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Comment: My experience (Score 2) 54

by argStyopa (#46471945) Attached to: <em>Wildstar</em> To Launch On June 3

Granted this was beta, but here's what I found:






Comment: Liability should depend on implementation (Score 1) 249

by argStyopa (#46471823) Attached to: Google Sued Over Children's In-App Android Purchases

IF the system asked "do you want us to save your cc# for later purchases?" and they affirmed, it's the parents' problem.

If, OTOH the cc# was saved without advising the user that it WOULD be saved, that's just economic opportunism, and SHOULD be illegal - saving cc# data in a format that it can be executed for a transaction without affirmative confirmation by the sole cardholder is pretty much the same as making a copy of their cc, no?

+ - So what do I really own? 5

Submitted by argStyopa
argStyopa writes "I had an ample collection of DVDs, CDs, etc that all were destroyed in an apartment fire. Now, as I understand, according to the MPAA/RIAA I didn't actually own that media (and was not entitled to make digital copies) but merely a permission 'license' to view/listen to it.
Now that the physical media is destroyed, does that mean I am legally within my rights to download a copy from some online source? It would seem a double-standard to assert that the 'physical media is meaningless'...unless its destroyed, at which point it means you lose your rights to what you purchased.
IANAL (and I know most of you aren't either) but I'm curious if anyone knows about established precedent in this circumstance?"

Comment: Re:Nurse to coworker: "Can you do math?" (Score 1) 382

by argStyopa (#46454717) Attached to: Men And Women Think Women Are Bad At Basic Math

My daughter is in AP Calc in high school, has a 4.0 GPA, and scored 34 on the math portion of the ACT.

Yet we were in a store with a 10% discount, she held up a $50 item and said "so how much would this be?". /facepalm.

Sometimes, if you're pretty, it's easier just to not think.

Comment: Lawrence Summers, save me! (Score 2) 382

by argStyopa (#46453681) Attached to: Men And Women Think Women Are Bad At Basic Math

I could be that PERHAPS there IS a difference in some math skill between males and females?

I know it's heinously non-politically-correct to suggest that the sorts of hormonal variations that developmentally result in gross anatomical changes might actually have an impact on the subtle chemistry of brain development as well...we're perfectly willing to recognize that (speaking broadly) women are in fact better at multitasking or that men are better at 3d shape understanding. Is it impossible that there isn't actually some real difference in, say, instinctual math that vanishes in a focused, testing setting?

I'm 46; I've found over my life that often these sorts of 'common perceptions' commonly HAVE a kernel of truth in them. Often misapplied, misunderstood, or blown out of proportion, but nevertheless a root in fact.

I will say that I've far more often seen women spend 15 minutes trying to precisely divide a dinner tab more precisely than men, who'll tend instead to just throw down roughly their share plus some, even if that results in the wait staff getting a huge tip. I know that's not specifically a math skill, but it's one of those real-world anecdotes that feed this perception.

Comment: Stop subsidizing water at the federal level (Score 1) 542

by argStyopa (#46448247) Attached to: Meat Makes Our Planet Thirsty

Simple: the feds need to stop subsidizing water redistribution.

If California needs water to have a bountiful strawberry industry, then California (or better still, strawberry farmers) can pay for it.

Yes, that means the price of strawberries go up.
But who should pay for strawberries:
- the person that buys and eats them, or
- the person that buys and eats them PLUS the hundreds of millions of taxpayers dinged little tiny bits of money to go to make sure that strawberry is affordable?

Comment: Translation (Score 1) 417

by argStyopa (#46439343) Attached to: School Tricks Pupils Into Installing a Root CA

"I'm at a boarding school, and I'm annoyed that I don't get to do anything I want. Here's a way that I can prove I'm clever, and try to gain sympathy by making it sound ("...school TRICKS people into installing...") like it's the perpetration of some sort of subterfuge or a liberty/civil rights issue."

Want freedom? Don't go to boarding school aka juvenile prison.

Don't like the idea of someone looking over your shoulder while you're surfing? Become an adult, pay for your own web connection, and wank, er, surf away.

Comment: Re:In their defence. (Score 1) 417

by argStyopa (#46439323) Attached to: School Tricks Pupils Into Installing a Root CA

I'm pretty certain that people haven't wanted their kids to look at porn for, well, nearly ever. So this isn't something "new" being invented, it's something very, very old being reformulated to recognize a new delivery technology.

You DID read that the OP said he was at a boarding school, right?

That means that the school's responsibility doesn't start when they get off the bus in the morning, and stop when they get on the bus to go home. This means that the kids are functionally wards of the school...meaning the school is responsible for them 24/7....ie, what they do in their spare time.

Considering that any possible harm that comes to the child - be it physical, emotional, psychological - ends up being the schools financial liability, then they are entirely within their remit to lock-down any computer systems used on their grounds. Don't like it? Don't browse the internet at their school.

Comment: Re:Idiotic supposition is idiotic (Score 1) 353

"... which was deliberately designed to set speed records. It was not a fighter, and was never intended to be a fighter...."
Which exactly ALSO describes THIS plane.

My point wasn't to suggest the 109 was the EXACT plane that won that race; instead it was to point out that the plane that was eventually the combat fighter Bf109 had its tech origins in the Bf209, or at least in the heads of the same design team, and probably was about as like the Bf209 as the (eventual combat-deployed successor) had to this one.

Comment: I call BS (Score 1) 459

by argStyopa (#46405245) Attached to: Low-Protein Diet May Extend Lifespan

I'm 46.
I've seen so many radical reversals as far as what's healthy to eat, what's not, that frankly NOTHING "the experts" say about diet today is credible.

I follow a pretty simple set of guidelines:
- don't over eat
- eat food as close to its natural form as you can: sugar, not 'sweetener'; eggs, not "egg product"
- fewer names is better. "Coke" instead of "Caffeine Free Diet Vanilla Coke with Lemon".

Comment: Re:Stop Being Something Your Not (Score 1) 423

by argStyopa (#46399841) Attached to: RadioShack To Close 1,100 Stores

"...should do is repurpose the stores to become ... a hacker haven. Fill it with knowledgeable people..."
Except that you have to PAY knowledgeable people a wage that compensates them for their knowledge, not the shit-wage that retail electronics stores pay their register-slaves.

"... who know how to make custom electronics..."
You want BOTH of them to be working in a Radio Shack now?

Beware the new TTY code!