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User: naff89

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Comments · 48

  1. I think the best illustration for this is what the IRS will let you deduct for mileage.

    The standard rate is $0.56/mi, which brings your total cost for driving from SF to LA up to almost $215.

  2. Re:One word: Cloud on Unable To Hack Into Grading System, Georgia Student Torches Computer Lab · · Score: 1
  3. Re:Is this submission for real?! on House Bill Slashes Research Critical To Cybersecurity · · Score: 1

    I like the leap because framing it in terms of "stopping terrorists" may be necessary in convincing Republicans to oppose cutting it.

  4. Obligatory:
    https://xkcd.com/191/

  5. Re:Oh bullshit! on FedEx Won't Ship DIY Gunsmithing Machine · · Score: 1

    Except people don't regularly die from supermarket flowers? If a child picks up a flower (or even, dare I say, a whole bouquet of them), there's an extremely small chance that they'll accidentally kill themselves.

    Quick Google search shows 1337 children under 18 died from gunshot wounds in 2010, with over 7000 more hospitalized.

    And while you may like the comparison for political reason, gay people are discriminated against because who they are doesn't match up with 1st-century morals. Gun lovers are discriminated against because they lobby against laws that could make those numbers drop down to match the rest of the civilized world's.

  6. Re:Arrrgh.. on California Declares Carpooling Via Ride-Share Services Illegal · · Score: 2

    Don't hurt anyone, don't lie or steal from anyone and don't crap where we all live.

    Sometimes we need specific laws to protect people from the nuanced, less-direct ways to "hurt" people or "steal" from them, like ripping them off or selling products that aren't reasonably safe.

    I think that if you examined all of the country's laws (of which I'll agree there are too many), I bet most would fall into one of your three categories.

  7. Re:But I'm not charging them for the ride... on California Declares Carpooling Via Ride-Share Services Illegal · · Score: 1

    And there's no problem with that.

    Oh, unless you're offering rides under a business permit that specifically restricts you from doing that, like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar.

  8. Re:This really makes no sense on Windows Tax Shot Down In Italy · · Score: 1

    "Yes, Sears? I've written my own custom firmware for my new refrigerator, so I'd like to be refunded the built-in cost of the bundled software I've replaced."

  9. Re:Or... on Among Gamers, Adult Women Vastly Outnumber Teenage Boys · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For me, "gamer" has always carried the same connotation that "film buff" does: just as I wouldn't consider somebody who occasionally goes to the movies a "film buff", I wouldn't necessarily consider a person who occasionally plays games on their phone to be a "gamer".

    At the end of the day, though, my litmus comes down to whether the person considers video games to be an important part of their life and their identity. For me, video games were my entire childhood, and are my primary hobby today. And even though my girlfriend never played the hardcore CRPG's and FPS's of my youth, playing Sonic, Kirby, and Nintendo GameCube with her little sister is an incredibly important part of her childhood and remains important to her in adulthood.

    To me, that makes her a "gamer", regardless of whether she's played Baldur's Gate, Half-Life, and Ocarina of Time, or not.

  10. Re:If they really want to help the situation... on Memo to Users: SpamCop Winding Down Webmail Service · · Score: 2

    I agree, but the problem with spam is that it is just so goddamn cheap to send.

    It's not an economic problem like drugs are, because it doesn't require the massive resources a successful drug empire does: it can be one guy, a huge botnet, and virtually cost-free spam messages. Add to that the difficulty in tracing a message back to an individual computer (let alone a computer running a botnet), and it's almost impossible to keep these guys down.

  11. 21 feet on Ancient Bird With Largest Wingspan Yet Discovered · · Score: 2

    That's 21 feet, for those of you in the States.

  12. Re:They failed to realize... on DC Entertainment Won't Allow Superman Logo On Murdered Child's Memorial Statue · · Score: 1

    According to TFA, it was the City of Toronto who insisted that the issue of possible copyright infringement be settled before putting up the statue.

    Which isn't quite as bad as DC's "no you can't", but is a far cry away from "We've got your back, father of murdered five-year-old."

  13. The Week on Ask Slashdot: What Good Print Media Is Left? · · Score: 2

    I love The Week. It's a reasonably objective collection of the best news articles/opinions each week. Each Sunday, I sit down with a cup of coffee for a half hour and get a broad overview of what happened in the world that week, and what people said about it.

    It's basically a printed new aggregator, showing only the most insightful and informative opinions (from all sides) each week -- the exact opposite of the Internet news I consume daily.

  14. Re:Problem with releasing an underpowered console on Titanfall Dev Claims Xbox One Doesn't Need DX12 To Improve Performance · · Score: 1

    This is my major sticking point, too. I upgraded to a PS2 for DVD and component video, and I upgraded to a PS3 for BR and HDMI. So I could get a PS4 and have... BR and HDMI?

    Not to mention that my PS2 played PS1 games and my PS3 played PS1/PS2 games, meaning that each time I could just swap the console out and keep my current library -- I always had great games to play on them.

  15. Re:Actually... on Scientists/Actress Say They Were 'Tricked' Into Geocentric Universe Movie · · Score: 1

    Same way you define the center of anything: the thing around which other things rotate.

    Occam's Razor rules out the sheer complexity of any model showing our solar system orbiting any body other than the Sun.

  16. Re:MOD UP! on Lawmakers Threaten Legal Basis of NSA Surveillance · · Score: 1

    I disagree -- New Coke was, in many ways, actually an improvement over Coke Classic according to their taste tests. That was a case of people simply being biased to what they were familiar with, coupled with a very vocal angry minority.

    The Slashdot redesign is objectively, and demonstrably, significantly worse than Slashdot Classic.

  17. Re:The Internet of THINGS! on Intel Puts a PC Into an SD Card-Sized Casing · · Score: 1

    Sure, that's the first step, but the second is having my coffee pot see that I'm running low and making a new pot for me automatically. Or my refrigerator seeing that I'm out of eggs and having groceries delivered.

    All of these sensor-equipped "things" are just infrastructure for a central brain of home automation -- one metallic chassis away from having a robo-butler.

  18. Re:Here's my proposed algorithm. on Tech Startup Buffer Publishes Every Employee's Salary, Right Up To the CEO · · Score: 1

    The expensive part isn't the replicator/holodeck, it's the warp core that powers it.

  19. Re:Another force-your-kids-into-shit-you-like topi on Ask Slashdot: Will You Start Your Kids On Classic Games Or Newer Games? · · Score: 1

    I wish that I had someone to introduce me to the best of the classic games when I was a kid. After starting with their successors, it's almost impossible to try going backwards, so there are some really great titles that I just can't get into because now they're "too old".

    Growing up with an SNES, trying to play anything that came before it is just painful for me, meaning entire generations of games I've missed out on. If I grew up today with a Wii U, why would I ever try playing Super Mario World if Super Mario 3D World was my first Mario game?

  20. Re:Hey, I have an idea on IRS Left Taxpayer Data Vulnerable and Lied About It · · Score: 1

    No, we should definitely leave it to for-profit corporations. Certainly they have our best interest in mind!

  21. Re:Look on the bright side on Blue Light of Death Plagues PlayStation 4 · · Score: 1

    Much better now than several years in, like my PS3 YLOD. I don't mind going through the RMA process for a dead-on-arrival product, but struggling with losing all of your data is miserable.

  22. Re:Right... on Why Project Flare Might Just End the Console War · · Score: 1

    2. a well-fortified position; a stronghold or citadel
    3. (figuratively) a person, or thing, who strongly defends some principle

  23. Re:Pics or it didn't happen on Researcher Allows Sand Flea To Grow Inside Her Foot To Study It · · Score: 1

    They're also web-safe dithered gifs, which makes me feel like I'm viewing them in Netscape

  24. Re:Robots and knives on Robots Can Learn To Hold Knives — and Not Stab Humans · · Score: 1

    Those humans we don't like are going to get killed one way or another -- using robots to do it just means that humans we DO like don't get put in harm's way killing them.

    As long as the "humans we don't like" refers exclusively to people working to the detriment of mankind, I consider that application of robots beneficial.

  25. Re:Why? on File-Sharing Site Was Actually an Anti-Piracy Honeypot · · Score: 1

    In my perfect dream world, every single product I want would be easy to buy at a reasonable price whenever I want, and buying it would give me complete ownership over my copy.

    People don't just pirate things because they're thieves; piracy often offers the highest quality product, hassle-free. That it's free is just gravy on top.