Slashdot Mirror


User: drew870mitchell

drew870mitchell's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
64
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 64

  1. Re:Wunderground Classic revival?!?! on IBM Acquires the Weather Company's Digital Business (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 1

    As a nerd but not a weather nerd, I've been using wunderground since the first I ever knew of it (~2000). I did not think the redesign was a step backwards, but then I'm sure there are things that are of interest to wx foamers that I wasn't seeing.

    Wunderground still absolutely thrashes the other major weather websites. I haven't ventured there in a couple years but I know the last time I visited weather.com it was so fugly, clickbaity, ad-riddled and just generally awful that I would rather navigate warez filesharing/download sites.

    FWIW Stormpulse's website appears that it wouldn't show me any information until I "Signed in with LinkedIn" - I understand running a business and selling data, but, fuck that noise always and forever.

  2. Re:That'll teach you... on Volkswagen CEO Issues Apology Over Emission-Cheating Software · · Score: 1

    "No chance of escape" is a bit much, but so is "USA builds prison walls around cities" as a response. Moving is expensive and hard. You can't run a society on the premise that everybody is capable of doing expensive and hard things always and without error.

  3. I sure hope that... on Veteran FBI Employee Accused of Trying To Beat Polygraph, Suspended Without Pay · · Score: 1

    I sure hope that other countries view certain TLAs' love of polygraphs with the same incredulity that we look at fan death in South Korea or at homeopathy's acceptance in the UK. Talk about a national embarrassment.

  4. Re:Kardashian? on A Wikipedia-Style Tree of Life Emerges · · Score: 1

    Hey everybody, I found Jay Leno's /. account!

  5. Re:He lost my vote on Jeb Bush Comes Out Against Encryption · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sanders and most other serious socialists are more fiscally responsible than the average Republican because they actually care about the condition that the government is in after they're through with it.

  6. Re:Good Luck With That on Stopping Universities From Hoarding Money · · Score: 2

    >"everybody gets a trophy" generation

    This gets on my nerves. I stayed shut up about it when I heard a presenter go entirely off-topic and bring it up yesterday.

    This concept is a straw man. I'm 25, was heavily involved in extracurriculars in public schools in the US, and have never _seen_ a participation trophy. On the contrary, something that greatly bothered me when I got into the working world is just how much back-patting and praise goes on - across all age groups, but my work is primarily with those 40+ - just for people doing their damn jobs.

    Next time you're about to drop this conventional wisdom turd on a discussion, either hold it in, or try to talk about something related that's at least evidence-based instead.

  7. Re:She's not alone. on Clinton Surrendering Email Server/Data To Feds After Top Secret Mail Found · · Score: 1

    > Chris Christie is still using Hotmail, and last week he had the entire service shut down for four days...

    The reason this is dissimilar from the George Washington Bridge: Nobody noticed.

  8. Re:Fallacy of Climate Control on Why Bill Gates Is Dumping Another $1 Billion Into Clean Energy · · Score: 1

    If you are both politically conservative (American style) and an AGW denier (*) it's a very common device to distract with accounts of nature-generated climate change, as if the existence of the natural phenomenon implies that the manmade phenomenon could not also exist. I wouldn't have broadened this discussion in the way Required Snark did but if you're familiar at all with the way these topics go you'll understand why he did.

    * I tried to word this in the most accurate fashion possible. Not all conservatives are AGW deniers, not all AGW deniers are conservatives; even if you do live in the intersection, you don't necessarily use the sloppy rhetoric that I laid out.

  9. Re:People who work for a living on Researchers: The Thermostat In Your Office May Be Sexist · · Score: 1

    We delve into the realm of personal preference. If I'm sitting and not moving I prefer around 70F. If I'm moving around it's 60F. Not fat, one layer of clothes (on top of underwear naturally).

  10. People who work for a living on Researchers: The Thermostat In Your Office May Be Sexist · · Score: 1

    Not everybody who works in an office is wearing a suit. The steady flow of delivery men, maintenance, security guards, server jockeys, etc must greatly appreciate it being at 68F instead of 75F.

  11. Re:Proposed solution is more sexist on Researchers: The Thermostat In Your Office May Be Sexist · · Score: 1

    >when there's 30 degrees outside.

    The typical English language construction is to refer to the temperature as a singular characteristic of the weather, that is, "it's thirty degrees outside." Anyone would understand what you mean however. :)

  12. Re:Does indeed happen. on Woman Recruited By Google Four Times and Rejected Now Joins Age Discrimination Suit · · Score: 1

    I know this conversation is ancient at this point, but at 24.87 years old with several close friends also in the college grad job market, I've never heard _anyone_ say they're uncomfortable working around older people. Most of the people I work with day-to-day are near or over fifty years old, doesn't bother me one bit. This assertion runs contrary to all of my experiences and I would challenge it anywhere it comes up until you can supply some evidence.

    Caveats:
    (1) Teenagers are uncomfortable working around older coworkers but I think this is natural since the 18-22 age range is the last 4-year range in someone's life with such a huge rate of change in experience.
    (2) Many older coworkers have had no filter at all when it comes to letting you know what they think about minorities. That can make things uncomfortable.

  13. Additional context for non-frequent flyers on My United Airlines Website Hack Gets Snubbed · · Score: 1

    Something you may not realize if you're not a frequent flyer is that FF miles cost the airline almost nothing since they don't open up additional rewards inventory to match. That is, United could give Bennett a million miles (equivalent to about 40 domestic cheap roundtrips, or several international business or first class trips) by merely changing numbers in their database. They don't actually incur any significant expense because they open the same amount of rewards inventory (seats that can be purchased by miles) as they always would, and then instead of somebody else miles-ing that one seat, Bennett gets it.

    Sure, there are knock-on effects that a real FF misses out on the reward, they become disgruntled with the program, people have to sit next to Bennett, whatever. But airlines are generally very free-wheeling with giving out miles (try it yourself - you can usually get ~1/8 of the way to a domestic RT for something as minor as your video screen not working if you write in to complain) because they know it doesn't really truly cost them that much.

  14. Re:Not me, not in California on The Vicious Circle That Is Sending Rents Spiraling Higher · · Score: 1

    Is this a common feature of other markets? I've generally only been in places 1-3 years in Tulsa OK but I would only expect a landlord to change your rate once every few years. Reliable renters who pay on time every month and don't trash the place or get noise complaints are rare and valuable all on our own. I would think it counterintuitive to risk driving us out for no other reason than to try to keep up with inflation.

  15. Re:Wait a minute... on Chinese Doctor Performs Head Transplants On Mice · · Score: 1

    > ... CPR has a success rate of ... 6%

    For what it's worth, CPR is a last ditch procedure, only recommended when the patient is otherwise effectively dead. You're improving a 0% survival to a 6% one.

  16. Re:The hawks are either vicious or stupid on Senate Passes USA Freedom Act · · Score: 1

    Nobody wants to talk politics with a stranger in an airport line - especially one where they might be (reasonably or not) afraid that bitching about the TSA is going to get them pulled for additional security screening.

  17. Re:30% on FCC May Stop 911 Access For NSI Phones · · Score: 1

    Yeah, and what does "legitimate" even mean? This is a case where I could easily see the definition getting away from the original intent as this statistic snakes its way out of the bureaucracy and into the public press.

    To give an example, three 911 calls that I have made:

    * A truck was on fire on the roadside. Highway patrol turned out to be already aware. Does that qualify as illegitimate?
    * A bloody beatdown was happening on a street corner. Never followed up but sometimes even that doesn't result in arrests or hospital time. Legitimate?
    * A butt dial. Illegitimate for sure but I don't really see NSI having an impact on the buttdial category.

    If the other 70% of NSI calls are swattings or other malicious nefarious intent that is an entirely different story from 70% of NSI calls being buttdials or superfluous notifications of real emergencies.

  18. Re:I'm all for abolishing the IRS on Sign Up At irs.gov Before Crooks Do It For You · · Score: 1

    One man's consumption is everybody else's production. The question of which end to tax is a bit of a shell game.

  19. Re:Why are Millennials afraid of negativity? on Developers and the Fear of Apple · · Score: 1

    I don't think it's quite so simple. The anonymity provided by most internet fora results in an order of magnitude more trolling online than in the real world, where people have to speak with their reputations in mind. Compare the average post here to the average AC post. With shining exceptions like yours most aren't even coherent.

  20. Re:When it suits them... on Scotland Yard Chief: Put CCTV In Every Home To Help Solve Crimes · · Score: 1

    The more local the government, the more petty and blatant the corruption.

  21. I found the "Post" button! http://i.imgur.com/lqrwZbC.jpg

  22. Re:Helping Castro on Cubans Allowed To Export Software and Software Services To the US · · Score: 1

    Thank you for pointing this out. Two points:

    1. There's still ~1/12 ish chance that your gasoline came from nearly all the way round the world in SA, which for a globally mostly fungible good that you can pull out of the ground almost anywhere depending how bad you want it, is something to marvel at for sure.

    2. Because of that same global market, US demand absolutely props up prices for the Saudis. So yeah, I pay $60/bbl for a Canadian extracted crude (expect that to go away BTW if the price *stays* at $60/bbl). That's one barrel that somebody in China or Japan wanted at $60, that they're not going to get, so they have to pay $60 to an exporter close to them, and so on, until SA is enriched after all.

  23. Re:IOW, he's a rentseeker. on The Man Squatting On Millions of Dollars Worth of Domain Names · · Score: 1

    Cite please? I've never seen "free" .coms that didn't have huge gimmick terms attached to them.

  24. Re: Not a laywer. on If a Financial Institution Mishandles My Data, What Recourse Do I Have? · · Score: 1

    You misunderstand - the secure message center is accessible through your normal online banking account. If you're going to gripe about remembering how to get into your online banking account, don't worry gramps, I'll stay off your lawn.

  25. Re: Not a laywer. on If a Financial Institution Mishandles My Data, What Recourse Do I Have? · · Score: 1

    2/4 of my financial institutions use "secure message systems" as well - i.e., if they were going to send me this information, they have a private message system that you can only access through their website, and I'd get an email saying nothing more than "$Bank has a secure message waiting for you regarding 'Student Loans' after you log in."