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User: dgbrownnt

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  1. Re:laying off...but needs more H-1B's on No RIF'd Employees Need Apply For Microsoft External Staff Jobs For 6 Months · · Score: 1

    The worst part is that I was laughing at "long hours for no additional pay". Overtime for FTEs at a tech company..? Hilarious! :-P

  2. Re:Considering ..... on Japan Battles Partial Nuclear Meltdown · · Score: 1

    I'm from the state of Oregon where the movie China Syndrome scared us into closing down our only nuclear power plant, increasing the cost of energy in the region. Yay... (I still wish the Trojan cooling tower had been deemed a landmark before they imploded it...)

  3. Re:Experiences of counter-cheating in online gamin on Xbox Live Labels Autistic Boy "Cheater" · · Score: 1

    One good point in here that nobody else seems to have talked about is the possibility that the kid himself is not intentionally cheating (the like actual cases of "OMG my brother installed cheats"). From my [limited] experience with autistics, if he's so focused at earning achievements, it's hard to believe that he would cheat to get them (though it's definitely a possibility still). However, if the cheats were already there, I doubt he would notice if the achievements were "too easy" to get (and would be honestly angry when they're taken away).

    I'm not saying this is likely to be the case, I'm just surprised nobody else as mentioned it.

  4. Re:good on Stargate Universe Cancelled · · Score: 1

    Star Trek actually has addressed the problem with subspace transponders (carried in ships) and subspace relays (dropped along during exploration and in a network in territorial space). So during normal operation and exploration, ships are broadcasting their positions to the network and other friendly ships (like a fleet-wide loopt app). If they lose contact with a ship, they then have to look at it from its last-known position.

    In cases where the distance is too great, they actually don't have a solution, which has comes up at least several times. When Voyager was sent across the galaxy, it was in fine, working order, but nobody back home knew what had happened to it or where it was until they were able to find a method of communication (which ended up being a similar network of relays that someone else had set up).

  5. Re:Easy Solution on Debt Collectors Using Facebook To Embarrass Those Who Owe · · Score: 1

    I once moved into a new apartment and got a new phone line. While the phone number was new to me, it was by no means a new number. The previous customer with the number apparently owed a bit to collections. So every couple days they would call. Every couple days I would tell them I just got the phone line, had no idea who that was and to stop calling. They would say they didn't believe me and yell at me about what this guy owed. I would hang up and it would start over again on the next call. I didn't know about credit laws and such since I'd never needed to, so I just canceled the phone line since it wasn't really usable. I can only imagine what's going to happen with online profiles if we don't get people's rights represented properly...

  6. Unless you're Al Gore on When On the Moon and Mars, Move Underground · · Score: 1

    Beware of the mighty Moon Worm...

  7. Re:Well, that's one way to get the space race movi on Uranus and Neptune May Have "Oceans of Diamonds" · · Score: 1

    Oh great. Now it's going to turn out some 10' tall blue people live in trees on Uranus and we have to kill them to get at the diamonds...

  8. It's a good thing on Gran Turismo 5 Delayed · · Score: 1

    It's a good thing the entire reason I bought my PS3 was blueray. Otherwise I might be disapointed... again...

  9. Instead of a reboot, some real SciFi on What SciFi Should Get the Reboot Treatment Next? · · Score: 1

    Ender's Game, made correctly, with all of its darkness, and a warning that those on anti-depressents may need to increase their dosage.

  10. Seattle on LHC Reaches Over One Trillion Electron Volts · · Score: 1

    I know it's all perfectly safe and all, but it is kinda nice that Seattle and Switzerland are across the world from each other.

  11. Re:yep... on Ten Things Mobile Phones Will Make Obsolete · · Score: 1

    You obviously don't work in Seattle

  12. Re:I wish it were a joke on Developer Exposes Copyright Infringers On Twitter · · Score: 1

    Puhleeze. I'm sorry, I thought this was about an application, not a "work of art." Sounds like someone is a little too full of themselves.

    Yeah... except... it kinda is about a work of art. While a woodgrain pattern is simple and not entirely that interesting, it's still a copyrighted image and protected the same way as a painting or a photograph.

    Your speeding example is also apples-to-oranges. The key element is that a speeding isn't something done against someone else, it's just violating a code in a book. If I walked into your house and took your favorite pair of scissors, I have a feeling you'd be pissed. I mean, seriously, I didn't touch the TV or the computer, it's a just a stupid pair of scissors. What right do you have to be pissed off about it?

  13. Worth it? on Exoskeletons For Rent In Japan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pay apartment rent, cable, internet, car insurance, student loans, and utilities... or live in a cardboard box and be a cyborg...?

    I'm in!

  14. Re:Obligatory on Apple Pulls C64 Emulator From the App Store · · Score: 1

    If that is the case, I'm definitely not most people here. I have both an iPhone and a C64, and would love to be programming C64 stuff on the iPhone. It just sounds like so much fun. I was sad to see that I missed downloading it before it got pulled :( (especially after finding out there's a way to hack it to use BASIC)

    I think you're a little harsh on people here. There's a lot of nostalgia when it comes to the C64, even among those who eventually bought something that Apple made.

  15. Re:And then what? on Apple Pulls C64 Emulator From the App Store · · Score: 1

    Hehe, that's funny. I'm 29 and I was programming a C64 by the time I was 7. But I'm also really really weird, so it all balances out.

  16. Re:SpaceX is awesome on Space Shuttle To Be Replaced By SpaceX For ISS Resupply · · Score: 1

    ...we do what we must because we can, for the good of all of us (except the ones who are dead)...

    (for some reason I just thought of that)

  17. Re:Cache La Poudre on Pigeon Protocol Finds a Practical Purpose · · Score: 1

    It could also be a case of volume. An example is the Deschutes River in Oregon -- on any given summer weekend you have raft after raft going down the river. At all the major rapids there are photographers set up taking pictures of each raft as it goes over. It looked like they went for the less creative (but possibly more reliable) means of having runners that drive the cards back and forth to the home base. That seemed effective enough, though it would be less effective if there weren't any good roads to/from the best places for the pictures.

  18. Re:Big deal on Facebook Lets Advertisers Use Pictures Without Permission · · Score: 4, Funny

    I had a image on my site hotlinked without permission by a political website. I 302'd the image to a t-shirt of the opposite political views (but only if they viewed from that site). Fun ensued :)

  19. Re:Who makes the "rules" of a community? on Researcher Trolls MMO, Surprised When Players Hate Him · · Score: 1

    On whole, I agree that the researcher and/or those reporting are a bit naive in their responses. I just have two points, though:

    Point 1: Developers get to say what the game is

    When you play, you've agreed to a TOS. If they felt like having it in their TOS that players can't idly stand by talking to the 'enemy', they could do that, though it would be a weird way of approaching it. Some games don't allow it from the start, such as WoW (they've gone through efforts to make sure that players can't communite cross-faction in-game). That's not to say that such decisions could be unpopular and could cost the developers their customers, just that it's their decision in the end. Hopefully the relationship, though, is mutually beneficial with the developers listening to the customers and the customers paying the developers (aka, business).

    Point 2: Laws versus customs

    Your example of the speed limit is actually wrong (at least everywhere I've lived). If you go 45mph in a 55mph zone in good driving conditions and obstruct traffic, you will get a ticket. AFAIK, most states have laws against any actions that create unsafe driving conditions. In Washington, you could even be going over the speed limit and get a ticket if you'd obstructing the left lane.

    Noise violations at 3am are also breaking the law, as are unwanted sexual advances (whether or not they occur in a night club).

    So I thought I'd give you a better example: escalators in Japan. I like this example since it's a contract to the US. Depending on what part of Japan you are in, people either stand on the left side or the right side of the escalator if they're just standing. It allows those that want to walk up to get by. While you're doing nothing illegal if you stand on the other side, you'd still ignoring a custom and will likely aggrivate the people around you because you're getting in the way.

  20. Re:pics and it still didn't happen on Images of Apollo Landing Sites Soon Available · · Score: 1

    Not a bad idea - dragging the conspiracy nuts to the moon...

    Better: send them to the landing site for the first manned mission to the sun (but don't tell them they'll be the first ones to land there).

    Too bad the shirt just got discontinued: http://shirt.woot.com/friends.aspx?k=9102

  21. Re:Relitivity on Could Betelgeuse Go Boom? · · Score: 1

    You may want to cover your eyes and ears. Some of us are going to leave your frame of reference for a moment, and do not wish accidentally reveal any spoilers...

    Put differently, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve is broadcast in Seattle three hours after it is recorded in New York. You can deny that Dick Clark has yelled Happy New Year because, in your frame of reference, you have yet to observe this. However, you would be wrong. You are free to only acknowledge events that are observed from your frame of reference, but everyone else is also free to speculate as to what may have already happened from a different frame of reference.

  22. Re:Plus a billion, minus a billion on Earth Could Collide With Other Planets · · Score: 1

    Ok, here's a question: Has this happened in the past?

    Yes, at least the part about Earth colliding with a Mars-sized planet (according to the giant impact hypothesis of the moon's formation)

  23. Re:First collision on Satellites Collide In Orbit · · Score: 1

    Some say that the day we have combat/war in space is the last day we will enter space because the debris will block exit/entry.

    Well, it won't be all bad. Get enough space debri in orbit, maybe we'll shave off a little global warming (if nuclear winter doesn't do it first).

    Also, it won't matter that we can't launch GPS sats anymore. With all that shiny debri in orbit, we can just look and a see where we are.

    Win for everyone! (except the ones who are dead)

  24. Burnout Paradise on Video Game Conditioning Spills Over Into Real Life · · Score: 1

    I have to admit, after playing Burnout Paradise, I felt the urge to drive through any yellow blockades I saw in real life...

  25. Re:Yahoo! Mail on Email-only Providers? · · Score: 2, Informative

    After a little testing, now it makes more sense. Message-ID is set by the client. I just sent myself an email by manually doing the smtp (I just made up a message ID and it worked fine).

    So it depends where you send it from, not so much the service.

    Also, if you really wanted to, you could relay outside of gmail for sending the messages (which would avoid this issue completely), though that might get you flagged as spam (if the domain's mx record doesn't match where the email came from).