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User: DerekLyons

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  1. Re:Customers vs Patients on The Cure Culture: Our Obsession With Cures That Are 'Just Around the Corner' · · Score: 1

    Isn't the problem the exact opposite? That we struggle to find cures when treatments are so much more profitable?

    That's *a* problem certainly, but it's not *the* (not that there's any singular problem in the first place), and it's a problem that's tied to Big Pharma. But the article isn't about Big Pharma. It's about Big Charity, which has a separate set of problems.
     

    This article reads like it was written by a spokesperson, and turns a blind eye to every disease that once had no cure - but now does.

    If you actually read the article, you'll note the author turns a blind eye to them because they're completely and utterly irrelevant to her thesis. He even carefully outlines why - because their are two types of diseases, the curable (that come from bacteria and viruses and other preventable or treatable causes), and the currently incurable (mostly genetic).

    Seriously, did you actually read the article? Because both of your main statements read like either you didn't read it, or you completely failed to comprehend it (to the level that amounts to you might as well have not read it).

  2. Re:numbers on NYC Asks Google Maps For Fewer Left Turns · · Score: 1

    No, one quarter of all accidents which include pedestrians, not one quarter of all accidents at intersections. The former category includes many accidents which don't include intersections.

  3. Re:great timing on NASA Names Its Astronauts For the First Dragon and CST-100 Flights · · Score: 1

    Only if they're a stupid as you - which I doubt. They won't be flying until the cause is understood and the escape system validated.

  4. Re:Google's desire to sell all things on Google Photos Uploading Your Pics, Even If You Don't Want It To · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We're talking Google here - they certainly are incompetent at a range of things, but when it comes to "accidentally" gathering information, they're very competent indeed.

  5. Re:Mars is 20 years away on Interviews: Ask Shaun Moss About Mars and Colonizing Space · · Score: 1

    Cmon you all, don't you see a pattern here?

      Yes.

  6. Expert on what? on Ask Slashdot: Which Expert Bloggers Do You Read? · · Score: 1

    Expert on what? The field of human endeavor, and thus the question, is impossibly broad. (Though the questioner quasi limits it to IT/science/hardware by implication.) In fact, the submission reads an awful lot like someone trying to get content for free...

    That being said, for most of the stuff I want expert help on I tend to visit specialized forums far more than blogs. I've generally got too much going on to strain the sea in hopes that something I can actually use drops into my lap by happenstance.

  7. Re:My limited personal experience on the subject on China's Stock Crash: $3.5 Trillion Wiped Out, $2.6 Trillion Frozen · · Score: 1

    It's possible to predict in advance the outcome of 40 years of blackjack. It's impossible to predict in advance what constitutes 40 years of "a good mix of income producing assets".

  8. Re:A long time coming... on China's Stock Crash: $3.5 Trillion Wiped Out, $2.6 Trillion Frozen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And with a technocratic, authoritarian gov't, they have some leeway to take drastic measure that would be difficult if not impossible in a democracy. It will be interesting* to see how this plays out in the coming days and weeks.

    But with a very large middle class that's become very accustomed to a middle class lifestyle... they lack the leeway to take some drastic measures that a technocratic, authoritarian government could do.

    Seriously, China isn't the same as Soviet era Russia or the current North Korea - where only the Party elite and faithful have wealth, economic influence, and access to goods. They've been liberalizing their economy over the last quarter century (which is one of main reasons for the increasing dominance of cheap Chinese good on world markets), and a lot of people have made a lot of money in the process.

    That's why the government is working so hard to stabilize the market - to keep that segment appeased. They aren't going to be very happy to be reduced to penury.

  9. Re:take care of yourself and you will look good on Scientists Show Human Aging Rates Vary Widely · · Score: 1

    i'm 41. and people who meet me for the first time think i'm in my mid 20's

    If that because of your foodie fad idea of what constitutes "taking care of yourself"? Or good genes? Somewhere around a quarter to a third of my friends who follow the same silly ideas look markedly older than their chronological age.

    Until I injured my back and started gaining weight in my mid 30's, people used to guess that I was younger than I was. (Though I took no particular care of myself.) That's markedly reversed over the last five years though - though my weight is stable, my family's genetic tendency towards prematurely graying hair has kicked in with a vengeance.

  10. Re:Your biggest screw up on "We Screwed Up," Says Reddit CEO In Formal Apology · · Score: 1

    No, the biggest problem is attempting to monetize a fairly long-established platform that is highly dependent on volunteers, who do not appreciate being disrespected despite their commitment, coupled with participants that do not like changes in things that they have grown accustomed to.

    Or, in other words, pretty much what the grandparent said - by petulant children.

  11. Re:Pao Wants "Safe Spaces" for Shills and Ideologu on AMAgeddon: Reddit Mods Are Locking Up the Site's Most Popular Pages In Protest · · Score: 1

    Interesting... For most websites, there's considerable gap between registered users and active users, and this just makes the gap appear to be worse for Reddit.

  12. Re:Can we have one that bans silly bullshit? on Brazilian Evangelicals Set Up a "Sin Free" Version of Facebook · · Score: 2

    Everything I've seen on facebook is usually some form of circle jerk.

    That's a problem with your friends, not intrinsic to Facebook.

  13. Not quite run of the mill on When Nerds Do BBQ · · Score: 1

    What they hype in the article is quite familiar and not particularly novel.

    While the backyard pitmaster could assemble a similiar system from component parts (a ceramic grill like the Egg along with some aftermarket accessories), an integrated turnkey system is moderately novel.

  14. Re:Pao Wants "Safe Spaces" for Shills and Ideologu on AMAgeddon: Reddit Mods Are Locking Up the Site's Most Popular Pages In Protest · · Score: 1

    The telling thing is that people complain from all sides of various issues. For example, if you ask a libertarian, they'll tell you that Slashdot groupthink is liberal leaning socialist. If you ask a liberal, it's libertarian. But truth is, you see +5-modded comments from practically any perspective. About the only way to be consistently downmodded here without being a troll (or sufficiently troll-like in behavior, even if not deliberate, to make no difference) is to be a hardline creationist.

    While you *can* see +5 comments from practically any perspective, they aren't in any way evenly distributed along the political spectrum - the vast majority are some flavor liberal/left. Conservative viewpoints are dramatically underrepresented in general and more likely to be downmodded or not upmodded even without being in the batshit crazy demographic.

    But there are more axes than the purely political - Slashdot groupthink tends somewhat towards the highly racist and heavily to the highly sexist/misogynist (which is curious given the overall leftist/liberal bent of the site). On factual matters, upmodded comments are far more likely to be those which match what is commonly believed - regardless of the veracity of what is commonly believed.

  15. Re:I quit trying to organize my songs long time ag on How Apple Music Can Disrupt Users' iTunes Libraries · · Score: 1

    You're not OCD about your music library, a small minority (not including me!) are. And websites always need clickbait with headlines implying a world shaking problem that hits all users... so the problem gets blown out of proportion.

  16. Re:Run of the Mill on When Nerds Do BBQ · · Score: 1

    It's not *like* a commercial meat smoker, it *is* a commercial heat smoker... and they've been around for years. It's also a Big Green Egg with a few accessories, which has also been around for years. Yes, I know they claim it's better - but their claim is based on failing to operate the Egg properly, a hotspot should not exist under the vent and even if it did it should have no effect on an Egg properly rigged for a raised indirect cook.

  17. Re:The reason is more simple on Why Electric Vehicles Aren't More Popular · · Score: 1

    Electric vehicles are expensive and most people only buy a new vehicle every X years while electric vehicles have only been (easily) available for the last few years.

    This. The last time I looked into it, the statistics I found showed that the average car in America stayed on the road around eleven years - less in good time, more in bad times. And not only have the times not been all that good for most of the last decade, the available electric cars aren't exactly 'average'... they've been targeted towards the upper end of the income range.

    That and the assertion by the submitter that outlets are "prevalent at home and work" is complete bull. Charger stations are still pretty thin on the ground, especially if you don't live in California or a major metropolis.

  18. Re:Pao Wants "Safe Spaces" for Shills and Ideologu on AMAgeddon: Reddit Mods Are Locking Up the Site's Most Popular Pages In Protest · · Score: 1

    But that's not why it works. It works because you only get 5 or 15 mod points at a time, you have 3 days to use them or lose them, and you only get them when you get enough micro-points (I think they're called "tokens") from normal usage such as reading threads.

    When EVERYONE can upboat and downboat EVERY post with no limit, that's when the groupthink and circle-jerks begin.

    Yet, even so, Slashdot is (in)famous for it's groupthink.

  19. Re:It is a vicious cycle on AMAgeddon: Reddit Mods Are Locking Up the Site's Most Popular Pages In Protest · · Score: 1

    It never was a really thing for the majority of Slashdot, as a whole Slashdotters have been frothing at the mouth over it from pretty much Day One of it's existence. (Second Life comes in for the same treatment.)

    Which is sad for a site supposedly interested in technology and it's effects on the world.

  20. Re:It is a vicious cycle on AMAgeddon: Reddit Mods Are Locking Up the Site's Most Popular Pages In Protest · · Score: 1

    Ahh... the good ol' Slashdot rationalization - "Facebook is dead, really, it'll die any day now, seriously!". Which would be funny if it weren't so pathetic - since Slashdot has been predicting the imminent demise of FB since 2007.

  21. Re:Pao Wants "Safe Spaces" for Shills and Ideologu on AMAgeddon: Reddit Mods Are Locking Up the Site's Most Popular Pages In Protest · · Score: 1

    The Reddit administration is interested in one thing, and one thing only right now: Milking the site for as much money as possible, as quickly as possible, and fuck the users.

    How do you differentiate between that and a site that wants to remain open for it's users despite the actions of few?

  22. Re:Pao Wants "Safe Spaces" for Shills and Ideologu on AMAgeddon: Reddit Mods Are Locking Up the Site's Most Popular Pages In Protest · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That means Reddit as a whole is popular (and fairly large) but popularity != influence.

    Especially when you consider that even the largest subreddit is but a fraction of that traffic - much of the traffic is spread across thousands of subreddits (many of them quite small, even though they're popular among their habitues). It's essentially a collection of independent websites (though bound by a common interface and portal) ranging from fairly small (in terms of the overall web) to infinitesimally tiny.

    Looking at this list of subreddits that have gone dark is instructive. Relatively few break the 100k subscribers mark, most are under 10k. And unless Reddit is very unusual in it's counting, the number of subscribers is a significant multiple of the number of active users.

  23. Re:Pao Wants "Safe Spaces" for Shills and Ideologu on AMAgeddon: Reddit Mods Are Locking Up the Site's Most Popular Pages In Protest · · Score: 1, Troll

    Reddit has unbelievable traffic and reach, so stuff that earns popularity there gets spread to virtually everywhere and everyone.

    [Remainder of tinfoil hat rant snipped]

    That's what the Reddit hivemind thinks... In reality, not so much. Reddit only makes the news when it's on fire, again.

  24. Ouch on The Science of 4th of July Fireworks · · Score: 2

    I actually lost IQ points reading that mess...

    I should have stopped at the third paragraph,

    Charcoal, in this case, is not the briquettes you use on your grill, which often contain no actual charcoal, but is the carbon residue left behind by organic matter (like wood) once it has been charred (or pyrolyzed)

    Um, who is this moron? Yes, charcoal briquettes contain actual charcoal. They most certainly do contain (among other things) "the carbon residue left behind [etc...]". The rest of the article, breathless clickbait written at the kindergarten level, just goes downhill from there.

    Looking at his submission history, he has a record of submitting equally moronic content all from the same site. (And one comment, over a year ago.) Pure slashvertisement.

  25. Ultima Online is still going... on 18 Years On, Ultima Online Is Still Going · · Score: 1

    because it's still wildly popular in Japan. The US shards are, as the author notes, virtually complete ghost towns. I recently went back for a month, and other than banksitters in Luna or house collapses I'd literally go days without seeing another player.