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User: Cantankerous+Cur

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  1. Re:This is part of their job on Google Fiber: No Charge For Peering, No Fast Lanes · · Score: 1

    That's really yet to be determined. For all any of us know, this $70 plan is a loss leader to attract interest and investment. Ceasing to do the 'right thing' tends to happen after you become a market leader or have significant market share. Make no mistake, I think what Google is doing is great but I maintain no illusions that Google can't 'go bad'.

  2. Re:Coded Racism on Professors: US "In Denial" Over Poor Maths Standards · · Score: 1

    It's even more than that though. It's just outright contempt for education in many areas and 'the bible is the only education one really needs' philosophy.

  3. Re:Greg Walden on Congressmen Who Lobbied FCC Against Net Neutrality & Received Payoff · · Score: 1

    I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with being a career politician any more than managing to stay working for the same company all your life (albeit a rare feat these days). Being there longer means you know how things work and can get it done more quickly and efficiently. It's the greed messing everything up, as usual

  4. Re:Why the hell... on Wyoming Is First State To Reject Science Standards Over Climate Change · · Score: 1

    ...which wasn't the question. You stated that 'educated in science' is an oxymoron. I said otherwise. It's pure sophistry to claim that scientific fact/theory established previously is history (or even mostly history). Yes, certainly, someone established it in a given year and did it in a certain way, but this is irrelevant from the scientific perspective. We simply care that 'this is fact or theory and here is the evidence'. In what rational way can you say that 'nitrogen is generally not found in its elemental form, but typically found as N2 in a triple bond', history? And that's the point, it isn't history. It's something that's just as true today as when it was discovered and still just as relevant to understanding the world. It's integral to understanding something like crop rotation because of nitrogen fixation.

    I can only wonder if you're trying to cheapen science by making the comparison to history, where proving anything is nigh impossible. And it's bullocks. Science's trademark is being verifiable or demonstrable but [insert obligatory quotation that not everything is]. And dear god, this is dull. I need some yeast-fermented liquid science. Please excuse me.

  5. Re:Why the hell... on Wyoming Is First State To Reject Science Standards Over Climate Change · · Score: 1

    Utterly foolish so far as I can tell. Or do you advocate someone practicing being a doctor without any training?

  6. Re:Why the hell... on Wyoming Is First State To Reject Science Standards Over Climate Change · · Score: 1

    I'm afraid don't agree.

    What exactly does taking courses in Biology or Chemistry or Physics mean then if not being educated in science? One learns the 'rules' that govern this reality. These rules are foundation of understanding the physical world and making conjecture about it.

  7. Guess it depends where you look on Ask Slashdot: Does Your Job Need To Exist? · · Score: 1

    I tend to work in production-based environments and everywhere I've worked had too few people trying to do the job of several more. I'm utterly sick of the words 'six sigma' and 'leveraging'.

    I understand my experience is anecdotal and statistically insignificant, but it's hard to believe what our dear professor is saying. At least I will agree with him that many of us find our jobs meaningless.

  8. A nice idea... on China May Build an Undersea Train To America · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    but it's just an accident waiting to happen

    Over in Boston, they spent a decade on The Big Dig, a 'measly' 3.5 mile underground tunnel to try to deal with their traffic issue. The price tag was roughly 22 billion (when interest is factored in). It had several major lawsuits, mostly notably the epoxy used to hold up the ceiling tiles collapsing literally crushing a driver. In addition, it has some 400 leaks that will steadily destroy the tunnel.

    And they want to make a tunnel 36 times longer? Take a country that isn't particularly concerned with safety and a trillion dollar project and tell me cutting corners isn't going to happen.

  9. Alarmist much? on The Struggle To Ban Killer Robots · · Score: 1

    I gotta say, this whole thing seems a little ridiculous. Unlike Hollywood, any such weapon would be incredibly limited by power source (batteries or burning hydrocarbons) and limited ammunition. I'd also like to point out that there numerous ways to disrupt robots such as EMPs and strong magnets.

    Besides, I'm looking forward to the giant robot spiders that sound like children.

  10. Re:Screw the feedback loop on Scientists Race To Develop Livestock That Can Survive Climate Change · · Score: 1

    Beef (and meat) takes the most amount of resources (aka feed/grass) to make 1 pound of meat. Generally speaking, you lose 90% of the energy for every step up the food chain you have to go. So the 100% of energy that made the feed/grass only becomes 10% of that in meat.

    And there are plenty of ways to make 'worthless' land valuable. Irrigation, hydroponics, etc etc. Or a solar farm. If anything, leaving the land fallow like that is inefficient because you're not really generating that much feed/acre.

  11. Re:Are you kidding on Study Finds US Is an Oligarchy, Not a Democracy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can't say I agree

    Free market capitalism implies EVERYTHING and EVERYONE is for sale. (ex. politicians, laws, etc)

    The true measure of a country is its wealth distribution. The average person's life is better as the wealth distribution increases and vice versa. There are numerous ways to accomplish this but certainly a system where the wealthy can alter the laws to suit themselves is not a valid method.

  12. Dangerous Precedent on Netflix Gets What It Pays For: Comcast Streaming Speeds Skyrocket · · Score: 1

    Honestly, it isn't Comcast I'm scared of here, it's Netflix. By even attempting to broker this deal, they have effectively just given power over to the ISPs. They may have well have said "I, for one, welcome our toll-internet overlords."

  13. Re:Pay ONLY for what you VIEW not for their CONCRA on The Comcast/TWC Merger Is About Controlling Information · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry, you seem to be confusing content provider with content producer.

    NBC makes content. Comcast is simply an expensive, poorly maintained pipeline. I'm just saying, if you're going to be angry, be angry for the right reasons. As for getting what you want content wise, all the things you listed have their own issues. Netflix has limited selection due to licensing issues, Amazon is expensive if you're following 2 or more shows, and Youtube..well, come on, it's Youtube.

    You wanna rant and rave, feel free but just about everyone isn't going to take you terribly seriously without a modicum of objectivity

  14. Okay, so they have to explicitly state charges... on FCC Orders Comcast To Stop Labeling Equipment Rental a Service Fee · · Score: 2

    but this doesn't stop them from charging whatever they want. There's no indication the FCC is going to attempt to regulate the pricing for them.

    A real win for customers would be the ability to buy them.

  15. Update on an old theme on Bunnie Huang's Novena Open Source Laptop Launches Via Crowd Supply · · Score: 1

    I wonder if "The Producers" is getting a modern version now...

    1. Take money

    2. ????

    3. Profit!

  16. Pot, Meet Kettle on AT&T Exec Calls Netflix "Arrogant" For Expecting Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    And AT&T believes we should eternally pay the same rates for their slow/overpriced/unreliable service when they're not bothering to upgrade the infrastructure.

    We're dealing with at least one delusion here.

  17. Re:It's the end of the world as we know it on IPCC's "Darkest Yet" Climate Report Warns of Food, Water Shortages · · Score: 5, Informative

    Gees, where did you get your Bio degree from? No, that not true for the majority of plants (carbon is rarely the limiting growth factor). If anything, plants become lazier as a result of high CO2 by making fewer pores for air exchange. Moreover, it's not plants but microorganisms in the ocean that produce roughly 85% of our oxygen.

    Did you know that plants have mitochondria too? The way plants work is they store energy using chloroplasts during the day and expend it at night for growing. It'd be much safer for you to say that plants are carbon neutral instead of carbon negative.

  18. Business as usual on The Myth of the Science and Engineering Shortage · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is a business as usual so far as I can see from what companies claim.

    There's no shortage.

    There's a shortage of highly competent, high producing, years of experience individuals willing to work for peanuts.

    Everyone else needs training, which companies are no longer willing to pay for. In some magical fashion, employees are just supposed to be hired and become immediately productive.

  19. Can't we just agree... on The Next Keurig Will Make Your Coffee With a Dash of "DRM" · · Score: 1

    that morons will continue to spent lots of money on overpriced poor quality coffee and that the rest of us will find some considerably cheaper alternative?

    Incidentally, I love how my tea comes in cheap ($.05/use) bags with no cleanup.

  20. Re: How can the situation be improved? on Why Is US Broadband So Slow? · · Score: 1

    Uh, 20-30% more in material costs and increased labor costs if you're using an approved Cat 6 contractor?

    I must be old or something since 'just because you can' is not logic by any standard.

  21. Re:God on Whole Foods: America's Temple of Pseudoscience · · Score: 1

    If they didn't believe in god, they'd believe in some other form of idiocy like horoscopes or phrenology or ayn rand. I consider it a product of the human condition to believe in the irrational.

  22. Re: How can the situation be improved? on Why Is US Broadband So Slow? · · Score: 1

    You do know CAT 5e supports gigabit speeds, right?

  23. Re:An Opportunity is disguise? on L.A. Building's Lights Interfere With Cellular Network, FCC Says · · Score: 1

    It was my understanding from the article that the ballasts were the issue. LEDs do not use the fixture's ballast, they have their own built in. To hook them up, you must disconnect the fixture's ballasts completely. And yes, at roughly $25 a tube, they're pricey for an office building that probably has a few thousand.

  24. An Opportunity is disguise? on L.A. Building's Lights Interfere With Cellular Network, FCC Says · · Score: 1

    Upgrade to LED lights. High upfront costs but can use the same fixtures, uses less power, and absolutely no chance of having frequency issues.

  25. Specs don't matter... on ChipSiP Smart Glass Specs Better Than Google Glass? · · Score: 1

    Any hardware is only as good as the software supporting it.