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User: Occams

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Comments · 255

  1. Re:Ironic this... on A War Over Solar Power Is Raging Within the GOP · · Score: 1

    The sad fact is that China has read the future better than us. It is developing more alternative and green power resources. For some time now it has been producing cheaper .AND. higher quality and more reliable goods than the US, while also having a lower carbon footprint. They are much smarter than Americans, so we should stop with the nonsense about: " if they had the same workplace rules we would be able to out compete them". It is just not true. They can beat us on a level playing field because they have a more efficient government for production, and a better work ethic.

  2. Crucify them on Toyota's Killer Firmware · · Score: 1

    It is about bloody time that a software developer is held accountable for delivering dangerous buggy firmware. As a purchaser, I have often been frustrated by how this industry has conditioned us to believe that this is normal and must be accepted. Indeed we are usually expected to subscribe to a continuing service to update delivered software for bug fixes. Can you imagine this happening with any kind of hardware delivery. Professionals in the motor vehicle must deliver a product quality that is consistent with the standards of that industry - even if it is software.

  3. Re:Who Says they Never Paid for those Nukes... on Israel Helped the NSA Spy on Former French President According To Documents · · Score: 1

    Israel treats Palestinians the way the USA treated American natives, and the way the Germans treated Jews. Of all the people who should know better.........

  4. Re:Who Says they Never Paid for those Nukes... on Israel Helped the NSA Spy on Former French President According To Documents · · Score: 1

    Wrong. It is impossible to criticize Israel without being accused of antisemitism. Of course they share intelligence with the USA. They owe us big time. This is a dog bites man story: expected, and therefore not news.

  5. Re:Telco oligopoly on Why Is Broadband More Expensive In the US Than Elsewhere? · · Score: 1

    The reason is market failure caused by lack of sufficient regulation to ensure proper competition in the interest of consumers. We pay the highest price that the market will bear. It has nothing to do with the cost of production. Beware of deregulation: It is a con from those who want to distort markets.

  6. Torturing children on Citizen Eavesdrops On Former NSA Director Michael Hayden's Phone Call · · Score: 2

    Are you sure that the USA does not torture children? Consider the scenario: The CIA has captured a terrorist involved in a bomb plot. He knows when and where the bomb will hit. He is a tough bastard, trained by Al Qaeda to resist insipid American torture methods. This guy will take a long time to break. But wait, he has a 7 year old daughter who he clearly loves very much, She was captured with him and she is very frightened. He has been doing his best to protect her. Do you really think that the CIA would not torture her in front of him? That is the road you go down when you start torturing because the ends justify the means. A dozen innocent Americans are worth more than a little pain and suffering to the daughter of a filthy murdering terrorist. Right?

  7. Re:Sounds ominous, but... on TSA Airport Screenings Now Start Before You Arrive At the Airport · · Score: 1

    The elephant in the TSA room is that 911 demonstrated very clearly that sometimes passengers desperately need weapons to save the aircraft and prevent a disaster. Having a few passengers with criminal records and the guts, initiative, and fighting skill that usually go with them could not hurt either. If we dropped all screening at airports we would probably be safer.

  8. Short pitch on Redesigned Seats Let Airlines Squeeze In More Passengers · · Score: 1

    American airline companies already have the shortest pitch in the world. They must use a model human who is an above the knee double amputee. This is almost endurable for short flights, but if you have to spend more than six hours with your knees crushed against the seat in front it is intolerable. Sleep is impossible. Australians, accustomed to 12 hour flights to Europe or USA, know this and avoid these airlines whenever they can. The idea of reducing this miserly pitch by an inch is plainly absurd. These greedy bastards deserve to lose market share.

  9. Re:I feel safer... on US Intelligence Chief Defends Attempts To Break Tor · · Score: 1

    It does not matter what anyone said because if they are too young they cannot give consent no matter what they say.

  10. Re:I feel safer... on US Intelligence Chief Defends Attempts To Break Tor · · Score: 1

    If the girl was below the age of consent, then it certainly (by definition) was rape.

  11. Re:Hey guys, seriously. on Pentagon Spent $5 Billion For Weapons On Day Before Shutdown · · Score: 1

    I believe in moderation in all things, including moderation.

  12. Re:Do I even want to know? on Pentagon Spent $5 Billion For Weapons On Day Before Shutdown · · Score: 1

    Australia says that it has a "Washminster" system, in that its lower house is like in Westminster but its Senate house is like in Washington. It does not have a President, but a Governor General whose powers are mostly symbolic, much like the Queen. The Queen of Australia at present happens to be the same person as the Queen of England. That is a cost saving outsourcing arrangement that will be changed soon. She "reins", not rules, by the consent of the people expressed through Parliament. If the Government loses a supply bill, the GG can require a double dissolution, which is an election for all members of both houses. That is just what the USA needs right now.

  13. Re:Oh for crying out loud on Google's Scanning of Gmail To Deliver Ads May Violate Federal Wiretap Laws · · Score: 1

    "Every great once in a while they are even useful." No advertising is ever really useful. The seller is paying to deliver you a message whether you want it or not. He will say anything in that message to persuade you to buy the product that he thinks he can get away with. Lies and exaggerations abound, and only a fool could believe anything. If you want a product like that do your own research and you will probably get a better deal elsewhere. Advertising forces up the prices of everything. It is best not to tolerate lies and exaggerations in your business life, as it is in your private life, and for the same reasons. The people who do them cannot be trusted with your love or your money. We can see in the comments on this thread that most Americans have become so tolerant of crappy advertising that they cannot imagine any other business model. Face it! It stinks if a marketeer is reading your private messages in order to sell you stuff. You can call it "scanning" rather than reading if you like but it is really much the same, and this will escalate to them reading your most private messages if they want to. At present they don't need to read the messages in the normal way, but if a business need for that arises in the future,then that is what they will do. A few big prosecutions under the wiretap laws now would be very helpful in showing these parasites that your privacy is more important than their profits.

  14. Re: it's fun on Why Is Microsoft Setting More Money On Fire With Surface 2? · · Score: 1

    I have a windows phone, HTC 8x, and it is nearly perfect. The only problems stem from Microsoft's pathetic attempt to own me. I don't want to use Explorer, and the APS store is pathetic. Every app claims to need my location, even when it certainly does not. This is enough for me to never buy Microsoft again. They deserve to fail because denying me the benefits of market completion should be a crime.

  15. Re: jerk on Georgia Cop Issues 800 Tickets To Drivers Texting At Red Lights · · Score: 1

    He has a shitty job, but it gives him the power to hurt people and that makes him feel good.

  16. Re:A little drastic but... on USAF Almost Nuked North Carolina In 1961 – Declassified Document · · Score: 1

    I saw so much collateral damage that I would not mind betting that the US military has killed more of its own than of the enemy since 1953.

  17. Ambush on US Forces Ready To Strike Syria If Ordered · · Score: 1

    Its an ambush. The Russians have a very capable anti-tomahawk capability which they will be happy to used in defence of their friend Assad. Everything to gain and nothing to lose. On a good day its ECM can divert the missiles into innocent targets If Obama falls into this trap he will be sending a very clear message indeed.

  18. No miles in Europe on EU Proposes To Fit Cars With Speed Limiters · · Score: 1

    European cars don't do 70 MPH: they do 112 Kph.

  19. Re: I hypothesize.. on Just Thinking About Science Triggers Moral Behavior · · Score: 1

    Lucius Cornelias Sulla was a despot during the Roman Republic. There were others too. The constitution even had a provision for an elected dictator for managing crises.

  20. Re: 1st on US Forces Ready To Strike Syria If Ordered · · Score: 1

    The real issue here is the failure if the UN Security council yet again. International law requires a UN Resolution before member nations can go to war, but that cannot happen when dictators are involved because certain dictators have powers of veto and a permanent place on the SC due to a power balance that existed 70 years ago. We should accept that the world can do nothing in situations like Syria and Egypt until it reforms the UN SC. Rpresentation on the SC should be on a regional basis, with no vetoed and only a majority vote required for intervention in civil wars.

  21. Re:Bringing coal to Newcastle! on Australian University Unveils New Carbon-Trapping Bricks · · Score: 1

    It makes perfect sense that carbon and coal research would be happening in Newcastle,. NSW. They live and breathe coal there. Australian researchers did a similar thing with nuclear waste, called "Synrock". It never took off. But Good luck with this one: Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

  22. Re:Yes, and? on Report: Britain Has a Secret Middle East Web Surveillance Base · · Score: 1

    "The problem is when they do it against their own citizens." No. The real problem here problem is when they operate in another country against the citizens of that country. No government should stand for that, so by revealing it, Snowden could have caused the Arab government to be exposed to its citixens and the Brits to be kicked out. Now doubt there is an intel sharing agreement between the US and UK on this traffic, so we lose too..

  23. Re:Yay! on New Treatment From Australia For All Cancers · · Score: 1

    How grossly un /. you actually found and RTFA instead of trashing it. Everyone knows that an effective treatment for cancer must come from the USA, and be bound up in patents and IP rights.

  24. License rights on Next Up: the Jamming Wars · · Score: 1

    What people who write about this do not understand is that spectrum regulators cannot give permits to equipment that will interfere with licensed transmissions. That is just impossible legally.

  25. Re:Lol on Australian State Bans IBM From All Contracts After Payroll Bungle · · Score: 1

    Qld Health runs hospitals, not computers. It should not need to know about IT. That is why it is using a contractor, rather than doing the job itself. If they were having a hospital built they would not have to know about civil engineering. How does the IT industry get away with every client having to know that they are buying something that will be full of bugs, cost more than predicted, and will never work the way it says it should in the contract. Why is it unrealistic to expect the company that is possibly the most experienced computer business in the world to do a good job on a simple payroll system? I hope they sue the pants of IBM.