Slashdot Mirror


User: LowellPorter

LowellPorter's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
120
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 120

  1. Re:Corrupt politics as usual on US House Rejects Telecom Amnesty · · Score: 1
    The Democrats can talk all they want on the House floor, but it's all hypocritical political posturing. The fact is, the Democrat-controlled Congress APPROVED the surveillance program...

    Exactly. The Democrat's don't care about civil rights anymore than the Republicans do. This was done to support one of the largest groups of people that financially support the Democrats - the trial lawyers. Since there is not going to be immunity, then they will 'sue the pants off' whomever they can think of. They're going to make out big time with this legislation even more than the people they represent. This also means more contributions to the Democrats.

  2. It is a non-issue on Not All the DOJ Missing Emails Are Missing · · Score: 0, Troll

    This story has had zero play in the US media; it's been being carried on the BBC. It is not playing in the US media because no law was broken when those attorneys were fired. The Democrats were trying to score political points by attempting to make a scandal out of it. When the American people understood that the firings were legal, then the scandal issue fizzled.

  3. Re:Communism or Socialism on Richest 2% Own Half the World's Wealth · · Score: 1
    Well, I have a household income of >$110,000 (CAD), and I'm perfectly happy with the government taking some portion of this wealth and redistributing it. In exchange, I get a universal healthcare system (allowing everyone, including me, to ensure they're in good health), a strong, universal education system and relatively cheap (compared to the US) post-secondary education, financial support for the poor (which my family made use of at rougher times during my childhood)... I'm sure I could go on. To me, this is worth the sacrifice. *shrug*
    There is one flaw to this idea, what is the incentive to earn more than $110,000? If you know you are going to get healthcare, education, etc. and not have to work for it, then you might not want to earn that much because you know that eventually it will get taken away. That is what the other posters are saying. It might sound like a good idea, but it offers no incentive to be rich. And if enough people are not making the threshold needed to pay for the services, then the amount that is considered "rich" will be lowered and more people will be taxed. Then the cycle repeats itself.
  4. Write In a Candidate on Is An Uninformed Vote Better Than No Vote? · · Score: 1

    Sometimes when I do not like the candidates or do not know much about them, I will write in someone I trust for the position. I know they will not be elected, but it will send a message if the available candidates are not getting votes. You DO NOT have to vote for who is on the ballot, just vote. I'm hoping the idea catches on because if people start seeing a bunch of these votes, mabye we will eventually get better candidates.

  5. Re:There are other reasons too... on Why Terror Financing is So Tough to Track Down · · Score: 1

    No. Decades ago, we were just really good at ignoring the poor No. Decades ago people had private charities and didn't rely on wasteful government welfare.

  6. Re:This is serious news... on IBM Thinkpads now in Titanium · · Score: 1

    The company I work for, we order a few hundred thinkpads a year minimum, we started seeing up to 30% failure rate + DOA rate of T42's after Lenovo took over, we had to switch to DELL because we were running out of machines for new-hires to use because they simply didn't work. We'll be switching back to Dell as well. My boss sent a letter with a list of all the problems we had to our IBM customer service's rep's boss. It said something along the lines of "If Lenovo doesn't straighten out the problems, IBM's name is going down the toilet for their PC unit". We found out that his email has been passed on to some execs at IBM. I hope they do something about it because IBM made some great laptops.

  7. Re:This is serious news... on IBM Thinkpads now in Titanium · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Thinkpads have a reputation the workplace for reliability, performance and build quality; the corporate standard (usually HP) pales in comparison

    Not anymore. Since Levono has taken over, the quality has gone downhill. The company I work for has had a 20% failure rate with the laptops since Lenovo took over. On top of that, it now takes 6 - 8 weeks to get one because they're shipped directly from China. The same goes with their desktops. The company I work for orders around 2,000 computers a year, and this is unacceptable.

  8. The Lawyer on Grand Theft Auto Led Teen to Kill · · Score: 1

    Thompson has made something of a career out of lawsuits of this nature

    Eventually he'll win one of these lawsuits and hit a big payday. Many people out there think that these games heavilty influence kids to commit these violent acts. It's only a matter of time before he finds a jury that will go along with him.

  9. Re:Thank Goodness... on North Korea Admits to Having Nuclear Weapons · · Score: 1

    The arrangement worked out by Clinton, using Carter as the go-between, was to build light water reactors in exchange for the DPRK doing away with their heavy water reactors. It was a good deal.

    Light water reactors (the kind the Russians are building in Iran, BTW) use fuel that is much, much harder to enrich into weapons-grade material, and they are easier for inspectors to monitor.

    In short, the Clinton deal engaged North Korea and would have worked to stop or slow their weapons programs. Bush stopped the Clinton deal's funding and changed to a hard-line approach, and now we see ourselves in the present situation.


    So you give a country nuclear materials to help reduce a country's nuclear bombmaking capabilities? Even if it is materials that are difficult to make bombs with, this is a stupid idea.

    On top of that, Bush only took a hardline stance after Korea broke the agreement that was made with the Clinton administration.

  10. Re:Trinity? on Life After Doom · · Score: 2, Informative

    Trinity is/was the code name for the Quake 3 graphics engine and not a different game.

  11. Re:Is a PHD so great? on Google's Ph.D. Advantage · · Score: 1

    I thought that PHD = Post Hole Digger???

  12. They Don't? on Kill Bill, IBM vs Microsoft · · Score: 1

    "...does not distribute it and earns nary a penny on it..."

    They don't? You can buy IBM computers with Linux on them. Looks like they do. I think you mean, they don't make their own distribution. I'm not even sure about this because they would have to do a lot of tweaking to get Linux working on their mainframes and AS/400.

  13. Re:First step on Using Employee-Owned Technology in the Workplace? · · Score: 1

    Why not convince them to purchase a company owned cell phone for you to use? That's what they did for some of the IT people who needed it.

  14. Re:These really work on 'Brain Pacemakers' Being Tested · · Score: 1

    Hey Bozojoe, my mom has parkinson's too. She's considering this implant. Can you email me, so I can ask you some questions about it? It would be greatly appreciated.

    lowellporter@yahoo.com

  15. Re:Ignorance on Toshiba Pushes Safe, Small Nuclear Reactor Design · · Score: 1

    ...Nuclear energy is barely cost competitive now, and the only reason they are even close to competive is because of the heavy government subsidies that the industry gets. Without subsidies, nuclear energy wouldn't be cost effective at all, and the industry in every country is heavily subsidized...

    Nuclear power plants spend most of their money trying to meet all the safety regulations. If a better way of keeping them safe was available, there would be many more nuclear power plants.

  16. MS Profit on Red Hat Posts Its Best Quarter Yet · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Revenue for the quarter was $28 million, with net income at $3 million.

    Considering during that same time, Microsoft made over a billion in profit. This doesn't look like much of a success.

    OTOH, way to go Red Hat, keep it up. Only $997,000,000 to catch up to Microsoft!

  17. Short Answer on Razor Blade Games? · · Score: 1

    The easy answer to this question is licensing technology. Look how many companies licensed the Quake (all 3) and the Unreal enginges, quite a few. I see more of this happening in the future.

  18. Niave on Profile of an eBay Scammer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    from the article"One day at Disney World, Nelson met a Disney employee. She eventually moved into his motel room. He told her that his wife had been killed in a car accident and that he was a special agent with the Department of Justice. Nelson said that because of the types of cases he was working on, the agency had had to move him out of New Hampshire for his own safety -- and that she shouldn't tell anyone that they were living together."

    Talk about a stupid woman. This is one of the oldest in the book.

  19. Interesting because it's from Texas on Jesus Castillo, Supreme Court, And Free Speech · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The recent ruling by the supreme court on homosexual ruling basically nullified the state law agaisnt it. This is the Supreme Court getting involved in a state law case. This one is no different than that one and even has greater implications since it's a free speech/1st ammendment case and the other wasn't.

  20. Dual Band on Palm to Buy Handspring · · Score: 1

    I wanted to get a Handspring Treo phone for my Sprint PCS service, however it doesn't have the capability to do dual bands in case you get out of Sprint's coverage. I hope Palm changes this when they take over the line.

  21. Portable Play Station on Sony To Release PSP Handheld Console In 2004 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Remember the Portable PlayStation
    On Classic Gaming? This guy ripped apart a Playstation One and a mini-TV and built his own back in September of 1991. It was cool because the CD for it spun freely on the back of it without an enclosure. The builder of it even called it the PSP. Hmm... wonder if Sony "stole" the name for theirs from his sight? =)

  22. Before Computers on The History of the "Undo" Function? · · Score: 3, Funny

    The "undo" button before computers was white-out. You could never have enough of that stuff around. Especially if you were from a family like mine with several kids doing term papers.

  23. AFL-CIO stands for... on AFL-CIO Proposed Reforms for the H1B Program · · Score: 2

    The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations

    For those who don't know, it's an organization of labour unions.

  24. Points to think about on Engineering Careers Short-Circuiting · · Score: 2

    Here's some things I've learned in my short technical career that I hope will help me if I get laid off.

    1. Keep learning new stuff. Take advantage of tuition reimbursment even if you already have a degree. Teach yourself some new technology, programming language, or OS. Take advantage of any voluntary training your employer provides.

    2. Be willing to relocate. Not just within a small area, but at least partway across the country (500 + miles)

    3. Be honest about your abilities and humbly brag about what you can do

    4. Even though you may know a lot and may be better than most applicants, get a certification like MCSE, A+, Oracle, Red Hat Linux, etc.

    5. Be willing to change industries. I've been in IT in the fields of education, utilities and pharmaceutials.

    6. Work as hard looking for a job as you would on the job. This means 40 hours a week 5days/8 hours.

    7.If you are looking for a job, have people double check your resume and cover letter. Don't have a form resume or cover letter. As much as you can, taylor each resume and cover letter to the job you are applying for.

    8. Be willing to take less pay or lower / rank position.

    9. When unemployed (or even employed) expand your experience by volunteering your tech/computer abilities to churches, schools, non-profit organizations, or even a small business.

    10. Don't openly complain, but you can be honest if it's been tough.

    ***
    BTW, our company may be looking for an AS/400 programmer with 1 - 3 years experience. If you don't mind moving to central illinois (or already do), email me: lowell@lowellporter.com

  25. How many? on All schools In Denmark switching to Linux · · Score: 2

    1.1 million students

    Wow. I didn't realize Denmark was so small. Here in the US, cities like Chicago, LA, and New York probably have that many students in their school districts. I wonder if any of them would consider switching to Linux? It would save them a ton of money if they had good Linux administrators.