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User: abe+ferlman

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  1. Do Any US Carriers Allow Tethering? on AT&T Cracking Down On Unofficial iPhone Tethering · · Score: 1

    I'd really like to know if any US carriers allow tethering without ridiculous additional fees. I use very little data, but occasionally need to use my laptop for a task (usually connecting somewhere via ssh) that would be inconvenient on an iphone, and since I "upgraded" to 4.x I can't tether anymore. It's kind of ironic that I probably use less than 1/2GB data per month, but because I want to use it in a way that's convenient for me they want to charge me double for no additional work on their end.

  2. Re:Reaction on Nook Color Rooted — Will B&N Embrace the Tablet? · · Score: 1

    Laws against slavery restrict the free market too. The free market is not an unmitigated good.

  3. Re:Lots of reasons... on How to Heartlessly Arbitrage Used Books With a PDA · · Score: 1

    PDA? Faugh. I'll use the laptop in my backpack and a CueCat!

  4. Canceled in Season 2 on King's Dark Tower Series To Be Adapted For Film, TV · · Score: 1

    With so many outstanding series were canceled after only two seasons, like Firefly, Deadwood, and countless others, is there any hope that the same might happen here? The first Dark Tower book was outstanding, and the next three were all right. The last few were bizzare self-indulgent crap where King appears to have simply transcribed his therapy sessions in the wake of his being hit by a van. The man has never written good endings, let's hope the studios do it for him this time.

  5. Re:Edit: on Sam Raimi To Direct World of Warcraft Movie · · Score: 1

    Maybe they can get Shatner to play a Shaman who can't stop talking about Chuck Norris's character in the Barrens.

  6. Re:Why would I want this? on Google Announces Chrome OS, For Release Mid-2010 · · Score: 1

    Honestly, if it's running a linux kernel, with just a quick download you can get X windows and run every app you want anyway, and I wouldn't be surprised if Google had some sort of X emulation available for just this purpose within their OS for adventurous users. Just getting the kernel out there means people can run linux apps, meaning the install base grows and that's good for everyone who would like to see a change in Microsoft's market dominance.

  7. Re:Grapefruit Juice on Keeping a PC Personal At School? · · Score: 1

    Yes... but I still have peers lol

  8. Grapefruit Juice on Keeping a PC Personal At School? · · Score: 1

    You can't tell them no, at least not without being a jerk.

    When I was a young skate-rat, we would be out in the hot sun all day and we'd stop periodically at convenience stores to rehydrate. I always bought grapefruit juice. I like grapefruit juice, but that's not really why I bought it. I bought it because nobody else ever wanted any, so I didn't have to worry about someone asking for a sip and drinking half the bottle, I didn't have to worry about shared germs, etc. Nobody else liked grapefruit juice.

    The moral of the story is, get yourself an uncommon user interface and an unfamiliar alternative browser. Shrug and say "do you know how to use Galeon on Afterstep" or the like, and you'll probably get a lot of intimidated demurrals.

  9. Re:Ubuntu is not up to scratch on Shuttleworth Says Ubuntu Can't Just Be Windows · · Score: 1

    I would dare say that most of the "just works" crowd doesn't know the difference between a static and dynamic ip address.

    Once you want to do something non-standard you either get the windows experience (it's easy if you can do it at all, but you probably can't) or the linux experience (it will take a little (or maybe a lot of) work but you can do basically anything your heart desires.)

  10. Re:The Zone on Where's Your Coding Happy Place? · · Score: 1

    You just need to work farther north. In some parts of the country you could spend almost six months in the zone with nary a Peep 'til Easter.

  11. Re:My Review on Review: Wrath of the Lich King · · Score: 1

    Your argument only works if /follow itself is a banned form of automation, which it is not.

  12. Re:Cheese runner on Review: Wrath of the Lich King · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nice try, but the wine is for the skinning vendor Glowergold, who can't tell a cheese tray from an old shield. Feel free to insult him as you hand him his backwash-laden wine.

  13. Re:Duh. on Press Favored Obama Throughout Campaign · · Score: 1

    Well, what if he *was* objectively more positive? Wouldn't it be bias to make his stories seem more negative?

    Objectivity does not mean trashing and praising each of the two parties equally, it means treating them both fairly. You can do that and still end up with more negative stories for one party than the other.

  14. Re:WoW on Children Concerned By Parents' Web Habits · · Score: 1

    And technically, the carrot doesn't even stack with the riding crop so at level 69, there is in fact no more carrot to look forward to.

  15. World of Warcraft Diet on IT Workers Are Getting Fatter · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You wouldn't believe the looks I get from my family when I tell them that WoW has improved my diet and helped in my effort to control my weight, but it's true. As long as I'm getting regular exercise before sitting down for my marathon sessions, WoW is actually more interesting than snacking.

    This won't work for everyone, especially if you like to bring cheetos to your computer, but for me it's been a very pleasant surprise.

    I've also found that Rock Band drums give you a pretty decent workout, the Wii sports like boxing can be a bit of a challenge, and of course the benefits of DDR are pretty well known. I'm really looking forward to Wii Fit today.

  16. Re:Can you please link to the CNN article? on Ben Stein's 'Expelled' - Evolution, Academia and Conformity · · Score: 1

    This article is sorely lacking any explanation of Ms. Abbess's position beyond her conclusions, I can't help but think that she probably had a reason for saying what she said.

    More importantly though, in any politically charged debate, you're going to have idiots on both sides. The way to get the best treatment of the issue is not to pick an idiot to use as your straw-person, but instead to find the most sensible commentators on an issue and see how their ideas clash. So you found an activist who doesn't properly respect open debate, you want a cookie?

  17. Re:Maybe on Discussion of Internet Addiction as Mental Illness Resurfaces · · Score: 4, Funny

    Lol like I'd forget to eat and pass up that stamina/spirit buff? Preposterous. /sleep is just for rp tho.

  18. Why 50? on National ID Cards Mandated in the US, If You're Under 50 · · Score: 1

    I wish they had just made it 70, since that's when you get your flying mount anyway. Maybe they'll fix it in the next patch.

  19. easy solution on Copyright Cutback Proposed As RIAA Solution · · Score: 1

    Just make all the copyright treaties part of the Geneva convention.

  20. Re:Excersise without going to the gym on 'Gamercize' Cardio at Our Desk · · Score: 1

    I don't really get much exercise reading or listening to LPs or even playing my guitar. What hobby should I take up - wakeboarding? hunting? Sorry, it's just not that easy.

    Well, if you enjoy playing guitar, you might try drumming. Done aggressively it can be a pretty decent workout. You might have to get electric drums if noise is a problem.

  21. Re:Frankly... on How Much is Your Right to Vote Worth? · · Score: 1

    I think teenagers in most cases are simply incapable of understanding the magnitude of the debt they're acquiring when they take on student loans. I know it was true in my case. If student had to pay off 10% of the loans they planned to take during their school career before beginning their freshman studies I'd bet you'd lose 50% of the students.

  22. Re:Strange on Linux Wireless Driver Violates BSD License? · · Score: 1

    What sort of license did you have in mind?

    You can link to whatever you like- but if you distribute changes you have to preserve the rights you were given to the original code.

    Your idea of "right to your code" seems to mean ownership and control of what other people do with it, the right to tell someone else what to do or not do. My idea of rights to code is what you and everyone else can do with it without having to ask someone for permission.

  23. Re:Strange on Linux Wireless Driver Violates BSD License? · · Score: 1

    You can do anything with it but make it proprietary or let someone else make it proprietary. Use it, share it, display it, perform it, mangle it, build on it, etc. All the stuff you'd want to do with media except that you're neither required to pay nor charge for the privilege.

  24. Re:Strange on Linux Wireless Driver Violates BSD License? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What? Disclaim all rights to their code? I'm no lawyer, but I'm pretty sure that's not what the GPL says.

  25. Re:Strange on Linux Wireless Driver Violates BSD License? · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Must we do this silly dance again?

    BSD preserves the right to restrict freedoms plus all the other rights GPL preserves.

    GPL restricts the right to restrict freedoms, and otherwise preserves the same rights as BSD.

    In other words, the only freedom GPL takes away is the ability to restrict the freedoms of others.

    Arguing that we should have the freedom to restrict everyone else's freedom is like arguing that we should tolerate intolerance or else we ourselves are intolerant. It's sophistry that pays no mind whatever to the content of the question.