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User: VAXcat

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  1. This story has been done before on Netflix Buys Rights To Stream Chinese Sci-Fi Blockbuster 'The Wandering Earth' (npr.org) · · Score: 1

    Stanley Schmidt told a very similar sotry in "The Sins of the Fathers", and "Lifeboat Earth"...and, although I haven't read the short story or seen the series described here, I suspect he did a better job of it.

  2. Siri can be pretty unpredictable on Teenagers Charged With 'Intimidation' After Sharing Siri's Helpful Response For A School Shooting (nwitimes.com) · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One day, shortly after getting an iPhone. I asked Siri "where is the nearest Discount Tire store location". She replied "I'm sorry, I can't give you that information". I tried several times - same answer. I wondered why she wouldn't tell me, and what else was off limits. To explore the problem space, I then asked "where is the nearest place I can score heroin?" She replied with directions to a sketchy neighborhood near me. I asked "where can I find a female prostitute?" She replied with the addresses of several escort and massage places near me. I then asked again "where is the nearest Discount Tire store?" - the answer was still "I'm sorry, I can't give you that information." I'm not sure how she decides what to share with me and what not to.

  3. The lefties don't like any climate problem solution that doesn't put them in charge of the economy and allow them to dictate how everyone has to live their lives...

  4. Re: It's why the airport has metal detectors on Compelling New Suspect For DB Cooper Skyjacking Found By Army Data Analyst (oregonlive.com) · · Score: 1

    EH? There are mountains of statistics that show this. Here's one, from the decidedly non-gun friendly CDC, that was commisssioned and then ignored by President Obama that summarized thusly "As to defensives uses of guns, the CDC report said, "Studies that directly assessed the effect of actual defensive uses of guns (i.e., incidents in which a gun was 'used' by the crime victim in the sense of attacking or threatening an offender) have found consistently lower injury rates among gun-using crime victims compared with victims who used other self-protective strategies. ... Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million per year, in the context of about 300,000 violent crimes involving firearms in 2008."

  5. Jerry Pournelle said... on Japanese Company Announces Long-Term Plan To Develop the Moon (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    About 30 years ago or so, that humans would return to the moon, colonize it and develop it - but they in all likelihood they would be speaking Chinese or Russian. (well this is a Japanese company - but his prediction looks like it was pretty accurate on the whole).

  6. What about a sonic boom? on Should the US Air Force Bomb Forest Fires? (popularmechanics.com) · · Score: 1

    I wonder if a sonic boom from an airplane flying trans sonic 100 feet off the deck would generate enough over pressure to blow out a fire?

  7. It reminds me of... on Microfilm Lasts Half a Millennium (theatlantic.com) · · Score: 2

    Angleton's Memex.

  8. Re:she still does not understand why she got fired on Game Company Fires Two Employees Who Complained About 'Mansplaining' on Twitter (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    If you had the courage of your convictions on this, you would have stated your real name and who your employer is...

  9. A soldier in the UK working immigration said... on Europe is Using Smartphone Data as a Weapon To Deport Refugees (wired.co.uk) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    He related that manyl of the refugees he'd come across seemed to have managed to lose all of their identity papers and documents, but all of them seemed to have been able to hold on to their smartphones and selfie sticks.

  10. Re:SkyNet v0.1b on Secret Pentagon AI Program Hunts Hidden Nuclear Missiles (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    "There is another!"

  11. Re:There are lots of ways to play that game. on Ask Slashdot: Did Baby Boomers Break America? (time.com) · · Score: 1

    Don't forget - Millenials - big wheels on cars. Hats worn sideways. The upsurge in rap. Driving race cars sideways. They must all be so proud....

  12. Larry Niven already wrote this story... on Was There a Civilization On Earth Before Humans? (theatlantic.com) · · Score: 1

    "The Green Marauder".

  13. Re:To paraphrase... on Vim Beats Emacs in 'Linux Journal' Reader Survey (linuxjournal.com) · · Score: 1

    And easier to use.

  14. This again? on MIT Plans To Build Nuclear Fusion Plant By 2033 · · Score: 1

    Economically practical fusion power plants have been 15 years away...for over 50 years now...

  15. What do to with junior developers? on Who Killed The Junior Developer? (medium.com) · · Score: 1

    Decades ago, when the Earth was young and we slew the dinosaurs with our might slide rules, I attended a Digital Equipment Corp symposium. There was a Q&A session there with the leading lights in real time device driver development, including the maximum leader of device drivers, Ralph Stamerjohn. During the Q&A, a user in the audience, concerned about training new real time driver writers, in environments where mistakes can be deadly (he worked with industrial robots)., asked "What should be done with new device driver programmers?" Ralph Stamerjohn grabbed the mike and said "take them out and shoot them". From what I've seen of new driver writers, his advice was spot on.

  16. Re:Recycling? on 'No One Wants Your Used Clothes Anymore' (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    Rayon is more or less natural - it's liquified and spun cellulose.

  17. Re:There could be a terrestrial explanation. on UFO Existence 'Proven Beyond Reasonable Doubt', Says Former Head of Pentagon Alien Program (newsweek.com) · · Score: 2

    Don't forget Huy Brasil and Lemuria.

  18. THIS problem is not new on Ask Slashdot: How Can Programmers Explain Their Work To Non-Programmers? · · Score: 1

    In the late 70s I started a job as lead VMS system programmer at a large engineering firm. After a few years of dealing with engineers who had one semester of Fortran in college and had a PC at home who thought they knew everything about computers, I put a sign on my door that read "We don't care how the hell you do it at home on your PC".

  19. Re:Good and Stop Reviving Them When They OD on Robots Are Being Used To Shoo Away Homeless People In San Francisco (qz.com) · · Score: 2

    He clearly meant, when they OD, stop wasting money treating them with Naloxone.

  20. I haven't kept up on this... on Hollywood Strikes Back Against Illegal Streaming Kodi Add-ons (engadget.com) · · Score: 1

    ...are the copyright holders still going after individuals? When last I was current ont he torrent scene, they were landign like a ton of bricks on individuals caught downloading, in order to discourage the practice. Is that still going on, or are they just after the streaming and torrent sites now?

  21. It's an old idea... on Ford Pilots a New Exoskeleton To Lessen Worker Fatigue (futurism.com) · · Score: 1

    GE did it in the 60s. This project was the inspiration for the powered armor in Starship Troopers. http://cyberneticzoo.com/man-a...

  22. I hate daylight savings time on Many US States Consider Abandoning Daylight Savings Time (newsweek.com) · · Score: 1

    The extra hour of daylight during the summer really dries out my lawn.

  23. Just asking... on Apple's Tim Cook Shares What He Learned From Steve Jobs (businessinsider.com) · · Score: 1

    How many other people think like I do - that Woz was a creative genius and Jobs was a self aggrandizing hack? Without Jobs, Woz would have done genius level work somewhere in Silicon Valley. Without Woz. Jobs would have been a middle manager, car salesman or insurance agent.

  24. This reminds me.... on Comcast Pressures Local Cable Firms to Curb Low-Cost TV Packages (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    ...of several years back, when cable TV was new. The local provider had salespeople going door to door to pimp it. I didn't need cable at the time, so when the sales guy came by, he was frustrated at no making much headway with me. But then, he played his ultimate trump card - if I didn't get cable from his outfit, I w would no longer be able to see some local major sports team or the other, since they were'nt going to be available any more on local broadcast TV. He smiled, thinking g he had me cornered. I smiled, and asked him if he could guarantee that I'd never have to see the games....he had never run into an avid sports non-fan before. He left shaking his head...

  25. Good.... on FCC Silenced Puerto Rico Radio Station's Boosters In March 2017 · · Score: 1

    "FCC audio division's regulations have done little to stop AM and satellite radio from broadcasting right-wing streams-of-consciousness throughout the lower 48 states" - good - they're not supposed to do that, due to the pesky 1st Amendment. Free speech and all that.