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Comment Re:I LOVE Middle-Click Paste (Score 1) 107

by SysKoll (#65904881) Attached to: GNOME and Firefox Consider Disabling Middle Click Paste By Default

An excellent point. There are several comments agreeing with this in the PR discussion (https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fphabricator.services.mozilla.com%2FD277804). I urge you to chime in and add your comment protesting against the removal of middle-click paste. I did.

Submission + - Scientific Publishing is a Joke (theatlantic.com) 1

Submitted by shanen
shanen writes: Hilarious new meme. I wish I could take the blame, but I was retired from the racket some years ago. But I thought it was getting worse and worse at the time...

The generator for new ones is especially impressive. Unfortunately, I'm too shallow and humor-impaired to generate one.

Comment The answer in one comic strip! (Score 2) 340

by SysKoll (#55756163) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Can Programmers Explain Their Work To Non-Programmers?

This is an age-old question. Engineers always seem to be hard-pressed to explain what they are doing all day long.

This can lead to problems when the people asking the question are non-technical AND have the power to defund projects or departments they don't understand.

My favorite comic strip on the topic (oldie but goldie): http://revoltingregulations.bl...

Comment Re: Not sure I trust it. (Score 1) 558

by SysKoll (#51567891) Attached to: It's Time To Kill the $100 Bill, Says Larry Summers

Take my neighbor. He retired. He has a very small social security, some stock that has declined sharply, and a sizeable savings account that produces currently almost no interest.

How exactly could that person spend his money on "durable and valuable goods"? What kind of goods, and how will he still be able to pay the bills?

The elderly would be the first victims of such a stupid policy, just like inflation victimized them in the 70s.

Comment Re: Not sure I trust it. (Score 1) 558

by SysKoll (#51566437) Attached to: It's Time To Kill the $100 Bill, Says Larry Summers

Who says individuals don't get charged? That's the whole point of negative-interest rate policies. Bank accounts above a certain amount are already charged negative interest in Switzerland, for example.

As for Japan, there is currently a quiet run on banks due to negative interest. Japanese people hoard cash and buy safes.

Of course it will backfire. People will have to save more fore retirement since they cannot count on positive interest to produce gains. Hence consumption and growth will decrease further.

That's why these bozos want to ban most cash. They don't want you to withdraw your cash when the negative interest policy hits.

Submission + - Judge wipes out Safe Harbor provision in DMCA, makes Cox accomplice of piracy

Submitted by SysKoll
SysKoll writes: The DMCA is well-known for giving exorbitant powers to copyright holders, such as taking down a page or a whole web site without a court order. Media companies buy services from vendors like Rightscorp, a shake-down outfit that issues thousands of robot-generated take-down notices and issues threats against ISPs and sites ignoring them.

Cox, like a lot of ISP, is inundated with abusive take-down notices, in particular from Rightscorp. Now, BMG Rights Management and Round Hill Music are suing Cox for refusing to shut off the Internet access of subscribers that Rightscorp accused of downloading music via BitTorrent. Cox argues that as an ISP, they benefit from the Safe Harbor provision that shields access providers from subscribers' misbehavior.

Not so, says US District Judge Liam O'Grady. The judge sided with the media companies ahead of trial, saying Cox should have terminated the repeat offenders accused by Rightscorp. Cox's response is quite entertaining for a legal document: its description of Rightscorp includes the term "shady", "shake-down", and "pay no attention to the facts"

O'Grady also derided the Electronic Frontier Foundations's attempt to file an amicus brief supporting Cox, calling them hysterical crybabies.

This case will be closely watched and can be very damaging for the Internet industry.

Submission + - Disney IT workers prepare to sue over foreign replacements (computerworld.com)

Submitted by JustAnotherOldGuy
JustAnotherOldGuy writes: At least 23 former Disney IT workers have filed complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over the loss of their jobs to foreign replacements. This federal filing is a first step to filing a lawsuit alleging discrimination. These employees are arguing that they are victims of national origin discrimination, a complaint increasingly raised by U.S. workers who have lost their jobs to foreign workers on H-1B and other temporary visas. Disney's layoff last January followed agreements with IT services contractors that use foreign labor, mostly from India. Some former Disney workers have begun to go public over the displacement process

Submission + - Understanding a 2,000 year old Greek computer (hackaday.com)

Submitted by szczys
szczys writes: We attribute great thinking to ancient Greece. This is exemplified by the Antikythera Mechanism. Fragments of the mechanism were found in a shipwreck first discovered in 1900 and visited by researchers several times over the next century. It is believed to be a method of tracking the calendar and is the first known example of what are now common-yet-complicated engineering mechanisms like the differential gear. A few working reproductions have been produced and make it clear that whomever designed this had an advanced understanding of complex gear ratios and their ability to track the passage of time and celestial bodies.

Comment Unicomp makes quality keyboards (Score 1) 147

by SysKoll (#49702683) Attached to: Mechanical 'Clicky' Keyboards Still Have Followers (Video)
I agree, Unicomp keyboards are hard to beat thanks to their buckling spring switches. And the price is awesome: $80 or so for a keyboard that feels *solid*. Compare to at least $120 for most Cherry-based keyboards. I use mine in a software development office (cubicles) and I don't have complains. To the contrary, other developers and sysadmins have bought their own Unicomp after typing a few test lines. Too bad the poster posted as AC, this is a very thoughtful post.

Comment No pure oxygen (Score 4, Insightful) 116

by SysKoll (#48986121) Attached to: TP-82: The Gun Cosmonauts Carried On Space Missions

Having a gun inside a thin-walled spacecraft filled with oxygen sounds crazy,

Having a spacecraft filled with pure oxygen sounds and is crazy. The Apollo 1 fire (1967) showed just how crazy it is. Which is why they don't do it anymore. Neither ISS nor the Russian capsules have a pure oxygen atmosphere. In fact, the ISS atmosphere is ground-level pressure with 20% oxygen. Only the EVA suits have a low-pressure, high-oxygen breathable mix.

Submission + - The missing piece of the smart home revolution: The operating system (dailydot.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As these technologies sense and and react to changes in your environment, there are obvious parallels to computer operating systems, which receive input and return output. What does the “operating system” for the smart home of the future look like?

Submission + - WSJ refused to publish Lawrence Krauss' response to "Science Proves Religion".

Submitted by Kubla Kahhhn!
Kubla Kahhhn! writes: Recently, the WSJ posted a controversial piece "Science Increasingly Makes a Case for God", written by non-scientist and darling of the apologist crowd, Eric Metaxas. Noted astrophysicist Lawrence Krauss wrote a simple and clear retort in a letter to the editor, which the WSJ declined to publish. Is it an example of the kind of "fair and balanced reporting" we can expect, now that Wall Street Journal is owned by Rupert Murdoch?

Submission + - 'Disco clam' lights up to scare predators away (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: When predators get close, the bright, orange-lipped “disco clam” flashes them to scare them off. But it's not just the light that's important. Researchers have found that the clam has sulfur in its fleshy lips and tentacles and suspect that, like another clam species that drop tentacles laden with sulfuric acid to deter predators, the disco clam's sulfur also gets converted into a distasteful substance. The flashing may warn predators away, similar to the bright orange of a monarch butterfly warning birds of its toxic taste.

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