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User: RogL

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Comments · 139

  1. Re:double standard on Instagram Reenables GIF Sharing After GIPHY Promises No More Racism (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 1

    >> I think the best solution is to let everyone say and think whatever they want and work it out among themselves.

    Hear hear!

    An insightful AC - will wonders never cease!

  2. Re:Banning children of uneducated parent from scho on Australia To Ban Unvaccinated Children From Preschool (newscientist.com) · · Score: 2

    You could start with

    https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesaf...

    which summarizes expected risks and links to some studies, published medical articles.

  3. Re:Not just corporations on Fitbit Wants To Help Corporations Track Employee Health · · Score: 1

    Simple solution for you: buy a metronome, fasten step-tracker to it, then turn on metronome.
    Occasionally stop the metronome to read the step-count, adjust the speed & time to hit your step-target.
    Repeat daily or weekly to hit your target, then share the data with your plan.
    Meanwhile you can watch TV, read a book, relax in a hot-tub, etc.

    If a metronome won't swing with tracker attached, perhaps a paint-shaker?
    Or build something with motorized Lego or Erector set.

  4. And Wicat systems, also from back-in-the-day. I used them in '80s.

  5. Crash-testing & strength? on Local Motors Looks To Disrupt the Auto Industry With 3D-Printed Car Bodies · · Score: 2

    That's awesome, but how does that relate to crash-testing & safety standards?
    Are these such low-volume the normal regulations don't apply?

    Do they embed reinforcements or print around a base frame?

    Sounds like an awesome concept, but so many questions...

  6. Re:Good. on How the Internet Is Taking Away America's Religion · · Score: 1

    Read this.

    http://atheistsareidiots.blogspot.com/2013/04/refuting-epicurus-paradox.html

    The comments on that page already seem to do an excellent job of refuting it.
    The author's first 3 points are quibbles of what to call the "riddle" or who wrote it, not addressing the content.

  7. Re:Typical US creation on Functional 3D-Printed Tape Measure · · Score: 1

    A great creation, made using a great new technology, obviously thought of by a bright mind, and it's graduated in... wait for it... inches.

    *Sight*

    I guess that's what sets the US and Burma apart: one of the two countries can make antiquated objects with 21st century technology. (No wait! Even Burma is switching to the metric system!)

    Inches / metric is not an issue. Give this a moment's thought.
    Just apply a scaling-factor to the design & print it, you'll have a metric version.

    His dial-caliper design already has comments at thingiverse giving the size to print at to produce a metric version marked in mm.

  8. Re:Required South Park Reference on Consumer Reports Says Tesla Model S Is Best Overall Vehicle · · Score: 1

    This stuff can be thermally modeled in tools that cost a few $10K at most. There's no need for prototypes just to figure that one out.

    That's probably what the Camaro engineers thought...

  9. Re:Americans... on Lasers Unearth Lost 'Agropolis' of New England · · Score: 1

    >> I grew up in a city in the netherlands where city hall was built in 1250 and most of the houses are from the early middleages.

    Good for you! ...but was it overgrown with forest & forgotten?

    If so, what a relevant comment, and I'd love to hear about your being raised by European squirrels while foraging for berries..
    If not, kind of pointless, as this was about a area where civilization was overgrown, not an old town with people still living in it, with operational roads.

  10. Re:I am shocked shocked I tell you on NSA Officers Sometimes Spy On Love Interests · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is public knowledge the corporate security contractors had full access to the information being gathered under the NSA auspices. Private for profit individuals with total and full access to all the intelligence information

    I'm going to need a cite for that because I've been following this pretty closely and this is the first I've heard of private citizens having "total and full access" to the NSA's data.

    Wasn't Snowden a corporate security contractor?

  11. Re:I go to a fair amount of movies on The Average Movie Theater Has Hundreds of Screens · · Score: 2

    Read the post the parent was replying to.
    They're not advocating annoying flashlights in theaters, they're pointing out that most people would find that annoying. Drawing a parallel to cellphone backlights.

  12. Re:US Desires this - nad deliberately PROVOKED it. on North Korea Declares a State of War · · Score: 2

    Who's "Provocative Action"?

    March 29 2013 - Hagel says U.S. has to take North Korean threats seriously

    Umm... how is saying we're going to take a country's statements seriously, provocative?

  13. Re:Good PR on IRS Spent $60,000 Producing Star Trek Parody · · Score: 1

    I highly doubt those shotguns have 14 inch barrels.

    Why would you doubt that?
    It's a direct quote from the GSA request for bids.

    And the minimum barrel length mostly just applies to normal folk. Law enforcement can get stuff that's restricted for most folk, or at least, we need to get the right special permits for. If it requires custom work, what do they care? It's government money.
    (may not be custom, I don't know if there are standard 14" law-enforcement barrels, there may be)

    I'm sure an 18.5" barrel just would not be tacti-cool enough for our IRS lads, what with rescuing hostages, taking down cartels, you know, all that IRS action-hero stuff they do.

  14. Re:This is why on Machine Gun Fire From Military Helicopters Flying Over Downtown Miami · · Score: 2

    The argument I usually see is that when they wrote the amendment they never envisioned something as deadly as a machine gun, tank, or nuclear missile. However, the perspective I feel is relevant, which I never see discussed, is that the people had the same weapons as the state. We may view a musket as a museum piece, but when the Constitution and Bill or Rights were ratified, it was cutting-edge killing technology, and that is what the Federal Government could not touch.

    It gets more interesting than that: way bigger weapons than muskets.
    At the time, there were privately-held cannon & warships.
    Look up what "privateers" were.

    If you can afford it, you should be able to get a permit for your own fully-armed PT boat (or whatever the current equivalent is). Guard the dock with some artillery pieces and you're all set.

  15. Re:From China..? on WindowsAndroid Lets You Run Android 4.0 Natively On Your PC · · Score: 1

    However, the same could be said for the US government which actually has a worse record of abuse of US citizens than does the Chinese.

    I'm can't remember the last time the US rolled tanks against it's own citizens...
    Granted, the occasional SWAT team or quarantined "free speech zone", but there's no US "great firewall".

    US is definitely NOT perfect, but I think you're exaggerating a bit.

  16. Re:Bounty on snake heads is the solution. on Money Python: Florida Contest Offers Rewards In 2013 Everglades Python Hunt · · Score: 1

    Yeah, introduce a bounty so that people can start breeding them for profit...

    Set a bounty low enough it's not worth breeding snakes to collect it.
    But it's enough to cover your ammo / lunch / beer costs for a day in the swamp shooting.

  17. Re:Not suspicious on Following FEMA's Zombie Preparedness Plan Could Land You On Terrorist List · · Score: 1

    I'm assuming that you get your water from the tap, more or less. Why would that suddenly cease in case of a snowstorm?

    If your water supply is from a house well, then if your electricity goes out (ice on lines or sliding vehicle takes out pole), you will have no running water. There's still folks with wells rather than city water - especially the folks who may need a few days with chainsaws to clear their driveway after a storm.

  18. Re:Wow on Study Finds Alcohol, Not Marijuana, Is the Biggest Gateway Drug For Teens · · Score: 5, Informative

    I smoke a ton of weed and wouldn't care if they made baby food out of it, but it can trigger psychotic episodes in mentally ill people.

    Everyday life can trigger psychotic episodes in mentally ill people.
    So can odd noises, squirrels, religion and the voices that only they hear.

  19. Re:Thousandth of an inch on Sandia's Floating, Dust-Free, Spinning Heatsink · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ask someone who's worked in a USA machine-shop: it's called a thousandth (the "of an inch" part is implied).
    Machinists are not programmers, so beyond about 1/64" they switch to thousandths.
    Below that, tenths (ten-thousandths of an inch).
    Below that, millionths.

  20. Re:WTF on From MIT Inventor To Tea Party Leader · · Score: 2

    Taxes are fully voluntary, we do not force anyone to stay in the US. Nor does any other major free nation.

    You have a bizarre notion of "voluntary"

  21. Re:Correction.... on U.S. In Danger of Losing Earth-Observing Satellite Capability · · Score: 1

    Did he reveal privileged information? They use satellites to transmit data? Perhaps some people think Navy Destroyers tow a really, really long fiber optic cable, or use a very, very big speaker to transmit through the ocean?

    The volume-control for those very, very big speakers goes to 11.

  22. Re:That's a bit narrow-minded, I think on How Romanian Fortune Tellers Used Google To Fleece Victims · · Score: 1

    I'm an engineer and been atheist my whole life, so I don't believe in horoscopes/crystals/palm reading/etc... However, I've found that I immensely enjoy occasional tarot sessions. I don't believe any of that outside those sessions but every once in a while, it's nice to meet someone more spiritual than I am, light a few candles, smoke a bit of tobacco from a bong, engage in the whole tarot ritual (sliding fingers on the deck, etc.), have her read the cards for me and then reflect on how to interpret that all based on my history and expectations for the future.

    It's almost therapeutic to completely suspend your disbelief every once in a while and get in touch with the spiritual side (I think that there is a certain mental state that every human - no matter how skeptic, etc. - can achieve if they want to... and it's pretty pleasant, really). As long as you keep it at that and don't ever start to think that you could actually make important decisions based on all that, it's pretty much the most harmless source of enjoyment that there is.

    Sounds like you use tarot readings as a more-fun therapy session: reflecting on what's going on in your life, where you'd like to head, and what to do about it. As long as you treat it more like a campy discussion & less like mystical powers, you're in good shape.

  23. If you don't intend to commit the first strike, there's no reason to build missile defenses. No one is going to attack us, because we can destroy them easily if they did. The only possible application of missile defense is to enable us to make the first strike, and defend against retaliation.

    Exactly - that's why there have never been any suicide bombers, and why no one has ever shot at armed police or troops.

    People desperate to take or keep power sometimes do desperate things.

    MAD relies on everyone potentially in charge of nuclear missiles to be rational.

    These 2 things are slightly incompatible. MAD has held up surprisingly well, but as the landscape changes from US-vs-USSR to multiple players, it gets messier.

  24. Re:More lifeboats. on Australian Billionaire Plans To Build Titanic II · · Score: 2

    Just a suggestion, but this time try having lifeboat space for every passenger, not every other passenger?

    As history teaches us, the reason the Titanic sinking was a disaster, and not just a misfortune was that it had enough lifeboats for the government regulations of the day, which is to say, one person-space in a lifeboat for every two passengers.

    Just build Titanic III at the same time, and have it cruise alongside empty.

    If Titanic II starts sinking, leave the buffet, grab your luggage, stroll across the walkway to Titanic III, find your cabin (you'll keep the same cabin number) and Bob's your uncle.

  25. Re:Mark Advertisements as Such on On Slashdot Video, We Hear You Loud and Clear · · Score: 1

    With a title of "How Much Stuff Can Timothy Jam Into His New Hoodie's Pockets? (Video)" you'd think most people would not expect a serious review...

    I love the complaint about the video just being Timothy stuffing things in his pockets for 40 seconds. That's pretty much what I expected based on the title alone!