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User: Penguinisto

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  1. Re:What is being missed... is the $2 million part. on Commodore PC Still Controls Heat and A/C At 19 Michigan Public Schools · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm not 100% sure it's governmental pork... commercial HVAC control systems can get hella expensive in a hurry, depending on what you're putting in. I suspect it's going to be more than just dropping in a new PC/server/whatever... a buttload of updated sensors and control equipment will likely have to go in along with it (esp. given the age).

    Price it sometime, then scale that cost up for 19 large buildings. $2m comes to roughly $105k per school; as far as buildings of that size go, that ain't half bad.

  2. The vote was bipartisan, with only 3 out of 30 voting outside the consensus... 'splain that.

  3. Re:Congress *Cut* Spending??? on Congress Decides To Delay US-Launched Astronauts, Keep Using Russian Services · · Score: 1

    In Partisanspeak, that's what they want you to think. Sadly, too many idiots out there take the bait and parrot the line without a second thought.

  4. muh muh muh Republican muh muh muh...

    Hey, genius - RTFA, because the vote was decidedly bi-partisan.

  5. Re:Wow on Oculus Announces Partnership With Microsoft · · Score: 1

    Actually, outside of the XBox and a few flop projects (Kin, Zune), Microsoft usually re-branded others' hardware and sold that (e.g. re-branded Logitech keyboards and mice, etc).

    I believe in this case, they'll probably leave the gruntwork to Oculus for the hardware (since it's a subsidy of Facebook).

  6. Re:Reddit.... on Reddit Removes Communities To Address Harassment, Users Respond · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am not immune to leaving dbag comments when annoyed, sorry.

    No, no you are not immune ;)
    (okay, neither am I, but that's not why I posted, so let me get to that...)

    Also, the moderation system which prohibits commenting and moderating in the same story guarantees reduction in quality.

    I believe that's a rule which is put in place as a balance, to prevent someone with mod points unduly influencing an argument in which he or she is an active participant. Sure, 5 points doesn't go very far, but in the right places one could definitely put influence and pressure in a sub-thread against whomever you are crossing mental swords with.

    Personally, I don't mind it at all, as it does something I find enjoyable as a challenge: do you mod, or do you jump in and clarify? It forces you to think carefully about whether or not what you want to say is worth undoing the influence you placed into the thread. If you haven't modded *or* posted anything yet, you again have that bit of decision-making to do before you apply a mod anywhere... you get one or the other, your pick.

    It's a neat way to force you to pre-consider a course of action, which IMHO is something that most of the Internet has a severe lack of.

  7. Re:This is America! on Freedom of Information Requests Turn Up Creationist Materials In Schools · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty sure there's a big difference between being a layperson who was "religious because society demanded it", and enduring years of seminary education to become full-blown clergy. ;)

    Let me re-iterate: Father LeMâitre (the physicist I was referring to) was a priest. Not a deacon, not a layperson who said he was Catholic... he took the whole vow of poverty/chastity/obedience, led masses, heard confessions, etc etc.

  8. Re:Good For Future Training on San Francisco Public Schools To Require Computer Science For Preschoolers · · Score: 2

    Still... if you're just getting started in CS and want to make a livelihood; it might be a bonafide reason to have second thoughts.

    Dude... these are preschoolers. They barely know how to count to 10 in Dec, and if they think of their "grown up" career at all, it's likely to be as an astronaut, cowboy, soldier, princess...

  9. Re: This is America! on Freedom of Information Requests Turn Up Creationist Materials In Schools · · Score: 1

    An Augustinian Friar, actually - Gregor Mendel

  10. Re:The Dark Age returns on Freedom of Information Requests Turn Up Creationist Materials In Schools · · Score: 1

    That's cute, but you do realize that Catholicism is perfectly okay with Evolution as valid science, right?

  11. Re:This is America! on Freedom of Information Requests Turn Up Creationist Materials In Schools · · Score: 1

    This, right here.

    The physicist who first came up with what would eventually be called the 'Big Bang' theory was a Catholic priest, FFS...

  12. Re:This is America! on Freedom of Information Requests Turn Up Creationist Materials In Schools · · Score: 1

    Depends - there's a huge difference between knowing everything there is to know about precipitation, but not being wise enough to get out of the rain when it's cold outside.

  13. Re:Most jobs don't need advanced knowledge anyway on Freedom of Information Requests Turn Up Creationist Materials In Schools · · Score: 2

    Dunno who modded you up, but a fresh-out-of-apprenticeship welder, electrician, nurse, or HVAC worker will often make more money per annum than a college grad holding a BS. Many of the other construction trades are also paths towards decent pay if you're willing to put in the work and get the skills. If the kid is smart, he eventually parlays that vocational skill into his/her own business, or into management.

    On the extreme end, I personally know of a few gents who specialize in repairing/maintaining certain mining equipment, have no college degree, but they make over 2x my salary (which is a bit over $120k), and they only put in roughly 3-6 months of work and travel each year.

  14. Re:Good For Future Training on San Francisco Public Schools To Require Computer Science For Preschoolers · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Please... the vast majority of these kids will only retain enough information to be moderately proficient users.

    More likely though, the SanFran school system instituted this for the express purpose of flashing a buzzword to the parents, and pretend that they're 'doing something' to improve education.

  15. Re:DON'T do anything without authorization on Ask Slashdot: How To Turn an Email Stash Into Knowledge For My Successor? · · Score: 1

    Yep - this is (well, mostly) correct. Check the policy before you act. Unless they're a F500 corporation, I sincerely doubt they could practically bring such a lawsuit against you after losing theirs (let alone win one), it's better to keep your six clear.

    Besides, I've always subscribed to the policy that if that's how they want it, that's how they get it.

  16. This, right here.

    Your obligations end the moment they stop paying you. Anything else is free labor on your part.

  17. Re:Hopefully..... on Ask Slashdot: Should We Expect Attacks When Windows 2003 Support Ends? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nah - they'll just firewall the crap out of them and not allow Internet access... just like they do with aging Solaris 8.x and AIX 5.x boxen.

    Seriously - there are probably untold hordes of NT 4 servers still grinding along out there.

  18. Re:The 90's all over again... on You'll Totally Believe Why These Startups Failed · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, there was one big difference: Jobs and co. had a knack for correctly guessing what folks would want. More importantly, they knew how to take great ideas with shitty execution**, and turn them into solid devices that people clamored for. Consider that mp3 players were out long before the iPod, but the iPod was the first device that made the idea usable by Joe Everyman. The iPhone? Same thing. iPad? Yup. The iWatch thingy? Ditto...

    ** by shitty execution, I mean that the progenitor products were great items for geeks and technically-minded folk who had no problems with using it, but it outright sucked for the typical non-techie type.

  19. Re:The 90's all over again... on You'll Totally Believe Why These Startups Failed · · Score: 1

    ...and both had crazy-eyed but dumbassed/redundant/ill-conceived ideas by entrepreneurs whose sole business plan was to get bought-up by a Fortune 500 corp, then cash the hell out ASAP before said corp realized just how big of an unmanageable turkey they got.

  20. Re:and the beer is really good on How American Students Can Get a University Degree For Free In Germany · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He meant actual beer, not the mass-marketed barley-water that passes for 'beer' here in the US.

    (then again, if you attend Portland State University, then kindly ignore what I just wrote, because you're pretty much good to go.)

  21. Re:3D printing fanboi much? on Combating Climate Risks With 3D Printing · · Score: 1

    Well you know, if you have a sufficiently large 3D printer and enough material, you could conceivably 3D-print a whole other Earth... /me ducks and runs like hell...

  22. Re:Social mobility was killed, but not this way on Writer: "Why I Defaulted On My Student Loans" · · Score: 1

    Trite but inherently untrue.

    Crocodiles will eat swimmers - this is also a fact.

    Pointing that fact out does not mean that I encourage or actively work to insure crocs eat even more of them. In fact, not saying so to ignorant and/or naive swimmers would actually be doing them a disservice.

    Same when you go to counsel a kid who is about to go into college... or do you propose that we just feed them platitudes and unrealistic expectations? After all, those two (and more) are part of what got many of them into this debt-load mess in the first place.

  23. Re:Social mobility was killed, but not this way on Writer: "Why I Defaulted On My Student Loans" · · Score: 1

    I didn't waltz in and demand a job. I worked hard.

    And you worked hard at it because...

    Here's the trick - it's one thing to idealize what you think society should be. It's quite another to know what it really is like out there. I think that kids fresh out of high school should know up-front what the reality is, so they don't get whacked with reality later on... and reality is, the world is a harsh place.

    It's a pity that the Philosophy and ${buzzword}-Studies professors all-too-often neglect to tell their students this, and indeed, sometimes actively go out of their way to bolster class sizes by spinning unreal aspirations in the far-too-impressionable minds sitting before them.

  24. Re:Social mobility was killed, but not this way on Writer: "Why I Defaulted On My Student Loans" · · Score: 1

    Nobody owes you a living

    Why the fuck not?

    Because the world is a harsh place, that's why.

    I mean, I have a job, and skills, etc.

    ...and I can easily wager that you didn't just waltz into your employer's HR department and demand a job, did you?

    But I certainly think that anyone who wants to work should be able to get some job... even if the government is just paying them to dig ditches. It's cruel to tell people they have to have money to live inside and eat food and not give them some way to earn said money.

    A basic guaranteed income (which is little more than a new variation of panem et circensus ) is at best a luxury that can only be provided by a prosperous society.

  25. Re:Social mobility was killed, but not this way on Writer: "Why I Defaulted On My Student Loans" · · Score: 1

    Now that, I can agree with, perfectly. :)