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User: drakaan

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  1. Re:Don't believe the hysterics on Obama Reveals Climate Change Plan · · Score: 1

    Why does that line make you comfortable totally ignoring anything else he says? Poor phrasing? Bad metaphor? Disagreement on the possibility?

  2. Re:Uh, no? on Microsoft Pushing Bing For Search In Schools, With Ad-Removal Hook · · Score: 1

    Just like Google does in search results, Microsoft includes sponsored results. Typically it's a situation where you pay for placement, so they're talking about removing commercially-sponsored results and only including normal algorithmic ones. Ad blockers don't drop search results, just linked content, so this proposed benefit is different from what an ad blocker would get you.

  3. Re:Uh, no? on Microsoft Pushing Bing For Search In Schools, With Ad-Removal Hook · · Score: 1

    ...It's not good enough for me either. I was saying that I could understand the removal of commercial, sponsored results being enough for a hypothetical school district to say they'd switch. I agree with everything in your post, actually.

  4. Re:Uh, no? on Microsoft Pushing Bing For Search In Schools, With Ad-Removal Hook · · Score: 5, Informative

    As an IT guy that mostly works on Microsoft-branded software, I continue to be amused that Google consistently indexes solutions for problems with MS products (including Microsoft's own content much of the time...even MSDN and KB articles) more handily than Bing.

    I've taken the "Bing Challenge" yearly since I knew about it (three times, I think? four?). Granted, I search for stuff that most people don't, but I'm not all that worried about search results for the typical stuff...I'm interested in results for the stuff that's specific and hard to find. Things where you have to whittle down results by adding in error codes and parts of event log entries...Bing has lost every time when I've just used a recent real-world search term...sometimes less or less-relevant results, and sometimes no results at all, compared to getting me to the answer I needed.

    That said, for the stuff K-12 students are likely to *need* to search for in a school environment, Bing is probably fine. It's a less-capable search engine in general, IMHO, but it's good enough for typical searches for "with no ads!!!" to be a reasonable selling point for schools.

  5. Re:Story time on Quantum-Tunneling Electrons Could Make Semiconductors Obsolete · · Score: 1

    Saddest thing about this is that if they don't hurry up with it, you won't have anyplace you can go to actually purchase (and therefore experiment with) the damn things at a hobbyist level.

  6. Re:Good? More like "Good Luck" on China Says Serious Polluters Will Get the Death Penalty · · Score: 1

    ...can't...resist....correcting......grammar...

    ...Hey, has anyone gone to jail for that financial meltdown yet...

  7. Re:Fear and Ignorance on Bill Regulating 3D Printed Guns Announced In NYC · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think "for your own use" means the same thing that it means in relation to the other two categories of things that the ATF cares about. You can have and make alcohol [beer...not liquor], tobacco [products], and firearms [as long as they're not fully automatic machine guns], it's when you start selling them that oversight gets intrusive.

    Gun restriction law is in-and-of-itself perverse (as are the other two categories above). Prohibition's success rate for gun manufacture is only high due to the barrier to learning the process. 3-D printing is getting so much attention because now people who are frightened of guns (instead of people) realize they could be produced without complete government oversight and accountability.

    I'm not especially worried about it because the people I'm likely to get shot by will have guns whether there is 3-D printing or not. Banning 3-D printing just means they're more likely to have a reliable gun.

  8. Re:C64 on How Did You Learn How To Program? · · Score: 1

    Loved my C-64 (all $183.00 of it plus 50 for the tape drive).

    Learned on that at home and the PET and CBM machines at my middle school...I still remember thinking that the under-200-line "keyboard" program written in the manual was loooong :)

    For the nostalgic (not syntax checked...just what I can recall from messing with people in the computer lab):

    10 POKE 144,88
    20 ? chr(int(rnd(1)*255)+1)
    30 GOTO 20

  9. Re:Sounds reasonable to me. on FiOS User Finds Limit of 'Unlimited' Data Plan: 77 TB/Month · · Score: 1

    I was actually thinking about that, too. On xbox live, you need to set up NAT rules for games to work better for multiplayer...inbound NAT equals server, from my perspective. Does Verizon really mean that, or do they mean some specific subset of web services is prohibited, in which case "fuck off" feels about right as a response.

  10. Re:Sounds reasonable to me. on FiOS User Finds Limit of 'Unlimited' Data Plan: 77 TB/Month · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...actually, the ToS specifically says in section 4.3:

    Restrictions on Use. The Service is a consumer grade service and is not designed for or intended to be used for any commercial purpose. You may not resell, re-provision or rent the Service, (either for a fee or without charge) or allow third parties to use the Service via wired, wireless or other means. For example, you may not provide Internet access to third parties through a wired or wireless connection or use the Service to facilitate public Internet access (such as through a Wi-Fi hotspot), use it for high volume purposes, or engage in similar activities that constitute such use (commercial or non-commercial). If you subscribe to a Broadband Service, you may connect multiple computers/devices within a single home to your modem and/or router to access the Service, but only through a single Verizon-issued IP address. You also may not exceed the bandwidth usage limitations that Verizon may establish from time to time for the Service, or use the Service to host any type of server . Violation of this section may result in bandwidth restrictions on your Service or suspension or termination of your Service.

  11. Re:So much for the "MS cares for your privacy". on Microsoft Reads Your Skype Chat Messages · · Score: 2

    "Don't get Scroogled^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HMicrosofted!"

  12. Re:The best part of the article is at the bottom on N. Carolina May Ban Tesla Sales To Prevent "Unfair Competition" · · Score: 1

    ...You mean "government never spends its own money", I think. Government spends the money of its citizens and businesses operating within its boundaries after collecting it via taxes.

  13. Re:Not to mention... on Why Your New Car's Technology Is Four Years Old · · Score: 3, Informative

    You must have only become familiar with cars after they got rid of non-integrated replaceable in-dash radios.

    ...TFA mentions at least one challenge. Kit in automobiles have to be built for extreme conditions (temperature range, vibrations, chemicals, dust, etc)...

    Pure, unadulterated horseshit. There have been companies manufacturing aftermarket electronic components suited for automotive and marine use (and ones that typically exceed car manufacturers' gear) for decades.

    I didn't bitch to Ford when (after 4 years in a lowered isuzu pup sitting on its bump-stops) my cd changer began skipping constantly. I understood that Pioneer did the best they could and Isuzu had nothing to do with me valuing ride height over suspension performance.

    I'd love a return to DIN-sized dash openings (or even standard GM and Chrysler sized ones...anything that makes replacability an option).

    Ahh, the good old days of IASCA and USAC competitions...

  14. Re:Ultimately we do need more government intervent on The First Fully 3D-Printed Gun Has Been Successfully Test-Fired · · Score: 1

    ...so as long as it's a state-sanctioned group of people that have guns, you're fine with it? Most of those guns will end up stolen and on the street?

    You're scaring the shit out of me, I'll admit, but not in the way you probably intended.

  15. Re:Is Google Glass Too Nerdy For the Mainstream? on Is Google Glass Too Nerdy For the Mainstream? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Those weren't just AR goggles, they were an assistive device for the severe vision problem the guy had and were semi-implanted.

    If you're also walking around punching anyone with a cameraphone, then I guess that's consistent...not rational, mind you, but consistent.

  16. Re:So what? on RMS Urges W3C To Reject On Principle DRM In HTML5 · · Score: 1

    For the benefit of anyone who's geeky enough to be on Slashdot and new enough to not know better (an admittedly small demographic):

    Actually, it's more like "They built my Jeep with Chrysler parts...it *is* a Chrysler/Jeep"...not that analogies are a good way to describe why GNU/Linux is or isn't an accurate description of the typical Linux OS distro.

    I don't actually recall RMS demanding that others brand their distros as "GNU/Linux", but he does indeed point out the relationship by describing them that way himself. So, the answer to your last question is "no", but I'm not sure why you asked it.

    On the subject of Stallman and freedom, I'd have to say "Dude, you're an idiot" or "Are you trying to deliberately misunderstand the purpose of the GPL and the meaning of 'Free Software'?", but you posted AC and I have no idea if you'll see this reply.

  17. Re:What is "GNU/Linux?" on RMS Urges W3C To Reject On Principle DRM In HTML5 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The kernel is Linux. Pretty much all of the software is built with GNU tools (e.g. GCC). GNU/Linux is a label that describes the Operating System (not just the kernel).

  18. Re:Florida on Florida Teen Expelled and Arrested For Science Experiment · · Score: 1

    I don't disagree...just pointing out that an irrationality other than racism is probably to blame.

  19. Re:Completely agree on CSS Selectors as Superpowers · · Score: 1

    ...or you could just use the existing features in CSS and HTML (and javascript, if you feel like it), let people know when they're using a broken browser and why things look stupid, and let the complaining get it fixed.

    Microsoft actually fixed some extremely broken things in IE after they realized that developers cared and that supporting standards enabled other browsers to do things that didn't work right in IE (I actually just got done reading some developer blurbs on their new Ajax Control Toolkit that mention functionality Firefox and Chrome but *not* IE).

    Selectors are only this amazing "new" thing because designers have dumbed down their sites to work with IE and IE has had really crappy support for selectors (with the exception of some things related to anchor tags) for a very long time.

    Bitching about the standards without understanding why they haven't been more useful is counter-productive (and whoever said that IE's box model makes the most sense is smoking some really expensive crack).

  20. Re:Florida on Florida Teen Expelled and Arrested For Science Experiment · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm thinking it has more to do with a heightened public sensitivity to bomb-making in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing...

  21. Re:timothy, QUIT IT, YOU FLAMING MORON on CERN Celebrates 20 Years of an Open Web (and Rebuilds 1st Web Page) · · Score: 0

    Why do you presume the use of parentheses was not as intended? I read it as if it was verbal conversation where the parentheses indicated an "aside".

    What's an example of a statement where you believe parentheses would be indicated?

  22. Re:Everything was fine yesterday.... on Was Google's Motorola Mobility Acquisition a Mistake? · · Score: 2

    Not as bad as the judge in this case sucks at law. The discussion surrounding the appeal will be entertaining.

  23. Re:Slashdot refuses to respond to abuse... apk on 64-bit x86 Computing Reaches 10th Anniversary · · Score: 1

    If they implement that, I'm going to have to figure out a way to give you a virtual hug.

  24. Re:Should have been the University of Utah on Unanimous: Provo Utah Council Approves Google Fiber · · Score: 1

    ...They city pays for the entire infrastructure and then once the bond is paid off will have to pay Google for the pleasure of using the service they the tax payer paid for!

    ...because they're not paying anything to operate the (still unfinished) network now? The reason the deal went through the way it did is because the city is hemorrhaging cash trying to make the partially-deployed network function. If it was all peachy and everyone was thrilled with the return on investment and the service they were getting, then yes, I'd agree with you (but then the opposite of that is true, which was kind of my point).

  25. Re:Should have been the University of Utah on Unanimous: Provo Utah Council Approves Google Fiber · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why does it suck for the taxpayers, though? IIRC (and if it's the same deal here), the lowest tier of pricing is $0 per month after a $30 equipment fee. Everyone in the city would get fast (presumably reliable) fiber-based internet and have an operator with a vested interest in providing good service operating it while paying basically nothing more than the original tax obligation (plus $30/household).

    Sounds like a way to make sure the money *wasn't* wasted to me