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User: denobug

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Comments · 385

  1. Re:This triggers my WW3 theories. on Glitches: United Airlines Grounds All Flights, NYSE Suspends Trading · · Score: 1

    Making us the Brits! Hail to the Queen!

  2. No USB Floppy Drive? on Features That Windows 10 Will Deprecate · · Score: 2

    What! No USB Floppy Drive? What is Microsoft thinking!!!

  3. Re:Here's a better idea on William Shatner Proposes $30 Billion Water Pipeline To California · · Score: 1

    why don't we reserved all the residential usage and some quota for criticalinfrastructure. Agriculture and mining users can bid to use the surface and underground water - after general public has their fair share of water usage.

    Free market at its best. Let them pay for the water they reap profit from.

  4. Re:Here's a better idea on William Shatner Proposes $30 Billion Water Pipeline To California · · Score: 1

    Alredy paying that much here in Texas. There must be a conspiracy theory from the Californians!

  5. a 13,000 mile road... on Russian Official Proposes Road That Could Connect London To NYC · · Score: 1

    ...where it takes a couple of oil changes to go from point A to point B. Great thinking, people.

  6. Re:Not the same thing on Washington May Count CS As Foreign Language For College Admission · · Score: 1

    Agreed.

  7. Re:BASICally my reply is... on Washington May Count CS As Foreign Language For College Admission · · Score: 1

    Sorry, your argument still does not convince me that learning foreign is not a good thing. Learning languages are suppose to be difficult and the two years in HS only get someone an intro more than anything else. But honestly, with very little curriculum we are now providing students to learn what else can provide an positive learning experience besides keeping foreign language. It is not like students today will be picking up more rigorous science classes in-liu of the foreign language requirements.

    If we drop two years of foreign language I expect ALL students to complete physics, biology, chemistry, and one advanced science course, plus a requirement to complete Calculus before graduating HS.

    Sounds impossible or unrealistic? Yeah I think so too. Better keep the foreign language requirement then.

  8. Re:Mechanical stability? on One-Atom-Thick Silicene Transistors May Lead To Dramatically Faster Chips · · Score: 1

    In short, packaging would be a lot more expensive, unless they figure out a way to get volumes out of this one

    Getting volumes out is exactly what the manufacturing engineering will be doing, and usually involves a bigger slice of wafer to increase yield.

  9. Re:And all this after we have paid them to do it.. on AT&T's Gigabit Smokescreen · · Score: 1

    That $2000 number was as of 2006. It's 2014 now.

    Then AT&T should have acted in 2006 instead of waiting this long. They are perfectly capable to make a sound business decision to lose money.

  10. Re:Groaning all the way on Slashdot Asks: How Do You Pay Your Taxes? · · Score: 1

    I totally agree with your assessment on the matter.

  11. Re:Overseas comment on Slashdot Asks: How Do You Pay Your Taxes? · · Score: 1

    I like the UK system - if you're an employee and you're happy with the tax your employer has withheld on your behalf, you don't have to do anything. You get a statement at the end of the year telling you how much you've been paid and how much tax has been withheld - if you think they've got it wrong, or you want to claim deductions, you file a tax return saying so.

    We could do this in the US. By could I mean, if we changed tax regulations -- the system is mostly in place already. Wage income is deducted "pay-as-you-go" here, too. All of my interest, dividends and gains were already reported (but not deducted) by the entities that paid them. The IRS could have just sent me a bill for that with what they already know. Most of the data I put on my 1040 is redundant for the IRS. The biggest impediment -- other than changing the law -- would be that not claiming all your deductions could result in paying far more than you really should owe, especially if you have a mortgage, give to charity, or need to report other such deductions.

    Wait, you mean we need to SPEND MY TAX DOLLARS to calculate my taxes to for me one time, and then have me back check, and possibly calculated AGAIN with another software, on my own dime?

    okay in all jokes aside I think IRS has a fairly big division to audit the top earners in the country. Essentially there are someone in IRS looking over all the reports from Bill Gates, Warren Buffets, and the like, and do their taxes for them, with dedicated systems to back check them, to make sure they are paying the right amount of taxes. You can call it audit, fact-checked, if you want, but at the end of the day someone in our government is doing the work of equivalent of filing their tax form for them.

  12. Re:We don''t do tax returns in the UK,you insensit on Slashdot Asks: How Do You Pay Your Taxes? · · Score: 1

    What software do you use that adds up all your sales tax, property tax, fuel tax, and all the other taxes plus the fees that are passed on to you that are hidden in the costs of the goods and services you consume?

    If you keep all your receipts and have them entered into a financial software then it will spit the appropriate info out for you.

  13. Re:base it around my OS on Slashdot Asks: How Do You Pay Your Taxes? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not to mention H&R Block made me pick between married/joint or married/separate at the beginning of the process, whereas when I did the calculations with a spreadsheet I could just change that input and see my tax calculated both ways (because either could be better depending on circumstances). H&R Block was able to figure out whether I should take the standard deduction or not; it should have been able to do the same for filing status.

    A quick way on H&R Block software is to use the "go to" button to go back to the beginning and change the status. It will show the result on the calculation fairly quickly.

  14. Re: Apple? on Why Buy Microsoft Milk When the Google Cow Is Free? · · Score: 1

    I'm sure it's included in the price of the computer, much like MS's licenses for crapware are included in Dells and HPs.

    The crapware pays for the OS, which is why Linux versions of the same computer often cost more -- they have to make up for the lost crapware revenue. I mean really, cleaning off the crapware is part of the price you pay for a Windows computer.

    And for a well-run IT shop the first thing about deployment is to make its own clean image free of all unnecessary software. Same for a well-run shop in education

  15. Re:I don't get it. on Google Funds San Francisco Bus Rides For Poor · · Score: 1

    The State of Texas will gladly accept Google's proposal to build their next headquarter. We have plenty of land in West Texas in the deserts!!!!

    Oh, wait, most people working for Google DON'T WANT TO MOVE TO TEXAS. It is probably a symbol of barbarianism with cowboys and horse wagons with no freeways and tall buildings. I guess the tax incentive won't convince them to move for a variety of reasons. Don't think the 6 percent tax is really that bad for them...

  16. Re:Troll on Ask Slashdot: How Do I Change Tech Careers At 30? · · Score: 1

    Money is poor motivation and costs more than my time.

    well said, sir!

  17. Re:Pffft on Atlanta Gambled With Winter Storm and Lost · · Score: 0

    Shutting the city down isn't free. Parents have to leave work to get home to children. What do you do when that parent is an ER nurse? Businesses have to close, city workers will cause traffic jams on the way home... and if nothing happens, everyone starts talking about how much money and time was wasted for nothing. You can't win.

    Right. So does letting thousands of people stranded on a freeway for 18 hours and children stay in schools overnight. Anybody thought about the overtime pay and economic loss of getting people stuck in a hazardous situation? What IF someone died during this fiasco? Should there be a class action lawsuit against the City, the Sate? If people died because of official decision should there be a criminal probe and charge the Mayor and the Governor with criminal negligence?

    Compare to criminal and civil lawsuits the money lost to shutdown a government seems minimal. That is, unless, you want to put a price tag on a human life. If we do, can we start with yours?

  18. Re:Privacy Issues on UK Government May Switch from MS Office to Open Source · · Score: 1

    This is just a way for the UK gov't to get some additional "concessions" from Microsoft...

    No it is not.

    Real people are sick of MS in general and MS Office in particular. They're sick of lockin. They're sick of manipulative licensing schemes. They're sick being overcharged for being outside the USA. They're sick of engineered incompatibility. They're sick of upgrade treadmills. They're sick of pointless UI changes and they're sick of all the FUD and deception it takes to keep it all the way it is.

    The world is now trying to route around the damage that is Microsoft and its shoddy products and practices. They'll make the change happen sooner rather than later.

    I call bullshit.

    Google Doc for business requires a yearly fee, per user as well. Adding additional administrative personnel and all, and assuming local hosting (Assuming UK Government is not stupid enough to trust Google's cloud for government data), the cost might came out awash, pending their negotiation with Microsoft.

    And guess what, Microsoft does have one of the most effective productivity package, including Access, OneNote, Projects. Excel Spreadsheet is top of the line with data access and all.

    Personally I think Microsoft and Google both have quality products. I would hate to see either one go, although with more advancement from Google's suite that might not be too far off. Then Google will simply be another Microsoft and become a menace to the slashdot crowd

  19. Re:Freakin' Riders. on Incandescent Bulbs Get a Reprieve · · Score: 1

    A 150W incandescent puts out around 2600 Lumen of light. 200-watt light bulb is very rare.

  20. Re:We vote on leaders not lightbulbs on US Light Bulb Phase-Out's Next Step Begins Next Month · · Score: 1

    Joe, I don't understand why you are screaming on your soap box with an outrageous comparison when you could have bought high-efficiency incandescent light bulb (still producing under the new regulation) to be done with your garage lighting issue! Wrong engineering solution with wrong application don't make any sense! Nobody is saying LED lighting is solution for everything.

    http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-EcoVantage-43-Watt-60W-Household-Halogen-Light-Bulb-2-Pack-409847/202514341#

    All within the new regulation while giving you what you want. Now stop whining and give us the /. back so we can talk about more important stuff (e.g. Linux embedded light bulb)

  21. Re:We vote on leaders not lightbulbs on US Light Bulb Phase-Out's Next Step Begins Next Month · · Score: 1

    And your infrequent used attic lighting requires US to make millions of them a year so you can buy one every few years? Yeah that is a good scale in economy...

  22. Re:Making smart choices on US Light Bulb Phase-Out's Next Step Begins Next Month · · Score: 1

    Wrong. The purpose was to force people to hand over their money to private companies whether they want to or not. It's called Fascism. Go look it up. The rights of business outweigh the rights of the people. Because people are not required to pay for the services they receive, even a small amount if they are indigent, everyone else has been forced to pay those costs.

    Right. So in the same way it is wrong for government to regulate that we are suppose to buy car insurance before we can drive.

  23. Re:We vote on leaders not lightbulbs on US Light Bulb Phase-Out's Next Step Begins Next Month · · Score: 1

    That is still not to say that I agree with the legislation, though. I agree that encouraging the use of modern efficient replacements for the old bulbs is good, it is bad legislation on principle, if for no other reason. It is FAR beyond any power our ancestors ever imagined giving the Federal government... and in fact they really don't have the legal authority to ban bulbs, regardless of what laws they pass.

    Sorry I am going to use your post as the soap box on how government should set the tone and directions on technological advancement, environmental protection/public health, and social standard through executive branch regulation and legislation. The government has the implicit power to set the direction and tone through its position in leadership. After all that is what leadership is about.

    Also noted that the legislation in US does not specifically ban the production of regulator incandescent light bulb. Instead the language specifically address the efficiency of the new light bulb produced. If the combination of materials and manufacturing process would make non-gas filled incandescent to perform up to the efficiency standard it can be produced. Of course the manufacture will want to charge premium for the patent and manufacturing process. That's capitalist market working right there, taken advantage of people's desire of keeping with the old stuff.

    The government has the capacity and ability to set the tone for either the welfare of the general public (environment and public health and safety). To regulate and encourage interstate commerce (the Commerce Clause) gives the federal government to set regulation on technological grounds that draws a more even line for fair competition that would otherwise not happening because the laziness of human nature or the extra expense that would not immediately benefit the merchant on a short-term basis, especially if individual business can choose to abide or not. Since the timing of the legislation in 2007 the manufacturing process is maturing for the newer, higher efficiency light bulb it is fair to set the new standard so that everyone doing business in United States are competing on a new standard that is fair for everyone. Where the old light bulb production is already on decline, this allows all the manufactures to focus their resources and energy on newer standard without the distraction of having the keep up with the old stuff. If this was enacted in 2001 I would agree that the government is forcing its hand on a non-matured, to be proven technologies without basis. But to say that government does not have the power to regulate because it can abuse it is like saying companies don't need CEO and Chairman because bad leadership can happen all too easily.

  24. Re:interesting bit missing from tfs on Icahn Abandons Bid To Prevent Dell From Going Private · · Score: 1

    Carl's plan is never to bring Dell to its full potential. He is the M&A expert to break a company down. The only reason Carl is retreating is either it is an utter defeat, or the fact that someone paid him in some form or fashion that he no longer needs to play hardball on Dell's deal.

  25. What I don't understand is: on Japanese Ice Wall To Stop Reactor Leaks · · Score: 1

    Why has no one discuss the reason that the good old concrete injection would not do the trick. We have the drilling technology and the injection technology at our disposal, both prove to be highly efficient. Are there issues we don't know about? Also I think the cost estimate seems to be too low.