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User: Bobberly

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  1. Re:so how do you prevent from scanning your plate on Repo Men Scan Billions of License Plates -- For the Government (washingtonpost.com) · · Score: 1

    Do New Mexico and Delaware still have LLC registrations where you don't have to list the owner or is isn't released by public record? That would be my first option. Even an LLC in your own state will make it take an extra database join to match you up.

    Just sell the vehicle to the LLC and create a rental contract for $1 allowing you to have full use of the vehicle and authority over all repairs. Insurance might go up if they think you're using it for business purposes though.

  2. Re:partial security / insecurity -- what's the poi on The Long, Slow Demise of Credit Card Signatures Starts Today (cnet.com) · · Score: 1

    Also, I will never accept a system where I am forced to enter my supposedly sensitive, never-share-with-anyone PIN into random devices maintained by shopkeepers. A proper end-to-end secure transaction should consider the point of sale device to be adversarial.

    Why? The PIN is useless without the attached card. As long as you can retain possession of the card immediately after you enter the PIN there is no possibility of fraud. You'll see the authorized amounts on the device.

    You DO keep your receipts so you can correlate with what your issuer said happened right?

    As many others have said, works for Europe just fine...

  3. Re:Stinker on CBS Delaying 'Star Trek: Discovery' To Maintain Quality (foxnews.com) · · Score: 1

    You want to make insta-kills with Noo Death Star, disregarding the time it would take beam to travel across space WHILE making it a threat to entire galaxy? Portals.
    Have a portal-output ship hyperjump next to the planet you want to destroy, shoot the beam into portal-input (ship or portal somewhere on or under the Noo Death Star planet) - and you got the whole galaxy at the barrel of a gun. Which can be concealed anywhere in the galaxy.

    There. It's that simple. It doesn't have to be a physics lesson. You can even still use that shot of everything getting dark as the sun is sucked up. Though it is stupid. But hey... heavy handed symbolism sure is cheap.

    Unfortunately there were a few Stargate SG1 episodes that had that same theme with portals. It would probably be seen as copyright infringement to have a plot that similar, well, at least in this country.

    Remind me again why two people can't reach the same conclusion if one of them patented/copyrighted/published theirs first? That's right! Royalties! A system designed to exaggerate the effort used to create a work by using more effort to administer the royalty system and enforcement.

    Nah, I'm not bitter.

  4. Public Record is a Leak? on 198 Million Americans Hit By 'Largest Ever' Voter Records Leak (zdnet.com) · · Score: 1

    Florida voter records are public record and available freely to anyone that asks. That isn't a leak, it's called open government. What's the issue here again?

  5. Except market forces generally require that both the buyer and seller be motivated and properly informed about the transaction.

    By informed we mean that they are offering a fair price under reasonable conditions, and not obsessed with completing the sale no matter what. Someone with an "ooo, shiny" complex is going to offer far more than they should because they didn't research alternatives.

    It also doesn't help if the buyer isn't negotiating because they think that they can instantly flip the product (or currency) for a profit.

  6. No Sales Tax on Amazon Doubles Deliveries in 2016 For Third-Party Sellers (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    Third party sellers don't charge me sales tax.

    And before you mention that I'm starving the state of money, note that I've already paid $1800 in sales tax for 2016 (FL 6%). Pretty sure that's more than average.

  7. Re:MY data in AMAZON's cloud ?? on Amazon Announces Unlimited Cloud Storage Plans · · Score: 2

    That comparison is only fair if the world would be shocked and willing to pay to see photos of your tomatoes in compromising positions.

  8. Timeline archive on In 10 Years, Every Human Connected To the Internet Will Have a Timeline · · Score: 1

    Take this random thought into consideration: arrest records. We've got a huge archive of them, and it is mostly meaningless data. We treat this data like it's the latest gossip, and yet it isn't fact checked against trials, convictions, dropped charges.

    Nothing against police officers, but they make mistakes and ultimately the prosecutor and judge/jury decide if a crime actually occurred.

    I know folks that were arrested and immediately had the charges dropped because it wasn't them. Yet that record still exists. What do these folks put on job applications that ask "Have you ever been arrested?" Even if the original was purged Google will find it.

    And folks are thinking having EVEN MORE of this data out there is an advantage? If we weren't worried when Twitter became a "reputable" news source then i don't know what it takes to scare someone these days.

  9. Jeb's Legacy on Jeb Bush Publishes Thousands of Citizens' Email Addresses · · Score: 1

    Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.
    History.—s. 1, ch. 2006-232.

    Pretty sure that happened under Jeb's reign.

    Makes dealing with government interesting.

  10. Cheaper eh? on The Prickly Partnership Between Uber and Google · · Score: 1

    "When there's no other dude in the car, the cost [of taking an Uber] gets cheaper than owning a vehicle."

    Considering that they still need to make a profit on use of their vehicle, I don't see how this is possible. Especially considering a vehicle with enough tech to be self-driving.

    Not only would they have to make enough profit to cover the initial investment of the vehicle, they'd also have to cover the loss of depreciation to remain profitable. And lets not even try to guess what insurance will be. Just because it's a self-driving vehicle doesn't mean it'll be immune from the other idiots on the road.

  11. Re: parcel data that definitively unreliable on Google Earth Pro Now Available Free · · Score: 5, Informative

    As a data custodian for our county cadastral data I can attest that using the data for ANY purpose other than tax assessments is not recommended. Parcel data is meant to track ownership. It is not meant to be an accurate representation of survey data. It never has, and never will. Just because it "looks" ok when you overlay it with an aerial photo doesn't mean it should be used for any determination of property lines. This is why every time you buy a house a professional surveyor comes out and re-checks everything. We all know the house didn't move, but surveyors can't even agree on a the same location of a corner marker. Where do you think all this error goes when you try and do a countywide fabric of parcels? For a kick, ask your county assessor for the parcel line data.. including COGO attributes. Then look in amazement as your 120 foot property line is actually 118.5 feet on the map to make it fit inside of decades of mapping error. I've tried to reach out to Google many times to offer an update of our data to reflect new subdivisions. I never got a response. The product looks pretty and functional until you actually try and do something that matters with it.

  12. Re:Step one: normalize everyone's ratings on Don't Sass Your Uber Driver - He's Rating You Too · · Score: 2

    FFS, you're taking a vehicle from point A to point B. What more can you possibly do to improve upon this? If you got there in one piece and was charged the expected amount, give them a 5 rating. This isn't a scale where 3 is average and 5 is you want them as your spouse. 5 is met expectations.

  13. Re:Suing over something that can easily be changed on Comcast Sued For Turning Home Wi-Fi Routers Into Public Hotspots · · Score: 1

    Why a lawsuit? Because this is (according the the suit) a wrong by which the legal system allows relief (read: money). In case of the lawyers, there is enough money that warrants their attention. There is no right, wrong, or good ideas when it comes to the legal system. If your rights were violated (accidentally or willfully) and you can navigate the legal system go for it. Why pass up a free lotto ticket? Even though Comcast is doing something seemingly beneficial to all, they did so in a manner that (possibly) infringed on their customers. Meanwhile I can't find a lawyer to file a case against a repairman over an $8000 air conditioner because they want $3000 up front.

  14. Re:Buffet vs. A La Carte on Here Comes the Panopticon: Insurance Companies · · Score: 1

    That and it'll only be offered as long as everyone isn't doing it. Reminds me of all the water conservation efforts. We used less water, the utilities brought in less money, so they had to raise the rates to offset the loss. In the end we all use less water, but pay more for the service. I bet this will only work for insurance up the point where hospitals have to charge more to make up for empty rooms.

  15. Re:Using SSN? on Blue Shield Leaks 18,000 Doctors' Social Security Numbers · · Score: 1

    One would think that the fix would be for SSNs not to be the sole source for opening new accounts and such. Kinda ironic that the the credit card companies are the ones causing this problem by not requiring better proof of identity. Then again the State of Florida does the same thing. They ask for SSN when filing for property tax exemption for no other purpose than to make sure you didn't file somewhere else as well. Really it just makes for an easy SELECT SSN GROUP BY SSN HAVING COUNT(*) > 1 query to find where someone is in the system twice.

  16. Re:Failsafe? on Airbus Patents Windowless Cockpit That Would Increase Pilots' Field of View · · Score: 1

    The pilots still could have seen the runway lights. IFR minimums exist, but at the speed the aircraft is traveling you can cover that pretty quick. 2 seconds is a football field.

  17. Source on TrueCrypt Author Claims That Forking Is Impossible · · Score: 2

    The article source is from pastebin. Are we really supposed to give this any merit? It's pretty obvious that the authors won't sanction anything related to the project (or did we forget the final cripple commit?)

  18. Re:um... on New Service Lets You Hitch a Ride With Private Planes For Cost of Tank of Gas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As a pilot, I'm not sure how to take your remark. I'm pretty sure the rigorous training and medical certifications I've completed will have you in much safer hands than the trip you take to the grocery store from your house. What are the requirements for driving a 3 ton vehicle these days, heartbeat and visit to the local DL office?

  19. Re:What about aircraft? on Will Cameras Replace Sideview Mirrors On Cars In 2018? · · Score: 3, Informative

    Because no one wants to invest in the amount of research and testing required to get a part certified by the FAA. All it takes is one aircraft to crash because of "smoke in the cockpit" from one of these devices to end them. Technically, I could face penalties for unauthorized aircraft modifications for attaching my GoPro to the wing.

  20. 20TB of static content? on How Do You Backup 20TB of Data? · · Score: 0

    First question is how much data actually changes on a given day? I have 20TB of data... 50% are videos that will never change. I think I only average 10GB of changed files a day. So, every physical drive I buy also has a USB external drive for backup. I keep the drives online and test the backup weekly for the content that is static. Critical drives are mirrored daily (usually to flash AND usb hdd). Less critical is on a 72 hour mirror (or on demand if i know i made many changes) I've lost about 7 drives over time. I just pull out a spare drive, start an immediate mirror and order another replacement drive. I stopped using real-time mirrors to avoid accidental data deletion.

  21. Polling place changes on Google Gets Into Politics With Civic Info API · · Score: 0

    Considering that polling places can change (at least they do often in Florida) the accuracy of information is of high concern to me. I can't even get their map application to stop resetting phone numbers and addresses for our government office. Can't wait for the phone calls saying "google told me this was my precinct, " even though the official web server that shows locations is in the room next to me.

  22. Work for the government. Our local newspaper has a nice searchable database of our salaries: http://www2.tbo.com/fact-finder/government-salaries/?appSession=063158457089375&RecordID=&PageID=2&PrevPageID=1&cpipage=2&CPISortType=&CPIorderBy= I love working in a glass building.

  23. Verizon didn't even offer me the option to retain my copper wiring once FIOS came to the neighborhood. If I'm not mistaken, it actually was a clause for signing up for service that my POTS line would be decommissioned and removed. They didn't just cut the wire, they dug it back up from my yard all the way to the box. I live in hurricane alley and never gave much thought about backup power for the phones. Then again we don't really have to worry about freezing to death in Florida.

  24. Bloat on A Rant Against Splash Screens · · Score: 0

    First off, mentioning Adobe and Bloat in the same sentence is just asking for mockery. Second, the whole point of the splash screen was to allow "instant feedback" to the the user that something was happening since they completely ignore the hourglass cursor. Given that most applications are designed independent of CPU cores and IO throughput, wouldn't you be adding bloat just to give the false appearance that the application is fully loaded and functional when it isn't? I guess we could design background loading, but isn't that an assumption that we'd have multiple cores to handle the UI and background tasks?

  25. Not naming names on Major Bitcoin Exchange Ceases Operation · · Score: 0

    I noticed the name Dwolla was missing where they said "payment processor." If I recall, the chargeback happened back in August of 2011. I wonder if the lawsuit finally progressed to a point that they realized they weren't going to win?