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User: rlwhite

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  1. Re:What he said in the interview on Snowden Says His Mission Is Accomplished · · Score: 1

    True, but that's not what the parent is talking about. The parent is saying that the likelihood of change if Snowden had blown the whistle legally was very low. Unfortunately there seems to be no public knowledge of "the many who have tried before him" to validate whether or not the parent is accurate.

  2. In Soviet Russia on Program to Use Russian Nukes for US Electricity Comes to an End · · Score: 1

    In Soviet Russia, nukes use you for power.

  3. Re:And why ... on Program to Use Russian Nukes for US Electricity Comes to an End · · Score: 2

    You mean, we pay to ship it to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina because we never could agree on a permanent storage solution at Yucca Mountain. We won't be completely rid of it for many, many years.

  4. Re:Noah on Research Suggests One To Three Men Fathered Most Western Europeans · · Score: 1

    Until the 1600s, the common interpretation was that those were not literal days. The Hebrew word used has an alternate meaning as "a period of time", and the passage uses it before the sun is created. Young Earth is a relatively new interpretation within Christianity.

  5. Re:Facebook is still overvalued on Nasdaq 4000 — This Time It's Different? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Facebook allows a granularity of advertising targeting that was hard to get before. For example, I've been involved in a community organizing effort that had trouble getting media attention and had no real budget for advertising, and I've found that $50 in Facebook advertising targeted to our zipcode got us about ~5000 views and ~150 clicks. That was about as much participation as we got in months of free community newspapers articles, and we largely hit a different audience.

  6. Re:bad summary on POV-Ray Is Now FLOSS · · Score: 1

    My first thought was that someone was open sourcing a fictional implementation of the Point of View Gun from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie.

  7. taking the statement out of context on Bennett Haselton's Response To That "Don't Talk to Cops" Video · · Score: 1

    If you make such a statement AND the case goes to trial, then absolutely you should expect something like this. Why? The posed question is supposedly asked by the prosecution and phrased to get this exact response. The question is not, "Read me the transcript of the interview." It is up to the defense to present the other side of the case. This is the way the system is designed to work, and it is a reason to have a competent attorney, not a reason to make fundamental changes to the system.

  8. Re:Predator-prey & evolution are unstable inhe on Flash Mobs of Trading Robots Coalescing To Rule Markets · · Score: 1

    If you had a circle (as opposed to a chain) of predator/prey relationships with strengths and weaknesses that balance, then there would be a chance at stability, but that seems like a very remote possibility, not a normal combination.

  9. diff eq on Flash Mobs of Trading Robots Coalescing To Rule Markets · · Score: 1

    This reminds me a lot of the problems that differential equations model. We have a complex system with inputs and outputs, steady states and extremes. If we knew every bot in the system, perhaps we could model it and tell where the steady states and extremes are, maybe modify the rules to make it safer. But we can't unless we register every bot, review them, and regulate every deployment these firms do on their systems. It would be nearly impossible to get anything done.

    If it were up to me, I'd outlaw electronic trading algorithms completely. Too dangerous to have unknown systems governing our markets. If a tall building didn't have this kind of modeling done to determine that it wouldn't blow over in a strong wind, we'd never let it be built. Our stock market with the savings of most of our country and many around the world, on the other hand....

  10. when they get to the 27th iteration on Android 4.4 Named 'KitKat' · · Score: 0

    What will they call it? AArdvark?

  11. Re: 3 frightening words on NSA Broke Privacy Rules Thousands of Times Per Year, Audit Finds · · Score: 1

    If you're looking at voters and not politicians, yes, it was a mass migration. If you are looking at politicians, then you're right they mostly died off. Not many politicians survive politically long enough for it to be an issue. How many southern politicians do you think were relevant at the state level or higher all the way from the 40s pre-civil-rights-movement (Thurmond ran for president as a Dixiecrat in 1948 over the racial split) to the 80s when the Reagan Democrats consolidated the swing in voting patterns? Thurmond and Byrd are about the only 2 that I can name.

  12. Re: 3 frightening words on NSA Broke Privacy Rules Thousands of Times Per Year, Audit Finds · · Score: 2

    As a southerner, I can say from talking with my parents and others of their generation, as well as reading the historical data, yes they did flock en masse from the Democrats to the Republicans. While there was certainly a racist aspect for some (particularly in the 60s), there was also a moral aspect (a dominating factor after Roe v. Wade). A few Dems like Byrd did survive, but others made the switch like Sen. Strom Thurmond of my home state.

  13. what's happening on Silent Circle Follows Lavabit By Closing Encrypted E-mail Service · · Score: 3, Informative

    It appears that what is happening is that the government is applying pressure to anyone who enables communication in a way where the government cannot detect who is talking to whom. This is a logical extension of the methods that Snowden leaked. He showed that they already have full coverage of the metadata of phone calls, texts, emails, and webpage views routed through the US. The leaks have pressured the US to close the loops. This is a very dangerous threat to our Constitutional rights. Secrecy does not equal guilt, and our founders went to great lengths to enshrine that principle in our Bill of Rights.

  14. Re:High speed rail on Elon Musk Admits He Is Too Busy To Build Hyperloop · · Score: 1

    In Republicrat America, if rail were popular you'd have to get there an hour or more in advance too, because someone just might want to hurt someone else.

  15. Re:wtf on Supreme Court Decides Your Silence May Be Used Against You · · Score: 1

    (I am not a lawyer)

    Free speech is much broader. For speech to not be free, someone has to show that they were harmed by it. I can disparage you all I want and it be free speech as long as it does not rise to the level of harassment or threats or cross a factual line that would make it slander.

    An NDA rests on contract law. Free speech doesn't apply because the private employer would be harmed by the breach of contract.

    Oddly enough, leaking classified information is exempt from our whistleblower laws. If Snowden had broken an NDA with a private employer in the public interest, he would have a legal protection, but no such protection applies to classified government info. If he's caught and brought to the US, about the only thing that could save him is a sympathetic jury or a presidential pardon. There seems to be no chance of the latter.

  16. Re:batteries are not rechargable on Israeli Firm Makes Kilomile Claims For Electric Car Battery Tech · · Score: 2

    Yes, I didn't think to mention that recyclers are buying aluminum around $0.50/lb.

  17. Re:batteries are not rechargable on Israeli Firm Makes Kilomile Claims For Electric Car Battery Tech · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The article says the battery contains 55 lb of aluminum. The price of aluminum currently fluctuates in the general vicinity of $1 per lb, so we're talking at least $50 in raw materials. Add in other materials, manufacturing costs, and profit, and I'm going to guess a $100 battery is not out of the question. Maybe $75 if we're lucky. That sounds high as a gas replacement initially, but if it truly gets 1,000 miles on the aluminum battery and we compare it to a gas-sipping car (we'll say 50mpg), the gas at $3.50/gal would cost $70 for 1,000 miles. When you consider how few cars in the US get that good of mileage and the ever-climbing price of gas, we are probably somewhere close to a break-even point economically.

  18. If lossless is preferred... on Can You Really Hear the Difference Between Lossless, Lossy Audio? · · Score: 1

    ...then there should be a market for lossless albums on DVD. I'm not an audiophile, but I haven't heard of this happening. Is there one?

  19. Re:To be fair... on Internet Sales Tax Vote This Week In US Senate · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Use tax is arguably unconstitutional due to the interstate commerce clause, and that is why states do not enforce it. They can wield the moral force of "this is the law" to those that don't know better and get them to put it on their tax returns, but they won't go after those who don't pay because they're afraid to lose. The states' end game has been a federal authorization for the states to collect sales tax because it would put them on much more solid legal ground.

  20. Re:Musk isn't doing himself any favors here on Elon Musk Lays Out His Evidence That NYT Tesla Test Drive Was Staged · · Score: 1

    You can drive 65 (and more) and turn the heat up. Just give it the hour charge. I've read that they have plans to get the charge time down to 30 minutes for the same range.

  21. Unintended Consequences on IBM's Watson Goes To College To Extend Abilities · · Score: 2

    Watson learns to pick up coeds.

  22. Re:Poor poor AIG - didn't go bankrupt.... on AIG Contemplates Joining Stockholder Suit Against US Gov't · · Score: 1

    Legally, yes. In many other respects, as a matter of long-term profitability, no. Take care of your customers and employees, and they will take care of you. Abuse them, and they will find someone else.

  23. Re:Why Amazon? on Cyber Monday and Amazon's Online Dominance · · Score: 1

    ...because having more selection than any physical store could possibly carry couldn't be the main reason. Nor could economies of scale that physical specialty stores can't reach in most areas. No, people are so cheap that they have to scrimp on 5-10% and wait days for the product.

    I just bought a mid-range camcorder through Amazon this weekend. I looked at physical stores, and no major chain carried anything more than the cheapest low end products.

  24. Re:Difference on Motorola HC1: Head-Worn Computing For Workplaces With Deep Pockets · · Score: 1

    I'm not familiar with the HC1 specifically, but I am familiar with Motorola Solutions products in general. They target enterprise, and typically the devices are ruggedized. They write their own web browser that includes APIs for their built-in peripherals (barcode scanner, MSR, etc.) Their Android devices also feature significant tailoring of the OS, for example they have multi-user support in an Android 2.3 build. In the past year they have acquired RhoMobile and integrated that company's cross-platform development environment and libraries with the Motorola Solutions Android and Windows Mobile devices. They also sell rapid deployment infrastructure and wifi infrastructure, all tightly integrated with their devices.

    In short, the pricetag isn't worth it for a consumer, but there's typically enterprise features that draw companies in. Is it worth it? That's another question entirely that I'm not going to get into.

  25. Re:Issues on Why Do So Many Liberals "Like" Mitt Romney On Facebook? · · Score: 1

    He's an issue whore, aka a politician.