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User: WaxParadigm

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  1. Re:It is not the EU on EU Anti-Hate Laws On The Web · · Score: 1

    "Its role is mainly to monitor peace and human rights all over Europe."

    So are they going to go after themselves now for wanting to increase the violation in their countries of the basic human right we call expression?

    Idiots.

  2. Re:I can't be very sympathetic. on The Ethics of Desktop Chips Stuffed Into Laptop PCs · · Score: 1

    I don't know. I borrowed a friend's Dell laptop (Inspiron 4000/4100 or something like that) about a year ago for a business trip I had to take before my employer had given me a laptop. He had the dual batteries (main battery + one in liu of floppy or CD/dvd). I forgot my ac adapter and still managed to get in a full ~8-hour day of work on that puppy. On the plane, it was no problem to watch a full DVD with just one of the two batteries in.

    I'm sad that my current laptop only gets like 2.5 hours...but that's life when you're not buying your own equipment. If these 30-minute battery life quotes are not from very old P2 laptops...shame on the manufacturers.

    - Me

  3. COLORADO!!! on The Free State Project · · Score: 1

    OOH, please pick Colorado...all those damn people from CA (liberals) are moving here...trying to take away our guns, our ability to smoke in bars, and millions of other tiny rights that add to the erosion.

    Maybe we should just impose a tax on people from CA who move here.

  4. Ever heard of "JURY NULLIFICATION"? on Online Auctions Patented, eBay Sued · · Score: 1
    You don't HAVE to convict just because someone broke the letter of the law. If it's unjust, you can aquit/create a hung jury/etc. They just don't tell you about it, but it's one of those things coming from way back around the time of the Magna Carta.


    The history behind it has something to do with a jury not convicting someone in England for not being part of the STATE religion or something like that. The gov't starved them for many days and tossed them in jail, but they never convicted...and that right (to not convict based on merits of the law) has been long established.


    It was used many times in the days of prohibition...an many claim it had a huge role in reversing prohibition.


    Here is some more info...Or do a Google search for a whole crap-load more...


    http://civilliberty.tqn.com/msubjury.htm


    http://quasar.as.utexas.edu/BillInfo/FIJA.History. html


    http://www.fija.org/

  5. Re:My guess is Moldova on Making the Case Against Software Patents? · · Score: 1

    Oh, yah...they also haven't had an established government for 100s or 1000s of years...so that would also lead me to this conclusion. However, most of the other ex-ussr nations in eastern europe would probably qualify as a guess of this man's location.

  6. My guess is Moldova on Making the Case Against Software Patents? · · Score: 1
    They've got a pretty intelligent bunch of people there (old soviet union university system to thank I believe...produced a bunch of scientists/techies). But as a country they're still developing (poorest country in Europe).

    So as a country they've got the brains but not the capital to get things done.

    To submitter of th question...have you approached businesses in this field in your country to see if you can get support there? In Moldova http://compudava.com/ comes to mind.

  7. They work in CO --- why is this even on /. anyway on E-voting Trials and Tribulations · · Score: 1

    I voted early in Colorado Springs in 2000 at one of the local malls. They had touch screens and they seemed to work just fine.

    Why are people acting like this is some new technology? Why is Georgia having so many problems with this...it should be pretty simple / straight-forward.

    The only reason this is even news on /. is that it mentions windows bugs. Sure it's neat that a whole state is finally doing this...but it's nothing I'd call exceptionally newsworthy.

    --
    It's like in Superman III, highly underrated movie BTW.

  8. What the hell is the submitter thinking? on Tim O'Reilly Bashes Open Source Efforts in Govt · · Score: 1

    These laws would be just as bad as the opposite: requiring the gov't to ONLY buy closed-source sw, or only use sw that is provided by a company, with support, yadda, yadda, yadda.

    These restrictions are unthoughtful tinkerings into the world of SW. The people making decisions on which SW to use should be able to consider all the SW available and able make a decision (to use the best one). This shouldn't be regardless of the license...but that's one of the "features" of the SW to consider to see what is best. It's just dumb and ignorant to say "you much use only open source".

    Some morron had to take a perfectly good article by Tim, but a bad spin on it, and add paragraphs of illogical comments (that couldn't be modded down).

    I was a better person for having read Tim's article...but reading the /. version of it has taken all that away, plus some.

    -I'm now a dumber person.

  9. Re:Tradeoffs? on Video Games Found To Decrease Brain Activity · · Score: 1

    Actually, with the advances in games, feedback systems, etc there are race car drivers, airline pilots, etc who all benefit from practicing with what are really just better-than-average video game systems. In an airport bar recently I saw something about this. They had a race car driver who used one of the common race games to learn / get familiar with a race track he had never driven before...and he claimed it helped him get up to his limit faster ... saving prescious practice sessions (which would have been used to learn the succession of turns, etc).

    I wonder if driving race cars in a race has the same effect. Many of those people would be completely socially inetpt (especially NASCAR) if it weren't for their huge pots of cash.

  10. Enviros getting in over their head again on Will Earth Expire By 2050? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is just like the 50s when US enviros were screaming that the 1/4 mile-wide clear-cutting in the Rockies would ruin the forest forever. Thanks to their lack of forsight these 1/4 mile "fire barriors" were nowhere to be found this year. We lost far more wooded acres this year alone to forest fires than would have been clear cut in the last 52 years (and this summer is just getting started).

    Then you start thinking about all the unused lumber that went up in flames that would have been cut down (usable)...which really would have saved many more acres and you just get sick.

    Thanks to them I'm personally out five acres of personal land and the nice camping trailer that was on it.

    I'm sure the smoke was great for the air too...yah, that reminds me. The old-lady neighbor of my parents died the day after the worst forest-fire-smoke day and complaining about breathing problems.

    They're extremests and nothing more. There needs to be compromise and smart management of forests...and we've been letting these whacos (with strange ideals and no knowledge of logic, reasoning, and cause-effect) tell us how to manage our natural resources.

    If we continue to listen to groups like the WWF we probably will do something stupid to make the earth expire by 2050.

    I vote for common sense.

  11. Re:Not only are the included cartridges half full. on HP Must Defend Half-Empty "Economy" Ink Cartridges · · Score: 1

    Dumbass/Troll, They're the same external size, but they hold different amounts. One is 19ml and the other is 38ml (or twice the capacity).

    Hooked on phonics worked for me (you should try it).

  12. Re:Cost per page. Nobody thinks about it when buyi on Anti-Competitive Behavior in the Printer Industry? · · Score: 1

    I did a cost comparison a while back with some friend's printers (we were all bitching about the cost of carts). It all depends on the capacity of the cart. If you have the HP 45A cart (fully-filled 45 cart) you're getting some pretty good cost-per-page. I did and had the best CPP out of us. Looking into a few brands (HP, Cannon, one other) the CPP were all about the same, and lower when you got into the nicer printers (like mine).

    I think it just makes sense. If you pay more for the printer, they don't have to make as much $$ on the cartridges.

  13. new officejet self-aligning too on Anti-Competitive Behavior in the Printer Industry? · · Score: 1

    One sweet feature I forgot to mention about the d235 is that it is self-aligning. Instead of the old:
    - printer prints page with lines
    - you chose best alignments and tell software

    The printer now:
    - prints onto paper, looks at paper, adjusts, repeats...until it is perfect.

    Pretty cool

  14. NCR cashed in on this...is HP changing strategy? on Anti-Competitive Behavior in the Printer Industry? · · Score: 1

    NCR had an ink cart (ribbon cart for dot matrix) called the "answer casette". I believe it sold for around $20...until the patent ran out, now you can get them for like $3 made by someone else.

    I believe this one model answer casette is the most-profitable tangible product NCR has ever had.

    As for making things easier to refill...My parents just bought an HP OfficeJet d135 (AMAZING printer BTW, it's by far the best form factor and easiest to use officejet I've ever seen).

    Anywah, the print heads and ink carts are separate (not combined like we're used to). I don't know what the strategy is here. Feel free to speculate all you want.

  15. Being a little harsh? on How To Profit From Telemarketing · · Score: 1

    My opinion is probably not popular...so flame me or whatever, I still think I have something important to say:

    I know I hate the telemarketers who call me at the wrong times (stock brokers at 7AM), but there are some very-legitimate businesses out there who do a good job of targeting their audience.

    I have a friend with such a business, employing about 20 telemarketers. They know about what they are selling. They only sell stuff they know the business is already using, and their first call or two is never to sell, just to get a quote out.

    They are almost always cheaper than the current supplier, and when they are not, they make their best effort to be.

    I hate it when people lump all telemarketers into one big lump. These people are polite, will understand if you actually don't use the product (hence they can't save you $$), and the company only makes money by selling a lot of volume at small margins. They don't make money by ripping people off, rather they save them money.

    My father recently saved mega dollars remodeling his duplex because someone called up selling windows and had a better deal thanmy dad could find elsewhere. I'm sure if my dad said "I don't need any windows", they (being a responsible company) would have understood.

    How are these legitimate businesses (not scams, traps, overly-persistant) supposed to contact their customers if they can't call. It's far too expensive to mail out mailers (and that wastes trees anyway).

    There are legit companies, saving you and me money, and insuring there is compeition in the marketplace (something I think all /.ers understand necessary for consumers). Please don't lump everyone into one bag. It's just like generalizing about any other group of people "all managers are dumb", etc...when we know that just isn't true.

    If they are trying to scam you, hang up...don't put up this call blocking crap that only serves to reduce competition in the marketplace and hurt many small businesses who are not out to scam you, but make an honest buck.

    --

    Any spelling errors are because I don't care

  16. Re:a little nonsense, but hey - it's near April Fo on Globalism Post 9/11 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Your post makes me even more glad I live in the US and not Canada. You don't like guns, don't live here. They've saved my ass once...I might not be here if it weren't for guns.

    Statistics show that areas with increased gun ownership (especially when those guns are carried on one's person) have significantly decreased crime rates (Florida for example).

    Other areas (England) that chose to ban guns almost completely have seen a horrific increase in the rate of violent crime and murder. I actually know some older Brittish couples who feel they have pretty much been robbed of their retirement by the gun control. They have people breaking into their houses and making them feel VERY unsafe. The police are only reactionary (can't prevent crime, only punish it) and they are not allowed to protect themselves.

    I don't look at the gun issue through clouded lenses of feelings, fears, and misconceptions. Guns are not evil, bad, etc...but some people, irrationaly, feel that way...and they are often portrayed that way.

    Look at the facts and you will see the light.

    Guns are just as good, if not better, than "free" software. :)

  17. Google censors other things as well... on Scientology Uses DMCA to Delist Critic's Website · · Score: 1

    Google does not allow any adds by gun-related businesses (they have plenty of porn adds though).

    They will not allow adds for guns, gun stores, gun-related products, or even food, and other regular items if they are being advertised by a gun-related store.

    Example of Items they've refused to post adds for, because the business also happens to sell knives, defence weapons, or guns:
    - Night Vision Goggles
    - Dehydrated Food
    - Mace

    This is absolutely rediculous...it's no question what kind of agenda they are pushing here. These are legit, legal businesses, selling items that help to decrease crime protect families (and they're only advertising items that would be useful for camping or if the neighbor dog started attacking).

    Article:
    http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?AR TICLE_ID=268 19

    Discussion on another forum:
    http://glocktalk.com/showthread.php?s=&thr eadid=69 225&highlight=google
    (more for entertainment)

  18. Not a new idea on WLAN Visualization Meets GIS Mapping · · Score: 1

    These people http://i3.com/ have a business that cators to the cell-phone industry. They provide maps with builings, etc that can then be used by the providers when their engineers are trying to design their wireless networks (where to put antenna for best coverage).

    From what I can tell, they're just taking i-cubed's idea and applying it to 802.11...something providers will surely do if they ever want to blanket areas with coverage (as cell providers do this now).

    Pretty cool anyway, but I must point out prior established work in this area.

    They also have some really cool images of my town from above.

  19. Re:WAP 11 Dirty Output on Slashback: Public, Anecdotes, Conclusions · · Score: 1

    very interested...please do post images for non-amplified and for amplified.

  20. Re:A look ahead to the nightmare on Driver's Licenses to Become National ID Cards · · Score: 1

    Amen.

    You're speaking my landuage mdecerbo.

    Waxy

  21. Re:Just great. on Banning Violent Arcade Games Unconstitutional · · Score: 1

    I always ask this question of over-protective parents: What are your kids going to do when they're older and are then exposed to these things, without you around? Do you intend on policing them your whole life?

    I, as many other /.ers, did not have these things kept from me.

    Violence/Guns: My father taught me how to use guns, and in that training, tought me the utmost respect for them (and how to be safe with them and act in possible situations with them).

    Sex: I recieved a "What's happening to my body, book for boys" a few years before I hit puberty. When I started being attracted to females and changing physically (and saw them change). I knew what was going on behind the scenes (hormones, mammory glands, semem production, etc)...and that this was all part of how we reproduce.

    I pick those two examples because they are the most powerful: the ability to create and take life...and I have respect and restraint in both as a result of what my parents tought me.

    EXPOSE your kids to this stuff, at a normal rate, don't let them peverse it, and you'll have kids with the knowledge and values to chose what is right. I'm not saying you should go rent pornos or anything, but there is a time you should explain what pornos are, how they exploit people for $$, etc.

    Conclusion: Give your kids the knowledge/values to handle a situation before they encounter the situation w/o any prompting (kids at school bringing playboy in, finding a gun at a friends house, and expiramenting with the opposite sex. They'll know how to handle these and have morals/values that include these subjects before they are faced with them.

    ---

    Prepare your kids for life decisions.

  22. How this pays out..... on Best Billing Options for a Contract Position? · · Score: 1

    Exactly. I know a few people who have done this. Just pay yourself like $30,000. You have to pay income (??%) and FICA (15%) on that, but the rest of the income is to the corp, not to you. Sure you get the corp's profit, but it is viewed not as income, but as a dividend...so you don't pay fica...you save 15% on the remaining 100k or whatever...and I think $15,000 is probably worth the time (buy an S2000 in two years with the savings).

    Example (will vary depending on state)...Someone making $200,000

    Sole Proprietorship (spelled wrong?):
    - Tax: 36% income tax + 15% FICA = 51%
    - Take home pay: $98,000

    Corp:
    - Tax: 36% (what you pay on both what you pay yourself and what the corp earns) + 15% on $30,000
    - Take home pay: $127,500.

    If you're only making $30k-40k/year, this won't do much for you...but most contractors should be making around the $100k mark, if not more.

  23. FIRE / THEFT??? on Affordable Home Backups for 10-100G Systems? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Most of you are missing this problem (fire/theft). What are your various solutions to account for and protect against this?

    I use a removable drive that can be taken to another building or put in a fire safe. Any other options out there? I'm sure we're creative enough to have some decent options.

    More info on mine (don't want to re-type)...go to
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=24768&thresh ol d=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&cid=2689576
    (sorry, you have to cut and paste cause I'm lazy)

  24. more problems than just that on Affordable Home Backups for 10-100G Systems? · · Score: 1

    with raid, next time a virus hits your pc that destroys .jpg and other random files, you're screwed. We all have also accidentally deleted files...and raid does not prevent this.

    No protection against fire / theft either.

  25. I use USB Drive for many reasons on Affordable Home Backups for 10-100G Systems? · · Score: 1

    I just bought a Buslink 80GB Drive. It was the cheapest solution of that size I could find (http://str8buy.com/bus60usb35in.html is the cheapest place...I have no financial interest here).

    Reasons:
    - Removal - I can take it to work or put it in my fireproof safe so my stuff is really safe.
    - Removal (again) - Keeps you from accidentally deleting all that stuff, or a virus from doing the same. RAID is nice, but doesn't account for this.
    - Large - Will hold all of my MP3s, etc that I have so far...when I need more, I'll just buy another, or 4 more...I'm not limited by the case, only my budget.
    - Decently fast - If I want, I can keep it connected and it can easily keep up with a 100mbps demand from my home network.

    Good Luck.