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  1. Re:Drivers on AMD Challenges NVIDIA To Graphics Throw-Down · · Score: 1

    For true nerds, not buying into fallacious arguments is the only game in town.

  2. Re:Possible ghost? on Gadgets For the Ghosthunter · · Score: 1

    Can't mod so I'll just say THIS.

    Seriously, if you are dumb enough to believe in this stuff, I guess you're also too dumb to have any sense of self-preservation. It's just sad that there ARE no such things as ghosts or else they'd have taken out the idiots already.

  3. Re:A "problem?" on Prison Cell Phone Smuggling Out of Control · · Score: 1

    I can tell you this is true; my brother tried calling me from Prison here in Illinois. There's only one way to do it, you have to work through this company that the state contracts with, and the fees they charge are INSANE. I wrote it all down at the time but I've lost it... it was something like $6 to connect and $.75/minute to talk.

    They put the wrong people in the jail! Those folks are ROBBERS, pure and simple.

  4. DON'T READ THE ARTICLE on 'Death By GPS' Increasing In America's Wilderness · · Score: 3, Informative

    No really. Talk about depressing. It's about a six-year old kid and his mom, the kid dies. That's sad enough, but they have to give you some horrible details and imagery that's incredibly depressing.

    I'm gunna go run a hot bath and slit my wrists now. Or maybe make some toast.

  5. Re:I would think... on Makerbot Thing-o-Matic 3D Printer Review · · Score: 1

    Which other system is both easier and cheaper?

    Reprap Prusa; cheaper, not easier. Same results.
    UP!; easier, not cheaper. Better results.

    Are there any other serious contenders before you get completely out of desktop price range?

  6. Re:Quality control? on Makerbot Thing-o-Matic 3D Printer Review · · Score: 1

    If you have more money and want something that is quality out of the box, that you don't have to build, check into the UP! printer.

  7. Re:I would think... on Makerbot Thing-o-Matic 3D Printer Review · · Score: 1

    This is only true on the discontinued Makerbot Cupcake. The Thing-O-Matic rods are VERY solid.

  8. Re:I would think... on Makerbot Thing-o-Matic 3D Printer Review · · Score: 1

    The print head moves in Z. There are some problems due to moving the model, but the plastic sets immediately, and in fact most people use heated platforms to print on to keep it a bit warm and tacky, but it still isn't going to jiggle around.

    The mass of the entire model and platform moving around does mean you have to have things tuned pretty well and big models can sometimes shake things up a bit.

  9. Thing O Matic Build Time Lapse on Makerbot Thing-o-Matic 3D Printer Review · · Score: 1

    I just assembled one myself.... here's a video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpAw5SCR7gQ

  10. OK, so I don't know the whole story... on Pot Grower's Privacy Challenged · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But let's compare to some other businesses. Banks, for instance, are businesses that are often targeted by criminals. They - OH MY GOD - list their addresses publically! I feel the bank's right to privacy has been violated here. Not only that, but how can the banks survive now that the criminals know where they are?! OMG!

    Seriously, people. If you legalize the growing of marijuana, it's just like any other product now. You want to run a respectable business, then do it. If you are concerned about security, do what any other company concerned about security would do, put down the pipe, and GET SOME SECURITY.

  11. Re:Ban guns on Congresswoman and Staff Gunned Down · · Score: 1

    Guns don't make killing easier 'in some ways' - guns make killing easier period. It's the first killing weapon where you don't have to be within physical contact of your victim to kill them,

    I guess you've never heard of the crossbow, the bow and arrow, the slingshot, or the rock. You should check up on your killing technology.

  12. Re:I want one! on MIT Media Lab Researcher Prints Playable Flute · · Score: 1

    If you hurry, you can get the Cupcake ULTIMATE kit from Makerbot.com for $200 off the usual price of $899 for one more day (good through the 6th) using the coupon code; I think it's on their site (MAKERBOTFRIEND or something).

    Otherwise, check out the other models they have, as well as stuff from makergear.com, and the various sellers of repraps. You can get a decent 3D printer for your desktop for under $1000, easy. You'll have to build it yourself, but it's not hard.

    These printers print with ABS, the same stuff LEGO is made from, so it's pretty sturdy. Check out thingiverse.com for a nice gallery of free things to print and examples.

  13. Re:I want one! on MIT Media Lab Researcher Prints Playable Flute · · Score: 1

    I'm not familiar with the particular 3d printer in the story, but a RepRap or MakerBot CupCake/Thing-O-Matic prints with ABS plastic. That's the same stuff LEGO and car bodies are made from. I've got LEGO that are probably older than you and still get played with and snap together good as new. Those printers cost (much!) less than $2000 and can sit on your desktop.

    Also there's several 3D printing companies (see: shapeways.com) that'll print your design in anything up to and including stainless steel... so, tell me that's not durable.

    You probably haven't looked into this industry in years.

  14. Re:Duh... on Nigerian Email Scam Victim Sues Bank, Loses Appeal · · Score: 1

    This thread isn't closed yet, but I accept the diminishing probability this comment will ever be read. Just to set the record straight, I was just pointing out what no one else in the thread had; this IS a standard and shouldn't really come as a surprise.

    I think in a perfect world, the bankers would be familiar with these standard and know when to tell a customer the facts. In actual fact, most bank employees you will ever have contact with are low-wage automatons who don't know the business any better than you do. And the 'back office' people generally aren't any better. At any large company there's a tiny handful of people who understand what's going on and how the system works, and the rest of them go by the book, and often haven't even read the book themselves, just what they've been told.

    So... as a realistic consumer you do have to know about the systems you're using if you don't want to get surprised. Money's one of those things that justifies learning about in direct proportion to how much you have, I suppose. If you're making a giant deposit, you should probably at least know the mechanics of what's going to happen to it after you turn it over to the bank. Again, in a perfect world, the teller you talk to would know what happens to it and if any of what's going to happen is relevant, they'd tell you. In actuality, they know to type the amount in their computer, verify the account matches, and put it in a drawer to be collected by someone else later.

    I'm old now - or I feel old, which is the same thing - and it seems to me that the knowledge of the people you interact with at stores and banks and everywhere is vastly eroded. There was a day when the people at the store were directly responsible for all communication and education of the customer - if you had a major complaint about your bank, you'd go in to the bank and complain, and it would get solved by someone there, if not your teller, then at least in his presence so next time the problem came up, he'd understand it. He'd learn pretty quick about how everything worked 'cause he had to.

    Today, you have a major problem with your bank and unless you just happen to be at a branch at the time, you'll make a phone call. To some guys possibly halfway across the country, who only know how to solve your problem by reading from a script... If you DID happen to go to your bank, none of them would even know that script and would (eventually) refer you to call the bank instead of asking them.

    What was I saying? Get off my lawn, damn kids! Makin the dog bark again...

  15. Re:Just wait. on Amazon Censorship Expands · · Score: 1

    OK, the Bible never specifically says that's a good thing Lot did. But it DOES say repeatedtly he was the only righteous and good man in the towns of Soddom and Gomorrah, and the famous events that make those cities household names include Lot willingly offering his daughters up to mob to be raped. Then, just a few moments later, God turns his wife into a pillar of salt for LOOKING THE WRONG DIRECTION! Check it again. Offering your daughters up for a giant gangbang = ONLY HOLY MAN IN TOWN. Looking the wrong direction = SUFFER THE WRATH OF GOD.

    So it would take someone who's never read the Bible to say God disapproved of Lot's actions.

  16. Re:Just wait. on Amazon Censorship Expands · · Score: 1

    Read a bit later, lot gives the same daughters up to the men of his town to be raped, because he'd rather let the townspeople rape his daughters than what they wanted to do -- which is to rape some angels God had sent to have a chat with him.

    Oh yeah, and Lot was God's man, the only one righteous and pure enough to be saved by God when he destroyed the town. So... yeah.

  17. Re:Duh... on Nigerian Email Scam Victim Sues Bank, Loses Appeal · · Score: 3, Informative

    They are 100% clear about this. It's a part of the NACHA standards. It's typical to get the funds in your account the day after a check is wired to the Fed. But it's a very clear part of the standard that the recieving bank has 3 (IIRC) days to return an "NSF" and the customer has up to 60 days to dispute the check, and if either one happens, the funds are immediately pulled from your account. This is all part of the documented standard.

  18. Re:Yo, Jimmy, I've got an idea: on Should Wikipedia Just Accept Ads Already? · · Score: 1

    I'm not making any claims, I'm just asking honestly - how do you know the dropoff in editing isn't due to Wikipedia now being so complete? Remember back in the old days when anything you'd search for on Wikipedia would have a half-written article or be missing completely? I can't remember the last time I couldn't find a thing on Wikipedia.

  19. Re:Yo, Jimmy, I've got an idea: on Should Wikipedia Just Accept Ads Already? · · Score: 1

    The fact that you've seen the begging means that despite your disagreement with how it's operated, you still find it a valuable and useful service.

    You're just making excuses to not support a service I'd bet a dollar you use /every single day./

    For the record, I think they're a bunch of dicks, too, but they're dicks doing something with an /actual value,/ not just value invented by marketing people and mindless masses.

  20. Re:3 cheers for Land of the Free!! on PayPal Withdraws WikiLeaks Donation Service · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You didn't think this through before you started calling people idiots. LOTS of folks have chosen to become Americans.

  21. Re:Old news... on Feds Warrantlessly Tracking Americans' Real Time Credit Card Activity · · Score: 1

    You don't have to research anything. I work for a company that's closely related to First Data Corp and I have been in the industry for over a decade. OF COURSE FDC reports to the Fed. First off, from a pure logistics standpoint, there's no reasonable way for FDC to deposit funds in the merchant's account without doing it though the Fed. This is so obvious it hardly bears stating. But then there's other laws recently that also require us to report all merchant activity to the IRS... so... one way or another the "G-men" have all this info. Obviously. Whether they can correlate it, use it to track you, etc, I will not speculate.

    For those of you not in the business, I don't have the actual numbers but I wouldn't blink an eye if you told me FDC processes over 75% of all credit card transactions in the United States.

  22. Re:So .... on Microsoft Open Sources F# · · Score: 3, Informative

    Offtopic, but since you asked, I can explain it. They were following a cult of personality, and they got burned for it. They plan on C++ for all future projects.

    "GOAL sucks! While it's true that GOAL gave us many advantages, GOAL caused us a lot of grief. A single programmer (who could easily be one of the top ten Lisp programmers in the world) wrote GOAL. While he called his Lisp techniques and programming practices "revolutionary," others referred to them as "code encryption," since only he could understand them. Because of this, all of the support, bug fixes, feature enhancements, and optimizations had to come from one person, creating quite a bottleneck. Also, it took over a year to develop the compiler, during which time the other programmers had to make do with missing features, odd quirks, and numerous bugs.

    Eventually GOAL became much more robust, but even now C++ has some advantages over GOAL, such as destructors, better constructors, and the ease of declaring inline methods."

  23. Re:Parenting on Supreme Court Hears Violent Video Game Case Tomorrow · · Score: 1

    If you just have a quick look around you -- you don't even have to go outside -- you'll find that no matter how expensive your 3D monitor, it's impossible to mistake pixels for reality.

  24. How is this? on Smallest Manned Electric Plane Flies · · Score: 1

    How is cri-cri, which is the same number of characters and syllables but harder to say, short for "cricket?" This makes no sense.

  25. Re:Burning Man: Disneyland for Marketing Suits on Burning Man Goes Open Source For Cell Phones · · Score: 1

    Already commented so I can't mod you up, but I'm sure you're right. I've never personally been aware of BM as anything but a corporate mess milking money from the wannabe hippies. They're literally paying THE MAN as a way to show what hippies they are! WTF.