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User: excursive

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  1. I stopped buying or using Android apps from the Amazon store because they stopped working after a while without an internet connection. If they couldn't call home, they died.

  2. Not such a threat, really on Are Squirrels A Bigger Threat To Our Critical Infrastructure? (bbc.com) · · Score: 1

    They're not killing nearly as many people as toddlers with guns, and we're not doing anything about those!

    http://www.snopes.com/toddlers...

  3. 5 different ways on Symbolic vs. Mnemonic Relational Operators: Is "GT" Greater Than ">"? · · Score: 1

    SAS has at least five different ways to express "not equals" in the data step, one of which ("") means something completely different in a different part of the software (SQL). So the case for using NE is pretty good.

  4. The t-mobile plan I have on my hotspot is unlimited in the sense that there will never be overage charges, but after a specified usage it reverts to a much slower connection. The main advantage is not having to worry about large unexpected charges.

    My Verizon hotspot has 15GB, but I have to watch to make sure I don't go over, because on their plan the overage charges add up very high very fast.

    Yes, I have two hotspots. One stays at home and is my full-time internet service there. The fastest DSN I can get in my location is half the speed of my mobile hotspot.

    I used to have a Sprint unlimited hotspot; they took that plan away from me, so I switched to a Clear device with an unlimited plan. That worked very well until Sprint bought Clear and turned off the local tower. So I dropped that plan and went to Verizon. That made me discover how much better Verizon coverage is, so I also switched my voice service. Sprint lost a couple of hundred dollars a month from me just because they were being greedy.
     

  5. Re:Care about updates? on Ask Slashdot: Best Tablet In 2015? · · Score: 1

    Microsoft rescued Apple financially in 1997. And yet Apple is relatively independent of Microsoft today.

  6. Re:Those communities don't exist for long... on A 'Star Trek' Economic System May Be Closer Than You Think · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Poor San Marino, they're a brutal theocracy and don't even know it. Founded 301 CE.

  7. Aged-out foster children on Ask Slashdot: Making Donations Count · · Score: 2

    There's probably a local organization that helps foster children who have aged out of the system. They really get a raw deal in life.

    Local arts organizations are also good choices, especially if they have full-time local performers on staff.

    And the usual biggies - the ACLU, EFF, Greenpeace, Amnesty International - and some smaller ones, like the American Friends Service Committee and Friends Committee on Legislation.

  8. Re:This is how organized religion dies on Ireland Votes Yes To Same-Sex Marriage · · Score: 1

    Huh? Some churches already do, and have for decades. Many more will perform blessings instead of marriages.

  9. Re:Android on Google Sunsetting Old Version of Google Maps · · Score: 1

    Exactly. When I tell Here to download California, I know what I should get. Not with Google Maps.

    I will have to give Bing maps on the desktop a try also.

  10. Android on Google Sunsetting Old Version of Google Maps · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google has "improved" the Android version of Maps so much that I switched to Nokia's Here maps app. It's much easier to use, faster, and I can download maps for offline use.

  11. You could try CASLsoft 4.3 on Ask Slashdot: Where Can I Find Resources On Programming For Palm OS 5? · · Score: 2

    It's free from http://windows.novellshareware... . There are also other app-building tools out there. When I had a Palm, I used several programs from Tealpoint Software. Their web page is dead tonight, but the Google cache copy from yesterday shows dates from 2013. Perhaps your question provoked a huge run on Palm software and their server couldn't handle the load. https://webcache.googleusercon... Palm had the best calendar program (DateBk, not to be confused with DateBook) I've ever used on any platform.

  12. Re:What you're doing is akin to learning Latin on Ask Slashdot: Where Can I Find Resources On Programming For Palm OS 5? · · Score: 2

    Latin is still spoken in the Holy See. If you want to learn to speak it, you could try Rosetta Stone or Transparent Language. Or learn to speak it in Rome! http://www.slate.com/articles/...

  13. Use in electronics on Geophysicists Discover How Rocks Produce Magnetic Pulses · · Score: 1

    When I see the word "semiconductor" I think "transistor". I wonder if this discover can lead to a new type of commercially practical semiconductor. Obviously not on the size scale of seismic plates, but perhaps this effect can be created in other materials,now that we know it exists.

  14. Doesn't matter if it goes a bit wrong on Facebook Patents Inferring Income of Users · · Score: 5, Informative

    It doesn't really matter if the algorithm is wrong for an individual, as long as it it generally correct for the population.

  15. We're not celebrating political sovereignty on How Old Is the Average Country? · · Score: 1

    We didn't gain that until some time later. We're celebrating the declaration of intention to gain sovereignty.

  16. Re:If a King rules a Kingdom, on How Old Is the Average Country? · · Score: 1

    It was a pun.

  17. Re:Why waist the money? on Nicaragua Gives Chinese Firm Contract To Build Alternative To Panama Canal · · Score: 1

    First, the Panama canal is driven by fresh water which is then thrown away. The redesign reuses a portion of the water (a third, I think) so that they can make more runs per day, not so that they can save any water. There are literally people dying on this planet for lack of fresh water and this is just used as hydraulic fluid and then thrown into the ocean while ships pass by.

    Water in Panama does no good to people dying of thirst in Africa. Even more fresh water is wasted by letting the Amazon flow into the Atlantic Ocean. What should we do about that?

  18. Any reason to think this was a double-blind study? on Belief In God Correlates With Better Mental Health Treatment Outcomes · · Score: 1

    The full article is behind a paywall, but there's nothing in the abstract that makes me think the study was double-blind. It might not even be single-blind. So it's anecdotes with charts and statistics, and not rigorous.

  19. This is why it's important to get root access... on Facebook's Android App Can Now Retrieve Data About What Apps You Use · · Score: 2

    If you have root you can turn off those permissions. If the app doesn't run without snooping permissions (as Groupon and Google Offers do not), well, it's their choice not to get my business.

  20. Re:Sounds like Facebook handled it correctly on Facebook Rolled Its Own 0Day For Red Team Exercise · · Score: 1

    Yes, we're their product, but without product they won't be able to sell ads.

  21. Sounds like Facebook handled it correctly on Facebook Rolled Its Own 0Day For Red Team Exercise · · Score: 5, Insightful

    More companies should do that kind of testing. If only they would spend that much effort on building a reliable user interface...

  22. Re:Why is webkit on Kindle so poor? on How Competing Companies Are Jointly Building WebKit · · Score: 1

    The Kindle 3G doesn't have a powerful processor or gobs of memory. The display refreshes slowly. The internet connection is not very fast. Maybe all the transactions go through Amazon's servers (as they do on the Fire unless you turn that off). Amazon probably had to make many additions to the code to adapt to the Kindle's physical interface. In other words, there are several potential reasons. What in particular do you not like about it?