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User: bistromath007

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Comments · 938

  1. OP Is an Idiot on The Billionaires Privatizing American Science · · Score: 0

    "Part of the gap is being filled by billionaire philanthropists."

    "Vast amounts of research are now driven by names like Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, David Koch, and Eric Schmidt."

    It's pretty great how this dude thinks that a couple of arch-politico capitalist gods paying for bogus research to protect their financial interests qualify as "philanthropists."

  2. OK DARPA, tell me what this means. on DARPA Funds Research Into a Network-Based Interpretation of Dreams · · Score: 1

    I once had a dream where I was sleeping on the floor behind the couch in my dad's living room. A cat jumped over me, waking me up. Then an alpaca looked over the back of the couch and started bleating at me. More like screaming, really. It turned around and tried to climb backwards over the back of the couch, and I had to hold its foot to keep it on that side so it wouldn't step on me. Then I noticed that it was starting to shit. The extreme terror of being trapped underneath a shitting alpaca mercifully woke me up before any got on me.

    I'd really like to know what the hell that's all about.

  3. Re:Why? on Slashdot Tries Something New; Audience Responds! · · Score: 1

    Honestly, I just read that as "DICE has mandated that we make our website look more like Time or USA Today, because excessive whitespace tests well with Wal-Mart greeters." Only a parent corp is stupid enough to believe that perpetual growth is what a place like this needs.

  4. Re:Why? on Slashdot Tries Something New; Audience Responds! · · Score: 2

    What I'm reading here is that it's perfectly functional, but you're too lazy and/or fascinated with multitasking to put things away when you're done with them. Don't blame javascript for that. It's got plenty of things it can be blamed for already.

  5. Re:Clearly, they've chosen their future on Slashdot Tries Something New; Audience Responds! · · Score: 1

    I read beta on my tablet. It was even worse. Couldn't see the sidebar, wouldn't zoom or scroll properly. Kept snapping back to the top.

  6. So what? on YouTube Goes 4K — and VP9 — At CES · · Score: 1

    With ISPs throttling them, 4K videos will probably play about ten frames in between each thirty seconds of buffering.

  7. It Doesn't Matter if They Do on Diet Drugs Work: Why Won't Doctors Prescribe Them? · · Score: 1

    A few years ago, my doctor prescribed something for this purpose to me with no argument whatsoever.

    For some idiotic reason, it hadn't occured to me that state insurance wouldn't cover it. It doesn't matter how fat you are, and how much it isn't an issue of vanity, they won't. My understanding is that even most private insurers won't touch it. If diet and exercise haven't been working for you, or if you've deteriorated to the point that exercise is difficult, the only option insurance will ever consider is stomach stapling. They won't even touch the cheaper, reversible, and less harmful other surgeries that operate on similar principles. Only stomach stapling. That's it.

    This crap usually costs around $200 or so a bottle, if I remember correctly, so basically they're only available to rich people obsessing over the last five pounds that won't fuck off of their perfect waistlines.

    'murica

  8. Re:hmmm on First Images of a Heart Injected With Liquid Metal · · Score: 1

    So, when's the last time you rediculed anything?

  9. Re:Well, isn't this nice on Why Scott Adams Wished Death On His Dad · · Score: 1

    Wrong. Class warfare is exactly what I'm talking about. Elected officials are merely puppets at this point, engaging in televised pageantry and backbiting for our entertainment. The true power to govern has rested with unaccountable, no-profile appointees for many years. The Federal Reserve, the Pentagon, higher courts, our diplomatic corps, and all regulatory agencies are given to people who just walked out of a corporate boardroom, and will walk right back to it when their term is up. This isn't some nebulous conspiracy theory, it's the literal truth and a matter of public record.

    When somebody writes the law, dictates the particulars of how it will be enforced, and has more money than the rest of their countrymen put together, the only way to get them out is to kill them.

  10. Re:Well, isn't this nice on Why Scott Adams Wished Death On His Dad · · Score: 1

    Billionaires have nothing to do with this specifically.

    They have everything to do with the state of our governance and economy as a whole. Literally every problem is related to this in some way, and the plutocrats ultimately write all policies. The only form of power which they can never totally control is violence.

  11. Re:Well, isn't this nice on Why Scott Adams Wished Death On His Dad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, he really doesn't. This is exactly the kind of political discourse our nation has desperately needed for several decades. Can you think of a practical way to get billionaires to listen to people other than pointing guns at them?

  12. How long until these guys are hauled into court? on How 3 Young Coders Built a Better Portal To HealthCare.gov · · Score: 0

    They will be. Slashdot's already had plenty of stories about people getting rung up for using and distributing data that's supposed to be public, and that's for things that Republicans haven't pledged to attack by any means necessary. I wouldn't be surprised to hear about criminal charges. And although it's unlikely, if they are convicted, they will go to and stay in prison. Obama's not going to want to save them, or he'll look even worse for all the awful shit his administration has pulled in the same fashion.

  13. You're an Idiot on Ask Slashdot: Suitable Phone For a 4-Year Old? · · Score: 1

    If the phone you get him costs more than five cents to replace and activate, you're going to regret this. He will lose it at least once a week. He's four.

  14. Re:Your First Rule is Stupid on An Animated, Open Letter To J.J. Abrams About Star Wars · · Score: 1

    Oh, and I've just realized why the outdoors parts of the original trilogy probably seem better.

    If the protagonist's current problem is some big ugly monster instead of some stupid evil person, the scene is much harder for Lucas to ruin with his big, ugly, stupid, evil dialogue. Since Lucas didn't really make Knights of the Old Republic, it had far better dialogue than he was capable of, making interpersonal conflict fun and interesting.

  15. Your First Rule is Stupid on An Animated, Open Letter To J.J. Abrams About Star Wars · · Score: 1

    The first Knights of the Old Republic was a masterpiece, and plenty of it took place in cities. There is nothing about Star Wars that needs to be in the boondocks to work. It just needs to be directed well, which many parts of the prequel series didn't have the benefit of because nobody was willing to tell George Lucas anything. It's my understanding that in the original trilogy, Spielberg walked him back from alot of his usual idiocy.

    It's not going to be directed well now either, because JJ Abrams is simply a hack.

  16. Isn't this what HIPAA is for? on DEA Argues Oregonians Have No Protected Privacy Interest In Prescription Records · · Score: 1

    I mean, this is exactly one of the things it's meant to address, as far as I know. I'm really confused as to how they think this argument is going to work.

  17. Wanted: Feckless Patsy on NSA Posts Opening For "Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer" · · Score: 4, Funny

    Government-owned crime syndicate needs clownish do-nothing to stand around like a deer in headlights while taking the blame for coworkers' malfeasance by virtue of a blatantly dishonest job title. Flexible hours, competitive pay and benefits.

  18. Humans Doing Something Right for Once on Emotional Attachment To Robots Could Affect Battlefield Outcome · · Score: 1

    Someday, robosympathy will make sense. I'd prefer that we liked them a little better than a wrench by then. Most of the robot horror stories that have been written happen because we're unfeeling and brutal.

  19. This Is Completely Idiotic on Auction Houses To Be Removed From Diablo III · · Score: 2

    The RMAH was an unmitigated disaster. This isn't because it was a bad idea, it's because Blizzard made it one by trying to stick their fingers in the pie instead of just regulating the inevitable like they were supposed to.

    The GAH is the main thing that was missing from Diablo II.

    Trading will happen, with or without support. Trading, by itself, doesn't make the game any less of what it is. There was plenty of it in Diablo II. But because it wasn't supported, it was inconvenient, untrustworthy, and generally garbage. All Blizzard is doing here is opening the way for old-school scammers and farmers to screw everything up. They could just fix the problems with their moronic implementation of the auction house concept, 90% of which would be gone just by temporarily removing the RMAH, letting the market stabilize, and turning it back on as a facilitator instead of a goddamn business model.

    No, though. We'll just wash our hands of the whole goddamn thing and trade this set of problems we created for the set of problems the playerbase created years ago. Why fix anything if it'd take actual work and won't cause customers who have already paid us to keep paying? Screw that.

  20. Man Trying to Get Arrested on Man Trying To Fly Across the Atlantic On Helium Balloons · · Score: 1

    fix'd

  21. Re:Incoming on Angry Customer Buys Promoted Tweets To Bash British Airways · · Score: 1

    It's the UK. Their libel laws are bullshit. This guy is going to get his asshole blown up.

  22. "Brilliant" on Snowden Spoofed Top Officials' Identity To Mine NSA Secrets · · Score: 1

    By these standards, any marginally competent sysadmin is brilliant. The real moral of the story here is that if you have an organization that, by nature, is full of shifty, conniving, two-faced assholes, you're better off hiring a sysadmin who is a totally complacent dupe.

  23. Terraria on Ask Slashdot: Good Ideas For Creative Gaming With Girlfriend? · · Score: 3, Informative

    Minecraft, but in 2D. This actually makes it better, in my opinion. It's easier to build things. Also, it looks nicer.

  24. Hold up. on NSA Cracked Into Encrypted UN Video Conferences · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Are you telling me the NSA actually spends time and money on doing the job it's supposed to, not just spying on US citizens? I am absolutely shocked.

  25. We Baked Cookies on Ballmer To Retire · · Score: 1

    Real talk: me and my roommate just went to the grocery store and bought cookie dough and then baked it and ate the cookies when we heard this news. You should, too. Everyone should have a batch of warm, gooey Steve Ballmer Is Retiring cookies.