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User: TommyNelson

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Comments · 27

  1. Re:The cheapest and dangerous option. on It'll Cost $1 Billion To Dismantle America's Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier (popularmechanics.com) · · Score: 2

    They could sell it to North Korea and make a few bucks.

  2. Re:Isn't Arianespace government-subsidized? on Ariane Chief Seems Frustrated With SpaceX For Driving Down Launch Costs (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    This really seems like a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

    I agree. I was going to write something along the lines of "cry me a river" ;-) The market is changing and regardless of the causes, you either adapt or you fail.

  3. Ashley Madison 2.0 on Facebook Reaches Its Natural Conclusion As A Dating App (buzzfeed.com) · · Score: 1

    waiting to hapen

  4. Re:Another client? on Is Microsoft Trying To Make Windows 10 Mail Worse? (venturebeat.com) · · Score: 1

    This. This is the first thing that springs to mind: Stop whining, ditch Windows Mail and get on with your life.

  5. Because that's the only way on Microsoft Announces Breakthrough In Chinese-To-English Machine Translation (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 1

    and even hiring outside bilingual language consultants to further verify the machine's accuracy

    Only natives or bilinguals (if they really are) can verify the translaion's accuracy -- until you get your neural networks trained up to that point, of course.

  6. Re:How to cause panic with statistics on US Disaster Costs Shatter Records In 2017, the Third-Warmest Year On Record (cnbc.com) · · Score: 1

    Well, if you look at the cost figures in real terms, youi'll find that adding inflation rates from 2005 till 2017 to the 2005 figure you get about $280 billion, so the real additional damage done - in 2017 dollars - is 20 billion. But then again, with climate becoming more and more erratic, this is to be expected.

  7. Lets See If He Has It In Him on Mark Zuckerberg's 2018 Personal Challenge Is To Do His Job As CEO (fastcompany.com) · · Score: 1

    That is a solid commitment and if he pulls this off he may well make a difference. Separating the wheat from the chaff is a tough challenge, not only on facebook. If he manages to make facebook less prone to abuse then he may well be doing many users a favour. This will translate into increased confidence in facebook and thus improve his profits. I can't find a problem there.

  8. Re:Not really bad. on The Last Man on Earth To Speak His Language (axios.com) · · Score: 2

    Apart from being incredibly callous, these remarks say more about you than they do about the subject matter, which is not just about losing a language, a culture, a people. Its about how and why these things were lost. I definitely recommend to RTFA before issuing such inane comments.

  9. Well, its not as if Cisco and Co are obliged to reveal their code. They choose to agree to the demand so as to be able to sell their products there. So that is just plain commercial interest - nothing inherently wrong there.

    On a political level the adversary has a chance to spot and exploit possible flaws in said code to do Bad Things... different pair of shoes, isn't it, Donald.

  10. Also, it is probable that the argument went at least partially toward the EU allowing the merger in the first place. All considered, they got away with a very light slap on the wrist. They are not even being obliged to undo it.

  11. Define "Little" on Studies Show Testosterone Offers Little Benefits To Aging Men (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    ibid

  12. This Affects Not just the UK on Royal Navy Giving Up Anti-Ship Missiles, Will Rely On Cannons For Naval Combat (telegraph.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    ... but also their allies. NATO has strategic plans, even in times of relative peace, which will need to be adapted. I can imagine this being a major headache, since the other members will have to pick up the slack.

  13. Looks like humans somehow need to believe in something supernatural.

  14. Get Rid Of Them Altogether on Amazon Bans Incentivized Reviews Tied To Free Or Discounted Products (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 1

    People will far more likely bitch about a product or service they're not happy with than recommend one which they like. I can't remember the exact proportion, but its about 1 to 5. So if you're unhappy you'll go tell 5 people, if you are you tell 1.

    With this in mind, if you see any product with review averages in the 4 and 5 stars you *know* it has to be fake. The very fact that vendors pay for positive reviews only confirms this. They're - naturally - getting many more negative reviews than positive ones so they go pay someone to write something nice about their stuff so people will want to buy it.

    This is in Amazon's interest, too, but only if it doesn't get out of hand, which apparently it has. People are skeptical about reviews and loudly complaining that false endorsement led them to buy things that turn out to be crap. Its happened to me.

    So if you leave things go their 'natural' course you get too much negativity which is not representative and yet harms sales, and if you do paid reviews you get too much enthusiasm which ultimately harms sales, too, the logical thing to do is to just get rid of consumer reviews altogether and rely on traditional advertising which we consumers have learned to interpret so as to form a relatively accurate picture of what to expect.

  15. What they really mean on Microsoft Announces 'Cumulative' Updates Will Become Mandatory For Windows 7 and 8.1 (microsoft.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Microsoft says their new approach "increases Windows operating system's ability to send telemetry data by pushing such functionality even on those users who up to now were able to avoid them by not installing the corresponding patches."
    FTFY

  16. Re: Windows 10 on Linux Grabs More Than 2% of Desktop Market Share (w3counter.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The chief reason why Linux will probably not succeed on the desktop has nothing to do with any technical characteristics, merits, or lack thereof of the OS itself, but rather on the typical technical aptitude of computer users. Linux doesn't hold your hand the way that some other OS's might, and this can be intimidating for some people, but with the freedom that Linux gives to its users comes a great ability to control and customize your computer to behave exactly the way that you want.... in ways that Windows users probably cannot even imagine.

    Not so much to do with hand-holding than with marketing budgets and vendor binding. Installing and running Windows might be simpler than Linux, but not that much. Many distros have come a long way. The problem Linux faces is all the preinstalled machines. Buy an off-the-shelf desktop or laptop PC and it'll close to 100% likely be preinstalled with Windows.

  17. Re:Or they offer too little on Spain Runs Out of Workers With Almost 5 Million Unemployed (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    Exactly this. And as a consequence qualified young professionals have left the country for greener pastures, like Germany.

  18. Get Rid of The Loophole on Spanish Authorities Raid Google Offices Over Tax (reuters.com) · · Score: 1
    From TFA:

    This is possible thanks to a loophole in international tax law and hinges on staff in Dublin concluding all sales contracts.

    Its not as if that loophole is new or anything...

  19. Earth itself should not exist... on Swedish Scientist Suggests That There Is Only One Earth (blastingnews.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...according to the computer model.
    Says something about the model, then, doesn't it?

  20. I think they mean its controversial to limit this procedure to male embryos. Probably thinking this may be (politically rather than biologically) sexist. Nevertheless, as the summary correctly states, mitochondrial DNA is passed on via the female branch of a family. Therefore, if they fuck up anything, the issue stops with the male embryo in question as he won't pass on the potentially borked DNA to his offspring. Makes sense to me, that.

  21. Re:Populistic blabbering on University of Helsinki To Lay Off a Thousand People (yle.fi) · · Score: 1

    A lot of what is said here *is* right wing "bullshit", so AC has a point. Its very easy to fall into, too, given that - as you say - criminal behaviour often emanates from non-national residents. Look at recent events in Cologne (Germany) where bands of middle eastern foreigners assaulted German women. What I find hard to understand is why this is not dealt with in a normal, law-abiding fashion. Sharia law in muslim ghettos is a no-no. Much more so if law enforcement personnel is getting attacked while they (lawfully) go about their jobs. Assaulting women is a no-no, too. So go send in the forces, apprehend the perps and process them duly. Its not as if they don't have enough practice with their national habituals... Just don't use that as an excuse to judge every person belonging to an ethnic minority in your country as being a criminal. That leads to hate speech and we all know what happens then.

  22. TFA anyone? on UK Cuts Men's Recommended Weekly Alcohol To 14 Units (theguardian.com) · · Score: 1

    I know we don't do this on /. but it'd be interesting to know the source of this.

  23. Re:Article blocked on How Big Was the Universe When It Was First Born? · · Score: 1

    Try: http://www.forbes.com/sites/st... Still the forbes site, but it seem to bypass the anti-adblock page.

  24. Re:SketchUp on Ask Slashdot: What Windows-Only Apps Would You Most Like To See On Linux? · · Score: 1

    Yes, a Linux version of Sketchup would be really nice. I use it professionally and its pretty much useless with Wine (Sketchup itself has issues, then plugins won't work, LayOut is a mess...).

  25. Why the secrecy? on Bank of England Accidentally E-mails Top-Secret "Brexit" Plan To the Guardian · · Score: 1

    Seems silly to be so coy about such a study. Actually, the government should have commissioned it publicly and presented the expected results of a possible "Brexit" to the nation. That way people could make a much more informed decision when voting at the referendum.