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User: gerardrj

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  1. People or characters? on Wikipedia Mining Algorithm Reveals the Most Influential People In History · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    If they're going to include fictional characters such as Jesus and Mary then they need to open it up to all other fictional characters: Dr. Who, Zaphod, Oz, etc.

  2. "Wants to computerize"? on Intel Wants To Computerize Your Car · · Score: 1

    Is there a current model year car in the US that will run without computers today? Engine management, automatic transmission, RFID key systems, remote/button start, airbags, traction control, collision avoidance, backup cameras, auto headlights, the entire instrument cluster, the entire entertainment system.
    I'd guess each and every car in production today in the US has at least 20 computers in it, doesn't that seem sufficiently "computerized"?

    Understand that the processors in the computers are highly specialized to use the least amount of electricity and be the most reliable they can be. Has you engine every shut off because of a computer failure? The power usage is one that people don't seem to fully grasp. Your car generates its own electricity via the engine drivel alternator. IF you start tossing in high power general purpose CPUs and computer in the car you will increase fuel consumption for the added weight and power draw. It MAY be that the computer could offset those variables with added intelligence. Electricity use is one of the major reasons manufacturers are moving to LED lighting systems.

  3. Re:Very Bad Precedent on US To Charge Chinese Military Employees With Hacking · · Score: 1

    This is a VERY GOOD precedent to set. As soon as "the people" can't hide behind "just following orders" they will start to affect change.

  4. Re:Good luck with that. on US To Charge Chinese Military Employees With Hacking · · Score: 2

    So stop complaining that we did the wrong thing and tell us what we should have done. Put up or shut up. There's a LOT going on politically behind the scenes with ambassadors and such chatting in isolated rooms.

    There are three options I can see:
    1. Ignore it and let the EU sort it out
    2. Sanctions and hard rhetoric, some military posturing in the region
    3. Invasion to reclaim the occupied lands. we (US, GB, etc) invade, China assists Russia, India assists us, Pakistan, Iran and the reset of the nuclear nations join in short order... see where this goes?

    We chose the middle ground, what's your plan?

  5. Re:Isn't it important... on Can Thunderbolt Survive USB SuperSpeed+? · · Score: 1

    Thunderbolt moves that many bits, you can argue useful throughput vs bitrate vs data rate all day, but TB moves the bits. USB has overhead as well which lowers the throughput in the same way but it will never sustain 400Mb/s in any way shape or form despite the "up to 480Mb/s" claim.

  6. Isn't it important... on Can Thunderbolt Survive USB SuperSpeed+? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That we keep talking about the two in language that exactly describes the two, but we completely ignore the language?
    EVERY spec for USB refers to the "up to" speed and quotes the maximum theoretical burst transfer rate that is sustainable for only fractions of a second in host to single peer communication.
    Thunderbolt's speed is the speed. period. 1 peer or 16 peers doesn't matter. You get 20Gb/s every second after every second. USB has never and is likely to never achieve that.

    This was true of Firewire vs USB as well; USB claimed "up to 480Mb/s" but could never sustain that for any human sense-able time. Firewire 800 was flatly 400Mb/s. Firewire didn't advertise a theoretical maximum speed that you could get once in a while; it was a real-world measurable throughput when you were copying files.

    So as long as people are ignorant enough to fall for marketing hype instead of actual useful data then USB will continue to dominate (and people will continue to purchase cars based solely on HP ratings)

  7. Re:Hahahahahaaaahhhaaaaa on Police Departments Using Car Tracking Database Sworn To Secrecy · · Score: 1

    The parent was referring to his state's law enforcement personnel. They may well provide the scanned data to another provider, but the police themselves can't just randomly run license plates in the states I know anything about, they must have probable cause. You can, of course, debate that they can "make up" probable cause but I don't think you'll find a police officer that runs a plate without seeing something that they can cite or arrest for.

  8. Re:Hiding shady practices on Police Departments Using Car Tracking Database Sworn To Secrecy · · Score: 1

    They aren't looking up the owner info, just keeping track of where the license plates are seen.

  9. Re:Hiding shady practices on Police Departments Using Car Tracking Database Sworn To Secrecy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you are going to detain people under the laws of the United States then those people should have all the protections of the laws of the United States. Equality under the law is a core principle.

    The people in Guantanamo are not terrorists. They are accused terrorists. Send them to the international criminal court for proper trial.

  10. Re:Help! Help! on Did the Ignition Key Just Die? · · Score: 1

    You put the car in neutral, not shut of the engine.
    No engine = no power brakes or steering.

    Or you stomp on the brakes. Every car in the US that rolls off the assembly line has brakes that will stop the car even at full throttle. Intelligent cars (VW, Audi, Porsche at least) sense you are on the brakes and put the engine to idle no matter the throttle position.

    I tell you unequivocally: in a properly designed car it is simply impossible to have a "run away" due to stuck throttle if you have ANY sense as a driver.

  11. Re:And the question of the day is... on Could Google's Test of Hiding Complete URLs In Chrome Become a Standard? · · Score: 1

    Holy shit... what do all these signs on the road mean? I better just drive as fast as possible to get where I'm going and ignore all the intrinsic features of my method of travel.

    Education is ALWAYS a better option that obfuscation.

  12. Re:Gun nuts on "Smart" Gun Seller Gets the Wrong Kind of Online Attention · · Score: 1

    As well as the meaning of the word "militia" during the time of the writing of the amendment.

  13. Re:Gun nuts on "Smart" Gun Seller Gets the Wrong Kind of Online Attention · · Score: 1

    Likewise, the 1st amendment guarantees freedom from government sponsored/imposed religion. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,..."
    ANY god is certainly an establishment of a religion yet Congress has passed laws respecting gods by putting oaths to them on our money and forcing school children to acknowledge such existence in a government mandated daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. These are both act that the founding fathers were against.

    Why is it that the same people who will go to the ends of the Earth to uphold the 2nd amendment are usually the first on line trying to erase the 1st amendment?

  14. Re:Incomplete on How the USPS Killed Digital Mail · · Score: 1

    Yes, the USPS is exactly that. It is an independent agency of the federal government but completely funded by its own operations.

    What do you think it is if not a a government entity?

  15. Re:...news for nerds.. on In a Hole, Golf Courses Experiment With 15-inch Holes · · Score: 1

    And explains why those activities are not sports.

  16. Re:...news for nerds.. on In a Hole, Golf Courses Experiment With 15-inch Holes · · Score: 1

    The difference between golf and most other "sports" is that your resulting score or win/loss is based solely on your performance (like bowling or drag racing). There is no offense/defense in golf; just you, clubs ball and course. If something goes wrong it's all you.
    Most every other sport has human interaction as a core element: US football/rugby has people crashing in to each other as a core element, baseball has a pitcher throwing a ball to a batter and the pitcher can directly affect the batters performance, in basketball you could be the best 3 point shooter on an empty court but you've got to get the ball past the defensive players trying to block it.

  17. Current tech? on Ask Slashdot: What Tech Products Were Built To Last? · · Score: 1

    My iPhone 4s. 3 years old, never in a case and has been horseback riding innumerable times, hiking, camping, boating not to mentioned tossed in to cup holders on to desks and other abuses but still works fine and only has two minor scratches on the the glass.

  18. Re:Why do people listen to her? on Jenny McCarthy: "I Am Not Anti-Vaccine'" · · Score: 1

    But some knowledge is inherited, it is called instinct. No-one teaches a wild newborn mammal to locate a teat, they "just know", the brain inherited the specific knowledge via structure encoded in DNA. It seems that evolved traits/behaviors could have been learned/taught behaviors as some point.

  19. Re:Internet has given me a faith! on How the Internet Is Taking Away America's Religion · · Score: 1

    Science requires no faith; it is all observable, testable and debatable. If you want you can re-create almost any experimental result ever published.

    Faith/belief is holding something to be true without any evidence or in spite of evidence to the contrary: i.e. the opposite of science

  20. Re:Knowledge on How the Internet Is Taking Away America's Religion · · Score: 1

    According to Christian stories: yes.

    Since, in reality, there is not crhist there is still no anti-christ any more than there is an anti-Thor or anti-Ra or anti-Gaia.

  21. Re:1 year on Small World Discovered Far Beyond Pluto · · Score: 1

    Sorry, I forgot Earth is the center of the universe and all measurements of scale and time are related to it. Silly me requesting that science article be clear, concise and accurate.

  22. 1 year on Small World Discovered Far Beyond Pluto · · Score: -1, Troll

    I thought all planetary orbits were 1 year; it's sort of the definition of a year. Did they mean 11,400 Earth years?

  23. Normal situation on French, Chinese Satellite Images May Show Malaysian Jet Debris · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Curious: If you were to point a bunch of satellites at any part of the open ocean and have dozens or hundreds of analysts pore over those images would they find exactly the type of "possible objects" that we are seeing in this situation? Is there any part of the ocean where it is not possible to actually locate human debris such as wood pallets scraps of metal and such.

    Remember: we still have tons (literally) of trash from the tsunami floating around out there.

    Beyond that, why do ALL the media outlets take government statements such as "possible object", meaning the analysts can't agree that there is an actual thing there and the spot isn't just a light glare, and instead report "it could be a wing". From 'not sure it exists' to 'it could be the plane'.

    This all seems like the Washington DC sniper investigation and the "white van" syndrome all over again.

  24. Re:Nevertheless, I do thank MS for pointing it out on One Billion Android Devices Open To Privilege Escalation · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Considering the amount of money that Microsoft makes in patent licensing fees from Android I don't know how they could have any financial reason to want Android to go away. At the moment I suspect that Microsoft makes more money from Android than it does Windows Phone.

  25. Re:Two things: on Creationists Demand Equal Airtime With 'Cosmos' · · Score: 1

    ok, three things.