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User: SJHillman

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Comments · 3,106

  1. Re:jerk on Georgia Cop Issues 800 Tickets To Drivers Texting At Red Lights · · Score: 1

    My car doesn't have Bluetooth, and I'm not even sure my phone's Bluetooth works. I also have a hard time understanding the voices most GPS use (including Google nav) due to hearing issues. I also find that the voice read out doesn't convey nearly as much or as detailed information as even a very simple map display.

    I do, however, agree that there's still no reason to be messing with it while driving... you program it before you leave and let it do its thing. On the off chance you do need to change something en route, it's rare enough that pulling over should be no big deal.

  2. Re:cost of doing business on Brooklyn Yogurt Shop Sting Snares Fake Reviewers For NY Attorney General · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The government isn't in the business of being a business, so profit isn't the intention. The value to them isn't the fines as much as it to get people to follow the rules and fining them is one of the ways to do that. So if the AG spent $500,000, but it cuts down false reviews by 20%, they might consider it money well spent.

    Now, if they spent $500,000 in a tax collection effort (something to bring in more money) that only yielded $350,000, then it would be a failure, but that's not what this was.

  3. Re:..as little? on Brooklyn Yogurt Shop Sting Snares Fake Reviewers For NY Attorney General · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Again, the perspective of $1 being tiny is from the American *spender*, which would be a business. Most businesses would likely consider it a marketing expense, so they could get 300 reviews for the same cost as printing brochures and it will likely have a much bigger impact than brochures.

  4. Re:..as little? on Brooklyn Yogurt Shop Sting Snares Fake Reviewers For NY Attorney General · · Score: 1

    Outside of the US, bilingualism is pretty common in many countries. Not sure if Bangladesh would number among them, but it's pretty likely that a sizable enough portion of the population would be able to get by well enough for online reviews with Google translate able to fill in the blanks for them.

  5. Re:What's a Yelp? on Brooklyn Yogurt Shop Sting Snares Fake Reviewers For NY Attorney General · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've never used your services. Are you somehow relevant somewhere?

  6. Re:wouldn't that be yelps problem? on Brooklyn Yogurt Shop Sting Snares Fake Reviewers For NY Attorney General · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Probably around the time billions of sales dollars a year are highly influenced by online reviews, articles, etc. It's always been illegal to lie online if the lying falls under libel or slander laws, as well as fraud, false advertising, etc.

  7. Re:..as little? on Brooklyn Yogurt Shop Sting Snares Fake Reviewers For NY Attorney General · · Score: 3, Informative

    Depends on your perspective. If your perspective is a Bangladesh worker, it's huge. If your cost perspective is an American spender, it's tiny. This article is written for first-world readers, so $1 is tiny.

  8. Re:The more moderated, the less honest on Comments About Comments · · Score: 5, Insightful

    However, without moderation, the noise often overtakes the signal and you're left without any discussion, debate, or sharing of useful information whatsoever. Also not a good thing.

  9. Re:kinja on Comments About Comments · · Score: 1

    Well, it is kind of difficult to contribute to a world in which you don't exist.

  10. Re:The most valuable part of some sites on Comments About Comments · · Score: 5, Funny

    "It's obvious that comments are what make some websites attractive. This is one of them."

    It's sure as hell not the unique, timely stories with well-edited summaries that keeps people coming back to Slashdot.

  11. Re:It's all about fun on Learning To Code: Are We Having Fun Yet? · · Score: 5, Funny

    My understanding is that management only hires people who have fun doing their job because management is largely made up of Funpires who need to slowly leech the fun out of their victims, leaving them soulless corpses.

    Seriously, why else would they veto Pants-Free Fridays?

  12. Re:interesting that a newbie is telling the world on Learning To Code: Are We Having Fun Yet? · · Score: 2

    "The author has a point, maybe. I did notice that he was ten years old in the nineties and learned to program after college, meaning he has maybe five years of experience. He may be missing the REASON you name it "XMLReader", not "SusieQ" or whatever he said. If he ever has to grok a medium sized project full of classes with "whimsical" names he may wish for clear, intuitive names."

    This holds true in the sysadmin world too. If you have just a couple servers, it's fun to give them whimsical names but once you start getting into the dozens of servers, it becomes a huge pain in the ass to keep the names straight.

  13. Re:You're doing it wrong on Learning To Code: Are We Having Fun Yet? · · Score: 1

    My uni used VB.NET for the beginner classes and Java for people in a programming major. It was ok for simple programs, but anything complex became an exercise in frustration. I only really got back into programming when I needed some PHP for a family reunion website I was working on. Even then, I don't think I would have stuck with it if I didn't find it 'fun'. I think 'fun' is essential for starting it because your early programs aren't going to be very rewarding when you look around at all of the complex programs we use on a daily basis.

    TL;DR: 'Fun' is good for starting, getting the computer to do what you want as a motivation/reward is good for continuing.

  14. Re:What a lovely idea on Never Underestimate the Bandwidth of a Suburban Filled With MicroSD Cards · · Score: 1

    Probably from the quote referred to in the summary about tapes and station wagons... which predates xkcd by a few decades...

  15. Re:Common sense almost prevails on Never Underestimate the Bandwidth of a Suburban Filled With MicroSD Cards · · Score: 4, Funny

    They got confused by microSD cards not being one millionth the size of an SD card. Damned misleading names.

  16. V'ger on Software Glitch Means Loss of NASA's Deep Impact Comet Probe · · Score: 1

    We thought V'ger was a threat, just wait for D'p Imp'ct to return to Earth. It will destroy us all with copper slugs from the heavens. Unless we can find someone to talk it down...

  17. Re:Wooden sailing vessels on How Long Can the ISS Last? · · Score: 1

    The difference between the ISS and the USS Constitution is ease of doing it. The Constitution can be put in dry dock, and you can easily bring workers and materials to it. The ISS is in orbit... which is barely accessible during regular use of it, nevermind using it as a museum money hole. I'd be all for it if there was a practical way to do it, but there likely won't be until long after it deteriorates beyond salvation.

  18. Re:Regardless of longevity. on How Long Can the ISS Last? · · Score: 1

    That'd be like leaving a sunken ship in a harbor... it makes a great museum, but it can cause a lot of danger if you're not careful. It works for the USS Arizona and a handful of others, but it's a thousand times as dangerous to leave stuff in space to rot... especially since without regular maintenance, it will likely completely deteriorate long before we have the means to turn it into any sort of museum. If you want to go that route, the safest thing to do would probably be to crash it onto the moon instead... at least more of it will be recoverable than leaving it in orbit or letting it crash to Earth.

  19. Re:Other nations? on How Long Can the ISS Last? · · Score: 2

    I prefer mega-nation, although stagnation might be closer at this point in time.

  20. Re:Uh oh! on Its Nuclear Plant Closed, Maine Town Is Full of Regret · · Score: 1

    This is New York... most of the towns are settled in valleys and the windmills are up on the hills surrounding the valleys. The wind farms are usually a single row of wind mills running along a ridge... even the biggest groups of windmills usually number less than a dozen. I've never heard of anyone having a problem with the sun because you have to be very close to the windmill for the sun not to just overpower the blades with brightness, and if you're that close, the you'll need to crane your head to see the sun/blades anyway. Some people have complained about the whoosh-whoosh-whoosh noise if they live within a few hundred yards of one, but those are generally the people getting paid to have a windmill on their property anyway. One of the coolest effects is at night when just above horizon there's a long row of red lights blinking in sync. Also, being New York, solar is horribly impractical here about 10 months out of the years, but the wind mills also aren't as godawfully gigantic as other parts of the country (but still huge compared to anything else here, except broadcast towers).

  21. Re:Uh oh! on Its Nuclear Plant Closed, Maine Town Is Full of Regret · · Score: 1

    You could argue that politicians can only keep burning money as long as the economy is fairly stable. Tax money has to come from somewhere.

  22. Re:Bad choice of words on Its Nuclear Plant Closed, Maine Town Is Full of Regret · · Score: 1

    As opposed to the glowing green area associated with most nuke plants.

  23. Re:Uh oh! on Its Nuclear Plant Closed, Maine Town Is Full of Regret · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We've had wind farms erected on some of the windier ridges near my hometown. One of the coolest things about them is that you can drive right up to the windmills and check them out. A majority of them are erected on farmland, and the farmers are paid about $3000/yr per windmill on their property... even if it's on land that was otherwise unused (such as very rocky soil or old pastures no longer in use). Some people complain that they make the skyline ugly, but most people I've talked to think they make rather serene vistas along the tops of the valleys.

  24. Re:how big? on Fracked Shale Could Sequester Carbon Dioxide · · Score: 2

    The wiki article linked says "The Marcellus covers several times more area,[138] stretching 600 miles (970 km)", which is to say the linear measurement is 600 miles. The summary is wrong. I think it's the first incorrect summary I've seen here in at least a half hour.

  25. Re:So what IS the plan? on Robots Join Final Assembly Line At US Auto Plant · · Score: 1

    You mean the Ferengi were just stakeholders who happened to wander onto the set?