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User: hherb

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  1. Could be a simple case of designing a test to reflect the local curriculum in the USA, or a case of problematic translation.
    The test would have a lot more validity if it would have been designed by a joint committee of the universities involved, and then written in their respective native languages (not translated)

  2. Re:So... on Chinese Researchers Reveal Active Stealthy Material (popsci.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I would say they would show real competence by publishing before military dickheads of any one country can monopolize and weaponize the knowledge. War only works as long as one side believes to have a clear advantage.

  3. Is that so? In my medical practice, 99% of our prints are B&W. Prescriptions, referral letters, test requests and so forth. 3 years ago we switched from Samsung ML-4050 laser printers to Epson WF-7520 inkjets in 3 consultation rooms, simply because we could not source the Samsungs any more and needed printers same day.
    Guess what - prints much faster (because most of our prints are 1-2 pages only, hence "finished first page" is what counts, and after using up the cartridges that came with the printers we only have been using generic cartridges that cost about 15% of an original Epson one we pay a fraction per page of what be paid with the Laser. So far no failures - just works and works and works. Quality is just fine. A lot less power consumption - when our power fails, the inkjet runs happily of the UPS. A lot less particle dust in the office. Would be happy to pay more for just the printer.

  4. to criminals? on AT&T Call Centers Sold Mobile Customer Information To Criminals · · Score: 1

    They sold it to criminals? Is that like to other phone companies or especially ISPs? Or merely to the NSA?

  5. Re:"stashes its cash" on Microsoft On US Immigration: It's Our Way Or the Canadian Highway · · Score: 1

    Australia too charges income tax from money I earn abroad - namely the difference between the obscenely high Australian taxes and the much lesser taxes I pay in most other countries, even if I earned the money while working and living in those other countries

  6. Why do they have to imitae Apple or Google? on F-Secure: Xiaomi Smartphones Do Secretly Steal Your Data · · Score: 1

    Please, somebody tell the Chinese that this is not a feature users want, even if all the bog vendors have implemented it!

  7. Unfortunately, US only on Update Your Shelf: BitLit Offers Access To Ebook Versions of Books You Own · · Score: 1

    That offer is only valid for those who have a USA address for either google play or itunes,
    Good concept, but useless for the vast majority of us who don't happen to have an address in the USA.

  8. the real news is... on Bing Censoring Chinese Language Search Results For Users In the US · · Score: 2

    that there really might be somebody out there who is actually using BING. Never met any such creature in real life though

  9. our kids never experienced parental censorship on Most Parents Allow Unsupervised Internet Access To Children At Age 8 · · Score: 1

    If parents have to rely on censorship, they have already failed in their education. Three of our four already grew up to become happy productive and thriving adults, and we never ever censored them. Right from when they started to walk they were granted their private sphere, and once they were able to read they had unrestricted and unmonitored internet access.

    And no, we are not some bogans living in a trailer park. I am a medical doctor and owner of a group practice and one of my "uncensored growing up" offspring will soon be too. The kids already were exposed to viewing a female breast right form birth on anyway, so what point in hiding anything from them?

    It is usually not what the children see elsewhere that makes or breaks their future, but what they experience (or fail to experience) within their own family.

  10. Re:Hey US... on US Lawmakers Want Sanctions On Any Country Taking In Snowden · · Score: 1

    The US is the biggest single sovereign importer of finished goods in the world and therefore holds an economic trump card over every other nation.

    ... and they have been paying for the imported goods with worthless paper they just keep printing, hoping that nobody will call their bluff and eventually ask for the value this worthless paper called the dollar is supposed to represent.

    Given that Japan, Korea and China are creating their own meta-currency and Europe is realigning its trade with Asia the day could soon come where nations will be prepared to simply write off a huge amount in order to finally get rid of the biggest bully

  11. Re:Naming Names on US Lawmakers Want Sanctions On Any Country Taking In Snowden · · Score: 1

    Of course, the unfortunate side effect is that if the US ever really does end up with an authoritarian dictator some time in the future, he is going to have all the tools need to subjugate the american people pre-built.

    Even better - he already receives a pre-subjugated american people too!

    Horst

  12. Re:The US is nobody's friend on Snowden: NSA Spying On EU Diplomats and Administrators · · Score: 1

    > Our government is a bit like a sociopath. We are nobody's friend.

    I think the rest of the world is intelligent enough to realize that there is a difference between the US government (which indeed appears to everybody else as a sociopathic rabid bully and war mongerer) and the people living in the USA, which are mostly just the same as everybody else on the globe, wanting to make a living, fall in love, raise their children and have a good time.

    Yes, I feel threatened by the US government - same as I feel threatened by North Korea and similar totalitarian war mongerers. But no, I do not resent the vast majority of peaceful people in the USA and would like to welcome them as my friends as long as they reciprocate. I guess most educated and thinking people around the world will think similarly.

  13. Re:not where from, where to? on World of Warcraft Loses 1.3 Million Players in First Quarter of 2013 · · Score: 3, Funny

    They are going... OUTSIDE.

    out....side....? That mythical place said to exist beyond one's room door? You gotta be kidding. There's nothing out there. If there was, people wouldn't sit in front of their screens all day and night long playing WoW, would they? OTOH, there must be something there where the pizzas and cokes come from, Maybe worth exploring. Somebody should write a game about that so we can play it! Because, you know, if one REALLY would go out there, .. it's a bit scary ...

  14. Re:What did I tell you? on Warp Drive Might Be Less Impossible Than Previously Thought · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Traveling faster than light does not necessarily violate causality.
    If I could travel instantly from place A to place B which is 1 light year away, I would arrive at B long before the light arrives. However, the "absolute" time at place B is exactly the same as at place A, the fact that an observer depending on optical information via photons lazily traveling at the speed of light from B to A would only be able to see me arriving there a year later has nothing to do with causality. If I instantly travel back to A, I am still not arriving any earlier than I departed, and hence have not moved in time, only in space - and once again I cannot violate causality.

  15. Apple falling behind the competition on Apple Announces iPhone 5 · · Score: 1

    In a nutshell - their new "flagship" is failing to catch up with the innovation shown in Samsung's and HTC's new models. Comparing specs, the iPhone 5 looks like a yesteryear product. Looks like Apple is following Microsoft on a downwards spiral soon - as soon as the current generation of uncritical gullible fanboys dies out.

  16. Re:Do it yourself on Apple Adds Samsung Galaxy SIII To Its Ban List · · Score: 5, Informative

    A pretty large number of IT, CS, and other technically-minded folks seem to like Apple's products (and they are generally apathetic when it comes to Apple's tactics, licenses, or how Apple is pushing for the destruction of PCs), and quite a few Slashdot readers are big supporters of Apple.

    It is changing. In our clinic we were in the process of transitioning towards an "all Apple" environment (iphones, ipads, Macbooks, imacs and mac minis). However, witnessing with great concern Apple's customer hostile approach worsening rapidly over the last couple of years we decided to reverse the process. In phones it was easy - the Galaxy S3 is a vastly better device. In laptops it is not easy, we still find Macbooks unrivaled in build quality and features, and there is nothing on the market we could find that would come close to the desirable specs of a mac mini.

    As a result, we are now transitioning to a mix of generic PC hardware and Mac hardware mostly running Linux (some desktops still running OSX), and Galaxy S3 phones and soon the new Galaxy note tablet too. While it is a slow transition, I can see many like minded people in my area making a similar transition - the walled garden walls have become far too high for many, the sun is not coming through any more.

    Only two years ago I probably would have still praised the advantages of the OSX ecosystem. Nowadays, they have become as disgusting as Microsoft had 10 years ago - and that was the last time I used any Microsoft products. The writing is on the wall for Apple too - instead of keeping innovating they merely try to maximize their profit through litigating any competition and locking their existing customers completely in. When corporates become intolerably arrogant it is only a matter of time before people turn their back.

  17. Re:Unfortunately, UK has become Uncle Sam's lapdog on UK Authorities Threaten To Storm Ecuadorian Embassy To Arrest Julian Assange · · Score: 4, Interesting

    the brits are basically good people but they have totally lost control over their gov.

    same with us in the US.

    if you think its so easy to change, you, maybe, can show us ignorant peasants how its done??

    This seems to be a common issue permeating across most developed countries. Decent people just wanting to live in peace, raise their kids, and have some fun - and rabidly mad governments out of control brutalizing their citizens on behalf of the multinational corporations and a couple of hegemonial superpowers without any accountability. The lame excuse for "democracy" in those countries is a mere detractor from the fact that they have long become entrenched oligarchies who will destroy any real competition prior to election time.

    Last time the establishment was changed in living history was ... when?

  18. Re:History on Why Apple Is Suing Every Android Manufacturer In Sight · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You might be sorely disappointed then. At least with the iphone 3GS and iphone4 we have in our family, we too have to reboot on occasion in oredr to get out of the "no signal" in areas where there is definitely a good signal. Doesn't happen often, but happen it does. It does certainly not happen any mpre often than on my son's Galaxy S2.

    In terms of stability and reliability I would rate them "on par", but in terms of user friendliness and features in our family's collective opinion the Galaxy2 wins by a small but significant enough margin for the remaining 4 iphone users in the family wanting to make the switch. Everybody in my family is sick of Apple telling us what to do and preventing us from doing what we want to do through their appstore monopoly abuse.

  19. "The world’s most advanced car" on US Regaining Manufacturing Might With Robots and 3D Printing · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "The world’s most advanced car, the Tesla Roadster,..." .... really? I guess you both understand bugger all about cars and never left the USA.
    To begin with, most of the Tesla is based on the European Lotus Elise, only the electrical drive train comes from the USA. Admittedly a very good one, but the car as a whole is nowhere near as advanced as let's say the BMW 750 LI compared to which the Tesla looks a bit primitive, and yet they are even in the same price class. Throw more money at your car, and the Europeans and Japanese both have even far more advanced options to that. The US has remain a backwater of car development for the past 2 decades, and is only getting worse.

  20. Re:Why Ecuador? on Assange Requests Asylum In Ecuador · · Score: 1

    Whom are you referring to? The country where
    about 1 in 12 live in extreme poverty (http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/us_hunger_facts.htm) and more than one in 6 live below the poverty line (http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/us_hunger_facts.htm), and where almost half of the people have creationist delusions due to lack of education (http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/Hold-Creationist-View-Human-Origins.aspx)?
    Or do you refer to that tiny developing country in South America?
    Trust me, from a general European point of view the USA is a country where too many people are dirt poor, hungry, and generally backwards. And if you would ever travel to Europe you would understand why. Ecuador at least has an excuse for being poor, the USA have none.

  21. Re:Meanwhile, in California... on Patent Troll Now Armed With Thousands of Nortel Patents · · Score: 1

    Try prostitution, it's about just as honorable.

    I disagree. Prostitutes at least provide a service, at times at considerable personal risk, with considerable effort and skill. At least the legal ones do not blatantly rip off customers or generate artificial demand. I'd rather have a prostitute in my family than a patent lawyer or similar parasites of society - and I really mean it.

  22. Re:Unsustainable. on Human Water Use Accounts For 42% of Recent Sea Level Rise · · Score: 1

    If we apply current economic wisdom, infinitely. The more we use water, the more it will become... until all surface is covered by water for all to enjoy.

  23. Re:sounds expensive... on MS Will Remove OEM 'Crapware' For $99 · · Score: 1

    Man, that was a WINDOWS computer! Surely nobody is crazy enough to access the Internet wit that, so there must be another computer with a safe OS to access it ...

  24. sounds expensive... on MS Will Remove OEM 'Crapware' For $99 · · Score: 0

    format c: - voila, all crapware removed. Then go to http://www.distrowatch.org/ and select a non-crappy OS and install. There, saved you $99 bucks.

  25. Re:If they spent it on engineering ... on General Motors: "Facebook Ads Aren't Worth It" · · Score: 1

    The UK is a tiny market at the verge of Europe, by many not considered as part of Europe but as a US colony for obvious reasons.
    The fact that they drive on a different side of the road than the rest of Europe makes European cars more expensive for them, and not all models get converted. Just to give you an example - VW alone sold 3 times the cars in Europe than GM did in 2011, and then you have Mercedes, BMW, Peugeot, Citroen, .... - actually VW is currently the world's number one car maker, closely followed by Toyota. Both brands made by small countries with much fewer cars even per capita than the US, and neither needs the gigantic government subsidies that are required to keep GM alive - why do you think that is?