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User: Kozar_The_Malignant

Kozar_The_Malignant's activity in the archive.

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Comments · 1,621

  1. SINS Not GPS on Is It Really GPS If It Doesn't Use Satellites? · · Score: 1

    SINS = Ship's Inertial Navigation System, actually an old acronym.

  2. Re:It's Not Possible on Ask Slashdot: Can Star Wars Episode VII Be Saved? · · Score: 2

    The theatre I frequent serves alcoholic beverages. This may help.

  3. Re:Lens flares on Ask Slashdot: Can Star Wars Episode VII Be Saved? · · Score: 2

    I always figured lens flares were the result of bad setup and shot planning. Maybe if you have four or five Oscars for cinematography you could get away with one or two as artistic license. Absent that, it just makes it look like you don't know what you're doing.

  4. Re:Not First Amendment on California Bill Would Safeguard Consumers' Rights To Criticize Firms Online · · Score: 1

    >working for them at the trade show, or doing door to door work, or making appoints with them, all for no pay. If you refuse, you will be taken to court for breech of contract, a civil matter.

    One of the basic elements of contract law is that the contract, to be enforceable, must have legal subject matter. Since indentured servitude is specifically banned by the constitution, such a contract would be unenforceable.

  5. Re:The Science is settled! on Climate Journal Publishes Referees' Report In Response To "Witch-Hunt" Claims · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The arctic is not yet ice-free, but it's getting there. If you would like to look at the raw data, I suggest Arctic Sea Ice News from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

  6. Re:For real this time? on Australian Exploration Company Believes It May Have Found MH370 Wreckage · · Score: 1

    Even better would have been a Los Angeles class attack submarine towing its passive sonar array through the search area.

  7. Re:jim stone on Australian Exploration Company Believes It May Have Found MH370 Wreckage · · Score: 1

    Thank you for sharing our interesting theory. Unfortunately, without incorporating the Knights Templar in some fashion, it simply does not account for all of the facts. Also, trying to incorporate the Dutch simply is a non-starter. If you feel the need for some Benelux connection, you would be better off alleging involvement of a hidden branch of the Illuminati that has been operating sub rosa as part of the royal family of Liechtenstein.

  8. Android Body Needed on DARPA Embraces Nature With Establishment of Biological Technologies Office · · Score: 4, Funny

    > a new division that aims to 'merge biology, engineering, and computer science to harness the power of natural systems for national security

    In other words, Dick Cheney needs an android body urgently.

  9. Re:You can't have it both ways... on Why San Francisco Is the New Renaissance Florence · · Score: 1

    Plenty of cheap loft space in west Oakland. It's just across the bridge. Exciting night life.

  10. >Complaints by current residents has only resulted in bureaucratic infighting among state health departments and the Navy."

    Complaints by current residents have...

  11. Re:C'mon, seriously? on Why Is Dropbox Back On the Chinese Market? · · Score: 2

    Easy to test by opening an account and upload some random files encoded with PGP. See how long it takes to have the account killed and/or State Security goons to show up at your door.

  12. Re: Debtors Prison? on South Carolina Woman Jailed After Failing To Return Movie Rented Nine Years Ago · · Score: 2

    Sure, if you go to court and get the debt discharged. If you just don't bother returning borrowed property it is just theft.

    Actually, if you don't return borrowed, rented, or leased property, it is called conversion, not theft. The difference is that in the first case, you initially had the property legally in your possession, while in the case of theft, there is never legal possession. Conversion can occur without criminal intent as in, "I didn't return the library book, because I lost it." As with most things, laws vary widely by state. Since this is South Carolina, the woman will probably do hard time especially if she is poor and/or black.

  13. Re:Some far reaching implications... on Fire Destroys Iron Mountain Data Warehouse, Argentina's Bank Records Lost · · Score: 1

    This can be nicely demonstrated with a kitchen match and some steel wool.

  14. Re:Classic Slashdot on Fire Destroys Iron Mountain Data Warehouse, Argentina's Bank Records Lost · · Score: 1

    My desktop machine can boot into three different operating systems; I switch between Gnome, Unity, and KDE in Linux depending on need; I instinctively use keyboard shortcuts in vi, ed, pico, WordStar, Word Perfect, and MS Word; but I'm having a major freakout because a particular website is changing its format? Excuse me? When did techies become so change averse? Sheesh! Change happens. Embrace it.

  15. Re:well i'm reassured! on Confessions Of an Ex-TSA Agent: Secrets Of the I.O. Room · · Score: 1

    I agree that the uniform change sucked massively, or maybe more than that.

  16. Re:well i'm reassured! on Confessions Of an Ex-TSA Agent: Secrets Of the I.O. Room · · Score: 1

    No redneck, no Jew, no mountain man has been permitted to display a beard while in uniform.

    You have obviously forgotten that beards were allowed in the US Navy while Admiral Zumwalt was Chief of Naval Operations. The world did not end and no ships were lost because of this. Admiral Zumwalt also permitted beer dispensing machines in barracks (not shipboard.) A great man IMHO. As I recall, the Coast Guard also permitted beards for a time.

  17. Re:In California on How Good Are Charter Schools For the Public School System? · · Score: 1

    In California, 80-85% of the district budget is spent on teacher salaries and benefits.

  18. Re:In California on How Good Are Charter Schools For the Public School System? · · Score: 4, Informative

    Your statement that California pends over 10k/student is incorrect. Most schools are funded on what is called the revenue limit. It varies by school district from nearly 10k to about half of that. A very few school districts are funded on what is called basic aid and are considerably richer and spend 13 to 15k per student. Teacher salaries vary widely from roughly 32k to 90k+ depending on the district. Salary is only part of the cost to the district to hire a teacher. Districts also pay benefits, retirement, workers' compensation insurance, medicare, social security (district option - some are in; some not), state and federal payroll taxes, etc.

    Other costs that the district must bear are facility costs, which are always considerably higher for high schools than elementary schools; transportation costs, property and liability insurance, utilities, etc.

    Since the implementation of class size reduction funding, class sizes are generally 22-24, not the 30 you allege.

    Now to your list:

    1. In my experience this is simply not true. Public schools generally have much better computer equipment that charter schools. I have never seen a charter high school with any decent laboratory science teachers, labs, or materials.

    The rest of your list of items 2-10 are individual subject areas that the district board of trustees can fund to a greater or lesser levels depending on that amount of money they have and their priorities. However, they must provide a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) for ALL of their students. That means that the district must pay for athletic equipment, uniforms, including cheerleader uniforms, field trips, books, and all of the other things you list, without charging the students and their families. If they tell your daughter or son that she or he must pay for cheerleader or athletic uniforms, they are in violation of California law and you should contact your local ACLU chapter, as they are very active in seeing that FAPE is enforced.

    Another huge cost that public schools incur that charter schools largely dodge by one means or another is special education. California schools are required to provide a Free and Appropriate Public Education to even the most profoundly developmentally disabled student through age 22. One child can cost a district as much as $250,000 per year, not counting legal costs if the parents are litigious, which many special ed parents are.

    As to your last question, school district budgets are public documents. Most districts post them on their websites. Inaddition, each district is required by law to have an annual, independent financial audit, which is also a public document. If you want to know where the money goes, it is easy to find out.

  19. Al Gore on Lawmakers Out To Kill the Corn-Based Ethanol Mandate · · Score: 1

    Gore was a representative from Tennessee from 1977-1985. He was a senator representing Tennessee from 1985-1993. He was Vice President from 1993-2001. Corn is not a big part of agriculture in the state.

  20. Re:Ethanol is a crock nobody wants on Can the US Be Weaned Off Ethanol? · · Score: 1

    Notice how consumers aren't given the choice of buying "pure" gas, as opposed to E10. I'm pretty sure that if we had the choice we'd be buying the good stuff, not the corn crap.

    You can buy it, you just can't put it in your car to drive on the highway. You can buy it at specialty fuel paces that sell to race car folks and at cardlock type places. You have to sign that you won't put it in your car. I buy it at my local CFN dealer to use in my chainsaw, lawnmower, etc. Definitely worth the extra cost to run it in your small engines; more power and none of the damage you get from ethanol.

  21. Oblig. on Cable Lobbyist Tom Wheeler Confirmed As New FCC Chief · · Score: 1

    We got hosed, Tommy. We got hosed.

  22. Re:Toy guns and fabric softener? on UK Police Seize 3D-Printed 'Gun Parts,' Which Are Actually Spare Printer Parts · · Score: 1

    You are beginning to see things correctly Comrade Citizen. Have you considered applying for a career position here at the Ministry of Truth?

    From the film version of Dr. Zhivago where Strelnikov is interrogating Zhivago on his armored train:

    Strelnikov: You put your knife with a fork and a spoon and it looks quite innocuous. Perhaps you travel with a wife and child for the same reason.

  23. >the magazine on the otherhand... a box, a spring, and a plate... now THAT is truly terrifying!

    Putting a Miss Piggy head on top was a clever disguise, Mr. Terrorist, but we recognize a .22 short magazine when we see one. Come along quietly now before we get upset and have to beat you senseless.

  24. Obligatory on New Goggles Offer Minority Report-Style Interface With Heads-Up Display · · Score: 1

    The goggles; they do nothing!

  25. Re:NOLA on Would-Be Tesla Owners Jump Through Hoops To Skirt Wacky Texas Rules · · Score: 1

    The nice thing about buying in Oregon and licensing in California is that Oregon has no sales tax. You do have to buy the CA smogged car, if buying new.