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User: conoviator

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  1. Re:Is it a surprise? on Are Silicon Valley Workers Abandoning Libertarianism For Socialism? (salon.com) · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm a Yank; but, I spent a lot of time in Europe a couple of years ago -- spending the better part of a year in various Eastern and Western nations. In my opinion, Required Snark is correct.

    Getting to know the locals, I noticed how much less cluttered their lives often seemed to be. This was true in both the East and the West. There were lovely apartments and lots of fancy cars, along with middle-grade housing and plebeian autos, flat panel televisions, computers, and smart phones. But, it was very apparent that my American lifestyle, by comparison, was just crammed with crap.

    One thing that was consistent: the Europeans I met were just plain puzzled by the United States. In particular, our brutal form of capitalism, and our perverse fascination with guns.

  2. So true. It makes me wonder just what percentage of our species are cretins. Probably not a small percentage.

  3. Elon Musk can tackle this on Anti-Tesla Pickup Truck Drivers Take Over a Supercharger Station -- Again (electrek.co) · · Score: 1

    Musk is nothing if not clever and audacious. I'm sure he's designing a whiz-bang death-ray module for the Tesla that will handle these yahoos quite well. Of course, the unintended consequences may get out of hand.

  4. Re:Our ATC System isn't designed for this on Silicon Valley Takes a (Careful) Step Toward Autonomous Flying (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    Hopefully, Silicon Valley's naivety about real-world complexity doesn't kill too many people before more mature leadership arrives, or the presently abundant investor money dries up. Pilot projects will quickly reveal how unprepared current technology is for handling corner cases where the system failure modes kill people, rather than just cause a BSD.

  5. Re:Nerds care about politics too on Hillary Clinton Declares 2016 Democratic Presidential Bid · · Score: 1

    I couldn't agree more. I won't vote for her. Will be perfectly happy voting for an alternative party that isn't contributing to the corrupt status quo in U.S. politics. Apparently, nothing will change in the U.S. until the oligarchy is threatened with mass revolt. I'll probably be long dead by the time that happens. And it _will_ happen, unless the rich get smart enough to ratchet down their greed.

  6. Re:Way too many problems on 1+ Year Running Arch Linux On a Lenovo Yoga 2 Chronicled · · Score: 2

    Maybe Arch isn't the right distro for that particular notebook. I've been using MintOS on my Yoga for several months. Works great!

  7. Re:Sensors wrong on Planes Without Pilots · · Score: 1

    You are right. William Langewiesche expanded on this in his excellent 'Fly By Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson'. Airbus engineers should receive a lot of credit for the outcome. But, of course, the pilot executed the turn to the Hudson quickly and managed the crisis very well.

  8. Re:Not always true... on Germanwings Plane Crash Was No Accident · · Score: 1

    I have a friend who is a recently retired captain at one of the major carriers in the U.S., who used to fly the Airbus A320. In reply to my question about this incident, he told me that his company's policy was to never leave one crew member in the cockpit. Upon exiting the cockpit, another flight crew member would enter the cockpit.

  9. Flag mechanism not used? on Yik Yak Raises Controversy On College Campuses · · Score: 1

    Apple requires all "social" apps to incorporate a flag mechanism for malicious content. App providers are supposed to moderate. The Yik Yak iOS app does provide for flagging. So, I am wondering:

    1. Is Yik Yak not providing meaningful moderation?

    2. Are the receivers of the malicious posts not flagging?

  10. Re:He's got chops on Harrison Ford's Plane Crashes On Golf Course · · Score: 1

    Restoration professionals won't have any trouble fixing / replacing the wing.

  11. Re:He's got chops on Harrison Ford's Plane Crashes On Golf Course · · Score: 1

    Sorry to see a great old plane get bent up. Looks like it will probably fly again. Very glad that Mr. Ford executed his emergency landing well enough to fly again soon. I don't fly in the LA metro area (based up in the Pacific Northwest); but, I know that there are many sections of the metroplex that would offer few good options.

  12. Re:Bad idea on Snowden Reportedly In Talks To Return To US To Face Trial · · Score: 1

    Maybe rioting in Europe and few other places. Not in the United States. U.S. citizens are still asleep.

  13. Re:What he really said on Bill Nye Disses "Regular" Software Writers' Science Knowledge · · Score: 1

    No need to paraphrase. His comment to the interviewer was brief:

    "We have this top tier [of scientists] in the U.S., the people who graduated from Stanford, from Berkeley, from MIT, Cornell. Those people are still exceptional and really good. But we have this enormous gap between that and just regular software writers and farmers and people that need to be scientifically literate."

    My question to Mr. Nye would be: why does he think "software writers" are scientifically ignorant? How did his opinion form? Based on research studies, we know that United States citizens are relative dolts when it comes to science. I'm just surprised that the software engineering profession would be singled out (along with with those poor farmers).

  14. Re:Misleading Summary on Bill Nye Disses "Regular" Software Writers' Science Knowledge · · Score: 1

    I wrote the summary. I actually agree with Nye's larger point about the general state of science literacy in the United States. That's not even controversial. I do take exception to his categorizing software engineers as scientifically illiterate. Perhaps a Microsoft engineer slept with his girlfriend.

  15. Re:Horribly misleading summary on Bill Nye Disses "Regular" Software Writers' Science Knowledge · · Score: 1

    I wrote the summary. I take exception to Nye's stating that software engineers in the United States are scientifically illiterate. If I had the opportunity, I'd ask him on what basis he formed his opinion of my profession. His delineation of the world of Big Serious Science, apparently only to be found in the laboratories of Ivy League schools, and the rest of America is ridiculous.

  16. Re:Priorities on Pilot's Selfies Could Have Caused Deadly Air Crash · · Score: 1

    The pilot in command wasn't very high time; but, was instrument rated. He didn't have a lot of experience with actual IMC (instrument meteorological conditions). And he was zipping around the airport pattern at night and in very poor conditions.
    You are so right about the ease with which spatial disorientation can come on. Given his low altitude, he had no room for recovery. Pretty bone headed.

  17. Re:Double Irish? TAX ALL FOREIGNERS!!! on Obama Proposes One-Time Tax On $2 Trillion US Companies Hold Overseas · · Score: 1

    I wish I had said that.

  18. Re:Double Irish? TAX ALL FOREIGNERS!!! on Obama Proposes One-Time Tax On $2 Trillion US Companies Hold Overseas · · Score: 1

    Thank you.

  19. Useful Niche Cases on Why Run Linux On Macs? · · Score: 1

    99 percent of the time, I'm running OS X. But, I do keep a dual boot (OS X / Linux) Mac Mini handy for the odd cases where a particular program happens to only be available for Linux, or if I experience strange behavior from an application hosted on OS X.

    For example, I was getting system crashes after upgrading my Macbook Pro (mid 2009 model) to Yosemite, and running Arduino IDE. Attempts to upload sketches to the target Arduino would make the entire operating system crash. Very dramatic. Thankfully, this problem hasn't appeared when using my new iMac.

    I was a hard-core Linux desktop user for over a decade. Still do a lot with that operating system on the server side. But, as soon as I could afford to do so, I bought a Mac. I love not spending unscheduled time fiddling with the operating system when I have serious deadlines to hit.

    Recently I bought a Lenovo Yoga 2 for a very rare bit of Windows IE testing for a web app. As soon as that activity concluded, I ditched Windows 8. Linux Mint is a delight to use on it.

  20. Re:a better question on Why Run Linux On Macs? · · Score: 1

    Following up about the Dell At-Home Service ... So, Dell will send out a human to attend to any problem with their computers? I'm assuming the customer will first be walked through a diagnostic trouble-shooting session over the telephone. Given that most of their computers are running Windows, this means that Dell receive a lot of "my computer is running sluggishly" technical support calls from oldsters. How can Dell afford to offer house calls for this common scenario?

  21. Author is using a different OS X ? on Tumblr Co-Founder: Apple's Software Is In a Nosedive · · Score: 1

    The gaping lack of examples in Marco's blog post has me scratching my head. I'm curious what exactly has ticked this guy off to the extent that he uses the term "nose dive" to describe the software quality.

    All of us power users of computers, no matter the operating system, will have a list of gotchas that we've encountered. I've got a very short list of squawks, nothing approaching serious, for Yosemite. I spend my days cranking out software on a Mac. This includes building apps in Xcode and Eclipse (for Android). Also includes running various apps for database management and image generation (Photoshop). I simply have not encountered anything awful. And I have a low threshold for pain.

    That said, I count myself among the users of Apple computers who are ever fearful of what the company will become now that Jobs is gone. So far, I'm delighted with Yosemite.

  22. Re:Bombs in the US? on The Interview Bombs In US, Kills In China, Threatens N. Korea · · Score: 1

    From the previews that I saw earlier this year, it was obviously intended to appeal to high school and fraternity boys. So, it'll have one good weekend at the box office. Then unkind word of mouth will spread

  23. Re:Felons can be teachers and child care workers, on Ask Slashdot: Can a Felon Work In IT? · · Score: 2

    A vague question posted to Slashdot isn't a _strong_ indication of anything other than perhaps being new to Slashdot. No doubt, more details will garner better responses. But, there's no reason to be harsh.

  24. Try the Non-Profit Sector on Ask Slashdot: Can a Felon Work In IT? · · Score: 1

    I suggest heading to a large city where there is more competition for IT professionals. In those cities, non-profit organizations have a difficult time competing for talent. You would likely have a better opportunity to resume your IT career in that sector. Then, once you have some stable years behind you working in IT, you can merge back into the general marketplace. Another good suggestion mentioned by another commenter is picking up jobs via Craigslist. Many of my own projects have been gained via that avenue. Good luck to you.

  25. Stop Stalling. Use Python. on Ask Slashdot: Best Rapid Development Language To Learn Today? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Tons of online books and tutorials. See https://wiki.python.org/moin/P... . Python is my go-to language for just getting stuff done. I use it for damn near everything these days, except mobile apps, which I code natively.