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User: jratcliffe

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Comments · 1,219

  1. Re:US: Welcome to the present on Credit Card Fraud Could Peak In 2015 As the US Moves To EMV · · Score: 1

    Since I get, at minimum, 2.2% cash back on everything I spend on my credit cards, yes, rewards.

  2. Re:Eastern District of Texas on Patent Troll Wins $15.7M From Samsung By Claiming To Own Bluetooth · · Score: 1

    They don't even need to do that. If the alleged infringement took place in the district (i.e. if Samsung sold a product that allegedly infringed in East Texas), that's enough. Tivo (Cali-based) sued Dish (Denver-based) in the Eastern District.

  3. Eastern District of Texas on Patent Troll Wins $15.7M From Samsung By Claiming To Own Bluetooth · · Score: 1

    It's a famous "rocket docket" (i.e. cases can proceed rapidly there), and it's known for having plaintiff friendly juries in patent cases, so there's a lot of venue shopping going on.

  4. Re:So what? on Major Retailers Accused of Selling Fraudulent Herbal Supplements · · Score: 1

    Nice way to ignore the point. Go do your own research if you don't believe me: The supplements/herbal remedy industry has been under fire for a long time now by the pharmaceutical industry, which would rather all those profits be theirs, too. Or continue being ignorant, IDGAF.

    On that note, go continue taking your daily dose of woo, it's your money, IDGAF.

  5. Re:So what? on Major Retailers Accused of Selling Fraudulent Herbal Supplements · · Score: 1

    Hence, my note.

  6. Re:So what? on Major Retailers Accused of Selling Fraudulent Herbal Supplements · · Score: 1

    You don't want to live in a world where you can't even buy name-brand multivitamins unless your doctor gives you a prescription, do you? That's the world they'd like us to be living in: Where ALL dietary supplements are regulated substances that have to be prescribed by a doctor.

    Yeah, because there are no over the counter pharmaceuticals, it all comes with a prescription.

  7. Re:Multivitamins? on Major Retailers Accused of Selling Fraudulent Herbal Supplements · · Score: 2

    For stuff like this, I hear you, but for actual medications, store brand is absolutely the way to go. Same level of regulation as the name brand, and a huge amount cheaper. Pharmacists and doctors are much more likely to buy the generic version of an over the counter medication than the population as a whole is...

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/money...

  8. So what? on Major Retailers Accused of Selling Fraudulent Herbal Supplements · · Score: 4, Funny

    What's the big deal? Instead of getting "Useless Compound X," buyers were getting "Useless Compound Y."

    Note: Yes, I'm partially kidding. People are entitled to get the woo they've been promised, and I suppose there are allergy issues involved.

  9. Re:Always Check the Source on US Wireless Spectrum Auction Raises $44.9 Billion · · Score: 4, Informative

    Congress and the President did. It's Title VI, Subtitle D of the "Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012."

    http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/P...

  10. Re:Just curious who decides.. on US Wireless Spectrum Auction Raises $44.9 Billion · · Score: 4, Informative

    Broadly, it is general revenue to the treasury. In this case, a chunk of it was allocated ahead of time. Congress passed (and the President signed) the "Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012." That legislation instructed the FCC to find spectrum in this set of bands to auction off, and allocated a portion of the proceeds to (a) defray the cost of moving the existing users of the spectrum and (b) building a public safety wireless network.

    So, the FCC, while it conducts the auction, does so at the request of, and on the behalf of, Congress.

  11. Re:Implement locally? on How One Small Company Blocked 15.1 Million Robocalls Last Year · · Score: 1

    In this case, yes. But, in general, someone with an important call might not be calling from a cellphone, and hence not have the opportunity to send an SMS.

  12. Re:Implement locally? on How One Small Company Blocked 15.1 Million Robocalls Last Year · · Score: 1

    Assuming they're calling from a cellphone.

  13. Re:"Let me ask you.... on Comcast Pays Overdue Fees, Offers Freebies For TWC Merger Approval · · Score: 1

    Oh, and by the way, their competitors are already "allowed" access. Cable companies don't overbuild each other because it's a great way to lose money.

  14. Re:"Let me ask you.... on Comcast Pays Overdue Fees, Offers Freebies For TWC Merger Approval · · Score: 1

    Revoking their franchise IS shutting down cable. The system belongs to the operator. You can revoke their franchise, but then you have to either build out a new system, from scratch (figure $800 per home passed, or $150M for a city like Minneapolis, and that's just for the outside network), or get another company to come in and put up the money, even though you've just kicked out a cable company (not exactly an enticing proposition).
    I suppose you could try to eminent domain the system, rather than building it out yourself, but that's a couple of years of litigation. Meanwhile (i.e. absolute minimum a year, probably 2-3), your constituents are without cable TV or internet service.

  15. Re:Franchise Fees are evil on Comcast Pays Overdue Fees, Offers Freebies For TWC Merger Approval · · Score: 1

    Part of the merger should be the requirement that franchise fees across the country need to be made illegal. They are only used to limit competition in a legal form.

    The franchise agreement in my town states that no other cable company can sell services here. That's wrong.

    That franchise arrangement is already illegal. The text of the document may say that, but it's unenforceable (unless your town is actually some sort of private development, and even then, it's probably unenforceable).

  16. Re:"Let me ask you.... on Comcast Pays Overdue Fees, Offers Freebies For TWC Merger Approval · · Score: 1

    ....just how can you be bought? And how cheaply?"

    Also, shouldn't Minneapolis' club being removing the franchise for the unpaid franchise fee? If I don't pay Comcast, they turn off my cable.

    Yeah, most politicians aren't that enthused by the idea of shutting down television and Internet service for a large % of their constituents.

  17. Brave Man on Valve's Economist Yanis Varoufakis Appointed Greece's Finance Minister · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Finance Minister of Greece ranks pretty high on my list of "you could pay me enough, but it would be A LOT" jobs.

  18. Re:OP is completely full of shit on Blogger Who Revealed GOP Leader's KKK Ties Had Home Internet Lines Cut · · Score: 1

    Citing redstate.com doesn't exactly help your credibility (just as citing salon.com wouldn't). Looking at the Snopes piece, there's not enough to prove conclusively that he knowingly spoke to a white supremacist group, but it's by no means debunked or clearly not true.

    http://www.snopes.com/politics...

    If Scalise thinks this claim is libelous, he should definitely sue the blogger. Not sure he really wants to be questioned under oath on the topic, though...

  19. Currency Hedging on Bitcoin Volatility Puts Miners Under Pressure · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Having your expenses denominated in one currency, and your revenue in another, leaves you open to currency fluctuation risk. This is why currency hedging was invented in the first place.

  20. Re:More EVs = More Infrastructure = More Sales on Tesla To Produce 'a Few Million' Electric Cars a Year By 2025 · · Score: 1

    The "Tesla outsold Mercedes S-Class" claim again? That was true for 2013, during the end of the S-class model generation, which had unusually low volume (13k units). Definitely not true for 2014, when the S-class sold 25k units in the US. My 15k unit number for Tesla in the US is actually a high-end estimate, more likely to be 13-14k. So, Tesla's 2014 US sales are going to be a bit more than half those of the S-class. I don't have data on the 7-series handy. As for the ELR, that performance has more to do with Cadillac (which hasn't been successful thus far going after the German lux lines across the board) than Tesla.

    Don't get me wrong, the Tesla is a great car, but let's not get carried away.

    http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/...

  21. Re:English to American on Google Aims To Be Your Universal Translator · · Score: 2

    The Westboro Baptist folks were very excited when they heard that millions of fags are burned in the UK every day.*

    *With apologies to Gaiman & Pratchett, who made this joke years ago in Good Omens.

  22. Re:More EVs = More Infrastructure = More Sales on Tesla To Produce 'a Few Million' Electric Cars a Year By 2025 · · Score: 2

    Tesla sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 15k (probably a bit less) cars in the US in 2014. BMW sold 340k, Audi sold 180k, and Mercedes sold 360k. Tesla slightly outsold Maserati, and came in behind Jaguar.

  23. Re:You are making things WAY TOO COMPLEX on Four Facepalm Bugs In USPS Label-Printing Site · · Score: 1

    Wait, you mean I'm supposed to breathe while I pour the shampoo down my throat? Thanks, I've been doing it wrong all this time!

  24. So what should we choose next time? on Ask Slashdot: High-Performance Laptop That Doesn't Overheat? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Desktops?

  25. Re:islam on Gunmen Kill 12, Wound 7 At French Magazine HQ · · Score: 1

    OR let me ask it this way. Name one Islamic Nation where Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Atheists or anyone else is actually FREE to practice their religion (or lack thereof).

    How about the country with the world's largest Muslim population: Indonesia?