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User: lorenlal

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  1. Cause and Effect on Weary Homeowners Wage War On Waze · · Score: 1

    I am incredibly sympathetic to increased traffic in a residential area, in most cases the drivers should be weary of that.

    But then I see Takoma Park as the location. I know this guy's pain. I'm surprised he's not experiencing worse. The "Maryland driver near DC" is why we can't have nice things.

  2. Re: No problem on About 40,000 Unionized Verizon Workers Walk Off the Job (reuters.com) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The UAW strikes didn't cause the outflow of employment from Detroit. It was a consequence of NAFTA cheapening the import cost of goods made in Mexico.

    Since it's really off topic, I'd prefer not debating the merits and problems of NAFTA here. Yes, union negotiating and poor management did contribute. But the union strikes weren't the single cause of that employment offshoring.

  3. Re:May spur automation on California's $15-an-Hour Minimum Wage May Spur Automation (computerworld.com) · · Score: 1

    Yes, indeed, inflation will probably increase.

    If you notice, inflation for the last several years has been about 1%. Which is below the usual target rate of 2% in most world markets. This isn't a bad thing, because inflation allows central banks more flexibility in setting interest rates without going negative.

  4. Re:Uh, just pay extra on Millionaires: Raise Our Taxes To Address Poverty, Fix Roads (go.com) · · Score: 2

    ...and there's no way to plan multi-year projects when dealing with voluntary contributions.

  5. Re:Uh, just pay extra on Millionaires: Raise Our Taxes To Address Poverty, Fix Roads (go.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Quite simply:
    You can't budget based on individual charity. The rates set a reasonable expectation of incoming receipts for not just the next year, but future years.

    Saying, "Check the box" doesn't provide anything that anyone can build a budget on.

  6. Re:National Geographic magazine lost all credibili on Rupert Murdoch Buys National Geographic Magazine · · Score: 1

    Just to be clear on this one, the channel was a partnership with Fox, and has been since inception. The change here is with the magazine.

  7. Neither is Right for Everyone on Ask Slashdot: How Often Do You Update Your OS? · · Score: 2

    Your friends show two distant points on the patching spectrum we have to make all the time.

    Neither is right, nor wholly wrong. The first friend doesn't worry so much about stability, and for himself that's fine. He knows the choices he's making and he's really into that. Good for him. The second friend is more conservative and more in line with what the mainstream hopes for and expects. I'd like to know what they consider "serious security" updates, because it could be anywhere from reasonable security to complete insecurity. This is why most environments have tiers of patching and testing. We know we need to get security updates out as much as possible. Some people get more value out of being on the bleeding edge than having a stable install, others can't/won't have their work interrupted for any cost. This is also why this argument is silly to have between two people on which way is "better."

    As for what I do? My home system gets updates as soon as I see they're available. I occasionally play with nightlies or betas, on a VM, to see if there are major interface tweaks, a new feature I want, or whatever else I'm interested in. I'd never suggest that for most of my friends or relatives.

    Incidentally, that's pretty much how it goes at work. Most of the people I work with in IT, and a few select users are in the first group. Most people get security updates quickly, and well vetted other updates when they're more thoroughly tested.

  8. Re:terminal illness on Ask Slashdot: Terminally Ill - What Wisdom Should I Pass On To My Geek Daughter? · · Score: 3, Informative

    And this post will be something to remind her that her dad, down the stretch, thought of her future and how to do something for her. I think that's as good a gift as anything.

    All I can come up with is, "Just do your best."

  9. Re:Fox News? on Scientists Seen As Competent But Not Trusted By Americans · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ^^This

    The fact that a good chunk of the population has been repeatedly fed that scientists are every bit as corrupt as the politicians (and ironically enough, the big money backers) that they'd compromise their standards for cash has done more damage than and lack of personability or "warmness."

  10. Re:Corporate taxes on To Fight $5.2B In Identity Theft, IRS May Need To Change the Way You File Taxes · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure what you're going for on point 4, but the first three are at least interesting. If you could explain that, it'd be appreciated.

    I'd expect that there would be a bunch of newly developed "hidden benefits," especially for those at the top of the larger corporations. An example would be the free housing and transportation that the executives and board would receive. That would need to be dealt with in some fashion too, but I like the start.

    My comment is just a blow-hard edition of modding you up, but I don't have points.

  11. Re: So start organizing on LinkedIn Busted In Wage Theft Investigation · · Score: 1

    Yes you can. That's what '||' is for.

  12. Re:Won't work on Tractor Beam Created Using Water Waves · · Score: 1, Funny

    That's no pool...

  13. Re:Calm down - it's not a real prohibition on US House of Representatives Votes To Cut Funding To NSA · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If they really wanted to shut it down effectively, they'd expire the PATRIOT act. It's a dog and pony vote because it's not actually making the activity illegal.

  14. Re:why didnt Snowden use Wikileaks??? on Snowden Publishes "A Manifesto For the Truth" · · Score: 1

    Mostly very fair points... But like the anonymous coward said above, Chelsea Manning's capture, detainment, and sentencing happened because of her actions after leaking the documents.

    Could Wikileaks have handled things a little differently when releasing information? Sure.

    Could Wikileaks have stopped Chelsea from talking with Lamo? Probably not.

  15. Re:iGoogle Disaster was overblown on The Case Against Gmail · · Score: 2

    Funny... Quick search for ustart.org... Looks like these guys work with virus authors and distributors to redirect people to their site. Classy.

    I liked iGoogle, but I'm thinking that most of us should find a site that isn't ustart.

  16. Re: Help us Google Fiber! You're our only hope. on Top US Lobbyist Wants Broadband Data Caps · · Score: 2

    Fair enough it's like roads. It's also just like roads in that many of these companies have received subsidies to lay down their infrastructure too right? They're happily taking those payments to string out the last mile to a bunch of people still? I guess I'd be more sympathetic if I felt like us, as users, were using so much bandwidth that they weren't able to make a profit, or pay their workers. I also would be more sympathetic if the pricing they suggested didn't feel like it was a straight cash grab on top of the cash grab I feel like they're already charging.

    I totally understand that the bandwidth I buy per month is oversubscribed. It's what I expect in a consumer market.

    I also don't believe it's costing them more than 10% of what I pay to maintain/expand the capacity that I'm using. Show me the balance sheet if I'm wrong, and I'll happily admit it.

  17. Re:This also in... on Some Bing Ads Redirecting To Malware · · Score: 2

    Here was the comment I was looking for. I've seen third-party ads attack from plenty of reputable (and not so reputable) sites. As much as I love piling on MS, Bing, and IE, I don't think it's wholly fair to single them out for this issue. Of course, anecdotes are worth little more than the electrons that carry the information to your eyes, but I'm fairly confident most of us have been called in to clean up an infection from [typical site used by many].

    Now, if you want to talk about Microsoft's awful ad campaigns, that's 100% fair, and please proceed.

  18. Re:Moo on Study Shows Professors With Tenure Are Worse Teachers · · Score: 1

    Maybe the tenured professors remember their pre-tenure days of being beaten down in reviews by freshmen who thought they should get an easy A in their class. Wouldn't surprise me if they look at the intro classes and just say to themselves, "F 'em, if they don't want to work, I don't want them advancing in my field."

  19. Re:No Mention on HDMI 2.0 Officially Announced · · Score: 1

    You forgot to tell us to get off your lawn.

    I'm sure your parents thought color was a novelty too.

  20. Re:Amended quote on Snowden Spoofed Top Officials' Identity To Mine NSA Secrets · · Score: 1

    You're right. I'm making an assumption based on what I'm reading here. It sounds like high-ups were keeping sensitive data in their home folders (or equivalent). It's possible that my assumption is wrong, and that these were stored in some locked/encrypted fashion. In that case, I'm happy to give him credit for being clever.

    I've worked in environments where there was no way I was going to get at sensitive data without having my own credentials, regardless of my access. That's where the really sensitive stuff goes. There are still ways to protect items from admins' eyes, if it's important enough.

    Once information is acquired, there's no stopping a non-trustworthy admin from copying something out to a thumb drive, and that's one of the assumptions the security policy needs to have.

  21. Re:Amended quote on Snowden Spoofed Top Officials' Identity To Mine NSA Secrets · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm more worried that they're saying he was "brilliant." Those actions are trivial. I'm disappointed that's all he had to do to get that info.

    Agree with his actions or not, anyone who declared him anything more than "some sysadmin who took some liberties with his access" shouldn't be in charge of gathering, investigating or protecting anyone's sensitive data.

  22. Re:The Romans found out about lead on NRA Launches Pro-Lead Website · · Score: 1

    Or, instead of making absurd arguments, you can disagree.

    Please, by all means don't discourage taking that safety course. I'm all for more responsible owners being properly trained in protecting themselves and others. I'm just saying that the NRA isn't a gun owners advocacy group, it's *pretending* to be one, while getting lots of funding from the manufacturers.

  23. Re:The Romans found out about lead on NRA Launches Pro-Lead Website · · Score: 2

    It was a gun owners advocacy group.

    It's not anymore. http://www.businessinsider.com/gun-industry-funds-nra-2013-1

    The NRA does what it can to keep interest up in its members. I'm sure it does what it can to increase gun ownership to pick up new members. It also, very much, wants to make sure that more guns are sold. My basis for these last few statements are the change of heart they had regarding background checks, their reactions to shootings that make national news, and the people I know who belong to the organization.

  24. Re:Misleading summary on Obama Praises Amazon At One of Its Controversial Warehouses · · Score: 2

    You know what, you're right. We shouldn't be subsidizing any energy. Let's do away with oil, gas and coal subsidies, and reset the system from there. Once we establish how much energy actually costs, we can figure out what to invest in from there.

    As for the summary and associated stories, I have no idea what the living wage is in Chattanooga, TN. But wow, this summary looked like someone with an ax to grind with the executive branch. Fair or not, I had to double-check to make sure I wasn't looking at the Washington Times.

  25. Re:good on MySQL Man Pages Silently Relicensed Away From GPL · · Score: 1

    Hyperbole aside, I have to acknowledge the gripes you have. Yes, the GPL is a funny license when it comes down to it.

    IANAL, but my understanding is that anything that Sun, and by acquisition Oracle, contributed to the MySQL code can be changed to non-free licenses for newer editions. Obviously you can't say "That release from two years ago is no longer freely available." Anything in the project that is GPL code needs to have the source freely (or at least easily) accessible. So, any community contributions (yes yes.. I know... Both of them) are still covered by the GPL if the authors chose to mark them as GPL code. If they did not state any licensing terms with their code, well then I believe it became subject to Sun's/Oracle's discretion.

    To properly reply to the parent that you are criticizing, they do have a point in that if the code that has been released isn't changed, it is still GPL code. That should remain publicly available. Any changes they make from here on aren't necessarily... But depending on how they make use of the GPL code they might cause a violation of the GPL license, which could be actionable... But we'll just have to see how this progresses.

    So, in the case of the community, Oracle is essentially choosing to no longer license their changes under the GPL. The only real surprise in all of this is that it took them this long to do exactly that. Of course it bothers the community because someone just took their truck from the sandbox, and let's face it, Oracle ain't exactly known for playing nice in said sandbox anyway.