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User: rmdingler

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  1. All of the Rioter Cell Phones were locked, which requires more time-sensitive efforts to try to obtain the data," Jennifer Kerkhoff, an assistant United States attorney, wrote.

    Every last one of the seized phones were locked? That seems hardly representative of the general population, although I suppose "violent protesters" may indeed be more security conscious.

    Jennifer Kerkhoff. J. Kerkhoff. I mean, no surprise in her career selection of prosecuting attorney after what must've been some pretty tough early years in school.

  2. Re:OK in Barstow, but ... on 'Dig Once' Bill Could Bring Fiber Internet To Much of the US (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 5, Informative

    Anyone around here here have any practical experience with long runs of conduit in rural areas? I'm all in favor of it if it works. But how do you keep the conduit from filling up with water ... at least in places where it rains now and then?

    There is always water in underground conduit. Electrical and communication lines run in underground conduit are required to be sheathed in the same cable jacket as direct burial lines.

  3. Re:Speak password out loud? on New Technology Combines Lip Motion and Passwords For User Authentication (bleepingcomputer.com) · · Score: 1
    This method might actually strengthen many folks' current access to protected information.

    Read my lips: p-a-s-s-w-o-r-d

  4. Re:I am curious if people think this is good or ba on Indiana Considers Prohibiting Cities From Banning Airbnb (usnews.com) · · Score: 4, Informative
    Rental properties have traditionally been frowned upon by neighbors, even in neighborhoods where a couple of homes on the block are rented out.

    The conventional wisdom is that these renters don't keep their domiciles and yards up as well as the homeowners, and they may not prioritize the benefit of neighborhood community like long time residents. This is a seemingly legitimate complaint, and yet, mostly falls outside of city and state regulations. It is quite a trick to balance the property rights of the landlord(s) with that of the regular residents.

    Airbnb is another entity altogether. Where we have lived in the US, they appear to be in direct competition with hotels and motels without paying the same occupancy tax that many local communities use to boost tourism and improve infrastructure.

  5. Re:Easy to defeat... on China's Police Will Shoot Illegal Drones With Radio-Jamming Rifles (mashable.com) · · Score: 1
    Or, like some missiles:

    The killer drones could be pre-programmed to attack a given target, with some on-board flight adjustment options, and radio contact is unnecessary to guide them.

  6. Ever how you slice it, it's advertising expense.

    With a few exceptions, the new normal seems to be there is no such thing as bad press... if you're getting your name out there, it's better than not being talked about.

  7. Re:The best one... on Ask Slashdot: Best Virtual Reality Headsets? · · Score: 1

    I forgot to mention that the special snowflakes here of course are not affected by motion sickness. Just non-Slashdot people of course. So don't get mad at me.

    So long as we're clear, then, this affliction doesn't correlate to the audience with which you have shared....

    Tillerson might as well tout climate science at the next Oval Office gathering?

  8. Re:easy data entry messup or Changes to ZIP codes on DirecTV Admits Screwing Up Regional Sports Fees, Starts Issuing Credits (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    It seems likely on the order of tomorrow's sunrise, that if honest mistakes were made charging by zip code, there would naturally be some folks who were undercharged as well.

    When contacted by Ars, AT&T did not say exactly how many customers were affected. We've also asked the company whether any customers weren't charged enough as a result of the same error and will provide an update if we get one.

    Wouldn't you benefit by getting out in front of this and stating that some folks were charged too little if that was actually the case?

  9. Oops... sorry about that mate! on DirecTV Admits Screwing Up Regional Sports Fees, Starts Issuing Credits (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 2
    Two things I find surprising about this allegedly inadvertent overcharging:

    1) How poorly the word stunned describes how we feel to hear it.

    2) What a different outcome there would be if you were a modest-sized sole proprietor and were caught cheating a goodly percentage of your customers.

  10. Goody Goody Gumdrops Google on Google Tells Army of 'Quality Raters' To Flag Holocaust Denial (theguardian.com) · · Score: 3, Funny
    It's about time one of these tech giants gave back to internet community and taught us all how to think.

    The line between hateful speech and offensive speech is so thin, it can correctly be identified as in the ear of the beholder.

    Even in the freest societies, the right not to be offended is not granted to any of us... that's how we keep the freedom.

  11. Re:Industrial accident on A Rogue Robot Is Blamed For a Human Colleague's Gruesome Death (qz.com) · · Score: 1
    It's not even that it is genuinely a hindrance. The hack just makes it faster.

    The way the safety is presently designed, you have to cut the 2"x4" or 2"x6" on a flat plane beginning on the short (1.5") edge in order to engage the guard to rotate up into the housing. Either way you cut it, the mark for the measurement is scratched across the long (3.5" or 5.5") edge with a framing square. With a little practice and the guard wired out of the way, you can plunge the saw through the long side, cutting through the 1.5" thickness with those commercial, worm drive skilsaws.

  12. Doesn't pass the smell test. on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Allegedly Used Email Alias As Exxon CEO (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1
    There may be no regulation preventing CEO's from using an email alias (emailias?)

    but the purpose is the same as a political use: to hide something that you're afraid might backfire on you some day.

    Would it be too much to ask that folks of great power and privilege conduct their affairs more honorably? Let's not forget he wasn't using the pseudonym for private communications... it was being used to deny global warming was anthropogenic after Exxon's own studies clearly indicated to the contrary.

  13. Re:Industrial accident on A Rogue Robot Is Blamed For a Human Colleague's Gruesome Death (qz.com) · · Score: 1

    The usual culprit, when the shell of a piece of machinery becomes energized, is often many meters of wiring away from the equipment. What typically happens is a given load somewhere has lost a neutral, and rather than run a new wire to the light/motor/outlet, a lazy electrician will use the existing ground as the neutral. It gets you line voltage to the fixture, but it energizes all the grounds in the loop, including the shells of equipment grounded in that fashion.

  14. Re:Industrial accident on A Rogue Robot Is Blamed For a Human Colleague's Gruesome Death (qz.com) · · Score: 1

    The blade guard on an old circular saw I once had comes to mind as a good example. It was clearly thrown on as an afterthought of the design, and as a result tended to catch on the wood, screw up cuts, and generally just be a horrible nuisance (I've used other saws in which the guard worked a lot smoother). Eventually I just removed the thing altogether and jammed the interlock.

    I witnessed this hack multiple times as a youngster on commercial construction sites.

    Rather than removing it from the saw, the framers would wire it into the open position because it allowed them to cut measured lengths of lumber much quicker. As you probably know, and likely the key reason for the implementation of the safety, the saw doesn't stop spinning immediately when you let off the trigger.

    The job site got shut down early one day when a framer brought the saw across his thigh after making a routine cut he had probably made thousands of time.

  15. Re:Industrial accident on A Rogue Robot Is Blamed For a Human Colleague's Gruesome Death (qz.com) · · Score: 1

    Bypassing safety for convenience is a common thing unfortunately...

    It's becoming rather common to have to make things even more foolproof.

    There is a safety switch on modern gas furnaces that measures pressure in the exhaust vent stack to keep the burner from lighting in the event of a blocked pathway to the atmosphere. These safeties that keep families from carbon monoxide exposure were jury-rigged (wired around) so frequently that it became standard to have the sequence of operations check for their presence in the off position, before starting the induced draft motor, so the switch could read pressure in both positions to prove it was still wired in.

  16. Re:Yep on Online Job Sites May Block Older Workers (cnbc.com) · · Score: 1
    It means they're hungover, right?

    Certainly one possibility, although a hot date. a Planet of the Apes marathon, or the release of a hot new game would be more likely to render a younger man unsuitable for work next day.

  17. Re:Yep on Online Job Sites May Block Older Workers (cnbc.com) · · Score: 2

    Almost everything blocks older workers to some degree, usually significant.

    Just as we've been telling everyone for years.

    Good. It's better for me and the others who prefer hiring older employees. If the elder applicant is physically capable of performing the same task, even with with rather obvious experience benefit aside, older workers are less distracted, more likely to value their job, and less likely to be incapable of normal performance levels due to misadventure.

  18. Re:What is this fascination with outsourcing? on Lloyds To 'Offshore' 2,000 Jobs In IBM Data Center Outsourcing Deal (thestack.com) · · Score: 1
    Complaining about outsourcing is happening. Deal with it. Move on. Change plans if necessary. Complaining about it on Slashdot accomplishes nothing.

    Anybody that believes otherwise is not thinking clearly.

    It is also plausible anybody that believes otherwise is not thinking exactly like I do.

  19. Re: Boaty McBoatface: people power on Boaty McBoatface To Go On Its First Antarctic Mission (theguardian.com) · · Score: 0

    Agreed. How could Hitlery have become the DNC nominee?!?! I would have voted for Bernie but the Democrats made me vote for Trump.

    Ironically, the Clinton campaign sought to promote Trump, Carson, and Cruz in order to swing the Republicans to a more conservative platform; a platform they imagined would be easy to defeat in the general election.

    Clinton was just difficult to get behind. She reeked of career, entitled, and, yes, even crooked, politician.

    Again with the irony, she was possibly the perfect outcome for the Republicans and Trump.

  20. Re:Boaty McBoatface: people power on Boaty McBoatface To Go On Its First Antarctic Mission (theguardian.com) · · Score: 1
    *clap* *clap* *clap*

    Well played.

  21. Re:Boaty McBoatface: people power on Boaty McBoatface To Go On Its First Antarctic Mission (theguardian.com) · · Score: 1

    Sadly, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” -W.S. Churchill

  22. Boaty McBoatface: people power on Boaty McBoatface To Go On Its First Antarctic Mission (theguardian.com) · · Score: 3, Funny

    Another recent example of a democratic election gone horribly wrong.

  23. Pretty much this. A college education has always been a bit of a leg up, if you will, but human excellence has never been defined exclusively by the opportunistic availability of higher education predicated upon scholastic success or familial opportunity.

    Sometimes, adversity and economic obstacles are a better cull.

  24. Re:yeah, tax the robots on Backlash Builds Against Bill Gates' Call For A Robot Tax (cbsnews.com) · · Score: 2

    Relatively speaking, You are wealthier than you think!

  25. Re:We've known this for years on Proof Daylight Saving Time Is Dumb, Dangerous, and Costly (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    I sense the herd is strong in these ones.