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User: q4Fry

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  1. Re:So much for drivers ranking passengers on Google To Compete With Uber, Uber To Explore Autonomous Transportation · · Score: 1

    My cubicle for mod points!

  2. Re:Before this gets even more overblown... on US Central Command's Twitter Account Hacked, Filled With Pro-ISIS Messages · · Score: 1

    Ditto.

  3. ..for heavier internet censorhip

    You've got to be pulling my censorleg.

  4. Re:Legendary quote being born on India Blocks Code Sharing Websites On Anti-Terror Advisory · · Score: 1
  5. Re:Wrong premise on Librarians: The Google Before Google · · Score: 1

    Judging from TFA, the librarian wrote it down for NPR to write an article on in the future.

  6. Re:Old news. on Study: Red Light Cameras Don't Improve Safety · · Score: 1

    We had that blinky-green business at an intersection near a place I used to live. I thought it was great, and felt much less pressure on whether I'd make the intersection.

    There's a hidden danger with the red-yellow, though: Some people start early. Another place I lived had pedestrian timers that counted down how long a street-crosser had to finish walking. When the counter ended, the stop light that direction turned yellow. It didn't take long for the drivers stopped perpendicular to the crosswalks to start watching the pedestrian signals. They'd wait for them to end, wait another second, and gun it. Then they smack right into the driver headed the other way who decided s/he could just make the yellow.

  7. Re:Old news. on Study: Red Light Cameras Don't Improve Safety · · Score: 1

    ... Driving slower, and leaving a safe distance between vehicles will slow traffic. Multiply that by the huge number of vehicles, and you have traffic issues, More cars in any area for a longer period of time.

    This is in no way trying to excuse tailgating. I always leave a lot of space between myself and the next guy, both so that I avoid running into somoene's rear, and to give myself a buffer for the asshole behind me. But given that people like to ride as close as possible (as in maybe 4 feet) behind each other, I'm leaving maybe 60 feet at 35 mph, which would allow "normal" drivers to shoehorn in three vehicles.

    W.r.t. the first paragraph, one would hope that "slower" means "the speed limit" which in a sane universe would actually be the maximum safe driving speed.

    W.r.t. the second paragraph: Assholes; pretty much the sole reason we can't have nice things. As a side note, it's my understanding that following too closely or (ironically) too far away is what causes most traffic. You actually entice the assholes to merge into your lane when leave that much room. Then, you have to slow down to re-adjust for your minimum-safe-distance when they swerve in, and everyone behind you has to brake to maintain their respective distances. I'd link the study, but I can't find it. :-\

    I'm not saying you're an asshole; that would be the tailgaters. But your behavior tempts them to wreak more havoc.

  8. Re:I am disappointed in Orbitz on United and Orbitz Sue 22-Year-Old Programmer For Compiling Public Info · · Score: 1

    Fun fact I discovered while reading this thread: United and 4 other airlines created Orbitz (and still own it).

  9. Re:tropical thailand on Being Colder May Be Good For Your Health · · Score: 1

    I grew up in Thailand, but left after school. I went to visit Chiang Mai again for a few months over term break at uni, and lost 15 pounds. Returning to the West, I gained it all right back. (This was several years ago.)

    I'm curious though about the next generation of Thai kids. Thais used to be short, but with the king's milk program from a few decades back, the average height of the population has grown. I wouldn't be too surprised if the next shift is the average girth.

  10. Re:tropical thailand on Being Colder May Be Good For Your Health · · Score: 1

    I dunno about you, mate, but the thing I miss the absolute most about Thailand is the cheap food. I could visit a little rahn-ahan (literally "food shop" but more like a mini restaurant) for 30B, maybe $1 US or so, for rice and two things to go with it (say chicken curry and a veggie dish). It'd run me $20 US here plus tip, and I'd be less impressed with the food.

  11. Re:Occam's Razor on Did North Korea Really Attack Sony? · · Score: 1

    The simplest solution here isn't that it's North Korea acting based on an unreleased movie they probably hadn't even heard of before this whole debacle, displaying hacking skills not seen before, and then denying it.

    Not to be coy, but NK dispatched embassy employees to a barbershop in the UK to complain about an advertisement poking fun at KJU's haircut. It is entirely reasonable to believe that they knew about a movie announced in March of 2013 that featured their country/leader and decided to do something about it.

    Whether the hacking was that response is still up for discussion (although I'm inclined to believe the FBI), but to suggest that "they probably hadn't even heard of [The Interview] before this debacle" is unreasonable.

  12. Re:Google play on Google Sues Mississippi Attorney General For Conspiring With Movie Industry · · Score: 1

    The best comment I saw on Ars, was that as a response to these AG tactics by the MPAA and RIAA, Google should remove all references to the MPAA and RIAA from its search results. There doesn't seem any reason that google *has* to index your site.

    I used to applaud these sorts of ideas, but lately I've been thinking that they sound exactly like the "We have an effective monopoly, so we're going to intimidate anyone we feel like" actions that a free society should oppose. I'm open to being convinced either way.

  13. Re:What the fuck on Hackers' Shutdown of 'The Interview' Confirms Coding Is a Superpower · · Score: 1

    Maybe everyone except me already knew this, but my coworker explained it to me yesterday:

    There's a sliding scale for theater openings that looks something like this (dates and percents are depend on the particular movie):

    The first three days after a movie is released, the studio (not the theater) gets 100% of ticket sales. If it weren't for those marked-up concessions, the theater would be operating at a loss to show the movie.
    The next five days, the studio gets 80% of the ticket sales.
    The next two weeks, the studio gets 60% of the ticket sales.
    After that, the studio gets 40% of the ticket sales.
    Etc., etc.

    Apparently, when the Star Wars sequels (I know, I know) came out, the studio got all of the take from the tickets for the first solid week.

  14. Re:North Korea has proved something. on Hackers' Shutdown of 'The Interview' Confirms Coding Is a Superpower · · Score: 1

    What's more is that our browsing tends to be grouped into finding sometimes obscure downloads for administrative tasks and solutions for programming issues, which would likely add to the ability to target. In reality the problem might not be the malware infested laptop of Marketing Sally, but Targeted Tim, the IT guy.

    Very the interesting conclusions you have!

    I invite you to perusing our blog with such many administrative task downloads at www.totally-legitimate-we-swear.com

  15. Re:Intercepting encrypted communications! OMG! on Researchers Discover SS7 Flaw, Allowing Total Access To Any Cell Phone, Anywhere · · Score: 1

    I appreciate the voice of sanity in your post w.r.t. the access itself.

    Can we agree that the problem is that even if the people with access aren't dicks right now that they might become dicks in the future. It only takes one person evading your dick filter for a while to hire some other like-minded dicks and dick everyone over. There's also a pretty convincing thesis that ordinary people with power** are at unique risk to become dicks.

    (Also, I'm not saying you're a dick. Just to be clear.)

    ** One could argue that access is power.

  16. Re:Pebble? on Ask Slashdot: What Can I Really Do With a Smart Watch? · · Score: 1

    What I want to know if the future weather, but every random smart device gives me information that I already have to hand. I can see if it is raining now, what I'm interested in is if I should take an umbrella for later.

    It can also do future weather. I use a watch face that keeps track of current weather, but if you shake the watch, it switches to a 3-day forecast AND a by-hour graph of the next 24 hours' temperature and precipitation.

  17. Okay, fess up... on Terrestrial Gamma Ray Bursts Very Common · · Score: 1

    Who else misread this as "terrorist gamma ray bursts?"

  18. Re:Stupid on Google Proposes To Warn People About Non-SSL Web Sites · · Score: 1

    It's good to warn about those too, because there's still the risk that the attacker is seeing which specific pages you are viewing.

    Humor my ignorance for a moment: Even if malicious party X can't see the content itself that you are being served, can't they see what resource you requested... or at least what server you requested it from?

    Isn't that almost the same (unless the content changes based on who you are logged in as, at which point I agree: encrypt the traffic)?

  19. Sauron on Army To Launch Spy Blimp Over Maryland · · Score: 1

    Please please please paint it like a big red eye. Then dangle a black "tower" from it.

  20. Re:Anti-Aging is a Fraud Magnet on Researchers Accidentally Discover How To Turn Off Skin Aging Gene · · Score: 1

    Oh, right. I was reading about that. It was developed by North Koreans from the tears of those unicorns they found.

  21. Wildly premature question on SpaceX To Attempt Falcon 9 Landing On Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship · · Score: 1

    How many times do they expect to be able to use a rocket stage before the increased risk of failure (over a brand new one) causes them to scrap it?

  22. Re:Does the job still get done? on Economists Say Newest AI Technology Destroys More Jobs Than It Creates · · Score: 1

    According to the Economist, in the future we will all live to 300 and work.

  23. Re:Does the job still get done? on Economists Say Newest AI Technology Destroys More Jobs Than It Creates · · Score: 1

    And then social welfare, already paying for the bread, will also have to pay for circuses. ;^)

  24. Re:To be fair on NASA's $349 Million Empty Tower · · Score: 1

    If this mentality were reversed, and you said what you don't spend becomes your Christmas bonus, - you'll find frugal spending, and big bonuses! Sound familiar? So it is possible to do more with less.... Now let THAT be the budget, and take away the bonuses, and build homes for the homeless, and feed them. (Other good causes apply here too...)

    Be careful with that "Christmas Bonus" line of thought. That can turn into "Let's do a half-assed job on the cheapest budget we can, to make the bonus bigger." It doesn't always, but it sure can.

  25. Re:But ... on Is Enterprise IT More Difficult To Manage Now Than Ever? · · Score: 1

    Mod parent Insightful.