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User: anvilmark

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  1. Looks more like a "Lack of Competition" issue on Portuguese ISP Shows What The Net Looks Like Without Net Neutrality (boingboing.net) · · Score: 1

    This kind of problem can only exist when there are functional monopolies.
    Is this only being done by Portugal Telecom or is Sonaecom doing it as well? (I can't read Portuguese).

  2. When did we discard "let the buyer beware"? on Ask Slashdot: Is Deliberately Misleading People On the Internet Free Speech? · · Score: 1

    We have ample evidence that regulatory agencies can be manipulated by political pressure / lobbying. Let's say the FDA becomes the final arbiter of what is "real treatment". If someone were to discover a simple and inexpensive cure for depression - to what lengths would the Pharmaceutical industry go to get it labeled "fake" and preserve their $14.5 billion industry?
    Do we really want to be prevented from ever making a mistake in judgement? In this post-modern society who are you willing to trust to define what is Real and what is Fake?
    "Truth" is bought and sold in the halls of power - who watches the watchmen?

  3. In the future it will just be called... on Alphabet Wraps Up Reorganization With a New Company Called XXVI (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 3, Funny

    "The Umbrella Corporation"

  4. First thought: "33%? Seriously?" on Facebook Rejects Female Engineers' Code More Often Than Male Counterparts, Analysis Finds (theverge.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have worked in IT for many years and have known some truly stellar female programmers - but I've never worked anywhere with 33% women.
    Based purely on industry statistics they had to bypass more experienced males in order to hire that ratio of females. There are just so many more males in the industry than females.

  5. Playing too much Civilization on Ask Slashdot: Why Are There No Huge Leaps Forward In CPU/GPU Power? · · Score: 2

    The CIV games make young minds think that technological breakthroughs are simply a matter of money and time, then BANG tech advance!
    Somebody needs to start airing "Connections" again: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com...

  6. "stormed off to Arizona in a huff"??? on Uber's Self-Driving Cars Are Now Picking Up Passengers in Arizona (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    California revoked their registrations and banned them. If that was a ploy by CDMV to get them to pay the appropriate bribes for access it certainly backfired. Otherwise, the CA got exactly what it wanted.

  7. Benefits: "Giving back some of what we took" on Let's Drug Test The Rich Before Approving Tax Deductions, Says US Congresswoman (theguardian.com) · · Score: 0

    Government can only give benefits from money they took from someone else in the first place.
    The top 10% of earners pay 68% of taxes in the US. Anything government "gives back" was theirs in the first place.
    That is unless we've moved to a ideology that government already owns everything the citizens have and we are all serfs.

  8. Viva Le Monarchy Baby! on Obama: The Word 'Classified' Means Whatever We Need It To Mean (techdirt.com) · · Score: 1

    It's good to be the King.

  9. And then they all retired on Researchers Discover a Cheap Method of Breaking Bitcoin Wallet Passwords (softpedia.com) · · Score: 1

    and lived happily ever after.

  10. Our ancestors wanted car-centric on The Chicago Suburb That's Trying To Kill the Car (politico.com) · · Score: 1

    Zoning and developers followed the desires of our parents and grandparents. You may not like cars but they were seen as the embodiment of freedom for your ancestors - go anywhere you want, quickly, and on your own schedule.
    The parts of cities that didn't support that attitude languished (inner cities) and areas that did flourished (suburbs).

    TLDR: Infrastructure conformed to the culture.

  11. Stunner bullets, anyone? on Advance In Super/Ultra Capacitor Tech: High Voltage and High Capacity · · Score: 1

    High voltage, compact size, easy to make. I'm sure this will somehow be used in porn first (the 'how' eludes me but there seems to be a Rule 34 about tech) - yet "Everything that can be weaponized, will be weaponized..."

  12. Comparing the US to Sweden on Verizon, Cable Lobby Oppose Spec-Bump For Broadband Definition · · Score: 1

    Sweden
    Area: 450 sq km - Roughly the size of California
    Population: 9.7 Million. 85% of which is Urban (8.2 million)
    i.e. The city of New York (8.4 M) with a resource base equal to the state of California.

    Yeah, that's an apples-to-apples comparison, for sure.

  13. Employee ethics training time again! on Hewlett-Packard Admits To International Bribery and Money Laundering Schemes · · Score: 1

    Because every time an HP leader breaks the law the employees must take the training.

  14. So, is HIV still the cause?? on Researchers Crack Major HIV Mystery · · Score: 4, Interesting

    HIV only kills ~5% of the T-cells.
    Newly discovered pyroptosis pathway kills the other 95%
    This is a radical departure from the accepted mechanisms of how HIV works. Pyroptosis can be triggered by a boatload of different inflammatory processes, I'll be looking forward to their smoking gun that HIV is the cause.
    With all the research money poured into HIV research, it's taken them 20 years to notice this?

  15. How many Feminists needed to change a lightbulb? on GitHub Takes Down Satirical 'C Plus Equality' Language · · Score: 5, Insightful

    THAT'S NOT FUNNY!

  16. Attack of the MBAs on The Decline of '20% Time' at Google · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The more MBAs in your organization the less innovation you will have.
    They don't think in terms of success through better (or more diverse) products, only in squeezing maximum efficiency from everything - Marx would applaud them.

  17. Or just buy degree on Hacker Exposes Evidence of Widespread Grade Tampering In India · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Nothing I hear about education fraud in India surprises me since one of my Indian coworkers explained how people "buy" degrees from Indian universities.
    University employees can be bribed to create the records for an entire curriculum, spanning multiple years of attendance. This record is indistinguishable from a valid one and generates a real diploma. The University will confirm education because "it's in the system".
    I think he said it cost about $3000 USD or so for a Masters degree.

  18. Utopian vs Pragmatist on Software Engineering Has Its Own Political Axis From Conservative To Liberal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He's right that there are opposing ideologies, but Liberal/Conservative just muddies the water.

    Utopian believes:
    1) Zero defects is achievable and support processes should assume that will be the case after release.
    2) "Good code" is the result of using an "industry standard" language.
    3) That full functionality specifications can be collected during design from the people who will be using the system.
    4) Achieving 1-3 is more important than delivering the functionality requested by the users.
    5) Considers that the delivered project will be "complete" and further modifications will be minimal.

    Pragmatist believes:
    1) That defects are inevitable and support processes need to allow for easy/quick recovery.
    2) "Good code" should be inherently understandable by the majority of those who will be making changes to it.
    3) That human memory is spotty and nobody is able to tell you 100% of what they know.
    4) Delivering software that meets the needs of the user is more important than perfection of the code or processes.
    5) Understands that the world changes and the software needs to make those changes easy.

    As you can guess - I'm a pragmatist.

  19. Re:Barbara Hambly, C.S. Friedman on Ask Slashdot: Good, Forgotten Fantasy & Science Fiction Novels? · · Score: 1

    Also Hambly's "Dark" series (Time of the Dark, Walls of Air, Armies of Daylight + Mother of Winter) - for a mix of science and magic.

  20. Re:DeChancie, Carver, Scott (Zelazny) on Ask Slashdot: Good, Forgotten Fantasy & Science Fiction Novels? · · Score: 1

    I second DeChancie and the Starrigger series - time travel via an interstellar road system. Gotta love it.

    Also Roadmarks by Zelazny (well, pretty much anything by Zelazny)

  21. Fungibility on Does Outsourcing Programming Really Save Money? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Modern management philosophy depersonalizes employees into interchangeable resources. There is Management, Knowledge Experts and "Cogs".
    They don't even care that it's more expensive using cheap programmers to get a job done - it's worth it to them to not have to depend on any individual contributor.

  22. Always been there on Interview With Head of Pixar Animation Ed Catmull · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Old programmers can tell you that software has always been a type of art. An esoteric form of art perhaps, but a piece of well written code is a thing of beauty.

  23. Any sufficiently advanced technology... on Microsoft Shows Off 'Milo' Virtual Human · · Score: 1

    is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.

  24. 2340 years late on The Chicken May Have Come Before the Egg · · Score: 1

    Aristotle: The chicken came first. The chicken is an actual chicken, but an egg is only a potential chicken. http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/aristotle/section7.rhtml

  25. Re:What about chicken hearts? on Chemical Cocktail Can Keep a Heart Viable 10 Days, Outside the Body · · Score: 1

    So you're saying New York City isn't safe?