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User: chemindefer

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  1. Re:How hard is it to have something like this in U on China Debuts the World's Fastest Train · · Score: 1
    Way back in the 60's, when Eisenhower's interstates were killing their passenger traffic, but the ICC was making them keep serving communities with passenger trains, the railroads agreed to always run Amtrak trains on first priority if the government would please please take passenger trains off their hands.

    Typical of corporations, they forgot these promises once they got out from under, and I've heard managers from most major US railroads laughing about stinging and delaying Amtrak trains. Part of this is agreements with shippers like UPS, where each minute late costs lots of money in refunds, and part of this is that they seem to keep only the most incompetent people, since most US Corps are rife with nepotism and fear of competence.

    So building parallel tracks ought to be sponsored in part by the freight railroads, who have been making profits all through the recession we've been having, and have been upgrading their own rails in anticipation of the recession's end. They ran passenger trains when they were the only game in town and could charge what they liked, then when there was competition they cried their way out of continuing the very public service they advertised only years earlier.

    Also, how about trucks really paying for the damage they do to highways instead of being subsidised. I heard from a state DOT official that trucks do 55,000 times as much damage as a car in passing over a given square foot of test pavement.

  2. Re:my wife on Evolution's Path May Lead To Shorter, Heavier Women · · Score: 1

    Was a Flux Capacitor part of the dowry?

  3. Try 1999 on 9 Browsers Compared For Speed and Features · · Score: 1

    I was using M-builds in late 1999 that were reasonably reliable. Many nightlies leading up to 1.0 were usable enough that I was installing them for the computer-clueless that I supported at that time. Just had to find a good one and test it first.

    I'm not a fanboy of where Mozilla and its products have evolved, but I see nothing that compels me to change. I would never think of switching to Apple's Mail, for example, refused to use it when I worked for them (which is why I was often the only person that could open attachments). I like that it is simple and doesn't help me too much. The 2.0 builds are working pretty well right now, although the extensions are lagging.

    Agree that development and adoption of Firefox took a long time and that IE 6's legacy on the internet resembles W's on the world at large.

  4. So... on The Universe As Hologram · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ceci n'est pas une pipe?

  5. Spam Karma on Smart Spam Filtering For Forums and Blogs? · · Score: 1

    I use Spam Karma and Bad Behavior on my not-very-popular Wordpress blog and have no spam comments at all, and I used to have lots of them. SK has recently been abandoned by its founder, but still works on WP 2.7.

  6. Goodbye Postdata warning! on Mozilla's Thoughts On Google's Chrome · · Score: 1

    The end of the Soviet browser era is coming. May all the cool plugins be portable to Chrome.

  7. Duh on Apple Laptop Upgrades Costing 200% More Than Dells · · Score: 1

    only fools get work or upgrades at the dealer.

    So what part of "Apple is the dealer" don't you understand.

  8. Re:Stability of the Dymaxion car on The Life and Times of Buckminster Fuller · · Score: 1
    W.O. Bentley commented that the Porsche (which arose out of the VW) was a "triumph of development over design".

    The Dymaxion was ahead of anything the big automakers were doing, or even trying. The closest they came was the Chrysler Airflow, which was more aerodynamic going backward.

  9. Re:Print Version (and my Apple woes) on The Most Annoying Software Out There · · Score: 1

    You have a possible hardware issue, but first you might make another user account and see if the problems occur while using ONLY that account. If it still does, take it in or call Applecare.

  10. Re:Subconscious flirting on Study Shows Males Commonly Mistake Sexual Intent · · Score: 1

    "I Know What Boys Like", and all the other Waitresses songs, were written by a man.

  11. Aha on Wireless Auction Ends With Mixed Feelings · · Score: 1

    "A former mail carrier, McBride has been trying his luck at FCC auctions since 1996." Nice try, Darl.
  12. Easy Solution For Newbies on Paypal Advises Users To Stop Using Safari · · Score: 1
    Use any browser you like. In the bookmarks toolbar, if it has one, put a folder with bookmarks to Paypal, eBay, Xbank, Ybank, etc.

    Simple instruction: They get an email about Paypal, don't click on the link in the email, go to the safe bookmark for Paypal and log in. Everything fine? Then it was a phish.

  13. Are you sure? on Gmail CAPTCHA Cracked · · Score: 3, Funny

    I just checked Google News and there's nothing there about it.

  14. Re:Bummer :-( on iPhone Application Key Leaked · · Score: 1

    I tried that, but then everything else that I overclocked was suddenly underclocked.

  15. Registration-free linkage on Novels Composed on Cellphones Topping Japanese Best Seller Lists · · Score: 1
  16. Re:OK, I have to ask on 14-Year-Old Turns Tram System Into Personal Train Set · · Score: 1

    Most power switches in the US have OS sensing, which disables the switch from moving while a zone near and on the switch is occupied. This would have prevented that facing-point switch (points are pointed at you) in Lodz from operating and splitting the train. OS originally meant "Off Sheet" in the days of telegraphers, now means "On Station", at least according to the signal people I am acquainted with.

  17. That's the problem on Wii Shortages Costing Nintendo 'A Billion' In Sales · · Score: 1
    "'We don't feel like we've made any mistakes,' said George Harrison, senior vice president for marketing at Nintendo of America.

    And probably Ringo is in charge of forecasting.

  18. I don't go there... on How Best Buy Tried To Whip The Geek Squad Into Shape · · Score: 1

    ...figuratively or otherwise, haven't been in a BB for years. Or a CC for that matter. And no AA either, just in case you wondered...&^)

  19. Jumped a shark? on When Did Star Wars Jump the Shark? · · Score: 1

    Now that would have made sitting through them worthwhile. Hope somebody answers which episode that was in.

  20. Goalposts on Why Microsoft's Zune is Still Failing · · Score: 5, Funny

    Moved them and made them smaller. Try getting a chair between them now.

  21. Re:The reason? on RCMP Won't Go After Personal Filesharers · · Score: 5, Funny

    It was too hard to get the horses into people's bedrooms, basements, dorms, etc. Not to mention getting horses into the internet tubes that connect them.
  22. Re:There are three kinds of people.... on Apple's Missed Opportunity With Leopard Delay · · Score: 1

    The people who have been waiting for Vista with baited breath... So we're talking about a subset of windows users that eat sushi?
  23. Clipboard feature in FF or SM on First Peek at Netscape Navigator 9 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "...a neat clipboard in the browser's sidebar that will hold links to websites you want to visit again but not necessarily bookmark." I do this in Firefox or Seamonkey by putting a folder called Temp in my Bookmarks toolbar, to which links can be dragged.
  24. Wha's Old Is New Again on Electrical Field Treats Brain Cancer · · Score: 1
    Wherever you are, Royal Rife, I hope you can see me raising my glass to your memory.

    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=royal+rife&bt nG=Google+Search

  25. Some satire on the subject on Why Are CC Numbers Still So Easy To Find? · · Score: 1