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User: Dzimas

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  1. Re:man up on Investigation: Apple Failing To Protect Chinese Factory Workers · · Score: 1

    You're in the office 12-16 hours a day, but I suspect you'd accomplish more if you were only there and well focused for 6 or 7 hours. :)

  2. What about other manufacturers? on Investigation: Apple Failing To Protect Chinese Factory Workers · · Score: 4, Interesting

    These conversations inevitably focus on Apple, but what about contract workers in similar factories who make phones for Samsung, Huawei, Microsoft (that still feels weird to write) and newcomers like OnePlus? I suspect that conditions are worse, simply because there is less external oversight.

  3. Re:One good turn... on James Watson's Nobel Prize Medal Will Be Returned To Him · · Score: 2

    Consider the average American with a net worth of $300k...

    The median *family* net worth in the United States was only $56,335 in 2013. ;)

  4. Re:Have the Germans threaten to invade on French Publishers Prepare Lawsuit Against Adblock Plus · · Score: 4, Informative

    In reality, the French fought hard for 45 days and suffered over 350,000 casualties. France, Belgium and the Netherlands fell because Germany gained superiority in the air and through the use of highly mobile armored divisions.

  5. Re:They're leaves. on Trains May Soon Come Equipped With Debris-Zapping Lasers · · Score: 2

    Trains have been around for several centuries. If there was a trivial solution to remove leaves from the track, it would have been implemented 100+ years ago.

  6. Re: Capitalism does not reward morality on Is a Moral Compass a Hindrance Or a Help For Startups? · · Score: 2

    Hire a better scriptwriter?

  7. Re: uh, no? on Alleged Satellite Photo Says Ukraine Shootdown of MH17 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It doesn't matter that it's obviously fake. These images were all over Russian media to cause a flurry of indignant response in favor of the Russian military and political position. Tomorrow's papers and newscasts won't bother to dissect the glaring errors -- all that matters is that millions of people saw "proof" that it was the evil Ukrainians all along. Sadly, many will believe the smear campaign.

    After all, 10 or 20 million people honestly believe that your president was actually born in Kenya, simply because someone made up a preposterous tale that they desperately wanted to believe.

  8. Re:Overly broad? on Soda Pop Damages Your Cells' Telomeres · · Score: 4, Informative

    From the study abstract: "After adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, sugar-sweetened soda consumption was associated with shorter telomeres (b=–0.010; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.020, 0.001; P=.04). Consumption of 100% fruit juice was marginally associated with longer telomeres (b=0.016; 95% CI=0.000, 0.033; P=.05). No significant associations were observed between consumption of diet sodas or noncarbonated SSBs and telomere length."

    More: http://ajph.aphapublications.o...

  9. Re:May I suggest on No More Lee-Enfield: Canada's Rangers To Get a Tech Upgrade · · Score: 4, Informative

    You understand that there's a difference between the RCMP and the Canadian Forces, right?

    The Canadian Rangers' mandate is to provide a military presence and sovereignty patrols in sparsely settled and extremely remote (Northern) regions of the country. The force is made up of reservists, and they're issued a unique uniform -- CADPAT pants, bright red Ranger sweatshirt and baseball cap. The whole idea is to take a group of Northerners and leverage their wilderness and arctic skills. It's a much smarter and more cost-effective approach than attempting to train and equip a group of 18 year-old city kids for the tundra.

  10. Re:Sensationalized risk. on Texas Health Worker Tests Positive For Ebola · · Score: 1

    No, but the lifetime risk of dying in a transportation accident in the United States is about 1:80. That means about 3,750,000 people. By the time the Ebola is contained, we might see dozens or hundreds of deaths.

  11. Sensationalized risk. on Texas Health Worker Tests Positive For Ebola · · Score: 1

    In the USA, about 630 people die every week in motor vehicle accidents. An additional 2,250,000 are injured. Nonetheless, the 24 hour news channels are going batshit because a couple of people have contracted a horrible disease.

    Perhaps the smart thing to do is turn off the TV and step away from news sites. Oh, and remember to wear your seatbelt.

  12. Blue was essential to create white light. on No Nobel For Nick Holonyak Jr, Father of the LED · · Score: 1

    Seriously? The LED backlight in your computer screen is based on Nakamura's work. Same for your phone, TV and iPad. The blue GaN LED was essential for the creation of "white" LEDs, which are actually blue LEDs coated with phosphor to approximate white light. Same goes for the LED bulbs that are currently replacing billions of incandescent lights around the world in homes, street lights, and outdoor displays.

  13. Blue LEDs were the key to white lighting. on No Nobel For Nick Holonyak Jr, Father of the LED · · Score: 1

    People keep overlooking the fact that the development of high brightness GaN blue LEDs resulted in the technology becoming a practical replacement for white incandescent bulbs and enabled LED backlighting in billions of display panels. Coat a clear blue LED with yellow phosphor and, voila, a bright white light source that burns a fraction of the energy.

    So, yeah, the red LED was a tremendously useful device, but it pales in comparison to the dramatic shift that is underway thanks to the development of affordable white LEDs.

  14. Simple. on Ask Slashdot: Dealing With an Unresponsive Manufacturer Who Doesn't Fix Bugs? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If your company is large enough, have a quick chat with your legal department. A 3 year support contract that isn't providing you with any value is something that's worth addressing. A brief letter from your legal counsel ought to result in an interesting response (whether or not it results in action is another thing entirely).

  15. Re:Manned space flight! on Sierra Nevada Corp. Files Legal Challenge Against NASA Commercial Contracts · · Score: 2

    The Atlas V rocket that Boeing will use to launch the CST-100 has launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars Science Laboratory. It's not just about LEO and maintaining the ISS, although that is a short-term goal. SpaceX also has their sights set on more ambitious goals, but sadly they are restricted by NASA's budget and goals -- there simply are no commercially viable space missions beyond satellite launches right now.

  16. OK, so set up a tiny company owned "dealership". on State of Iowa Tells Tesla To Cancel Its Scheduled Test Drives · · Score: 2

    Car makers are prohibited from selling directly to the public because they could potentially undercut their own dealers. In Tesla's case, there are no dealers to undercut. That said, the solution would be to set up a small company owned showroom in Iowa that acts as the seller of record for all online and in-person sales within the state.

  17. Re: Everything is an excuse for more security thea on Secret Service Critics Pounce After White House Breach · · Score: 1

    "Paying down the deficit" doesn't mean what you think it means. A budget deficit = spending more revenue than you take in during the year. Its the equivalent of adding another $200 billion to your $17.6 trillion credit card balance every year. Of course, unlike the average consumer, the government has the power to raise their own credit limit and print money to pay the monthly interest payment.

  18. Re: This is what the US has become on Deadmau5 Accuses Disney of Pirating His Music · · Score: 1

    The trouble is that Disney will argue that the proposed Deadmau5 trademark is in their line of business - videos and the music industry. At the end of the day, you have to acknowledge that there is considerable similarity between the Mickey's silhouette and the Deadmau5 head. Whether the similarities are close enough to cause confusion in the marketplace is at the heart of this complaint. There is another factor at play, too. If it can be shown that then trade dress is genericized -- that is, consumers don't automatically relate the mouse silhouette to Mickey, it may be possible to invalidate Disney trademarks. The result would be a free-for-all that would allow companies to offer their own bigeared mouse characters in the US. (The DMCA takedown complaint is a different animal that's not directly related to the trademark challenge, unless Disney is planning to claim that they couldn't see the difference and believed that Mickey and the stage outfit of an EDM producer).

  19. Re: Soulskill is a wee-todd. Title written by moro on Newly Discovered Asteroid To Pass Within Geostationary Orbit Sunday · · Score: 1

    Yes, there is a significant difference between geostationary and geosynchronous orbits.

  20. Re:There's always a possibility of mental illness. on In Maryland, a Soviet-Style Punishment For a Novelist · · Score: 1

    Yes. That's why he was nominated to Teacher of the Year.

    Mental illness isn't something that manifests itself consistently from birth to death. It is quite possible to live an utterly normal or remarkable life until the onset of disease. In the case of schizophrenia, it usually rears its ugly head some time between the ages of 16 and 30.

    While it is quite possible that this is an instance of police overreaction, it might also be that there are a serious mental health issue that cannot be shared with the general public because of personal privacy laws.

  21. There's always a possibility of mental illness. on In Maryland, a Soviet-Style Punishment For a Novelist · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Hang on. Everyone is jumping to the conclusion that a perfectly normal teacher just happened to be grabbed and taken for an "emergency medical evaluation" because he had innocently written a book. It is also quite possible that he is actually suffering from mental illness -- schizophrenia often manifests itself in early adulthood, for example -- and that his books were originally written as a coping mechanism for the early stages of illness. Remember, approximately 1% of the population will suffer from schizotypal symptoms at some point in their lives.

    The most likely explanation is that the teacher's behavior had grown erratic and he had shown signs of mental disorder that caused grave concern in his co-workers and friends.

  22. Affiliate link in the submitter's blog on XKCD Author's Unpublished Book Remains a Best-Seller For 5 Months · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The summary includes a link to the submitter's blog, with a shortened link -- tinyURL.com/XKCDAuthor -- that expands to an Amazon link with his affiliate code embedded. While I am a huge fan of XKCD, I am not a huge fan of masked links that earn up to 8% for completely unrelated bloggers. Perhaps the summary should be edited to include a direct link to the Amazon product page?

  23. Re: Spherical Torus on Princeton Nuclear Fusion Reactor Will Run Again · · Score: 1

    Scientific breakthroughs don't occur on a set timeline unless you're writing a TV show. We've been "flying" in one form or another for hundreds of years - balloons, gliders, and -- with the advent of the internal combustion engine -- airplanes. One could argue that nuclear physics is significantly more challenging than achieving powered flight. After all, a reasonably competent amateur can build an aircraft -- www.sonex.com -- in his garage over a couple of years. The same can't be said for processing fissile materials and building a research reactor.

  24. Re:In other news... on NRC Analyst Calls To Close Diablo Canyon, CA's Last Remaining Nuclear Plant · · Score: 1

    Solar doesn't provide energy in the evening or nighttime, wind is unpredictable and hydro involves environmentally damaging waterway modifications. The end result is that fossil fuels and nuclear will always have a place on the grid.

    The worst thing we could possibly do is to start installing solar cells on each individual house, while trying to maintain our current consumption. The challenge is that there is a profitable multi-billion dollar market selling grid-tied personal solar and wind power systems to millions of eager Americans, but that approach would be woefully inefficient (several thousand dollars worth of electrical hardware installed in each house across the nation, a glut of home-generated electricity during the day as everyone attempts to sell surplus back to the grid).

    Instead, it's time to look at how we're using electricity. Stop building chipboard McMansions that require excessive A/C and heating. Increase the energy efficiency of appliances. Try living in smaller spaces. Discourage people from trying to build cities in the middle of scorching hot deserts, And so on.

  25. Re:Maybe the Prez on Getting IT Talent In Government Will Take Culture Change, Says Google Engineer · · Score: 2

    Here's a photo taken today of the President at Martha's Vineyard. It's not exactly a job you can walk away from: http://bit.ly/1oJyAfo