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User: EmagGeek

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  1. Why is Lowering the Bar always the Solution? on In a Hole, Golf Courses Experiment With 15-inch Holes · · Score: -1, Troll

    In my lifetime alone, I've seen so many cases of "loweing the bar" to compensate for society's general lack of interest in becoming proficient at things.

    In the 1990's and 2000's, the FCC seriously dumbed-down the Amateur Radio licensing material and requirements, eventually completely eliminating the morse code requirement - and an Extra exam today is nothing like the Extra exam I took in 1998.

    Not long after that, the FAA created the "sport pilot" class that does not even require a medical exam, so people on life support can fly around in 2000 pound, high-velocity projectiles and put them into random peoples' houses when they have their in-flight hypoxia-induced heart attack.

    Now we're going to FIFTEEN INCH golf holes? Are they serious? Let's go down to six bowling pins while we're at it, and drop the 1st down requirement in football to 7 1/2 yards. Oh wait, we can't do fractions anymore, so just make it 5 yards.

    While they're add it they may as well add a stroke to each par as well, just to attract more mediocre players and discourage them getting any better at the skill.

    People need to stop being such fucking assholes and try to be good at things. Everyone wants a goddamn trophy for simply showing up. This, right here, is why America is failing. The rest of the world is BETTER than us at shit because most Americans are lazy assholes who just want to consume and don't give a damn about proficiency, skill, or ambition. Yes, everyone wants to be rich, but they want to do it by simply taking it from people who ARE good at things, and who have earned their wealth by using those skills.

    Fuck you all. Every last goddamn one of you entitled little brats.

  2. Re:Naive anarchists on Cody Wilson Interview at Reason: Happiness Is a 3D Printed Gun · · Score: 2

    Do you even realize the irony of equating Anarchy with **ORGANIZED** crime?

  3. Re:glad I don't live in cali on California Utility May Replace IT Workers with H-1B Workers · · Score: 1

    Most people realize that you can't offshore everything.

    But, IT is not one of those things you can't offshore.

  4. Re:Ahh Unions... on The Design Flaw That Almost Wiped Out an NYC Skyscraper · · Score: 1

    I would venture a guess that nobody was ever charged with recklessly endangering 100 square blocks of New York, or destruction of property, or vandalism, or criminal mischief, or anything else...

  5. Re:As a skeptic, this alarms me. on VA Supreme Court: Michael Mann Needn't Turn Over All His Email · · Score: 1

    This isn't Mann's critics pursuing him. This is part of a lawsuit that Mann filed against a journalist who criticized his work.

    Mann filed the lawsuit, and the person he sued filed for subpoenas to get at Mann's emails because he believed that would reveal information he could use to defend the lawsuit.

    This is a terrible decision, because it means you can be sued for libel (which is saying something abot someone that is alleged to be untrue) and then be prohibited from obtaining material to defend yourself (by showing that what you said is, in fact, true).

    It is made worse by the fact that Mann is a government employee, because if this becomes the precedent, it will open the flood gates for government oppression via the civil court system, which has a lower standard of proof than the criminal system. If you criticize the government or its political employees, they can sue you, and you will be prohibited from obtaining evidence to defend yourself with.

    "Shut up and swallow what we tell you" is basically what the court signed off on in this case.

  6. Re:Fuck this OUT OF MY PHONE on Industry-Wide Smartphone "Kill Switch" Closer To Reality · · Score: 1

    CTIA is not the government. If you don't want the kill switch, all you have to do is uninstall the app.

    This is a 100% voluntary thing, and you don't have to keep it or use it if you don't want to.

  7. Use is Voluntary on Industry-Wide Smartphone "Kill Switch" Closer To Reality · · Score: 1

    From CTIA's site, it appears to be an addon software tool, NOT part of the O/S or hardware:

    Each device manufacturer and operating system signatory of Part I of this "Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment" agrees that new models of smartphones first manufactured after July 2015 for retail sale in the United States will offer, at no cost to consumers, a baseline anti-theft tool that is preloaded or downloadable on wireless smartphones that provides the connected capability to:

    Remote wipe the authorized user's data (i.e., erase personal info that is added after purchase such as contacts, photos, emails, etc.) that is on the smartphone in the event it is lost or stolen.
    Render the smartphone inoperable to an unauthorized user (e.g., locking the smartphone so it cannot be used without a password or PIN), except in accordance with FCC rules for 911 emergency communications, and if available, emergency numbers programmed by the authorized user (e.g., "phone home").
    Prevent reactivation without authorized user's permission (including unauthorized factory reset attempts) to the extent technologically feasible (e.g., locking the smartphone as in 2 above).
    Reverse the inoperability if the smartphone is recovered by the authorized user and restore user data on the smartphone to the extent feasible (e.g., restored from the cloud).
    In addition to this baseline anti-theft tool, consumers may use other technological solutions, if available for their smartphones.

    Source: http://www.ctia.org/policy-ini...

  8. Re:Structure vs Outcome on Study Finds US Is an Oligarchy, Not a Democracy · · Score: 1

    Yep. Intelligent, educated, gainfully-employed people are breeding much less because they cannot afford to do so. So much of their money is being confiscated and given to unintelligent, uneducated, unemployed, unproductive people to breed like bunny rabbits and create an overwhelming population of voters who will keep the power mongers in power.

  9. Re:Summary Fail on Study Finds US Is an Oligarchy, Not a Democracy · · Score: 1

    I wish I had some mod points to give you, because this is spot on.

  10. Happens in hardware, too on How 'DevOps' Is Killing the Developer · · Score: 1

    In a past life, I worked for a company that developed control hardware. I loved designing hardware and software, and I could focus on it. When the time came to build prototypes and manage BOMs and shop vendors for parts and all the niggly crap that surrounds actually building something, there were people who did that.

    One day, all of those people were laid off, and we engineers had to start doing all of that work ourselves. Suddenly I was spending 20% of my time doing my job, and 80% on my time doing the jobs of all of the support people who got canned.

    I didn't stay too long after that, and neither did any other engineer who was good enough to get a job during a recession.

  11. Re:Android ... on How Apple's CarPlay Could Shore Up the Car Stereo Industry · · Score: 1

    I have one in my car and it's awesome.

  12. I mail them a check on Slashdot Asks: How Do You Pay Your Taxes? · · Score: 1

    I send in my pound of flesh yesterday.

    Some third party companies accept credit and debit card payments on behalf of the IRS for a fee. I think you can also just put your routing and checking number on your 1040 form and they will debit your payment directly via ACH.

    As far as filing, my accountant prepares the 50 or so schedules and forms that I need to send in every year...

  13. So why is this such a big deal? on The Best Way To Watch the "Blood Moon" Tonight · · Score: 1

    Total lunar eclipses are a common occurrence, and almost always have the "blood moon" look from red light refracting around the Earth.

  14. Re:We have those in South Carolina too on Can You Buy a License To Speed In California? · · Score: 1

    I got pulled over for 87/70 in SC a few years ago and the cop was perfectly professional and didn't even lecture me or anything. Fine was $100 with 2 points.

  15. Did they name the director? on GM Names Names, Suspends Two Engineers Over Ignition-Switch Safety · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Did they name the director that ordered the two engineers to cover up the change? There's no way the engineers decided to do that on their own volition.

  16. Re:It's not a license to speed on Can You Buy a License To Speed In California? · · Score: 1

    Oh there's no question as to whether we have a justice system here. We do not, and have not in a looooong time.

  17. It's not a license to speed on Can You Buy a License To Speed In California? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's the cops extorting money. It's not just speeding. This creates the appearance that, if you do not buy the membership, you'll be stopped and shown absolutely no mercy, and may even have charges trumped up against you - or otherwise be punished.

    This is tantamount to soliciting bribes.

  18. NSA put the bug there, of course they exploited it on NSA Allegedly Exploited Heartbleed · · Score: 1

    We need to find out if the author of this bug is or was on the NSA payroll. It would not be surprising to find out he was paid to put it there.

  19. But, in a slight to the tech industry on Michael Bloomberg: You Can't Teach a Coal Miner To Code · · Score: 1

    I would call it more of a slight against coal miners...

  20. The change was logged on New Year's Eve 2011 on Heartbleed Coder: Bug In OpenSSL Was an Honest Mistake · · Score: 1

    Don't drink and code!

  21. Re:"Obamacare Enrollment"? on Can the ObamaCare Enrollment Numbers Be Believed? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not sloppy or lazy language. It's deceitful language.

    They know full well that there are not 7.1 million newly insured people who are previously uninsured, which is basically what Carney claimed in a press conference yesterday.

    About 5 million of those people are those who had their policies canceled, and about 2 million are previously-uninsured/uninsurable people who signed up. The number of people who have actually paid, out of these 7 million, remains a closely-guarded secret.

  22. Re:I order you to be an unproductive country! on New French Law Prohibits After-Hours Work Emails · · Score: 1

    "How will those French IT workers live "the sweet life" when they are too poor to afford their wine and cheese since they are unemployed?"

    There's an app^H^H^Hentitlement for that.

  23. Re:How about ... on Theo De Raadt's Small Rant On OpenSSL · · Score: 2

    He's just trying to be a bigger dick than Linus..

  24. I order you to be an unproductive country! on New French Law Prohibits After-Hours Work Emails · · Score: 1

    I would despise living under a regime that prohibited me working if that's what I wanted to do.

  25. You really can't be serious on How Cochlear Implants Are Being Blamed For Killing Deaf Culture · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What a travesty! We can't allow deaf people to hear! It will destroy their culture!

    Why don't you tell this woman you want her to be deaf again and see what she says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...