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User: rock_climbing_guy

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  1. Re:How do you sell this to the population as a who on EFF Unveils Plan For Ending Mass Surveillance · · Score: 1

    When the Bill Clinton administration pushed the idea of banning encryption, his Attorney General Janet Reno made a statement that it needs to be banned because of paedophiles. History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme!

  2. Re:Terrible names on Windows 10: Charms Bar Removed, No Start Screen For Desktops · · Score: 1
  3. Re:Just give the option to turn it off... on Fake Engine Noise Is the Auto Industry's Dirty Little Secret · · Score: 1

    I guess you don't mind when a garbage truck backs up in your neighborhood at 5 AM with that fucking annoying safety beeper that wakes up the whole neighborhood, because... safety!

  4. Re:Just give the option to turn it off... on Fake Engine Noise Is the Auto Industry's Dirty Little Secret · · Score: 1
    Yeah, I was dining with a friend on the deck of a local eatery when some idiot stopped in and started revving his high-pitched POS Chinese 49cc "moped" (as it is called under state regulations)

    My friend shouted curses at him as he left. I just remarked that it was a "Soprano Harley Davidson". How annoying!

  5. Re:Just give the option to turn it off... on Fake Engine Noise Is the Auto Industry's Dirty Little Secret · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Interesting...

    I purchased a new Nissan Versa a few years ago with their continuously variable transmission. It runs awesome. From an engineering point of view, it amazes me that they can build a car with such a small engine and make it perform at highway speeds.

    However, I did read that when the CVT was new, some people in their focus groups didn't like it because it *sounds* different. The first time I drove it, I thought there was something wrong with it because of the sound, but it didn't bother me once I knew it was supposed to sound different. If I'm not mistaken, they changed the CVT to make it sound more like a conventional automatic transmission.

    It seems awfully dumb to me that a piece of equipment that was so carefully engineered should be modified simply to make it sound like the equipment it replaces!

  6. Re:Data about where and how people drive? on Google Thinks the Insurance Industry May Be Ripe For Disruption · · Score: 1

    The app is supposed to collect real-time data from drivers going around. If everyone using Waze sits in stop-and-go traffic for an hour before finally exiting I-87 where it is closed, they ought to be able to figure out that I-87 isn't a good route to use right now. Remember that Waze's selling point is that it uses information about traffic to find the fastest route.

  7. Re:Data about where and how people drive? on Google Thinks the Insurance Industry May Be Ripe For Disruption · · Score: 1
    I deleted Waze because it gave bad directions.

    Once, it directed me to turn left go a block on another street, and then turn right and then left again back onto the same road! No, there wasn't any traffic.

    The straw that broke the camels back was when I went out on a day after very heavy rain. Waze directed me to drive on a road that was closed.

  8. Re:Health Insurance on Google Thinks the Insurance Industry May Be Ripe For Disruption · · Score: 1
    Blue Cross does suck from my experience, but I don't think they are the primary culprit behind the high cost of health care. See, the PPACA regulates health insurance, but it does very little about the cost of the health care that the insurance must pay for.

    Let me give you two good examples that show how fucked up our health care is in this country. I believe that most doctors are honest, hard-working people, but there are some really sleazy douchebags in the industry.

    Example 1: Look up how much it costs to buy donated breast milk. If you need it, it can cost over $1000 per month, but don't worry, Blue Cross will pay for it!

    Example 2: Long story, but there is an expensive drug out there by the name of Xyrem. It remains illegal in many countries due to its reputation as a date-rape drug, but many patients who are legitimately prescribed the drug swear by it. (I do not use Xyrem, but I know people who do.)

    Xyrem used to be available over the counter for cheap ( I really despise these cocksuckers because I know that sick people are going without needed medication because of the cost and the company charging these stratospheric prices didn't even invent the fucking drug! May their executives roast in Hell.

    Over a billion dollars goes to this one company every year for just this drug, that used to be freely available and cheap!

    Now that you know something about why our health care is so expensive, we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

  9. Re:The next battle has started on Google Thinks the Insurance Industry May Be Ripe For Disruption · · Score: 1

    I once interviewed for a job at a company that buys unwanted life insurance policies. It is called the "secondary life insurance market". I have no idea how they get past the rules that the person who buys life insurance is supposed to have an interest in the person insured.

  10. Re:The Dangers of the World on Parents Investigated For Neglect For Letting Kids Walk Home Alone · · Score: 1
    I suppose my comment was probably read as confrontational. I am alarmed by all these stories about CPS that keep popping up like herpes sores. Just when you forget about the last one you saw...

    I just wish there was something more constructive we could do about the situation than bitch about it on an internet forum. Chest-puffing about cop-killing will get us nowhere. Just ask the people in Ferguson about that one.

    I'll tell you a little anecdote. I spoke with my great-aunt on the phone regarding the recent birth of my first child. I mentioned to her that I'm afraid of these CPS punks who would take away my child on the slightest prefix and the idiots who call CPS because the neighbor's kid is walking to school along. When I hung up the phone, I had the distinct impression that she is the sort of person who would have made that call to CPS!

    We have met the enemy, and he is us!

  11. Re:Not an isolated incident on Parents Investigated For Neglect For Letting Kids Walk Home Alone · · Score: 1

    FYI, in case you don't live here in the USA, it is not unseen for parents to walk their children on leashes in public. Really, I'm not making this up. I told my wife that we will never do this with our children.

  12. Re:nanny state on Parents Investigated For Neglect For Letting Kids Walk Home Alone · · Score: 1
    AC, I am in favor of net neutrality because of the blatant unethical behavior of some ISPs, such as throttling and "permacookies" added to HTTP requests.

    However, I fear that this will be used as an excuse to seize far-reaching authority that will quickly be abused in ways we have yet to anticipate.

  13. Re:The Dangers of the World on Parents Investigated For Neglect For Letting Kids Walk Home Alone · · Score: 2
    You are not putting a bullet in any CPS agent's head because you would immediately lose your children for the rest of your life, and CPS knows this!

    Enough with the chest-puffing.

  14. Re: Obama: please stop helping us! on Obama Unveils Plan To Bring About Faster Internet In the US · · Score: 2

    They never should have spent the money on the State/Provincial Park system in your area. All it's good for is people frivolously passing the time sitting or walking around.

  15. Re:Cheaper on United and Orbitz Sue 22-Year-Old Programmer For Compiling Public Info · · Score: 1

    Weird Al said, "I'll sue American Airlines because they sold me a ticket to New Jersey. I went there, and it sucked!"

  16. Re:Maths on Montana Lawmakers Propose 85 Mph Speed Limit On Interstates · · Score: 1
    Hey Winter,

    I've been studying your esoteric .sig.

    It looks sort of like a C or Java program and I know that putchar is part of the C standard library. However, it isn't a valid C program because the type of i isn't declared and there is no return statement, thus it makes no sense for the function main to recursively call itself.

    I can do a little math to see that if 0 is passed to main, putchar will receive 0, terminating the function after main recurses six times, outputting a single character each time. Making a few small changes, I can get it to compile and output "BRune", but what is that supposed to mean?

  17. Re:This is so stupid. on US School Installs 'Shooter Detection' System · · Score: 1

    Where are my mod points when I need them?

  18. Re:But DC is different,no? on Marijuana Legalized In Oregon, Alaska, and Washington DC · · Score: 1

    As the article you linked points out, the case is currently being appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court. It isn't a done deal, yet.

  19. Re:But DC is different,no? on Marijuana Legalized In Oregon, Alaska, and Washington DC · · Score: 1

    If I were President and wanted to stop this, I think I could do it easily. I think it would make a lot of people mad, but I could do it, just like I could go start a big war in Syria if I wanted to.

    If I were President and wanted to do this, I might do the following:

    I could direct the DOJ to subpoena the records from every state of who is licensed to sell cannabis in that state. I might not have enough resources to prosecute them all at once, but I could direct the DOJ to raid and prosecute them one-by-one in no particular order. I could direct them to use late-night no-knock raids and (with plausible deniability) suggest that agents could shoot pets and cause extensive property damage with impunity. I could direct the DOJ to seize their assets under civil asset forfeiture, levy large fines, and imprison them for years, leaving their families destitute. I don't know if I would prosecute customers, but even if just a handful were prosecuted, it could have a huge chilling effect on legalization advocates. Finally, I could arrest and prosecute *all* state officials (whether elected or not) who had any part of administering the program.

    By doing the above, I could intimidate both business and local government out of ever trying to legalize cannabis for decades to come.

    I'm certain that the powers that be have thought about this, too.

  20. Re:Society requires it on Employers Worried About Critical Thinking Skills · · Score: 1

    As we travel up to modern times, we have gone from a society that has 1 working parent and 1 at home taking care of kids to both parents normally having to work just to make ends meet. This means that the majority of parents can't teach a whole lot to their kids and public schools can (there is some interesting investigation to be done on whether or not this was planned, I recommend doing some reading).

    What do you know about this "investigation"? If you know something, I would like to know what you know because I have been wondering for years if this is part of some conspiracy.

    Personally, I think it's inhumane that children have been deprived of their parents.

  21. Re:great news. on As Prison Population Sinks, Jails Are a Steal · · Score: 1

    Care to tell us how you make a living then? I'm just curious. I do consulting, and I was surprised to find that corporate customers demand BG checks even for short-term consultants who aren't even on the payroll.

    Did you eventually find a potential employer who didn't check? I know of at least one in my area. If not, how do you make a living then. Just curious.

  22. Re: Still pretty affordable on Is the Tesla Model 3 Actually Going To Cost $50,000? · · Score: 2
    Our PPACA law is a sick joke.

    We already have Medicare Part D, which while it is laudable that it helps retirees buy medicine, it stipulates that the US gov't pay FULL PRICE for these meds. Just to give you an example of what that's like, I was once asked to pay $80 to fill a prescription I normally pay $10 to have filled. I politely told them to shove it. Uncle Sam would have written a check for $80.

    According to the official figures, the US gov't spends more money per capita on health insurance than countries that provide universal coverage. It is a sickening example of cronyism and thinly veiled bribery.

  23. Re: Still pretty affordable on Is the Tesla Model 3 Actually Going To Cost $50,000? · · Score: 1

    Don't forget health insurance. The fed gov't predicts that insurance for a family of five will cost $20,000 in 2015, but don't worry, they'll subsidize it for you!

  24. Re:Where do I sign up? on Every Day Is Goof-Off-At-Work Day At the US Patent and Trademark Office · · Score: 1
    "Corporations don't have the means of coercing people to buy their services, don't even bring them up here."

    You didn't hear about this obscure policy that is supposed to be effective this year known as the Obamacare individual mandate?

  25. Re:Time to arrest some doctors on Suddenly Visible: Illicit Drugs As Part of Silicon Valley Culture · · Score: 2

    This attitude is the reason why many doctors are afraid to write prescriptions for pain pills to the patients who truly need them!