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User: omarius

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Comments · 215

  1. Re:Not quite a valid point on Let Them Eat Teslas · · Score: 1

    I should have also mentioned that educational expenses and student loan interest confer tax benefits as well. Cheers.

  2. Not quite a valid point on Let Them Eat Teslas · · Score: 1

    I see your point, and the summary makes for good hyperbole, but the average student at Purdue (Main campus, 2011) who qualifies for grant aid received $5,496 in Federal grant aid, $5,158 in State / Local grant aid, and $5,405 in institutional grant aid. That's $16,059 a year, x 4 years = $64,236. Only 44% of students took out loans in 2011, at an average of $6,480 each, extrapolating to $25,920 borrowed over 4 years--which is less than many car loans, I'd imagine.
    Data is from NCES IPEDS. http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/
    Most students DO NOT pay the sticker price for higher education.

  3. Re:I think it's booty on One In Six Amazon S3 Storage Buckets Are Ripe For Data-Plundering · · Score: 1

    This. As soon as I read the stub, my first thought was, "This is exactly what they jailed Weev for." Mod thou the parent up.

  4. GBT Going Out of Business on No Wi-Fi Around Huge Radio Telescope · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is the second post I've seen in as many days on Green Bank, and no mention of the fact that the NSF is planning on closing the facility to save money. Green Bank is the largest movable radio telescope in the world. If you feel--like I do--that this would be a detriment to the nation, please sign the petition or, even better, write your Congressperson.

  5. Kids^W Scientists these days on First Direct Image of DNA Double Helix · · Score: 1

    I hope everyone on this team has read The Double Helix, so they know just how much imaginative work was done back in the day to figure out what they just confirmed visually. While writing that I also had the amusing thought that I hope James Watson calls them up and tells them to get off his lawn.

  6. Shift on Why Google Went Offline Today · · Score: 1

    I don't know what says more about the change in the average Slashdot reader--the fact that the summary for this story assumes that the reader doesn't know anything at all about BGP, or the fact that this is the first comment to bemoan that.

  7. Re:ahh slackware... on Slackware 14.0 Arrives · · Score: 1

    This.

    I would not have the career I have today if it weren't for Slack, _Running Linux_, my 486SX/33, and the friends I was blessed with those fine days.

  8. Re:Installing the new version... on Slackware 14.0 Arrives · · Score: 1

    I remember taking up a row of the 24-hour computer lab at school at 2am or so (to have an available row); I'd clear all the chairs out but one, log in to each PC, and then start downloading--FTP'ing directly to A:--like the carriage in a typewriter. By the time I had started the disk on the rightmost computer, the one on the leftmost machine would be finished downloading. Rollll to the left, repeat! Good memories.

  9. Re:Do they understand how hashes work? on LinkedIn Password Leak: Salt Their Hide · · Score: 1

    Huh?

    sha1sum blah = 5bf1fd927dfb8679496a2e6cf00cbe50c1c87145
    sha1sum 5bf1fd927dfb8679496a2e6cf00cbe50c1c87145 = 9dbc5291ce0269baafbf68a6346b5510a1b30860
    sha1sum 9dbc5291ce0269baafbf68a6346b5510a1b30860 = caa4e37211fda75d91b9bf3231f9fbeb434d56e8
    [...]

  10. Re:Whats the big deal? on "Learn To Code, Get a Job" According To CNN · · Score: 1

    Yes?

    > There is an awful lot of need for javascript lackies so that real coders can do real work.

    If the preceding comments aren't suggesting, "The people who participate in CodeAcademy won't ever amount to anything, unlike *us*," then I guess I need to read with less beer in me.

  11. Elitism on "Learn To Code, Get a Job" According To CNN · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The above is NOT flamebait, o moderators. I meant it. I've been listening to, and reading, "blah, blah, stupid users never learn anything" since the 90's, and I think these criticisms are disingenuous as hell. Along comes an easy, fun set of lessons on the rudiments of programming, and people are deriding it for: too much media attention, too simple, too popular, et cetera. If your stance is, "I like being a computer geek because it allows me to look down on others," then that's your sad bag, but at least be honest about it. Only good can come from average people coming to realize that this stuff isn't some magic inborn to the 7th son of a rocket scientist; it just takes curiosity and persistence. I am calling bullshit on your defensive insecurity, and I have the Slashdot karma to burn doing it, tyvm.

  12. Re:Whats the big deal? on "Learn To Code, Get a Job" According To CNN · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Elitism: It's what Slashdot's serving for dinner.

  13. Re:Why replace? on Ohio Supreme Court Drawn Into Magnetic Homes Case · · Score: 1

    Bidden or unbidden, EMF is present.

  14. Re:Nationwide crackdown of 12? on FBI Executes Nationwide Raid of Anonymous Members · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Eeh, typical Newsie hyperbole. I heard an NPR story this morning about Somali kids from Minneapolis going off to join Al-Shabab that described them as "leaving in droves," then went off to say there were 24 of them. I thought to myself, "That is one drove, max."

  15. Re:Couldn't have waited? on FBI Executes Nationwide Raid of Anonymous Members · · Score: 1

    No, but I'll bet they're entirely capable of setting one up to run so it could be executed the next time Anon/Lulz did something newsworthy. Great PR on a day Google News searches are running, etc.

  16. Re:Yes there is... on Is There a Formula For a Hit Song? · · Score: 2

    They're Justified, and they're Ancient, and they drive an ice cream van....

  17. Some! on Ask Slashdot: Linux Support In Universities? · · Score: 1

    Linux support at my university is on a "best effort" basis (which usually means you get to talk to me). To be honest, I've never had to address wireless issues, but I can't think of any reason why one couldn't connect--it's as straightforward as WPA2-Enterprise gets, I reckon. iPads and Apples have no problem. At a guess, I'd say the faculty are ~15-20% Mac users and growing all the time.

    As a side note--when I got nominated the academic support Linux guy, I was terrified I'd get sneered at by rocket scientists trying to write device drivers for cyclotrons or something. I was--am--super relieved that problems usually turn out to involve things like firewalls and fstabs. :)

  18. Re:No more apples on Apple Bans DUI Checkpoint Apps · · Score: 1

    Sorry, but I beg to differ--if/when the company is caving under pressure from the U.S. Senate, it becomes a free speech issue. Likewise, if there's a law in any state amounting to "Don't talk about DUI checkpoints" then that is also a free speech issue. I could accept an argument that it's constitutional to outlaw telling a drunk about a checkpoint so s/he may avoid arrest, but such a law would be extraneous at best, since there are already laws forbidding conspiracy and aiding and abetting. But that's just my opinion, of course. I don't necessarily expect anyone to agree with it.

  19. Re:No more apples on Apple Bans DUI Checkpoint Apps · · Score: 1

    If it was an app to help protesters in Syria avoid the Army, these selfsame senators would be screaming about how Apple is assisting a dictatorial government quash its citizens' natural right to freedom of speech. Make no mistake, this *is* a freedom of speech issue. It is no different than calling all your friends to let them know about a checkpoint.

  20. Re:I don't care I enjoy the later sunsets. on Is Daylight Saving Time Bad For You? · · Score: 1

    I'd be fine with that...if I got off at 4!

  21. Re:I don't care I enjoy the later sunsets. on Is Daylight Saving Time Bad For You? · · Score: 2

    I was going to say, FINE! Fix it: keep DST all year round!

  22. Re:My secrect question on Ask Slashdot: Worst Computer Scene In TV or Movies? · · Score: 1

    The dean of my local law school commented once that Law & Order is actually not bad as far as that goes--his comment was that whenever he'd think, "Objection!" an objection from one of the TV lawyers wouldn't be far behind.

  23. Re:Waste on Crew Builds a Flying House Modeled After UP! · · Score: 1

    Using time and money to create joy and whimsy is, and always will be, worthwhile. It's part of our humanity, all the arts, and a big swath of science and invention. I am glad we have people who do such things, and people who enjoy them, rather than everyone being a practical curmudgeon such as yourself, AC.

  24. Re:I'm Curious on Amazon Censorship Expands · · Score: 1

    I've been reading the NLT Bible on the one-year plan (done tomorrow!) and the one that really surprised me was the reference to horse cocks.

  25. Nostalgic whine on 3dfx Voodoo Graphic Card Emulation Coming To DOSBox · · Score: 1

    In the 90's, the two expensive peripheral cards I bought were, respectively, a 3DFX Voodoo video card, right before they went out of business, and a GadgetLabs Wave 4/24 sound card, right before *they* went out of business. Cutting edge fail!