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User: sjames

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Comments · 34,276

  1. Re:What is the option on "Clock Boy" Ahmed Mohamed Seeking $15 Million In Damages · · Score: 1

    So I guess it makes sense to behave reasonably so that this sort of thing doesn't happen.

    Realistically, I'll bet the school can settle for a lot less.

  2. Re:What is the option on "Clock Boy" Ahmed Mohamed Seeking $15 Million In Damages · · Score: 1

    So because I support slapping the school and it's administrator for panicking and calling the police every time someone sneezes you somehow decided I'm a SJW? Looks like your meter needs re-calibration.

  3. Re:What is the option on "Clock Boy" Ahmed Mohamed Seeking $15 Million In Damages · · Score: 1

    They turned it into a civil rights issue when the school called the police.

    There was a time when schools handled internal discipline internally. These days they seem to default to call the police for anything more serious than "forgot to study". Perhaps that's something they should learn to go back to.

  4. Re:What is the option on "Clock Boy" Ahmed Mohamed Seeking $15 Million In Damages · · Score: 1

    A SETTLEMENT can be, but a SETTLEMENT isn't a judgement. You can sue for money and accept a non-monetary settlement if you like.

  5. Re:What is the option on "Clock Boy" Ahmed Mohamed Seeking $15 Million In Damages · · Score: 2

    $15 million might be intended to be a scary figure designed to prompt a settlement offer. It may also reflect that a judge is more likely to adjust the amount down than up.

  6. What is the option on "Clock Boy" Ahmed Mohamed Seeking $15 Million In Damages · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes, suing a school just de-funds the school, but what is the option? How else can you force the school to come to terms with the fact that it's principal is a braying ass? You're not allowed to sue a school to force it to re-train or replace a bad teacher or administrator.

  7. Re:That won't last long... on "Clock Boy" Ahmed Mohamed Seeking $15 Million In Damages · · Score: 1

    He was arrested. If you are not free to go, you are arrested. If you are "free to go" but will be arrested if you do, you are arrested, just not on paper.

  8. Re:Greed rules in Corporate America on Whistleblowers: How NSA Created the 'Largest Failure' In Its History (zdnet.com) · · Score: 1

    Actually, Smith envisioned SMALL business at most and explicitly warned against the granting of charters except when absolutely necessary and then under strong regulation.

    When he wrote of competition in the market, he didn't mean a choice between the big three, he meant a choice between thousands, most of which are not much larger than individuals.

  9. Re:How old are you? on Whistleblowers: How NSA Created the 'Largest Failure' In Its History (zdnet.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And how old are YOU?

    When money goes from being an important consideration to being the only consideration, society goes to hell. Perhaps with age you'll learn the subtlty of thought needed to understand that balance.

    He won't pay me a living wage for mopping his floor once and I won't be his galley slave for whatever table scraps his dog doesn't want.

  10. Re:Lost in Space? on Netflix Remaking Lost In Space (ew.com) · · Score: 1

    I applaud the animators for their attempt at innovation, but I'd say it fell well short of the mark. The effect really was strange at best.

  11. Re:Companies trying to help is the myth on Survey: Tech Pros Ignoring Work-Life Balance Is a Myth (dice.com) · · Score: 1

    My neighbors across the street are Muslims. They are my favorite neighbors. They aren't killing people, they don't build bombs.

    BTW, Jews don't actually have horns under their hats either.

  12. Re:Pissing me off at the moment on How Apple Is Giving Design a Bad Name (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    Or they could NOT pointlessly remove a menu item and NOT disrupt their users' workflows. That and NOT remove discoverability.

  13. Re:Pissing me off at the moment on How Apple Is Giving Design a Bad Name (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    So it goes from something you can see explicitly to something you can only stumble over by accident.

  14. Re:Awful lot of money for some big flaws... on Hands-On With the Voltera V-One PCB Printer (hackaday.com) · · Score: 1

    He didn't say it would still mill the board, just that at +5mm it won't cut into the substrate :-)

  15. Re:The NSA is part of the Executive branch of the on File Says NSA Found Way To Replace Email Program (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    Sure, but they're supposed to be answerable to the president, but they keep him under their control. Then the executive branch is supposed to be checked and balanced by the legislative and judicial branches. The legislative is too busy whipping dead horses to deal with this and the judicial has abdicated.

  16. Re:To Slashdot Resident Statists... on File Says NSA Found Way To Replace Email Program (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    Yes, simply by not bothering with things like having a phone or a place to live, you too can opt out of corporate tyranny. Of course, that opts you out of government interference as well for all practical purposes (especially if you go live in the woods), so I suppose they're about the same. Except that there is at least a Constitution and concepts of due process that occasionally save you from the government. There's no such protection from corporate tyranny.

  17. Re:Internet News on Controversy Over High-Tech Brooms Sweeps Through Sport of Curling · · Score: 1

    If you understand the strategy in play, it gets a lot more interesting.

  18. Re:Looking forwards on Controversy Over High-Tech Brooms Sweeps Through Sport of Curling · · Score: 2

    Andreea Rducan was stripped of a gold medal due to a cold remedy actually handed to her by a doctor. In hearings following the incident, suspension was on the table.

    The doctor involved was suspended for prescribing a banned substance (telling us that the medication WAS acknowledged to be prescribed AND that the athlete was still penalized for taking it). Just to top it off, the medication made her feel dizzy, so it was far from performance enhancing for a gymnast.

    So if GP's exaggeration of the penalties makes the post a lie, your post is an even bigger lie.

  19. Re:Computers against "prosecutorial discretion" on Chicago Sends More Than 100,000 "Bogus" Camera-Based Speeding Tickets · · Score: 1

    You should look at what cities are paying for the cameras. Oddly enough, real cops really aren't more expensive. Using real officers also avoids pressure from the camera provider in a revenue sharing contract (very common) to up the revenue.

    They shouldn't be used for the same reason we find it suspicious when a group of people wearing ski masks and carrying shotguns gather outside of a bank.

  20. Re:Computers against "prosecutorial discretion" on Chicago Sends More Than 100,000 "Bogus" Camera-Based Speeding Tickets · · Score: 2

    The problem is that the cameras cost money. Many cities pay for them by shortening yellows to the point that they're unsafe. That is, they REDUCE safety in order to use civil penalties as revenue. In other cases (such as in TFA), where the speed limit varies based on time of day or other conditions, they are triggering for exceeding the lower speed limit even when it isn't applicable (fraud).

    These issues come up sufficiently frequently that it's best to just not allow the cameras at all.

  21. Re:Children or not on Chicago Sends More Than 100,000 "Bogus" Camera-Based Speeding Tickets · · Score: 1

    The problem is that the speed limit is different when the parks are open than when they're closed. The cameras triggered on the lower speed limit even when it wasn't applicable.

  22. Re:Regulation please on DoJ Going After Makers of Dietary Supplement (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    Honestly, I don't know what the fee might be. That would depend on way too many unknown (to me) variables. But I don't see why private certification groups couldn't co-exist.

  23. Re:News At Eleven on Tor Project Claims FBI Paid University Researchers $1m To Unmask Tor Users · · Score: 1

    I wonder how the cops would feel about it if I merely took advantage of a protocol weakness to listen in on their radios... Or how the DOJ would feel if I merely took advantage of a protocol weakness to listen in on their phone calls. If their reaction would be anything but "carry on, fair's fair", then they need a warrant.

    More generally, there are a great many exploitable security flaws in our society that police require a warrant to exploit. For example, there are very few locks that are really even pick resistant and nearly none that are pick proof (if any). That "protocol" can be exploited in seconds to minutes. But a detective picking your lock is in it deep if he doesn't have a warrant. But it goes beyond that. Even if you forget to lock your door at all, it is illegal to enter your home without permission.

  24. Re:Regulation please on DoJ Going After Makers of Dietary Supplement (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    No rabbit hole. Note that the FDA's certification would not be at all necessary to legally sell a product. That would be a voluntary process, Likewise, seeing a doctor before using a prescription recommended drug would be voluntary. Only the toxicity, QC, and labeling requirements would be mandatory.

  25. Without the false positive rate, it means nothing. I can produce a playing card that catches 100% of liars. It says "It's a lie". Notably, it's false positive rate is terrible but it will surely catch the liars.

    The figures are also useless without comparing the success of a good interrogator without the polygraph.