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User: howlatthemoon

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  1. How about a rule that... on Senate Votes To Turn Down Volume On TV Commercials · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I would like a rule that requires political ads to be played a significantly lower level than programming. A person can dream, can't they?

  2. Re:``Security?'' What? on "Super Monkey" Security Force Used At Commonwealth Games · · Score: 1

    Isn't it just a matter of scale? Monkey security agents just have it easier. Authorized monkeys, only the monkey security agents and humans, of course. Unauthorized monkeys all other monkeys. Think of human security agents as secondary screening.

  3. Re:No suprise here on Rupert Murdoch Publishes North Korean Flash Games · · Score: 1

    One amendment... News Corp doing business with North Korea is a-ok. They would roast any other company doing so.

    Think about how Fox News would treat a company that has significant ownership by a Muslim stockholder with that stockholder donating to the group building the Cordoba Center (the one Fox News called the "gound-zero mosque"), and deals with North Korea. My guess is that their description would hint at terrorism. If you have not guessed what corporation might fit this description, that's right, News Corp.

  4. Re:Barred for 20 years? on Twitter To Establish Information Security Program · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't every company be barred from misleading their customers?

  5. Re:Maybe I'm missing something on Exam Board Deletes C and PHP From CompSci A-Levels · · Score: 1

    As someone who has evaluated a lot of resumes, I thought it was common practice for programmers to just list every coding/scripting language regardless of exposure to it.

  6. Re:Apple on Android Sales Surpass iPhone Sales · · Score: 1

    Perhaps, but there has not been major press on every news network about the secret android prototype as the next version of the Droid. Compare that with the press circus around the apple prototype. I have not seen android news pushing much beyond tech press.

    The new iPhone rumors began in January, and culminating in the massive leak last month. I think this had a big impact on sales. Since Apple does not do constant incremental upgrade like other manufacturers, I think it more likely to be subject issues of waiting and pent-up demand. And, unlike with many Apple products and update cycles, the general public is pretty well informed on the new iPhone to come.

    As you said, every day you read that is a slightly faster/better android phone, so some people might wait, but if upgrades are constant, it would argue for less seasonality. You buy when you need that new phone. That is not the case with the iPhone, there are big surges with the new models, which come yearly. That is seasonal adjustment that needs to be modeled into the time-series.

  7. Re:For Our Non-United States Friends on Wisconsin Designates State Microbe · · Score: 3, Informative

    Take a look here http://www.worldchampioncheese.org/_apps/contest_results/ Wisconsin almost always has a maker in the top 10.

  8. Absolutely.... on Wisconsin Designates State Microbe · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They should have named Saccharomyces pastorianus the state microbe.

  9. The problem with fair use on A Second Lessig Fair-Use Video Is Suppressed By WMG · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The summary says, "...used in an unarguably fair-use manner," but the problem is that there are no definitions of fair use that can't be argued. There are guidelines, but the only way to determine that a use is fair is to argue it in a court and prevail. Sure there may be uses that are so clear cut that a reasonable person would agree that the use is fair, and prior case law helps guide decisions, but try asking a lawyer to confirm your use to be fair use, and you'll rarely get a clear answer.

    I'm not saying this is not a case of fair use, but in having a system where the one way to be certain is to go to trial is going to lead to conservative behavior in users of content.

  10. Re:Depends on Is Plagiarism In Literature Just Sampling? · · Score: 1

    It is only flattering if you acknowledge the one you imitate. It is not only the honorable thing to do, but in scholarship a necessity. It avoids sloppiness of thinking and provides linkages to the origins of the original thought. For example I hight doubt the author of the quote "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" was a Zen Master as the person who wrote it, Charles Caleb Colton, was a 17th century English Cleric (Wikipedia).

    While I do believe there are original thoughts, unlike Jim Jarmusch, I do believe that knowledge in our civilization advances by our building on the works of others in all aspects of the life, science and art. There needs to be reasonable respect for IP (the incentive to create for some but still less than life+70 yrs), and even more reasonable terms of use (the incentive to make things even better). Still, when things enter the public domain, I see no less of an obligation to attribute the content to the original source.

    Much of the standing on the shoulders of giants we do may be way of inspiration, which can be hard to attribute, but it does sound like this is the case for the author in cited. She is an unrepentant plagiarist, and deserves scorn heaped upon her.

  11. Won't anyone think of the cows... on Scientists Create Artificial Meat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Cattle are one of the most successful species on the planet. Why? Because, they threw their lot in with humans. Humans do don't care about preserving something with which they have no relationship. It takes resources to keep cows, and few to none will do it unless they is an economic benefit. Therefore, one must wonder is PETA's real motive to drive cows extinct in their drive to save cows from humans?

  12. Continent of Afro-eurasia on Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight · · Score: 1

    To extend your reasoning, actually, there is a single continent of Afro-eurasia because of the continuous landmass joined at the Isthmus of Suez until, as you say, somebody decided to split it... so jumping from Africa to Europe is no less intercontinental than crossing the Panamanian land bridge. Actually, it has been proposed that this is a single continent, just look up continent in wikipedia

    So really there should be only 4 olympic rings since the olympic bigots leave out Antarctica, of course, there has not been a team from there. Maybe there should be only 3 since Australia is hardly more than a big island. To be fair though, I believe the rings represent world regions, rather than continents, even if continents is the word they use

  13. Re:Standard Calculus on Radar Beats GPS In Court — Or Does It? · · Score: 1

    Wait. I assuming your values are correct as I have not read the original article. Your equation is fine, but you missed a piece and I hope this legal precedent did not use this same logic. What about units here? 2040 ft/30 sec is 68 ft/sec which is 46.4 miles/hr I guess you are right he was speeding, by 1.4 miles/hr

  14. DeployStudio on Large-Scale Mac Deployment? · · Score: 2, Informative

    We use DeployStudio, a freeware project http://www.deploystudio.com/ . Support for DS is pretty from the community, or you can buy training, but if you want to go with a vendor product JAMF Casper suite makes a great product, that we did not think was outrageously expensive.

  15. Re:First you need a semantic context on New Company Seeks to Bring Semantic Context To Numbers · · Score: 1

    I used 58.44 and molecular weight and all top ten hits told me what molecule I was dealing with. Same with 58.44 g/mol. You are right, numbers require context or 58.44 could be anything, and most of the time a generic search without units the context would be wrong. I am sure that I have used 58.44 outside the context of chemistry much more often than I have in it even though I spent many years in a molecular biology lab.

  16. Re:No license necessary on A Software License That's Libre But Not Gratis? · · Score: 1

    You must work for Disney. You would have us believe that all use must be sanctioned by the rights holder and that is simply not the case. You fail to mention fair use exceptions. It may not apply in this case, but any person who states that the rights holder has exclusive control of a work without the exception of where that use is fair should get a slap along side the head.

  17. Re:Dear God! on I'm a PC and I'm 4-1/2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If this had been done on a Mac it could have been made well before Kylie was born. iPhoto was released in 2002.

  18. Bad title on New Law Will Require Camera Phones To "Click" · · Score: 1

    Since it is an introduced bill it should read "new law would require..." The title suggests that it has been signed into law. Better yet would would be "Newly introduced bill would require..."

  19. Success relies on our tendency to get well or die on Trick or Treatment · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In general, if you are sick or injured you get better or die. If you die you can't say anything about the failure of your medical care. If you have received care, more than likely likely you will improve. The question is whether the care altered the healing. Since humans like to find patterns, which help us predict future events, we tend to associate an action with an outcome. So, if we tend to get better, and we receive care, unless we are careful we will assume the care was positively associated with getting better. I really wish we were better able to teach that correlation does not imply causation.
    Remember, your chiropractor is little more than a highly paid masseur/se.

  20. Re:Campus Technology on Keeping Up With IT Developments In Education? · · Score: 1

    yes, i agree, and as a bonus if you get on their mailing lists you will never go a day without several e-mails from qualified commercial partners. Fortunately I have a good set of filters. Educause, should be the first place too look and it is also a place to get involved with colleagues nationally. See you in Orlando.

  21. Re:Just Basic Organic Chemistry... on CO2 To Fuel, Closing the "Carbon Loop" · · Score: 2, Informative

    The aroma is more like frying chicken, but it has been many years since I have fried one, so I can't describe it more precisely.

  22. Re:As a non-driver on People Prefer Angry-Faced Cars · · Score: 1

    Because there is setting on the headlight switch that does that. In my experience, it is less than perfect under dim conditions and too conservative in when to turn lights on because of weather or the long autumn dusk. I have also seen reports of inconsistent behavior by the sensor.

  23. You are your own prior art on The Death of Nearly All Software Patents? · · Score: 1

    unless you are under 20 years old, you could be held against yourself in a court of law. Or, does that violate the 5th Amendment in the Bill of Rights?

  24. You have never used an Air so why pretend on What's The Perfect Balance For a Budget Laptop? · · Score: 1

    Playing with one at the Apple Store doesn't count. And most of the "tech world" people I know can get by with a 486 until it comes to gaming; processing text does not take too many cycles.

    The air is not a macbook pro, but it does fine with office (BTW I own and use both, along with a bunch with MacPros, high-end Windows and linux boxes, so I know the relative performance). It is small enough not be a drag, but large enough to be useful. The Air even does OK with PS as long as you are not pushing on the memory too hard, but I work with RAW images from a Canon 40D without issue. It is sluggish with a large aperture library, but that is HD read speed more than CPU. Fortunately, I make enough that I can base my decision on what I want, and of the 10 computers I use regularly, my Air is getting more play than the rest.

    As a non sequitur raw support sucks in Linux. I just tried to use a linux laptop as a photo processor on vacation, and I will never do that again.

  25. Biometric DRM on In Soviet US, Comcast Watches YOU · · Score: 1

    Here's what they are really thinking, they can really charge for access to the individual level for everything you view and block access to people who have not paid. All the other things like invasion of privacy are just bonuses to them and a way to get the government to push for it by making it a key for V-Chip access control.