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User: ATestR

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  1. One way discrimination on Online Forum Leads To Hostile Workplace Lawsuit · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ok, if the white cops post their opinions about the minority (black) residents of their city, it's discrimination. Does anybody want to lay odds that a similar comment made by a minority officer about a white resident would NOT be considered discrimination? Or that if an accusation of racial discrimination was made against the minority, that a charge of discrimination against the accuser would be leveled?

    I did RTFA. Some of the sample comments that the article displayed were a bit over the top, and the officers that made them should be censured, but calling the statement: "Blacks and other minorities frequently don't have the resources that white people have. Consequently, blacks may not be able to keep their vehicles inspected, registered, and roadworthy." racist is bogus. This is an observation of fact. You could have made the statement more racially neutral by saying "Lower income groups don't have the resources that white people have. Consequently, those groups may not be able to keep their vehicles inspected, registered, and roadworthy." The only difference between the statements is that the first presumes that Blacks and other minorities are lower income. This is a statistic, sad but true. Preventing someone [even a public employee like a police officer] from publicly posting this kind of statement will not change this.

  2. Re:If the Apollo Program would have continued . . on What If the Apollo Program Had Continued? · · Score: 0, Troll

    And similarly, the cold war would have already ended itself. Soviet Russia while an interesting "experiment" ended up failing due to the fact that human nature plus the Soviet version of communism ended up with a government who could not financially sustain itself.

    And now the US looks like it will be emulating the USSR in decline.

  3. Just wait! on NASA's Skylab $400 Littering Fine Paid By DJ · · Score: 1

    If they think that Skylab was bad, just wait until NASA crashes the ISS into the middle of Sydney!

  4. Good Bike Cities on Bike Projector Makes Lane For Rider · · Score: 1

    I admit that I am a few years past my peak biking years, but I remember certain cities as being more bike friendly than others. Anchorage, AK had an extensive bike path through the parks and greenways, with major street crossings through very large (10'+) arch culverts under the roads. Seattle was also pretty good, especially around the university area. Eugene, OR as similar, although not as extensive. I never did find any good bike riding in California.

    I live on the east coast now, and in general the lack of decent bike facilities is one reason I don't take to the pedals much any more. I discourage my kids from riding outside of the subdivision, because bikes on the main roads are just moving targets to many of the drivers. (10 points!) I know why cities, counties, and the state are slow to provide dedicated bicycle lanes (and paths!), but it sure would be nice if they would.

  5. Avoid Travel on TSA Asked to Ensure Safety Of Customer Data After Clear Closing · · Score: 1

    I know that it isn't practical for some to travel by air. I've had to do it myself as part of the job, a time or two. But the last time I did it just wasn't the fun it experience that it used to be.

  6. Observe what? on Spirit Rover Begins Making Night Sky Observations · · Score: 5, Interesting

    At first glance, one might think that observation of the Martian night sky would return insignificant scientific data. After all, how powerful of a telescope does Spirit mount? Certainly not even in Hubble's league. But they aren't looking to collect data about distant galaxies & stars.

    The real value is information about the Martian atmosphere. By observing the "twinkle" of distant stars, the observations should return some useful information regarding night time atmospheric conditions. Maybe not as much as a dedicated purpose designed atmospheric station, but certainly more than we have now.

  7. How old are those clothes? on Doctors Baffled, Intrigued By Girl Who Doesn't Age · · Score: 1, Redundant

    "She has pajamas and outfits that are 10 or 12 years old,"

    This is not normal! I can't keep my kids to make an outfit last for 10 or 12 months... sometimes the lifespan if clothing (especially blue jeans) can be measured in weeks.

  8. Business Websites??? on Montana City Requires Workers' Internet Accounts · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Please list any and all, current personal or business websites..." Really? Even if they can justify asking for personal information, business websites could include things like previous employer intranet logins, personal bank accounts, etc. If presented with a job application that included this kind of stuff, I would run, not walk, to the nearest exit.

  9. The main problem... on Can Commercial Space Tech Get Off the Ground? · · Score: 1

    The US Government, and especially NASA (and other agencies who have an interest in space), don't really have a strong imperative to see commercial space succeed. These ventures are often seen as intruding into areas that are rightfully NASA's. For get about national interests... its all about power for those in power.

  10. Neither Nova nor Supernova on Junior-Sized Supernova Discovered By New York Teen · · Score: 1

    This is actually the first observed instance of a new class of objects... planets destroyed by Darth Vader's Death Star.

  11. Turn Left at the Next Nebula on Pulsar Signals Could Provide Galactic GPS · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Cool concept, but it seems like it would be of limited use until someone develops FTL.

  12. Where no tricycle can go... on Google Tricycles To Map Footpaths For Street View · · Score: 1, Funny

    "This must be bogus -- you are not allowed to cycle on public footpaths in the UK

    For UK, they will actually be deploying Google Beanie-Caps

  13. Re:A right to do what? on Lose Your Amazon Account and Your Kindle Dies · · Score: 0, Troll

    False analogy. Consider this to be more like buying a Costco membership, and frequently returning merchandise, and having your membership canceled.

  14. Re:Use tax on The End of Tax-Free Internet Shopping? · · Score: 1

    In North Carolina there is a Use Tax too... and you are assumed to have spent a percentage of your gross income on out-of-state purchases. Sure, you can declare more out-of-state spending, but what do you think the State say's if you declare zero-out-of state spending?

  15. Re:It think they've been duped. on PG&E Makes Deal For Solar Power From Space · · Score: 2, Informative
    which means the array will be in the earth's shadow just less than half the time.

    Not really. A Geostationary orbit (over the same point) would cut through Earth's shadow for about 45 minutes on orbits where the orbital inclination lines up with the sun... generally in the spring and fall. Other times, the orbit is up to 23 degress off the Earth-Sun plane, and not in the shade at all. Since this power interruption would occur at "midnight", it probably won't affect peak power usage at all. And if you put two of the things up, at least 10,000 apart in orbit (about 45 degrees of arc, well within the allowable angle of incidence), your have continuous power, with only one being in shadow at the same time.

  16. Re:May hold? on STEREO Spacecraft To Explore Earth's L4 and L5 · · Score: 0

    Actually, the L4 and L5 points would move at the same rate as the moon, since they are the gravitationally stable points created by the moon and Earth (60 degrees ahead and behind the moon on its orbit). And last time I looked at the moon, it does move against the background stars.

  17. Re:Republicans cost FAR more. on New Bill Would Repeal NIH Open Access Policy · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ummm... try again. The President does not set the budget. He may suggest what he wants, but it is CONGRESS who holds the purse strings. Better take a look who was in charge of Congress during those years.

  18. I was there for the last one on Alaskans Prepare For Volcanic Eruption · · Score: 1

    I lived in Anchorage the last time there was an eruption, back in the 80's. It did scatter some ash, but not a whole lot, that far away. Mostly it was a matter of brushing the crap off your car so it wouldn't scratch the paint.

    Wouldn't want to be much closer to it though... I could imagine what a foot of ash would be like.

  19. NSA patenting it because... on NSA Patents a Way To Spot Network Snoops · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They don't want any of US to have access to such technology when THEY slap the monitoring devices on our network.

  20. Re:Infinite number of monkeys s.f. writers on Future of Space Elevator Looks Shaky · · Score: 1

    No, the END of the novel was circa 3000 A.D. The beginning, when the first space elevator was completed was the late 21st century.

  21. End of the gravy train on Warner Music Pushing Music Tax For Universities · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's real simple. The RIAA can see that it will soon be common place for Law Students to fight for the victims of the music industry's suits. They are looking to replace that lucrative revenue stream.

  22. Re:Easter Eggs are unprofessional on Would You Add Easter Eggs To Software Produced At Work? · · Score: 1

    Easter eggs are acceptable, but they should have a specification just like any other piece of code. As for testing, letting developers perform it is a bad idea. They don't have the correct mind set to do the job properly.

    Software Development has changed as computers have gotten bigger and faster. Back when computers had limited memory and processing power, programs were small, and only did a few things. They were often written by one person. Computers aren't so small any more. The programs have become huge and complex, and are created by teams that can include programmers, software architects, database designers, technical writers... and testers.

    In an ideal software development world, the tester knows something about the new software package from the start. He or she sees the Requirements Document or Software Design Document at the same time as the developer. This gives the tester time to plan how he or she is going to make sure that the right software is being built, and that it does what it's supposed to do.
    "What's to plan?" you might ask. "Just make sure the program does what it's supposed to." Testers do check to make sure that a software package performs the hundreds or thousands of individual functions that it is supposed to, but that is just a start.
    Has anyone here ever heard the term "negative testing"? This is testing to make sure that the program doesn't do things that it is not supposed to. Say that we are looking at an interface to a bank's on-line banking web site. The specification probably says that users will provide a numerical amount to transfer from their account. As a tester, I make sure that I can enter decimal numbers in that field, but I also make sure that the field won't accept non-numerical text, negative numbers, control characters that might break the database, and so forth. It's my opinion that users like software that does what it's supposed to do, and keeps the user from unintentionally... or intentionally causing damage.

    A complete test plan will help the tester insure thorough assessment of the software being examined. Thus, the tester's first job in a project is to write the test plan and the specific test scripts or test cases. To develop these documents, the tester references the requirements document, design specification, or similar record. Lacking these items, he or she is forced to fall back on playing with early builds of the software. [Long pause] Does anyone want to predict how projects without clear requirements go? Once the test plans are in place, and the early builds of the software are available, the tester moves on to actually testing the software. He or she performs all the validations that I mentioned earlier that were hopefully written in the testing documents. The tester may also add additional tests that occur to him or her at the time of testing. The analysis methods used to scrutinize software vary greatly from one software shop to the next, but they all are concerned with minimizing problems in the software. Problems are reported, fixed, and retested until everyone is satisfied with the Product.

    Does an easter egg affect this methodology? Not in the least. But it can't be a secret to the people on the development team.

  23. I almost thought... on "Minority Report"-Like Control For PC · · Score: 5, Funny

    I saw the title of the article and for a moment I almost thought that this was a software package that would allow your computer to see future crimes that you might be involved in, contact the authorities, and have you arrested. Then I read the paragraph and was greatly disappointed.

  24. More virus mutation! on Computer Virus Aboard the ISS · · Score: 0, Troll

    Anyone who has read or watched any science fiction knows that it is only a matter of time before one of these innocent viruses from Earth is bombarded by radiation or infected by some space alien to become a super-virus capable of infecting human nervous systems and turning the infected human into a flesh eating zombie! Its only a matter of time...

    Come to think of it, isn't that a pretty good description of the folks who are in Denver this week?

  25. Cyclic? on North Pole Ice On Track To Melt By September? · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mod me down if you will, but I heard one report that ice levels right now are higher than at the same time last year.

    The NW Passage has been open in the recent past from (1905 - 1948). Accurate measurement of the "melting" began in 1979, probably about the time ice coverage peaked. As a cursory search will show, it has also been open in the more distant past as well.

    The freeze/thaw of the arctic is clearly cyclic. Whether it is clear evidence of global warming or not is a question to be considered. Man's impact on this warming, if the warming is actually happening, is another question altogether.