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Comment Re: Tell that to the third world (Score 1) 269

And don't forget this is all onw huge bullshit. This is not new capacity developed for more energy use. This is to replace the russian extraction capacity that will die when the embargo on Russia goes into effect. I for one would rather see greedy oil companies pocketing the money than greedy russian warmongers doing the same.

Comment Lies, damn lies, and statistics (Score 5, Insightful) 389

It is of course possible to formulate the selection criteria so that Google will come extremely unprominently shown somewhere at the bottom. Which Microsoft did in this case, quite successfully.

I actively tried to switch the default search engine to Google, and guess what, it was hard to find even knowing what I'm looking about.

If I was Google, I'd file an antitrust petition against this NOW.

Comment Try working on just improving the code (Score 1) 601

Perfect for procrastination.

Just sit down with it, but instead of writing new code, clean it up, or add some tests around it. There are two benefits:

  1. It will start looking much better, and you'll have a better feeling about it.
  2. You'll get yourself back into context, and before you know it, you'll find you want to do some development at it.

I have a similar problem: I have a project that I would really like to work on, but can find time only occasionally. I have found that coming back to it after a long time is very hard. I have my lists, but starting something is just formidable. So, I start by reading around, doing little stuff here and there and just cleaning it up, until I feel confident enough to do something.

And in general, it's very good to have your code thoroughly tested. Read about it here: http://manent-notes.blogspot.com/2008/08/developing-under-severe-time.html

Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Build Your Own SATA Hard Drive Switch (extremetech.com)

Mikey Win writes: "ExtremeTech shows us a cool hardware hack that allows multiple operating system to boot without dealing with any tedious BIOS setup changes. How? By building your own SATA hard drive switch. The result? You can expect a longer hard drive life span, power supply load reduction, and partitions protected from becoming overwritten or corrupted."
Music

Submission + - Democrats Propose Mandatory DRM for Podcasts

Knytefall writes: Joe Biden, Dianne Feinstein, and two GOP senators are sponsoring a bill called the PERFORM Act that would require podcasts with music and satellite radio to be locked-up with music industry-approved DRM software, according to a Cnet report and a statement from Sen. Feinstein's office. "All audio services — Webcasters included — would be obligated to implement "reasonably available and economically reasonable" copy-protection technology aimed at preventing "music theft" and restricting automatic recording." Do you really want the RIAA designing software and hardware?
The Courts

Submission + - Fighting child porn vs. ruining innocent lives

netbuzz writes: "ABC News has the story of a horrifying example of how legitimate societal concerns about child pornography are leading to overzealous prosecutions that can upturn if not ruin the lives of innocents. In this case, the innocents are a teenage boy and his parents, who have been so traumatized by the injustice that they've taken the drastic though understandable step of disconnecting their PC from the Internet. What can other parents do to lessen the chances of this nightmare happening to their families? And what can technologists contribute to the cause of sorting true child porn traffickers from those who are merely unwitting hosts? http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1046 0"

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