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User: bussdriver

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  1. I used to buy cheap macs for a little more on Mac Tax, Dell Tax, HP Tax · · Score: 1

    I used to get the "bang" for my buck by buying older USED macs on ebay. Because they retain their value more than PCs they would come out about the same or even a little more than a comparable PC being sold NEW. Since apple doesn't sell old hardware at low prices the only way to get around this is to buy used macs on old hardware and low prices.

    Nice thing was that I could flip them for less than leasing the things and not have a pile of older computers to recycle. They also worked more reliably than the cheapo old-hardware PCs despite being used.

  2. Educated Guess on The Global Warming Heretic · · Score: 1

    The educated guess is the "cliff."

    Its a simple matter of perspective; its a matter of scope. Accuracy does not apply:

    A "bowl" being a "zoomed out" out longer term perspective. Seeing the lowest/worst point and the recovery; in a longer time scale.

    A "cliff" would be seeing the downward slope and possibly not even looking as far as the lowest point. (Once you accelerate too fast it doesn't matter when you go splat! Once the climate gets screwed and creatures die it DOES matter if can get worse; however, in terms of prevention; its too late, you lost.)

    Neither perspective is WRONG. They could agree but get hung up arguing over nothing; I've seen science nerds do this plenty of times on many things.

    You can have your bowl-- but I'd rather not be pushing towards the LOW POINT-- I'd rather be slowing it down and widening out that curve to the transition is slower; if not preventing the whole thing in the 1st place (which is too late at this point... doesn't mean we should be accelerating and deepening the bottom.)

    If there is nothing we can do about it (which is false) we do not require 110% to try to do something about it.

    Why do we make futile attempts to stabilize and secure computers? They always have holes and they always crash. Why bother!
    I work hopelessly to prevent crashes and data loss so when it does happen its not as bad/deep and not as often. It still happens anyhow. I don't think about the "bowl" when thinking about prevention because it doesn't matter that I can reboot or replace parts and rebound. I do think about it in terms of patience and not going into a panic-- the "bowl" perspective isn't wrong-- prevention and minimizing is the same solution for both.

  3. Green is not 10x the price on The Global Warming Heretic · · Score: 1

    I will concede that it is likely RESPONSIBLE energy will cost more but that much; at some point it might be on par. Chicken or Egg.

    You should read into Cost Externalization.

    I can't regularly eat fish caught in any lake in my state because mercury from the coal plants have ruined the lakes and I've seen it gradually getting worse every decade. That is a real example of an externalized cost-- so if I want fish I have to pay more for it (if you catch it is free;) aside from the non-monetary costs I doubt you care about. My nephew is autistic, possibly a result higher levels of mercury... Not that we will ever solve the impacts of toxins to even half the consensus of global warming... so drink up and have another smoke!!

    Massive government welfare is always included for conventional power but never for the alt power.

    Nuclear: never ever has been profitable; they milk the tax payers. Its that simple.

    Coal: gov subsidizes collection and the building of plants; some even get free money for upgrades!

    Hydro: gov subsidizes building; its probably the cheapest conventional power source we have and its "green" but limited areas. However, they can be used for baseload power storage.

    Wind: a few tax credits in a few areas for not that many years; yet they've been around for decades "competing" on their own merit anyhow.

    You sound so short sighted and selfish I shouldn't waste my time... Wind / Solar / Hydro have ZERO FUEL COSTS. I can't believe how often people forget the obvious, its like they think coal just rains down from the sky... A Coal plant takes years to pay for itself but then it STILL has to buy FUEL. A wind farm takes years to pay for itself but it NEVER needs to buy fuel. Even with a higher startup cost, in the long term it wins. Its a simple problem of Maintenance (wind) vs Fuel + Maintenance (coal+plant.) Wind farms don't require as many maintenance engineers (not low paid) and operate without workers. Wind wins.

    Bats are a problem. Birds are not. I won't argue this point because its the class fallacy: False Dilemma. Its like arguing that drinking sewage is no better than drinking poison. More "GREEN" doesn't have to be perfectly GREEN, just better. I suppose you want an SUV until the perpetual motion engine is perfected?

    You sound like an American.

  4. WW3. IT HAPPENED on UN Attacks Free Speech · · Score: 1

    The UN helps prevent old-style world wars which is what it was designed to do. It does not prevent all war nor does it prevent new kinds of war; including purely economic warfare or the current class war by the banks.

    The Cold War killed about as many as WW1 although its difficult to estimate how much higher since it was a new kind of conflict. Just because it wasn't a massive genocide between the Capitalists and Communists doesn't mean it shouldn't be considered a real WAR by multiple proxies. In a way it was more civil because conventional war would have possibly wiped out mankind.

  5. God doesn't understand Thermal Dynamics either on The Global Warming Heretic · · Score: 1

    They will never figure it out but do agree on our impact on the system, which isn't too difficult to understand if you read into the subject a little. (FYI: air is less dense)

    Any kung fu fan knows it only takes a small push in the right place to take down the largest bad-guy... We don't have to change the whole system just nudge it over the cliff; it might have been going that way anyhow-- but we may as well nudge it in the RIGHT DIRECTION instead of the wrong one. Why contribute to the problem?

    GREEN ENERGY WORKS TODAY. It can be done. You only illustrate your ignorance by saying its impossible with current technology. Base load power can initially be done old ways because we can't just flip instantly. There is a WHOLE NEW INDUSTRY in power storage just waiting to get going that doesn't require new inventions... from flow batteries to flywheels -- they are in use already without an economy of scale or massive corporate welfare (like nuclear power completely depends upon.)

    Besides, we need a bubble to pull us out of the last economic bubble... (since the system is not getting fixed anyhow) We will have troubles in the USA if the world doesn't desperately need OIL and its because OIL is sold in DOLLARS that most the world wants the worthless things. Undermine OIL and you undermine the US Dollar. Other nations are moving already; we will not see it coming because that is the American way.

    1 calorie of food takes 10 calories of Oil/Coal.

  6. Chicken vs Egg on Site Compatibility and IE8 · · Score: 1

    No argument.

    1) There is more than Sun's JVM.

    2) Cisco's IP call center app I looked at long ago was java based and sun's java wasn't visibly present or pre-installed.

    3) Before your time, there was windows 95, windows NT and windows 3.1. They were a larger majority of the market than windows has today and MOST of them had no WEB BROWSER or PPP setup! Yes, there was a time when people had to install a web browser and/or configure and install network hardware/software to get on the internet-- all of these processes being more difficult due to the lack of internet access or default support for it. Did that stop us from making websites?? nope.

    3.5) Firefox is dead on the web! Blakey Rat just said so! not having it on windows by default is "alone enough to declare Firefox dead on the web."

    4) Market share stats are skewed. Most such stats are based upon SALES; of which, business and government comprise a super majority. Consumers are a different group but the numbers often lump them together. Then there are data centers...

  7. Re:Never see it in the US on World-First VDSL2 Demo Gets 500Mbps Data Transfers · · Score: 1

    And to all you EuroTrash: you are welcome you are not speaking German now. (Well, except Germany).

    Anybody notice these kind of "historians" usually lack any real understanding of history? I notice they often do not understand Nationalism or Patriotism if not equate the two! Besides being the center of the world, they think the USA did all the fighting in WW2.

    Aside from the fact that hardly anybody posting online was involved in WW2 and can't legitimately take credit for a previous generations' efforts helping another previous generation.

    Naturally, the USA would have been able to take on Nazi Russia (or Communist Germany) when they invaded the USA a few decades later with The Bomb we didn't develop in a panic because we stayed out of the war and they had the time to complete their research. (If Hitler didn't run his nuke program like competing corporations they would have gotten further.)

  8. huh? Java is all over the place. on Site Compatibility and IE8 · · Score: 1

    You probably have java and just do not know it yet (windows user?) Apple has JVM and JVMs with Linux is going to become common.

    The biggest programming language has been Java for years now. I've seen "windows" apps that install a JVM and with some integration most users can not tell the difference (some app-specific JVMs, others system wide.)

    Nothing says you must install a system wide JVM library. Browsers can include their own tweaked JVM, its open sourced now. It doesn't have to be a do-everything JVM (the browser could choose-- like Firefox does with the integrated SVG library.)

    BTW, your cell phone may have JVM on it. Those are not massively huge and slow...

  9. Re:Bring back JAVA on Site Compatibility and IE8 · · Score: 1

    1) Swing sucks. there are alternatives. See Eclipse.

    6) Java is not too big. Its not currently engineered at all for this environment. Flash is almost a whole platform now. The MS attack on Flash is going to take it more towards being a new kind of applet with MOTIVES to undermine DHTML; if not a side result.

    Javascript IS ALREADY "Java light" (its how you want to think about the problem; a fast interpreted java inspired language would come out a lot like Javascript.)

    7) Java has a beefy security model and runs outside the browser. Flash (any plug-in) lives in browser memory space and can do anything the browser can. One of Google's Chrome browser biggest features was plug-in separation for stability and security. Java does it now.

  10. Re:Bring back JAVA on Site Compatibility and IE8 · · Score: 1

    Not to burst bubbles...but
    No, last I looked Mozilla was the only one with some undocumented project to give some DOM access to Java. Perhaps there is a javascript bridge that could be done because I know they added onto nsplugin for javascript plugin interaction.

    Transparency on embedded content has always been a problem even for the well integrated Flash. I agree they should fix this; but its rendering engine and speed issues that have prevented this from the beginning.

    The Flash plug-in is always loaded in ram. Even if they unload it, so many web pages contain flash content its likely that the plug-in is loaded all the time. The JVM could be running...

    Also, the JVM setup already mimics google's chrome in that they don't run in browser memory space-- downsides... but at least it can't crash the browser all the time like Flash does.

    nsplugin API is less than half the market; active-X takes the majority... We know MS won't go for this; especially if it undermines their flash contender... They would love the web to migrate away from HTML.

    VIDEO / AUDIO will get tighter in HTML 5.

  11. Bring back JAVA on Site Compatibility and IE8 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    JAVA: ahead of its time! NOW the things we want to do are what it could have been doing way before Flash could have filled the demand.

    Applets were dismissed back when our needs were simple and our computers were slow.

    1) Javascript is SLOWER than JAVA! (browser and flash use it)

    2) Flash started out as a vector graphics format; now its a Director/HyperCard mess that is moving towards becoming an Applet platform itself. Flash 10 is NOT anywhere near the same as Flash 1. Its not just an animation format.

    3) We have battles over JavaScript 2 at ECMA trying to turn JavaScript into a clone of Java and now the browsers are runtime compiling the script-- next will we start seeing pre-compiled javascript bytecode? (Maybe in Flash?)

    4) "safe" platform independent access to web cams and audio hardware-- we have people running ARToolkit in FLASH from a webcam in real time! Its not a vector format anymore... its another kind of applet.

    5) Java Applets need better integration; they've not progressed since people dismissed them in the 90s. Now its open; we should be trying to integrate it; catch up to where it should have been now if it were not so ahead of its time.

    6) Java was designed to take on massive projects; flash and javascript are not. Java Applets should get DOM access so complex web apps can be made without making javascript a rerun of java-- this means tight integration and FASTER startup times. It could be done.

    7) New formats can be done using Java without installing client-side plug-ins. Sure, it is not quite as fast and has overhead; these issues can be addressed-- Flash games are not so simple to startup-- its pre-loaded with the browser... and it has built-in loading screens... Java sure beats being unable to access something in Flash 10 when your setup is too old to install Flash 10. JVM is open now; flash is still risky (and crashes my browser more than anything else.)

  12. Re:you are not looking on Microsoft Says IE Faster Than Chrome and Firefox · · Score: 1

    1) If I don't allow FLASH, my Firefox runs for MONTHS until it gets too slow with all the add-ons or restart it to update it. Or my Mac OS acts up and I reboot or update it.

    2) Start up time? who cares. If you do: Safari loads fast because frameworks upon which it depends are also used by the OS; which comprises the majority of Safari. It is not a result of anti-competitive behavior --unlike MS IE which was integrated to take over the web (the technical merits of doing so were extremely weak and not much better today.)

    3) Failed rendering of VALID content does not count. MSIE CSS hacks invalidate the TEST (even if they are just to fix IE its not a balanced test to include 'optimized' data...)

    4) Javascript. A whole world in itself. VALID DOM support without hacks-- has MSIE finally caught up with DOM2 yet?

    5) Compilers. Different compilers and the flags can greatly impact results. Can't compile on gcc? Well, so much for a real comparison. Are runtime profiles used? are those similar? Not easy to really benchmark something is it?

    6) How about somebody make speedboostIE.com which hacks into MSIE to run webkit instead-- making all subsequent surfing much faster! But seriously, its possible the ORDERING of the test pages and the length of test session impact the results (memory leaks + low ram for example.)

  13. Moore's Observation = Godwin's Law for Technology on IE8 May Be End of the Line For Internet Explorer · · Score: 1

    All complexity is NOT linear.

    These are observations not laws. Given how its a 2D problem, its estimated growth is not that surprising.

  14. Simple solution: 2nd user on Obama Helicopter Security Breached By File Sharing · · Score: 1

    I run any questionable software like p2p under a secondary user and leave it running in the background as that user. Never touches my stuff unless there is a successful attack against the OS in the software or I fudge up my own user's permissions.

    There needs to be more use of JAILs like FreeBSD and Apple have (not that it solves all the problems either. forget suexec etc. BTW, virtual machines for security means your OS is not good enough.)

    Sure, its not super secure but then I don't have their needs and I want to be able to run some applications that use the internet...

    I chalk this up to the network admin's fault. Fire them! You shouldn't need a specialist in networking unless you want to prevent this sort of thing-- its part of their JOB DESCRIPTION. (Sorry, but networking shouldn't be so complex that a full time position is required unless you have special needs.)

  15. Re:Natural selection on Crocodiles With Frickin' Magnets Attached to Their Heads · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How about we shoot the humans who threaten animals with their careless abuse of the earth? After a few generations we'll have fool-adverse humans!?

  16. Look for it in the nearbye trashcan on Microsoft Secret Prototype Phone Stolen · · Score: 1

    The pickpocket thought he was stealing an iPhone but shortly afterward noticed it was not an iPhone and chucked it into the trash.

    Or...

    The pickpocket tried to use the phone and couldn't get it to work and didn't want to follow a wizard in order to use a phone... then the phone crashed. "F**k it! I'm getting an iPhone."

  17. totally predictable on NVIDIA Responds To Intel Suit · · Score: 1

    Many of us saw this coming over 5+ years ago. CPUs get more parallel due to technical and cost reasons while GPUs become more flexible to the point where they are programmable. The CELL processor design was the first big leap in this convergence that is now clearly happening (like anything that far ahead of the curve, its different and not anywhere near as successful as the designers hoped.)

    Its totally expected that intel will have so many processor cores that they will start to tackle GPU sized problems; poorly, but intel has a history of using brute force over clever design (manufacturing talent aside.)

    GPUs will get so flexible that they will almost resemble a well designed parallel cpu-- giving them an edge because they are not shoving an old idea into a new niche; they are evolving within their niche + someday adding on some cpu abilities (which could perform poorly, but those don't matter whole lot for typical usage.)

    If you designed a general purpose parallel CPU, you'd work around the common use cases for that CPU-- and the most common operations that benefit greatly from parallelism are GPU friendly problems. Less common OR less speed intensive operations become less important.

    Therefore, a flexible GPU could have CPU abilities added onto it and while the CPU part may run slower with it being an afterthought in the design-- it only needs to run about as well as a cheap CPU does today to handle 99.9% of the software used today. As apps get optimized they will try to exploit the programmable GPU just as they are trying to exploit multiple CPUs today (the line between the two will blur more over time.)

  18. Ah, "scientists"... on Acquired Characteristics May Be Inheritable · · Score: 1

    Too many people are in need of that part of religion that explains the unknown of the tangible world. Science fills this need where religion once did (for some people) and they have a tendency to act in similar irrational ways about the secure illusion provided by science as they would have before its popularity.

    Science knows nothing (metaphor, science literally is just a methodology.)

    It knows and finds truth better than any other human tool but it is still quite limited and very young (it's still run on humans.)

    We just started in this field; 150 years ago it was a big deal to even say there was some logical connection between species. We know a little bit about DNA and now we think we know everything... and are creating mutants and releasing them in the wild arrogantly thinking we are improving upon nature.

    Yet we can act like know-it-alls with the infinitely complex chaotic real world!

    There is a great deal to discover and some of it may be beyond human comprehension-- which is limited by how well we can abstract complex ideas and how fast we can learn them.

    We can't even master computer science, which is 100% man made and extremely exacting unlike the other sciences.

  19. Re:That is not what you think :-) on Scientists Map Neanderthal Genome · · Score: 1

    I thought Neanderthals had bigger brains?

    Perhaps they were non violent and ugly so we killed them off. We tend to wipe out things quite well by our nature...

  20. Re:Three options on How To Keep Rats From Eating My Cables? · · Score: 1

    I heard about this guy who had a rat DIE in the wall and stink up the whole house. It wasn't cheap to pay somebody to find, remove it and then rebuild the wall.

  21. Re:Nukes suck. period. on Progress On Electric Cars · · Score: 1

    There is more to say; back your false statements up with some numbers! You could find an expert (as I did) and ask them and get yourself informed.

    Simply put my ignorant friend:

    Government greatly subsidizes nuclear power and did for the whole history of it along the whole chain from the ground to waste storage. Without government welfare it couldn't be profitable without raising the price of energy. Not to mention the high regulation and security costs involved that are a mandatory part of the industry which government pays for as well.

    Cheap nuclear is forever 5 years away. I want it proven; 60 years of scamming the public demands it.

  22. Top 10 on A Gates Foundation Education Initiative Fizzles · · Score: 1

    Well, I am an educator from a long line of them.

    1) Educators often forget how to learn and change

    2) Nobody will figure out education until we figure out how the human brain functions (never.)

    3) Business and Government have no bearing on education; just because you went to school does not make you an expert on education. (To be fair, it doesn't mean you can't have good ideas to contribute-- just because you spend money doesn't make you an economist... and they aren't too much better at it.) Gates didn't really solve any big problems in computers; don't know why anybody thinks he'd solve any in education (its not a business - and business is the man's talent.)

    4) Students are the #1 problem. But in America, its everybody else who is always at fault.... A healthy motivated student can learn despite the teacher or even without any teacher. Sorry, can't flunk 70% of the class for NOT doing their homework anymore...That USED to happen and students knew they couldn't game the system. Consequences have been weakened with the support of modern society.

    5) Psychology, homelife, and parenting ALL are the most powerful factors in a student's career. We seriously need to make each student see a shrink as part of the process (maybe then we can find/cure the nutters??) Can't fix the parents/environment; they are too entrenched, but you can help the student overcome it. That will never happen, it would scare too many sicko parents...

    6) Attention Span. More importantly, DELAYED GRATIFICATION. HUGE MASSIVE problems in modern society that undermine education. "Laws are but sand, culture is rock." -Mark Twain

    7) Culture. State colleges actually have funding influenced by how well their sports teams do! I rest my case. Oh, around here in my childhood it was normal to say you can't do math-- even teachers did it! (we don't dare say we can't read...)

    8) Teaching styles/talents vs learning styles. One size does NOT fit all. Its not about "advanced" classes for kids with addictions to good grades (who in the end are not as successful as students without the addiction.) Students should match with the methods and even better, the student should discover what works best for them so they can educate themselves (which is largely what one does in college.)

    9) Technology. Its a distraction. We have nearly everything we have without any technology involved education. Clearly the "old" methods worked quite well.

    10) Social classes. Some people do not need higher education. Higher education is not for everybody. Not all kinds fit all professions. A car mechanic is more of an apprenticeship learning model and they should be respected for what they do. It takes a different set of skills despite it being extremely similar to I.T. Support which gets much more respect.

    Real-world computer science is a myth; its much more software engineering and forms of computer support/technician. CS can continue as a Math degree as it started; but the others are far more appropriate as a apprenticeship model or hybrid. Again, society will promote the 4 year degree because it looks better than the latter even though it doesn't produce as well. (CS degrades over time into a trade school program because they don't want to lose it; it doesn't fit anymore and hacking it to fit is..a hack. Its like refusing to change coordinate systems and working extra hard in the wrong model.)

    I also fail to see what is so bad about learning basic business, accounting, investment, economics in high school so everybody knows how to start their own business, fill out their taxes and balance their budget. Even the garbage man (who is important) has to deal with such matters.

    Sorry, just the top 10 off the top of my head. I'm sure I could write up something better if I put in the effort.

  23. Nukes suck. period. on Progress On Electric Cars · · Score: 0

    It makes far more sense working on those "never ready" green technologies that are perpetually 5 years away than it makes sense working on similar mythical clean coal and next-gen nuclear technologies.

    Nuclear power never was profitable and likely will not be in a generation or more. It costs so much more than most everything else its amazing it has continued as long as it has (government fits the bill to prop up the industry.)

  24. just forget it! on We're In Danger of Losing Our Memories · · Score: 1

    Most the web can just be forgotten. its junk.

    Bush and the Olympics have official archives that may even be in print-- although Bush's is lacking bunches of "lost" information that wouldn't have gotten on the website anyhow.

    WORTHY information should be archived just as before; possible to even print it to paper should we knock ourselves backwards technologically (hey, I'm being positive and hoping somebody survives besides the insects.)

    Do we need to remember Obama girl? There is more than enough mainstream coverage of that being archived already...

  25. Its not so hard on Comcast's Congestion Catch-22 · · Score: 1

    ISPs need to be held responsible for the bandwidth they sell! If they can't do it then they shouldn't advertise it.

    ISPs should NOT be allowed to legally prioritize any traffic. This does NOT exclude the ability for ME to prioritize my OWN traffic making it my responsibility and freedom.

    Now you network minded people will say: How do they know what traffic of yours is important to you when you and your neighbors peak above the base guaranteed rates they advertise?
    The solution is more simple than many of the schemes they are trying or wishing to implement in the future: user flagged prioritization!

    You flag your important traffic yourself they guarantee up to the advertised amount bandwidth will not be dropped.

    Problem solved. If you flag too much they have the right to drop anything over the limit just like they can (have done and may be still doing) with not prioritized data we have today.