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User: bill_mcgonigle

bill_mcgonigle's activity in the archive.

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Comments · 18,097

  1. Re:Way to make the problem worse on Netflix Creates Qwikster For DVD Only Business · · Score: 1

    :headpalm:

    I guess that's all we need to know.

    Excuse me while I go divest from any company where the CEO is Chairman of the Board.

  2. Re:Netgear WNDR3700 on Ask Slashdot: Good Gigabit 802.11N Home Router? · · Score: 1

    I'm running a bit older DD-WRT.

    Thanks. I've been using dd-wrt forever. This was my first try in a couple years of OpenWRT, since it now has a usable web interface. Back to dd-wrt, it seems!

  3. Re:Way to make the problem worse on Netflix Creates Qwikster For DVD Only Business · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If anyone deserves to be fired it is the Netflix CEO.

    This. Who's chairman of the board over there?

    They want me to maintain two queues, two bills, kill the functionality of auto-adding DVD queue videos to the stream, kill the prediction service, kill the history service, all because 5% of customers are complaining of the price increase?

    The shareholders need to demand new leadership immediately before all of their stock value evaporates.

    Well, there's one potential benefit - maybe Amazon will acquire Qwikster and we can be done with the boneheads who have killed the formerly great Netflix.

  4. Re:dodging anti-science? on Wealthy Americans Turning To Europe For Medical Treatment · · Score: 1

    Could this have anything to do with dodging anti-science policies of the American far right?

    No, it has nothing to do with that. There are unique, specialized treatments in every corner of the Earth. If they're successful, they'll spread.

    Plenty of people travel in all directions to seek advanced care, even (especially) to your 'anti-science' America, and the wealthier the patient the easier it is for him to travel for medical care (or poorer, if they don't have insurance and are seeking affordable care).

  5. Re:Netgear WNDR3700 on Ask Slashdot: Good Gigabit 802.11N Home Router? · · Score: 1

    I came to the same conclusion, but:

    Dual band, well supported OpenWRT.

    Mine drops connection every few hours. If yours is stable, which firmware version are you running?

  6. Re:ow about a "not suck" mode on "Subconscious Mode" Could Boost Phone Battery Life · · Score: 1

    Why cant they do this?

    Real OS's as smartphones are only a few years old. Something like systemd on Android could implement something like this (that is, all the parts are available).

    But look at the haphazard way Google built Android - they're cleaning up now but time-to-market was the only priority when the started.

    This, along with the battery life issue mentioned in TFA and missing encryption, is one of the reasons I still carry a 4-day-battery 'feature' phone.

  7. Re:Saving Star Wars: The Special Edition Restorati on Why Star Wars Should be Left to the Fans · · Score: 1

    It is possible to re-assemble that restoration, which by all accounts is stunning.

    Can we send in Harry Tuttle?

    I've still got my laserdisc set. Just nothing to play them on at the moment...

  8. Re:Low FPS on Stunning Time Lapse of the Earth From the ISS · · Score: 1

    Double-wow!

  9. Re:My 3 step process on Ask Slashdot: Clever Cable Management? · · Score: 1

    That cable really tied the room together.

  10. LUKS, please on The Saga of the Virtual Wallet · · Score: 2

    I'm not going to store my financials on a phone that doesn't have an encrypted data store. These guys are making great progress towards it, but Google needs to 'send beer' and take the patches.

  11. My Boy vs. The World on Maine School District Gives iPad To Every Kindergartner · · Score: 1

    Does the kid get another? Do they have to pay? What a mess.

    My boy is old enough to be starting kindergarten this fall. He's doing another year of preschool because that's what will serve him best, but OMFG, the kid can break everything. Twice, and then in half again. If he's in the same room with something, it's broken. I have a gigantic pile of stuff in my workshop labeled "the boy broke this - fix it".

    A protective case for an iPad? I'll tell you what kind of protective case he'd need for an iPad - a gun safe. With a biometric lock - he's clever and destructive.

    If he were going into kindergarten and I was responsible for the iPads he broke, I'd be out $3000 by Christmas.

    Whoever came up with this idea never had any kids. They also wrote the voice interfaces for Bing411 that assume input in an anechoic chamber.

  12. Diamonds, Garnets, and Granulites? on Are Small Rocky Worlds Naked Gas Giants? · · Score: 1

    At those pressures, we ought to see a planet covered in diamonds, garnets, granulites, etc. - very high temperature metamorphic rocks. If the planet is made of other types of rock, then there probably wasn't that much pressure on it when the rock formed.

    Disclaimer: I am not a xenogeologist.

  13. Re:Global warming is a lie! on Inspector General Investigated For Muzzling Inconvenient Science · · Score: 0, Troll

    This proves it! It's all a lie. Fox news is right! ;)

    I don't trust Fox News, but a nobel laureate in physics at least gets me to listen.

  14. Re:Video on James Gosling Report of Reno Air Crash · · Score: 1

    Sadly, there's probably a flash chip among the debris at the crash site with HD video on it. If a hundred people were killed or injured some of them were shooting video. I doubt we'll ever see it.

  15. Re:Video on James Gosling Report of Reno Air Crash · · Score: 1

    The most horrible is the first video, the woman crying "Jimmy, Jimmy, oh my Jimmy"... the pilot's name...

    "Oh, the humanity."

    I guess that's what it really means.

  16. Re:ToS - Works both ways on ToS Violations No Longer a Crime (On Their Own) · · Score: 1

    Oh, unless you're a government employee. The courts have recently ruled that they can enter unless there's a physical barrier (gated driveway, for instance).

    Rich-protection rules.

  17. Re:ToS - Works both ways on ToS Violations No Longer a Crime (On Their Own) · · Score: 1

    Walking through an open door is not.

    Sure it is - illegal entry. Drop the 'breaking' part of 'breaking and entering'. Especially if there's a no-trespassing sign.

    Just because you can physically go inside doesn't mean you're allowed to.

  18. Re:You still have to have invented it on Obama To Sign 'America Invents Act of 2011' Today · · Score: 1

    Listen, mister, in this house we gussy up our violence with euphemisms and platitudes!

  19. Re:Linux client on Netflix To Lose 1 Million Subscribers · · Score: 1

    And I've seen Netflix is certifying the MShield unit in certain OMAP processors lately. Meanwhile, Amazon is just streaming everything on Flash. Netflix has bet on locked-down being a hard requirement. We'll see how that turns out.

  20. Re:Words, Not Communication on Wild Parrots Learning To Talk From Escaped Pet Birds · · Score: 1

    Nice. Then they should have ample opportunity to help each other learn. Maybe somebody will get a MacArthur grant to go (out to the wilds to) teach all the parrots of the world how to communicate with humans.

  21. Re:Linux client on Netflix To Lose 1 Million Subscribers · · Score: 1

    Tell me more about the private channels?

    There are probably more 'private' channels than ones available in the store. They're content that Roku doesn't want to advertise for some reason or other.

    This list looks fairly well-maintained, if blinding in its layout:

    http://www.catastrophegirl.com/rokuchannellist.htm

    On my satellite package I get Fox and CNNHN. On Roku, I pick up Democracy Now, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, CNN International, BBC World, etc. It makes for a bit of a different level of awareness.

    Even the regular channels are good. Both Amazon and Facebook videos look much better on my TV than they do in my browser. Maybe that's because browser Flash stinks, I dunno. Actually, I do - if I save a .FLV and save it out for mplayer to show, it looks better there too, so, yeah, Flash's h.264 decoder stinks.

  22. Re:Trust him?? on US House 'Creator' of TSA Wants To Kill It · · Score: 1

    There were others who voted against it.

    Who else who stood against it is seeking a position of power to eliminate it?

    We don't need to use the fallacy of the excluded middle to switch from one incompetent right-wing retard to another.

    So few are willing to admit that Obama is a right-wing retard. Kudos on your enlightenment.

  23. Re:Trust him?? on US House 'Creator' of TSA Wants To Kill It · · Score: 1

    Cockpit doors don't help when someone blows a hole in the plane.

    We don't care about blown up planes, just planes used as missiles. A barometer bomb in checked baggage is the simplest way to blow up a plane. Israel checks all their luggage for them with pressure vessels - we check none.

    This kind of bomb brought down Pam Am Flight 103, and has killed more Americans than any other type of airplane bomb. Again, we don't even check for them. Random luggage screenings just mean parallel attempts would be necessary to guarantee success.

  24. Broken Window on US House 'Creator' of TSA Wants To Kill It · · Score: 1

    Obama was outspending every President in history (while Bush Jr. - all by himself - increased the national debt by over $5 trillion according to the NY Times).

    What's the logic here - Bush was really bad so Obama can't be worse?

    I keep wondering how firing a million government employees is going to help create jobs.

    First, ask yourself where the money comes from to pay those government employees. Then read some Bastiat (free Kindle edition link) . Here's the Cliff's Notes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window#Bastiat.27s_argument

  25. Re:THis is just another on US House 'Creator' of TSA Wants To Kill It · · Score: 1

    part of the republican move to dismantle the government. NO more, no less.

    Yeah, right. The Republicans have to support their corporate interests and moral crusades that depend on big government.

    How many terrorist or bombs got past TSA?

    The same number that have tired - none. This is provable since we know the TSA has a very high error rate and no planes have been blown up or hijacked. The odds that they've been attempted and the TSA has stopped them despite their error rates is astronomical.

    In related news, I have a special rock near my garden that keeps the tigers out. I know the rock works because there have been no tigers in my garden since I put it there.

    A) You have recourse. Far more recourse then you do against a private security agency.

    How is it easier to switch governments than airlines?

    b) Going to the private sector for jobs like those result in higher costs.

    Because the private sector is unionized, has huge pension liabilities, and can't fire anybody? Because competitive contracts never yield efficiency?

    You want to get rid of a section of government, start with Homeland security.

    Great idea. How about starting with the TSA branch of DHS?

    News flash; there are something the government does extremely well. Have a common practice the crosses several corporation and private citizens is on of those areas.

    Ah, that explains the rest of the post. :)