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User: drolli

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  1. Re:We've gone beyond bad science on IPCC's "Darkest Yet" Climate Report Warns of Food, Water Shortages · · Score: 2

    It is in the nature of a 95% confidence band to include a scenario which only hits you with a small probability. Ignoring these without good reason is not a valid procedure.

    If i dont know a road and my experience is that the speed limitations are too conservative in 99% of the instances (e.g. curves), it is still not a valid procedure to assume that these are always too conservative.

    The IPCC report is *not* a scientific publication, since it is self-edited, has no anonymous reviewers, and no otherwise independent mechanism for the control of the content. As a scientist, i dont consider publications under this circumstances at all for making up my mind about the world. However, it is an acceptable pupose to report on the body of (scientifically valid) non-falsified hypotheses (please refer to Poppers theory on science) for advising politics how to spend money for research.

    Whether the IPCC reports succeeds in this or not, is not mine to say, but i think the debate is not going well (from all sides), considerign important topics like cloud formation are not understood wnough

      (My personal opinion is that we need *more* research on the extend and possible mechanisms AGW to direct our efforts to the places where we have the bese cost/performance ratio)

  2. Re:We've gone beyond bad science on IPCC's "Darkest Yet" Climate Report Warns of Food, Water Shortages · · Score: 2

    When setting your speed on the road, do you orient yourself on "the worst case scenario" (e.g. you car not handling your steering to avoid a suddenly appearing cow and hitting a tree in the middle of nowhere), or do you usually consider the "average scenario" (going on a dry, empty road)?

    Considering the first scenario and reducing the impact enough can save your life.

  3. Re:Getting Misogyny, Racism and Homophobia Out on Getting Misogyny, Racism and Homophobia Out of Gaming · · Score: 1

    "nuke it from orbit only way to be sure"

  4. Re:Who would characterize Gates as a hero? on Snowden A Hero? Gates Says No, Woz Says Yes · · Score: 1

    He is not my hero, but:

    Bill gates did a number of decisions against the mindset of the time, and made computing available to the masses. While other companies required you be in some kind of exclusive club to interoperate, MS allowed to run basic on pretty much everything, even low priced systems (C64), and do everything with it and never demanded that anybody writing programs for their OSes paid them a fee or asked them for permission. The path to put computing to the masses (and go outside the idea of exclusive deals) was probably seen risky, and could have gone wrong.

    And while i personaaly mounr over the suffering of OS/2 from a technical viewpoint, i am not sure that staying together in bed with IBM would have done the world much good (although i am sure the short-term revenue could have been higher for MS).

  5. Re:Google more restrictive than Microsoft on Google Blocking Asus's Android-Windows "Duet"? · · Score: 1

    But there is no service which only google can or does provide.

  6. Re:Nobody forces you on Google Blocking Asus's Android-Windows "Duet"? · · Score: 1

    ...and the manufactures own brillant vision of a "simplified" android ui...

  7. Nobody forces you on Google Blocking Asus's Android-Windows "Duet"? · · Score: 1

    to use google closed source code if you want to run android apps on your device. Nokia/MS can do it, blackberry too, and obviously many cheap Chinese nameless devices. There are other app stores than google play.

    That being said, I understand Google why i they don't like to brand a "dual boot"/"switching device which probably would suck even more power and have a more indeterministic behavior than even the most crapware-loaded samsung device.

    If MS or asus likes this so much, nobody hinders them to to the right things, which are either
    * give Windows the capability to execute Android Apps from the start
    * make an android app which runs windows programs.

  8. Re:Short answer: I don't on Ask Slashdot: Reviewing 3rd Party Libraries? · · Score: 1

    Major and popular: yes, one or two. And dont expect me to go into the details. Look for yourself.

    Typical sicknesses to look out in open source code:
    -bad glue code
    -missing or ill-defined tests
    -lack of documentation
    -code which the current maintainer imagined to start a ne coding style (and misestimated the work associated with this)

    Still, i have to admit, the worst open source i have seen comes from commercial projects open sourced at some point.

  9. Re:Short answer: I don't on Ask Slashdot: Reviewing 3rd Party Libraries? · · Score: 1

    That is an illusion. I have seen Open source code which looks like shit if you take 10 Minutes to look into it. I have seen worse close-source, though, but i have also seen great closed source code.

    If you really need to have a look at a close source lib, you can sign a license agreement with the compnay in question.

  10. Consultant here on Mozilla Is Investigating Why Dell Is Charging To Install Firefox · · Score: 1

    We also charge the customer if we install Linux for him. If the price is reasonable is in the eye of the customer, but installing and configuring Linux has the same hourly rate as installing Windows.

  11. Re:2,500L @ $1/L vs. $millions. Liberal math. on Walmart Unveils Turbine-Powered WAVE Concept Truck · · Score: 1

    Did we forget a little factor in the product?

  12. Re:Questionable Numbers on Android Beats iOS As the Top Tablet OS · · Score: 1

    How much would correcting for this change this changhe the numbers?

  13. Re:A severe distortion is here on Google Funds San Francisco Bus Rides For Poor · · Score: 1

    As strange as it may seem, Megacities are the most resource-friendly way to live. Unless you are fortunate enough that you and your wife work at the same employer for you whole life, and schools for your children during all their school years are accidentally in the same suburb (pretty unlikely), and all shops happen to be directly in front of your door (that would be in the city), one or more family members will be commuting, and additionally you will go 10 Miles on the highway even for buying a small pack of milk. I always try to live at a place where i dont need a car (even to go to work) or, at worst, only need a car for going to the work/doing shopping and do everything else by foot/bike/subway/train/bus.

  14. Re:Well ... what do you expect on WikiLeaks Cables Foreshadow Russian Instigation of Ukrainian Military Action · · Score: 2

    Yeah. Imperialist pride. Sure. How about: Maybe they were sent there and did not like it, but after they lived in a purely russian city, where russuan language was demanded from the Soviet Union, newly built there for 50 years they are not welcome at "home"?

    Never keep people living somewhere responsible for the political actions of their leaders 60 years ago.

  15. Re:Well ... what do you expect on WikiLeaks Cables Foreshadow Russian Instigation of Ukrainian Military Action · · Score: 1

    The native language of 90% of the population in some city is russian, therefore there is a need that 90% of the employees talk russian mainly to the people. The native language of a city or people does not change by law. A law which assumes otherwise is just discrimination in slight disguise.

  16. Re:Well ... what do you expect on WikiLeaks Cables Foreshadow Russian Instigation of Ukrainian Military Action · · Score: 2

    Estonia, Latvia have both laws in place which pose big disavantages to russian communities existing there. A quick google search would have shown you this.

    "Forbidden to speak russian" was meant to be "Forbidden to speak russian on official purposes".

  17. You mean "install" like "manually install" on Ask Slashdot: What Software Can You Not Live Without? · · Score: 1

    apt-get install task-desktop task-file-server task-laptop

  18. Re:Well ... what do you expect on WikiLeaks Cables Foreshadow Russian Instigation of Ukrainian Military Action · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Now thats an unfair comparison. There were never that many interest or citizens of the US in Iraq as Russians in Crimea.

    Since the revolution i hoped that Ukraina and EU do the most reasonable thing: Declare that Russia can keep the military base there (in the best interest of everybody), declare that the crimea is automonous in many aspects, and make an agreement that Russian is the second official language in Ukraina, and the first in the East part and the Crimea. Make a trade agreement and offer Russia Ukraina as a marketplace to access EU. Give Russia the prospect of becoming associated (not member, but free trade) with the EU via this way.

    History has no rewind button. Russian speaking population is now living everywhere in the former Soviet union, and we have seen example of discrimination of Russians in other countries (Baltic states) before, where in some it was forbidden to speak russian.

    The nationalist political games which the west does not keep a safe distance from are not good.

  19. A severe distortion is here on Google Funds San Francisco Bus Rides For Poor · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What would be unfair would be to continue to continue the division of rich, clean suburbs far outside the city, only ot be reached by environmentally unfriendly and space/road-wasting cars, and create infrastructure for the upper middle class there - and allow them to avoid contact with the less fortunate.

    To find efficient solutions (aka Busses) to transport workers in the city and thus mix income in parts of the city and even help other parts of the population to choose a efficient way of transportation and help in reducing the traffic is *not* unfair. If at all, it may be considered communist.

  20. Do i get this right? on Tim Cook: If You Don't Like Our Energy Policies, Don't Buy Apple Stock · · Score: 1

    A political think tank close to the GOPs anti-science nutheads complains to a company that it should be fighting something which the customers of the company seem to like? At least my impression is that Apple seems to know fucking well what the customers like. They have become one of the most valuable brands. I am pretty sure that if Apple would consider the policies a problem for them they probably would fight these.

    To me this sound like "Apple should have our opinion. Apple, please spend some hundred millions on our lobbyism, and do politics for us".

  21. As a long term Mathematica user: on Wolfram Language Demo Impresses · · Score: 1

    -the programming language seems like plain Mathematica input: nothing new
    -i love (and dislike) Mathematica, and one of the things which i dislike is the fact that it is not FOSS and has no FOSS equivalent. I cant find a license for the new language, just that "it may be bindled with the Rasperry pi".

  22. Hmmm on Free (Gratis) Version of Windows Could Be a Reality Soon · · Score: 2

    One thing i actually liked about windows was that i am the customer and not the product.

  23. Re:Oh my god, what a stupid idea. on WhatsApp Founder Used Unchangable Airline Ticket To Pressure Facebook · · Score: 1

    Yea they could have even dropped in a small learjet in the price (Just keep it...)

  24. Re:Hidden problems with proxies on Most Alarming: IETF Draft Proposes "Trusted Proxy" In HTTP/2.0 · · Score: 1

    The development systems for embedded software *are* running on GP computers. Simulink embedded coder etc require windows PCs. And yes, these developers dont transfer everything by floppy/sneakernet.

  25. Re:Burning Chrome on Chrome 33 Nixes Option To Fall Back To Old 'New Tab' Page · · Score: 1

    You are paranoid. They have these only for the best of us.