Mike Read 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (43)

• On the post: Scientists Forced To Change Names Of Human Genes Because Of Microsoft's Failure To Patch Excel

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2020 @ 02:32am

  Re: Re: Format

  You are correct. A very common means of sharing data is the CSV (comma seperated values) file format. The file is structured so that commas seperate columns, and line breaks seperate rows. The CSV is a very file-size efficient way of sharing data sets, but it stores literally no formatting information. Excel is usually registered as the default application to open CSVs, and because there is no meta information about the data in the cells, Excel tries to be clever with its parsing of the information. This leads to all sorts of fun issues - strings being interpreted as dates like in the article above, phone numbers being interpreted as numbers (and consequently losing their leading 0 if they're not in international format), fractional prices losing their precision when being rounded to 2 places, etc.

• On the post: Yes, This Site Uses Cookies, Because Nearly All Sites Use Cookies, And We're Notifying You Because We're Told We Have To

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 22 May, 2020 @ 02:31am

  Re: No Javascript browsing

  Cookies do not require JavaScript to be set. In fact it's even something of a headache to set a cookie via JavaScript, whereas many server-side languages it's a one-liner. So... Your Noscript is almost certainly not blocking cookies. Source: Web developer for 10+ years.

• On the post: Censorship Kills: US Government's Focus On COVID-19 'Messaging' Over Actual Protection Did Real Damage

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2020 @ 01:16pm

  Silence the doctors, push an unproven drug, make billions.

  The mindset of these people is fucking disgusting. The virus won't threaten them and theirs, they can isolate in total luxury and buy the best medical attention in the world, so all it represents to them is a business opportunity.

  Who cares if more people die because of a little misinformation? There's money on the table!

• On the post: The FCC To Field More Comments On Net Neutrality. Maybe They'll Stop Identity Theft And Fraud This Time?

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 26 Feb, 2020 @ 09:02am

  Maybe They'll Stop Identity Theft And Fraud This Time?

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhckuhUxcgA

• On the post: Court Allows Chooseco's Lawsuit Against Netflix Over 'Bandersnatch' To Move Forward

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 13 Feb, 2020 @ 04:38am

  What I don't understand is how the phrase "Choose your own adventure" is even allowed to be a trademarked as it seems to me to be purely descriptive.

• On the post: Nintendo's ROM Site War Continues With Huge Lawsuit Against Site Despite Not Sending DMCA Notices

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2019 @ 08:31am

  Re: What does Nintendo get?

  Actually Nintendo get exactly what they want: the site shut down and an implicit warning sent to all other ROM sites.

• On the post: Billy Mitchell Threatens To Sue The Guinness World Record Folks For Removing His Records

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2019 @ 06:04am

  I watched a pretty in-depth video about Billy Mitchell on YouTube not too long ago. Several of his records got proven to be literally impossible, and instead of admitting to it, he doubled down, making threats and excuses.

  The video I mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=234Y76_3YPE - this guy has made a bunch of other videos on Billy Mitchell

• On the post: Rogue 'Smart' Ovens Again Highlight How Dumb Tech Is Often The Smarter Choice

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 23 Aug, 2019 @ 03:54am

  Re:

  Lots of people already have the problem of getting halfway to work before asking themselves if they left the oven on. Now they'll never get to work again.

• On the post: YouTube Sues Guy Who Tried To Extort People Through Bogus DMCA Takedowns

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2019 @ 09:26am

  Given how ridiculously dangerous SWATing is for the victim, I truly hope this guy gets every penalty possible here.

  The rest of it is being an asshole sure, but as far as I'm concerned SWATing is attempted murder.

• On the post: District Court Rolls Back Magistrate's Decision, Says Compelled Fingerprint Product Isn't A Fifth Amendment Issue

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 02 Aug, 2019 @ 08:56am

  Re: Re: Re: Because apparently it needs to be said yet again...

  Don't forget your eyeballs and just your whole face really.

• On the post: Amazon's Free Doorbell Cameras Only Cost Law Enforcement Agencies Their Dignity And Autonomy

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2019 @ 05:37am

  If you ignore the scumminess, this is actually genius on Amazon's part. They only have to advertise to the top level of the police force - the lower level police will then take care of everything else for them. Additionally they'll collect so much data from this scheme that they'll be able to turn into even more revenue.

  Scummy as hell but absolutely genius.

• On the post: If Epic Vs Steam Is To Be A PR War, Epic's Boss Just Issued A Brilliant Retaliatory Strike

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 30 Apr, 2019 @ 05:20am

  Re:

  The big reasons for me are:

  • All my other games are on Steam
  • All my friends are on Steam
  • I'm familiar and comfortable with Steam
  • I trust the Steam application

  Epic is following EA with their Origin platform: it's spyware that dresses up as an honest platform, and lures victims with exclusivity. Hell Epic has been caught spying on your Steam traffic. Origin sleuths through your entire PC. They feel scummy to me, and the exclusive deals feel just as scummy as their applications.

• On the post: Yes, Actually, There Is A Lot Of Good News In Zuckerberg's New Plans For Facebook

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 08 Mar, 2019 @ 01:21am

  Re: Re: Welcome back Zombie "Zauber Paracelsus"!

  Why's this always a big deal for you? I just recently decided to start getting more involved in the comments and you've already leaped all over my back twice. People can be ephemeral on the internet - it costs us very little. I've joined, left, and later rejoined services many times.

• On the post: Clash Of EU's Poorly Thought Out Laws: German Data Protection Commissioner Warns That Article 13 Might Violate GDPR

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2019 @ 07:12am

  Clash Of EU's Poorly Thought Out Laws

  Is this a new mobile game?

• On the post: Investigators, Reporters Close In On The Origins Of Those Fake Net Neutrality Comments

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 23 Feb, 2019 @ 08:00am

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hijacking your name -- another SPARSE zombie

  Lurking. Now super suspicious behaviour :)

• On the post: Investigators, Reporters Close In On The Origins Of Those Fake Net Neutrality Comments

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 22 Feb, 2019 @ 09:10am

  Re: Re: Hijacking your name

  I'm actually really impressed by this comment. First remembering the comment and that it was this individual who made it, and then remembering/finding the thread. A 10/10 got'em.

• On the post: EU Commission Decides To Mock The Public; Insists Fears About EU Copyright Directive Are All Myths

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 19 Feb, 2019 @ 04:55am

  Re:

  It's not that they don't believe creators are not being rewarded every day - they know they're not being rewarded every day. They know because they're keeping a bunch of the royalties themselves.

• On the post: Denuvo Martyrs Voksi Using Bulgarian Police In What Will Surely Be The End Of Denuvo's Troubles

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 27 Jul, 2018 @ 01:03am

  So what has Denuvo achieved in any of this?

  Sadly, probably exactly what they wanted. Revenge.

• On the post: Utah Senator Wants To Revive The State's 'Porn Czar' Office To Combat The Threat Of Women's Magazines

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 16 Oct, 2017 @ 06:46am

  Re: Re:

  Whoosh

• On the post: MLB Comes To Its Senses And Declines To Oppose Overwatch League Trademark

  

  Mike Read ( profile ), 01 Aug, 2017 @ 07:15am

  Possibly just a question of money. Were Overwatch from a small startup MLB may well have been the bully and opposed; but Blizzard have got some pretty deep pockets to fight their corner with.

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