Slashdot Mirror


User: cdwiegand

cdwiegand's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
248
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 248

  1. Re:Expansion Boards Interfaces on Group Kickstarting a High-Bandwidth Software Defined Radio (SDR) Peripheral · · Score: 1

    If it doesn't transmit, then strictly speaking it's not necessary. Just sayin'.

  2. Re:Or... on San Diego Drops Red-Light Cameras · · Score: 1

    And then your local HOA (like mine) asks the Council to have the traffic department change the timing anyways.

  3. Re:WTFSRSLY?! on FTC Gets 744 New Ideas On How To Hang Up On Robocallers · · Score: 1

    Lots of VoIP companies appear to let you use any callerID you want, so you totally get to spoof your IP (to keep the analogy). We need the same fix that networks have - prohibit anyone from trunking an invalid callerID, make them register it, and ALL calls need to be logged so I, as a consumer, may call my phone company, get the name of the phone company the call originated from, and file an FTC complaint (and possible lawsuit) against them.

  4. Re:No Enforcement on FTC Gets 744 New Ideas On How To Hang Up On Robocallers · · Score: 1

    Then clearly the fines aren't having the intended effect. I get a call, once a week or more, for "senior citizens". Too bad I'm not a senior nor will I be for some time. I've pressed the 5 to remove me from the list, shoot, last time I just put it on speakerphone as I was driving down the highway with my radio turned up. Luckily, I have unlimited minutes so therefore I no longer care - if someone else called me I can just hang up and switch calls.

  5. Re:Doomsday clock on The World Remains Five Minutes From Midnight · · Score: 1

    Uh.. yes, it (effectively) has. Even with all of our international travelers here in the US (particularly prior to the TSA), the last time polio was transmitted in the USA was in the early 80s. The early 80s! It is statistically impossible, IMPOSSIBLE, for any American child to get polio today. So yes, it's been eradicated. Mission accomplished.

  6. Re:Not so fast on Health Care Providers Failing To Adopt e-Records, Says RAND · · Score: 1

    They're *about* you, but they're not *yours* because you don't *own* them, the doctor's office and/or hospital does. You must think you live in a nice fantasy land where those who collect data don't somehow own it, the object about which the data references somehow does.

  7. Re:IP6 addresses are a pain on Worldwide IPv6 Adoption: Where Do We Stand Today? · · Score: 1

    Wow.. if only it were that easy! No, you don't resolve a hostname to an IP, you resolve it to a List of IPs, some of which may be IPv4 and some of which may be IPv6.

  8. Re:Story sounds made up. on Teens Drug Parents To Get Web Access · · Score: 2

    You're kidding, right? I can walk to my local Walgreens (a drugstore) and get kits to test for Marijuana, Cocaine and at least one other "common" drug, I forget which. I was floored to see that, right there, at the pharmacy counter. In fact, there's a few different tests now. Back when I was a kid, you have to have bloodwork done. Now it's a take-home kit, OTC and readily available.

  9. Re:The whole system is to blame. on South Carolina Shows How Not To Do Security · · Score: 1

    Tax ID == SSN - it still doesn't solve the actual issue of using it (TID or SSN) as authentication, whereas all it is is identification material. And yes, banks DO have the right to demand your SSN, as does your employer, your retirement fund, and any other company where you may make, store or transport money, as they have to report that to the IRS. While insurance companies (and doctors offices) can't use HIPAA to require your SSN (look up the 837P and I specs - SSN is explicitly not required and may not be required), most still put it on their form. Just write "NOT GIVEN - CALL ME" and have yet to be called about it in 10 years of doing so.

  10. Re:Obligatory...Redux on Ask Slashdot: Best Incentives For IT Workers? · · Score: 1

    Vacations: Vacations should begin with a 2 week minimum, and increase with the time vested with the company. Not only does it help employees let off steam and recuperate away from the company, but it will also help the company to discover weaknesses in the overlap in employee skills. It will also serve to remind employees that they are not irreplaceable. No one in a corporation, from janitor to CEO is irreplaceable. (Emphasis mine)

    And force employees to TAKE IT. I had 3+ weeks of vacation, but really didn't have much of a change to take it until towards the end of my career at my previous job. I'm now one week into my new job, and about to take a week off, and the managing partner is insisting I take it. That is awesome.

  11. Re:frist on Microsoft Releases Windows Server 2012 · · Score: 1

    Uh... yeah, and then try copying that to another machine. Or comparing it for differences to see what you messed up that's causing some service not to work. On linux - diff -r /etc /backup_drive/2012-09-01/etc - oh, I messed up the dhcp.conf! Duh!

    Backing up Linux is SUPER EASY, it's all text, and therefore comparable, compressible, clone-able. Windows is all binary and junk. That said, Windows prevents you from doing some stupid things (like putting a gateway outside of your netmask) because you have to use the GUI to make those changes, so it's not all roses on the Linux side.

  12. Re:CAFE Kills on White House Finalizes 54.5 MPG Fuel Efficiency Standard · · Score: 1

    And make people retake the driving test, not just pay a fee to renew it before it expires. You should have to re-take the full test every 5 years or lose your license. People would be a lot more cognizant of the actual rules and how to properly drive!

  13. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free on Iranian Players Blocked From World of Warcraft Due To Trade Sanctions · · Score: 2
  14. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free on Iranian Players Blocked From World of Warcraft Due To Trade Sanctions · · Score: 1

    Actually, you can be detained by police, if you are anywhere near (their definition) a crime. They can hold you for up to 48 hours with no explanation given, except that they want to hold you in case you committed a crime. It's sick what this country has come to.

  15. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. on Study Finds Unvaccinated Students Putting Other Students At Risk · · Score: 1

    Yes, so my son, who is allergic to eggs (and we didn't know, or feed him eggs, until he was 18 months old), would have DIED with the flu vaccine injection, which he would have taken at between 6 and 12 months of age. Thanks for pretending to kill my firstborn. His allergy is considered moderate (not mild, as his kindergarten teacher found out when, after being given a muffin that no one told us about, he proceeded to throw up all over his bed, while sleeping, several hours later, after complaining about a tummy ache). I am half way to pulling him from school anyways as they just don't take allergies (except nuts) seriously.

    Parents are the end-all arbiter of our kids situation - not the school, not the President, and not some scientist who lives in a perfect world where everyone is free from disease. Thankfully, we didn't give him the flu vaccine. Our doctor has told us, directly and point blank, had we done so he would be dead. And we didn't know until after he had a rash from eating a few eggs we fed him that we even found out about the allergy (after professional testing).

    Luckily, the other vaccines are, for the most part, non-allergenic.

  16. Re:They're stupid on Study Finds Unvaccinated Students Putting Other Students At Risk · · Score: 1

    So... we give it to the kid well after the "primary method of transmission" for what reason? It's 2 months, 4 months, etc.. after the transmission!

  17. Re:Path to Leadership in the USA on Are We Failing To Prepare Children For Leadership In the US? · · Score: 2

    Yup - because he got to go to this thing called "college", the lucky guy. My family couldn't afford to send me to college, and with the unreal cost, I ended up leaving after a year (mostly involuntarily, because I wasn't prepared for it, and since my family was poor we didn't know how to prepare me for it), and getting back in at this point is crazy - it's way too expensive.

  18. Re:UEFI SecureBoot is a catastrophy on Ubuntu Lays Plans For Getting Past UEFI SecureBoot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because Apple doesn't care if you load Linux - they're a hardware company (well, user experience company, but anyways). You've already bought their hardware and software. But Microsoft, which has the x86/x64 non-Mac world by its balls, is a software company, so they will do things that strategically make non-Windows software harder. So a similarly-capable Acer, as an example, is going to be more locked down than your Mac.

    Hence, I'm slowly finding myself thinking of buying Mac hardware again, even given the higher-than-I-need quality (and price).

  19. Re:Sure, but on Federal Court Tosses Colorado's Amazon Tax · · Score: 1

    Indeed, thank goodness in most places you don't have to COLLECT, just pay it. See, the problem is, at least in my state (Colorado), I have so many different possible combinations of tax nexuses I'd have to account for, but Google (and in fact everyone but Apple) can't calculate them correctly based on their address (because they don't have mine, and can't use it if I give it to them). So someone from the same city as me (so state + city + county + bus district and entertainment districts taxes) gets charged the same flat rate by Google (and others) as someone from the Springs (for whom I would only need to collect state, in fact, collecting the others is technically a no-no). So rather than have Google collect the wrong amount, I just set them to collect the state level tax for CO residents, and if they are in a common nexus with me I pay it out of my own profit. Annoying, but legal (and more legal than collecting too much tax), and easier than trying the impossible (get Google to use a proper tax database).

    Personally, I'm all for a flat federal sales/use tax that gets redistributed back to the states based on census population or something similar.

  20. Re:as well they on Doctors "Fire" Vaccine Refusers · · Score: 1

    They don't do allergy testing until the kids have already had a reaction, so it's kinda hard for a 6 month old to know that, or his/her parents. We talked to our doctor about having our 2nd kid tested when our first already had allergic reactions, and she said, "Doesn't matter, insurance won't pay for it unless the specific kid reacts." My kid would be dead if we had done the flu vaccines in him.

  21. Re:Consider me fired. on Doctors "Fire" Vaccine Refusers · · Score: 0

    In your society, my oldest would be dead. He had an unknown-at-the-time egg allergy. Pretty severe - a single cupcake at the local school ended up with him vomiting that night all over his bed. While he was still asleep. Luckily we smelled it pretty quick and he didn't re-aspirate any. And the flu vaccine is recommended for 6 months, at which point no one does any allergy testing unless there's _ALREADY BEEN_ a response. He didn't get egg (or anything with egg in it) until he was around 18 months old, at which point we took him in, they tested and found he was allergic. But if that had been _injected into him_, he would be dead.

    Parents are the ULTIMATE arbiter for what happens to their children - get your high horse out of my family and my life.

  22. Re:Yeah...but on How the US Lost Out On iPhone Work · · Score: 1

    Hahaha, I'm sorry, that's so funny. In *emergency situations*, hospitals are required to give you sufficient treatment so you won't die. But once you're stabilized, they can (and do) kick you out on the street. You may be maimed, you may need meds for further treatment that you can't afford, but you're alive, which is all that's required.

  23. Re:Keeping a secret on What Life Was Like Inside the Hexagon Project · · Score: 1

    You know, it's not unrealistic. It's GUARANTEED the gov't will use the mass media (and has already), but as of yet no nuclear disaster on continental US soil...

  24. Re:Federal Sales Tax on Amazon Pushes For National Internet Sales Tax · · Score: 1

    Um... no, just within the Denver (CO) Metro area there are over a HUNDRED tax rates. I have to lookup each address and determine if I share any common nexus with them, like being in the same city, county, or tax district. Shucks, if you're in CO at all I have to pay 2.9% of the purchase to the state. It's so complicated to setup with Google that, instead of letting them bungle it and collect too much, I just pay for it myself out of my profit.

  25. Re:Really bad idea. on Roundabout Revolution Sweeping US · · Score: 1

    T-bones eliminated? Right, right until you're in the left lane and try to leave the roundabout. Then you get t-boned by the guy in the outer lane because he was going to go one further exit than you...