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User: gumbi+west

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  1. Re:My Conspiracy Theory: American Agribusiness on Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him · · Score: 1
    Can you explain how dropping a $0.54/gallon tariff decreases the price by more than $1.20?

    I'd also like to point out that NO politician from grain belt states would ever propose this or do anything but fight tooth and nail to stop it. This is what keeps many businesses alive.

    It also may be worth something to slow the destruction of the rainforest.

  2. Re:Open and Shut on Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Did you read the article? Among the "review process" censored things like data and the conclusion that 2005 was the warmest year on record in 100 years. Can you explain how that is okay? Then they canceled interviews with this gentlemen. Then they allowed interviews AND PLOICY RECOMENDATIONS from a scientist who's views agree with thie Bush world view.

    The problem is that they have learned that if they do one thing and say another, it works and people buy what you said so long as everyone has the same story and repeats it (and only it) in interviews. But it's the actual things they are doing, not what they say they do that matter, right?

    To be fair, I think when I read the article earlier, it was lighter on actual problems and inconsistencies in their story. Now, it is to the point.

  3. Re:So wait... on Crank Blogging, Like Phone Calling, Now Illegal · · Score: 2, Funny

    There are so many situations where I see this problem that I think that it would be useful.

  4. Re:Is it ever worth it? on Dell Selling 30" Flat Panels · · Score: 1

    I don't have to zoom, but others may have to, it's true. I also typically edit text when looking at so much and text dosn't require any toolboxes or what not. The only time I want more space is when using an IDE because they burn screen space like it grew on trees.

  5. Re:Is it ever worth it? on Dell Selling 30" Flat Panels · · Score: 1

    eh, I can see two full pages great on Apples 20", you don't need to go to the 23" even.

  6. Re:Urban rescue? on Military Device Will Sense Through Concrete Walls · · Score: 1

    Parent has it dead on because the National Debt has been seriously padded by the over 1/2 trillion budget of the Military. The cost of the interest only on the debt is About 300 billion per year, so we get to pay for it twice! That's right, on average each American pays over one thousand dollars per year to pay for the interst on the debt. Anyway, if you gave be 1/2 trillion dollars a year, I'd be able to do a lot better than a few inneficient cars and some satelites.

  7. Re:like having my grandma rate sports cars on MySQL Beats Commercial Databases in Labs Test · · Score: 1
    you may want to look at the mysql website again, the remaining differences between their ANSI compliant mode and the standard seem like slim pickings for a critic.

    Also, partitioning has been in there forever as has memory tuning.

    I frequently do approximately what you are talking about and MySQL returns almost instantly. The main problem I have is latency, which may be in my network but I think is more likely in the server.

  8. Re:Microsoft addresses Windows security concerns on The Microsoft Protection Racket · · Score: 1
    Here is why Mac OS is far better than windows. When I find a bug in windows, they ask me to pay to file a bug report. When I find a bug in the Mac OS, they just take my bug report and tell me when it is fixed.

    I had a similarly great experience with some OSS that I use where I just reported the bug, the developer who answered said thanks, and told me when it was fixed (I was even given the date it was first in a nightly).

    BTW, the bug was that explorer couldn't display a png256 of maybe a png_mono that was correctly formatted, generated by gost script--a real bug, pilot error. But I didn't even get that far with them... just $xx / issue was all the person would tell me. (I still get phone support from Apple for my 1999 iMac for free, at least for a minute or two).

  9. Re:Google Searching For Tax Break? (news article) on Google-NASA Partnership Backlash · · Score: 1

    I noticed that too. It's like saying--well, we missmanaged our money before so now we need you to bail us out. There is just one time cost savings in not paying pension liabilities, so they were essentially spending too much or not taxing enough (read pandering). This publicity stunt looks to be along a new but alo pandering line--don't fix the problem, blame someone else.

  10. Re:California charges it on States Push to Collect Online Sales Tax · · Score: 1

    Thanks for pointing out the date of the study, it certainly is a bit dated, your state's tax structure may have changed. None the less, I'm think it probably gives a reasonable idea of the income distribution in your state (notably, for married couples only). I too disagree with the exclusion of outliers, I'm not sure that's consistent with with using a SRS.

  11. Re:California charges it on States Push to Collect Online Sales Tax · · Score: 1
    You can look at their methodology where the say they use a stratified simple random sample, which is a good technique. You, on the other hand, used a convenyance sample with n=1. More likely though is that you don't realize (as in don't get to deduct or forgot you get to deduct) some deductions such as health care premiums, retirement decudtions, and the standard or itemized deductions. Also, don't forget, your marginal income tax is not your income tax. Back to sampling, you also have to realize that many people in your tax bracket may be getting unearned money (investement profit) which is often taxed at a lower rate (making you unrepresentitive).

    Maybe you could peek at the methodology and see if you disagree with it.

  12. Re:It is only a matter of time on States Push to Collect Online Sales Tax · · Score: 0, Troll
    Well, there is another option. In The last three Republican's terms as President, spending has risen faster than tax revenue--they have been unable to control the deficit. In the last Democrats, we ballanced the budget.

    And yes, this is the President's responsibility, the propose the budget and it mainly gets tweaked--not grossly altered.

  13. Re:California charges it on States Push to Collect Online Sales Tax · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm not sure that I understand how you come to the conclusion that opportunity is everyone's for the taking. Have you read nickel and dimed? It is true that when you are rich, things are easy and getting ahead is easy. Just look at the President, every business he owned crashed and burned, and yet people gave him more money. The only business that he did right by was a baseball team that he got government subsidys for.

  14. Re:California charges it on States Push to Collect Online Sales Tax · · Score: 1
    Well, 85k/yr is about 80th percentile or look for your state and $130 is 95th percentile. Notice that most rich people pay LESS fractional tax!!! That's right, poor people pay a larger relative fraction in state taxes than rich people.

    Which relates to any tax on internet sales. Guess who uses the internet a lot? That's right... I'm not sure why poor people should have to pay more in taxes to make up for middle class and rich people buying over the internet and decreasing revenue.

  15. Re:Altavista worked for me on Can Microsoft Out-Google Google? · · Score: 1
    I guess we just don't see eye to eye on this one. Before google, I didn't use the web much for pages I didn't alreay know the address of.

    For a search, it was a sort of last resort. Altavista was the only search I knew and it worked from time to time too. A library was far superior.

    Now, I start with google and I rarely end up at the library or bookstore (granted, I have online access to just about all journals and many other resources through my university).

  16. Re: Is the Firefox Honemoon Over? on Is The Firefox Honeymoon Over? · · Score: 1

    maybe the optimizer removed the extranious step.

  17. Re:Considerable on MIT Researches Map Cell Phone Usage · · Score: 1

    Can you tell me what you think is reasonable about using a light and expecting others not to look for it's glow? I'm not talking about the actual decryption of the communications, just the glow.

  18. Re:altavista on Can Microsoft Out-Google Google? · · Score: 1
    my question, restated without vernacular, is "who had a search that got me the pages I wanted before google." The (rhetorical) answer was, "nobody." It was intended to be a counterfactual to your definition.

    The point is that google's core product was an inovation, searches that worked. Put it this way. my last altavista search was in 199? and was, "high performance liquid chromatography" this turned up nothing I wanted and lots of garbage. Google gave me what I wanted, I switched. BTW, the first result for that search was just fine, so just a few seconds ago is the last time my best result was first. It still is the rule (for me), but we probably search for different stuff, and it is true that I now start with longer searches than I used to.

  19. Re:Are you ready? on Ready For the Big Mac Virus? · · Score: 1
    The point is that I download maybe 500 webpages a day, I submit maybe 50 forms a day (google search), I submite maybe 20 secure forms per day (emails), but I'm not likely to download even a single app in a day. probably more like 1 per week (including firefox updates) or 1 per month for non-patch apps.

    that said, what apps do you like?

  20. Re:Considerable on MIT Researches Map Cell Phone Usage · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Sorry, so you think that you should be able to carry around a radio transmitter, on and broadcasting, and the other people shoulnd't be able to look for it?

    Where is the reasonable expectation of privacy? The only way I see reasonable expectation of privacy is if a law is specifically passed that says that you have it, and I could see this come to pass if everyone gets cell phones and uses them primarily. But until then, your claim is about as odd as asking other people not to notice the RF equivalent of flashlight strapped to your head.

  21. Re:to Google: on Can Microsoft Out-Google Google? · · Score: 1

    and who was the one that had a websearch that got pages worth something before google?

  22. Re:competition on Can Microsoft Out-Google Google? · · Score: 1

    How can they do this? If IE7 is standards-compliant, it won't load most of the pages out there! What are they going to do about that? Also, will it be standards compliant just like how Word's format is XML and accessable?

  23. Re:competition on Can Microsoft Out-Google Google? · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure sure. Google's market capet (or "mkt cap", defined here) is only 3 1/2 times smaller and they just got all the money recently. On the otherhand, Microsoft got it's money a long time ago and has spent quite a bit of it.

  24. Re:Are you ready? on Ready For the Big Mac Virus? · · Score: 1

    Except that you almost never download an application (or I don't) and when I do, I know I am, so I would read it and accept. If it was something like "this file may contain code that can run on your machine and later eat all your files..." then you would be right.

  25. Re:4 out of 5 swinging dicks recommend... on Laser Cannons Coming to an F-16 Near You · · Score: 1

    Uh, a steering wheel is great for avoiding an RPG, except the problem is locating them, not destroying them.