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User: Bigby

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  1. Re:Why not a "Super Bowl"? on Why There Shouldn't Be a Chess World Champion · · Score: 1

    It is actually similar to what is going on with poker. They try to create these other tournaments to compete with "the World Series of Poker" in Vegas. But none of them come close to the prestige of a single event at the the WSOP. And there is nothing wrong with that...

  2. Million? on Anonymous Clashes With D.C. Police During Million Mask March · · Score: 1

    How many masks were each person wearing? 5000?

  3. Re:A new clause needed for "public service" on Cable Lobbyist Tom Wheeler Confirmed As New FCC Chief · · Score: 1

    I think this would pass a public vote at 90%+. It would pass a Democrat or Republic party insiders' vote by 10%. And the only ones allowed to make that vote are the party insiders.

    You have to have the people (not state politics) form a Constitutional Convention to pass it as a Federal amendment. This same thing should apply to Congress people, Supreme Court members, Presidents, Secretary of X, etc...

  4. Re:Sabotage on Why Can't Big Government Launch a Website? · · Score: 1

    That would have done very little to stop NASA. Sure, delay the launch. It would still happen in due time. They took a more agile approach. Learn how to launch; learn how to orbit; learn how to go around the moon; learn out the land on the moon. With this exchange it is like they built and it pulled a Microsoft of 15 years ago...just went live with the alpha release.

  5. Re:All 3 are money runners. on Microsoft Investors Call For Bill Gates To Step Down As Chairman · · Score: 1

    It is probably due to share dilution more than him selling shares. So he will never have "nothing". His estate will even have most of his current shares after his death.

  6. Re:Officer dickhead is a dickhead. on Georgia Cop Issues 800 Tickets To Drivers Texting At Red Lights · · Score: 1

    I drove it on one clutch for 10 years. How is a fully engaged clutch going to wear?

  7. Re:Officer dickhead is a dickhead. on Georgia Cop Issues 800 Tickets To Drivers Texting At Red Lights · · Score: 1

    I drive a stick and never put it in neutral at a traffic light. Unless I know that light is going to last 5 minutes (which some do). Just use the clutch.

  8. Re:jerk on Georgia Cop Issues 800 Tickets To Drivers Texting At Red Lights · · Score: 1

    What about areas where using the horn is technically illegal (most of NYC)?

  9. Re:jerk on Georgia Cop Issues 800 Tickets To Drivers Texting At Red Lights · · Score: 1

    Very true. And if the people are "trying" to do the right thing, they wouldn't text. What did they do 15 years ago?

  10. Re:jerk on Georgia Cop Issues 800 Tickets To Drivers Texting At Red Lights · · Score: 1

    And if this guys catches more traffic issues, then they CAN afford to reassign traffic patrol to more useful departments.

  11. Re:The plant didn't close because of "ignorance" on Its Nuclear Plant Closed, Maine Town Is Full of Regret · · Score: 1

    The costs to fix those issues should be relatively low. After a nuclear power plant is built, operating costs are generally pretty low. If you consider the capital investment a "sunken cost", there is no economic reason to close a nuclear plant. If regulatory reasons caused it, I would think the cost of fixing those issues would be insignificant to the "profitability" of not laying waste to the massive capital investment.

  12. Re:"I cheated." -- Spock, in the first movie on Preventing Cheating At Hackathons · · Score: 1

    Why not a hack-athon that aims at creating a product eliminates hack-athon cheating?

  13. Re:Don't know their science on Researchers Develop the Most Detailed Map of Gravitational Variations Ever · · Score: 1

    How much of an effect does centripetal force play here? Gravity is the centripetal force at the equator that keeps people from flying off the earth due to their tangential velocity. So the perceived gravity on the equator should be less, right?

  14. Re:Good. on Court Declares Google Must Face Wiretap Charges For Wi-Fi Snooping · · Score: 1

    Please educate me. What in the US Constitution allows the government to "wiretap" (search). And what in the US Constitution disallows a private company to "wiretap"? The only reason a private company cannot is because of Congressional Law, which is subordinate to the US Constitution.

  15. Re:Superstorm Sandy? on 'Half' of 2012's Extreme Weather Impacted By Climate Change · · Score: 1

    I know it is nothing. I am from the lack-effect region just south of Buffalo. But how many times was a hurricane followed by snow?

  16. Re:Good. on Court Declares Google Must Face Wiretap Charges For Wi-Fi Snooping · · Score: 2

    Ironically, the Constitution only disallows the government (including the NSA) from broad wiretapping (illegal search). The private wiretapping laws are just laws...not the supreme law of the land. So being ordered to do it by the US government would make the breaking of the law even more blatant and damaging.

  17. Re:OUCH on Man Killed By His Own Radio-Controlled Helicopter In Brooklyn · · Score: 1

    And it is not illegal for those under 21 to drink in all States. In Ohio, your parents may permit you drink in your household. In some states, your parents can compel a restaurant to serve you alcohol.

    http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/YouthIssues/Most-States-in-US-Permit-Drinking-Under-the-Age-of-21.html

  18. Re:Superstorm Sandy? on 'Half' of 2012's Extreme Weather Impacted By Climate Change · · Score: 2

    I agree. Although I wouldn't classify it as "unwise building techniques". The damage done directly by wind was probably a very very small fraction of what wind damage does in Florida and NC. A lot of buildings are brick, steel, and concrete. I was in one of them...it was like nothing was happening. There were a couple things at were vastly different than most storms:

    1. The significant damage, and it wasn't even close, was flooding. The storm surge coinciding with a super high tide basically dump the ocean into several low lying areas.

    2. The wind tunnel effect of tall buildings in proximity turned a category 1 hurricane into category 3/4 winds between buildings.

    3. The hurricane collided with a nor'easter. Batshit crazy stuff. How many hurricanes are followed by 6 in of snow within a week?

    But to the point, it is OK to build in a 100 yr or 500 yr flood zone. Just don't ask for help from anyone but the flood insurance company. You don't even need to look at stones. For instance, the Delaware River has a park on either side where General Washington crossed the river. Either side also has an old ferry house. It is beneficial to have a ferry house as close to the water as possible. These ferry houses are a solid 100 ft from the river. There is a reason why they built them that far away. These people weren't stupid. So then when the Delaware continuously floods, despite the help of a dam upstream, people act shocked. If people 300 years ago were smart enough, why aren't we today?

    However: build there. Just don't ask anyone else for help.

  19. Re:cause and effect on 'Half' of 2012's Extreme Weather Impacted By Climate Change · · Score: 1

    This summary is like saying "half of all people who watch Honey Boo Boo are stupider for it". While it may be true, how much stupider are they? How much did "climate change" affect the weather? Did it make the 200 mph win 201 mph?

  20. You can't assume that a conviction on yes/no, true/false, black/white, did it or didn't do it type crimes will have the same false conviction rate trend as other not-so-clear-cut crimes.

    In the case of death sentences, they are usually due to some type of murder. You were either involved in the death of another or you were not. It is easy to classify a false conviction.

    In the case of sexual abuse, DUI, etc... there are lines to cross. Who's to say 0.07 BAC crash is fine but 0.08 BAC crash is grounds for 10 years in prison? If the "false conviction" is that they actually had a 0.07 BAC, is it really a "false conviction" on the level of someone who didn't actually kill someone? What about a sexual abuse case where the "victim" lied? It is pretty hard for a murder victim to lie about being killed. It is pretty cut and dry that a crime occurred, the only question is who did it. But in sexual abuse, you need to figure out of a crime even occurred, let alone determine the assailant.

  21. Re:MOOC on Murdoch's AP Computer Science MOOC Goes Live · · Score: 1

    Maybe it stands for "MOO Cow". It is actually a Gateway computer in disguise!

  22. Re:Was Java a good choice for the AP requirement? on Murdoch's AP Computer Science MOOC Goes Live · · Score: 1

    I can confirm as the 2002 test was C++. The test required the test-takers to be educated on test-specific classes. I think we used some class called "apstring". Of course you needed to know the ins-outs of that class, but most of the test assumed it was part of the C++ core language. Then you try to do something on your own...

  23. Re:Coincidentally... on US Electrical Grid On the Edge of Failure · · Score: 1

    Is there really enough sun? Is the TCO of those, including cost of subsidies, really outweighing how much electricity could have been produced by power plant? I am going wager "not even close", considering much sunnier non-American non-oil countries aren't actively pursuing solar panels. Including Italy to the south.

  24. Re:Another analogy? on Photocopying Michelle Obama's Diary, Just In Case · · Score: 1

    Don't forget that the sworn person indexes the copy to make it searchable.

  25. Re:Not legal tender. Therefore, not a currency. on Federal Judge Declares Bitcoin a Currency · · Score: 1

    Yes. And Credit Cards too. Because you are using cards, not cash. It just so happens that you deal with the credit card bank with cash, but the credit card bank deals with the merchant in card swiping.