Jeff Atwood
« Last post by Renegade on February 06, 2013, 10:18 PM »
Wow. There *is* some pretty impressive and cool stuff in there. I was surprised. They've actually done some really nifty stuff and not just rehashed "yet another BBS".
3569
Living Room / Re: Free Nationwide WiFi
« Last post by Renegade on February 06, 2013, 07:32 PM »
When was the last time you heard about anyone abusing baking soda
-Renegade (February 06, 2013, 05:23 PM)

Does cutting you coke with it count?
-Stoic Joker (February 06, 2013, 07:14 PM)

Hahahaha~! ;D

Oh god... sigh... Yeah, I suppose that I'm just not all that up-to-date on self-destructive behaviour...

Guess that really does go to show that you really *CAN* abuse anything!
3570
Living Room / Re: Free Nationwide WiFi
« Last post by Renegade on February 06, 2013, 05:23 PM »
if it's free, you're not the customer, you're the product
-Renegade (February 05, 2013, 10:02 PM)

Does this apply to Linux and other open source software?

-mwb1100 (February 06, 2013, 05:13 PM)

That is an excellent observation/comment.

I think the answer there is "it depends".

There's an intentional component behind any action, and that is an important factor.

I think your observation may apply to Canonical, though you'd be better off asking someone who knows more about them, e.g. 40hz.

For a lot of other FLOSS software, I'd say no. The motivations there are not commercial and there is no real commercial component.

It also applies to some non-GNU GPL licenses, e.g. Mozilla, Apache, BSD, WTFPL, etc. I think most of those kinds of licenses are not conducive to the type of exploitation that you find in the "free as in no money" free software/service world, e.g. Facebook, etc.

You can commercialize even public domain materials. This is in part what Aaron Swartz was up to - taking public domain materials back to the public.

So, it's not like there's anything that isn't open to abuse - anything can be turned to a negative purpose. Some things are simply more prone to abuse than others, e.g. When was the last time you heard about anyone abusing baking soda or dish washing liquid?
3571
Living Room / Re: Yet another reason why I often wish I lived in Massachusettes
« Last post by Renegade on February 06, 2013, 09:00 AM »
Hmm... How does that song about being "sold down the river" go?
-40hz (February 06, 2013, 08:30 AM)

Can't say as I rightly recall. However, I'm quite sure everyone will be singing something similar pretty soon, and I know the guidelines are here.
3572
Living Room / Re: Internet freedoms restrained - SOPA/PIPA/OPEN/ACTA/CETA/PrECISE-related updates
« Last post by Renegade on February 06, 2013, 04:52 AM »
@Renegade: Yes, you may well be right, but the criteria are different:
-IainB (February 06, 2013, 04:02 AM)

Meh, close enough. Horse shoes & hand grenades & all. :)

Here's a good run-down (reformatted for clarity):

http://veracity83.hu...-Psychotic-Disorders

Psychopathy is defined as a personality disorder in which the following traits or exhibited:

  • 1) Glib and superficial charm,
  • 2) Grandiose exaggeration of self,
  • 3) Need for stimulation,
  • 4) Pathological lying,
  • 5) Cunning and manipulativeness,
  • 6) Lack of remorse or guilt,
  • 7) Shallow affect,
  • 8) Callousness and lack of empathy,
  • 9) Parasitic lifestyle,
  • 10) Poor behavioral controls
  • 11) Sexual promiscuity,
  • 12) Early behavior problems,
  • 13) Lack of realistic long-term goals,
  • 14) Impulsivity,
  • 15) Irresponsibility,
  • 16) Failure to accept responsibility for own actions,
  • 17) Many short-term marital relationships,
  • 18) Juvenile delinquency,
  • 19) Revocation of conditional release,
  • 20) Criminal versatility.

Furthermore, Psychopaths typically do not show signs of having a conscience and are highly intelligent individuals.

3573
Living Room / Re: Internet freedoms restrained - SOPA/PIPA/OPEN/ACTA/CETA/PrECISE-related updates
« Last post by Renegade on February 06, 2013, 03:04 AM »
It looks like The ACTA Blog is monitoring a developing EU-US situation:
ACTA rises?
-IainB (February 06, 2013, 02:45 AM)

Aaaaaannnnnddddd........ Right back to the point about having extreme, long lasting obsessions being a characteristic of a psychopath.

They will never stop. They are purely psychopathic. Such is the nature of "The Corporation".
3574
Living Room / Re: Free Nationwide WiFi
« Last post by Renegade on February 05, 2013, 10:02 PM »
free-stuff-direct-marketing-data-mining-freebies-demotivational-posters-1351907206.jpg

;)

...and this: http://www.flickr.co...5617@N07/6261894730/ :D
3575
Living Room / Re: Yet another reason why I often wish I lived in Massachusettes
« Last post by Renegade on February 05, 2013, 08:21 PM »
When some of these brick and mortar retailers that subsidize their local business with out of state commerce get hit with the same stick, I think you'll hear a different song being sung.
-wraith808 (February 05, 2013, 01:47 PM)

Was that supposed to be:

When some of these brick and mortar retailers that subsidize their local business with out of state commerce get hit with the same stick, I think you'll hear a different song being suing.
-wraith808 (February 05, 2013, 01:47 PM)

;D
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