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User: gurps_npc

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  1. "controlled for confounding factors"... on Video Gamers From the '90s Have Turned Out Mostly OK (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    In other words, the study conclusively showed that the idiots had cause and effect backwards: Violent kids liked violent video games, rather than violent video games turned kids violent.. Which is what most intelligent people realized was going on long ago.

  2. Re:So much bull, so little space... on Marco Rubio Wants To Permanently Extend NSA Mass Surveillance (nationaljournal.com) · · Score: 1

    I want to apologize. In my other reply I got a bit mean. I do not think you are ignorant, just that you made an honest mistake.

  3. Re:So much bull, so little space... on Marco Rubio Wants To Permanently Extend NSA Mass Surveillance (nationaljournal.com) · · Score: 1
    Well now, that was a very interesting link you sent to me. If I had not seen that the link was for the RESULTS of the 2014 Senate race, I would have been convinced. But as it is, your link simply demonstrates total ignorance, rather than any of my predictions being wrong.

    The information I gave was taken from the following page:

    http://www.270towin.com/2016-s...

    Please note that it is for the year 2016, not 2014

  4. Re:So much bull, so little space... on Marco Rubio Wants To Permanently Extend NSA Mass Surveillance (nationaljournal.com) · · Score: 2
    That is patently false. They will almost certainly keep the House. But the Senate is another matter.

    There are 34 seats up for vote, 2/3 of them being GOP seats (They won a ton of seats 6 years ago after the Democrats voted Obamacare into effect).

    The GOP has a 4 vote majority in the Senate now. But ignoring the seats that are basically locked in, the GOP has a 3 vote lead, 47 to 44. That leaves That leaves nine seats that are too close to call - Colorado, Nevada, Florida, New Hampshire, Pennslyvania, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin and Illinois.

    Obama won all of those states except for North Carolina. Worse, the GOP has a crisis of faith right now with 'outsider' candidates meaning the GOP can NOT get the assured turnout. Assuming Hillary wins, the well known effect of the president increasing senate and congress wins, It is likely that the Democrats will win at least 6 out of the 9 senate races in doubt. That puts them in charge of the senate again.

    Granted, 2 years from now in the mid year election, that is likely to revert back to the GOP.

  5. So much bull, so little space... on Marco Rubio Wants To Permanently Extend NSA Mass Surveillance (nationaljournal.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Security Fundamental lessons of 9/11/2001: 1) Shoot down any plane if terrorists take it over. 2) Do not ignore notifications that known terrorist are in the states and taking flying lessons. 3) Communicate between agencies. 4) Bolt shot airplane cockpits.

    Security lessons in the post 9/11 world: 1) Airline metal detection is worthless. 2) Espionage is more useful against Congress than against lone wolf terrorists. 3) It is very easy to use the threat of terrorism to get elected.

    Also, throw in some bull about a 'new GOP dominated Senate' on the ridiculous belief that you will win, when the majority of polls continue to show the Democrats leading, and that the GOP would rather vote for crazy people like Trump and Cruz than elect a competent person.

  6. Re:Still more than minimum wage. on Survey: Average Successful Hack Nets Less Than $15,000 (csoonline.com) · · Score: 1
    Not really. flipping burgers has major advantages in terms of future consequences. Doing crimes has a higher chances of death, imprisonment, and similar issues.

    Flipping burgers had a much higher chance of career advancement - having a criminal record severely limits your options, while burger flipper can end up owning their own shop. The higher you go in the criminal enterprise, the worse the consequences - most die before they hit 40.

  7. Re:Same thing happens in dating on Open Source Pioneer Michael Tiemann On the Myth of the Average · · Score: 2
    While I agree with your statement I have to respond with this:

    If you are looking for someone with no 'undealt' personal issues, may I suggest you check Narnia, Atlantis, and Krypton - because you aren't living in the real world.

  8. Same thing happens in dating on Open Source Pioneer Michael Tiemann On the Myth of the Average · · Score: 5, Interesting
    People do things like say "I only want someone with > average height, > average salary,

    They get 3 people - one of which is married, one gay, and the other refuses to date someone as tall/fat/stupid/poor as them.

    People just don't understand the selectivity of multiple and requirements.

  9. Re:Not a problem, nothing to see here on T-Mobile's Binge On Violates Net Neutrality, Says Stanford Report (tmonews.com) · · Score: 1
    Yes, they have a say - just as NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX all have a say about who wins the streaming content over radio business.

    That by itself is NOT bad.

    It is simply a business.

    If T Mobile was someone to prevent a competitor from offering a similar free internet service, that would be bad.

  10. Re:Not a problem, nothing to see here on T-Mobile's Binge On Violates Net Neutrality, Says Stanford Report (tmonews.com) · · Score: 1
    Extort? Going to companies and trying to convince them to pay for access to customers of your free service is called running an Advertising based business.

    Extortion requires a threat. Offering a service is not a threat. It becomes a threat when you REMOVE or take away something. Binge On is not removing or taking away anything.

  11. Not a problem, nothing to see here on T-Mobile's Binge On Violates Net Neutrality, Says Stanford Report (tmonews.com) · · Score: 1
    The main difference between Binge on and other services that DID violate Net Neutrality is that Binge on is free.

    Any company in the world is allowed to offer free services to people. That is not a problem.

    The problem was when you charged customers for X, but then refused to give them X because company Y refused to pay you.

    By making Binge On free, they have neatly avoided Net Neutrality problems.

    No one has the right to charge me for X and then refuse to give me X because company Y doesn't pay you. But if you are giving my X for free, you can limit it however you desire.

  12. Compare with actual Conspiracies on Math Says Conspiracies Are Prone To Unravel (bbc.com) · · Score: 1
    1) Santa Conspiracy. Total # of years believed, on average: 7 years. (assuming belief from birth).

    2) Tooth Fairy: 6 years - Note this means SOME kids realized you lied to them about the tooth fairy, but still believe in Santa for a year.

    3) The Business Plot (attempted coup against the US): 4 months till the newspapers reported the plot.

    4) The Tuskegee Syphilis Crime/experiment. It took 40 years to reveal that they had infected black men with Syphilis and intentionally given a placebo instead of penicillin which was known to cure it.

    5) Operation Snow White (Scientologists illegally infiltrating, bugging, copying, and destroying evidence against them possessed by the IRS, the DEA, the Coast Guard, NIMH and ) the AMA) Three years from plot initiation till the FBI caught them.

  13. Just agree to take it down if they pay $10 million, US.

    And then not take it down after they pay.

    What are the going to do? Sue?

  14. Someone has seen you naked on Stingray Case Lawyers: "Everyone Knows Cell Phones Generate Location Data" (techdirt.com) · · Score: 1
    I know that multiple people in my life has seen me naked. Parents, girlfriends, etc. The fact that one or more other people have been given access to that information - my naked body - does not give the government the right to access to that information.

    Moron should be fired for knowing nothing about how the US constitution works, how warrants are supposed to work, etc.

  15. Re:It is bad news on YouTube and the Modern Mad Scientist (hackaday.com) · · Score: 0
    I love the idiots that come up with patently obviously stupid plans for the bad guys.

    Complex false flag operations simply can not work - because they are complex See the stupid attempt by Russian spies to pretend they were American spies that shot down the MH17 over Russian controlled Ukraine.

    The more parts a plan has, the more failure points. This one was fairly simple - just make a recording, but it still failed. Actors bad accents, the script writers were clueless, the use of Russian slang translated to English, it just sucked.

  16. Snapshot from progressive on Insurance Companies Looking For Fallback Plans To Survive Driverless Cars (csmonitor.com) · · Score: 1
    They already are trying it and finding less than 35% of people actually do it. This is up from 20% a few years ago, mainly due to massive advertising.

    Assuming that 50% of people would benefit and the other 50% would lose, that means a solid 15% of the population is intentionally refusing to do it. Note, that number is probably higher, as most people think they are better drivers than they actually are. Let's say that 70% of the population THINKS they would benefit from it, which means that approximately 50% of their target market says "NO thanks, I like my privacy."

  17. Re:Please ignore what they say. on NSA Chief: Arguing Against Encryption Is a Waste of Time (theintercept.com) · · Score: 1
    If you are so foolish as to assume they are always lying, then they start telling the truth to manipulate into believing lies.

    The safest bet would be to ignore everything they said completely. But you don't want to play safe, you want to complain.

  18. Bark collars, gopros on Pet Wearables? But Seriously, Folks... (Video) · · Score: 2
    These already exist. Grouping them together and saying they are 'pet wearables' is the only new thing here.

    Bark Collars, collar cameras, RFID chips that unlock a pet door, GPS locators, implanted RFID chips are available already.

  19. Re:"Climate contrarians" on Mainstream Scientists Cashing In On Climate Wagers (reuters.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful
    What's going is we are trying really hard not to call you

    Morons who don't understand basic math, record keeping, science, logic.

    We tried climate skeptics, but you complained. So we moved to deniers and you complained again, like a little whiny Trump.

    As for your references to what we call climate change, again, one of those terms is 50 year old reference, the rest are names YOU made up and insisted we use.

    We can only bend over backwards to help you out so many times.

    You asked about what the temperature is supposed to be. The answer to that is simple.

    We are talking about a SMALL change - 2 degrees Celsius in the next century. That can have a huge impact. Because it is so small, most people don't notice it. It's not enough to be visible and you should not notice it. Note, the world has already experienced a 1 degree Celsius change over the past 100 years.

    But 1 degree Celsius is real, easily measurable, and our best projections show it will be at LEAST 2 degrees in 100 more years, possibly as much as 5 degrees. Now, even 5 degrees won't be enough to stop snow from falling most places. But it will be enough to melt large portions of the ice on Greenland and Antarctica, rising sea level enough to flood most major costal cities, where most of the wealth in the world currently resides.

  20. Left out some things on CIA: 10 Tips When Investigating a Flying Saucer (cia.gov) · · Score: 2
    1) Investigate any odd physical limitation limitations of all you talk to

    2) Make sure you look all interviewees in all eyes - no matter how many.

    3) Wear a locked chastity belt to protect your nether regions.

    4) Make sure you translate the ENTIRE book title.

  21. Re:Please ignore what they say. on NSA Chief: Arguing Against Encryption Is a Waste of Time (theintercept.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful
    So true. Guy stands up and says something we agree with and we all yell at him "He must be UP TO SOMETHING!"

    People need to shut up and say thank you when you win - even if it's just a small battle of your opponent saying "It's not worth arguing against them"

  22. Called "EMBEZZELMENT" on Cyber-Scammers Steal €50 Million From Austrian Airplane Manufacturer (softpedia.com) · · Score: 1
    When an 'inside man' steals, it is called embezzlement, not hacking. In addition, while it is a big embezzlement case, it isn't the largest.

    Why pretend it is "cybercrime" rather than embezzlement? Because cyber crime makes you look less like a dumb-ass. I couldn't help it, it was those hackers that did it! Rather than "I am a incompetent fool that trusts people because their aunt told me he was a good buy."

  23. Re:Ridonkulous on Volvo Promises 'Death-Proof' Cars By 2020 (extremetech.com) · · Score: 1
    You are demonstrating incredible short sightedness. Mainly because you sit there asking "Is this something I want?" rather than "Is there a market for this?"

    We are not being ridiculous, you are. Mainly because you are not thinking of other people.

    Let's talk about garbage trucks - vehicles that move at slow speeds, the same route every day, with 3 people one of whom just drives, while the other two load. Today. Twenty years from now, it will be 2 people who load, while the truck drives itself.

    Let's talk about rich old people who can't quite afford a full time chauffer but do not want to drive directly into a farmer's market. Who want to keep their license despite their poor vision and slow reflexes.

    Let's talk about the upper class parents who buy new cars for their kids - kids they suspect might possibly go to parties where GASP alcohol might be found.

    These people will create the market for full self -driving cars without a human involved. Over 5-10 years, as their accident rate drops to almost nothing - despite the cars not working well in bad storms and travelling slower than human controlled cars will drive the technology. Technology that will undergo a revolution similar to what cell phones, slowly moving from an expensive niche market to the largest segment.

  24. Several false assumptions on How Robotaxis Might Mitigate Electric Car Depreciation (robohub.org) · · Score: 1
    1) That computer upgrades are always 'necessary'. Most computer upgrades are caused by new TYPES of programs, not upgrades of existing ones. That is, we update our computer to handle video, etc. Old Word processing programs from the 70's still work fine on old 70 computers. But you can't live stream to them.

    2) That most robotic cars will not be thrown away every 2 years. Many well off people buy a new car every 2 years. At least in the beginning, that's where the market will be. As time goes on (40 years from now), upgraded computers won't be as necessary.

    Yes, taxis - and other non-personal vehicles, such as busses, garbage trucks, police cars, etc. - will probably be early users of computerized vehicles. But so will the wealthier upscale luxury market. Eventually it will trickle down to the lower scale markets and being out-dated won't be a serious issue by then.

  25. Legalize Jamming on Preparing Countermeasures For Terror Attacks Using Drones (remotecontrolproject.org) · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Just make it legal to jam drones. Problem solved.