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User: retchdog

retchdog's activity in the archive.

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Comments · 2,733

  1. Re:No on Let the Games Be Doped · · Score: 1

    This is understandable. My cardio sessions are much more fun and much more productive when I take just 200mg caffeine about 10 minutes in advance. I can believe that there would be long-term noticable effects from caffeine stimulation, especially from whole-team competitions.

  2. Re:well on BSOD Makes Appearance at Olympic Opening Ceremonies · · Score: 1

    Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that it's improved. I was surprised and delighted to see any improvement in 8.04 since my problem was not a priority for that LTS.

    As for 8.10, I am hoping for a near-zero failure rate (equal to or better than WinXP)! They are after all supposedly targetting these very issues.

  3. Re:Euro/Japan envy is getting stupid on US Broadband Won't Catch Up With Japan's For 101 Years · · Score: 1

    The story I hear about Manhattan, is that the city is requiring them to roll-out FiOS in low-income areas simultaneously with the richer areas. Verizon's reply was that they would not roll it out at all.

  4. Re:Shell as a scripting language... on Bash Cookbook · · Score: 1

    For this reason, I wish that things like the zoidberg shell would hurry up & mature. (Yeah, yeah, I would work on it myself except I would probably be about as useful as the namesake Dr. Zoidberg is as a doctor.)

    "Ask not what you can do for your shell, ask what your shell can do for you!"

  5. Re:Hah! I knew it. on Cooking Stimulated Big Leap In Human Cognition · · Score: 1

    Yeah, the waiters at Peter Luger have rude sneering and derision down to an art form, even relative to NYC. Still, that meat... makes it all worth it.

    (Yes, I ordered rare; yes, the waiters managed to snidely remind me of my lowly stature in life by facetiously commenting "that means the steak isn't fully cooked" and then asking if I also wanted it blue. Born-and-bred assholes.)

  6. Re:Medium-Well is the best on Cooking Stimulated Big Leap In Human Cognition · · Score: 4, Funny

    1" thick and well-marbled
    Greek seasoning
    rubbing... on the top side
    half an hour getting them up

    Suffice it to say, you don't have to read your post twice to find the subtext.

  7. Re:AUGGGHHH on Cooking Stimulated Big Leap In Human Cognition · · Score: 1

    Or more straightforwardly, just infest ourselves with gengineered variants of those bacteria, no?

    Wikipedia has some relevant things to say. Termites "may" produce 2L of hydrogen per sheet of paper consumed, but there are issues involved with using termites for biofuel.

    As any rate, this suggests a flatulence problem for those lucky masses who get to subsist on wood pulp, although no doubt agribusiness would jump at the prospect.

  8. Re:well on BSOD Makes Appearance at Olympic Opening Ceremonies · · Score: 1

    And like all anecdotes, it is almost useless (and yet it prompts the reader to supply their own!).

    My linux (ubuntu 8.04) on a Thinkpad will fail to resume out of a suspend about 10% of the time, forcing a reboot. With 7.10, it failed about 50% of the time. Every logical explanation I come up with has failed (been falsified by experiment). What happens? What happened with 8.04? I have no clue. Hopefully 8.10 will fix things - it's supposed to have a focus on notebook stability issues.

  9. Re:KTLC on First-Ever Photo Tour of Defcon's Network Center · · Score: 1

    Sounds instead like that convention had "overly strong" server protection (seriously, what could happen?). Typically wasteful use of state funds, but don't let that get in the way of how much fun I'm sure it was.

  10. Re:How Sick on The Effects of Exporting Used PCs To Africa · · Score: 1

    In your case, the money is secondary to production of capital. As the parent said, it's only a problem if the only thing that matters is money. Or, to expand your Bible reference, that would be that "the love of money is the root of all evil."

    Or since you seem fond of Ms. Rand: "to get things done, you must love the doing, not the secondary consequences."

  11. Re:And Games? on Economic Gridlock – the Invisible Cost of IP Law · · Score: 1

    Are you serious?! MaNGOS sucks exactly because it's run by low-rent volunteers. Why? Because current copyright and trademark law makes it impossible to put $$$ behind its development!

    If those laws were not there, there would be a more accurate (and ruthless) ripoff of WoW sponsored by a company willing to take less $ per month. Actually, several companies and several ripoffs.

  12. Re:Divesting yourself of intellectual property on Economic Gridlock – the Invisible Cost of IP Law · · Score: 1

    Doesn't the nicotine patch count as "satisfying the need for adult ritalin"?

  13. Re:UAV missions more demanding that you might expe on USAF Enlists Shrinks To Help Drone Pilots Cope · · Score: 1

    I've got to say, your moderation history & comments respectively have definitely earned the "-1" and "Uncomfortable" parts of your sig.

    As for "Truth", I suppose time will tell. Have you considered "-1 Uncomfortable Conclusions"?

  14. Re:Shit on Lucas Researching Concept For New Indiana Jones Film · · Score: 1

    I agree, it's such an interesting plot that it would have warranted coverage by 2 or even 3 movies. Instead we got Phantom Menace, and some auxiliary coverage in a mediocre direct-to-video cartoon series (and the "new" direct-to-kiddie-cinema CGI remix thereof) appreciable only by Tartakovsky fans.

    I enjoyed SW3 too, but it is only more evidence that Lucas wasn't very good at executing the prequels. I even accept that he had to generate new characters and merchandising opportunities; that is fine, and it could still have been incorporated into the legitimate plotline. The prequels were just badly done.

  15. Re:Well, if that's the way they want it on Airline Cancels All Flights Booked Through Third-Party Systems · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If you don't mind my jumping in here, this is interesting. I think it's implied that the (ideal?) "tools" will process the raw data in the right way for the consumer, thus presenting the results of "automatic research" by an algorithm which hopefully has, for this purpose, the same smarts as a mediocre economics BA who's taken intro stats (that's not a whole lot to ask is it? :) ).

    In the totally ideal situation, the price the consumer is willing to pay for access to the tool could provide a valuation of their ignorance and research-anxiety. However, in reality that price is muddled since the site is probably "free" subsidized by advertising; inevitably, the site will compromise the purity of its research by making secret deals with the services; and the consumer will of course have to research which research-site to use!

  16. Re:UAV missions more demanding that you might expe on USAF Enlists Shrinks To Help Drone Pilots Cope · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Would IT at NYSE be a legit target then?

    What about the technical quants? Are they doing math, or are they far up the chain enough to be a "military target"?

    Interesting questions.

  17. Re:Black market on No Linux IdeaPad For Lenovo's US Customers · · Score: 1

    The card reader on my x61s "just worked" for me on both of my installs (Ubuntu 7.10, still working with 8.04 upgrade).

    Somewhat disturbingly though, when I reinstalled (after a catastrophe involving ext3; hibernate; and my own stupidity), the same install (same media, no internet) detected subtly different hardware and I wound up with a different looking desktop and different settings. Weird stuff - I didn't bother investigating further and fiddled with stuff until it wound up workable.

    My point? Hardly any, but you just might get lucky if you try detecting your hardware again.

  18. Re:Uh... on Band Leaks Own Album, Blames Pirates · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I remember the newspaper referred to them as the "CP Daddies" despite there easily being enough space for the full name. We got a laugh out of that.

  19. Re:Beer Pong Video Game on The War Against Virtual Beer Pong · · Score: 1

    Looks like someone is noticing that "news for nerds" and "stuff that matters" are, shall we say, somewhat exclusive?

  20. Re:Case Law Precedent? on Judge Rules Sprint Early Termination Fees Illegal · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It looks like it's going to be a long time before I can "attempt to own a home" in the first place, so my sympathy there is guarded.

    I didn't say that nothing bad has happened to them; just that we seem to heavily subsidize (if not reward) people who take absurd efforts to appear affluently-middle-class, as well as the system of accomplishing this. It's an artificial sustenance of a lifestyle which is increasingly at odds with actual productivity.

  21. Re:Case Law Precedent? on Judge Rules Sprint Early Termination Fees Illegal · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Incredibly, I'm going to have to pay back my student loans while these "classic" parasites get a free ride.

  22. Re:Shooting themselves in the foot on Foreign-owned Hotels To Install Firewall In China · · Score: 1

    I've never heard this theory about Three Gorges, and it's interesting to me. A casual google doesn't reveal any supporting information; do you have a link or other citation?

  23. Re:what would a cop do? on Citizens Spy On Big Brother · · Score: 1

    They're also small enough that they can be plausibly "lost" and never found, right?

  24. Re:Operating a (camera)phone while driving? on Citizens Spy On Big Brother · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Yeah, I bet it's real civil where you live, so long as you're not a nigger, faggot, or long-hair.

    And I'll accept videotaping as provocation, when I can press charges for assault by CCTV.

  25. Re:Bloody Brilliant Idea on Police Shame Pranksters On YouTube · · Score: 1

    Are you really this obtuse? Yes, coffee is extremely hot. However, one ideally drinks it from a ceramic or glass mug at a dining table. If instead one is serving coffee in a disposable cup to someone in a motor vehicle with the obvious intention of drinking it on-the-go, then it is a different story and it's not unreasonable to expect some additional care to be taken in this regard.

    (In your quasi-scientific lingo, the "thermal dynamics" are insulated by a better cup which is what I'm suggesting in the first place.)

    Common sense suggests not to drink these beverages in a moving car (especially if you are driving); however, wouldn't common sense and responsibility also suggest not to sell them in the first place?