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User: internerdj

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Comments · 1,293

  1. what? on Shapeshifting: Proposal For a New Periodic Table of the Elements · · Score: 1

    A spiral model has potential since the underlying phenomenon could be described in spiral terms but this just didn't make any sense to me. Reading order was all foreign (even from the author's native language.) The potential for more connections could have been worthwhile but it wasn't clear what each dimension of connectivity meant.

  2. Re:It is all software, really on Sony's PS4 To Have Less Stringent DRM Than Microsoft's Xbox One · · Score: 1

    That sounds like great class action lawsuit fodder for people who bought the system on the advertisement that it would not require an internet connection then a physically purchased game patched the console to require always on.

  3. Re:It is all software, really on Sony's PS4 To Have Less Stringent DRM Than Microsoft's Xbox One · · Score: 1

    Yeah. What I was saying if they patch before due to consumer outcry then it would still be at least once. That is still once too many for some people. I'm moving near release date and an affordable stable connection may not be immediately available. If I buy the console and a handful of games then I'm not going to be very likely to spend the cash to transition.

  4. Re:It is all software, really on Sony's PS4 To Have Less Stringent DRM Than Microsoft's Xbox One · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The internet connection thing is big here. I can buy a PS4 and never connect or never patch. I might be locked to launch games but I got something. For Xbox One, I have to connect to the internet at least once (assuming they come to their senses and patch) or it is a brick. There are a significant number of gamers that are SOL with that model and even more that are pissed off by the concept.

  5. Re:Majority don't understand the extent & issu on Majority of Americans Say NSA Phone Tracking Is OK To Fight Terrorism · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Half of American households make $50520 or less a year. When my household was below median income, I know we had bigger things to worry about than privacy. It may be important but it isn't pressing for most people.

  6. Re:Paying off for whom? on Class Action Suit Goodies Await Tech Users · · Score: 1

    That is nothing. When I was in high school I was a member of one of those CD club things where you bought some and got some for free. I think it was BMG. There was a class action lawsuit and I got three discounted CDs in the settlement. The court ruled I was screwed over by BMG and the settlement was the option to pay them more money for the privalege of receiving my share...

  7. Re:depends on what you're going into on Ask Slashdot: How Important Is Advanced Math In a CS Degree? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you are going to go further in your education then you will need to learn all that math too. I've spent a sizable chunk of grad school reviewing math because I didn't take it serious during my undergrad. Solid statistics is used in countless places. Linear algebra is key to understanding computer graphics and has powerful tools for other more specialized applications. Differential equations are used for all sorts of real world simulation problems. If your university is like mine then you will get an in depth discrete math course from the math department that covers the problems you hit when using a discrete machine to try to work with infinite things. You might get that from the CS department but our CS coverage was all sorts of CS related math. If you do anything hard then the CS coverage may not cut it.

  8. Re:But thats OK! on Pitcher-Turned-Law Student On Cheating In Baseball · · Score: 1

    So, he has to be a liberal arts or physical education major because he enjoys playing baseball? If his spot wasn't deserved then he wouldn't have graduated with such a high GPA and/or would not still be employeed as an engineer.

  9. Re:But thats OK! on Pitcher-Turned-Law Student On Cheating In Baseball · · Score: 3, Informative

    A baseball scholarship put my wife's oldest brother through an engineering degree. It is also putting my wife's youngest brother through school although he doesn't really know what he wants to do other than baseball. My kids are playing but I'm not sure I want them to be successful with it beyond college. Too much pressure to do amoral or destructive things to get an edge, but I guess that is the case with most high profile success areas.

  10. Re:What kind of hardware do I need to play this? on Pitcher-Turned-Law Student On Cheating In Baseball · · Score: 1

    Don't worry. If you are posting to slashdot without anyone having introduced it to you at this point then you are so far behind the learning curve it isn't worth picking up a copy.

  11. Graphing calculator on How Did You Learn How To Program? · · Score: 1

    I was extremely interested in being a Chemist like my father until in 9th grade; we were given our calculators for math and science courses. A couple of kids with older friends shared some very simple games with everyone. Everyone else thought it was cool that they could play games in school. I did to for about 5 minutes until I found I could look at the game as a set of weird psuedotext lines. The cool part came when I changed the numbers then the game changed. At that moment, I went from Chemist to Programmer.

  12. Re:Excuse me? on The Canadian Government's War On Science · · Score: 2

    Policy decisions can't discredit science. Science has a pretty good method of weeding out bad stuff. That said, government has to manage not just scientific facets of reality but human constructs that may or may not be grounded in science but have very real implications. If you don't understand that and that those human constructs may be more important than the raw science, then at best your policies will never "win" in the political environment. In a worse case, you could cause a drop in standard of living or even open violence among the population.

  13. Re:rather have money on Do Developers Need Free Perks To Thrive? · · Score: 1

    That sounds like our plans except A is almost $200 biweekly. B was slightly cheaper but the company also kicked in the first $500 of your HSA if you chose A. Last year we had a low deductible plan at around $150 biweekly.

  14. Re:Just wow on House Bill Would Mandate Smart Gun Tech By U.S. Manufacturers · · Score: 0

    I have a friend who felt the same way and made her husband leave his firearms with his parents when they married. That was until she was subject to a home invasion while he was not at home. Despite now having young children in the house, she is very comfortable and capable with a firearm in the house. I respect your opinion to not have or handle firearms. I do hope, likewise, you respect the opinion of others (especially those at a physical disadvantage) who do feel they need a firearm where police response may be poor.

  15. Re:rather have money on Do Developers Need Free Perks To Thrive? · · Score: 1

    My company recently switched to only high deductible plans from a low deductible plan. Premiums are $50 a paycheck higher than last year's low deductible plan with no option for a low deductible plan. A sizeable number of my coworkers were hit their deductible in January or Febuary, far before the HSA could catch up. I'm almost to half my deductible in my HSA at this point and will hit it about November. We can't spend more from our HSA than we've put in so anything bigger than our HSA comes straight out of pocket.

  16. Re:I'll just leave this here. on Working Handgun Printed On a Sub-$2,000 3D Printer · · Score: 1

    A couple of years ago, we had a rash of fatal bicycle-motorized vehicle accidents. The only headlines about bicycles were about accidents. A good number of residents were calling for banning bicycles from the road because they were all just yuppie health freaks that backed up traffic asking to be hit by a real vehicle. Reporting is very informative but don't mistake that for revealing the whole picture for a complex issue.

  17. Re:The real news is... on Web of Tax Shelters Saved Apple Billions, Inquiry Finds · · Score: 1

    When we cut, instead of cutting the fat from government, we have to cut the meat. One, when we cut the fat then we cut some politicians back door convoluted completely legal way to get rich off of his office. Two, if we cut the meat then the other side knows how awful it is to cut my side's pet government spending programs. Kind of funny all the die hard tea party conservatives around here crying about the four day work week that they are looking at for the rest of the year.

  18. Re:Did they break any laws? on Web of Tax Shelters Saved Apple Billions, Inquiry Finds · · Score: 1

    Actually according to what NPR reported this morning, they already set up these wholly owned subsidiaries in Ireland. The US says they aren't taxed under US law because they are incorporated in Ireland. Ireland says they aren't taxed under Irish law because they are a US company. So they are paying a near zero tax rate in a first world country.

  19. Get the book? on What Professors Can Learn From "Hard Core" MOOC Students · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "'If you want to become an expert in the field,' he says, 'I think you need the book.'" My first assignment in my current PhD program was to come up with a list of errata from the textbook to submit back to the collegue of the instructor to fix for the next edition. It was one of the most informative assignments of my entire academic career.

  20. Re:It's my party and no one else is invited on Open Source Projects For Beginners · · Score: 1

    I sat in a cube with an intern early in my career. He would stay up all night contributing to Asterisk. He apparently did well enough contributing to make good friends with Mark Spencer. He ended up showing up later and later to work and was eventually fired for his unprofessionalism. He was hired at Digium almost immediately. I'm not sure how long it lasted but there are some jobs out there working OSS development and there are OSS contribution paths to get there.

  21. Re: Or on Uptick In Whooping Cough Linked To Subpar Vaccines · · Score: 2

    Please elaborate. My understanding is that antibiotics work in the role of parts of your immune system where vaccines work by triggering parts of your immune system. It doesn't seem like that the same logic would apply.

  22. Re:With no power comes no responsiblity on Irish Judge Orders 'The Internet' To Delete Video · · Score: 1

    Dude. He is trying to save the Irish economy. With no rainbows to hide those pots of gold, the Irish government can finally get their share from those dirty tax-dodging leprechauns.

  23. Obvious on Scientists Clone Human Embryos To Make Stem Cells · · Score: 1

    I could have told you that. All of my processes are horrible without the addition of caffeine.

  24. Re:What year is this? on Robots Help Manufacturing Recover Without Adding Jobs · · Score: 1

    There is some subset of the population that is too * to be capable of useful work. Fill in dumb, handicapped, young, old, whatever. Ideally a society that is increasingly more efficient should be able to provide for an increasing number of too * to work. The difficulty comes in balancing that with reinvesting in further growth and rewarding those who can contribute.

  25. Re:Fox Corporate Asshole on Fox, Univision May Go Subscription To Stop Aereo · · Score: 4, Informative

    Maybe I misread but I thought they just meant drop out of broadcast and only air the channels over cable or satelite.