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User: steveg

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  1. Re:xp still works on China Has a Massive Windows XP Problem · · Score: 1

    An hour with Audacity?

    Sure, it doesn't burn the CD itself, and you have to mark the beginnings *AND* endings of the tracks, but ten minutes tops. Or have you not discovered "Export multiple?"

    Personally, I spend far more than an hour on each LP in Audacity, but that's mostly hand editing pops and clicks.

    Oh, and my turntables introduces some LF noise, under 10Hz. I always filter that out and that takes another 3 minutes of processing.

  2. Re:xp still works on China Has a Massive Windows XP Problem · · Score: 1

    True. XP's Fisher-Price interface was designed for a younger crowd.

  3. Re:Phone Screen Resolution for Old Fogies on Are We At the Limit of Screen Resolution Improvements? · · Score: 1

    Google makes apps (like Maps!) for the car that are not suitable for use in cars. In response to a voice command to the navigation system it will pop up a picklist in a tiny box in flyspeck font that you must choose from the screen.

  4. Re: already passing it on Are We At the Limit of Screen Resolution Improvements? · · Score: 1

    I wish I had mod points. This is exactly right.

  5. Re:Living in California... on "Smart Plates" Could Betray California Drivers' Privacy · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Supreme Court said they were wrong.

    Unanimously.

  6. Re:Moderators asleep at the job on The City Where People Are Afraid To Breathe · · Score: 1

    Are you sure you've never had it?

    Lots of people in Bakersfield have had it that didn't realize it at the time, and unless they've been tested specifically for it may still not realize it. A mild case might seem like a bad cold.

    I had a moderate case that was called bronchial pneumonia (40 some years ago) and it wasn't until I got a skin test as part of a phyical exam that I discovered I had already had it.

  7. Re:Valley fever on The City Where People Are Afraid To Breathe · · Score: 1

    Yes for Arizona, not so much for LA. LA is not the right climate for Valley Fever.

  8. Re:hmm.. on The City Where People Are Afraid To Breathe · · Score: 1

    That specific immunity is because it never completely goes away. The spores stay in your body.

    But yes, even without specific drugs, you will recover. Eventually. Most people that get it usually have a mild case. If so, the long term consequences are fairly minor. If you have a worse case, there will probably be *some* effect the rest of your life.

  9. Re:hmm.. on The City Where People Are Afraid To Breathe · · Score: 2

    It's very localized, and is not normally fatal. Nonetheless, it can be very debilitating. Years ago, when I worked in the oilpatch, one of my crew got a bad case. A big strong guy -- when I saw him six or so months later, he looked like a skeleton. Years later you will still feel some of the effects. Expect respiratory weakness for the rest of your life.

    If you have lived in this area for any length of time, chances are very good that you've had it. It may hit you like a bad cold, or like a bad case of pneumonia, or anything in between. Even if you live in one of the hot spots, it's quite possible that doctors won't realize that's what you've got. If you live somewhere else, chances are the doctors have never heard of it.

      They called mine bronchial pneumonia (of course that was more than 40 years ago), and it wasn't until I got a Valley Fever test years later as part of a physical exam that I was told "you've had Valley Fever." There are still spots on my lungs that show up on xrays.

    Some people get hit exceptionally hard, but lots of people get it. Most probably don't even realize they have.

  10. Re:Weekly/Monthly Salary on Employers Switching From Payroll Checks To Prepaid Cards With Fees · · Score: 1

    May be a regional issue.

    Many years ago, when I signed up for my company's credit union, the credit union president told me that credit unions on the east coast were better for their members than credit unions on the west coast, because banks on the east coast were so hard to deal with that the credit unions *had* to be "nicer" to compensate. He claimed that it was a progression as you moved east to west or vice versa, for both banks and credit unions.

    I'm not sure I buy the argument that there is any sort of realtionship between the two, but there's no question that the banks I've dealt with in the east were much more of a pain than banks in the west.

  11. Re:Weekly/Monthly Salary on Employers Switching From Payroll Checks To Prepaid Cards With Fees · · Score: 1

    My first job after college I was exempt and was paid monthly, for twenty years. Non-exempt emplyees were paid semi-monthly.

    Then I started with a dotcom and everyone was paid bi-weekly -- I started as non-exempt but became exempt part way through. The amounts of the checks changed during the changeover, but not the timing. 26 checks a year, which took some mental rearrangment in figuring out when to pay bills.

    For the last ten years I've been exempt, and have been paid monthly. But all other employees, including the hourly employees, are also paid monthly.

    I don't think there *is* a "norm."

  12. Re:Weekly/Monthly Salary on Employers Switching From Payroll Checks To Prepaid Cards With Fees · · Score: 1

    Really?

    I had an employer (during the dotcom era) that was flaky enough that I *always* went to his bank and cashed my paycheck. And did so as soon as possible, because if you waited a day it would probably bounce. Sometimes it did anyway, but presenting it in person meant no bounce charges, they just said try again later.

    Maybe it's changed since then.

  13. Re:Weekly/Monthly Salary on Employers Switching From Payroll Checks To Prepaid Cards With Fees · · Score: 1

    I don't write many physical checks (I had to order checks a few months ago to buy a car, for writing the down payment) but there are some things that checks are the best way to handle.

    I pay my bills via "check" through my bank's bill pay service. Most are delivered by electronic transfer, but in some cases my bank mails an actual check (my lawn guy, my exterminator, etc.)

    If it's a reasonably large expense to a small independent vendor, checks are often still the best option. They may not take plastic. More and more of them *can*, but it's not universal.

  14. Re:not a bicycle on Flying Bicycle Is Real, Takes First Flight · · Score: 1

    Well, sure, they could design it so you could pedal it like a bike.

    But they'd have a tough time finding a human that could pedal hard enough to get it off the ground. The Gamera and AeroVelo Atlas teams have been trying to get a human powered helicopter to stay in the air for more than 60 seconds, using a seriously athletic team member. Their designs are far more efficient than this one and even then they're depending heavily on ground effect.

  15. Re:As a Sabayon/Gentoo use on Red Hat Confirms GNOME Classic Mode For RHEL 7 · · Score: 1

    In what way?

    It's more usable. At least, for *my* uses.

    So, disregarding any claimed improvements in usability, which I dispute, what improvements does Gnome 3 bring to the party?

    I'm not saying there aren't any, they're just not immediately obvious to me.

  16. Re:First defense of oppressors, on Professors Say Massive Open Online Courses Threaten Academic Freedom · · Score: 1

    There is a "Gender, Race and Ethnicity" class (or equivalent) required for all CSU schools. I don't know what's covered--I'm not in whatever department (or school!) that handles it. It may be as bad as you're suggesting. Or it may not.

    I do know that it's not something our majors can get out of.

  17. Re:It's the SCO effect on Professors Say Massive Open Online Courses Threaten Academic Freedom · · Score: 1

    Don't have mod points today, otherwise this would get one. The summary says something completely different than what the headline does.

    Not that I'm convinced that the copyrights on their course material is something that needs to be protected. But I don't think it should belong to the schools either.

  18. Re:Local network Tiny Tiny RSS on Slashdot Asks: How Will You Replace Google Reader? · · Score: 1

    It's the one by Nils Braden, ttrss-reader-fork.

  19. Re:Repeat question, already asked 3 months ago on Slashdot Asks: How Will You Replace Google Reader? · · Score: 1

    And it's been three months, so people have had time to investigate and figure out wht they're going to do.

    So it's probably *more* pertinent now than it was then.

  20. Re:TinytinyRSS! on Slashdot Asks: How Will You Replace Google Reader? · · Score: 1

    That's the one I'm using as well. It supports offline use and seems like it has a fairly clean interface. The "official" client does support offline use, but one of the few messages I've read in the TT-RSS feed is that the author doesn't much care if it works since he thinks you're an idiot for wanting to use it while offline. Or words to that effect. Certainly left *me* with a good impression.

    This one seems quite usable, but I'm still hoping NewsRob migrates to a new backend, since I still like it a lot better. But this will get me through.

  21. Re:Isn't it open source? on Slashdot Asks: How Will You Replace Google Reader? · · Score: 2

    Feedly has created a clone, at least for the backend, which is all I care about. Their front end is pretty awful, but I'm hoping some good front ends come along or some of the old ones that used GR as a backend switch over.

  22. Re:Local network Tiny Tiny RSS on Slashdot Asks: How Will You Replace Google Reader? · · Score: 1

    Same here. I didn't install the "Official" Android app, I used an alternate one.

    It seems to be working fine, but I hope NewsRob really does switch over to a new backend so I can go back to using it.

  23. Re:i never used it, much like the rest of google on Slashdot Asks: How Will You Replace Google Reader? · · Score: 1

    Well, for one thing it has an API and a very large percentage of the RSS readers out there (on phones especially) use Google Reader as a backend.

    I've never actually *used* Google Reader. I created an account, and I've set up some feeds on the Google Reader site. I then pointed my NewsRob app on my Android phone to Google Reader, and I *do* use the heck out of that.

    Reportedly Feedly has replicated Google's API, and some of the apps that used GR as a backend are supposedly being modified to use Feedly as a backend. No official word whether NewsRob will do so, but they're "in talks."

  24. Re:Crime isn't what concerns me on Watching the Police: Will Two-Way Surveillance Reduce Crime? · · Score: 1

    ACLU New Jersey has an Android app called "Police Tape" that does something like this. I'm not sure how you access it, but it stores the video remotely rather than on your phone. I installed it, but I haven't had any reason to test how it works.

  25. Re:More change for change's sake? on Mozilla Plans Major Design Overhaul With Firefox 25 Release In October · · Score: 1

    I'm not.

    But I may be soon.