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User: BBTaeKwonDo

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Comments · 137

  1. Re:Why have Americans become nancies? on Chevy Volt Fire Prompts Safety Investigation For EV Batteries · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, the Prius uses nickel-metal hydride batteries, not lithium ion.

  2. Re:All in the name of science on Dutch Psychologist Faked Data In At Least 30 Scientific Papers · · Score: 1

    Obligatory xkcd: http://xkcd.com/435/

  3. Re:What about the other studies? on Study Finds No Link Between Mobile Phones and Cancer (Again) · · Score: 1

    XKCD covered the WHO alarm quite nicely..

    Why is it that researchers always say that more research is needed? Is that like a barber always thinking you could use a haircut?

  4. Re:HTTPS to HTTPS on Google Switching to SSL By Default For Logged-In Users · · Score: 2

    Sure, but the link farms don't want to pay for SSL certificates for their subdomains such as https://viagra.spamsite.com/ , https://buy-viagra.spamsite.com/ , etc. I think I'm going to like this change.

  5. Re:So which other candidate is better? on The Data Crunching Prowess of Barack Obama · · Score: 2

    The Democrats could, in theory, nominate a different candidate. In practice, it is very difficult to wrest the nomination away from an incumbent. At this stage of the presidential race, it would take a miracle for sufficient support to coalesce behind another candidate. The organization would take several months to build, by which time it would be too late. IMHO, the only candidate who would have even the remotest chance of pulling this off would be Hilary Clinton, who of course is SecState, so that's not going to happen.

  6. Re:Espionage? on SAIC Loses Data of 4.9 Million Patients · · Score: 2

    If a copy is found, it may be possible to determine when the copy was done and by whom. E.g., "Suzy's record was added on the 3rd and Bobby's was added on the 4th. This copy has Suzy's record but not Bobby's, so the copy must have been taken on the 3rd. Who did the backups on the 3rd?" By saying the tapes were stolen, it's much less suspicious if a copy is found.

  7. Re:So in other words... on Groupon Loses COO, Drastically Cuts Reported Revenue · · Score: 1

    Well, the Titanic sunk bow-first, so I think you meant "stern is already high in the air." For a car analogy, how about, "the wheels are coming off"? Or, to coin a phrase, "the auditors found the nitrous bottle and demanded it be taken out".

  8. Re:Ha ha ha on Feds Call Full-Tilt Poker a 'Global Ponzi Scheme' · · Score: 1
    Replying to self, but opt-out is *not* possible for *federal* public sector workers hired after Jan 1, 1984. See http://www.ssa.gov/history/1983amend.html:

    Makes comprehensive changes in Social Security coverage, financing, and benefit structure. Following are major provisions of the legislation which incorporate the recommendations of the National Commission on Social Security Reform: Covers under Social Security the following groups: (1) Federal employees hired on or after January 1, 1984; ...snip...

  9. Re:Ha ha ha on Feds Call Full-Tilt Poker a 'Global Ponzi Scheme' · · Score: 1
    Correction, opt-out of Social Security is possible for public sector workers. From http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p963.pdf, page 5-13 :

    3) Employees With No Social Security Coverage The final category of workers includes those who are not subject to any voluntary or mandatory social security coverage at all. This can only occur where the workers are covered by a qualifying public retirement system. Employers of these workers will not withhold social security taxes or show any 'social security wages' on Form W-2.

    I must have been thinking of Medicare, since Medicare switched to "no opt-out" in the 1980s. From page 5-16:

    Prior to April 1, 1986, the only way for state and local government employees to be covered for Medicare was by voluntary Section 218 Agreements between the states and the Federal government. This changed with the enactment of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1985, which mandated that almost all state and local employees hired or rehired after March 31, 1986 must be covered for Medicare, and pay Medicare taxes regardless of their membership in a retirement system.

    I still think opt-out is impossible for private sector workers at least for now. There are, however, a few specific types of income which are exempt; gory details in a table starting on page 30 of http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15.pdf.

  10. Re:Hardware on HP Begins Laying Off WebOS Developers, Potentially Firing CEO · · Score: 1

    There is more than one link in TFS.

  11. Re:Ha ha ha on Feds Call Full-Tilt Poker a 'Global Ponzi Scheme' · · Score: 1

    Workers in some local governments like the one in Texas could once opt out of SS but can no longer do so. IIRC, this change was made in the 1980s. No private business could ever opt out.

  12. Re:eyeroll on Did HP Bilk Its Shareholders? · · Score: 1

    The lead plaintiff would change, but the lawyer behind this would still be suing on behalf of all those aggrieved parties who sold their stock before the announcement and therefore lost money when the stock rose later. If only they had known how spinning off the PC business would unlock shareholder value, they could have gotten what was rightfully theirs! Or something.

    These shareholder lawsuits are little more than a shakedown. The lawyers (both sides) make out like bandits, the lead plaintiff gets a little taste, the company (or their insurer) gets screwed, and everybody else gets close to nothing.

  13. Re:Do your part! Snail-mail your comments! on USPS Losing Battle Against the E-mail Age · · Score: 1

    So that they can dissolve the ink in the 'payee' line and replace it with "Cash".

  14. Re:FF was good, then... on Updated: Mozilla Community Contributor Departs Over Bug Handling · · Score: 3, Informative

    GreaseMonkey scripts can run in Chrome; just drag and drop them into the Chrome window. They can be enabled/disabled in chrome://extensions.

  15. Loved his work or hated it, he was big on Steve Jobs Resigns As Apple CEO · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We'll miss you, Mr. Jobs. Wish you good health.
    Sincerely,
    Apple fans everywhere

  16. Never ask a barber if you need a haircut on The Dark Side of the Tech Patent Wars · · Score: 2

    Now there's an arms race in the technology industry, with patents playing the role of ICBMs. "Patents are emerging as a new currency," Alexander I. Poltorak, chief executive of the patent licensing and enforcement firm General Patent, told the New York Times. "I've recently received several calls from financial analysts and bankers who want to know how to value patents and what does it mean."

    I think there's a lot of truth to what he's saying, but Mr. Poltorak clearly has a vested interest in a patent war, or at least fear of a patent war.

    I'm very surprised that Google would spend so much money on defensive patents for Android. Android can't be generating that much revenue, can it? I thought its selling point was that it was essentially free to carriers. The App Market can't be pulling in that much, can it? I feel like I'm missing something here.

    Karma-whoring link to print version of TFA

  17. Re:Self Confirming Bias concern on Santa Cruz Tests Predictive Policing Program · · Score: 1

    Not necessarily. The model will presumably incorporate crime reported by citizens, not just violations and arrests reported by police officers. The weighting may be different depending on who reported the crime, the severity of the crime, etc. A typical officer-generated arrest for, say, weapons possession should get a different weight than a more severe crime.

  18. Re:Just a game on The End of the Gas Guzzler · · Score: 3, Informative

    If the automaker sells one vehicle that gets 20mpg for $25,000 and one vehicle that gets 100mpg for $60,000, they have a fleet average of 60mpg. It doesn't matter that they sell 10,000 of the 20mpg units and only 500 of the 100mpg units.

    Wrong. From http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/cafe/overview.htm : "Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) is the sales weighted average fuel economy [snip] " Scroll down to "How is a manufacturer’s CAFE determined for a given model year?" for more details.

  19. Re:Photos not allowed during police actions, citiz on Apple Camera Patent Lets External Transmitters Disable Features · · Score: 1

    OK, I can buy that there could be a detector in a location other than the lens. However, people would figure out what location on the camera needs to be covered in order to take pictures in unapproved places.

  20. Re:Separate content from presentation on Rapid Browser Development Challenges Web Developers · · Score: 1

    That would work great if this were 1995 and we were writing static HTML, but every web site since then has been dynamically generated. There's no LaTeX for "check if the username is already taken before submitting the form."

  21. Re:Infrared imaging of homes ... on Is Your Electricity Meter Spying On You? · · Score: 1
  22. Re:Discouraging Science and Technical studies on University Proposes Tuition Based On Major · · Score: 2

    In this case, you're using one market distortion (government funding for a public university) to try to cancel out another market distortion (a school essentially having a monopoly on students wishing to attend it).

    The conservative solution would be to discontinue the student loan program and, while they are at it, privatize the universities. The university may or may not choose a different price for different majors.

  23. Re:That's ok on Feds To Remotely Uninstall Bot From Some PCs · · Score: 1

    If somebody except me or Microsoft can control/disable my computer remotely, then I'm already pwned, an I not? I might not like when I am made aware of this, but it would do me some good in the long run.

  24. Re:ummm on Apple Logging Locations of All iPhone Users · · Score: 1

    only 7-8% of the driving public is ever pulled over in any event.

    Make that about 8% of drivers each year . In 2005, it was 8.8%; source: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/ascii/cpp05.txt

  25. Re:platform friction on Zynga Aiming To Conquer Mobile Next · · Score: 1

    I bet they either a) haven't figured out how they can trick users into spamming all their friends with invites on mobile platforms or b) have figured it out, but the users (or users' friends) revolted.

    At least as of a few months ago, Zynga obviously didn't get mobile. I used to be a huge Mafia Wars addict on Facebook. I played Mafia Wars for mobile for a while, but the mobile version wasn't connected to the Facebook version. Leveling up on one version did nothing to the other version, etc. It was pointless. Of course, the whole game was pointless, as I eventually figured out. What's the saying - "the only winning move is not to play"?