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User: wiggles

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  1. Re:Seriously considering leaving Linux for good. on Systemd Adding Its Own Console To Linux Systems · · Score: 1

    so what?

  2. Seriously considering leaving Linux for good. on Systemd Adding Its Own Console To Linux Systems · · Score: 0

    I have been a consistent Linux user since the 1.x kernel back in the 90's. Before there was even X11 integration, before there was Red Hat even. I have never had a problem with changes to the ecosystem - Switching to Xorg? Fine. Ditching LILO for Grub? OK. But this... this systemd is terrible. It's replacing half the OS, it's fixing stuff that ain't broke, and honestly causing more frustration with trying to troubleshoot compatiblity, daemon startup, and whatnot...

    I'm to the point in my career where I no longer need to care about this stuff. My server admin days have given way to more major infrastructure issues. The only things I use Linux for anymore is for my personal file server in my basement, and even that is running old Fedora 17. I've been messing around with SteamOS to play video games in Linux - a long held goal of mine - but I'm asking myself now, do I even care anymore?

    I'm done with Linux. Screwing around too much with stuff that doesn't need to be messed with is giving me headaches and sucking up more of my time that I can better spend on other pursuits.

    Goodbye, old friend. Maybe we'll meet again once this systemd bullshit passes.

  3. Re:Rather cumbersome on Amazon Instant Video Now Available On Android · · Score: 1

    But it is on the Google Play store.

    It's right here.

  4. Re:Mission Critical ... Red Hat... LOL.. on How Red Hat Can Recapture Developer Interest · · Score: 1

    *YAWN*

  5. Re:Hullmetal Plated Armor, Dudes on IBM Gearing Up Mega Power 8 Servers For October Launch · · Score: 1

    You're an oddball if you're doing that kind of work.

    In most modern IT departments, nobody does custom programming anymore. Solutions are purchased from software vendors, and 90% of those vendors write software for Intel platforms. The long tail uses Sun, IBM, or HP platforms, but those are getting more and more rare as the cost advantages commodity hardware outweigh the performance advantage of proprietary hardware. HP is exiting the business, Sun crashed and burned into an Oracle only platform. The only one left in the space is IBM.

  6. Re:Check out Detroit on Tesla's Already Shopping For More Office Space · · Score: 1

    >education is too low for just about any high tech work

    Really? Places like Huntsville (NASA), Ann Arbor (U. Michigan), Raleigh (IBM), and Austin (Everybody these days) don't have top talent for tech work?

  7. Re:Check out Detroit on Tesla's Already Shopping For More Office Space · · Score: 2

    Maybe not Detroit, but definitely not in Northern California - it's way too expensive to do business there. For an R&D/Skunkworks style office, perhaps drawing on the local talent is worth the cost, but putting general office workers and blue collar labor there is silly when you have nice states like Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, and Michigan which have friendly labor laws and cheaper labor pools, along with some top minds in places like Austin, Huntsville, Raleigh, and Ann Arbor.

  8. Re:Space Junk Chain Reaction on Japan To Launch a Military Space Force In 2019 · · Score: 1

    All of that is secondary to survival, and until we figure out how to make government leaders stop being such assholes, threatening each others' populations with annihilation, we're going to need plans for defense - and if the enemy leverages space for any tactical or strategic advantage, then so must we.

    That said, the article says they're just using telescopes to track stuff in space for military purposes, not building Gundams, so you can untwist your panties now that you know this.

  9. Re:Good... on Unesco Probing Star Wars Filming In Ireland · · Score: 1

    Worse? No.

    Just as bad? Arguably yes.

  10. Re:Good... on Unesco Probing Star Wars Filming In Ireland · · Score: 1

    People bag on Christensen without remembering how terrible Mark Hamill was.

    We used to play a Star Wars drinking game in college - one of the items was to take a shot every time Luke whines.

  11. Re:Anybody have it? Can you play Civ V in Tablet m on $299 Android Gaming Tablet Reviewed · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but I thing GP was looking to use a touchscreen interface with Civ. Not sure if you could get that with streaming.

  12. So much hate here on $299 Android Gaming Tablet Reviewed · · Score: 2

    You'd think Slashdot was populated only by AMD employees.

    Seriously, though - the specs are really nice - I'm looking forward to seeing this in production.

  13. Re:The only good thing on Suddenly Visible: Illicit Drugs As Part of Silicon Valley Culture · · Score: 1

    > rich white people have drug problems

    As someone who grew up in the 80's, drugs have been big with rich, white people for a long, long time. Powder cocaine was the drug of choice for people back then, now it's meth as cocaine becomes more and more expensive, or painkillers for the percieved 'safety', changing to heroin when safety ceases to matter to the addict and cost becomes the primary factor.

    In the 40's and 50's, it was GI's coming back from the wars hooked on morphine. In the 60's, it was everything. 70's was when cocaine really took off.

    Rich white people have had drug problems as long as there have been rich white people.

  14. Re:But what IS the point they're making? on Earth In the Midst of Sixth Mass Extinction: the 'Anthropocene Defaunation' · · Score: 1

    Large cookie cutter subdivision homes developed by a single builder do have some of that stuff because it's more economical at scale - and they can create massive hollow boxes for pennies that blow over at the slightest breeze. There are subdivisions near my house that have some of this stuff - they have a lot of trouble selling because the houses just 'feel cheap'. Engineered trusses instead of joists, laminated or metal studs, etc. just give the house the feel that it's not entirely stable, even if it is all valid according to code.

  15. Re:But what IS the point they're making? on Earth In the Midst of Sixth Mass Extinction: the 'Anthropocene Defaunation' · · Score: 2

    The Chestnut was wiped out due to a fungal plague. Ash and Elm species are currently being devastated by the Ash Borer and Dutch Elm Disease, respectively. Walnut is being killed off by Thousand Cankers disease. I'm waiting for Oak and Maple to be wiped out due to some other exotic pest - perhaps Oak Wilt or some such.

  16. Re:But what IS the point they're making? on Earth In the Midst of Sixth Mass Extinction: the 'Anthropocene Defaunation' · · Score: 2

    New apartment buildings are built with concrete. New houses are built with wood and the expensive ones are clad with brick, at least, in my area.

    Also, concrete production is responsible for a massive amount of greenhouse gasses - as lime is heated to produce cement, it gives off a lot of CO2, which is dumped into the atmosphere.

  17. Re:But what IS the point they're making? on Earth In the Midst of Sixth Mass Extinction: the 'Anthropocene Defaunation' · · Score: 4, Informative

    As someone who does carpentry and has helped build a couple houses over the past few years, this is patently false. You've been lied to by whatever environmentalist rag you subscribe to.

    Most homes in the US are framed out of 2x4's cut from pine, floorboards are made of pine plywood, hardwood oak, cherry, and others are used for flooring. All of this comes from the timber industry, mostly from Canadian timber, but some more exotic stuff still comes from Brazil and Africa. My brother's floor is Brazilian cherry.

    Some of that lumber is sourced from tree farms, but those tree farms are problematic as well - it takes years to grow them, and habitats establish themselves within those farms as they grow. The longer it takes to grow them, the longer it takes to offset losses in virgin forest. Hardwoods typically take over 30 years to be ready for harvest, longer if you want wider wood as you would need for 2x6 or 2x8 joists and furniture.

  18. Re:But what IS the point they're making? on Earth In the Midst of Sixth Mass Extinction: the 'Anthropocene Defaunation' · · Score: 0

    So what happens when solar panels become too environmentally impactful? What happens when the wind turbines are impacting migratory birds? What happens when the lithium mines and copper mines used to make those electric car batteries are deemed too toxic and environmentally hazardous? Why, we shut them all down! Who needs electricity? And while we're at it, all those trees we cut down to build houses are destroying habitats for all kinds of animals - so let's use different building materials - earthen materials strengthened with straw perhaps? Much more environmentally friendly. Next, concrete manufacturing is a top producer of greenhouse gasses. Let's stop making concrete - we don't need sewer pipes if we just have our waste water carried away by gravity in ditches, right? It worked for mankind for thousands of years!

    So we ditch the electricity, ditch the timber, ditch the concrete, and what's left?

    Mud huts and open sewers.

  19. Re:But what IS the point they're making? on Earth In the Midst of Sixth Mass Extinction: the 'Anthropocene Defaunation' · · Score: -1

    Mud huts. I think they want us all to go back to mud huts and open sewers.

  20. Still no Grim Fandango? on ScummVM 1.7.0 Released · · Score: -1

    Been waiting on that one forever

  21. Re:What a silly title ... on 'Optical Fiber' Made Out of Thin Air · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm no expert on this technology, but from tfs, it would seem to increase bandwidth by minimizing loss over distance, allowing for longer range and faster speed.

  22. Re:What a silly title ... on 'Optical Fiber' Made Out of Thin Air · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not necessarily - there are lots of situations where it's not practical to run a cable. Secure connectivity between naval vessels is a prime example, others would be for use in the space program, or cheaper data communication between buildings in a campus. Residential broadband internet would be simpler - put an optical transceiver on the roof and point it at a tower - no more digging up the garden to provide fttp.

  23. Why? on Amazon Is Testing a $10-Per-Month Ebook Service · · Score: 1

    I pay $300 per year in my property tax bill for the public library system in my town. Why would I use anything else?

  24. Terrible article. on Alcatel-Lucent's XG-FAST Pushes 10,000Mbps Over Copper Phone Lines · · Score: 2

    The much better Ars Technica summary article says that yes, 30m for 10Gbps, but 1Gbps over 70m. Gigabit DSL would be a game changer.

  25. Re:Car Insurance Companies Too! on Here Comes the Panopticon: Insurance Companies · · Score: 3, Informative

    Just have to switch it around - instead of "offering a discount" for people who do this, think of it more as "charging a penalty" for people who don't.