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User: commodore64_love

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Comments · 14,161

  1. Re:Speaking as a chemist on Most Detailed Photos of an Atom Yet · · Score: 1, Funny

    I don't remember learning any chemistry in my U.S. government-run school. Although I did get an A in drivers ed and sewing/cooking (home economics).

  2. Re:really? on Most Detailed Photos of an Atom Yet · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I hate silicone-enhanced boobs. Why can't women just leave them alone? There's nothing wrong with a nice firm A or B.

  3. Re:Fuel + Electric+ *CAPITAL* on First Algae Car Attempts To Cross the US On 25 Gallons of Fuel · · Score: 1

    So you took your number from an antiwar-biased person whose mission in life is to stop war, even if that requires distorting the numbers to make his case. I took my number from Obama's government (0.9 trillion spent so far - or about 0.l trillion per year). I believe that number to be unbiased.

  4. Re:Fuel + Electric on First Algae Car Attempts To Cross the US On 25 Gallons of Fuel · · Score: 1

    >>>there is absolutely no such thing as a "typical" EV

    There are lots of EVs on the road. They get about 0.3 kilowatthours per mile... some better; some worse.

  5. Re:Fuel + Electric on First Algae Car Attempts To Cross the US On 25 Gallons of Fuel · · Score: 1

    >>>So your math on the electrical usage must be flawed or even the national media would have laughed hybrids off the market.

    A lot of media has done exactly that. For example when Honda introduced its Civic Hybrid (around 2003), many many car magazines stated it would be cheaper to buy a regular Civic for ~$15,000 than to buy the hybrid version with a ~$6000 markup. The +10 MPG savings from hybridization don't offset the initial price premium, they said. Even today that's still true.

  6. Re:Fuel + Electric on First Algae Car Attempts To Cross the US On 25 Gallons of Fuel · · Score: 1

    Well in order for Volkswagen to build a 5-seat car like the Lupo, and get 90 MPG for the highway rating, it would HAVE to get more than a measly 20% efficiency. VW's claim of 50% is believable.

  7. Re:Stability on Why Users Drop Open Source Apps For Proprietary Alternatives · · Score: 1

    >>>"web accelerator software"? - You gotta be kidding? Of course Windows centric stuff like that isn't going to work. YES, it was foolish of me to think that people still bothered with something as primitive as serial modems. The only people I know that still use those things are quite literally "poor".
    >>>

    If you exclude the poor/lower income users, then you exclude half your Linux customers. Might as well join the Republicans.

  8. Re:Stability on Why Users Drop Open Source Apps For Proprietary Alternatives · · Score: 1

    >>>That's because with Windows/Mac, programmers write programs for the user. With Linux, programmers write programs for other programmers.

    That's about right. I suppose if I handed my Linux laptop to a programmer he could have fixed the 640x480 problem with a little coding, but for average users that's beyond their ability. (And the Netscape ISP Web Accelerator problem was probably unfixable without rewriting Wine.)

  9. Re:Private Car Cameras on Trust an Insurance Company's "Drive-Cam?" · · Score: 1

    Well that's a possibility, as when the 90s-era record companies formed a cartel to price-fix CDs to $12 - $18 if new. However since all insurance companies have differing prices (not fixed prices), you can't really consider them to be a cartel. They are in competition offering different pricebreaks for different customers, trying to steal you from one another.

  10. Re:Private Car Cameras on Trust an Insurance Company's "Drive-Cam?" · · Score: 1

    >>>Then you go with satellite, DSL, FIOS, etc.

    At that point in time (2007) Satellite was an option, except you cannot get high-speed internet via satellite. Today I have DSL, but you can't get television over DSL, so we've come full-circle to what I originally said - Comcast has a monopoly, and therefore doesn't give a shit about keeping customers happy.

    With insurance companies, I have many many choices.
    To call them a monopoly is incorrect.

  11. Re:Lack of standards. on eBay Denies New Design Is Broken, Blames Users · · Score: 1

    Yeah in PAL countries JVC used SP (1x speed) and LP (2x speed). In NTSC countries JVC introduced SP (1x) and EP (3x). The intermediate NTSC-LP is considered non-standard by JVC's specifications.

  12. Re:The blowback from this wouldn't be good... on Japan's Cell Phones May Get DRM, At Music Industry Behest · · Score: 1

    Um... yes I know. My point is that the Japanese will wake-up one morning and discover their Ripped MP3s no longer work, but they won't protest it. It's not in their nature to complain, if they think "protecting artist's revenue" is for the good of society.

  13. Re:Phone internet is too expensive. on iPhone 3.1 Update Disables Tethering · · Score: 1

    >>>hard to justify the cost

    Precisely. I have dialup internet which I use when I'm traveling, which costs only $7 a month, but even that I have a hard time justifying because I rarely use it. In my humble opinion it's just silly to throw-away money.

  14. Re:Buy a Pre on iPhone 3.1 Update Disables Tethering · · Score: 1

    Yes but her problems (and other asthma sufferers' problems) all go back to a Treaty signed by the government to ban CFC-propelled inhalants. The government took a *working* medicine off the shelves, and replaced it with a *nonworking* medicine, and now citizens are dying or gasping for air. You talk about the insurance, but that's just a symptom of the problem.

    The root CAUSE of the problem traces back to the government, and their refusal to sell working medicine.

  15. Re:PLan comparison: tmobile may be even better on iPhone 3.1 Update Disables Tethering · · Score: 1

    Really? My plan only requires me to top-up $5 per month. Still an improvement over my old Cingular $30/month plan, which cost $30 even if I never used the phone. It was a ripoff. It's much better to be billed by the minute, so if you make zero calls, then it costs you nothing.

  16. Re:Buy a Pre on iPhone 3.1 Update Disables Tethering · · Score: 1

    Wow. Watching that old East German film is like watching a Nazi flick. Poor suckers. They went from no freedom under the Swastika to no freedom under the hammer-and-sickle.

  17. Re:There has never been tethering on iPhone 3.1 Update Disables Tethering · · Score: 0, Troll

    Sounds like the previous administration - "We have lowered Americans' taxes from 1 trillion to 1.1 trillion." Say what? "Well you see if you adjust for inflation 1 trillion last year is actually 1.3 trillion in today's dollars, but we're only charging $1.1 trillion so you see your taxes dropped."

    Uh huh.

    Yep.

    Sure.

  18. Re:Buy a Pre on iPhone 3.1 Update Disables Tethering · · Score: 1, Troll

    >>>"Unlimited" means "unlimited"

    Yes except there's the fine print, and it explains that you get *unlimited time* as opposed to $5 per hour of use (like my old ISP used to do) or XX hours per month (like Netzero does). It's not the fault of the ISP you jump to false conclusions because you fail to read the contract. I suppose when you see GM or Toyota advertise "100,000 mile warranty" you assume it means the whole damn car.

    Well it doesn't, and that is made clear when you read the sales contract.

    READ.

  19. Re:It's fairly obvious why they are so successful. on Netbooks Have a Huge Impact On the PC Industry · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Is it? The car I drive today is basically the same as the car I drove when I was 18. About 100 horsepower, holds 5 people, has a trunk for groceries, and gets around 35 MPG. The industry has not stagnated because they learned to sell style, and encourage people to upgrade simply because the top changed.

    The PC industry needs to learn to do the same. Or else end-up just like the kitchen industry (selling appliances barely above cost).

  20. Re:It's fairly obvious why they are so successful. on Netbooks Have a Huge Impact On the PC Industry · · Score: 1

    An Atom N270 at 1.7 GHz is weak (3300 MIPS) - not even as powerful as my ancient Pentium 4 (~9500 MIPS). At Atom is about the same as an old AMD Athlon or a P3 clocked at 1.2 GHz.

  21. Re:It's fairly obvious why they are so successful. on Netbooks Have a Huge Impact On the PC Industry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    P.S.

    Apple and Microsoft are going to have a hard time surviving in the 2010s. Their business model is based-upon selling a new OS with new features like music playback (early 90s) or video playback (late 90s) or HD playback (now). These new features came-about because computers get getting faster. But what happens when users buy a Phenom machine in 2010 and are still using the same machine in 2020, and feel absolutely no need to upgrade wither the hardware or the OS? Microsoft will see its revenue shrink.

    Perhaps this is why they are trying to move to a rental model, in order to ensure they keep getting paid even if you don't upgrade.

  22. Re:It's fairly obvious why they are so successful. on Netbooks Have a Huge Impact On the PC Industry · · Score: 3, Interesting

    >>>People are keeping older computers longer now

    That's true. (caresses his Commodore Amiga 4000 lovingly) (just kidding). But if I was buying new I'd still want the most-or-second-most powerful CPU if only for longevity. I keep my cars 20+ years until they die, and it would be cool if I could do the same with a PC too. The Pentium 4 3000 MHz I have now is seven years and I still don't feel a need to upgrade. My AMD 500 megahertz laptop is 11 years but that's pushing it (the porn plays back in slow-motion)./

    >>>for BASIC usage my newest machine a 2.5Ghz Phenom

    You still program in BASIC? Cool. I wrote a Star Trek battle game in BASIC. It's simple but fun. ;-)

  23. Re:Buy a Pre on iPhone 3.1 Update Disables Tethering · · Score: 1

    I actually earn $48 an hour, but I still wouldn't spend $1200 on phone service (or $800 for cable tv) (or $500 for home internet). I'd rather put that money in the bank or stock market, wait for it to grow, and then retire or semiretire when I'm 40 with a few million dollars. Like Benjamin Franklin the printer did back in the 1700s.

    That way I can enjoy life, rather than chaining myself to the corporate cubicle. In other words I value freedom more than toys... (shrug)

  24. Re:Buy a Pre on iPhone 3.1 Update Disables Tethering · · Score: 1

    I can't believe people pay $1200 a year to watch internet over a tiny screen.

    If it was a laptop or desktop MAYBE it would be worth that since a computer can be used for actual work, but not for a tiny phone. We're talking about losing 2-3 weeks of your life (at work) in order to pay for that service. To me this is not a worthwhile trade. I'd rather spend that time at home with my kids and wife.

  25. Re:PLan comparison: tmobile may be even better on iPhone 3.1 Update Disables Tethering · · Score: 0

    I use Virgin Mobile which costs $0 per month.

    Instead I'm billed on a per-minute basis, and since I rarely use my phone the overall cost is only around $1-2 per month. That's certainly an improvement over my old Cingular/AT&T plan which charged $30 each month even if I never dialed a single number.