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User: Nitewing98

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  1. Re:Baby Boomers fucking things up yet again. on 'YouCut' Targets National Science Foundation Budget · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As a Baby Boomer myself, I take offense at that. I'd like to point out that during the 70's, we had mostly Nixon and Ford in the White House, with poor Jimmy Carter only there for the remaining 4 yrs. Then the 80's were all Reagan and Bush. In the 90's, Clinton balanced the budget and left a surplus, which was quickly squandered by Bush II on a trumped up war in Iraq.

    All of the Republican Presidents named ran up huge deficits, while claiming to be "fiscal conservatives."

    "Real" Baby Boomers, who were the ones protesting in the 60's and 70's, were NOT Republicans. I think I can say that pretty much as a blanket statement. They were, by definition, liberals. They opposed war in all its forms. They were for cutting the budgets of the "military-industrial complex" (Eisenhower's words*). They were for solar energy, and earth homes and dozens of other ways of cutting our dependence on foreign oil.

    So don't blame the Baby Boomers. Blame the Alex P. Keatons of that generation. They were NOT true Boomers. They just happened to ride along with us.

    *"..We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex."--In Eisenhower's farewell address, Jan. 1961

  2. Re:It just shows.... on The Home-Built Dark Knight Batmobile · · Score: 4, Funny

    "It's the car. Chicks always dig the car." --Batman

  3. Gee, if only... on Android Data Stealing App Downloaded By Millions · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    ..if only there was a phone that had a tightly controlled app store that would at least have a chance of catching stuff like this before it gets into the wild. Oh. Wait. There is. Never mind.

  4. Re:Here you go on X Prize To Offer Millions For Gulf Oil Cleanup Solution · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, but they do think about the "small people." Right?

  5. OMG! Whatever shall we do? on Motorola Says eFuse Doesn't Permanently Brick Phones · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If this was the iPhone they were talking about, there would be front page stories in all the major newspapers and websites saying what a crappy company Apple is for locking down their device. Kind of funny when the shoe's on the other foot, isn't it? As Jobs pointed out today, the iPhone 4 has only been out 22 days and the news media was having a conniption making the antenna issue "major news." (hint: "Major news" is the war in Afghanistan and the Gulf of Mexico mess). In fact, since the whole point of Android was to be open-source (as opposed to Apple's "Death grip" on developers), it's kind of funny that Motorola feels also that there are limits to what you should be able to do with your phone.

  6. Re:Sense of humor = 0 on Iron Baby · · Score: 1

    No, you're right, it's not about RANDOM video clips. This, however, involves both comics (a known geek-related item) and some high-tech wizardry (also within geek purview). This isn't "Aunt Linda drops the potato salad." There are relevant aspects to this post that speak for themselves. Seriously, not sure what prompted such a backlash. It's not like /. is going to become YouTube.

  7. Sense of humor = 0 on Iron Baby · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Geez, you guys are grumpy in the morning. Get a cup of coffee (or stop drinking coffee). This is funny. Anyone that can't see that is suffering from a severe lack of humanity. Hey, IRON BABY! You're welcome to come to my house and take care of that stupid dog next door any time. Rock on!

  8. I'm waiting for next gen on Researchers Create 4nm Transistor With Seven Atoms · · Score: 1

    I'm always leery of new technology. I'll wait until the 7-atom transistor 2.0 is announced before I spring for one. They should have the bugs worked out by then.

  9. Be honest on How To Behave At a Software Company? · · Score: 1

    The best qualities are pretty much the same no matter what work you do. Be honest. Accept responsibility if you screw up. Defend your co-workers when they deserve it. Be helpful, not competitive. Share knowledge and show others how you learned what you know so that they can find it next time. If you do these things, you'll be the "go to" guy that people respect and trust.

  10. VCR? on Comcast Disables VCR Scheduling In New Guide · · Score: 1

    VCR? What's that?

  11. Parental Control software on What Advice For a Single Parent As Server Admin? · · Score: 1

    What is wrong with just using parental control software that already exists? I know it's part of the OS on a Mac, and I'm sure there are some analogs available for Windows. You're overthinking it and trying to build the "ideal system." Anyone who has owned a computer for more than a few days realizes quickly that the "perfect system" is a myth, albeit a pretty one. You're a single parent. You have more to do than administrate 4 computers (yours and the 3 they will have). In fact, try just adding 1 or 2, it's likely they don't all need one. Just one that isn't yours. You know your kids best, but I doubt all three need to use the computer at the same time. Just my thoughts. Really, though. You're making this harder than it needs to be.

  12. Re:Last resort on Australian Farmers Told To Dynamite Rabbits · · Score: 1

    They had to let Mr.Fudd go, he never seemed to know whether it was rabbit season or duck season. And regardless of which season he thought it was, he always seemed to wind up killing the duck. Which of course he blamed on the rabbit.

  13. Re:For as much as I like Apple on Opera For iPhone To Test Apple's Resolve · · Score: 1

    Even if Opera is approved, how do they make it the default browser? If you click a link in Mail it will still go to Safari, I'm willing to bet. There currently is no mechanism to specify another browser to the iPhone OS.

  14. Re:Why redirect them? on Is Internet Explorer 6/7 Support Required Now? · · Score: 3, Informative

    I agree. If you apply standards that all browsers should support, you'll also be friendly to other browsers like Firefox, Safari, Konqueror, Opera, etc. There's no reason to have to build separate pages and do redirects (or detect browser in PHP and cough up different page code). The whole point of HTML is that it should render in any browser (which includes Lynx, too). As a Mac user, I'm glad to see the web lose its Microsoft-centric view of the world. Firefox (which owes it's history to Netscape) finally put a dent in Microsoft's armor so others could succeed too.

  15. The word you're looking for is... on Getting Company Owners To Follow Their Own Rules? · · Score: 1

    TACT. As someone else on this topic is already mentioned not having upper management on board with the policy when it was created was the first mistake. At this point you must rely on diplomacy to get them on board. I speak from my own experience. I joined a company whose lone programmer had written a very convoluted web program in ColdFusion. As soon as I was able I was quick to disassemble the program into modular components that can be swapped in and out depending on the client's needs. I also instituted a test system (he'd been doing everything live). Said programmer was obviously my boss, but he got promoted out of daily operations. Of course this didn't stop him from attempting to make changes. More than once I found discrepancies between something that he'd inserted into the live system that was not mirrored in the test system. He simply had his own way of doing things and wouldn't change. At this point I had to employ tact and diplomacy. If nothing else at least suggested to him that he share what he's working on with the rest of the programming crews so that we know what areas to avoid and don't step on his code. By reversing the situation, he felt I was being deferential and complied. Good luck. You're going to need it.

  16. Interactive interpreted languages on How To Teach a 12-Year-Old To Program? · · Score: 2, Informative

    I agree with most people here, but for a different reason, I think. Any scripting language is interpreted rather than compiled. I think compilation is difficult for beginners to understand. A good interactive interpreted language gives quick results so it encourages them to "experiment." I learned with BASIC and LOGO, but I'd also recommend Python or even Applescript or shell scripting (dos or linux) - those are all "quick result" languages that allow him to see that he is controlling things happening on the screen.

  17. Hangovers and Romulan Ale on Real-World Synthehol In Development · · Score: 1

    1. Hangover cure - B vitamin complex and 2 aspirin before bed. Next morning you're good to go. 2. Recipe for Romulan Ale: 2 quarts of Kool-Aid Berry Blue and grain alcohol (or vodka) to your taste. For hangovers, see item 1.

  18. Re:Microsoft would sue. on Calling Video Professor a Scam · · Score: 1

    Wow, you really think we could get Gates to do the video? I'd make it so...authentic. (overheard in the background, "MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!")

  19. Any users on Slashdot? on Calling Video Professor a Scam · · Score: 1

    I doubt seriously if there are any users of the product here on /. That's like offering driver's ed. to NASCAR drivers.

  20. Re:Elitism on Asimov Estate Authorizes New I, Robot Books · · Score: 1

    And if the worst comes to pass, and they are not worth reading, that only makes Asimov's star shine a bit brighter. Either way, it doesn't harm Isaac.

  21. Re:How about we pay the author not to write them? on Asimov Estate Authorizes New I, Robot Books · · Score: 1

    I agree, LOTR was almost like reading the books, very faithful adaptation. Dune, on the other hand....Let's just say I liked the Sci-Fi channel's miniseries better than that monstrosity that David Lynch did. Every time I catch sight of it on TV I want to gut Sting and punch that little girl playing Alia in the face. When I saw it in the theater for the first time, I could see in the first 5 minutes it was going to be terrible, but it exerted some strange fascination over me - I had to stay to see HOW bad it was going to be. Not even Patrick Stewart could make the movie worth watching.

  22. Re:How about we pay the author not to write them? on Asimov Estate Authorizes New I, Robot Books · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't you mean "R. Danielle Steele?"

  23. Re:How about we pay the author not to write them? on Asimov Estate Authorizes New I, Robot Books · · Score: 1

    Stranger in a Strange Land will never be made, at least not by Hollywood. It directly slams and mocks Scientology, and with as many Scientologists as there are in Hollywood, they'll do everything they can to block it. But you notice that dog of an L. Ron Hubbard movie, Battlefield Earth, got made.

  24. Stereotypes contains a grain of truth on Are Software Developers Naturally Weird? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Thinking over the folks I've worked with, I would have to agree that geeks in general share some common traits. We hate inaccuracy (sometimes pathologically). Most of us have at least one toy (maybe more) on or in our desks. Geeks that do tech support all hate "stupid users" but depend on them for a living (there's a dichotomy). Programmers usually expect true logic to apply to people and are disappointed in people when they won't be logical. Most of us come in late and work late. Once we go home, we get on our computer at home. We tend to like science fiction and fantasy books/movies (including comic books). We will easily convince a non-player character to join our dungeon quest but get a "deer in the headlights" look when confronted with asking someone out on a date.

    Not every geek will conform to the stereotype, but stereotypes come about because they are observations about life. We're not all like the above description, but see if there aren't several of those traits that apply to you.

  25. Re:I will laugh when ATT's network collapses on Why AT&T Should Dump the iPhone's Unlimited Data Plan · · Score: 1

    That makes sense - people can't seem to eat or drink and drive either. LOL