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User: aepervius

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  1. You know nothing of airline industry on US Airlines Say Smaller Carry-Ons Are Not In the Cards · · Score: 0

    It is blindly obvious you are paying for the travel from point A to point B without luggage. Carry on and free baggage are only a convenience. "The advertised ticket price is the *only* thing the airline should be allowed to charge you for your seat, baggage (checked or carry-on up to a regulated size and weight), and any additional services offered to you during booking, in the airport or on the plane." which would lead to airline making sure that it is blindly obvious that you are not paying " it is ALREADY blindly obvious. Which is why for all big carrier I know of for big alliance (one world, star alliance) you are not paying for luggage, you are paying for excess luggage. That may be different for discounter like Ryanair but it is not the case for standard carrier. Heck the things is called an EBT (as in "excess baggage") or used to before the advent of EMD (electronic miscellaneous document).

    "It's also high time that overbooking or fuel surcharges were banned, as well. It's not like the airline refunds you a portion of your ticket prices when gas costs less than expected, or refunds you if you decide not to travel on a ticket you paid for, so what possible reason is there for them to be allowed to raise the contractually-agreed price after you've already paid it or to sell your seat to somebody else as well and hope one of you doesn't show up?"
    Firstly you do not pay AFTERWARD a surcharge. You pay it at the moment you pay your ticket and it is included in the price. The things is often the reservation is separated in time to the payment. All fee, services and tax are calculated at the moment you PAY, not at the moment you reserve. And it is quite clearly indicated normally when you book, except a few airline which advertise they guarantee you a price at reservation. And the contract is not "signed" at reservation by the way it is "signed" at payment. Which is why for example you can do a res , and then simply say "screw it I am a noshow" and thus making sure the airline has to overbook or get screwed with a non saleable place and thus loss of money. And do not get me started with double booking by some people (cheapo tariff and normal eco tariff, if they get the place in the cheapo one they simply refund the normal tariff).

    "or refunds you if you decide not to travel on a ticket you paid for"
    You actually get a refund for tickets you do not travel. Depending on your tariff it may be partial, full, or minimal. That is why you can get a cheapo ticket : you forgoe the ability to get a refund or free rebooking. Want to be able to refund ? Then stop buying the cheapest tarif and get the normal undiscounted tariff.


    "Sadly, there's zero chance any of this will ever happen" There is no chance that will happen because your post is based of a totally erroneous understanding on the reservation and ticket sale process. Why this was modded insightful is a wonder.

  2. Unfortunately not that rare on Ask Slashdot: What's the Harm In a Default Setting For Div By Zero? · · Score: 1

    I have half a dozen identical anecdote from the time i coached a few people in programming language. It is almost as if there was a block hindering the person to realize that there was no way you could divide by zero. It was not that the fact that there was an error was misunderstood, it was the division by zero which seemed not to be understood. I never had so many problem coaching people with other errors.

  3. Margarine is much older on FDA Bans Trans Fat · · Score: 1

    The first margarine fabrication were in the 1870 in France nonetheless. But at that point it was an all natural product fabricated from animal fat tallow and water. It was only much later (in 1950 IIRC) that trans fat came in as a byproduct of hydrogenation of unsaturated fat , process used to give it specific consistency and properties. AFAIK in the last 10 years or so margarine maker saw the writing on the wall and removed completely (or removed mostly) trans fat from the fabrication process of margarine.

  4. There is a very simple explanation on FDA Bans Trans Fat · · Score: 1

    You see that A is bad. Then somebody propose B. But B cannot be tested in double blind study or similar because B is an economic outfit (HMO) or a food stuff which would be difficult to test (trans fat). Since there is no counter indication from maybe short animal study (think toxicity and cancer) you accept it as GRAS. Then 30 years down the line you see an increase of coronary disease so you remove it from GRAS list. There is nothing really that special here or surprising. It works in cycle because science for food or economy can take a very long time to come to results (well at last food. Economy is another can of worm. Wriggling worm).

  5. I completely stopped consumption of sweets, though I could not reduce significantely the consumption of starch sugar. I lost 2 pounds over a year without even trying to diet. Maybe in 20 years I'll got an ideal weight ;). But I took up on eating vegetables to attempt to fill my stomach with stuff and fill "full and satieted". When I tasted carrots I was like WTF it tasted sweet like a fruit. I looked it up online and there is a lot of sugars in carrots.

  6. Indeed on The Danger of Picking a Major Based On Where the Jobs Are · · Score: 2

    A university degree or any high degree for what it matters , should show to potential employer two things : 1) that you are at least have the smart to get to that level 2) that once you "bite" into something you do not let go and continue for long period of time.
    2) is especially important if you train somebody for a job.
     
    In my experience firms which expect their new employee to be immediately productive are either new start up not having learned the rope, and they will or they will die, or old firm in manager hell. Good firm with manager which are not totally idiot will know and take into account a period of time (varrying depending on the job) in which they consider you to be "in training" and thus only worth a certain percentage of a normal worker workload. I doubt it changed. What probably changed is that in some domain like development, some manager make the mistake of thinking "fuck it, if I have to rain somebody I'll train somebody cheap from india rather than the local guy". but here is your mistake : the architect of your software today, were the apprentice of yesterday. Kill a whole generation of apprentice today, and you will have no architect tomorrow. I expect that roughly 15 to 20 years after the peak of outsourcing, we will see a derth of good software designer , or good software manager. Because those who should have learned the rope on the job and climbed hierarchy, were replaced by cheap worker.

  7. partially Incorrect on G7 Vows To Phase Out Fossil Fuels By 2100 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Renewable production reached 30% roughly, but 1) that is gross production not usage AFAIK, and 2) this is only electricity production. Does not count heating (40% energy usage). It is inreality more like11% , a feat, but shows that fully removing CO2 geenrating method a far flung goal:

     

    As of the end of 2014, renewable energy sources, such as biomass, biogas, biofuels, hydro, wind and solar, accounted for11.1% of the country's primary energy consumption, a more than doubling compared to 2004, when renewables only contributed 4.5%. Renewable contribute most to the electricity sector with 27.8% (gross-generation), followed by the heat and transportation sector with 9.9% and 5.4%, respectively.

     
    You should not use energy==electricity as it is misleading. Always precise what you are speaking of. In the case of the 27% it is gross electricity generation.

  8. Feel good "commit nothing" on G7 Vows To Phase Out Fossil Fuels By 2100 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pretty much any commitment for 2030-2100 is so far in the future that it is utterly worthless. In a decades from now political party will have changed, government will have changed, and commitment can be reneged. By 2100 in all practically all politician of today will be long dead. They can commit whatever they want, they will not have to carry any consequence. A small commitment for 2020 or 2025 is much MUCH better than a big commitment for the far flung future. Why ? Because you can step by step reach the target and you can harmonize those little steps by lowering disrupting economy for all. By committing a far future date you have only enforcement legally once 2100 is reached, and you make sure it is a race to the bottom : the one committing more will make its economy far worst comparing to those who commit less, and thus those who do nothing will be better off.

  9. It was already low before on How American Students Can Get a University Degree For Free In Germany · · Score: 2

    I mean i recall paying like something 500 DM for a year ? And that was in the end of the 90ies. Same in France a bit earlier, mod 90ies. Tuition fee /admin fee have always been very very low in west Europe, so we never really can grasp how you, living on the other side of the pond, can be buried in student loan. I had more cost staying in a low rent flat (25 m^2 on my own for 200 DM, later in a university communal apartment for student 12 m^2 - 150 DM about 75$ + 5 or 10 DM per month for university high speed internet) than in tuition. Heck food was higher cost than tuition.

  10. That is why we use celsius on Presidential Candidate Lincoln Chaffee Proposes That US Go Metric · · Score: 1

    Which is kelvin shifted by 270Â approx. With celsius the zero is the temperature of pure ice melting/freezing at standard STP, and 100ÂC the temperature of boiling water. The scale zero and 100 were precisely used due to that, to the point it was kept for kelvin and jsut shifted to the new hypothetical zero. 1ÂK=1ÂC.

  11. Aren't the canadian paying for netflix ? So it would be more like canadian coming through the frontier and buying stuff then bringing them back to the US, thus making the US economy getting more money ? Or does she sees American coming in canada to buy prescription drug as "stealing" from canada ? What the heck is she smoking ?

  12. Then allow the market to handle this wihtin law on Disney Making Laid-Off US Tech Workers Train Foreign H1-B Replacements · · Score: 2

    "The days of American IT workers commanding above-average salaries for their work are numbered and fading away. "

    If it was TRULY the case, then company would not need to use tricks to bypass the law and outsource outside. What would happen is company STOP hiring worker at that price, forgoing the task to be done, and would let wage drop down and would yell "too many worker ! Too many worker!". But this NOT what is happened. At the same time as they are yelling "not enough worker !" to get H1B, they pretend like you that local people are too expansive. And this is where they show their true reason. The *SOLE* reason is that US worker are too expansive, and they perfectly know very well there is no shortage of them.

    And by abiding to the company having lot of H1B and not showing the door to the company asking for more H1B, the US government show perfectly clearly who they are doing governance for : not for the people, but for the companies. Well thanks for clarifying that to us.

  13. That makes no sense on Ask Slashdot: What Happens If We Perfect Age Reversing? · · Score: 1

    Let's say an age cure is released tomorrow. It will be priced specifically for a certain percentage to afford.

    Hu. no. Unless you are into CT, such a cure would be available to everybody at a price the market can bear. If the material energy and engineering cost is high, then only few will get it. but if it is an easy mass marketable product ? No it won't be available only for rich. Even if it was that way in the US, in Europe or any other county somebody would reproduce the "cure" and spread it. The only way to have the scenario above is have a conspiracy and have the cure maintained "secret". fat chance of that seeing msot doctor/biologist mindset.

  14. Wrong comparison on Court Orders UberPop Use To Be Banned In All of Italy · · Score: 1

    The 5 million private car commute twice per day. The taxi works upward to 24/7. If you got a commute of 1 hour, that is 10 hours per week. Compared to 24*7=168 that is 17 times about a normal commuter car. So more like 4.25% to 8.5% doubling.

  15. Not really on Greece Is Running Out of Money, Cannot Make June IMF Repayment · · Score: 1

    When times are hard, people tend to go back toward the "community" , group together to weather better the storm, a group is less likely to fail if individuals fails if other fare better and compensate. Thus the trend toward socialism/communism and other similar politics which tend to favorize the group and the lowest worker classes. It is just plain logic on the individual level.

  16. You are underestimating it on Greece Is Running Out of Money, Cannot Make June IMF Repayment · · Score: 2

    it will be a long and hard period (perhaps even 10 years) of adaptation

    You are *severly* udnerestimating it. It is not only that greece wll have tod efault, but also that greece will still be noted as junk as far as bond goes so will not be able to borrow again at good rate EVEN after default, but also that now that greece is outside of the eurozone, it will have to either junk their own currency so far down the rabbit hole to make export / import not kill them that the inflation in the subsequent decades (note the plural) will take a long time to stabilize the economy. And once out of the eurozone , guess what ? Greece will STILL have to have cut back on cost or have extreme inflation , maybe hyper inflation and their own bank default, if they start issuing bond on their own currency and spend like no tommorow.


    Greece is a warning to France or even spain, italy and other of the eurozone with ramping up debt : get your table cleaned or it might get burn down as a sanitisation process by others.

  17. Way to simplify it on Ads Based On Browsing History Are Coming To All Firefox Users · · Score: 1

    "But it's two-year-old level childish thinking at it's finest to think you can get all the free and subsidized stuff out here in the world without the advertising"

    Well how about a subscription or money ? I value my privacy and not getting advertising more than anything else.

  18. Truck ? on Oregon Testing Pay-Per-Mile Driving Fee To Replace Gas Tax · · Score: 1

    "Others point out that those who drive electric vehicles need the roads maintained just as much as people still driving gas-powered cars."

    Sooooo are truck paying proportionally much much more than hybrid ?

  19. Wrong on Los Angeles Raises Minimum Wage To $15 an Hour · · Score: 1

    http://federal-budget.insidego...

    "The U.S. government collected $80.9B in tax revenues and spent a total of $117B in its 1940 budget" So it was not 135 but 117, which is near enough but nowhere near the inflation adjusted number. I call BS on that because an inflation adjusted number for 135 would be around 10 billion 1940 dollar.

    By the way the number is confirmed by government spend in % of GDP : it was 10% in 1940 a year which was *specially* suspiciously used, and it was between 16% and 22% ever since after WW2. The fact that in percentage GDP it stayed stable or had barely growth completely destroy the original argument.

  20. Why was this modded insightful ? on Los Angeles Raises Minimum Wage To $15 an Hour · · Score: 2

    You're right, let's get ahead of the game now and make the minimum wage in LA $1,000/hr. Better yet, do it at the Federal level

    You see often cited as conservative/republican mouth point. But this is an utter stupid viewpoint - why it is modded as insightful is beyond me. Interesting maybe at most.

    The reason why this is stupid is as follow : when you rise minimum wage you rise slightly the living of people but you also partially rise inflation. Rise too much and the inflation will eat most of it. So the economic of it is to rise only slightly and try to minimize inflation. Rise it to 1000$ or 100000000$ and you got hyper inflation and your $ is worth as much as zimbabwe dollar. That type of stupid argument (1000$ hourly wage) by the way is the same slippery slope argument republican make for gay mariage "but then after that they will want to marry horse or multiple people or children"

  21. That is STUPID : inflation on Los Angeles Raises Minimum Wage To $15 an Hour · · Score: 4, Informative

    the government collects 30 times as much in taxes in CONSTANT DOLLARS as they did in 1940

    Bullshit the inflation from 1940 is already ~15 times. In fact looking at your next sentences:

    Now, they ran a deficit in 1940 as well, but let's think about this for a minute. If $135 Billion in 1940 would have been enough to make ends meet, then how come with three times the population now, it takes $3.2 trillion?

    Because 135 billion alone in 1940 is 2.2 trillion to 2.3 trillion of today in constant dollar. Any CPI calculator will confirm that baring a few % +/-. The delta of 900 million is from federal programs which did NOT exists in 1940. From environmental protection, drug enforcement, NASA, EPA, etc...etc...

  22. Except not on Los Angeles Raises Minimum Wage To $15 an Hour · · Score: 1

    IF they really worked hard to get $15.50 and the business paid them that much because of hard work, then they have a very powerful tool to ask for an increase "are you going to pay me minimum wage for all the hard work ?".

  23. I never pretended it would help for a long time on Navy's New Laser Weapon: Hype Or Reality? · · Score: 1

    I am jsut stating that it should help. A bit. In fact in a link above it is shown as a counter measure, as well as rotating the balistic projectile. Both combined would make it far far easier to avoid the laser burning thru... For a much cheaper price than such a lser system itself.

  24. Is that even correct ? on Navy's New Laser Weapon: Hype Or Reality? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you have a reflectance of X% for the wavelength considered, that means 100-X% is absorbed. Granted I am not sure how the reflectance of materials is at short wavelength but the weapon considered are at long wavelength compared to visible (the weapon considered seems to be around 1 to 2 micrometer in the near infrared https://fas.org/sgp/crs/weapon...). Source cite a reflectance of 94% to 98% for that wavelength for some type of mirror (silver mirror among others).

    At such a 50kW Laser at 95% reflectance would mean 5% absorbance or only 2.5 kW. That means to give the same amount energy at the same distance for the same surface you need 20 time the same time. Or put in another way if you need to give 10.000 Joule to ablate that surface , you would need 4 seconds exposition rather than 1/4 of a seconds for a non reflective surface.

    So where do I make an error ? Where do you see that the mirror would quickly lose the ability to reflect compared to exposure time ? Keep in mind that in the case of a balistic projectile, you only need to make sure the laser do not pierce the skin long enough that targeting would be hard. I do not see why you keep telling reflectance has no impact on such laser. It certainly has an impact on how much kW will the target absorb.

  25. The problem is not looking backward on Stock Market Valuation Exceeds Its Components' Actual Value · · Score: 1

    All science does is look backward (gather data points of past experience) then construct a model which enables us to look forward. And that is the problem. If there is no predictability power , then you are not making science, you are reading entrail of fish.