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4876

Living Room / Re: Outing the Internet's worst troll.

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 01:29 PM »

No. We have "at will."

But we also have an unemployment/labor bureaucracy that does everything in their power to keep an additional person from being added to our already high unemployment rolls.

Then there's the CHRO - one of the most ridiculous kangaroo courts ever created.

Check this out from their website:

It is illegal for employers, employment agencies or labor organizations to discriminate based on a protected class. That means that factors listed below as protected classes cannot be used when making decisions or taking actions related to recruitment, hiring, referring, classifying, promoting, advertising, discharging, training, laying off, compensating or establishing other conditions or terms of employment.

Protected classes in employment are:

Age
Ancestry
Color
Criminal Record ( in state employment & licensing only)

Gender Identity or Expression
Genetic Information
Learning Disability
Marital Status
Mental Disorder
Mental Retardation
National Origin
Physical Disability
Race
Religious Creed
Sex, including pregnancy and sexual harassment
Sexual Orientation

You may be a victim of illegal discrimination, if one or more of these factors was considered in an employment decision that adversely effected you.

All you need to do (no matter what you were dismissed for) is to file a complaint that any one of the above factors was "taken into consideration" (and with no more proof than you "felt" it was) and the bureaucratic wheels start turning...and turning...and turning...

And this commission (as it's currently constituted) has never met a government entity or business it likes (or believes) when it comes to testimony being given against a CHRO complaint filer.

Filing a CHRO complaint is almost like playing 5-card stud with Aces, Deuces and one-eyed Jacks all wild! Seriously. How many cracks at making a full flush can you not get with a game rigged like that?

--------------------------

Going back to Brutsch - considering some of the pictures he's posted, I think losing his job may be the least of his worries considering how so much of his antics involved photos of minors. With the publicity that's bound to ensue once the main newswires start picking up on this story, somebody in some official capacity is going to be forced to consider charges and possible prosecution. Be interesting to see if it's the feds or some state that goes first. (It's an election year. Spanking somebody like this guy makes for good campaign copy.)

But that's assuming somebody doesn't come gunning for him first and make it all very simple.

4877

Developer's Corner / Re: Hot Tech on Tech Pron

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 01:12 PM »

^^ I won't disagree in principle...

However... I don't think a DB should be designed in 3NF. Starting in 5NF is the best approach. After that, you can denormalize down to 3NF, and 2NF if absolutely necessary. But the 5NF principle is the best starting point. From there, you clearly understand everything, and the 3NF is just a subclass of 5NF, and easier to deal with. But not understanding the 5NF for a DB is just, well, I don't like it.

-Renegade (October 14, 2012, 12:38 PM)

Understood. And that's why you're a coder and I'm in systems.

4878

Living Room / Re: The Next "They Live" - "Branded"

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 12:41 PM »

Very cool! I've suspected those QR codes for years...

Better be careful next time I get prescription sunglasses though. One mistake by an optician and my life could change forever...

----

Check out an equally paranoid but less sci-fi webisode cousin called TYRANNY - all eighteen (between 6 and 11 minute) episodes available for viewing here or on YouTube if you haven't seen it already.

Here's the first 6 minute installment:

 

4879

Living Room / Re: 3D Printing Under Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 12:31 PM »

For more than two centuries, the U.S. Constitution and its amendments have secured the blessings of liberty for Americans. If extremists like Cody Wilson have their way, "the guys with the [printed] guns" will make new rules for the future.

Help me out on this...what changed??  

-Stoic Joker (October 14, 2012, 11:40 AM)

Exactly.

Guess they forgot to put us the distribution list for that memo.

4880

Developer's Corner / Re: Hot Tech on Tech Pron

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 12:29 PM »

^Nope! 

I draw the line (usually) at 3NF. Never once saw an advantage to taking it beyond that in any database I ever designed due to how the engines I used (FoxBase/Paradox/R:BASE) actually worked rather than how Jedi Master Ted Codd said they should.

(P.S. 40hz does not go down into the basement anymore. So that's a good place to hide from him if you ever feel the need! )

4881

Living Room / Re: 3D Printing Under Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 11:33 AM »

Well, it didn't take long for the people with political agendas to get in on this topic. This from the Huffington Post. In it Josh Horowitz (Executive Director, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence), adds this piquant mix of flag waving, hysteria, half-truth and posturing to the discussion...

(Note: it's best read with The Battle Hymn of the Republic playing softly in the background. )

The Huffington Post and other major media outlets have been abuzz lately with discussion of "3D printing's next frontier": guns. Specifically, the focus has been on a University of Texas law school student who had the 3D printer he leased reclaimed after announcing he would begin printing "Wiki weapons" (i.e., receivers for assault rifles and crude handguns) and freely distributing the plans for these firearms over the Internet. Desktop manufacturing company Stratsys felt that the student in question, Cody Wilson, was flouting existing federal firearms laws and stated that it is not its policy to "knowingly allow its printers to be used for illegal purposes." Wilson was also booted off Indiegogo, where he tried to fundraise for the project.

Much of the coverage focused on the aspect of the exciting new technology involved, which "promises to revolutionize manufacturing" in the United States. Less-discussed was the stated motivation behind the project and the radical political views of its founder.

Much of the coverage focused on the aspect of the exciting new technology involved, which "promises to revolutionize manufacturing" in the United States. Less-discussed was the stated motivation behind the project and the radical political views of its founder.
.
.
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Let's be clear. The Wiki Weapon project is not the work of a dispassionate techie seeking to push the outer limits of modern technology. Instead it is a blatant, undisguised attempt to radically alter our system of government. We don't know if the project will be producing serviceable handguns and assault rifles anytime soon, but if it does--and if these weapons avoid regulation--political violence could one day replace political dialogue as the hallmark of our democratic system. For more than two centuries, the U.S. Constitution and its amendments have secured the blessings of liberty for Americans. If extremists like Cody Wilson have their way, "the guys with the [printed] guns" will make new rules for the future.

Sometimes I don't know which side is worse when it comes to gun related news and topics.

4882

Developer's Corner / Re: Hot Tech on Tech Pron

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 11:26 AM »

<moved>

Thx SJ!

4883

Living Room / Re: 3D Printing Under Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 11:15 AM »

^Oh gosh! It's illegal? Really? We'll...I guess it won't be a problem then, just so long as everybody is made aware it's against the law. 

4884

Living Room / Re: Outing the Internet's worst troll.

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 11:06 AM »

^Depends on the company. In my home state it might not be that easy unless you could show it affected the person's ability to perform their job. Unless the company had some ethics clause in their employment contract about personal or non-job related activities that might reflect unfavorably upon the company - or foster a "hostile work environment" by your presence. (They'd probably be able to make that one stick now that I'm thinking about it.)

Not that it will matter. SOBs like him tend to land on their feet. He'll probably just sit and wait for the movie or book deal. Or do a big "I Repent!!!!" act and then hit the motivational and pop psychology circuit giving lectures on how to keep what happened to him from happening to you. (He'll probably say it started out as a joke, but soon got out of control and eventually destroyed his entire "moral compass.")



Plus - he's trendy! He's the guy your mother warned you about. Cyber-bullying is a big hot button topic these days. Parent's groups and talk shows can't seem to hear enough stories, anecdotes and analyses on it.

Besides,  America just loves "Prodigal Son" stories and tearful repentant scenes on afternoon talk shows...


Awwww! Group hug everybody!!!

4885

Living Room / Re: 3D Printing Under Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 10:43 AM »

the odds are that the chamber would explode on all but the smallest possible ammo types. It would be more effective as a grenade or flashbang than as a gun for that reason.

-SeraphimLabs (October 14, 2012, 07:45 AM)

To be sure. But weren't there people making "liners" or barrel inserts for flare guns that allowed you to fire a 'real' ammo round. I seem to recall the AFT or some similar agency talking about that a while back? The guns did fail after a few uses. But AFAIR they all got at least one .38 shot off before they became totally "too dangerous" to use. IMHO it's pretty dumb to do it even once (other than as a proof-of-concept) but whatcha gonna do? These are yahoos we're talking about who'd try this in a street setting.

Oooo baby! You just gotta love Google sometimes! Here it is.

4886

Living Room / Outing the Internet's worst troll.

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 07:22 AM »

There's a really interesting article posted by Adrian Chen on Gawker last Friday telling the story of how Michael Brutsch (aka Violentacrez), the worst troll on Reddit (and possibly the worst troll in history) was finally "outed."

What is especially interesting is Brutsch's reaction and attitude in the wake of being exposed. Along with some notes on how sites like Reddit are sometimes willing to to give passive "permission" to trolling in order to get their clicks up.

Fascinating.

Link to full article here.

Unmasking Reddit’s Violentacrez, The Biggest Troll on the Web
Adrian Chen   

Last Wednesday afternoon I called Michael Brutsch. He was at the office of the Texas financial services company where he works as a programmer and he was having a bad day. I had just told him, on Gchat, that I had uncovered his identity as the notorious internet troll Violentacrez (pronounced Violent-Acres).

"It's amazing how much you can sweat in a 60 degree office," he said with a nervous laugh.

Judging from his internet footprint, Brutsch, 49, has a lot to sweat over. If you are capable of being offended, Brutsch has almost certainly done something that would offend you, then did his best to rub your face in it. His speciality is distributing images of scantily-clad underage girls, but as Violentacrez he also issued an unending fountain of racism, porn, gore, misogyny, incest, and exotic abominations yet unnamed, all on the sprawling online community Reddit.
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4887

Living Room / Re: How Many Planets Are There?

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 07:10 AM »

There are still 9. 

-40hz (October 14, 2012, 06:55 AM)

YOU are an evil plonet and plinet bigot~! Shame, shame~!

-Renegade (October 14, 2012, 07:02 AM)

Yup! 

But that doesn't change the fact there's 9.

4888

Living Room / Re: How Many Planets Are There?

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 06:55 AM »

There are still 9.  

4889

Living Room / Re: 3D Printing Under Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 06:44 AM »

I'm very capable with firearms -- but I wouldn't want to RELY on a single shot gun.

-Renegade (October 14, 2012, 06:17 AM)

I am too. And me neither. But we're not idiots. Unfortunately, there are plenty of idiots (and desperate people) out there.

As for cost, I'm not really sure. I don't know the cost of a gun on the black market, so can't comment there.

But I am very curious. I thought that materials were around $5 per cubic inch, but... dunno.

Is the cost of printing a gun lower than the cost of buying one?

-Renegade (October 14, 2012, 06:17 AM)

I don't know what the printing cost would be. But shootable (pun intended) blackmarket junker handguns can be had around where I live for between $50-$100 according to most police sources I trust.

As for creative uses... well, yeah... I can think of a few. They all involve close range though.

-Renegade (October 14, 2012, 06:17 AM)

As do most holdups and many criminal firearm incidents. At least until the gangs start replacing their "tools" and "hitmen" with trained long-distance snipers. (Only a matter of time.)

The average person never has any need to use one, so I don't think it's really much of a worry. Professional assassins will already know enough to get around evidence problems, so they're not a real concern as far as I can see.

It does have the potential to create a "need" however. Look how VCRs made porn acceptable to the masses. Privacy and no more sneaking into "art" cinemas to get your dose of body parts? That was what the porn industry said led to the "feminization of porn." For the first time they got significant numbers of female buyers once you could get your own copy by mail with nobody the wiser.

Many people don't want a gun because there's a certain public element (gun store, registration, etc.) to obtaining one. But remove that and I think the average Joe will start buying weapons as a matter of course. Just like in the days of the old West.

But the *cool* factor is definitely there~!

Like, who wouldn't want a 3D printed gun as an ornament? Well, some people sure, but it's still a cool conversation piece!

Especially for kids. And there I think is a real problem waiting to happen.

------------------------

All that aside, I still think 3D printing is an utterly cool bit of tech.

4890

General Software Discussion / Re: Does the browser Opera suck?

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 06:28 AM »

No more than the alternatives IMO. But I tend to try to ignore the 'suckage' in the apps I use the most. So Opera (as my second choice) tends to get judged more severely by me than it's equally (but differently) flawed cousin FF.

This used to bug me a lot before I stopped hoping something would ever be the perfect (and only) browser for me. Now I just use what works better (there is no "best" IMO) for what I'm doing.

I tend to use Opera for the speed when participating in forums and similar venues ever since my old fav K-Meleon started having hassles with too many websites (mostly when linking out to things posted about in forums) for it to be worth it any more. I use FF for everything else.

One of these days I'll get around to trying a Webkit/Trident-based browser again to see if they offer any real improvements or advantages. But I'm not overly hopeful they will.

I'm guessing all bets will remain off until the chaff and dust surrounding HTML5/CSS3 settles down anyway.

4891

Living Room / Re: Do Not Track

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 06:02 AM »

If you're going to send bogus data, might as well poison it!

-Renegade (October 14, 2012, 03:40 AM)

  Highly cathartic! But much too obvious - to say nothing of abandoning the moral high road in this battle.

No...maybe just a little something to boost per click fees up to the point where trackers become too expensive? Or introducing enough noise into the signal to make trackers far too unreliable for businesses to benefit from using them anymore?

Besides, attacking supply is usually a suboptimal strategy. Far more effective is to discourage demand. IMHO, the most effective way to stop this nonsense is to help reduce demand for it by introducing some nonsense of our own into the mix.
 

4892

Living Room / Re: 3D Printing Under Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2012, 05:41 AM »

3D printed guns right now aren't comparable to hundreds of years of gunsmith engineering. So 3D gun plans & printing really have no significant effect on anything.

-Renegade (October 14, 2012, 03:57 AM)

Really? A cheap untraceable gun suitable for use at close range doesn't inspire all sorts of creative thinking?

It doesn't even need to be durable. All it needs to do is be able to fire a single shot (or six) with a fair degree of reliability and voila - Disposable guns! One step better than the so-called 'Saturday Night Special.' Doesn't even need to be that accurate as long as it keeps fairly close to the direction it's pointed in. Look at the flare guns found on boats. Most are now made of plastic. And they perform for their intended use as well as the old-fashioned durable variety.

So much for even having (highly flawed) ballistic or manufacturer's data to fall back on for traceability when a weapon has no pedigree whatsoever. Especially if it's ground up and recycled (or even melted a bit and tossed) shortly after it's been used. It's almost like saying: "Imagine a gun."

 

4893

Living Room / Re: Do Not Track

« Last post by 40hz on October 13, 2012, 08:27 PM »

generate bogus tracking events.

-f0dder (October 13, 2012, 04:50 AM)

A loaf of bread
A jug of wine
And you by my side
My little Raspberry Pi
Generating fake tracking data 24x7


Yup. That's what the cloud and homebrew clusters are made for...

Besides, DoS attacks are illegal. But pushing a ton of bogus tuples into cyberspace is no crime.

4894

Living Room / Re: Time Lapse Photography of Penang

« Last post by 40hz on October 13, 2012, 08:16 PM »

According to the notes on Vimeo he used a polarizing and some neutral density filters filters. These can make colors look much more saturated since they help keep bright background lighting and glares from washing out the other colors. He also references a few photo programs such as Photoshop so I'd guess there was a bit of tweaking the images in question.

4895

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... assistance with FlashGet downloadings ...

« Last post by 40hz on October 13, 2012, 08:06 PM »

It sounds like it can no longer identify a download manager.

1. Under advanced options check and see if the automatic download manager detection is enabled. If not, check it and hit the Detect Now button.

if that doesn't help then

2. Under options check downloads to be sure autostart is selected.

3. Under options also check to be sure you have a valid temporary directory selected. FlashGot needs to have access to scratch space in order to work correctly.

Luck!

(Also hope you're feeling better. Sounds like you've been through the mill. Yikes! )

4896

Living Room / Re: 3D Printing Under Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 13, 2012, 02:11 PM »

^Little other than when the cost to fix something seriously broken outweighs he costs of keeping it from breaking to begin with.

My GF's "new" medical plan, from her employer, has a "wellness" clause. She's now required (among other things) to get an annual physical and see a dentist at least every 6 months for "routine" checkups.

If she doesn't, she faces a significantly higher annual medical deductible fee - plus higher co-payments for most covered medical treatments.

There's also a bunch of rules about completing recommended therapies and taking prescribed medications - or else additional $$$ out of your own pocket.

So maybe the medical profession doesn't have a direct incentive - although I do know many dedicated and caring doctors who act in a responsible fashion towards their patients.

But the insurance companies paying the doctor's fees - and the businesses paying for those insurance plans - are certainly beginning to realize they have one.

All the more reason to continue to shift jobs to the "industrial slave" nations as quickly as possible.

4897

Living Room / Re: 3D Printing Under Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 13, 2012, 12:29 PM »

I'd hardly consider that theme as being fiction any more. :tellme

-40hz (October 13, 2012, 10:51 AM)

Well, when you die in debt and your creditors bring you back from the dead to work as a slave till your debt is paid off, then it won't be fiction any more. 

-app103 (October 13, 2012, 10:58 AM)

Got something close to that though. Ever cosign anything and have the primary default?

Then there's hospital admissions...

Bring a sick elderly parent or other family member into one hospital around here and it's interesting to see all the paperwork they try to get various family members (as many as possible) to sign. Supposedly so they have "permission" to provide treatment.

Sandwiched in the stack are forms that will make you personally liable for the full hospital bill, along with paragraphs you are asked to initial on regular (they tell you they're "routine") medical admission forms that obligate you to do the same. And they hit the family members right between the eyes with this as soon as they come in behind the ambulance - counting on them to be too upset and anxious to really look very closely at what they're signing.

And this is a hospital that "prides itself" (according to their ad copy) on both "respecting the patient's dignity" and "providing the best in care." They even have a "church" sounding name - and try to create the impression that they are owned and operated by a major religious diocese despite the fact they're actually fully owned by an HMO two states away.

I saw one poor family recently arrive at the ER with what looked like a 200 year old grandmother. A good dozen additional relatives showed up within the hour. As I sat there waiting to find out what was up with my own mother (who took a bad fall earlier) I watched as various "business office" and "hospital social worker" types zeroed in on adult family members whenever they noticed one standing alone and asked them to sign a paper "so they could treat" the old lady.

I saw them get about four different people to sign before I couldn't stand it any more. I went over and explained to them what the hospital was up to -and how nobody there needed to sign anything since their grandmother came in by ambulance and the EMTs had already signed her in. And furthermore, the hospital (by law) had to render emergency treatment regardless of their signatures, or lack thereof.

Maybe they can't make that old lady liable if anything bad happened to her and she didn't make it. Or if she were uninsured as so many people increasingly are. But they certainly can (and will) hound all those people whose signatures they collected for her bill long after she's quit this mortal clay.

4898

Living Room / Re: txtbeaglr - £10 electronic book

« Last post by 40hz on October 13, 2012, 12:02 PM »

Regardless, that's an insanely cheap price and the makers/hackers would have a field day of happiness with it if it really came out at that price.

-mouser (October 13, 2012, 11:55 AM)

Agree. It would be worth it just to get your hands on the E-Ink display. (Really nice if it could be made to work with a Raspberry Pi.) There's a few projects I could think of for that - not to mention possibly converting the device itself into a wifi sniffer or related network tech's tool.

4899

Living Room / Re: 3D Printing Under Attack

« Last post by 40hz on October 13, 2012, 10:51 AM »

^^ Sounds like a very prejudicial book...

-Renegade (October 13, 2012, 08:27 AM)

It's pretty much a dystopian sci-fi novel about capitalism run amuck.

-app103 (October 13, 2012, 09:08 AM)

I'd hardly consider that theme as being fiction any more.

Besides, isn't dystopian pretty much becoming a near synonym for political science too?

4900

Living Room / Re: txtbeaglr - £10 electronic book

« Last post by 40hz on October 13, 2012, 04:35 AM »

How is it that a Bluetooth transmitter is less expensive from a manufacturing standpoint than a simple USB plug? Especially since you'd still need some sort of cable to charge the device. So why not just use USB for power and data?

Call me suspicious, but exclusively using a smartphone to load ebooks into a reader makes no sense - unless they're making some sort of revenue (via user web tracking?) from their phone app. Which is something they'd need to do since 10£ would not come even close to covering the cost of making that device.

Something sounds a little weird to me about this product. There has to be a catch.