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User: d474

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  1. Re:Other things it will know on Sensor To Monitor TV Watchers Demoed At Cable Labs · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dear Sir,

    Your hobbies interest me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Please don't tell my mother.

    Signed,
    NoSocialOutlets

  2. Some better name ideas... on RadioShack To Rebrand As "The Shack"? · · Score: 1

    Radio Hut (Hey, if it's good enough for Pizza and Sunglasses...)

    Shack Attack (This name screams action, and encompasses the feeling of panic motivating most customers to shop there at the last minute)

    Movie Theater Popcorn (This name conveys the convenience and prices offered, compared to their competition. EMBRACE YOUR BUSINESS MODEL!!!)

    Cell Shack (Cell phones are kind of like radios, and let's admit it, isn't this want they really want to be?)

    Radio Slut (Sex SELLS.)

  3. Excellent, Smithers.... on The Rise of the Digital Nomad · · Score: 1
    This will make my job of Industrial Espionage much easier.
    • I can eavesdrop on your phone calls (I'm in your office now)
    • I can view your computer screen (I'm looking over your shoulder).
    • I can take sneak peaks at your hard copy documents you are reading (as I walk around your desk and pretend to read the paper).

    Just think of the possibilities. I might even be able to go home early!

  4. *Ahem* - GPS is far from dependable enough on GPS-Based System For Driving Tax Being Field Tested · · Score: 1

    How can one challenge the accuracy or flaws in the record generated by the GPS receiver in your car? GPS's suffer all kinds of issues in cities like New York with signal bounce, etc., which result in flawed positions. Who reviews the accuracy of the data, or are you just SOL?

    I can just see the fun government tax forms you'd have to fill out to get a refund for GPS errors that resulted in mileage errors over the course of a year. Not to mention, what if you're a farmer who drives only on private roads not maintained by county/state/fed? What if you're private road parallels a major highway and the GPS incorrectly thinks you're driving on the highway and hence taxes you? There are dozens of issues this convoluted system will generate for the consumer/citizen/sheeple.

  5. Apparently... on Flapping NAV Performs Controlled Hovering Flight · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...their website is being served off of the flapping bird robot, and said robot has crashed.

    They can make flapping wing flying robots, but can't make a slashdot proof webserver, meh.

  6. Re:Problem Solved on First Electronic Quantum Processor Created · · Score: 4, Funny

    Which came first? The chicken or the egg.

    Neither: It was the Rooster who came first (it happens to every guy once in a while).

  7. My only question is... on Proposed Canadian Law Would Allow Warrantless Searches · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...what next?
     
    After the government watches every single aspect of what we do with our electronic communications, what next?
     
    Will they actually catch all the pedo's & terrorists? Will all those crimes disappear? Or will those crimes continue to occur?
     
    Of course they'll continue to occur, so will they move on to thought control with nanotechnologies? Seriously. Will the argument still convince everyone to allow for thought monitoring because, "How else will we catch all the pedo's and terrorists! Think of the children!"

    So then they watch all our thoughts, will the crimes then go away? Probably not, people will figure out ways to block those nano-bots somehow. Then what?
     
    Then they will want to control our thoughts - because, because that way we can control everyone and stop crime and protect the children! But will crime stop? Yes. But then, the crime stopped because freedom stopped.
     
    Crime and freedom go hand-in-hand. Can't have one without the other.

  8. Re:Experience on Computers Key To Air France Crash · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I trust an engineer's years or study and careful planning over a pilot's hastily considered last-second decisions. It's not that I don't trust the pilots, it's just that an engineer has had more time to put together a solution and implement it in the computer. They know the limits of their craft intimately and I trust them to know how to keep them in the air.

    That's all well and good, but engineers aren't gods. They can't anticipate everything, nor can they design systems that are full proof (AirFrance 447 case in point). And when their systems fail, the pilot should have the option of taking over control of the aircraft. To not provide that to the pilot is nothing short of hubris on the engineer's part, and people died because of it.

  9. Only diff this will make is in some DA's resume. on FTC Shuts Down Calif. ISP For Botnets, Child Porn · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is like removing a telephone from the street corner in an attempt to thwart phone scams: Endless supply of phones for the evil-doers to move to.

  10. The fine print on Pentagon Seeks a New Generation of Hackers · · Score: 1

    ...which challenges students to find and exploit vulnerabilities in software, compromise enemy systems and steal data.

    And the winner does not pass "Go", does not collect $200, and goes straight to jail.

  11. Re:Call it a "hunch"... on Craigslist Fires Back Over Adult Services Accusations · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey Attorney Einstein, it isn't slander if one prefaces the statement as "a hunch". Libel requires that the statement be implied as fact, "a hunch" by definition is not a fact.

    For example, I have a "hunch" that you are a complete moron. I don't "know" you are, but my gut tells me you are.

  12. The only thing shocking about this article... on Biden Reveals Location of Secret VP Bunker · · Score: 1

    ...is that everyone believes the "secret". Has it ever occurred to anyone that it could be a Psy-Op designed to make everyone think that's where the bunker still is? It could also be designed to "shape" the perception of Biden's behavioral patterns so that when in the future he may let "slip" other "secret" information, the enemies actually believe it.

    My point is that with these kinds of stories, what you see (or what they want you to see) isn't always the truth. Take it with a grain of salt, all the other hype is just political grand standing.

  13. Call it a "hunch"... on Craigslist Fires Back Over Adult Services Accusations · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...but I'd be willing to bet that South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster has had some direct personal experience with these so called "Adult Services". Perhaps even through Craigslist?

    Like I said, it's just a hunch.

  14. Re:Input page on Wolfram Alpha Launches Tonight, On Camera · · Score: 1

    Looks like Google results are still more useful than WolframAlhpa:

    My question: How long does it take for the solar system to make 1 orbit around the milky way galaxy?

    WolframAlpha doesn't compute: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+long+does+it+take+for+the+solar+system+to+make+1+orbit+around+the+milky+way+galaxy%3F&asynchronous=false&equal=Submit

    Google win: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=how+long+does+it+take+for+the+solar+system+to+make+1+orbit+around+the+milky+way+galaxy%3F&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=undefined&fp=Q5rYJf3FIq4

    Looks like Wolfram has a long way to go before it can consider itself useful.

  15. Re:Launch delayed, WolframAlpha hits a "snag" on Wolfram Alpha Launches Tonight, On Camera · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That said, the project seems definitely worthwhile, I hope the internet community cuts them some slack so they can fix this in peace.

    I agree and from what I've seen of WolframAlpha so far, is it seems like an excellent "thinking sketch pad". You can brainstorm ideas quickly with it, performing quick calculations in seconds what might take you 5 or 10 minutes to search for, gather input, convert units, get the right equation, and then finally perform the calculation. With this thing you can just type in your question in a loose form and play with the idea. Again, it's only a "sketch" pad so to speak. So if your idea or direction you are going looks good, you can roll up your sleeves and do the "real stuff" on your own system.

    And that's what I find very interesting: WolframAlpha gets to watch the calculations be performed by bright (and not so bright) people all over the world and see what ideas people are tinkering with. They could flag certain equations on the cutting edge and so on...

    And it's only going to get better.

  16. Re:They asked for it on Remote Kill Flags Surface In Kindle · · Score: 1

    If you won't pay for it, don't take it. It's not rocket science.

    If you make it and want to get paid for it, but people won't pay for it and keep taking it, then don't make it. It's not rocket science.

    Either that or come to the realization that the OLD BUSINESS MODEL you are trying to live in is broken and that it's OLD BUSINESS MODEL which is preventing you from "getting paid", not the music consumers.

    Create a new business model. Unfortunately, it may be as challenging as some aspects of rocket science to accomplish. In fact, like the development of rocket science there will be many failures before you get a business model that flies true.

  17. Wow. on Apple May Bring a Non-iPhone To Verizon Wireless · · Score: 4, Funny

    "A Non-iPhone"

    So this an article that isn't about iPhones, but feels the need to define it in terms of an iPhone.

    (Car analogy time) That's like saying Ford is developing a new Non-Mustang vehicle.

  18. Re:Wish I could harvest the power from my farts... on How to Charge Your Cellphone Using Wasted Heat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did you customize that sig to your comment, or should you go see a doctor about your explosive flatulence problem?

  19. Re:Duh? on The FBI Has a Trojan To Watch You · · Score: 1

    ...because the second you get sloppy, you're nailed.

    But I thought terrorists only had get it right once and it was the FBI that has to be right 100% of the time.

    So what you are saying is that it's the FBI who only has get it right once, and the terrorists who have to be right 100% of the time?

    Where's Donald Rumsfeld when you need him?

  20. Re:Ignores time dilation on Telepresence — Our Best Bet For Exploring Space · · Score: 1

    I wasn't ignoring time dilation, I was focusing on the "reality" of time occurring outside of the spaceship. The OP seemed to ignore the fact that humans will be discovering new physics and technology over the span of say the 75,000 years of "real time" occurring outside of the time dilated spaceship. Even though the travelers experience only 20 years of travel, when they arrive, chances are they will be greeted by "people from the future" who have long since already arrived and developed thousands of years of history/technology/culture. Hell, so much time may have passed by the time the 20 year traveler gets there, the star system & planets may have long since been abandoned.

    So while it may feel "smart" to focus on what's going on inside the spaceship, you are missing the forest for the trees.

  21. Why would they want to... on Threat To Net Neutrality In Europe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...basically DRM the entire internet? That's where they are eventually trying to get to, and we all know it.

  22. Re:Ignores time dilation on Telepresence — Our Best Bet For Exploring Space · · Score: 2, Funny

    Twenty years can get you anywhere in the galaxy at one g.

    Try 74,000 years. Our Milky Way galaxy is approx. 100,000 light-years in diameter. We are about 26,000 light-years from the center. Even at the speed of light, it would still take us 74,000 years to reach the far side of the Milky Way galaxy.

    Twenty years would only get us, well, about 20 light years away from our Solar System which is drop in the bucket compared to the size of our galaxy.

  23. Project B on Openmoko Phone Not Dead After All · · Score: 1

    aka Plan-B

    Sounds like plan A didn't go so well.

  24. Re:Reading between the lines on Obama Administration Defends Warrantless Wiretapping · · Score: 1

    "Obama very clearly opposed this, then got in office and supports it. The clear inference here is that he learned _something_ between then and now..."

    Yeah, he met the people behind the curtains who are truly in charge.

  25. Spoken like Andrew Dice Clay... on How Do I Make My Netbook More Manly? · · Score: 1, Funny

    If you think 10 inches is cute, wait till you meet Mr. Happy Pants hon-eeeey, OOOOOHHH!!!
    **Takes a drag from cigerette**