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User: TermV

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  1. Re:Firefox & ABP+ on Android Options Mean "Best" Browsers Might Surprise You · · Score: 1

    I use the version of Opera Mobile labs with extensions enabled.. It supports adblock and noscript, although noscript slowed down browsing to such an extent that I have disabled it. Ad-away is a very effective alternative if you have a rooted device

  2. They're not serious about it. on The Quiet Death of the Canadian Internet Survellance Bill · · Score: 1

    The conservatives have a history of tabling unpopular bills that die off prematurely. It took them 6 years and 4 attempts to pass a copyright reform bill. Those bills were conveniently tabled at inopportune moments where they were guaranteed to be killed off. I have a theory that they're doing this to earn checkmarks for implementing their agenda and then using the opposition as an excuse to their cronies as to why the legislation failed. We tried, but oh darn there was an election call. They don't take a political hit with the public and their cronies see them make a good faith effort.

  3. Re:This guy is dumb on Why Eric Schmidt Is Wrong About Microsoft Not Mattering Anymore · · Score: 1

    He's actually correct, but we're not there yet. I see a day when our PC will consist of a dockable smart phone. Eventually things will be miniaturized to the point where the phone actually has the storage and horsepower, but I can also see it working in a master/slave configuration where the PC acts like a dumb terminal that provides I/O and a more powerful CPU. Manufacturers are already experimenting with the idea. That doesn't mean MS is done for, it more likely means a change in how software is licensed. They'll probably start licensing based on the number of authorized host docks rather than on copies installed on individual devices.

  4. Re:Error My Ass on NBC Apologizes For Editing Zimmerman 911 Call · · Score: 1

    That's why you call police and let them deal with it. A normal person would not pursue somebody they believe is a dangerous criminal unless they're armed. If you go out with that kind of frame of mind then the chances of violence go way up. Being stalked in the street by some aggressive stranger is an imminent risk to the target's life so again the threat of violence goes up again.

  5. Re:Crazy numbers on Canada To Stop Making Pennies · · Score: 2

    For crying out loud, people are so ignorant...You do realise that of the 9 majority governments in the past 50 years, only 1 managed to be elected with over 50% of the vote? The largest majority government in history was 53.66% popular vote back in 1958. Here, take a look at all the "illegitimate" Canadian majority governments.

    2011 Conservative majority 39.62%
    2000 Liberal majority 40.85%
    1997 Liberal majority 38.46%
    1993 Liberal majority 41.24%
    1988 PC majority 43.02%
    1984 PC majority 50.03%
    1980 Liberal majority 44.34%
    1974 Liberal majority 43.15%
    1968 Liberal majority 45.37%

  6. Re:Take it down a notch sparky on Iran Deleted From the World's Banking Computers · · Score: 5, Informative

    You don't find it strange that the US is still embargoing Cuba 20 years after the Soviet Union dissolved, or that the US has better relations with all the former USSR countries or even Vietnam?

  7. Re:If you enjoy your job, then why not? on Do Companies Punish Workers Who Take Vacations? · · Score: 1

    So what you're saying is that you're insecure about being replaced so you made sure that your job is a difficult, time consuming complex endeavour maintaining fragile systems. You've shared just enough information on how to do your job so that people backing you up can only just scrape by. If anything goes wrong you're the only guy who can fix it which makes you look like a superstar and everyone else look like idiots.

    The reality is that there is actually very little value in those technical machinations. That's like being an janitor who cleans up messes with a leaky bucket so that there will always be another mess to clean up. Maintenance is a cost. What really makes you invaluable is being able to make things robust enough so that they require little maintenance, and that maintenance can be handled by more junior people. Ironically your company would probably be better off by getting rid of you and replacing you with somebody who simply doesn't want to put up with all that crap. You want to be the guy who eliminates the chaos. The guy who simply reacts all day can easily be replaced (despite what you may think) or obsoleted if somebody goes in and takes care of the chaos for you.

  8. Re:Seriously? on Ask Slashdot: Laptop + DSLR Backpacks · · Score: 1

    Clearly you fall outside the target demographic that is able to answer, or even appreciate the question. This is a topic that generates a lot of debate even among professional photographers. Camera bags are specialized pieces of equipment that that must protect potentially tens of thousands of dollars worth of fragile and oddly shaped gear and provide efficient access for somebody who might be billing thousands of dollars for a job.

  9. So Facebook is serving targeted advertising... on Facebook Ads Could 'Out' Gay Users · · Score: 1

    Isn't this the point of Facebook? Let's be honest, Facebook is a marketing platform that provides a social networking service in return for payment in the form of your personal information. You post information about yourself on the site, and the site serves you targeted advertising. If you tell Facebook your sexual orientation then you've outed yourself already. It would be a different story if they were analyzing your friend list and your "like" pages and deducing that you were gay. Then you'd have grounds for outrage.

  10. UN geo-engineering treaties are a good thing on UN May Ban Blotting Out the Sun · · Score: 1

    I watched an interesting TED presentation a while ago about geo-engineering. The presenter pointed out that we should develop international agreements around geo-engineering to prevent one country from unilaterally deploying a solution that may benefit them but be to the detriment of the rest of the world. Not that it would stop anybody from going ahead and doing it anyways...

  11. Re:Thermal Receipts have the most BPA on Plastic Chemical BPA Declared Toxic In Canada · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Bisphenol A is a coating painted on thermal paper that readily comes off onto your hands and will transfer onto anything you touch. This stuff must be coating everything near the cash registers at your local supermarket. There's apparently 60-100mg of Bisphenol A on the average receipt. At least in polycarbonate it's bonded into the plastic and doesn't just come out.

  12. Re:Root of the Problem on FCC Will Tackle Cell Phone 'Bill Shock' · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You are being charged for text messages because it's a service that you opt to use. The cell phone companies are under no obligation to offer text messaging, much less free text messaging. They've found a product they can produce for next to nothing that people buy like hotcakes at a premium price. Nothing wrong with that.

  13. Re:beautifully done :) on Thieves Use Vacuum To Siphon Cash From Safes · · Score: 1

    You can't measure productivity loss associated with buying cheaper coffee, nor would the executives go through the effort to try. It's trivial to measure the cost savings of buying the cheap coffee and to discipline anybody who spends too much time at Starbucks.

  14. Re:Less protection for free speech? on In Canada, Criminal Libel Charges Laid For Criticizing Police · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees a Canadian's right to free speech, is inherently weaker than the US constitution because it contains a notwithstanding clause that allows a province to suspend many rights for 5 year periods. Quebec's language laws wouldn't stand up to a first amendment challenge in the US but it is allowed to violate the charter of rights and Freedoms in Canada because they used the notwithstanding clause.

  15. Lazy eye? not exactly. on 3D Displays May Be Hazardous To Young Children · · Score: 1

    The term lazy eye is used for a related condition called amblyopia, not strabismus itself. Strabismus causes double vision because both eyes are not aligned in a manner that allows the brain to fuse both pictures together to form a single 3D image. The brain attenuates the signal from the misaligned eye in order to reduce double vision. The reduction of vision in that eye is a condition called amblyopia, or lazy eye. Since you need 2 eyes to form a 3D image, people with amblyopia have reduced depth perception.

    Looking at 3D TV isn't doing to give you strabismus or amblyopia. The risk to children is that until a certain age, the section of your brain that controls 3D fusion is still developing so if they spend all their time looking crosseyed at a tv, the brain may calibrate itself to provide fusion while the eyes are crossed. That would result in double vision when the eyes are properly aligned. That's why it's important to have a child treated for strabismus as early as possible.

  16. Re:Windows Live Photo Gallery on A File-Centric Photo Manager? · · Score: 1

    That's because the orientation is a setting in the exif metadata and not part of the actual image data.

  17. Re:Windows Live Photo Gallery on A File-Centric Photo Manager? · · Score: 1

    For the average uninformed user, you have a point. However you are nowhere near correct. There's a reason all professional image management tools on the market, plus Picasa store their edits in a database. Modifying the original is extremely destructive. You can't get your image data back once you save over top your original. Every time you modify and save your data, it will degrade considerably.

    Picasa maintains the original which is by definition the highest quality copy of the file. By taking the original and applying edits on the fly every time you open the file, you are assured of having the best quality image possible and the flexibility to change one of your edits. If you open a file that has been saved 5 times as a jpg then you're going to have a blurry, noisy piece of crap.

    Every professional grade photo manager saves edits to a database. Your camera's vendor's raw file developer does too, although it the database is embedded in the raw file. Even Photoshop users after their 3rd day using the program don't perform edits directly on on the background layer. Picasa does this too, and it's a huge bonus. You're getting close to professional grade photo management for free.

    Maybe Picasa needs to be more up front about how it's managing its edits, and provide more options to back up your catalog. The notion that Picasa should be overwriting your jpg files every time you twiddle with something is dead wrong.

  18. This was just implemented in Canada on Earthlink Announces It Must Honor Comcast Cap · · Score: 1

    This describes the recent usage based billing decision in Canada. All the DSL wholesellers who are reselling uncapped Bell Canada service now have to abide by Bell Canada's caps. The difference is that in Canada, this is now legally mandated by the telecom regulator and not simply corporate collusion.

  19. CISS systems and bulk ink on HP Explains Why Printer Ink Is So Expensive · · Score: 2, Informative

    I resisted buying an inkjet for years, preferring instead to use an HP business laser printer. After looking at horrible Costco soft proofs for some photos I was going to print, I decided that instead of buying a $50 costco printer I'd buy a $50 inkjet printer and use after market inks.

    Only suckers by genuine OEM ink. Get yourself a Continuous Ink Supply System (CISS). They're basically a bunch of dummy cartridges that connect to bulk ink tanks that sit outside the printer. A good CISS vendor such as Inkjetfly or inkrepublic will sell you inks that closely match your OEM ink for 1/10th the price. Reputable vendors even provide ICC profiles for their ink and common papers, although if you're serious you'll want to pick up something like a spyder 3 print sr that will generate your own profiles. That will effectively lower your printer costs to the price of the paper. The output on an inkjet is actually much better than someplace like Costco, and you have much more control over how your prints will come out. The downside is a CISS requires more maintenance than cartridges and can be difficult to set up.

    Of course now I regret printing anything because trying to frame anything larger than 4x6 is practically impossible. Frames, mats, photo paper and your camera's frame all use incompatible aspect ratios. If you think printer ink is expensive, wait until you try to buy non-standard framing supplies!

  20. Re:Religious Viewers= $ on Lost Ends · · Score: 1

    So the afterlife was more ridiculous than all the other ridiculous concepts like smoke monsters and time travelling islands just because you are an athiest? Come on. I'm an athiest and I just considered the whole series as rather outlandish fiction. I don't particularly care if they present a religious aspect because to me it's the same thing as any other fictional plot device.

    As others have pointed out, Lost at some point reached a point where the series outlived its intended story arc and the writers scratched their head and said where can we go from here? The plot became more and more outlandish until it broke out of my suspension of disbelief and to be honest I stopped caring about the island as much. Personally I think the writers were smart to just discard the convoluted, steaming pile of dung they created and focus on wrapping up the characters. I don't think there was any way they could tie up all the loose ends with the island in a way that would satisfy people because it would clash with what they had built up in their imagination. People connected emotionally to the characters so it was a smart alternative to tie up a few loose ends and then give the characters closure.

  21. Can't avoid being rear ended at a red light on IBM's Patent-Pending Traffic Lights Stop Car Engines · · Score: 1

    Most traffic accidents happen at a traffic light. It's good practice to leave space somewhere around the vehicle when stopped at a traffic light so that you have an escape route if you find you're about to be rear-ended. If your engine has been switched off, you lose the ability to move out of the way of the dump truck that's coming towards your vehicle.

  22. Re:"a ways" to go? From a veteran editor... on HTML Web App Development Still Has a Ways To Go · · Score: 2, Informative

    The correct usage is "a way to go".

  23. Re:Indie Gaming on Indie Pay-What-You-Want Bundle Reaches $1 Million · · Score: 1

    Linux and Mac users are more likely to be OS zealots willing to spend money to prove how much better they are than Windows users. It was pretty clever of them to make it into a competition between OSes, actually. I'm sure that was quite effective to drive sales.

  24. Re:Arcane? on UK Election Arcana, Explained By Software · · Score: 1

    Well...You'd think so, but what ends up happening (as in Canada at the moment) is the government becomes entirely focused on surviving for the next few months and there's little in the way of long term thinking. Our Conservative party has become disturbingly adept at machiavellian political manoeuverings that have kept them in power for an impressive length of time. Unfortunately our main opposition party is so intellectually bankrupt that their platform consists of "elect us and you'll see" and do nothing but go on about the same 3 scandals ad nauseum trying to win short term political points. We're in this hell where the politicians are focused entirely on popping their polling numbers 3 points so they can trigger an election, and nobody is doing anything that the voters actually care about.

  25. Re:improvement on CRTC Approves Usage Based Billing In Canada · · Score: 1

    It's not an improvement over their current practices. Bell can charge you $100 a gig if they want. You've always been free to buy cheaper service from a competing ISP. Except now Bell is requiring competing ISPs who lease their DSL lines to charge the same rates as Sympatico.