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User: sbillard

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  1. A fresh format install of Win 10 Pro includes candy crush and other crap by default. If I am the product (my eyeballs), then the OS should be free. Why does a "Pro" OS come with all this bloat?

  2. Re:MLB needs more replay NBA,NHL,NFL have it on Ask Slashdot: Project Scope For MLB Robot Umpires? · · Score: 1

    The progression of events that can occur after a ball is put in play makes too much instant replay hard or impossible.
    It's working well for home run review and I agree with others in this thread it can be expanded to calling balls/strikes.

    Things happen on the field very quickly in response to out/safe calls. One things leads to another and in rapid succession. Very hard to unwind and make right the events of a play if an "out" call was changed to "safe", or the other way around.

    Runners on 1st and 3rd. 1 out. Batter hits into a 5-4 fielder's choice with an E3 on the play (error at first).
    The runner at 3rd base got looked back, was not able to score on the play. Remains at 3rd.
    Batter takes 2nd base on the error.
    Play is challenged and upon further review, base runner was safe at 2nd.
    The error at first is not in dispute, so what do you do with the 3 base runners?
    Load the bases? Not fair to the batter who should be at 2nd.
    Award the run from 3rd with runners now at 2nd and 3rd? Not fair to the fielding team where the slowpoke at 3rd could not score even with the ball getting thrown all around the infield.
    ... and a million other scenarios. Now imagine more than 1 call during a single play getting overturned.

    Not saying we should not have more automation, just saying baseball is different in some ways that make replay review hard to do fairly and consistently. It's the nature of the game - and a beautiful game it is.

  3. Re:Not just Canada on Conflict Between Occupy Wall Street Protestors and NYPD Escalating · · Score: 1

    ...and don't forget the Bill O'Reilly coverage of that... complete with Wisconsin palm trees in the background.

  4. Re:Jessh on Paypal Founder Helping Build Artificial Island Nations · · Score: 1

    ... reminds me of certain aspects of the plot in Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson.
    "The Raft".
    Fragmented society each with their own identity, turf and security. Oh yeah, the coming hyper-inflation of currency.

  5. Re:Occams Razor. on Does Quantum Theory Explain Consciousness? · · Score: 1

    http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html One only needs to suppose that technological innovation will continue. See also, "The Inner Light Theory of Consciousness" - looks like my old link to that got taken over.

  6. Urine Control? on Full Bladder Improves Decision Making · · Score: 1

    Controlling your bladder makes you better at controlling yourself

    Urine control.
    Maybe they could use this to treat ADD/ADHD? Urine Therapy
    Perhaps this could be used as a form of psycho analysis? Urine my head.
    Or, how about conflict resolution? Urine my face

  7. Re:But I have to have auto insurance... on Judge Declares Federal Healthcare Plan (Partly) Unconstitutional · · Score: 1

    the government can force me to have auto insurance, but not health insurance?

    Driving a car is a privilege, not a right.

    Health care is something everybody is going to need from birth to death.

    Call me a socialist if you must, but a for profit health care system is flawed. The judge was right to rule that mandatory participation in a for profit enterprise is unconstitutional. My insurer gladly takes the premium out of my pay check, but is forbids me the operation I need. That procedure would cut into their bottom line.

    It's unfortunate that many will take this the wrong way and I'm sure mainstream media won't help to clear the air. It's unfortunate this ruling will be seen by the tea party as affirmation that "ObamaCare" is wrong instead of the correct interpretation that "ObamaCare" didn't go far enough (public option).

    Before you complain about your taxes being used to pay for someone else's health care, please understand you're paying for it anyway. Emergency rooms will treat those who need urgent care. The uninsured wait until their condition develops into an emergency instead of getting the stitches or meds or whatever two weeks prior as a routine thing for a routine cost.

    Don't want to buy auto insurance? Take the bus.
    Don't want heath care? Don't be born in the first place.

  8. Re:predictable comment theme on Nuclear Power Could See a Revival · · Score: 1

    it is healthy to fear a tiger - but the response to fear doesn't always have to be to run away. Translate into a list of perceived hazards; provide explanation of how resultant risks are managed.

    I think you're right.

    Hazard: Tiger has sharp teeth.
    Risk: My throat becomes chew toy
    How Managed: run away.

    Hazard: Tiger has sharp claws.
    Risk: Disembowelment.
    How Managed: run away.

    Hazard: Tiger is powerful carnivorous predator.
    Risk: Overpowered
    How Managed: run away.

    Hazard: Tiger is fast.
    Risk: Overtaken.
    How Managed: run away? No. Buy a rock from Lisa Simpson!

  9. Re:Am I the only... on Digitally Filtering Out the Drone of the World Cup · · Score: 1

    I watched that game just to see what all the fuss was about. B.O.R.I.N.G. Recap of the WHOLE GAME.

    1. Ball gets kicked around, goes out of bounds. Ball is put back in play.
    2. Some guy falls down and grabs his leg in agony.
    3. Same guy gets up 30 seconds later and is running at full speed again.
    Repeat steps 1, 2, 3 for 90 minutes.

    A scoreless tie is a pointless waste of time. Physically demanding perhaps, but it's not sport. It's a kabuki dance.

    While some would say a pitching duel in baseball is boring, you can be sure of one thing. SOMEONE will win the game. It will not end in a scoreless tie. Therefore, not a waste of time. Why bother if the game can end in a tie, especially a scoreless tie?

    I will never understand how you could claim that game was interesting or a worthwhile endeavor for anyone, player or spectator.

    To each his own I suppose. Enjoy the tournament and, good luck to your team.

  10. Re:We are the game! on Maybe the Aliens Are Addicted To Computer Games · · Score: 1

    And also this The Inner Light Theory
    It's not impossible.
    Could be an explanation for the limits of physics as we know them. Physics hasn't got the essence of reality pinned down. There is plenty we don't know. Perhaps we can't know.
    Ex: the measurement problem in quantum mechanics, mathematical singularity of a black hole and the big bang.

    Sure, we humans have made great progress, and I expect CERN will soon peel things back even more.
    I find this idea fascinating, compelling even.

  11. Re:Perhaps.. on Space Junk Getting Worse · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not just a shield again alien invasion. It can reflect sunlight back into space before it's trapped by greenhouse gases. Bye bye global warming!

  12. Re:Anti-intellectualism on How To Make Science Popular Again? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Invented, just like chess.

    No, no no. Getting OT here, but I disagree.

    There are many aspects of mathematics that, for years, were purely intellectual pursuits. In many cases it was often much later when their relationships with nature was revealed.
    Hyperbolic geometry, and the Mandelbrot set, for example, were always there in the math, long before their discovery.
    The realm of math exists. It exists whether we choose to explore it or not.

    Discovered, just like the "new world" and exo-planets.

  13. Re:Wrong field on Creating a Quantum Superposition of Living Things · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I could be wrong, but I think the point of the experiment is to learn where and how quantum aspects interface with macro-objects. A virus is much larger than a photon, for example. If they can reproduce "delayed choice" and "quantum eraser" type effects on a virus, then that would really be something.

    It's not a test to see whether something is alive or dead. It's a test to understand if and/or how "which-path" observations collapse the wavefunction for macro-objects,

    IANAP, so please enlighten me if I missed the point.

  14. Re:Maybe they can't be detected on Initial Tests Fail To Find Gravitational Waves · · Score: 1
    I just posted something similar in this thread. Your "pet" theory seems like common sense to me.
    I don't understand how they expect to detect a gravity wave. It's a distortion of space itself.
    Only an "outside" observer would notice the ripple.

    I bounced this idea off a few physicists...but they don't seem to like it

    I wonder if your idea was disliked due to something you've obviously misunderstood, or if it was disliked because it was threatening to them?

  15. Re:Clear up a bit of confusion here: on Initial Tests Fail To Find Gravitational Waves · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't the gravitational wave distort space itself and everything in it?
    Perhaps I'm not thinking correctly, and I'm sure the folks working on this are far smarter than I. I would expect you can only observe this from the perspective of a higher dimension. The fact that space is warped by a gravity wave is not "known" to the light beam.

    Imagine a perfect 3-D Euclidian space, now put an observer in that space with a laser or a full blown LIGO. Observer fires the laser and the light travels perfectly straight and covers a specific distance in a specific amount of time.
    Both you and the observer agree on this.
    Now bend, twist, or scrunch up that perfect 3-D Euclidian space, making it more like hyperbolic geometry. This is the effect we expect from a gravity wave, yes? When the observer fires his laser this time, he sees the light travel perfectly straight and covers the same "distance" as before.
    But you would disagree. From your "outside" perspective, you would say the light did not travel "straight" this time, and that the light traveled a shorter distance, if "space" was scrunched up, or a longer distance if "space" was stretched.

    How then, can we possibly detect a distortion of space when it is the same space we occupy? We are the "observer" above and LIGO will always tell us the light in each arm is traveling the same distance, even if one arm is distorted by a gravity wave.

    What am I missing (besides a degree in physics)?

  16. Re:Maybe it's to stop malicious code on Microsoft Patents the Crippling of Operating Systems · · Score: 1

    Counterpoint:
    I am fairly certain there will be many unwanted yet auto-started services running out of the box. There will be unwanted components installed by default and very hard or downright impossible to remove completely.

    Where is the version that lets me run without any DRM hooks? Where is the version that lets me boot to a command prompt? Not talking about "core", I want to boot without any presentation layer/GUI at all. Just a command prompt please.

    I see where you're going, but I don't think it is in the name of "security". Profit is a much more likely reason/goal.

  17. Looks like USA won. on Computer Chess Programs Vie "Live" For World Championship · · Score: 1

    9 games with a score of 8.0

    This is very interesting. Being a baseball fan, and thinking back to strat-o-matic as a kid, I can't help but think how I would code such a thing in that game/sport. Football too.

    One could be issued a limited number of "skill points" in different disciplines of the game, allocate among his/her team. Situational strategies could be coded so that when certain in-game criteria were met, specific functions could be called.
    Play Ball!

  18. Keyboard shortcuts and CLI on The Case Against Web Apps · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My biggest complaint about browser/web apps is the inconsistent or non-existent ability to navigate the app with the keyboard.
    While fat client apps can have messed up tab stops, they're generally better than their web-based counterparts. A CLI is even better allowing for things to be done in bulk/batch.

    I've got over 100 buttons right at my finger tips. I shouldn't need 2 more that roll around (FPS mouselook not withstanding). Let me ALT+whatever and TAB my way around.

    YMMV.

  19. Re:Reactionary. on Whistleblower Claims NSA Spied On Everyone, Targeted Media · · Score: 1

    Bush has not levied War against the United States, nor has he made common cause with our enemies.

    I don't go as far as the 9/11 "Truth" conspiracy nuts, but I do believe it is at least plausible that Bush and Cheney had some degree of foreknowledge of the attacks. If that is false, then even still, using the attacks as leverage to invade Iraq is enough to warrant a charge or Treason, for it has created many more enemies (terrorists) than it has killed/captured/converted. Right there is your "common cause", helping the enemy with their recruitment efforts.

  20. Sleep Data Sleep on Abused IT Workers Ready To Quit · · Score: 2, Informative

    My bit of advice, from a former chronic "all nighter".
    Don't sleep at your desk. Find a spot to catch those 2 or 3 hours of sleep before sunrise.
    I preferred to sleep behind the big environmental units (AC + dehumidifier). The loud buzzzzzz of the unit was a lullaby to me. And sleeping on the floor was better than sleeping in a chair head in arms on desk, neck pain ow.

  21. There is no Data... There is only Zune on Microsoft Issues Workaround For Zune Freeze · · Score: 1
    I haven't seen it posted yet, but to me the obvious question is...
    Why is my music player date/time sensitive?
    Jesus Christ, corpse on a stick WTF does it matter and why am I denied access to my data when date = x?

    DRM I suppose. Pointless instructions that cripple your shit.

  22. Re:BZOD on Microsoft Zunes Committing Mass Suicide · · Score: 2, Funny

    There is no Dana... there is only Zune.

  23. Re:From years in the trenches... on Tales From the Support Crypt · · Score: 1

    --I have one co-worker whom I have to explain, on the order of once a week, how you map to a shared drive. She writes it down *every time* and still has to have me help her the next week. Each time, she claims she's done what she wrote down, and it doesn't work. I do the exact same thing, and it does work.

    Dude!!! She likes you!! Learn to take a hint and got for it.

  24. Re:tag: appleispants on Grey Lines Mar MacBook Air Displays · · Score: 1

    Ahhh! Well that is .... underwhelming.
    I had assumed it was derived from the Simpsons. I believe it is the Canyonero episode, with Krusty playing the part of a George Carlin-type comic. Homer is in the audience and shouts: "Don't you hate pants??!?!?".

    So, saying "x is pants", means you hate "x".
    But you had to burst my bubble. Bah! the heck with you guys, you're all pants. I'm sticking with my interpretation.

  25. Grep for Windows on Good Freeware System Snapshot Tool For Windows? · · Score: 1
    >type filename.ext | find /i "searchstring"

    Where filename.ext is the file name and
    /i means "ignore case". omit this is want case-sensitivity grepping for:
    "searchstring"