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User: pod

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  1. Re:Good! Polling should be illegal. on Indecision 2002 · · Score: 2

    This was the most astounding thing I've found out about elections in the US. It's pretty standard practice to, in some way, identify your party affiliation either shortly before, during or after the poll. This, to me, would mean that either people vote along party lines for generations, or vote for the most likely winner. US elections seem to be simply nothing more than a popularity contest.

  2. Re:Other options on NASA Wasting Time and Money on Moon Landing Doubters · · Score: 1
    probably about one of the astronauts will die of a cancer

    Huh? About one?!?

  3. Re:Just a side note on Microsoft takes on PDF · · Score: 1
    But I get the feeling, only MS can take itself out. The government can't.
    How about customers?

    OK, I'll bite... How about customers?

  4. Re:Stock took a hit? on Microsoft takes on PDF · · Score: 1

    Ben & Jerry's (the ice cream people) has always been a hippie's stock. Instead of paying out dividents, they spend all their profits on charities. Somehow, the investors don't seem to mind.

  5. Re:Whoa, wait a minute... on Studios, RIAA Warn CEOs On File Trading · · Score: 1

    How is this so insightful?

    First of all, you are not a CEO of a Fortune 1000 corporation. No one's spying on YOUR Intranet.

    Second, the RIAA is not saying they KNOW people are trading files on your corporate intranet. It's a form letter. They send it to everyone. Toc over their ass, they even say, if you're already blocking/restricting P2P use, good for you, didn't mean to bother. They just assume. It's reasonable to assume that with the Internet connections these large companies have, and how little oversight there may be considering the number of employees, that SOMEONE is trading files on company time.

    Quit your knee-jerk paranoia.

  6. Re:It's unlikely, but... on Microsoft: No Xbox for You! · · Score: 2

    That makes perfect sense, because after MS withdraws the Xbox, there will be tons of games to be bought in stores...

  7. Re:I'd be happy with the death of blockbuster vide on Star Wars Producer Says Box Office is Doomed · · Score: 1

    'The Blockbuster' referred to in the grand-parent is a type of movie, usually a big-budget summer action movie.

  8. Re:$480M vs $67M on Music Industry Pays $67M Fine For Price Fixing · · Score: 1

    Oh, I see it so clearly now. I was overcharged for CD for the past several years for my own good! How could I have been so blind! I love you RIAA!

  9. Re:Migration path isn't everything. on Itanium Problems · · Score: 1

    Hmm, yeah, except all Moore's Law says is that the number of transistors will double every 18 months. I would say Intel has been doing a bang-up job so far.

  10. Re:FPS's... on PCs Losing Out as a Gaming Platform? · · Score: 1

    Yeah, because every game on a console is totally fresh, and breaks radically new ground. Just because it's FPS doesn't mean it's just a rehash, or not more enjoyable than any other FPS to date. And just because you don't like FPS doesn't mean that it's a tired genre devoid of innovation, new ideas and progress.

  11. Re:Where do I start? on How The DMCA Is Enforced · · Score: 1
    It doesn't take too many "BARELY LEGAL!!" websites and magazines to realize that were possession and distribution of child pornography not illegal, it would surely be a huge market.

    "Barely Legal" and "Kiddie Porn" are completely different things. There's a difference between a sexually developed 16 year old (barely legal) and a 10 year old virtualyl indistinguishable from a boy (kiddie porn). Demand and enjoyment of one is quite normal and understandable, of the other, it's sick IMO.

  12. Re:Where do I start? on How The DMCA Is Enforced · · Score: 1

    They don't pretend to fight any future crimes; possession of kiddie porn is already illegal by itself.

  13. Re:Yay for MS hardware. on Microsoft To Make Wireless Networking Hardware · · Score: 2

    To have the scroll wheel and thumb buttons work in applications that do not directly support them (like IE and Explorer), you need to download the InteliPoint software (just go to http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/ and browse around). You know it's running when you see a 'blue circle with a mouse in it' type icon in the icon tray.

  14. Re:People Laid off from my company on CA Court Favors Employees in Trade Secret Decision · · Score: 1
    In New Zealand law, I believe the placement of unenforable clauses has been rule, in the past, to invalidate other clauses

    That's bullshit. Even New Zealand must have an equivalant to a severance clause. That is, if one clausein a contract is struck down, others still stand, provided they still make reasonable sense after the one that got removed. Standard contract law in US and Canada.

  15. Re:Why do we need "one unified" desktop? on Red Hat Explains Stance on KDE/Gnome Desktop Changes · · Score: 1
    Maybe there should be a seperate "Glorified Typewriter" edition of Linux, so the rest of us don't have to be bothered.

    Maybe you sould stop using a glorified window manager and stick to fvwm, so the rest of us don't have to guess whether an option is in the Gnome or KDE menus. I'm sure fvwm is more 1337 and you'll feel much more full of yourself after you manage to get the scroll wheel working there.

  16. Re:Actually, even MSes own programs have this prob on Apple Explains Interface Differences · · Score: 1

    I would REALLY love to know how many hours of developer time was sunk into the monstrosity that is the text box in Mozilla. Even in the latest daily builds is still does not work right: random highliting of text, weird reformatting and reflowing, broken JavaScript interaction (inserting text at cursor position always appends to the end), and I'm sure many more anyone willing to torture text this wonder of programming would find.

  17. Re:Fair and well balanced article. on Palladium, 'Trusted PCs' in the News · · Score: 1
    What about an article "Church of Scientology said:", quote of their self-promoting speech, then "some people disagree".

    Classic astroturf PR. "Person A says X. Others (B) would disagree. Blah Blah". Even if the article ultimately favours B, the wording and introduction of opposing sides automatically gives A a huge advantage and puts B on the defensive. A is in the right, B is a shit disturber. Subtle but effective.

  18. Re:Fair and well balanced article. on Palladium, 'Trusted PCs' in the News · · Score: 2
    The problem is not that journalists don't offer _their_ opinions, it's that they choose material that already is a complete bullshit, and just relay it without even looking for something that will give a reader an idea if it's actually something valid.

    Bingo. There is no such beast as unbiased reporing. Yes, theoretically repoters reply just the facts. But words are not created equal. The wording, implications, emphasis, begging the question, what's left out, what ISN'T left out, headline (Ok, that's editors), order of presentation, and many others. Read 10 different reports of the same event and they will be all different, even if they just stick to the basic bare-bones facts.

  19. Re:why did they fuck up? on Bamboozled at the Revolution · · Score: 1

    Those are pretty high powered examples. How about something more on topic, like 'is it ethical for me to skim a couple hundred grand from the company pension plan?'

  20. Re:why did they fuck up? on Bamboozled at the Revolution · · Score: 1

    Ethics courses have little effect on the desire for greed. Pretty much everyone can agree whether an action or practice is ethical or not. What the ethics courses do is show you whether something is merely unethical, or illegal as well. Greedy people need to know the line, so they know that legally they're in the clear.

  21. Re:Maybe it's a good thing. on Adobe Gets Hit By DMCA · · Score: 1

    AFAIK, reverse engineering for purposed of inter-operability is protected under DMCA.

  22. Re:The Cell Phone Experience on Do Cell Phones Make Us Stupid? · · Score: 1

    I think I have the 'proper cell attitude' and people get pissed at me all the time. I often don't hear the phone ring (cause I like to be away from it) or ignore the call. I always forget to charge the battery so the thing dies half-way through the day. And I don't have voice mail, cause, well, I have to pay for it and I really don't want it. People always tell me what's the use of a cell phone when you never answer it. And I say, see this phone? It's mine, and I pay for it. It's for me. And if I don't want to answer every damn time it rings, I don't have to. I'll use it any way that pleases me.

  23. Re:Yeah, but look at this other MSNBC article on Do Cell Phones Make Us Stupid? · · Score: 1
    From the article:

    Only 6 percent said it was acceptable to yak while at a movie or in a theatre...

    "Only" 6%?!?! That's a stupendous number. That means that there will be roughly 20-30 people in a packed theatre that will answer (and keep) and call they receive while watching the movie. WTF?!

  24. Re:often times, yes on Do Cell Phones Make Us Stupid? · · Score: 1
    My question is, why do people need cell phones in class. I college I can sort of make the exception in that they aren't always in class through a set amount of hours, but I remember all to well hearing Cell phones go off in my highschool classes as well.

    There's your first clue. College/university ain't high school. Classes are spread through the day. Sometimes people go to work between lectures. They go out. Sometimes your schedule gets whacked and you end up with days where your first class is at 8:00am and your last at 6:30pm. And what are you supposed to do with your cell anyways? Put it in your locker? Yeah, go back to first clue. There usually are none. And on a campus spread over dozens of acres you'll never get close to your locker (if you have one) for days on end, it's just too inconvinient.

    So when in class, just turn the damn thing off.

  25. Re:Or are we just really, really angry people? on Do Cell Phones Make Us Stupid? · · Score: 2
    I also don't have call waiting on my telephone, because it's just rude.

    Isn't it? That's doubly rude. Imagine you just interrupted a RL conversation to answer your cell, and call waiting kicks in and you get the SECOND call. Sheesh.