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User: Vancorps

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  1. Re:Let me play Devil's Advocate. on Scientist Removed From EPA Panel Due To Industry Opposition · · Score: 2

    While philosophically I feel you should be right, there is ample real life evidence to show that industry often doesn't have ways of dealing with the health risks associated with harsh chemicals. Take IBM for example, fabricating chips is an extremely toxic substance and extremely fragile, dust in the wrong place at the wrong time can destroy a whole production run. So IBM built bunny suits to protect the chips from human hair and dust but neglected protecting the humans from the harsh chemicals and what you got was a class action lawsuit down the road and a lot of health problems.

    Theoretically this is why you would have the EPA and OSHA to be your guardians. An average person does not have access to all the information they need to decide on whether their job is safe, federal standards at least try to force companies up to a minimum level.

    There are lots of recent examples of the industry failing to protect anything but the bottom line, look at almost every oil spill to date, look at almost every mine collapse, look at the harmful effects of fracking. It gets worse when you start talking about water departments not meeting federal guidelines on chlorine content and getting slapped with thousands of dollars in fines which is only seen as a cost of doing business because the cost of fixing the problem is a few orders of magnitude more expensive.

  2. Re:Christians, physicians and hospitals on Missouri Legislation Redefines Science, Pushes Intelligent Design · · Score: 1

    You are mixing two situations here. Evolution does not attempt to explain where we began, it only explains the mechanisms that drive us currently. We have seen evolution in action many times and will continue to see it changing wild life including plant life, right on down to influenza which keeps mutating every year. We see it everywhere, evolution is happening and has been happening. Where we started is a completely different discussion and as you state, we cannot know with absolute certainty the answer there.

    The fossil record would seem to indicate that the evolution we see today probably drove the changes necessary but there is nothing saying that God couldn't have set it all in motion or that aliens didn't drink some nasty water and disintegrate into a river. There are lots of theories on where we came from but evolution is more than just a theory but it depends on your context as to whether you should refer to it as such.

  3. Re:Troll... on OpenOffice: Worth $21 Million Per Day, If It Were Microsoft Office · · Score: 1

    I use LO everyday, like I said, you can't just print and expect the output to be correct, you are absolutely right that I have to save to a PDF first and then I can rely on the output, this is an unnecessary step and illustrates why a lot of people stay with MS Office.

    I also don't begrudge anyone that shy's away from Office over its licensing enforcement, that's a perfectly valid criticism. Ribbon can be customized though so I would suggest you just modify it so the features you want accessible are accessible and then you get to live a life where you don't have to complain so bitterly.

  4. Re:Troll... on OpenOffice: Worth $21 Million Per Day, If It Were Microsoft Office · · Score: 2

    This doesn't sound like someone that spent any more than a few minutes with Office ribbon. Most people have much more direct access to the common features, combine that with the fact that since 2010 you've been able to customize this experience I can't help but wonder why you try to pretend like you can't. Most people I've seen set down in front of it and just go. Some more obscure functionality is sometimes hard to access but that is largely due to prior training. After a few years with it I still find myself creating documents in Oo and sharing them across my Ubuntu installs, when I am done with the document I will copy it to my Windows VM and polish it up with Word.

    It's pretty rare that I ever print something in Word and it's not what I get on the print out. With Oo this is a regular occurance. I keep up with Oo primarily because I will to reduce the licensing costs associated with Office. So far I can't make the justification.

  5. Re:potentially worth... on OpenOffice: Worth $21 Million Per Day, If It Were Microsoft Office · · Score: 1

    You are quite confused if you don't think mail merge is a regular feature used in offices around the world. Mailing labels are one of the major features of Word and Excel.

    In a business setting few offices only need to type words and even fewer contain people that know how to spell correctly. In short, there is a reason most of those features are there and there is a reason that most of the world uses MS Office. Is it bloated? Of course, but its not all for nothing.

    If what you were saying was true everyone would be using Google docs by now, it's free, and you can just type and go, it even has some pretty powerful features these days as well. Even MS Office 365 was struggling to get those advanced features to make the product useful to people. Now that they have the majority of them is it a surprise that their userbase took off?

  6. Re:Cue the on FCC Proposal Would Cover the US With Public Wi-Fi · · Score: 2

    You are confused about the proposal, you were probably similarly confused about the healthcare debate. The government providing a free option does not mean that private options can't and won't exist.The fact that you can get private health insurance in the UK and other places where you have socialized healthcare should show you that it's not all or nothing.

    At 700mhz I'm likely to find my cable modem to perform a hell of a lot faster than this free wifi option. The security implications are interesting to ponder but hardly insurrmountable given that we already have more and more security concerns with private ISPs snooping on us. We'll build better tools to protect our privacy.

  7. Re:Cue the on FCC Proposal Would Cover the US With Public Wi-Fi · · Score: 1

    Spoken like someone that doesn't cross reference hundreds of different materials while learning stuff. Hell, just last night I reading about plumbing and watching videos on Youtube and that's fairly non-technical. Compare that with how I learned to deploy XenServer in a cluster using a NetApp SAN. Lots of cross-referencing there.Try that with any book and you're screwed. If you're talking about Internet access at the library then we're back to square one with OP.

  8. Re:Definition of a cap on Senators Seek H-1B Cap That Can Reach 300,000 · · Score: 1

    How is the number of constructions site not relavent? How would you send the magical Feds to construction sites for enforcement of this new rule? If you're talking about ICE agents then you are going to need A LOT more agents if you plan on raiding every construction site.

    Rather than wasting time and resources feeling insulted that a pertanent and inconvenient question was asked you might try to actually understand what you are saying.

    There is a big difference between an undocumented immigrant who is sitting at Home Depot looking for work and the gang banger that is actually committing crimes which harm our cities and towns. If you force the Home Depot people out into the street then they get desperate and sometimes have to commit further crimes to survive. Forcing them into that situation is incredibly short sighted and unnecessary. If as you say, you grandfather them in and they can qualify for workers comp, they will pay taxes, and we all benefit. I don't know how you can come to the conclusion that it is a simple issue.

    What about all the kids that were dragged into the process? Combine all that with the rabid xenophobia people have these days and you're facing an uphill battle.

  9. Re:Definition of a cap on Senators Seek H-1B Cap That Can Reach 300,000 · · Score: 1

    It sounds so simple doesn't it? Then you realize that you're taking income away from the illegal immigrants that actually want to work and force them either into crime or plunge them further in poverty creating a new set of problems. Also, do you have any idea how many construction sites there are and that they come in all shapes and sizes from the home owner hiring a Mexican to build him a deck to a giant megacorps hiring hundreds to build a warehouse. By the time you hire enough inspectors to hit every site you've wasted even more money.

    Immigration reform is a very complex issue, distilling to something simple will always mean that you leave out important details. Without a path to citizenship there is no way out of the situation at hand.

  10. Re:Fox news has less than 2 million viewers on Andrew Auernheimer Case Uncomfortably Similar To Aaron Swartz Case · · Score: 1

    How is the Daily Show as much of a problem? In all the years of watching they have never outright lied. Fox News was sued over their lying and won by saying they are an entertainment network, not news. So they openly admit that they lie. I would propose a challenge to find an out and out lie ever told on the Daily Show.

  11. Re:Also, the really big thing on Congressman Introduces Bill To Ban Minting of Trillion-Dollar Coin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ugh... if you stockpile gold then the cost of gold goes up and you have currency deflation. The gold standard was a hell of a lot more volatile than you suggest. Switching to our current system slowed the bubbles and bursts and stabilized our economy giving us a platform to grow. I hate hearing the old Ron Paul argument that the gold standard would end any problems. The current system isn't perfect but it's certainly a world better than the gold standard.

  12. Re:Good move. on Cisco Rumored To Be Selling Linksys · · Score: 1

    Or go with an HP Procurve with web management so easy a caveman can do it combined with a lifetime warranty for less money and more bandwidth.

    Linksys strength was providing a great value with little features, this went away when Cisco bought them and started monkeying with DNS and managing crap from the cloud.

  13. Re:What's good for the goose... on Outrage At Microsoft Offshoring Tax In the UK, Google Caught Avoiding US Taxes · · Score: 1

    Growing up in Vermont with extremely lax gun laws I can safely say that training absolutely matters. There are extremely low instances of gun violence in the state and a large portion of the state population are gun owners. The difference is that there is an emphasis on training so you know what you are doing and so that you store it safely. When proper precautions are taken there are few to no accidental shootings and rarely, like once in a decade shooting violence.

  14. Re:tl;dr version on How Data Center Operator IPR Survived Sandy · · Score: 2

    While you are right, the big selling point for a lot of data centers is physical location. IO Data here in Scottsdale for instance prides itself on the fact that there really is no severe weather in the area. Historically the area is geologically stable, not prone to flooding, no where near any forest fires. So their location is their first defense against disaster with N+3 redundancy as additional defenses.

    Disaster planning is hard, some things you take for granted during normal times simply aren't available during a disaster. Think diesel fuel delivery using trucks. That's why a lot of data centers rely on pipelines for fuel delivery with trucks as a standby.

  15. Oh that wacky Umbrella corporation

  16. Re:Fears of Self-Driving Cars on GM Brings IT Dev Back In House; Self-Driving Caddy In the Works · · Score: 1

    Especially since computers don't get tired, hungover, drunk, angry, or distracted

  17. Re:Marijuana/Drug Laws on Want a Security Pro? Get Politically Incorrect and Learn Geek Culture · · Score: 1

    Only the drug-loving hackers go to defcon!

  18. Re:You cannot fine that which does not have a numb on FTC Offers $50,000 For Best Way To Stop Robocalls · · Score: 1

    Where do you live that there are still payphones? Its pretty rare these days.

  19. Re:Where can I get free SD cards for life? on Surface RT vs. iPad: a Comparison · · Score: 2

    Why would you ever take it out? I've found SD storage to be incredibly useful on tablets, I've also found USB useful as I take thumb drives from the cad guy and copy drawings to the tablet.

  20. Re:Yes. on Is Microsoft's Price Model For the Surface Justifiable? · · Score: 1

    This is not true, if you skip two upgrades then you have to pay the upgrade costs in between. A friend of mine just ran into this. It's especially great for her before the old version isn't sold in stores so she had to special order it.

  21. Re:Name Your Poison on US Election's Only VP Debate Tonight: Weigh In With Your Reactions · · Score: 1

    That's pretty funny, I always hear this argument, except that my girlfriend recently had a pretty bad fall and waited several hours to see someone anyway. So in a first world nation with insurance we're still waiting, so why not insure everyone again? Why force people into bankruptcy or worse?

  22. Re:Post bigotry here on US House Science Committee Member: Evolution Is a Lie From Hell · · Score: 1

    Interacting with unpleasant people is indeed a skill one learns from school. Social skills are a lot more than just making friends but you can see interacting with your peers, some of which will like or dislike you for no good reason as creepy if you like.

    Bullies are alive and well in corporate America, you need to learn how to deal with them at some point. Why not learn among people with which you will have equal footing rather than in corporate America where you start out as a peon.

    Also note, I didn't say social skills were the only value of the school system.

  23. Re:Post bigotry here on US House Science Committee Member: Evolution Is a Lie From Hell · · Score: 2

    Yes, there are standards that are more accepted than others. IPv4 and IPv6 are pretty well accepted standards though, same with FTP, TFTP. telnet, ssh, ntp, and a myriad of other standards out there. Standards are necessary to ensure minimum levels of compatibility, so while my browser may not support every standard it definitely supports the majority of scenarios much like our education standards are supposed to do for us. This means that a student from Kansas can work with a student from California or Poland as they all have a minimum base education to work from.

  24. Re:Post bigotry here on US House Science Committee Member: Evolution Is a Lie From Hell · · Score: 2

    Last I checked kids that go to school still see their parents only a daily basis. Parents are free influence their children all they like, that's why home schooling is allowed. There are no limitations, only minimum standards which I can't fathom how that would be a bad thing. School has a lot of purposes, everything from teaching specific subjects, to social skills.

    Fortunately, people that control public school districts have to answer to a lot of people including the local community, this is why you have a local school board and supervisory roles that ensure individual schools maintain minimum standards. This means that local people get a say in how their kids are educated and federal standards ensure that they will be competitive with their peers from other regions.

  25. Re:Post bigotry here on US House Science Committee Member: Evolution Is a Lie From Hell · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In this particular case making a difference means ensuring that kids get a better education now than in the past, you know, improving the system. A system doesn't have to be perfect to be a good thing, as it evolves you move towards better and better education which then elevates society as educated people become more productive and advance the country further.

    Freedom is not a purpose, it is a state of being. You are not free to make your choices if you are too uneducated to know what your choices are. So I would argue this removes freedom for people to pursue their own happiness. This is based on the assumption that without enforcable standards that the number of people educated will decline significantly.