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User: Pretzalzz

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Comments · 136

  1. Re:Editing? on Hole In The Ozone Layer Smallest In 29 Years (weather.com) · · Score: 1

    It gets bigger and smaller every year much like the arctic ice cap. So it grew to a maximum of 7.6 million sq miles which was a smaller maximum than 2016.

  2. Um, I can tell which network a show is probably on just by watching it. Knowing the network has nothing to do with knowing what channel number it is on TV. Every network has its own feel to it. Knowing which network something is on has a positive correlation to be knowing ahead of time whether I'll like it. Not knowing what network something is on is akin to being proud of not knowing who the showrunner is or who the actors are. It is possible if you are a very casual viewer, but otherwise...

  3. Re:Does it account for greedy homeowners? on New AI Algorithm Beats Even the World's Worst Traffic (vice.com) · · Score: 2

    The main roads are usually state (or even possibly federal) highways which the state is responsible for, not the city/borough/township.

  4. 2013 on Nearly 56,000 Bridges Called Structurally Deficient (usatoday.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In 2013, 66,749 bridges were considered structurally deficient. This is a 17% decrease in the last 4 years. I think this should count as good news.

  5. At least the two NPR stations I listen to air hardly any classical music except maybe on the weekends. It is almost all talk. I listen to podcasts too, but I still donate, and when I donate it is to a local station. If you want to be cheap and not donate, you can very easily do that listening to the radio as well. But if the podcasts are adding value to my experience, shouldn't that make me more likely to donate?

  6. Re:Call me crazy but... on Examining Costs and Prices For California's High-Speed Rail Project · · Score: 1

    Most of the passenger miles aren't going to go the whole way from LA to San Fran. Of course the shorter trips will be cheaper, but there will be orders of magnitude more of them.

  7. Re:Decent on Seattle CEO Cuts $1 Million Salary To $70K, Raises Employee Salaries · · Score: 4, Informative

    Do you understand how taxes work? Only the first $4,900 of capital gains would be tax-free assuming no other income. The next $389,500 at 15%, and the rest at 20%. If he took a $5 million capital gain, he'd still own the top capital gain tax rate on most of it.

  8. Re:Disengenous on Amazon's eBook Math · · Score: 2

    Have you actually shopped at Amazon? Amazon offers the first couple chapters of all their books for free.

  9. Re:Subscription Everything on Amazon Is Testing a $10-Per-Month Ebook Service · · Score: 1

    How much do you pay for books? Most new ebooks are $10-15, most slightly old ebooks are $5-10, most old ebooks are $0-5. An average book is probably going to be around 7 bucks which is 171 books.

  10. Re:Good for them on Three-Year Deal Nets Hulu Exclusive Rights To South Park · · Score: 2

    Hulu doesn't cost money other than watching the ads which were on southparkstudios.com as well. All the episodes right now are on regular Hulu. You don't need Hulu Plus.

  11. Uh, no on How Voter Shortsightedness Skews Elections · · Score: 1

    Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago is a horrible metric to judge politicians. Policies take a while to implement so a really bad first year that you've inherited could overwhelm the next 33.5 months. The economic cycle can overpower policies anyway. And there are other issues besides personal well-being which seems to over-focus on economic issues. 4 years is both too arbitrary a time frame and too short of a time frame.

  12. Re:Have Patience on What Developers Can Learn From Healthcare.gov · · Score: 1

    You need to sign up by December 15th to get coverage January 1st. But your general point still stands.

  13. Re: Proud? on Don't Fly During Ramadan · · Score: 1

    How exactly are you judging countries? If you are judging by border control/customs, then I can believe that the US is the second worst. US customs is the biggest hassle even for US citizens, and they try to be nice and efficient for US citizens. But that hardly is a decent judge of a country as a whole.

  14. Re:Betteridge is actually wrong this time on Is Europe's Recession Really Over? · · Score: 1

    Unless the Europeans are a hell of a lot better at determining these numbers then we are, they are sure to be revised. More than once. There is no guarantee that 5 years from now 2nd quarter 2013 EU GDP will still be positive. For instance US fourth quarter 2012 GDP was initially -0.1%, revised to +0.1%, revised to +0.4%.

  15. Re:John Hurt on New Doctor Who Actor To Be Revealed This Sunday · · Score: 2

    They haven't been on Syfy for a while. They are on BBC America in the US and I've never heard a suggestion that they are edited.

  16. Re:Hopelessly off-target on Obama Wants To Fund Clean Energy Research With Oil & Gas Funds · · Score: 3, Informative

    There is a difference between a tax credit and a tax deduction. A legitimate business expense is a tax deduction and will save you whatever you spend times your margnial tax rate. A tax credit on the other hand will save you 100% of your cost on your taxes.

  17. Re:Do the math. Not that big of deal on NASA IG Paints Bleak Picture For Agency Projects · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Try again. Sequestration hit 5 months into the year. Assuming a relatively constant spending of money, $894 million is 8.6% of $10.4 billion[which is 7/12 of 17.8 billion]. This makes senses as it is the commonly quoted percentage for every agency facing cuts. But all of that budget isn't really cuttable. Say half of the budget is uncuttable. That leaves you needing to suddenly cut 20% out of the budget that is cuttable. This is where you get 1 day a week furloughs and whole programs/services eliminated like we've been hearing about in other agencies.

  18. Re:Math on All of Nate Silver's State-Level Polling Predictions Proved True · · Score: 1

    They haven't finished counting the vote. Mostly on the West Coast. CA/WA/OR/CO/ID/MT and the northeast[CT/NH/ME principally]. These are almost all states Obama won except ID/MT. Obama's final margin is likely to be over 3% when all is said and done. So the polls shouldn't be analyzed/graded too precisely yet.

  19. Re:Kill the Electoral College please... on Barack Obama Retains US Presidency · · Score: 1

    It's not that simple. How do you get states not participating in the compact to cooperate with a recount? How do you get a state not in the compact to count all provisional ballots when their result isn't particularly close? How do you have a national popular vote when voting eligibility rules vary by state? Is it fair to compare raw votes in a state with early voting and same day registration and a state that votes on one day with narrow absentee rules and you have to register a month ahead of time? If you think none of that will make too much of a difference, remember that the whole point for the change is for close elections. Any margin greater than 1-2% in the popular vote will invariably result in the 'correct' electoral college outcome.

  20. Re:votevotevote.net's Sample Size on Nate Silver's Numbers Indicate Probable Obama Win, World Agrees · · Score: 1

    You might find the BBC's poll slightly more scientific. Obama won 50-9, losing only Pakistan among the 21 countries surveyed.

  21. For perspective on Libertarian Candidate Excluded From Debate For Refusing Corporate Donations · · Score: 2

    For perspective of how low a bar $50,000 is, open secrets has the FEC data for the race. Both of the top 2 candidates have raised over $1.4 million dollars as of 2 months ago, and have likely raised a bunch more since. Even excluding PAC/other money they have raised $866k/$1.22m.

  22. Re:We don't need Wikileaks on Why WikiLeaks Is Worth Defending · · Score: 1

    But the BBC is broadcast in the US! From my local npr station: midnight-5am 7 days a week "BBC world service", m-f 5am-6am "BBC World Update", m-f 9am-10am, m-f 8pm-9pm "The World"[a collaboration of the BBC and PRI]. That's 1/3 of the programming time monday through friday including 2 prime hours. It's on pbs on tv 7:30pm-8pm. And of course its on BBC America. So you can hardly say the BBC is better than news broadcast in the US when the BBC itself broadcasts in the US.

  23. Re:Lessons from the Autobahn on Will Speed Limits Inhibit Autonomous Car Adoption? · · Score: 1

    From Pennsylvania vehicle code:

    (d)

    Driving in right lane.--

    (1)Except as provided in paragraph (2) and unless otherwise posted, upon all limited access highways having two or more lanes for traffic moving in the same direction, all vehicles shall be driven in the righthand lanes when available for traffic except when any of the following conditions exist:
    (i)When overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction.
    (ii)When traveling at a speed greater than the traffic flow.
    (iii)When moving left to allow traffic to merge.
    (iv)When preparing for a left turn at an intersection, exit or into a private road or driveway when such left turn is legally permitted.
    (2)Unless otherwise posted, no vehicle or combination over 10,000 pounds may be driven in the left-hand lane of a limited access highway having three or more lanes for traffic moving in the same direction except when preparing for a left turn at an intersection, an exit or into a private road or driveway when such left turn is legally permitted

    You are also supposed to get in the left lane if emergency personnel are on the shoulder which is defined loosely enough to mean virtually any official looking vehicle on the shoulder.
    I'd be shocked if this wasn't the law in all 50 states. As you say it's not enforced, but it is slightly more explicit than 'obstructing traffic'.

  24. canada and the porous border on DHS Will Now Vet UK Air Passengers To Mexico, Canada, Cuba · · Score: 2

    I suspect the flights to Canada have more to due with the fact that the border between Canada and the US is fairly porous. The US is concerned with people getting into Canada and then sneaking across the largely undefended border so in the past couple of years they have been stepping up coordination of border/immigration security. Since this is a bilateral effort, what I suspect is going on is that the Canadian government is telling airlines they have to clear their passengers with US's DHS.

  25. works for me on Firefox: In With the New, Out With the Compatibility · · Score: 4, Informative

    None of the extensions I use break with 'every' revision. Most I don't even think have needed to be upgraded from 8.0 to the current 13.0a2[Aurora], and it updates Firefox essentially every time I restart Firefox. It makes me think TinyMCE are the one's doing something wrong.