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User: maxume

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Comments · 15,806

  1. Re:anyone willing to defend consumers want ads? on Google Slams Apple Over iPhone Ad Ban · · Score: 1

    No, no, you are obviously under a constant subliminal assault, if you blocked ads you would quickly reach a much higher mental state of smugness but then talk about how you can barely function normally without your blocking prosthesis.

  2. Re:BP owns Arco, AmPm, and Castrol on BP Buys "Oil Spill" Search Term · · Score: 1

    China will buy their oil.

  3. Re:Transocean on BP Buys "Oil Spill" Search Term · · Score: 1

    If you lease a vehicle from GM and use it to mow down pedestrians, would you expect GM to be on trial with you?

    The contract between BP and Transocean almost certainly favors Transocean in this circumstance. That shouldn't protect Transocean if they were doing something criminal, but it isn't particularly controversial that BP is otherwise responsible for the liability.

  4. Re:Ha, jokes on them on BP Buys "Oil Spill" Search Term · · Score: 1

    Public opinion of Goldman Sachs is far worse than any malfeasance that occurred there should inspire.

    They are perhaps uncomfortably crossed up with a bunch of government positions, but 'competent millionaire' isn't such a bad description when you are looking at whether someone is a good choice as a high level public servant, they are not a moron and are may have slaked their moneylust (I suppose it might be a bad description for people that believe anyone with money is a corrupt asshole).

  5. Re:Who Cares on BP Buys "Oil Spill" Search Term · · Score: 1

    Some assholes are even making plastic out of corn.

    Other ones are improving batteries (there is a market for electric cars, but it isn't very big, the batteries are mad expensive for the capabilities they actually provide, so anyone who has to choose the most practical vehicle (rather than the one that makes them feel swell) is going to choose one that runs on hydrocarbons (this is even true in Europe where they have those significant taxes on gasoline and all that scary socialism...)).

    The problem isn't that choices are being suppressed, the problem is that they often are not attractive, and that they don't make any sort of short or medium term economic sense (even though they may make loads of sense over longer periods).

  6. Re:Well, almost everything... on BP Buys "Oil Spill" Search Term · · Score: 1

    They can back up and cement with the relief well, so they can try repeatedly through 1 hole. And they have magnetometers and practice since the Ixtoc days, so they can get a little closer (apparently, they used to drill the relief well 'close' and then start pumping cement in with the hope it would clog things up, nothing like the penetrate the bore and fill it with mud that they claim to be doing here).

    Also, if you take the net from the oil that they are capturing and subtract off their overall costs from that, I doubt you would accuse them of having the opposite incentive (rents on the 3 drilling rigs they have out there are probably pushing at least $1 million a day total (Deepwater Horizon was $500,000 all by itself), never mind all the other shit they have going on).

  7. Re:have they bought "Beyond Pitiful" yet? on BP Buys "Oil Spill" Search Term · · Score: 1

    Liquidation might be the only way to deal with entrenched cultural problems, consequences be damned for the bystanders (but say, Korean Air managed to do it by training their pilots in English).

    It isn't particularly clear that the problems at BP are pervasive, but it wouldn't be real shocking if it came out that there were short cuts being taken when the blow out happened (in addition to the apparently poor maintenance of the BOP and their willingness to drill this well with so few disaster management resources standing by (I would say they are working pretty hard to deal with the thing, but their capabilities back on April 30th were pretty limited compared to the risks they took and the damage they have created)).

  8. Re:3 people in 2 don't know math. on 2 In 3 Misunderstand Gas Mileage; Here's Why · · Score: 3, Informative

    That particular asylum is run by the inmates (That is, Energy Star ratings are paid for by the manufacturers and there is little oversight).

  9. Re:South America, not enough, probably on Where Will Your Next Gadget Be Made? · · Score: 1

    That's fair, it isn't political, for the companies it is just good business to stay away from thugs.

  10. Re:South America, not enough, probably on Where Will Your Next Gadget Be Made? · · Score: 1

    Why would the U.S., which imports most of the drugs, have issues with a country that exports them?

    I mean, other than a bizarre devotion to hypocrisy in the name of morality.

  11. Re:Plenty of poor countries left on Where Will Your Next Gadget Be Made? · · Score: 1

    If you take the 'always' there seriously, eventually it will be the U.S....

  12. Re:Grandma's Future on Canada's Largest Cities Seeing the End of the Phone Book · · Score: 1

    Now you can stop worrying about their telecommunications needs.

  13. Re:huh? on Why Beatrix Potter Would Love a Digital Reader · · Score: 2, Informative

    Exactly. Why would I buy a Sony Reader rather than an Ipad? $350 of beer.

  14. Re:Um, and this is surprising, how ? on Gizmodo Not Welcome at 2010 WWDC · · Score: 1

    Most of the non-behavioral disclaimers say that they reserve the right to refund your ticket and remove you, for any reason.

    So they could probably refuse entry to fans of the opposing team (of course, they would never bother doing this, they are sharing the gate with the other teams in the league, and they don't want to look bad, and so on).

  15. Re:what has the university to do with it? on University Networks Block Student Project · · Score: 5, Funny

    It are happen in Europe.

  16. Re:What are you paying for? on Time For Universal Data Plans? · · Score: 1

    They want a simpler bill and the ability to get a hold shiny for as little as possible, they are apparently incapable of resisting it.

  17. Re:Why not pump the oil at the surface into a tank on Quantifying, and Dealing With, the Deepwater Spill · · Score: 1

    There are already oil eating microbes in the gulf. I think taking some that had been cultured and spreading them probably wouldn't result in much more activity (just given how much the oil has spread out).

  18. Re: The Exon Valdez on Quantifying, and Dealing With, the Deepwater Spill · · Score: 1

    The oil is coming out of the pipe at several thousand psi. For the top kill to work, they had to pump the mud down against that flow. It was a shot in the dark.

    If they seal the well once they have finished drilling the relief well, be sure to issue a mea culpa on your cynicism.

  19. Re:Enough with the perky summaries on Malfunction Costs Couple $11 Million Slot Machine Jackpot · · Score: 1

    Droughts lead to fires!

  20. Re:Law Suit!!!! on Malfunction Costs Couple $11 Million Slot Machine Jackpot · · Score: 1

    I don't think it will matter that much, the casinos can't really deny that the odds on all the games favor the house and people still show up and spend their money.

  21. Re:Still no patent-related indemnification on WebM Licensing Problems Resolved · · Score: 1

    Yes, it is perfectly fair, they bought the damn company and are giving away the code and patent licenses.

    If you are nervous about it, don't use it. Agitate for other people not to use it. But don't be surprised when they ignore you.

    If they did offer indemnity, I expect you would just switch to complaining that it was insufficient, what with the huge risk involved.

  22. Re:One of the biggest problems is configurability on 'Month of PHP Security' Finds 60 Bugs · · Score: 1

    I didn't read your comment as a complaint, I was just pointing out that while the language itself is quite stable, third party libraries, especially C libraries, may still be unavailable, which if you don't agree with the ABI breakage may be quite frustrating (I'm still using python 2.5, partly because of library availability, but I don't find it irritating).

  23. Re:One of the biggest problems is configurability on 'Month of PHP Security' Finds 60 Bugs · · Score: 1

    A lot of people get all crotchety because python breaks ABI compatibility with minor versions, so they may not realize that incompatible changes to the language are avoided.

  24. Re:Why the wait? on Giant Guatemalan 'Sinkhole' Is Worse Than We Thought · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Perhaps it is just news to you?

  25. Re:Here's how to solve the impasse on Clashing Scores In the HTML5 Compatibility Test Wars · · Score: 2, Informative

    There is plenty of agreement in the html5 draft, lots of it is not controversial.

    There certainly is not complete agreement.