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User: derkaas

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Comments · 27

  1. Re:Very doubtful on First Superheavy Element Found In Nature · · Score: 1

    Also, where the hell did it come from? Nucleosysthesis in supernovae, as understood now, hits a wall at Uranium, which is why there (up until now?) are not any heavier naturally occurring elements.

  2. Re:Please check your definitions on Humans Hardwired to Believe in Supernatural Deity? · · Score: 1

    Is there a word for the belief in an apathetic deity, a supreme being that cares nothing for any specific part of creation (like man)?

    This philosophy is known as deism.

  3. It's _not_ a lot of resources on Microsoft's High School Opens in PA · · Score: 1
    That's a lot of resources thrown at very few students.


    If they were planning to use the school for one year and then tear it down, sure. But I don't think that's the plan.

    Let's take a quick moment to analyze the situation a little more rationally.

    The freshman class will consist of 170 students. Let's assume that the school plans to admit 170 freshmen each subsequent year. Given that the school eventually plans to serve 750 students, this assumption would be conservative, as 170*4 = 680 < 750 and since some freshmen are likely to drop out before they become seniors and graduate.

    Neglecting that last fact for a moment, we find that the school serves 170 students for 4 years each.

    Let's give the school a 20 year life starting from when the school opens.

    680*20 - 170*3 - 170*2 - 170*1 = 12580 student-years

    20 years with 680 students, adjusted for the year with no sophomore, junior, or senior class, the year with a sophomore class but no junior or senior class, and the year all but the senior class.

    $63000000 / 12580 student-years = $5008 per student per year. All the sudden, we're not spending that much money.

  4. In Russia, fight spam the Russian way on Gates' Resolve in Bringing Spammers to Justice · · Score: 1
    In all seriousness, the spam epidemic is actually caused by a relatively tiny number of people, so it would seem that this is a workable strategy - but the cause will just be taken up by people outside of our jurisdiction (Russians, mostly.)

    Surely Microsoft has the resources to enlist the (admittedly unscrupulous) help of the Russia mafia in the solution of this problem.

  5. Re:30%, are you nuts? on Tax Time Again: Any Linux Solutions? · · Score: 1
    Seriously a 30% tax on new purchases? That's a ridiculous amount.

    No, it isn't. The FairTax would eliminate all federal payroll taxes and personal and corporate income taxes. Further, it is likely that over the first couple of years (market forces take time) after its introduction, prices on most goods would fall by as much as 20% as the embedded taxes paid by corporations and passed on to the consumer would be lifted.

  6. Re:Taxes? Huh! on Tax Time Again: Any Linux Solutions? · · Score: 1
    why in the name of all that's Holy don't you US folks have state-controlled tax returns yet?

    It's called freedom. We're trying to hold on to some modicum of it as long as we can.

  7. Re:I spent $10 on Tax Time Again: Any Linux Solutions? · · Score: 1
    First of all, who cares about filing online?

    It saves everyone money when you e-file. You think that envelope you're sending to the IRS just opens itself and the forms inside find their own way to a scanner and are read by some custom text-recognition software which writes itself and requires no support nor introduces any complications to an already elaborate IT setup? In short, I care, and so should you.

  8. FairTax rebates ALL taxpayers on Tax Time Again: Any Linux Solutions? · · Score: 2, Informative
    That doesn't seem like a sound policy to me - even though the proponents of such a tax suggest a rebate to those at the poverty line or lower, what happens to those who are only slightly above the poverty line?

    You're right; such a policy wouldn't make any sense, which is probably the reason it is not the policy proposed by the FairTax. Rather, it proposes a rebate to all households equal to the amount of tax on spending up to the poverty line for said households' given situations (i.e. marital status, number of children, geographical location). This rebate could, in one implementation, take place easily via the employer, much like current payroll taxes only in reverse. So, when you get your paycheck, not only is it actually for the full amount of your wages (at least sans state income tax), it includes extra money for you to pay the taxes on your groceries and rent.

    This provision of the FairTax is indeed what makes it "fair," but it's also its most complicated aspect, ensuring that the FairTax will probably never come to bear.

  9. Re:Beat me to it: on Iran Cracks Down on Internet Sites · · Score: 1
    Of course, this sentiment presumes that at least part of our government is still "of the people."

    The other part presumes that there are 70 million privately owned guns in this country, and if something that like ever happened here, it'd most certainly be time to throw down.

  10. Re:no food tax on U.S. Congress Poised To Vote On Internet Tax Ban · · Score: 1
    food is not taxed.

    Funny. I live in Tennessee, and I sure as hell pay sales tax on my groceries. Let's also not forgot that the producers of the food were almost certainly taxed at some point.

  11. Re:NO TAXATION! on U.S. Congress Poised To Vote On Internet Tax Ban · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Taxing communications is like taxing air. We all need to communicate with others the same way we all need to breath. Why not just tax people on the streets for talking to each other?

    I don't disagree with your sentiment, but your argument for untaxing communications could be extended to just about anything. For example, food and a place to sleep at night are just as essential, yet both, especially the latter, are taxed heavily by many governments.

  12. Re:And that is why you fail on Green Party Candidate David Cobb Answers Your Questions · · Score: 1

    And since you pointed it out, let's not ignore the ridiculous, politically correct invention that is the phrase "people of color." How is "people of color" any different than "colored people." How can anyone buy in to this pretentious nonsense?

  13. Same policy exists at Georgia Tech on University Bans Wireless Access Points · · Score: 4, Informative

    Unofficial access points are prohibited at Georgia Tech too (Wireless Policy). From a security standpoint, it makes perfect sense.

  14. Re:Not-So-Sad Truth on Alan Kay Decries the State of Computing · · Score: 1
    You, sir, just proved the point. You have to look up the correct spelling using a computer

    No. I already knew the correct spelling. I simply provided the dictionary entry link to give my post authority.

  15. Re:Not-So-Sad Truth on Alan Kay Decries the State of Computing · · Score: 1
    The computer has made us all stupider for using them

    It most surely has.

    What is your major malfunction, son? Pull your head out of your elitist asshole and plant it in a dictionary.

    http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=stupider

  16. Re:Not-So-Sad Truth on Alan Kay Decries the State of Computing · · Score: 2, Insightful
    The Wheel? Levers? Arches? Steel? Medicine? A bajillion other things? The computer is great, but the world did plenty without them. The computer has made us all stupider for using them, I think.

    Interesting analysis. I would conject that computers have allowed us to create better wheels, levels, arches, steel, and medicine.

    In this respect, we most certainly use computers creatively. They allow us to examine and experiment with such things without having to undergo the burden of actually physically making them before discovering that our idea was complete rubbish or that it may hold some potential.

  17. Re:15 years? on Scientist Sees Space Elevator in 15 Years · · Score: 1
    Really? How much fuel did SpaceShipOne use to land after it reached it's apex?

    Yeah, but SpaceShipOne was never in orbit.

  18. Re:Sound familiar? on U.S. Supreme Court: Public Anonymity No Right · · Score: 1
    Police show up after a crime has been committed, and at that point you're already a victum. How is this protection?

    Many--probably most--criminals are serial offenders. Is not jailing the burglar before he breaks into your car protection?

  19. Re:gotta wait till november... on Lord of the Rings Home Marathons? · · Score: 1
    i'm going to raise the ante with a keg and a package of "Depends" undergarments. first one to go to the toilet loses.

    This should add another dimension to the films by accurately reproducing the ambient smells of Mordor.

  20. Re:for one thing on Engineering An End to Aging · · Score: 1

    it wouldn't have to be large, it would just have to spin really really fast. You should probably rethink that. You're assuming the human body is a point particle. It is not.

  21. Re:It has to be said. on AMD Beats Intel in CPU Sales · · Score: 1

    Let's all welcome Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf to the Slashdot community! We've been wondering what you were up to.

  22. Re:Republican War Heroes on Who's Behind the Shower Curtain? · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Rush Limbaugh, did not serve. Was 4-F for anal cyst. Must have hurt.

    Obviously nobody told him to not wipe his ass with the shower curtain.

  23. Re:Bill is above the law. on Bill Gates Fined $800,000 Over Stock Purchases · · Score: 1

    For forgetting to file some required paperwork on an otherwise completely legal transaction?

  24. Re:*BOOM* on Bicycle Riding on Square Wheels · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It seems like a flat road on a spherical earth would be the same shape.

  25. Re:an annoying quirk on Java SDK 1.5 'Tiger' Beta Finally Released · · Score: 5, Informative
    You can, however, make use of wildcards to define a covariant inhertiance relationship between ArrayList<Number> and ArrayList<Integer>. We can reconstruct your example to create this relationship:
    ArrayList<Integer> s = new ArrayList<Integer>();
    ArrayList<? extends Number> t = s; //compiles

    Check out this paper for information about this other kinds of variance available in Tiger.