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User: mariox19

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  1. How? I'll tell you. on Rand Paul Files Suit Against Obama Over NSA's Collection of Metadata · · Score: 1

    Number one, the individuals who earn their money own their money; it's not "society's" money. So, reducing the taxes on any bracket is in no way at the expense of any other bracket. No bracket—no individual, actually—has a claim on any other. You know what would be a good idea? Stop spending so much money in the first place.

    Number two, direct representation in the Senate undermines our federal system. You want to argue whether or not the Senate should be elected by the people or by the states, that's fine. But to just rule it out is to whitewash the centralization of governmental power that's been happening for something like the last 100 years. Some of us are not at all happy about that.

  2. Finally! on A New Use For Drones: Traffic Scouting · · Score: 2

    Now we all get to be Speed Racer!

  3. Re:This is a scam on California Students, Parents Sue Over Teacher Firing, Tenure Rules · · Score: 0

    You obviously don't understand what they are trying to do here. They are trying to make it harder for shit teachers to become un-fireable. Right now, once a professor gains tenure, it becomes ridiculously hard to fire him or her. In other words, once you gain tenure, you basically can't be fired for any reason short of breaking the law. The current regulations allow for crap teachers to continue teaching even when their students do not learn anything of value. This lawsuit is trying to change that by allowing newer professors to stay and by having the crap professors fired first.

    I took the liberty of adding in capital letters, properly punctuating contractions, and mildly tweaking an awkwardly written and ungrammatical sentence.

  4. Perhaps off-topic... on Code Is Not Literature · · Score: 1

    I just realized that, if I follow the author's argument about decoding rather than reading, James Joyce's two major works don't qualify as literature.

  5. Re:This isn't helping... on Global-Warming Skepticism Hits 6-Year High · · Score: 1

    In other words, "communism" is a mis-characterization. What he really means is authoritarian government.

    I feel much better now.

  6. Re:Safety on Who Is Liable When a Self-Driving Car Crashes? · · Score: 1

    So, in other words, a self-driving car isn't even safe to take home from the bar when you've had one too many? The "analog backup" could conceivably still be charged with driving under the influence?

  7. 50 Shades of Marketing on Algorithm Aims To Predict Fiction Bestsellers · · Score: 1

    It was time to sell the client on the proposed campaign, and I came to the meeting with trepidation. Mr. House could be cruel. That was his reputation. And I wondered, would he like my proposal? Would he like me? Or would I find myself on the receiving end of one of his legendary smack-downs? Would I leave, hurt? I knocked at the door of the meeting room and heard his stern answer. "Come in," he said, menacingly. I entered, knowing my life might never be the same. [...]

    Trust me, you don't want to read about the marketing campaign.

  8. Re:Who's the enemy? on Apple Denies Helping NSA Subvert iPhone · · Score: 1

    Apparently, Osama bin Laden was wasting his time working for the wrong organization. He should have sent his résumé to the Federal Reserve.

  9. Who's the enemy? on Apple Denies Helping NSA Subvert iPhone · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This rogue agency will destroy billions upon billions of dollars worth of American commerce before its done.

  10. Re:this is like on Netflix: Non-'A' Players Unworthy of Jobs · · Score: 5, Funny

    Perhaps we should start some kind of outreach program: "For only $600.00 a day—the price of dinner at an exclusive Manhattan restaurant—you too can bring hope to an exotic supermodel. Please, pick up the phone and make the call."

  11. Re:Why not just use it for for specific targets on Boston Police Stop Scanning Registration Plates, For Now · · Score: 1

    Something like this needs to be seen and understood by the populace at large. But, you know what? A lot people would look at this and think, "Oh, good! I hate drunk drivers!"

  12. Re:The machine seems to be working ok. on Boston Police Stop Scanning Registration Plates, For Now · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apparently the police were more interested in trying to detect movement of people []

    That would be my concern too, but for the fact that I suspect something else entirely.

    I'm going to guess that someone in industry, eager to sell a product, got together with someone at the police department, eager to carve out a brand new, bureaucratic niche for himself; and putting these two together is why the scanners got bought—not for any legitimate police work. The cops in their cars don't really care about the scanners, and neither do their superiors; because catching stolen cars doesn't do as much for revenue generation as does writing tickets for expired registrations, pulling over drunk drivers, or setting up good old-fashioned speed traps.

  13. Re:"Can you hear me now?" on The Dismantling of POTS: Bold Move Or Grave Error? · · Score: 1

    When hearing deteriorates, the frequencies affected are way beyond the fidelity of what is transmitted over a phone call. I explained where I thought the traditional calls were superior, and I stand by what I said.

  14. Child's play on First Images of a Heart Injected With Liquid Metal · · Score: 1

    When we can trust the Chinese to not use lead in children's toys I think we should take a look at this gallium thing.

  15. On the other hand... on RF Safe-Stop Shuts Down Car Engines With Radio Pulse · · Score: 2

    So you dump your desperate criminal in a bunch of helpless and confused hostages.

    If you have one of these and you're the criminal, you dump the police car pursuing you in a mass of 40 stalled vehicles.

  16. "Can you hear me now?" on The Dismantling of POTS: Bold Move Or Grave Error? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The call quality on both cell phones and IP phones is worse than those on traditional phone lines. IP phones echo and stutter. Cell phones give no aural feedback in the earpiece of the person speaking, which is why everyone is always yelling over their cell phone, and cut out when no one is speaking, which sounds like a dropped call. I think anyone who enjoyed two, three, or more decades in the last century, making phone calls over POTS lines, would agree that we have taken a step back in call quality. Every phone call is like an overseas call from the 1970's. Pulling up the POTS lines would be a mistake.

  17. Security is a tricky thing on Intelligence Officials Fear Snowden's 'Doomsday' Cache · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bruce Schneier commented on this a while back:

    I'm not sure he's thought this through, though. I would be more worried that someone would kill me in order to get the documents released than I would be that someone would kill me to prevent the documents from being released. Any real-world situation involves multiple adversaries, and it's important to keep all of them in mind when designing a security system.

    I'm not sure what Snowden's alternative is, but a doomsday switch isn't exactly foolproof.

  18. Please expand on Elon Musk Talks About the Importance of Physics, Criticizes the MBA · · Score: 1

    Was that professor of yours one of your professors in your MBA program, or a professor you had while earning a different degree? Also, if you don't mind me asking, it's not definitively clear to me whether you're agreeing with that professor or not. (I think you are.) Can you state unequivocally?

    Finally, if you don't mind, I'm intrigued by this quote from the article:

    [MBA programs] teach people that you must be special, and it causes people to close down their feedback loop and not rigorously examine when they are wrong.

    I don't get it. Do MBA students have this kind of smoke blown up their asses by their professors or the departments? Did you experience anything like this as an MBA student? What are some of the kinds of things that MBA students are told? Thanks.

  19. Announcing "Mario's Books" on Google Books Case Dismissed On Fair Use Grounds · · Score: 1

    I'm setting up a free service. Anyone can contact me with a question about some topic. I'll search all the books in my fairly large and diverse personal library, and if I find something cool on the topic, I'll get back to you with full bibliographic information and read to you a short excerpt from the book. Oh, and, of course, I'll also read to you a very short, but interesting and personalized, advertisement. I apologize that I won't be able to handle the same volume as Google, nor can I promise the same extensive results to your query. What I can promise is a personal touch. Google can't give you that.

    What's in it for me? Whatever money I make from advertisements, and enhancement to my personal brand. (I mean, the chicks are going to dig this!) But, as previously noted, the service is completely free to the end user. So, support the honest efforts of an enterprising individual. Lines are open!

  20. Re:Sounds like a problem... on How Big Data Is Destroying the US Healthcare System · · Score: 1

    When people say "our outcomes are worse," isn't it the case that they're painting with a really broad brush, lumping in the uninsured with the insured? Medicine in the United States is first-rate.

  21. Re:AI and robotics and jobs on 45% of U.S. Jobs Vulnerable To Automation · · Score: 2

    Ancient Greece did this before Rome. In Athens, for example, slaves did all the work. The genesis of Western Culture comes from what the non-slave elite did. On the one hand, they developed theater, sculpture, architecture, philosophy; and on the other hand, they killed Socrates.

  22. You're in luck! on Ask Slashdot: How To Get Open Source Projects To Take Our Money? · · Score: 1

    I would be happy to accept your $20,000 on behalf of The Human Fund. We are an open source organization providing human contact—via email, telephone, in-person, or through web forums—to individuals like you and companies like yours. If you've read this post, you have already benefited from our service! Your donation will enable us (me, mainly) to spend more time online, providing human contact to others. I eagerly await receipt of your check. Have a blessed day!

  23. Re:Why? on Don't Fly During Ramadan · · Score: 2

    Two words: Alger Hiss. Two more words: You're wrong. Two final words: (I'll leave this as an exercise for the reader.)

  24. Re:Why? on Don't Fly During Ramadan · · Score: 2

    It was not "being a communist"; it was being a member of the Communist Party, a secret political organization swearing allegiance to a foreign government that was nominally our foe and having as its expressed purpose the overthrow of the United States Constitution and government.

  25. Re:It was a myth on Joining Lavabit Et Al, Groklaw Shuts Down Because of NSA Dragnet · · Score: 1

    If you know of a good book on the history of Japan at that point, I would be interested in reading it. Thanks.