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User: BranMan

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Comments · 551

  1. Re:The spokesman for the AHA said... on Australia Declares Homeopathy Nonsense, Urges Doctors to Inform Patients · · Score: 1

    On the plus side, I hear Steve actually smells better now.

  2. Re:Obama on Is Traffic Congestion Growing Three Times As Fast As Economy? · · Score: 1

    I'm curious - what is the alternative to the clover leaf? Seems like the most efficient design when done right.

  3. Simple on Pro-Vaccination Efforts May Be Scaring Wary Parents From Shots · · Score: 1

    Just tell them it helps prevent acne. Parents and kids will be falling over themselves to get vaccinated. Problem solved!

  4. Have the mayers done their part? on California Fights Drought With Data and Psychology, Yielding 5% Usage Reduction · · Score: 1

    I don't mean are they trying to use less water like everyone else. I mean - have they mandated ZERO growth for their cities? NO new housing, NO new businesses, NO new developments, NO new malls? If not, why not? If this is a water crisis then at the minimum you need to cut all NEW drains on the water supply to zero.

    If they have not done this, and will not ever do it (as seems likely) then the problem will never be made any better. Any conservation gains will be eaten up by new demands, add infinitem.

  5. Re:Alright already on US Secretary of State Calls Climate Change 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' · · Score: 1

    There are real options - they just aren't getting funded.

    What do you do if something you have is getting too hot 'cause it's sitting in the sun? Put it in the shade, of course.

    Orbiting shades to block a few percent of the Sun's rays will compensate for any amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Bang. Done.

    Expensive? Sure. Can it be done today? yes.

    There ARE other answers. That's only one.

  6. We are so glad on US Secretary of State Calls Climate Change 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' · · Score: 1

    I used to live and still work in Mass.

    Now the rest of you know why we were trying to get rid of this guy.

    What an a-hole.

    WMD? Seriously?

  7. Re:Why? on Slashdot Tries Something New; Audience Responds! · · Score: 5, Informative

    OK. Ok. First a disclaimer - I have not even looked at the Beta. Now, onto my observation - at a company I worked at we took the existing UI for a massive product and wrote a new UI from the ground up. Sent to evaluate it my overall comment was - it is NOT ready. However, so much time and effort was put into it that it was moved out to production anyway, over my protests. ALL the customers stuck with it did not like it, bug reports ballooned out of all control, and we spent the next year and a half fixing problems while our credibility was hit REAL hard.

    On the other hand, the change was needed in the end, it did provide a lot more flexibility, allowed for new features that could not be done in the old one, and it looked snazzier.

    However, the lesson to take here is that if it not ready, do NOT push it out anyway. We had a basically captive audience due to the nature of our software. We should have taken that extra 6 months to a year to iron things out. Slashdot does not have a captive audience. Please keep that in mind. Do NOT release it until it is at least as good as the current system - no matter how long that takes (or how much it hurts to keep spending on it).

    I may not have a 4 digit id, but I have a 5 digit one. Please listen to the voices of experience here.

  8. The Brits did not ask to be bombed on Are New Technologies Undermining the Laws of War? · · Score: 1

    Actually, a few did. Germany was pounding the RAF into the ground (figuratively and literally) to achieve air supremacy before invading across the Channel. Long range bombing attacks on Berlin were ordered, inflicting little damage, but enraging Hitler. Who ordered the massive bombing campaign of London (against the council of his generals). Leaving the RAF alone to recover.

    A brilliant case of knowing your enemy and manipulating him into doing what you want.

  9. Wrong on US Requirement For Software Dev Certification Raises Questions · · Score: 1

    Incorrect my good man - you certainly CAN choose not to pay taxes. While you may not like the eventual outcome, you DO have that choice. You can still choose not to get health insurance. You may not like the alternatives very much in the end, but you still have that choice.

    And there is now a floor at least for coverage. There are NO preexisting conditions anymore. There are NO charges for routine yearly preventative care physicals. There is a minimum level of coverage now - and as you can see by the thousands of policies terminated, a lot of companies were not meeting that standard (are you really covered if the policy is 'affordable' but doesn't really cover you?).

    It may not be perfect, but I think its at least a small step in the right direction.

  10. Guaranteed on Surge In Online Orders Overwhelms UPS Christmas Deliveries · · Score: 1

    "I think that word means what you don't think it means"

  11. Re:That's 25 terabytes on NASA's Mars Orbiter Reaches Data Milestone · · Score: 1

    From the best estimate I've seen, about 1/10th of a Library of Congress

  12. Re:Not really fascist on Critics Reassess Starship Troopers As a Misunderstood Masterpiece · · Score: 1

    In your third point you talked about the government discouraging Service - with the example of the recruiter. This is definitely intentional, and really necessary. Service should be given for its own sake, not as a price to pay to get something else (like political office for example), or there is no sacrifice in it. People needed to Serve because they wanted to - needed to give something back for their own moral stance. Only that mindset proved you deserved to vote. That's what I think the rationale is.

  13. Re:The Only Good Bug is a Dead Bug. on Critics Reassess Starship Troopers As a Misunderstood Masterpiece · · Score: 1

    Interesting observation - I was disillusioned by Mr McCain as well. But I won't go into why. The idea may still be sound - as in using McCain as an example may not invalidate it - for the simple reason that when McCain was Serving, service was not voluntary and discouraged.

    We don't have that state today either, even though we have all volunteer services - there are things like the GI Bill, ROTC, etc. that give solid incentives to Serve. I think only if there were none at all besides the voting franchise itself would the idea possibly be workable.

  14. Re:Extraordinarily expensive solution on Fukushima Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Starts Generating Power · · Score: 1

    12 miles off-shore a tsunami is barely a ripple on the waters surface. It only becomes a wave when it hits the shore.

  15. Re: profile = evidence? on Researchers Use Computer-Generated 10-Year-Old Girl To Catch Online Predators · · Score: 1

    | A Saudi woman goes to the USA, is raped there. Goes
    | back to Saudi Arabia and is thrown in jail for having been
    | raped (had sex outside marriage).

          That's ridiculous. She'd be stoned! or is it set on fire? I can never remember.

  16. Re:We the people on Full Details of My Attempted Entrapment For Teaching Polygraph Countermeasures · · Score: 1

    Yes, of course he read Das Kapital for his 9th grade term paper. In the original Klingon, of course.

  17. Re:Geothermal has its problems too- pollution, qua on Magma Reservoir Under Yellowstone Is Much Bigger Than Previously Thought · · Score: 1

    And why is that necessarily a bad thing? The way I look at it if tapping geothermal causes quakes, then quakes were going to happen anyway - eventually. And the longer between quakes, the worse they are. That seems obvious - more time for energy to build up, release more energy at once, worse quake.

    I rather trade an earthquake that's a 2 or 3 on the scale every year than wait for the 100 year one that hits with an 11.5!

  18. Re:shoulda got it right the first time on Patriot Act Author Introduces Bill To Limit Use of Patriot Act · · Score: 1

    Yep - I advocate a CLEAN SWEEP - vote out every single incumbent of both parties. Every one. If someone is running unopposed - simply do NOT vote for them. Do not check that box on your ballot - let them get reelected with 300 votes out of 300,000 voters. It would at least send them a message - and send a message that anyone, anyone at all, can get in as long as they are not the same congressmen we currently have.

  19. Re:Douche-o-matic on Police Demand Summary Domain Takedown, Traffic Redirection · · Score: 1

    As long as I'm not in New York I can get the 64-ounce size. The I don't need no stinkin' refills.

  20. Re:Why we have a 5th Amendment on Bennett Haselton's Response To That "Don't Talk to Cops" Video · · Score: 1

    No, you were absolutely crystal clear - and that is NOT what you were saying (that it's not the 5th that 'prevents' the cops from beating you up or lying about your confession). And you certainly did not say it's irrelevant. In fact, according to you, it's pivotal. What you said was exactly this:

      "Which brings it back to my original article: To show the benefits of the Fifth Amendment, you need to come up with a specific, precisely defined scenario where the outcome is different depending on whether we have the Fifth Amendment or not. The scenarios that people have been proposing, all fail that test, for the reasons described above"

    That every scenario people have answered you with, you dismiss out of hand, for the reasons you posted. Period. Crystal clear, and makes this whole farce moot.

  21. Re:Why we have a 5th Amendment on Bennett Haselton's Response To That "Don't Talk to Cops" Video · · Score: 1

    You have finally answered what everyone has been trying to figure out - why you reject every answer to your question. It is contained below. There IS no precisely defined scenario to give to you that meets your criteria. Some of which you only (that I can see) state below.

    Given that you are assuming that the police will ignore the law - any law - and that the court will let them get away with it and convict innocents. It is right there in the quoted section below. And given that the 5th Amendment is a law (supreme law of the land notwithstanding as the police WILL ignore it by your own words below), then NO, there is no scenario where it will make a difference. If the police ignore all laws, and the 5th is just a law, then it does not matter if it exists or not - it makes no difference.

    And that gets none of us anywhere. You've simply made it a stupid question that has, by your definition, no possible answer. Congrats.

    "All I'm saying is:

    Suppose you're innocent the police ask you if you're guilty. With the Fifth Amendment, you can refuse to answer. Without the Fifth Amendment, you would just say "No."

    At that point, if the police don't like the answer that you're giving, and if they're corrupt enough, they could just beat you until you confess -- and since that's happening outside the boundaries of the law anyway, the Fifth Amendment doesn't help you. The police will just say that you waived your Fifth Amendment rights and confessed.

    For that matter, since the police aren't allowed to beat you, they'll have to lie in court about how the confession was obtained. And if they're willing to lie in court anyway, they can just lie and say that you confessed, even if you didn't. Again, since they're acting outside the law, the Fifth Amendment doesn't help you.

    Which brings it back to my original article: To show the benefits of the Fifth Amendment, you need to come up with a specific, precisely defined scenario where the outcome is different depending on whether we have the Fifth Amendment or not. The scenarios that people have been proposing, all fail that test, for the reasons described above."

  22. Re: Cost is effectively zero on Boeing Turning Old F-16s Into Unmanned Drones · · Score: 1

    I look at it this way: For a shot at a big jackpot I can toss out the $1 or $2 price of a ticket (or go crazy and buy 2 tickets!), and it's effectively a cost of zero. I make enough that buying those tickets is effectively zero % of my income - big jackpots don't come around all the time. For a little fun, and a crazy 'what if?', why not?

    Also you mentioned the 400mil payout vs the $2 ticket. But there are a lot of other significant prizes to win, even down to the $4 minimum prizes. Taking those into account would make it more than $2.29, though I won't do the math to figure out how much more.

  23. Re:Talking from experience on Insiders Say B&N Will Launch New Nook,Tablet In October · · Score: 1

    Sorting I can't help with, but most of the time there is either a tiny (back) button on the upper or lower edge somewhere (don't recall) OR if you jump back to the TOC, the last entry visible is the one you came from. Hope this helps. YMMV, etc.

  24. Re:Solar cells are already cheap enough on Plasmonic Nanostructures Could Prove a Boon To Solar Cell Technology · · Score: 1

    I think he means no more subsidies to help homeowners buy PV systems.

  25. Re:What do you mean by "can"? on How To Foil NSA Sabotage: Use a Dead Man's Switch · · Score: 1

    The government then grants you immunity from prosecution for that act of perjury. Poof! There goes your escape clause - now put up the damn statement or else.