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User: Amigan

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  1. Re:Not enough resourcees on Audi Creates "Fuel of the Future" Using Just Carbon Dioxide and Water · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ethanol was going to save us. Then farmers / growers sold all their corn to ethanol producers, and the food chain suffered as feed for animals got more expensive, exports to 3rd world fell, and food riots started...

  2. Re:Interesing... on Lawmakers Seek Information On Funding For Climate Change Critics · · Score: 1

    The AMS (American Meteorology Society) is concerned about a possible witch hunt. They feel that peer-review is the best way to uncover issues with the research.

  3. Re:Is this his first veto? on Obama Vetoes Keystone XL Pipeline Bill · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Harry Reid served as backstop to make sure unpopular vetoes (and Senate votes) wouldn't take place 2009-2014. Republican majority in the Senate means more bills *might* make it to the President's desk, but only if Dems don't use that evil 'filibuster' thingee that Republicans used.

  4. The ultimate keyboard? on Building the Developer's Dream Keyboard · · Score: 1

    Already produced, years ago. It was called the Keytronic FlexPro. Been using mine for 20yrs, through multiple adapters as the original was 5pin AT, now connected to a USB. 5pin -> PS/2 -> USB.

  5. Re:Use that pen Mr. President! on Republican Bill Aims To Thwart the FCC's Leaning Towards Title II · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    You mean his EOs to delay/change/alter the ACA? When Congress attempted to pass "into law" his EO on the delay, he announce he would veto it? It *is* good to be king. Note the 2nd paragraph here - delay that it was a bill to do what the Administration had already announced. Enforcing the law is the Executive branch's job, not changing it.

  6. Getting around the court decision on Republican Bill Aims To Thwart the FCC's Leaning Towards Title II · · Score: 2, Interesting
    The FCC has tried once to enforce Net Neutrality. This was ruled illegal by the courts, see ruling .

    Now by making the ISPs "common carriers", we will get all the innovation that we got under Ma Bell before the breakup in 1983 :-(

  7. Re:Use that pen Mr. President! on Republican Bill Aims To Thwart the FCC's Leaning Towards Title II · · Score: 1

    If only he used the pen for VETO as opposed to EOs...

  8. Peaceful uses only? on How Close Are We To Engineering the Climate? · · Score: 1

    I'm old enough to remember (and read) the book - Weather War . Forget the lawsuits, look at the next level of targeting for political advantage.

  9. government closed dealerships in bailout on Who's To Blame For Rules That Block Tesla Sales In Most US States? · · Score: 2
    2009 was a momentous/turbulent year for US automobile mfgs. When the Auto Czar decide to ram through the bankruptcy rules for GM, many dealerships were closed in the restructuring. Could others see the handwriting on the wall as a Dem administration was determining whether they could stay in business or not - even if they were profitable - and decided that Republicans were a better bet?

    To be totally transparent, I'm one of the many who lost their investment in GM corporate bonds as the current administration rewrote bankruptcy law to screw secured (like me) creditors.

  10. Re:I don't like the IBM keyboards. on The Greatest Keyboard Ever Made · · Score: 1

    Specifically, the Ergonomic FlexPro. I'm typing from it now, 20yrs after buying it. It has a 5pin AT connector plugged into a pigtail (5pin -> PS2 connection) plugged into a PS2 -> USB connector.

  11. Re:Simple set of pipelined utilties! on Torvalds: No Opinion On Systemd · · Score: 1

    I would argue that there is a difference between a user application (the web browser and Emacs that you've cited) and processes that the OS depends on to function. I would be more ok with systemd if it were an installation option. It isn't exactly new technology, as AIX (System Resource Controller) and Solaris (System Management Facility) implemented these same concepts before.

  12. 35 yr member on Vint Cerf on Why Programmers Don't Join the ACM · · Score: 1
    I first joined as an undergraduate, in part because it was the Professional organization for Computer Scientists/Software Engineers. I was also eventually the student chapter president at my alma mater. Being a student member was relatively inexpensive and allowed me to see what current research was being conducted.

    Once I became a working professional (Programmer, Software Engineer, Systems Engineer, other titles) the Special Interest Groups (SIGs in ACM speak) became more relevant to me. The organization has always suffered from being more academically oriented than geared towards the working professional.

    I don't subscribe to the digital library (DL) because I find the cost prohibitively expensive for what I would use it for. The monthly journal attempts to cater to all sorts (professionals, researchers, academics) and I find a few articles each month of interest.

    Does membership carry any prestige? As one can read from these comments, the answer is an overwhelming no - unless you are submitting articles to be published. Making it through the peer review cycle is an achievement. SIG membership gives you access to like minded folks for discussion.

    Many of the benefits are now just perception as the world-wide web has subsumed most of what they offer.

    Why do I stay a member? Mostly inertia, but I still value a printed resource delivered to my postal mail address rather than only digital medium for information.

  13. Re:Secure Border Before Amnesty on FWD.us: GOP Voters To Be Targeted By Data Scientists · · Score: 1
    We had a way, it was called e-Verify.

    Dem Congress killed the funding for it and objected to making it mandatory - even though it was required by the last comprehensive immigration reform (Simpson-Mazzoli, 1986).

    30 yrs ago, this story was written - does it sound familiar? measuring compliance

  14. Soul of the the New Machine on Ask Slashdot: What Should Every Programmer Read? · · Score: 1

    I'll second the recommendation on Steve McConnell's Code Complete - I've used it as a college textbook in classes on SE I've taught. On a lighter note, I would recommend Tracy Kidder's The Soul of the New Machine. Somewhat dated, but gives a historical perspective on how/what it took to build a new machine and make it to market.

  15. Declining crop yields on UN Report: Climate Changes Overwhelming · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Assuming the projections are correct, wouldn't it make sense to eliminate using maize (corn in the US) as an additive to gasoline? When 30%+ of the corn currently being planted in the US is done so to get the Ethanol subsidy, it removes quite a bit from the food supply. I do not claim that all would be planted for food (corn price would plummet), but arable land is being used to for this 'not green' fuel additive. I say 'not green' because even the UN has acknowledged that the use is counterproductive.

  16. best / worst? on Why Darmok Is a Good Star Trek: TNG Episode · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've always been partial to "Who watches the watchers" and thought that "Genesis" (final season) was one of the worst..

  17. Re:Just curious on Medical Costs Bankrupt Patients; It's the Computer's Fault · · Score: 1
    http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-725R
    • Download the GAO report. Page 4 lists the total number of employees that were involved in waivers (~3M).
    • Of that total, ~50% were union members.
    • now, since unions represent ~12% of the US workforce (~65M at last count) = 8M
    • It would seem that Unions got a disproportionate amount of the waivers.

    Does that mean that of the 1200+ waivers, that Unions got > 600? no.

    Before you say that union contracts are negotiated, and therefore cannot be altered, ask yourself if the minimum wage gets increased, do union wages get automatically increased? Isn't that a change in federal law, outside the control of the unions?

  18. Re:Just curious on Medical Costs Bankrupt Patients; It's the Computer's Fault · · Score: 1
    If waivers were for the states, then why were waivers granted to labor unions? http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2012/03/06/labor-unions-get-lions-share-final-aca-waivers

    If delays are acceptably part of the law, why then the veto threat and 100% Democrat party nay vote on the House bill that codifies the delay?

    The rules on a federal exchange (not state exchanges), which is what the Congress and their staffs would be participating in, state that there is no subsidy. Since the law specifically moved them from their existing plan (so much for keeping the plan you have) to the federal exchange, one could argue that no federal government payment is allowed. Yes, they are only getting back what they had previously, but that is not what the law said.

  19. Re:Real-time processing required on Medical Costs Bankrupt Patients; It's the Computer's Fault · · Score: 1

    The federal government does not have the constitutional power to order the states to do anything. At best, they can coerce them by withholding federal aid, but that part of the ACA was deemed optional by the SCOTUS - hence the 30 states that have refused to create state wide heath exchanges. That forces the federal government to create the federal exchange, but the law says that there will be no subsidies to those in the federal exchanges.

  20. Re:Real-time processing required on Medical Costs Bankrupt Patients; It's the Computer's Fault · · Score: 1
    Note that the authority says that the Insurance companies can handle this, it's the fact that there is no real-time connectivity from pharmacy to insurance company that is the major problem.

    Insurance Expert explains the problem

  21. Re:Just curious on Medical Costs Bankrupt Patients; It's the Computer's Fault · · Score: 1, Insightful

    By what legal authority did Obama delay this implementation?

    None.

    But then again, what legal authority did he (or HHS Secretary) have for:

    1. waivers
    2. delaying employer mandate
    3. giving Congress (and their staff) 75% price support

    None are legal because the law itself doesn't give anyone the power to change it willy-nilly, as each changes the law without the necessary legislation to modify the existing law.

    jerry

  22. Real-time processing required on Medical Costs Bankrupt Patients; It's the Computer's Fault · · Score: 4, Informative
    From what I heard today, the problem is as follows:
    1. 1) patient goes to pharmacy to get prescription filled
    2. 2) pharmacy contacts authorizer to find out what the cost of the prescription is under patient's plan
    3. 3) patient buys drugs for price returned by authorizer
    4. 4) authorizer sends bill on to insurance company

    Step 2 is an immediate response, step 4 is handled in batch processing nightly. So far so good. Except that the Affordable Care Act makes it *illegal* to make a patient pay more than the annual limit. The authorizer and/or the pharmacy can be charged for forcing the patient to pay above the annual limit. This means that the authorizer must be aware of limit of each patient and be able to respond in real-time so that neither they nor the pharmacy will be sued. The insurance company doesn't have that information available real-time, nor do they make it available to the authorizer.

    It is a computer issue, but as simple as everyone thinks. Putting individual insurance files on-line so that the out of pocket expenses can be tracked real-time isn't trivial. Now, maybe the Insurance companies were hoping the law wouldn't be implemented so they didn't do the hard work necessary to get set up, or maybe the rules were only written as to how to handle the annual limit must be handled.

    Just remember, the last time companies put together a real-time on-line credit/debit system, the government decided that they charged too much to support the infrastructure, and started regulating it. That was the Durbin amendment to Dodd-Frank, which put a fixed limit on per swipe fees - regardless of what the infrastructure and support costs actually are.

    jerry

  23. Re:Pretty obvious on Seeking Fifth Amendment Defenders · · Score: 2

    There is a presumption of innocence in any criminal proceedings in the US - remember, everyone on trial in the .us is Innocent until proven guilty. The Fifth Amendment was put in place to make sure that the things you said wouldn't be used as the proof that the prosecution needed to convict. The burden of proof is on the prosecution to show guilt, not for them to have you testify (for them) to your guilt.

  24. Areas of Responsibility on Ask Slashdot: Developer Or Software Engineer? Can It Influence Your Work? · · Score: 2

    I would argue that a Software Engineer's role encompasses that of a Developer, as they are generally can also be expected to handle design (high and low level), testing (functional, unit, system), along with the writing of code. A Developer tends to fit the image of the guy with the keyboard cranking out code - software engineering is so much more than that. In fact, it is estimated that a Software Engineer will only spend 20% of the time actually writing code - due to the other responsibilities.

  25. AVG is my choice for free Anti-Virus on Ask Slashdot: Actual Best-in-Show For Free Anti Virus? · · Score: 1

    My son and I (on my Windows partition) have been users of the free version of AVG since 2006. We are both currently running Windows XP, and am glad that AVG continues to support it along with newer flavors of Windows. Free AVG is the download site, and it also includes ad blocking and other features.