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  1. Re:Question: how is this different from other data on NY Governor Wants To Expand DNA Database · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just a question to naysayers: how is this different from the state wanting to know where you live, or wanting your name on record?

    Those examples are just further up the slippery slope.

  2. Re:Maybe you noticed on Bill Gates Doesn't Work At Microsoft Anymore · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't sell the guy short - love him or hate him, you can't deny that he was the vision (good or evil) behind the company. This happens with all companies that outlive the careers of their founders - once the original visionaries that started the company start to retire, they are replaced with people who "just work there". Once that happens, the company either finds a new vision or it falters. There aren't many of the originals left there - thus, probably not much of the original vision.

  3. Re:They would only be hurting themselves on Pakistani Lawyer Wants Mark Zuckerberg Executed · · Score: 1

    Don't be so quick - extradition isn't the only way Mark could end up in Pak - If he were on his way to a meeting in Mumbai or Bangalore flying from somewhere in Europe and his plane had to make an emergency landing (pilot would probably prefer not to stop in Iraq or Afghanistan, even if it's just for gas), it's possible he could end up on the ground in a country where he has a death warrant. (Hopefully, such a situation would be covered by an international treaty, but I wouldn't know.)

    Remember - this guy probably doesn't just work from the home office.

  4. Re:Why do schools even buy their own books? on E-Reserves Under Fire From Publishers · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now how will all of the no-value-added middle men make their livings if this type of philosophy takes hold?

  5. Re:You can tell what a society values... on The Real Science Gap · · Score: 1

    I guess you got me there - I guess we do value those who produce "performances", but we're pretty fickle about which ones we like. That brings us to the "value added" argument: culture, art and sport aren't un-important, but how important should they be?

  6. You can tell what a society values... on The Real Science Gap · · Score: 1

    ...by who in that society lives the best. Our society values middle men, lawyers and managers. Let's face it, we value the professions that manipulate others rather than directly producing anything.

  7. Re:Oh, really? on MA High School Forces All Students To Buy MacBooks · · Score: 1

    Indeed - if this became commonplace, a public school that wanted to keep the riffraff out could find all manner of "critical" materials that all students would be required to purchase. This could be similar to the poll taxes that used to be used to keep the poor from voting. The fact that there are school assets available "during the day" for students to use is somewhat relevant, but you and I both know that there will not be enough to go around, there will be severe restrictions on use (and I'm not talking about web restrictions - I'm talking about file storage, functionality lockouts, etc) that will inhibit the value of the asset to the student.

    No matter how you slice it, this will create a very uneven playing field using an arbitrary financial discriminator.

    If it were required for a particular elective class or a class for which there was a non-computer-required equivalent, that would be completely different. It would be less ridiculous to require high school students to purchase their own textbooks - and we know how that would go over.

  8. Just one quick item on Telcos Waking Up To the Value of Your Location · · Score: 1

    Something that needs to be said -

    Your cell phone is not truly "off" unless the battery is removed.

    We now return you to your regular nonsense....

  9. Re:Blacklisted on Citibank Cancels Bank Account of Objectionable Blogger · · Score: 2, Informative

    There seems to be a disconnect with "businesses" that make their living primarily off of a government license or special status. As we saw when they dissected the banking crisis, many "financial" businesses are quasi-governmental in nature and as such should have much less latitude to declare themselves "purely private" entities with freedom of choice.

    Having said that, I do not believe that banks should have any latitude to deny service to anyone who is not causing a direct problem for the bank. (i.e. breaking laws that involve the bank, refusing info required to meet regulation, abusive to the staff, etc.) Most businesses operate this way - it's only when you get self-righteous employees involved that start to treat the business like they own the whole thing that you get nonsense like this. It is not the bank's place to discipline a business for conduct that is neither illegal nor causes problems for the bank.

  10. Re:That would be all well and good on FCC Proposes 100Mbps Minimum Home Broadband Speed · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Consumers squeeze corps, corps squeeze consumers - agreed

    Corps have industry trade groups and lobbyists, consumers have (in the USA) representatives and senators.

    When it comes down to it, people decide what's ok and what's not. Corps are not people, consumers are. (except when it comes to campaign financing)

    Having minimum standards sucks from the supply side, but their absence is much more damaging on the demand side. To use your analogy - ways to make flights cheaper would include doing away with seatbelts and emergency exits (the seals are a maintenance issue). Nobody uses them anyway. Also, would you even notice if aircraft inspections were reduced? The average consumer wouldn't either.

  11. Re:I don't believe it on Apple Bans Jailbreakers From the App Store · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or it would be an effective way to encourage people to go Android.....

    It's the 80's all over again......

  12. Re:Virtual telekinesis and telepathy on Next X-Prize — $10M For a Brain-Computer Interface · · Score: 1

    That's one good thing about the human brain - the designer doesn't claim DMCA protections on it. However, there's also no warranty - oh, and you only thought that Microsoft was tight lipped about their APIs.

  13. Re:Multilayer WTF? on Slovak Police Planted Explosives On Air Travelers · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One problem with this whole thing is that if the luggage owner doesn't know there is contraband in it, they will act differently than someone who knows what they're carrying.

    Observing "suspicious behavior" is a big part of picking this stuff out.

    I think this should be enough to invalidate their test unless they were intentionally isolating the behavior observation methods out.

  14. Re:Innovation! on The Last GM Big-Block V-8 Rolls Off the Line · · Score: 1

    BBV8s will likely be replaced by supercharged small block v8s in sports cars and diesel engines in trucks. At least until battery technology is developed to get 300 miles per 5 minute charge time with a $30k price point and a 100k mile lifespan. Electric motors are superior technology to the internal combustion engine - it's powering them that's the problem.

    Look at the electric sports cars that are coming out - the Karma and Roadster have some decent performance characteristics. On the other side, there are a lot of industrial machines that use electric already for large amounts of power such as fork lifts, locomotives - even the Navy's ships. In all cases, the delivery of electricity to the motor is the difficult part.

  15. Re:Innovation! on The Last GM Big-Block V-8 Rolls Off the Line · · Score: 0

    Sarah honey? What are you doing with your helmet off again? Just drink your juice box and let the adults talk.

  16. And as usual...... on White House Holding Piracy Summit · · Score: 1

    Who is representing the consumer's interests? Does any of these people have a grasp on topics such as "fair use" - you know, that thing that the DMCA wasn't supposed to hinder (DMCA sec 1201(C)(1)). Well, I guess some do, but they're the ones trying to destroy that concept.

    Reference: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap12.html#1201

  17. Re:All admins on The Trial of Terry Childs Begins · · Score: 1

    I don't have a perfect understanding of law, but I thought that police had to charge you with an actual crime to keep you in the cage - not violation of employer's policy - as much as some employers think their word is law, it's just not so. Now, having said that, I have to believe that there is a credible accusation of a crime in order to keep him there - otherwise he's a political prisoner and the city should be under state/federal investigation on civil rights charges.

    If this proves to be as much of a farce as it appears, I hope he bankrupts the city.

  18. Re:Lots of things on Science Gifts For Kids? · · Score: 1

    If they're into chemistry - you can try looking at the local homebrew store - they usually have a kit for making root beer or something like that.

  19. Re:Google on Apple Buys Lala Music Streaming, But Why? · · Score: 1

    It looks more like "market shaping" to me - streaming is a contradictory market strategy to the "pay per download" model that Itunes uses. If they can keep control of the market leader in that arena, driving out other startups until the business model goes belly up, they have not only eliminated a competitor, but any potential competitor of that type.

  20. Re:Nurses Do on Should You Be Paid For Being On Call? · · Score: 1

    The point I was trying to make on the LoD issues is that they really can't wait. Most IT questions really can wait until business hours, the caller is just impatient or they have lost perspective.

    Patient's new heart failing is not equivalent to the user's password failing. While the user wants to get some work done, the patient needs to have a working heart.

    The only point I can see to be had on salaries is that physicians are typically closer to what we think of as "FLSA Exempt" than IT is. I wasn't intending to imply that the handling of LoD issues shouldn't be compensated, but I do see how you could draw that from what I said. I'll have to think about my logic on that. I definitely think that impatient people should be zinged for demanding service on petty issues though.

  21. Re:A contractor? on Should You Be Paid For Being On Call? · · Score: 1

    The Fair Labor Standards Act (In the USA) defines what is a salaried job and what is an hourly job. I have always wondered how IT folks can be considered salaried when the act defines any job that is measured by man-hours to be hourly. That's a really boiled-down interpretation, so YMMV.

    If you're working for $20/hour and you're working 160 hour weeks without overtime pay, you may consider a position in fast-food. They typically pay better than minimum wage, so you may come out ahead by the time you consider that you're paid for all of your overtime.

    Sorry, but I do have to put a slap in here for the original post - I've said it once and I'll say it again: never underestimate the arrogance of a lawyer.

  22. Re:Well, then... on Should You Be Paid For Being On Call? · · Score: 1

    If the job is that crappy - they can have it.

  23. Re:Nurses Do on Should You Be Paid For Being On Call? · · Score: 1

    I always imagined that doctors being called off-hours were being called for honest-to-goodness life-and-death issues. I can think of few IT personnel that can say that they are being called for issues so serious. I can think of even fewer that make a physician's salary.

    Am I off base here?

  24. Re:Use Tax on Calling B.S. On Amazon's Taxation Arguments · · Score: 1

    I keep seeing this come up and I haven't seen anyone able to tell me how this meshes with the Nelson V. Sears decision:
    http://supreme.justia.com/us/312/359/case.html

    SCOTUS has already spoken on this issue. I thought taxation of interstate commerce was settled law.

  25. Re:*First post.. on Public School Teachers Selling Lesson Plans Online · · Score: 1

    I was taught that if you didn't like the money, don't do the job. I'm tired of hearing so many people drone on and on about how little teachers make.

    $50k is a good living - that's a little over $24/hour if they worked all year, which they don't. It takes a lot of 10 hour days and training sessions to make up for all of the time off they get.

    I'm not even going to go into unionization, government job security and the lack of uniform performance requirements.

    Whenever I hear this kind of droning - it just brings to mind a picture of Sally Strothers saying "think of the children".

    Go ahead, mark me a troll - I'm just calling out nonsense where I see it.