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Comments · 8,718

  1. Re:Further Background for non-UKians on Spreadsheet Blamed For UK Rail Bid Fiasco · · Score: 1

    If I remember correctly, this form of pseudo-privatisation was forced on the government by the EU. If they'd really privatised the British railways, the new owners would have ripped most of them up and sold the land to developers.

  2. Re:Spoiled americans on Gas Prices Jump; California Hardest Hit · · Score: 1

    Why do people have to live so far from the things they need on a daily basis?

    Because they don't want to move house every time they change jobs?

  3. Re:Yeah but... on Gas Prices Jump; California Hardest Hit · · Score: 0

    EU politicians are at least as sociopathic as any other Western nation, and their welfare states are currently driving them bankrupt.

  4. Re:Don't let it fool you on Most SSDs Now Under a Dollar Per Gigabyte · · Score: 1

    Absolute fucking hogwash. No, strike that, not hogwash, just downright utter FUD.

    I presume you're talking about your own post, because I'm quoting from actual, real-world experience with SSDs. A number of developers have posted on the web about how their SSDs dramatically improve compilation speed but die within a year.

  5. Re:The * by the price tag on Most SSDs Now Under a Dollar Per Gigabyte · · Score: 1

    And of course they are only made in 2.5 inch size, so you'll have to buy a bracket to put one in your desktop.

    My latest tower case came with mounting holes for both 3.5 and 2.5 inch disks in its drive trays. The SSD looks kind of silly in the huge tray, but it fits fine.

  6. Re:Don't let it fool you on Most SSDs Now Under a Dollar Per Gigabyte · · Score: 2

    Completely filling the disk and deleting it is a pretty easy life for an SSD. Creating lots of small files, such as repeated compilation, can easily kill them within a year.

    Of course the savings in programmer time from faster compilations easily outweigh that. But there are plenty of use cases which will kill an SSD much faster than an HDD.

  7. Re:I3's arent for gaming... on AMD Trinity APUs Stack Up Well To Intel's Core 3 · · Score: 1

    I3's are meant for basic desktop and doing your homework, not a gaming rig.

    My laptop has a two year old i5 that, I believe, is basically just an i3 with turbo mode (i.e. it's a dual core with hyperthreading rather than a real quad, and the CPU benchmarks are almost identical to a similar clocked i3 since turbo mode is switched off under heavy load). It plays every game I've thrown at it so far on medium to high settings, limited by the GPU, not the CPU.

  8. Re:300 million miles on California Legalizes Self Driving Cars · · Score: 1

    So what do you propose the aircraft does when it receives invalid input from the wind speed sensors?

    The expected response from the pilot is to fly a predetermined pitch and power program which keeps the plane at a safe speed. So why not just have the computer raise some alarms and do that automatically?

  9. Re:But what does this have to do with Australia? on Windows 8 Has Scaling Issues On High-PPI Displays · · Score: 1

    Windows 8 is even worse in Australia. Since Australians hold their tablets upside down, all the text falls to the bottom of the screen.

  10. Re:This is not a Microsoft problem. on Windows 8 Has Scaling Issues On High-PPI Displays · · Score: 0, Troll

    Microsoft developed the APIs. Give developers a way to use an API in a stupid way, and they will do so.

    Still, could be worse: I remember the days when our video drivers had to always report 72DPI to Windows regardless of what the real value was because half the apps would render garbage if it wasn't set to 72.

  11. Re:Robots ho! Whar me robot hos? on California Legalizes Self Driving Cars · · Score: 1

    That seems awfully high and does not jive with another stat I heard years ago (which, I admit, I have never seen anywhere else) that road deaths statistically shave 6 years off the average lifespan.

    A quick back of an envelope calculation shows that would require nearly 500,000 road deaths every year in America. So, yes, that statistic seems completely bogus, which is probably why you've never seen it anywhere else.

  12. Re:economic impact? on California Legalizes Self Driving Cars · · Score: 1

    If there's no need for drivers anymore, where will those people who used to be drivers make their living of?

    Rich people will hire them to prove they're superior to the rest of us because they have real drivers instead of computers.

  13. Re:Numbers, The Law, Reality of Attention on California Legalizes Self Driving Cars · · Score: 1

    On the contrary. Rally cars are boring as shit to drive. Might as well just put it on rails and have a roller coaster, not like it can accelerate anyway.

    Yeah, 0-62mph on gravel in 2.3 seconds and being able to go round corners at insane speeds sucks ass.

    See what I did there, Mr. Subjective?

    Made a silly and blatantly false comparison?

  14. Re:What about animals? on California Legalizes Self Driving Cars · · Score: 1

    There are so many different situations, that I'm not sure how a computer can make a decision.

    The computer will shut down and give control back to the driver, who will smash into the animal before they even realise that's why the computer shut down. And that will go down on the accident records as 'human error'.

  15. Re:Must past this test on California Legalizes Self Driving Cars · · Score: 4, Funny

    Odds are cliffs do not move often and any automated car will have access to maps with topo data.

    Given the last directions I got from Google Maps concluded with 'now drive through the barrier at the side of the highway and fall forty feet into the parking lot of the hotel below you', that does not give me warm fuzzies.

  16. Re:Numbers, The Law, Reality of Attention on California Legalizes Self Driving Cars · · Score: 1

    Airline pilots seem to be able to do it without going insane

    That's because they almost never have the autopilot fail and dump the problem on them.

    And when that does happen, about half the time they seem to crash and burn (or sink, in the AF447 case). Which shouldn't be surprising, given that a situation so bad the autopilot can't handle it is almost certainly so bad that a pilot who has barely touched the controls since their last simulator training and has spend the last six hours fantasizing about the blond in seat A3 can't handle it.

  17. Re:300 million miles on California Legalizes Self Driving Cars · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I believe on public roads you do need a human available to take over for legal reasons.

    And that worked so well for AF447.

    Aviation autopilots should have proven by now that relying on a human to take over when the situation is so bad the autopilot can't handle it is a recipe for disaster. Besides, what's the point of a 'driverless car' if I have to be continually ready to take over at a millisecond's notice?

    Car: 'Warning, warning, kid just jumped out in the road, you are in control'.
    Driver: "WTF? I just hit a kid and smeared their insides all over my windshield'
    Car manufacturer: 'Not our fault, driver was in control, human error'.

  18. Re:Must past this test on California Legalizes Self Driving Cars · · Score: 2

    The question is not is it better than some hypothetical human driver, but is it better than the drivers we have right now.

    No, the question is: is it better than me?

    If not, I don't want it driving my car.

  19. Re:Service Pack on Intel CEO Tells Staff Windows 8 Is Being Released Prematurely · · Score: 1

    Windows 8 will be ready when SP1 comes out.

    Is that when they put the Start Menu back in?

  20. Re:No ban solution on Light Bulb Ban Produces Hoarding In EU, FUD In U.S. · · Score: 1

    Why not just change the law so a store can't sell incandescent bulbs cheaper than CFL or LED? You wouldn't need to ban them to have the save effect.

    Then you'd see the Edison Cartel smuggling bulbs over the border to sell on street corners for half the price.

  21. Re:Why ban? on Light Bulb Ban Produces Hoarding In EU, FUD In U.S. · · Score: 1

    The level of mercury in those bulbs is really minimal. Not a hazard to users, even if the occasional bulb does break.

    Last I looked, the EPA disagreed with you. And as the Greens keep telling us, there's no safe level of exposure to BAD THINGS.

  22. Re:I don't support the ban on Light Bulb Ban Produces Hoarding In EU, FUD In U.S. · · Score: 1

    A ban is a government's way of saying that not enough people supported alternatives until it was too late.

    A ban is a government's way of saying that the people of their country won't do what they're told, so they must be forced to do so.

    BTW, I've looked through the Constitution several times and I don't see anywhere that says 'the government may tell people what kind of light bulbs they're allowed to use'.

  23. Re:Republicans disrupting a REPUBLICAN ban! on Light Bulb Ban Produces Hoarding In EU, FUD In U.S. · · Score: 0

    This ban was signed into law by the Bush Administration.

    And now, after putting it in place, the Republicans NOW object?

    Uh, maybe because Democrats controlled Congress in 2007?

  24. Re:The only electric cars that could possibly happ on Tesla Reveals Charging Station Sites In 3 US States · · Score: 1

    So what happens when your 'new' ten-year-old battery pack only holds half a charge and you're suddenly out of power in the middle of Axe-Wielding Redneck Country with no charging station within a hundred miles?

  25. Re:Grass greener...over there. on Plans For Widespread Monitoring of Communication In Europe Revealed · · Score: 2

    Europeans have made an art out of fascism, police states and racial genocide.

    But they get FREE HEALTHCARE!