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User: bjourne

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  1. Re:Lies on US Doctors Back Circumcision · · Score: 1

    Undoing mod

  2. Re:It's Obvious on Is Sexual Harassment Part of Hacker Culture? · · Score: 1

    Great list of steps. But I'd like to point out that even if you are following all those rules to the letter, you can still get called a creep. The threshold for what is acceptable is much higher the more social skills you got. To take a relation forward you have to cross the line some way or the other. Preferably in the safest manner possible, when you have assured that she is ready for a kiss attempt and you have controlled every variable you can think of. But there is still the possibility that she is married and you misread all her signals totally. Which is a risk that has to be taken. So if you are to scared of ever doing anything for fear of being called a creep, then you will not get any chicks.

  3. Re:What's available for Bitttorrent clients nowada on uTorrent Adds "Featured Torrents" Ads — With No Opt Out (Yet) · · Score: 1

    Come on.. Do you really think it is so bad that they are asking for some compension for, in your own words, their "awesome" software? If you can't stomach the ads, the premium version retails for $24.95. Damn cheapskates.

  4. Re:And in countries where it's legal? on Bitcoin-Based Drug Market Silk Road Thriving With $2 Million In Monthly Sales · · Score: 2

    Kinda makes a person wonder what subjectively unacceptable activity you're into... Especially considering that, statistically, users of the legal drugs alcohol and tobacco kill exponentially more "innocent" people, than users of all other drugs combined.

    That's not an argument in favor of legalizing drugs, but an argument for restricting the access of tobacco and alcohol. Such as only selling it to adults, in bars, outlawing attempts to market it to children and so on.

  5. Re:And in countries where it's legal? on Bitcoin-Based Drug Market Silk Road Thriving With $2 Million In Monthly Sales · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Let's assume all other drugs are no more dangerous or costly for society than alcohol. Then if the cost for alcohol is X, and alcohol + N other drugs are legal, the total cost becomes (X+1)*N which is clearly much larger than X. It is a really stupid argument to say that "well other drugs aren't any more bad than alcohol, so they should be legal too!" because alcohol is bad enough.

  6. Re:This case is a joke. on Kim Dotcom Offers the DoJ a Deal · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In my days those "fixers" were known as Fairlight and Razor 1911 among others. They were seen as living gods and provided thousands of "fixed" games. None of them got rich on it but did it for fun and fame. The readme files even encouraged you to buy the games they ripped if you liked them.

  7. Re:Like nuclear war. on Ask Slashdot: How Does Your Company Evaluate Your Performance? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Disturbingly, there is a lot of truth to that statement. That's why formalized performance reviews are a good thing, otherwise height easily unconciously becomes the only factor taken into account. It also suggests that the best way for both men and women to improve their work performance is to wear high heeled shoes. The corporate world is a funny place. :)

  8. Re:That's okay on Another YouTube Conversion Site Clipped · · Score: 1

    Yes that is true. But if you are able to improve upon their bot filtering algorithm, I'm sure Google would love to have a talk with you. ;)

  9. Re:That's okay on Another YouTube Conversion Site Clipped · · Score: 1

    And if that plugin gets popular enough, they will request it to be taken down too! Google aren't stupid -- they are perfectly capable of protecting their content if their lawyers want it. For example, it is basically impossible to automate search queries because Google really hates it when you using their search engine but are not exposed to their sponsored results. They have very sophisticated means of determining when it is likey that a user is a bot and will then serve up an annoying captcha. They will do the same thing with youtube. The difference is that, while search engine results are "theirs" and copying them can be seen as plagiarizing, taking the audio of youtube videos cannot because the videos aren't Googles property, they are owned by the youtubers who created them.

    According to the law it is probably alright for them to do what the hell they want with the content users uploads, but from a moral standpoint I think what they are doing is highly unethical. Google has gained enormously on everyone who uploads videos, whether it is original stuff, remixes of other material or dvd rips of popular tv shows. I think they should return the kindness and allow as unrestricted usage of the content on youtube as possible.

  10. Re:Two Words: on Do Headphones Help Or Hurt Productivity? · · Score: 1

    I'm the same. But the option is listening to music or hearing my coworkers constant chattering. I choose the former option.

  11. Re:How do they filter porn then? on Cost of Pre-Screening All YouTube Content: US$37 Billion · · Score: 1

    Even my stupid cellphone has an audio detection feature. You let it record a few seconds of music and it sends the data to a server that replies with the name of the song, the album and the band. The same methods can easily be applied to other types of content such as video. All thanks to Bayesian networks and other advanced classification algorithms. Only idiots claim it is impossible to filter content. What smarter minds claim, is that it is impossible to correctly filter all content all the time. There will always be false positives and true negatives that the algoritms fail on and a human must intervene.

  12. Re:Been there, done that on Are Porn and Video Games Ruining a Generation? · · Score: 1

    So... how come she's your ex-wife?

  13. Re:You rolled the dice... on Facebook, Zuckerberg Sued Over IPO · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Most of us didn't roll any dice at all, but had a third party buy useless Facebook shares for us. All OECD countries put their retirement funds on the stock market (which is total insanity but what can you do?). Idiots managing those funds then thought it was a gansta good idea to get in early on the fb action. If there was relevant information not relayed to them but to other investors then that is equivalent to insider trading. A textbook example of capitalism forcing everyone to play the same game (on the stock market) but then giving some superior rules.

  14. Re:Whatcouldpossiblygowrong on 'Inexact' Chips Save Power By Fudging the Math · · Score: 1

    Now I've also read the article and I can't see where it says the chips are deterministic. if they are, then you are of course right. However, if their edge cases are known on beforehand that is even better as software (or the chip itself) could just delegate the calculation to the main cpu. Or you could have two inexact chips working in parallel as long as their sets of edge cases does not intersect.

  15. Whatcouldpossiblygowrong on 'Inexact' Chips Save Power By Fudging the Math · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Before someone comes up with that stupid remark, not much. :) If the chips are 15 times as efficient as normal ones, it means that you could run for instance four in parallel and rerun each calculation in which one of them differs. That way you would both get both accurate calculations and power savings. Modify the number of chips to run in parallel depending on the accuracy and efficiency needed.

  16. Re:Junk food is the problem on The Mathematics of Obesity · · Score: 1

    Right, but that is a secondary cause. Additives may enhance your appetite, but it is still the eating of the extra calories that is causing the obesity. SSRI may also increase your appetite, but one wouldn't suggest it as a cause.

  17. Re:Junk food is the problem on The Mathematics of Obesity · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Neither preservatives nor flavor enhancers cause obesity. They may be unhealthy to eat for other reasons but when it comes to overweight problems it is calories that count.

  18. Re:Nuclear on NASA's Hansen Calls Out Obama On Climate Change · · Score: 1

    That's bullshit. Environmentalists have for ages supported investments in public transportation. Basically for every new rail or subway line ever constructed you have had loads of people supporting it. You are the one who have decided to not hear that and all the thousands of suggestions from environmentalists on how to get rid of our oil dependence. The first step is to ensure every city has a functioning public transportation system with high coverage so that people can travel efficiently without having to drive. The second step is to encourage people to use it by lowering fare prices and increasing the price on driving using tolls on congested roads. Employers should get tax rebates if, say more than 20% of all employee time is worked from home. Make it easier for people to live close to work so they dont have to drive 40 km each way every day.

    There are many more ideas out there, practical stuff that can easily reduce carbon emissions. The green movement are absolutely not just a bunch of whiners but are definitely offering suggestions to the problems.

  19. Re:Obama knows how to play politics if anything. on GOP Blocks Senate Debate On Dem Student Loan Bill · · Score: 1

    Great explanation! The 8% interest rate should be compared to the yield the capitalist can expect on other types of investments. Currently, there is absolutely nothing you can invest in to receive such a high return with so low risk. The lender, who is using the capital to finance education and also is shouldering the risk, has to be sure that the investment in education pays off with an cumulative income until retirement that is so much higher than what would be attained without education that the loan can be amortized and the student can have a significantly higher standard of living. Otherwise it makes no sense to make the investment.

  20. Re:Obama knows how to play politics if anything. on GOP Blocks Senate Debate On Dem Student Loan Bill · · Score: 1

    Are you serious about that 8.5% figure? The annual interest rate is 8.5%? That is about 6 times higher than my student loans and about 3 times higher than my apartment loans. Do you really have to take loans at loan sharks to pay for tuition. With that kind of interest you'd be a fool to choose to study.

  21. Re:They Never Even Said Those Things on Heartland Institute Learning To Troll On Billboards · · Score: 2

    Wait, so you're telling me that you're putting pictures of some of recent history's most hated and feared men next to quotes about believing in Global Warming? Congratulations, Heartland Institute, your argument is now so depraved that you've reduced yourselves to holding up pictures of Hitler in a public forum while pantomiming your opponents. Is that reductio ad ridiculum or is this so childish that people didn't even bother coming up with a Latin phrase for it?

    Actually it is called "guilt by association" also known as Reductio ad Hitlerum :). People come up with dog Latin phrases all the time.

  22. Re:Evolution on Did a Genome Copying Mistake Lead To Human Intelligence? · · Score: 1

    There is no need to nitpick. The phrase copying error is commonly used to describe the process in which dna changes structure over generations. An error is a mistake.

  23. Should be opt-in.. on British Prime Minister To Announce Porn Blocking Plans · · Score: 1

    I see no problem with isp level filtering as long as it is opt-in. I'd image many parents would gladly pay extra to have the isp filter out some of the naughtiness from the internet connection their children uses. If some parents want to minimize the chances their children will be exposed to goatse and other even more deranged porn fetishes that is their right. It could also be much more efficient than client-side filtering at the end point which is only effective if the parent is more technically savvy than their child which is not always the case. However, it should be opt-in, not opt-out. And it doesn't need to be government mandated - the "free market" should be able to solve it by itself. Lots of concerned parents would freely purchase isp filtering if it was available as a product and everyone could be happy.

  24. Nonlinear least squares for dummies? on Google Releases Key Part of Street View Pipeline · · Score: 2

    Can any math pro explain what practical uses solving nonlinear least squares equations have? The Wikipedia page is to high-brow for me. :)

  25. Re:American Culture on Mad Cow Disease Confirmed In California · · Score: 1

    I call "citation needed" on that one. It would be breaking news if new research showed that prion diseases were that widespread. It is not something a conspiracy among scientists could silence.