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User: Lost+Engineer

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Comments · 1,266

  1. Re:lawsuits on Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act · · Score: 1

    Because litigation is expensive, and juries award outrageous amounts of money. The only beneficial aspect of malpractice to society is it keeps docs on their toes, and we've gotten way past that point, to the point where it is difficult to find certain specialists in certain states, especially where people tend to be poor.

  2. Re:Optimist on Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act · · Score: 1

    First off, great post, and I hope people get a chance to read it.

    After seeing so much expansion (read abuse) of executive power by the Bush administration, libertarians (and not just those in the Party) are justifiably afraid of another expansionist president. I think everyone can appreciate his attacks on the pork barrel, but he has yet to show a personal or political respect for the rights of individuals. There that's on topic in an article about the Patriot Act! (which he no doubt voted for).

  3. Re:where does medicine come from? on Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act · · Score: 1

    Honest question: who funds it then and where's the motivation? I've thought about a scheme whereby the government or international organization would buy important patents from the developers, thereby encouraging them to develop and freeing up the drugs for mass distribution, but it doesn't seem like it would work in practice.

  4. Re:lawsuits on Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act · · Score: 1

    I am all in favor of being able to sue reckless drivers. Car insurance isn't $100,000 a year. Malpractice insurance (for an obstetrician, in certain states) is.

  5. Re:Optimist on Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act · · Score: 1

    I'd even settle for a John McCain. Oh, don't worry. McCain is a closet fascist too; maybe worse than Guiliani. There was a whole article in Reason about it which I'm too lazy to link here.
  6. Re:It's a good start on Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act · · Score: 1

    Cost-saver? Are we talking about the same $3000-toilet seat, no-bid Haliburton contract, bridge to nowhere government here?

  7. Re:where does medicine come from? on Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act · · Score: 1

    You just pointed out an instance of government inefficiency through graft. This is why we don't let them develop all our drugs.

  8. Re:It's a good start on Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act · · Score: 1

    While I agree that the hot coffee case shouldn't be the canonical example of a poor lawsuit, McDonalds made their coffee that hot so it would stay hot all the way to work, where most people were enjoying their coffee. 185 degree coffee still isn't considered negligent; you just have a put a warning on the coffee that it's hot. The fact that fresh coffee is hot enough to burn you if you touch it should be obvious, so I don't see where the wrong is here on the part of McDonalds. "700 prior incidents of scalding"? Duh. And each and every one of those people is entitled to millions of dollars?

  9. Re:lawsuits on Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act · · Score: 1

    Justice for whom? Certainly not the doctor or his other patients. Let's just help all the poor schmucks be able to afford health care.

  10. Re:Rootkits aside... on Another Sony Rootkit? · · Score: 1

    It's actually cancel or allow, although your version does make a lot more sense.

  11. Re:kiosk on Another Sony Rootkit? · · Score: 1

    Last I checked all you could do with a modded Xbox 360 was play pirated games, due to code signing.

    It seems their method of stopping from running unsigned code is a bit better than "let the PC roll over to zero" this time.

  12. Re:Better late than never on U.S. Attorney General Resigns · · Score: 1

    So basically it's ok for Iowans to has disproportionate influence on elections because they're better informed than the rest of us? Yeah it's the fault of the parties, but that doesn't make it ok.

    How can you argue that these early primaries make the candidates better? Corn subsidies much? I'd like to see you get one single New Yorker to vote for corn subsidies.

    Even if the residents of these starts are better informed (no doubt because they are among the first voters), they're not saints, and there's a lot of self-interest going into the process.

    Regardless, this corn belt tyranny is coming to an end. There's a super Tuesday a comin', but it ain't takin' place in farm country.

  13. Re:Better late than never on U.S. Attorney General Resigns · · Score: 1

    How is that different different from, say, the Mexican Revolution? Just curious.

  14. Re:New OS has old problems on MS Responds To Vista's Network / Audio Problems · · Score: 1

    I'm not telling everyone to drop Linux cuz Vista is better as some seem to be thinking. The GP (OP whatever) was saying that no geeks wanted Vista. Despite the bugs (DRM and otherwise) there are some real reasons for geeks to upgrade.

    You just reminded me of something though: The Vista games menu sucks donkey balls. You have to click start->games->games explorer then games. Whereas all the standard games are in the games folder, installed games have a whole separate app/menu. I was checking out the support site for a major publisher and discovered to my amusement that the number one support issue was "how do I start the game in Windows Vista." Hilarious and sad at the same time.

  15. Re:New OS has old problems on MS Responds To Vista's Network / Audio Problems · · Score: 1

    Ha! I knew somebody would find a Linux version. Beats the hell out of googling it...

    As others have pointed out, many operating systems have this functionality. I'm glad to see it in Windows, however. The start bar was quite a pain to manage in XP. Who doesn't remember the fun of trying to remember who authored the app you're looking for?

  16. Re:simpsons quote on Ape-Human Split Moved Back By Millions Of Years · · Score: 1

    It's the young earth creationists that need to learn what a metaphor is.

  17. Re:simpsons quote on Ape-Human Split Moved Back By Millions Of Years · · Score: 1

    Figure out how to use a line break and I'll mod you +1 legible. How 'bout we start with that?

  18. Re:REally? on MS Responds To Vista's Network / Audio Problems · · Score: 1

    That's a pretty good guess. I've noticed every time my system accesses the TPM chip (usually to get an encryption key or verify my fingerprints) it is weirdly slow. We're talking a noticeable amount of time just to get a password. I'm assuming that time isn't spent decrypting my tiny database.

  19. Re:New OS has old problems on MS Responds To Vista's Network / Audio Problems · · Score: 1

    I want Vista. Have it actually. It has some features that are missing in XP.

    I was thinking it's just gotten to the point where it's not a PITA on my laptop. I haven't encountered this little bugger of an issue, though. There were worse ones, trust me.

    The new start bar with search is especially cool... you no longer have to go searching for your apps. Never seen anything like it in a Linux distro.

  20. Re:missing tag? on MS Responds To Vista's Network / Audio Problems · · Score: 1

    There was a story here recently (comment?) about that. Apple's going to bend over (to the MPAA, perhaps not the RIAA) too. They want to be able to support BluRay playing.

  21. Re:In Singapore on Airbus 380 To Have Linux In Every Seat · · Score: 1

    Yes, and you'll notice they felt the need to virtualize that Linux-based OS under an RTOS.

  22. Re:Motivated Youth on Teen Hacks $84 Million Porn Filter in 30 Minutes · · Score: 1

    Back on topic: There's nothing wrong with football. The safest sport is whacking it.

  23. Re:When Wealthy Christians and Crackpots Attack! on Science Blogger Sued for Unfavorable Book Review · · Score: 1

    That's a respectable 7.7% growth rate over 38 years. An S&P 500 index fund would've netted you about $17313.50, though.

  24. Re:Cost for Quality? on Wal-Mart Ditches DRM, Keeps Censorship · · Score: 1

    Wait, that's a plus? I thought we hated iTunes.

  25. Re:Is is disclosed? on Wal-Mart Ditches DRM, Keeps Censorship · · Score: 1

    And so do Ecstasy and cannabis, but you don't see many people arguing for them to be made legal. You must be new here.