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User: patmandu

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  1. Why is there not 2 pre-flight checks? on Columbia Accident Board Preliminary Recommendations · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I mean, they go over it with a fine-toothed comb before they launch, and then a couple of weeks later they just say "OK, everybody buckle in, we're heading home". Sheesh, it takes more than that to fly a private plane, doesn't it? You do a pre-flight check, you fly, you land, then you do another pre-flight before you fly home again. Is that so hard a concept to apply here?

    How come they don't have some tethered drone camera dingus that does an inch-by-inch surveilance of the important bits while they're still in orbit? Why bother with all the "well, if we use a 3-foot-long-telephoto-spy-lens..." crap?

    Heck, here's another opportunity for Canada to come to the rescue, just add another attachment on to the big shuttle bay crane arm.

  2. Spotty coverage on 30 Years of Cell Phone Calls · · Score: 1

    Ya, and the signal coverage at the spot the first call was made from is probably still spotty...

  3. Debate reveals artists' true colors on Janis Ian on the Internet Debacle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This really boils down to "who's in it for the self-validation" vs "who's in it for the music." It seems that much of the response to the music swapping debate just goes to show where these folks' alliances are. Mettalica was in it for the prestige and decided to suck up to the record company who was promoting them and making them 'famous'. Janis Ian (and others) is showing herself as someone who is in it to make music, not to get famous.

    The fame-junkies are going to ally with the record companies no matter how much or little they get paid. But to quote Bowie, "Fame...makes [someone] loose and hard to swallow."

    The ironic part is, if they ditched the record companies and made a *real* effort to come up with an internet-based music distribution system with micropayments, they'd all probably make more money, AND get more direct control over their work...which is a much more 'real' power than the record companies' 'fame' they peddle.

  4. Bright side: eBay now has leverage on deadbeats on Ebay buys PayPal · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Now that eBay will control PayPal, this could be a better incentive to keep deadbeat buyers/sellers out of the pool. At least now there may be some real reasons to NOT play dirty and expect to pull it off. I know it's still pretty simple to clean out a bank account and move on, but for those who don't, bank account numbers (and the info associated with them) afford a simple way to track bad eggs as they switch emails and attempt to become 'repeat offenders.'

    This is, of course, assuming eBay intends to wield this newly-acquired power for good and not evil...and based on both companies' past behavior, I wouldn't bet on it.

    eBayPal? PayBay? Payola?

  5. So why doesn't someone release a counter-virus? on Code Red! All Hands to Battle Stations! · · Score: 1

    I mean, we already know that all these systems are vulnerable to that attack, so just send out a white-hat virus to remove the Code Red virus, patch the security hole, propagate itself to "N" other infected systems, and then quietly go away. Problem solved. Now get busy and start coding...