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User: Dzimas

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  1. Re:Bravo to catching him alive on Police Capture Second Marathon Bombing Suspect in Watertown, Mass. · · Score: 1

    Niggardly is an adjective meaning "stingy" or "cheap." It has no racial connotations.

  2. Re:Kobo on Did B&N Pass On the 6.8" E-ink Screen That Kobo Snapped Up? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In Canada, Kobo has a much higher profile because their ereaders and tablets are marketed by Chapters Indigo, a major brick and mortar book chain. Kindle has made limited inroads here, and B&N doesnt have a physical presence to sell Nooks. The Kobo Arc tablet starts at $175 and is actually quite good (got my wife one for Christmas). The Kobo Glo and Kobo Mini ereaders were popular last Christmas, too. I don't think the company bought coverage, as others here suggest. I think they're just making an aggressive play to improve their ereaders for this fall.

  3. Expensive when you're not in the USA... on Ask Slashdot: What Magazines Do You Still Read? · · Score: 1

    I still receive the paper version of IEEE Spectrum. As a kid, I used to love reading Popular Science and Omni in the school library. My parents subscribed to a variety of magazines, but I didn't follow in their footsteps primarily because I lived in Canada, and subscriptions to American magazines cost more than twice as much as in the US. The discrepancy still exists today. Pop Sci costs $12/year in the US and $26 in Canada. The logical part of me understands that Canada doesn't have a heavily subsidized magazine postage rate, but the emotional side just gets angry when asked to pay twice as much for exactly the same product. That said, if prices were the same, I suspect I'd have let my subscription lapse years ago, anyway. Even though a well researched paper article is fun to read, nothing beats the immediacy of the web.

  4. Re:Too little too late on Windows 8.1 May Restore Boot-To-Desktop, Start Button · · Score: 3, Informative
    Brake is in the middle. The clutch is on the left. Otherwise you were sold an inferior vehicle.

    Or perhaps I'm driving a Ford Model T. They sold millions of them with a brake on the right, reverse pedal in the middle, and the clutch on the left. The throttle lever is on the steering wheel.

  5. Here's an article on the sorry state of Bolex SA on Digital Bolex Gives You a Classic Film Look in a Digital Package (Video) · · Score: 2

    I spent a few years as a contributing editor and translator for Berlin-based smallformat (the English version of schmalfilm). It was extremely sad to see how the European movie camera manufacturers had been completely unable to competitively shift manufacturing to Asia when the electronic revolution started to take hold in the early 1980s - we basically lost AGFA (Germany) Eumig (Austria), Beaulieu (France) and even the once-might Bolex SA ended up as little more than a repair shop occupying a small part of their old office tower. Here's an article about a melancholy visit to Bolex in early 2005 (originally in German): http://schmalfilm-shop.schiele-schoen.de/115/8170/smf2050748/WHERE_THE_BOSS_OPENS_THE_DOOR.html

  6. Re:Full Retard Mode Activate! on Should the US Really Limit Chinese-Government Influenced IT Systems? · · Score: 1

    ... And China's inflation rate is climbing, with food costs up about 6% since last year. Much as it's nice to tout blistering GDP growth, it carries significant inflationary risk. The more important question: "Can or should governments aim for perpetual economic growth?"

  7. Re:Not the technology on FAA Pushed To Review Ban On Electronics · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Having experienced a runway overshoot, the issue is that things tend to go flying around the cabin in a really nasty way, I don't want my teeth knocked out by the tablet that was previously sitting in the lap of the kid three rows in front of me. I don't want you to sit in the aisle seat in confusion because you missed the cabin crew's instructions while listening to your iPod at full volume. Stow your crap and clear your ears during the most dangerous part of the flight and make sure you know how many rows away the emergency exits are.

  8. Re:the 90s are over, dad... on Windows Blue 9364 Screenshots Show Feature Enhancements · · Score: 1

    Windows didn't hit its stride until the 2000s. Windows XP was released in October 2001, with great commercial success. As of last month, it was estimated to be running on almost 39% of PCs. That's a critical problem that Microsoft faced - instead of dutifully upgrading every couple of years, many people and businesses stayed on XP. Each subsequent release has tried to up the whizz-bang factor of the UI.

  9. Re:Of course it serves a purpose on Why Earth Hour Is a Waste of Time and Energy · · Score: 1

    You've missed the point completely. The purpose of Earth Hour is to make us realize how absolutely reliant on technology we are. No electric lights, no computers or phones and no television is a jarring shift for most urbanites. Turning your lights off isn't about raising awareness in others, it's about raising *your* awareness. Hopefully you do a little thinking and realize that (a) an emergency preparedness kit with food, flashlights, water and a few days worth of essential supplies is a very sharp idea in case of a disaster, (b) your house/apartment probably doesn't have an effective secondary heating system. Fix that. And, finally, (c) that we're bloody wasteful and should do something about it. Chances are that you won't get far with (c) because it's bloody hard to wean ourselves from our energy addiction, but you stand a reasonable chance of succeeding with (a) and (b).

  10. Re:Another way to cheat on EU Car Makers Manipulating Fuel Efficiency Figures · · Score: 1

    Diesel is sold by volume, not weight. A 50L tank of gasoline will weigh about 6.4 kg less than gasoline, which is negligible.

  11. Re:Jane's is awful on For Jane's, Gustav Weißkopf's 1901 Liftoff Displaces Wright Bros. · · Score: 1, Troll

    Which, in the case of your grandmother, would be a very long sentence indeed.

  12. Re:The enemy of my enemy on Rand Paul Launches a Filibuster Against Drone Strikes On US Soil · · Score: 1

    Military aid is a wonderful euphemism. This aircraft is being used to transport French combat troops and arms into a conflict zone. IWhile the US hasn't deployed troops in a combat role, American forces are involved in the conflict. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

  13. Re:The enemy of my enemy on Rand Paul Launches a Filibuster Against Drone Strikes On US Soil · · Score: 1, Informative

    Right, then. Here's a recent photo for you that includes (a) the beautiful African nation of Mali, (b) a USAF C-17 Globemaster and (c) a pair of boots worn by an American serviceman. You'll note that both his feet are firmly planted on the ground: http://wapo.st/ZrQ8wK

  14. Re:Wonder where they got that idea. on Google Watchers Expect Company-Branded Stores This Year · · Score: 2

    The Sony Store? Or perhaps Bose? They opened in Maine back in 1993. That said, the Google Store won't be a success if they can't fix their supply chain issues.

  15. Re:The masses have changed. on CNN Replicates John Broder's Drive In the Tesla Model S · · Score: 1

    I suspect that price is a mean, not a median. A relatively small number of expensive cars can quite easily skew that number. For instance, imagine a town where 10 new cars are purchased. Nine cost $20,000 each, and one Porsche sold for $100,000. The "average" price is $28,000. Also don't forget that far more used cars change hands for considably less money, and it's quite possible that many people are hanging onto their old cars for a few years longer.

  16. Re:How do we generate the power? on CNN Replicates John Broder's Drive In the Tesla Model S · · Score: 1

    I look forward to reading your calculation of line loss to get the power from the SW to upstate New York. I also suspect that a 2500 square km field of PV panels will cause significant climate shift in the local vicinity (those panels will get pretty warm in the sun). They might also have unanticipated effects on wildlife behaviour and migration. But feel free to try the same thing on the moon.

  17. Diversification. on RIM Co-Founder Drops His Stock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Balsillie left the company in 2011. He has no up-to-date insider knowledge or connections with the current management team and it makes some sense for him to have sold his stock (approximately $300 million) to diversify his portfolio. I wish we could bury this sensational but meaningless story from the front page.

  18. Is belief in the irrational growing? on Missouri Legislation Redefines Science, Pushes Intelligent Design · · Score: 1

    It's almost enough to make you wonder if there is a connection between increasing environmental pollution and irrational religious obsession. Or perhaps some people respond to a world filled with more knowledge and answers than we've ever had by shutting down completely and resorting to chanting magical incantations on a daily basis. At any rate, I'd be happy to chip in for a billboard that reads, "Missouri Science Education, Now With 50% Magic."

  19. Re:Treason on Missouri Legislation Redefines Science, Pushes Intelligent Design · · Score: 1

    No, a more elegant solution would be to encourage these brilliant lawmakers to travel on a fleet of airliners built by a team of intelligent designers instead of engineers with their ridiculous scientific quackery. Hell, let's replace medicine and dentistry with rosary beads while we're at it.

  20. Re:It's just a phone on Woz Says iPhone Features Are 'Behind' · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Look, people have always liked to place themselves into heirarchies. The modern USA is no different; we fawn over the modern equivalent of wealthy nobility, grumble and whine about how they're not treated like common folk and ohh and ahh as the fancily dressed dandies parade around the film industry court. Periodically, there are popular rebellions as the raging masses rise up and install a new order. Sometimes the outcome is good - the birth of a republic, the creation of the Westminster parliamentary system, but sometimes you find yourself under the boot of raving mad Leninists, racist fascists or clueless but vicious oil sheiks. So enjoy your shiny telephone and breathe a quiet thanks that you're not in a 1920s Soviet Gulag or North Korea. (As for the root cause of trouble in the USA: full-bore capitalism doesn't work, especially when there's a strong religious and social push to consistently increase the population to build "the economy." The US has three times the population it did in 1913, but there aren't three times as many meaningful jobs and many traditional occupations have either been outsourced to legalized slave camps in China or replaced by technology. You just have 200 million extra people trying to figure out the purpose of their life.)

  21. Makes sense. on US Postal Service Discontinuing Saturday Mail Delivery · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here in Canada, we only receive mail on weekdays. It works just fine because the majority of letters in our mailbox are not extremely time-sensitive - the occasional municipal bill, magazines, and periodic greeting cards from around the world. They could reduce letter delivery to M/W/F without really causing any issues. Daily parcel delivery makes sense because they're larger dollar transactions and whenever a parcel is on the way, someone is waiting for it. I cringe every time someone suggests getting rid of the post office and relying on FedEx and UPS instead, because they tend to be far more expensive in Canada. As an example, UPS will charge a brokerage fee for surface packages coming from the USA that easily hits $25. Sending a 2 lb package to the USA by UPS Express (even 3-day) costs about $60. Canada Post runs about 25% of that.

    Back to the USA, there are already some interesting private/public delivery programs that promise to keep service costs low, too. As an example, Smartpost is an economical FedEx service that uses the USPS to deliver the last mile. Expect more of this stuff in the future.

  22. Re:Don't follow the Canadian example on Royal Canadian Air Force Sees More Sims In the Future of Fighter Pilot Training · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Canada's military spending ranked 14th in the world in 2012. There are 180 nations in the world that spend less on their militaries - hardly chronically underfunded. Canadian soldiers are dedicated and extremely hard working; your attempt to slander the present day Canadian Forces because of an event that occurred 20 years ago is ridiculous. We are not proud that two Canadian soldiers beat a teenager to death in Somalia in 1993, but they don't represent the 115,000 active and reserve personnel in today's CF in any way, shape or form.

  23. Re:Clever! on Google Announces 2,000 Schools Now Use Chromebooks, Up 100% In 3 Months · · Score: 1

    Just before Christmas the offer was $99 for a Samsung Series 5 Chromebook. At that price, it makes a lot of sense for schools to pick up 10 or 20 if they can squeeze them into the budget. PCs would cost 5X as much, MacBook Airs would be 10X the price.

  24. Re:Because the firmware's copyright? on What You Need To Know About Phone Unlocking · · Score: 2

    I unlocked several phones recently by entering a code generated by a carrier unlocking program. It was essentially a password generated by algorithm. NO code modification was required, and the unlocking process is coded into the original firmware. This is not rooting your phone. Nor is it rocket surgery.

  25. Re:McDonalds! on How Much Beef Is In Your Burger? · · Score: 1

    Certified Angus Beef (R) is a trademarked brand of expensive, high quality cuts. Angus beef is simply meat from and Angus cow or bull. Fast food chains do not make burger patties from expensive, marbled meat.