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User: FiveDozenWhales

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Comments · 76

  1. Re:1 million iPads vs 20 million Netbooks on iPad Is Destroying Netbook Sales · · Score: 1

    If you sell 20 million in a year, you're selling about 1.5 million every 28 days... and that's WITHOUT the new-product sales rush. So, if anything it's a generous comparison.

  2. Re:Much faster clone time on WePad Tablet Will Use Linux To Rival the iPad · · Score: 1

    You... understand that Linux is just a kernel, right? And that the interface on a Linux-running device has little to nothing to do with the kernel itself? The WePad page says that it's built on Android. If you've ever used Android, you know that it's very much an interface designed for a mobile device, and that it has next to nothing in common with GNOME, KDE, or any other Linux-based user interface. Heck, unless you were curious or technically inlined, you'd never know your Android device was running Linux.

  3. Re:I await they day that the feds on "Moot" Working On Reboot of 4chan Platform · · Score: 1

    /b/ has "backed up" (read: been unavailable) plenty of times. All that happens is the /b/tards swarm other parts of 4chan, or other chans.

  4. Re:Liquids on planes on Laptop Fires On Airplanes · · Score: 1

    Oh yes? And what if they wanted to stipulate that only white people could fly on their planes? Or only men? Or only the non-handicapped?

    Well, those wouldn't be okay, because such discrimination is illegal, even for a private company. Why is it illegal? Because the people being subjected to discrimination stood up and fought against it. Which is exactly what needs to happen if this further infringement on our constitutional rights is to be stopped.

  5. Re:Explained by a Simple Formula on When Libertarians Attack Free Software · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I posit that one of the most prized products of Capitalism and the
    free market is to reduce the cost for the end consumer and raise
    the quality of the products and services.

    Funny how a system designed to concentrate wealth in those who already control is does so little for the end consumers.

    Funny how most of the time, an unregulated market increases the cost of items taht should be dirt-cheap, until they're an unaffordable luxury to most people.

    And how the quality of the products and services doesn't matter, so long as you can dupe or force people into buying it.

    In fact, non-free software (e.g., Windows and other Microsoft wares) is a great example of this. Is Office 7 worth $400? Nope, but because it's a free market, the price gets inflated to this point. Is Vista a good product? Nope, but because the industry is regulated only by those in control of it (i.e. Microsoft) hundreds of thousands of people were essentially forced to buy it anyway.

    I fail to see how capitalism, a system which places power in the hands of those seeking only to promote their own profit, and who see the people in the system simply as another resource to be exploited, is supposed to benefit anyone other than those who control the wealth, and hence the power.

    Remember, the "free market" is not free. It is manipulated like a puppet by those who hold the reins, those who do not care about your wellbeing or options in life.

  6. Tagged as "badtitle" on Sony Prototype Sends Electricity Through the Air · · Score: 1

    It doesn't send electricity through the air. It sends energy through the air, which is converted from/to electricity at either end.

  7. Re:This is great! on Google Wants to Map Indoors, Too · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Soon, the human race will never again need to have a sense of direction, thanks to our GPS-and-wifi-triangulation-capable overlords!

    Right, just like how Plato said in Phaedrus that writing would rid us of our need for a memory.
    Or like how radio ended the era of live musical performances.
    Or like how cars and elevators have made walking obsolete.

    Honestly, technology does change our lives, but it doesn't make such integral parts of them a thing of the past... technophobes just like to squawk that they will.

  8. Wait a second... on FCC Declares Intention To Enforce Net Neutrality · · Score: 4, Funny

    The FCC, working for the rights of the consumer and not the rights of the big corporations?

    Is it April 1st?

  9. Re:Decriminalization in Light of the Drug War on Mexico Decriminalizes Small-Scale Drug Possession · · Score: 1

    Instead, of course, we have the alcohol industry, capable of predatory advertising, campaign donations, etc etc.

    I'm not at all arguing against legalization/decriminalization, or saying that substances are best left in the hands of criminals. But it's important to recognize that socially-acceptable drug cartels (e.g. corporations) have their downsides, too.

  10. Re:Purpose of the beer gut on 10 Worst Evolutionary Designs · · Score: 1

    Also, conspicuously visible fat is historically a great way of saying, "Hey, look at me! I'm so successful that I can eat TONS of food!"
    Not so true these days, though...

  11. Re:Apple II Stock Trader on Finding New and Unintended Ways of Playing Games · · Score: 1

    There's no challenge in that... the idea is that finding seed times that result in good items is a weird little meta-challenge.

  12. Re:Designing a SIMS home-improvement on Finding New and Unintended Ways of Playing Games · · Score: 1

    Just because a conceivable universe, in theory, exists, doesn't mean that a representation of that universe, contained within this one, controls it in any way.

  13. Re:Amazing on Is Jupiter Earth's Cosmic Protector? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Except that the object isn't that massive. To create a hole the size of the Pacific Ocean in Jupiter wouldn't require a very large object at all--try flicking a pebble into a cloud created by a fog machine.

  14. Dead Wrong on Creativity Potentially Linked To Schizophrenia · · Score: 1

    I hate to make this claim without being able to cite my sources, but my access to research databases has been cut off since graduating...

    But this flies against the past 20 years of research. Nearly all studies show a strong NEGATIVE correlation between nearly all types of mental illness and creativity (as measured using a variety of scales). Schizophrenia and depression are the two that leap to mind. I know there's this popular idea that the crazies are more creative (or vice versa), but it's simply not true...

  15. Re:Stay away from the Kindle! on Amazon Pulls Purchased E-Book Copies of 1984 and Animal Farm · · Score: 1

    Then they're legally available for the Kindle through the same route (albeit with the extra, easy step of file conversion).

  16. Re:Not watching without original cast. on Futurama Voices Could Be Recast · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Or Zoidburg, or Farnsworth... But yeah, Fry's voice is classic Billy West, and unimitable.

  17. Re:Idea on Futurama Voices Could Be Recast · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not very? If you want the cast to stay on, either the cast needs to be appealed to, or the source of the money (Comedy Central) does. Not the production crew.

  18. Re:Such advanced graphics techniques... for ASCII? on ASCII Portal In the Works · · Score: 1

    I've written ray-casting algorithms for 2D worlds, and believe it or not they are quite simple.

    See Rogue Basin for tons of examples.

  19. Re:This isn't programming. on How To Teach Programming To Kids, Via XBox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's elementary programming--as TFA states, you define rules for the behavior of objects and the interactions between objects.

    While this certainly isn't as nitty-gritty as Logo, it still introduces kids to the ideas of determining conditions, and processes to undergo under those conditions, a very important concept in programming. It also introduces them to an object-oriented environment.

    Maybe it doesn't "teach programming to kids," but with any luck it will get them interested and excited enough about this kind of thing to pursue it academically... and maybe even give them a very basic foundation of skills.

  20. Re:Mouse? on Best Mouse For Programming? · · Score: 3, Informative

    "u"

  21. Re:Sick of ads on Amazon Wants Patent For Inserting Ads Into Books · · Score: 1

    Keepvid.com lets you download a youtube video into flv or mp4 format... against the ToS, perhaps, but it's possible to snag the video in an unrestricted format.

  22. Re:Memes on Hawking Says Humans Have Entered a New Stage of Evolution · · Score: 1

    be parent to a successful child (raised by others)

    You don't get to play with the kid.

  23. Re:It's just evolutionary. on On Realism and Virtual Murder · · Score: 2, Informative

    I grew up in rural Massachusetts where I was a half hour drive from a convenience store, never mind a bar. And Massachusetts is relatively compact... I'm sure there are many places where it's much worse.

  24. Re:Gotta love them cassettes.. on 13-Year-Old Trades iPod For a Walkman For a Week · · Score: 1

    It's called anti-skate

  25. Re:Things I have found helpful on Where Does a Geek Find a Social Life? · · Score: 1

    Hey, Linux groups can help you get out of your shell, too! Just last week one introduced me to csh!