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User: rmdingler

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  1. Of course. OPEC is to crude oil as Debeers is to diamonds, albeit with a more fractious cartel alliance.

    Still, with US production tapering off slower than anticipated, and world demand lagging, the Saudis would sign on for restricting output if they didn't know what the other OPEC nations would likely do: cheat.

    That is the way production cutbacks have worked out, and then the Saudis just lose market share.

  2. Doubt is a trait of the sound mind on Even Einstein Doubted His Gravitational Waves (astronomy.com) · · Score: 2
    It's been said more eloquently before, but the more you know, the more you realize you don't know.

    Speculating on the ground-breaking physical laws of the universe has to be fraught with doubt and self-reversal.

    Ignorance is the primary reservoir of complete confidence in nature.

  3. It's going to take a minute, and the tech necessary to recover tight oil was indeed something OPEC didn't see coming. It's too late to pretend it's not there.

    You can hold the price of oil low with oversupply and create market disturbance if you want, but only for so long.

    Not so much Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and many others... but the US economy is very diverse for a major petroleum producer.

  4. I'd like to order Vanilla Sky for everyone else. on Google Expands 'Right To Be Forgotten' To All Global Search Results (thestack.com) · · Score: 1
    Instead of reprogramming your own memories to suit your perceived ideal, erase it ineffectively?

    This is the reverse fail of the popular tenet.

    "Well, if it is not on the internet, it isn't true."

  5. Re:IOT isn't as easy as it sounds. on Trane Takes 2 Years To Remove Hard-Coded Root Passwords From IoT Thermostat (softpedia.com) · · Score: 1
    We've had a metric ton of problems with the ECM blower motors. Many of the first renditions came with the old boards modified, so that there was still a place to install a PSC motor when the very expensive oem motor failed prematurely. In some cases, you were forced to purchase the motor and control module as one unit.

    The general movement toward increasingly more efficient equipment forces manufacturers to modify proven technology to eke out higher efficiency plateaus, but the savings enjoyed from an upgrade (80% to 90% AFUE furnace) is often offset by more expensive and less available replacement parts.

  6. Re:Hammerheads in Vermont on Carly Is Out · · Score: 1

    Unemployment would be shortened to 1-3 months max, a short time to find another job, but not the year or more it is in some places now. Right now, we're paying a WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE to sit at home and do nothing. This is stupid.

    Often, it's even worse than that. We pay beaucoup people unemployment and disability benefits who work for cash on the side.

  7. Re:Rending of garments to commence! on Trane Takes 2 Years To Remove Hard-Coded Root Passwords From IoT Thermostat (softpedia.com) · · Score: 1
    With the focus of late on the latest, greatest, and ever more complicated, your potential points of failure increase.

    Now, something short of a power outage is enough to freeze your water pipes... say a wifi outage or low voltage interruption to the Nest.

    Buy some insurance. Wire in an Accustat as a backup that kicks heat on at 10 degrees Celsius.

  8. Re:IOT isn't as easy as it sounds. on Trane Takes 2 Years To Remove Hard-Coded Root Passwords From IoT Thermostat (softpedia.com) · · Score: 1
    That's not your inducer moter... it is your blower motor, reponsible for moving air with a squirrel cage through the ductwork in your home.

    The inducer motor is to force or draw combustion gases through the heat exchanger and out the roof vent. ECM motors are frequently unreliable, and expensive to replace, but you can replace one with a PSC motor and relays without changing out the circuit board.

  9. Re:One down. on Carly Is Out · · Score: 1

    Hanson and Palmer...good link. Some of the same thinly-veiled pandering to the worst of us as the Two Kings tow-headed boy.

  10. Heh Heh on AWS Terms of Service Offer a Break If Zombie Apocalypse Occurs (windowsitpro.com) · · Score: 3, Interesting
    This smells like the kind of thing you might leave behind if you were departing Amazon, perhaps not on the best of terms.

    It's also possible the employee responsible for the Zombie Inclusion was so bored to tears writing these terms of service he decided to include a gaffe just to see if anyone noticed.

  11. Re:trump independent can lead to no one getting 27 on Carly Is Out · · Score: 4, Insightful

    trump independent can lead to no one getting the needed 270.

    That would be fine too, since the House would then elect the POTUS from the three top candidates with one vote per state delegation.

    The House isn't going to elect Trump, but they did elect Jefferson over Burr in 1800.

  12. Re:One down. on Carly Is Out · · Score: 2
    Spot on. Also, outside of the sparsely populated early primaries, it remains to be seen if his apparent appeal translates into votes.

    Even considering the general poor quality of the candidates this year, his successful campaign is a head-scratcher.

  13. Hear hear! on Why Stack Overflow Doesn't Care About Ad Blockers · · Score: 5, Informative
    Also, too, and neither: figure out a way to separate me from the paper in my wallet without making my machine load slower.

    Write your ads in a language not quite so notorious as an infection vector.

    Good start, though.

  14. Tumbling it may be on North Korea's Satellite Tumbling In Orbit · · Score: 0
    The fact that this gentleman has the ability to deliver a payload into orbit is hardly useless, though.

    I hope we soon inhabit a world where the leading nations can work together to deter threats like this.

    If we don't, there will not long be a human overpopulation problem.

  15. Re:fire! on Scientists Turn Paper Waste Into Aerogel (inhabitat.com) · · Score: 1

    It seems like it would be difficult to make a mostly paper product flame retardant.

    Well sure, but for those of you /. posters who routinely work Mission Impossible, the very difficult is rather mundane.

  16. Re:i do like a clean gravesite... on SourceForge Eliminates DevShare Program (sourceforge.net) · · Score: 2
    It's a great site.

    Of course, as widespread as the internet is now, you can find excellence as easily as any of your other surfing preferences... but when you think you're smart, come post here.

    You will be rapidly corrected.

  17. Re:i do like a clean gravesite... on SourceForge Eliminates DevShare Program (sourceforge.net) · · Score: 1

    I'll give you this Snidely, you're the most prolific /. staff poster I've ever seen.

  18. Re:This crap again? on The Sexual Misconduct Case That Has Rocked Anthropology (sciencemag.org) · · Score: 2
    A drunk woman in the presence of men gives tacit permission to sexual intercourse in the same manner as a guy flashing cash in a public venue gives tacit permission to an armed robbery.

    However.

    If she should wind up drunkenly in the room of an equally intoxicated senior colleague, his ability to misunderstand intent must be considered as an extenuating circumstance.

  19. Reminiscent of the con games on Hearthstone Cheats and Tools Spiked With Malware (csoonline.com) · · Score: 2

    Many of the cons that seem otherworldly in their magnificence (The Sting) do not work on honest people.

  20. Re:Emergency Brake? on Jeep/Chrysler's New Gearshift Appears To Be Causing Accidents (roadandtrack.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful
    One additional clear advantage of the standard transmission is the degree with which you have to be actually engaged with the process of driving.

    To be fair, sometimes driving a familiar automatic gets downright, er, automatic... and you actually forget you're driving some number of tons of metal down the boulevard.

  21. Sexual assault is a horrible, horrible thing when it happens. However and to whomever it happens. If a man (or woman) in a senior position forces himself on an underling in a way that is uncomfortable and disturbing, he should be run out of town on a rail.

    But.

    I think it is ultimately likely that if we persecute every reported affront before due diligence has its day in the courts, we are increasing the probability someone will exploit the system.

  22. Here comes the new boss on Sen. Blumenthal Demands Lifting of IT 'Gag' Order (computerworld.com) · · Score: 1
    FWIW, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and his campaign contributors.

    Sadly, the industries that give to a politician are impacted the most by the committee(s) the Senator sits on.

    It's the bit about H-1B visas that the tech companies were most rallying for. The idea is for companies to be able to attract more of the world's brightest minds in engineering and technology and allow these workers to stay in the U.S. (2013 Bill) The bill was written by a bipartisan group of senators called the "Gang of Eight," which included Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). In the lead up to Senate debate on the bill, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched a political action group called FWD.us to focus on immigration reform. As a result, a deep roster of tech executives banded to together to push the bipartisan policy agenda and change how the U.S. approaches immigration.

    The group vowed to work with members of Congress from both parties, the administration, and state and local officials. It has used both online and offline advocacy tools to build support for policy changes. FWD.us' list of heavy hitters includes Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, and many more.

  23. Re:Well, that's pretty much a textbook violation. on Verizon's Mobile Video Won't Count Against Data Caps -- but Netflix Will (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The FCC has been dragging their feet before ruling on Zero-Rating, so hopefully they will get this one right.

    If Verizon is allowed to abuse this as a loophole, others will follow, and sponsored content will reign.

  24. Re:Not a bad deal, really. on Apollo Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Sixth Man On the Moon, Dies At 85 (examiner.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful
    People are often surprised when their heroes turn out to be regular, mortal, flawed human beings.

    Actually, it makes the accomplishment even more amazing for its rather humble origin.

  25. Not a bad deal, really. on Apollo Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Sixth Man On the Moon, Dies At 85 (examiner.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful
    If a prenuptial agreement with life had been presented to me when I was 21 or 22, I would've happily signed on for walking on the moon & living into my 80's.

    He had an interesting life; probably never dull and with few regrets.

    Rest in peace, astronaut.