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User: Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp

Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp's activity in the archive.

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Comments · 11,059

  1. Golly, you think? on Frank Herbert's Dune, 50 Years On · · Score: 2

    Is the OP aware the Dune milieu was intended as a commentary on the West and Middle Eastern oil?

    IIRC, in the story, as ridiculously profitable as Dune was for the Emperor, the cost of his army assault ate up some 40 years worth of sales, which was almost spot on to the first Gulf War vs. Iraq's profits, which were not even taken to pay for it

  2. Outgoing Grease Dept. on Someone Will Die Playing a Game In Virtual Reality · · Score: 1

    > Someone may die playing a game
    > Some VR games may be banned under some nebulous concept of too much immersion

    Ahhh, lawyers. Is there nothing you can't invent ways for corporations to throw money at you over?

  3. Re:Recent arrests, perhaps. Old ones, no. on Japanese Court Orders Google To Delete Past Reports Of Man's Molestation Arrest · · Score: 1

    Too much government power stomping around here. But the real issue isn't about some innocent guy's arrest record.

    It's whether we want to grant government the power to censor, even for well-meaning reasons. History shows you don't. Many European countries lock down private lives of politicians as first principles of this. Politicians protecting themselves and their power.

  4. With texture on 3-D Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanning Could Strengthen Smartphone Security · · Score: 1

    > This guards against attackers unlocking a device with an image of the fingerprint

    Now we will need a 3D rubberized printout of a finger body part with fingerprint.

    I can't imagine any other industry that could drive this technological development to maturity.

  5. Re:Another piece in the puzzle... on Turing Near Ready To Ship World's First Liquid Metal Android Smartphone · · Score: 1

    Turing and "imagine" is normally in the same sentence with "powerful processor" and "Beowulf cluster".

  6. To protect Pirate Bay and file sharing, or help crush patent trolls.

    I imagine for those guys it's like Peter Griffin trying to decide between Ernest Goes Out and Ernest Stays In.

  7. Re:I can see it now on Naval Research Interested In Bringing 3D Printing To Large Scale For Ships · · Score: 1

    In Live Free of Die, humanity buys a replication device and some older weapon plans from some advanced aliens for war against other, less-advanced aliens.

    They divide its time between producing cool stuff and cloning itself. Very RTS-like strategizing.

    Of course with enough replications, you can have an army of replicators spitting out ships like the Starforge, no Force assist needed.

  8. Re:Oh get over it. on Can New Chicago Taxes On Netflix, Apple, Spotify Withstand Legal Challenges? · · Score: 2

    One needs to "starve the beast" the beast being our own tendencies to vote to lavish on ourselves, with disproportionately wasteful government super-markup.

    It is voracious, and always spends as much as it can get, and is always chronically short, needing to borrow. Actually, most borrowing is viewed as income to spend -- they can get away with borrowing X percent of GDP. It has nothing to do with need and everything to do with more money to spend.

    Starve that beast. Shut off new inventions of income.

  9. Re:Denialist on Google's Niantic Labs Sorry Over Death Camps In Smartphone Game · · Score: 1

    Is it educational? "Go visit here and get points!"

  10. Re: What could possibly go wrong? on Google's Niantic Labs Sorry Over Death Camps In Smartphone Game · · Score: 2

    I'd also be proactive about Mecca.

  11. Re:Drone It on Test Pilot: the F-35 Can't Dogfight · · Score: 1

    that's the GDP of Australia you're talking about, I think it's a bit of a world changer for about twenty three million 'Roos.

    A few years back, we were borrowing $1.3 trillion a year -- you could have cancelled the entire military AND taxed 100% of the income of the rich and (assuming they continued to work for $0 a year) still would have needed to borrow $150 billion a year.

  12. Crab Apple on Is Safari the New Internet Explorer? · · Score: 1

    A better question is is Apple the new Microsoft? Or the old Apple, for that matter. Of course Microsoft is still the old Microsoft.

    Now that The Man is gone, and forever this time, upper management will move back to the non-innovating, don't shake the tree types waiting for their stock options or golden parachutes to kick in. A Confederacy of Do-Nothings.

  13. Re: Cost of making the USA piss their pants: Price on Analysis: Iran's Nuclear Program Has Been an Astronomical Waste · · Score: 1

    Trying to effect change, eh?

  14. Re:Well that was sad on Weather Promising for Sunday Morning SpaceX Launch · · Score: 1

    I thought it was separating a stage, though it looked a little "big", but the announcer wasn't announcing it. Then a "second stage" separation seemed to occur, and that was wrong because there was only supposed to be one. Then a thousand shards started falling.

  15. Well that was sad on Weather Promising for Sunday Morning SpaceX Launch · · Score: 1

    :(

  16. Goofy web site on Disney Bans Selfie Sticks · · Score: 1

    I was unable to watch the video as an ad started playing first. Then, a second advertisement video overlayed that video and started playing, too, covering the entire screen.

    I'm going to assume the reason is nasty teens are trying to shove the sticks up the Mickey Mouse costume guy's rear end?

  17. Re:"Are" or "could be"? on 79% of Airbnb Listings In Barcelona Are Illegal · · Score: 1

    But they're not adverse to banging on the doors of apartments with guiris staying in them and demanding to see tourist licences, which the tourists don't have (the flat owner has the licence, not the guest). This happened to a young German woman I know, who was staying in a completely legal tourist apartment. They could have just looked up the address on the Catalan government website, but it's a lot more fun for two armed goons from the Mossos d'Esquadra to scare the shit out of a young woman travelling alone in a strange city, threatening to chuck her out onto the street if she couldn't produce the licence in 24 hours (of course they don't have the power to do this).

    The correct course of action is for the government of where these tourists are mostly from to issue travel advisories to that area, making sure the papers in that area get word of it. Then the powers that be there, who profit from tourism, will "have a chat" with these enforcers, some of whom may work for them anyway.

  18. Don't worry. Be happy. on Genetic Rescue Efforts Could Help Coral Shrug Off Warmer Oceans · · Score: 1

    None of this matters. Bag it and tag it's DNA. In 100 years or 200, none of this will matter.

    We are like people in 1900 arguing about how to best shoe a horse to not grind up horse poop into dust the best way possible, so as to give those people in 2015 nice air to breath.

    Except the difference in tech will be even worse 100 years from now.

  19. Does the Emperor wear sweet new clothes? on FB Reveals Woeful Diversity Numbers · · Score: 1

    An honest question: Is there anybody out there who reads this, of any race, who sees:

    FB Reveals Woeful Diversity Numbers

    And thinks, "Gosh! They're missing out on all the benefits of diversity! Poor Facebook!"

    Or do they think, "They are being racist and need to do more."

    Which is not what diversity is about. That's what Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action are about.

  20. Re:why not crack down on the rioting protesters? on After Protest, France Cracks Down On Uber · · Score: 1

    As with any theory, a Doubting Thomas' theory someone is wrong, that proves to itself be wrong most of the time, just implicates himself as the clown.

    Your doubt less controls reality than the OP's un-sourced assertion. Request more info, or go look it up. Do not declare it should be considered false without additional info. Your judgment is proven wrong, and should scare you.

  21. Trust us, we know what's best on SpaceX Breaks Down Its Rocket Landing Attempts · · Score: 1

    > but about 10 seconds before landing, a valve controlling the rocket's engine
    > power (thrust) temporarily stopped responding to commands as quickly as it should have.

    "The OS support engineers at Microsoft still maintain we are not one of the very few applications that really need true real time."

  22. Look, up in the sky! on WiFi Offloading is Skyrocketing · · Score: 0

    Another technological leap needed? (Opens blouse) This looks like a job for Porno Demand!

  23. Re:Right to protest on Anti-Uber Taxi Protest Blocks Access To Airports In France · · Score: 2

    > They can protest the uneven playing field.

    They created the uneven playing field. I would like to cordially invite them to have sex with themselves.

  24. Re:We strike for right to treat customers like shi on Anti-Uber Taxi Protest Blocks Access To Airports In France · · Score: 1

    I was unaware of that. I thought he was just being clever.

    Thank you for expanding my knowledge. I have now learned two things about it.

  25. Re:The solution on The Vicious Circle That Is Sending Rents Spiraling Higher · · Score: 2

    Well, regulations and the possibility of rent control being added to new construction properly scares away investors.

    Politicians want you to build for them to take the pressure of limited housing off them, but also want the factional brownie points rent control and hyper-needless environmental impact analysis brings.

    I say let the politicians rot in their own festering stew. California eased up on barriers to electrical plant construction after their running brownouts brought on by same.