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User: russotto

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  1. Re:What Native American is supposed to mean on Google Suggests Separating Students With 'Some CS Knowledge' From Novices · · Score: 0

    Then what's a better term for "people descended from people who were natives of North and South America in AD 1491, who had their land forcibly taken from them in European invasions from 1600 through 1900?"

    Losers?

  2. Re:Where are hurricanes? The other side of the wor on Last Three Years the Quietest For Tornadoes Ever · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because that is all that matters right? 'Merica. And really only the East Coast of 'Merica.

    Because that was the claim of various alarmist predictions about anthropogenic climate change made after Katrina. If they've made predictions about Asia, I hadn't heard them.

    (For those keeping score, since 2005, the year of Katrina, the number of major hurricanes hitting the US mainland stands at zero. No doubt it will go up again at some point, and anthropogenic climate change will be blamed).

  3. Re:And where are all the hurricanes? on Last Three Years the Quietest For Tornadoes Ever · · Score: 1

    It's been a while since a cat 3 made landfall on a US shore, hasn't it?

    As the old joke goes, "Shhh.... that's the climate census. They think they're alone here".

  4. Re:Embrace, Extend, Extinguish Whites/Asians from on Google Suggests Separating Students With 'Some CS Knowledge' From Novices · · Score: 1

    In other words, they're trying to remove White males and Asians for non-merit reasons, and making it look like it was a merit-based criteria.

    Certainly seems to be the way to bet. It makes sense to separate students with some knowledge from those with none (otherwise the pace of the class will be wrong for one or the other group), but the rest of the RFP does make it look like code (ha, see I can use their terms too) for booting white and Asian males out.

    The problem with the Harvey Mudd concept is, as reported, it relied more on discouraging men than encouraging women. Men who showed enthusiasm would be shut down by the instructor by by telling them âoeYouâ(TM)re so passionate about the material and youâ(TM)re so well prepared. Iâ(TM)d love to continue our conversations but letâ(TM)s just do it one on one.â Which is a pretty damned cruel rebuke.

  5. Re:"Could", on The Shale Boom Won't Stop Climate Change; It Could Make It Worse · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Oh, that's beautiful

    âoeThe West Side Highway [which runs along the Hudson River] will be under water. And there will be tape across the windows across the street because of high winds. And the same birds wonâ(TM)t be there. The trees in the median strip will change.â Then he said, âoeThere will be more police cars.â Why? âoeWell, you know what happens to crime when the heat goes up.â

    The West Side Highway of course still carries traffic. Broadway through Midtown, where he said there'd be more traffic, does not. No tape across the windows. Birds not different. Trees still there. Crime is MUCH lower.

  6. Re:Best Script Ever? on Blade Runner 2 Script Done, Harrison Ford Says "the Best Ever" · · Score: 1

    Crystal Skull was, by most accounts, indeed crap.

    It was funny as hell. For all the wrong reasons, sure, but still funny as hell. Basically it was an unintentional self-parody.

  7. Re:Slashdotters, do your part! on Time To Remove 'Philosophical' Exemption From Vaccine Requirements? · · Score: 1

    Yeah, herd immunity is just a card played against the freedom argument. It can't exist even theoretically for flu vaccine (where it's often proposed to exist) because flu vaccine is not effective enough, and it can't exist for pertussis. Why not? Because the acellular pertussis vaccine results in a substantial population which can spread the disease asymptomatically. It doesn't matter that the vaccine protects them from systems, they don't contribute to herd immunity because they can still pass the disease on.

  8. Re:Wooping cough on the rise not related to vaccin on Time To Remove 'Philosophical' Exemption From Vaccine Requirements? · · Score: 1

    Protip: Vaccines don't protect you from bacteria.

    Pertussis (whooping cough) is caused by a bacterial infection. So is diphtheria, so is tetanus -- all of which the DTaP is made to protect against.

  9. Anti-anti-vaxxer hysteria caused by bad vax on Time To Remove 'Philosophical' Exemption From Vaccine Requirements? · · Score: 1

    It's not anti-vaxxers responsible for the whooping cough outbreaks. It's the DTaP (the 'aP' is acellular pertussis) vaccine, which just isn't very good. The old DPT vaccine provided very good protection against pertussis. The new DTaP provides weaker protection that doesn't last as long; it can't provide herd immunity in any case.

  10. Re:C is primordial on How Relevant is C in 2014? · · Score: 1

    It's easy to implement OO in C *badly*.

    Sure, and the canonical example of this is C++. C++ is a bad implementation of objects in C, along with a bad template language, now along with some bad functional constructs, all of which fit together badly. And then there's the STL which uses all of that; it's the proverbial dancing bear of C++.

  11. Re:Creators wishing to control their creations... on Microsoft Files a Copyright Infringement Lawsuit For Activating Pirated Software · · Score: 1

    And that is why you are not buying the software. You are buying a usage license for a copy of the software.

    No, I'm not. I'm buying a copy of the software. I need no license to use my copy of the software.

  12. Re:Hard to say on Facebook Founder Presents Vision For The New Republic, Many Resign In Protest · · Score: 2

    React they did. Overreact, probably not so much. BS corporate emails should cause far more quitting than they usually do. How else is management going to learn?

    In general, management can't learn. If you quit, they just assume the problem is with you.

  13. Re:So it is not an accurate Documentary Film? on Physicist Kip Thorne On the Physics of "Interstellar" · · Score: 1

    And once they find Dr. Mann, he's (golly gee) gone nutso and of course has a sabotaged base waiting. Nobody but Hollywood would do this. An unstable astronaut like that would never get into space.

    Yeah, never.

    But that's OK, later on the hero steals a ship from the far future and somehow knows how to fly it, too.

    Did you actually watch the movie?

  14. Re:for all this talk... where is it? on Graphene May Top Kevlar As a Bullet-Stopping Material · · Score: 1

    File it with flying cars, fusion power (or thorium cycle or pebble bed or whatever nuclear power suits your fancy), batteries or caps with extremely high (approaching that of liquid chemical fuels) energy and power density, practical large-scale solar power, and a cure for the common cold as stuff we'll always talk about but never ever get.

  15. Re:Blight? on Physicist Kip Thorne On the Physics of "Interstellar" · · Score: 1

    So we can enginer our way out into space and through wormholes. But we can't cure* a crop blight?

    Of course we could. But we didn't, so we won't. Typical SF causality loop.

  16. Re:Don't fight it on Ask Slashdot: Making a 'Wife Friendly' Gaming PC? · · Score: 1

    If that were true, then she should say that.

    Yeah, she should. Doesn't mean she will. The noise is an acceptable proxy complaint for the real complaint, which she feels will cause strife. Which means that if he solves the noise problem in a way which doesn't solve the real complaint, she will either find another proxy complaint, or will act irritated and upset without saying why.

  17. Re:In the news today on Supreme Court To Decide Whether Rap Lyric Threats Are Free Speech · · Score: 1

    If you really think that, try to tell a police officer to go fuck himself.

    Been there and done that. Well, I told him to rot in hell, but same idea. I can't say the result was pleasant, but I was not convicted of a crime as a result.

  18. Worst physics in Interstellar on Physicist Kip Thorne On the Physics of "Interstellar" · · Score: 2

    The worst physics didn't involve strong gravity fields or high velocities or accelerations. Just Newton's Third Law and an energy argument. The second-worst bit of science was biological, but also involved an energy argument.

    Spoilers:
    1) Matt Damon's spaceship just would have been gently pushed away when he opened the airlock. Maybe gently pushed to one side or another depending on the partial seal. It certainly would NOT have set the entire Endurance vehicle spinning like mad.

    2) The blight was better adapted because it utilized nitrogen from the air instead of oxygen? Yeah I don't think so; what do you combine with N2 that yields energy instead of spending it?

  19. Re:Sample size on In UK Study, Girls Best Boys At Making Computer Games · · Score: 1

    But what is definitely outside of the range of a statistical fluke is the resulting level of "fem-bashing" on Slashdot. It appears like the majority of postings addressing problems with the study as such combine this criticism with a load of prejudicial bile. That does not point towards "this would call for a larger sample size" or "it would be good to exclude some systematic errors" but rather "we don't want such studies performed".

    Not sure what you mean by "fem-bashing". If you mean bashing women, no. If you mean bashing feminists (particularly a certain sort who advocates not equality but female superiority), yes.

    It appears the reason this study was performed was not to contribute to the sum total of human knowledge, but to produce a pre-determined result (because of the systemic errors included) in order to bash men. We really don't need that sort of study at all.

  20. Re:Which is why girls dominate game making... on In UK Study, Girls Best Boys At Making Computer Games · · Score: 2

    Centipede (Dona Bailey, later driven from the industry by male co-workers)

    Really? That's not what she said. She specifically said she was NOT intimidated out of the industry.

    BTW, why didn't you mention one of the most well-known women in gaming: Roberta Williams?

    Back in the early 80's something like 40% of CS graduates were women. Why do you think they seem to have collectively chosen to avoid it and related fields? It clearly wasn't a problem earlier, after all.

    You're looking at it backwards. In the late 70's and early 80's, female participation in CS shot up much faster than female participation in other traditionally-male STEM subjects, and fell back down just as fast. Why did it shoot up so fast in the 80's? Something was different in CS, and the "computer geeks are more misogynistic than any other group" hypothesis fails to explain it.

  21. Re:Which is why girls dominate game making... on In UK Study, Girls Best Boys At Making Computer Games · · Score: 2

    How can people think men are inferior when we have this enormous history of men doing brilliant things? Seriously... people that take that posture need to read a book or go to a museum.

    Didn't you know? We men have been using our superior size, strength, and proficiency at unarmed combat (along with a whole lot of rape) to keep women down for millenia. If it weren't for that, women would be running everything and would be recognized as the great superiors in all categories.

  22. Re:Don't fight it on Ask Slashdot: Making a 'Wife Friendly' Gaming PC? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is horrible advice. Giving up something you really love doing because the partner doesn't like it sows the seeds of resentment. OP needs to find a technical solution to the noise issue so he can still play and she can get relief from the computer noise.

    It's not the noise.

  23. Re:Why are medallions sold and not leased? on Taxi Medallion Prices Plummet Under Pressure From Uber · · Score: 1

    The governments set the number of taxis, the rates, the accepted payment methods, the service areas, and the types and colors of the cars used. Yet it's a "private" service. Basically it's an outsourced bureaucracy, with most of the disadvantages of private firms along with the disadvantages of a city service.

  24. Re: Why on France Wants To Get Rid of Diesel Fuel · · Score: 0, Troll

    Modern vehicle do NOT need to belch smoke. Only museum vehicles and egotist owners do that.

    Diesel boosters have been claiming this for at least 30 years. And they still belch smoke and stink like diesels.

  25. Can see how this happened on Behind Apple's Sapphire Screen Debacle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The salespeople saw money. The business people, who would normally assess risk, got blinded by the prospect of making huge amounts of money. The engineers who could see disaster coming were not consulted or ignored.