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User: Chris+Mattern

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Comments · 7,102

  1. Thus proving... on CMU AI Learning Common Sense By Watching the Internet · · Score: 1

    ...that it is possible to teach by pointing out the horrible examples.

  2. Re: follow the money on NYT: Healthcare.gov Project Chaos Due Partly To Unorthodox Database Choice · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In fact, all of those would suck donkey balls. That is because XML, JSON and XQuery are all *data-interchange formats*. Using them to run your database internals is like using a screwdriver as a hammer.

  3. Re:Non-comprehensive list on Ask Slashdot: MMORPG Recommendations? · · Score: 2

    EVE Online:
    Pros: player-driven game, space!, huge selection of ships, skills, development paths.
    Cons: subscription-driven, scammers galore, some RMT, mandating long gaming sessions, a destroyed ship is a lost ship, steep learning curve.

    Some of us don't regard those last two as "Cons".

  4. Re:terrorism! ha! on Imagining the Post-Antibiotic Future · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure why they should be trying to "convince the public" either - they should be convincing those that are handing out the anti-biotics.

    If you convince the public, you can get laws passed against it. Then you don't need to convince those handing out the antibiotics.

  5. Re:Where was this caution with Wii U? on Xbox One Released · · Score: 1

    However 98% of gamers don't feel a need to get this month's edition of Mario.

    They're too busy getting this month's edition of Madden!

  6. Re:EOL of old consoles on Xbox One Released · · Score: 1

    There are probably still tens of millions of NES consoles out there, yet Nintendo no longer licenses development of new NES games.

    Which doesn't mean that there aren't new NES games being released.

  7. Re:Only thing we need to know: on Bionic Eye Implant Available In US Next Month · · Score: 1

    Wrong sound effect. Try here:

    http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Bionic_Man_Sounds

    and choose "Bionic eye sound 1"

  8. Only thing we need to know: on Bionic Eye Implant Available In US Next Month · · Score: 3, Funny

    Will it make that cool "boop-boop-boop-boop" noise?

  9. Re:Check your facts on Cyprus University Accepts Bitcoin For Tuition Fee Payments · · Score: 1

    AND it's still Greek to me, although they might be speaking Turkish too..

    No, it doesn't work that way in Cyprus. The ones who speak Greek never speak Turkish. The ones who speak Turkish never speak Greek...

  10. Re:Also vunerable to bullets on Many UAVs Vulnerable To Directed-Energy Weapons · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Soviet attempt to train anti-tank dogs was...less than successful. The Russians trained their dogs with their own diesel-fueled tanks, which smelled different from German gasoline-fueled tanks. In the field, they discovered that this meant they had trained the dogs to blow up Soviet tanks but not German ones.

  11. Re:like we needed more ammo on Canonical Developer Warns About Banking With Linux Mint · · Score: 1

    While I don't use Debian based distros I would assume that all packages would be updated when their updates become available unless you explicitly forbid this in the apt-get configuration file (yum can do this as well). I can understand blocking a package if it is suspect but a better way would be to remove it.

    Yes, but a Debian-based distro does not point apt-get to the main Debian repository. It has its own repository. Ubuntu has an Ubuntu repository, and Mint has a Mint repository. If they don't put an update to their repository, it doesn't happen.

  12. Re:look out below ! on Skydiving Accident Leaves Security Guru Cedric 'Sid' Blancher Dead At 37 · · Score: 1

    The opposite of gravity is comedy. That's why there's so much black humor.

    But if the opposite of gravity is comedy, then surely black holes must be the least funny things in the universe.

  13. Re:"helpful" analytics on Rigging Up Baby · · Score: 1

    Sometimes data is just data.

    But you have to be careful because sometimes he turns out to be Lore.

  14. Re:Shame on them on Clam That Was Killed Determining Its Age Was Over 100 Years Older Than Estimated · · Score: 1

    Nah, once she got over her infatuation with Flash, Princess Aura (and her husband Prince Barrin) isn't a bad sort.

  15. Re:Shame on them on Clam That Was Killed Determining Its Age Was Over 100 Years Older Than Estimated · · Score: 1

    To ask what its name was. Now we know it was named "Ming."

    Just to find out its name? Now that was merciless.

  16. Re:Fuck the TSA on TSA Screening Barely Working Better Than Chance · · Score: 2

    You can't make a cell phone call from an airliner at cruising altitude. Period.

    Yes, you can. Period. You're not supposed to, 'cause it tends to screw up the cell towers, and it may also interfere with the working of the plane's radios. But if nobody stops you from doing it, it works.

    Come on Slashdotter, don't let Wikipedia do your thinking for you. Think for yourself.

    Come on, conspiacy nutter, don't let conspiracy sites do your thinking for you. Think for yourself.

  17. Re:Defensive move on DRM To Be Used In Renault Electric Cars · · Score: 2

    I can use medicine longer than is safe (expired) and kill myself and a lot of people. Do you propose to embed DRM on it?

    I am sure that as soon as it becomes practical, somebody will propose that, yes.

  18. Wow. on First Arab Supercar Costs $3.4 Million, Has Diamond-Encrusted Headlights · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Some people just really have more money than they know what to do with, don't they?

  19. Why should we care... on Seattle PD Mum On Tracking By Its New Wi-Fi Mesh Network · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...what some policeman's mother has to say?

  20. Re:packages on Slackware Linux 14.1 Released · · Score: 1

    No, that's actually not generally a problem. Package managers remember which packages you asked to be installed and which packages it installed automatically to satisfy dependencies. When an automatically installed package has no more packages dependent on it, it gets uninstalled.

    The real problem is, as another poster pointed out, is the same as any automated procedure--if something goes wrong enough, it can put you in a very deep hole very quickly and if you don't understand what it was doing for you, you'll have a great deal of difficulty digging yourself out again.

  21. Re:"Award-winning" on Slackware Linux 14.1 Released · · Score: 1

    If necessary, the marketing department will simply *create* an award in order to give to their product. Usually they can dredge up something a little less blatant, though.

  22. Britain's even more obsessed with pedophiles... on Edward Snowden Leaks Could Help Paedophiles Escape Police, Says UK Government · · Score: 1

    ...than we are. Makes me wonder about them sometimes.

  23. Re:Bureaucrats != engineers on Healthcare.gov Official Resigns, Website Still a Disaster · · Score: 1

    But don't you think 12 month should be enough for any website project if you have fairly large resources and absolutely need to be finished on time?

    No, I don't think that. And if you think that, you're a fool who knows nothing about software development. You *cannot* force a huge project to be done by an arbitrary deadline by throwing more people at it. That's basic, and it's been known for decades.

  24. Re:I saw this in the news a few days ago. on Elementary School Bans Students From Touching Each Other · · Score: 1

    It would be little different than complaining about referring to the RCMP as police.

    But...they are police. Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

  25. We have to do it this way because... on Elementary School Bans Students From Touching Each Other · · Score: 1

    ...having to figure out when a touch is inappropriate or bullying is hard.