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User: crackspackle

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  1. Re:Solid research there on LinkedIn Study: US Attracting Fewer Educated, Highly Skilled Migrants · · Score: 1

    I've been all over and worked overseas in several countries for extended periods and that has absolutely nothing to do with it. I am not arguing that the U.S. is better than other countries except in so much as it affords opportunities for both new immigrants and the old. If you know of a better country, please tell me.

  2. Re:I just don't understand on Officer Not Charged In Michael Brown Shooting · · Score: 1

    Tazers ought to be illegal given the number of people killed even when the police weren't trying for that, but they along with mace are frequently ineffective against some arrestees, particularly ones as big as Michael Brown. None are a weapon for a life and death situation.

  3. Re:I just don't understand on Officer Not Charged In Michael Brown Shooting · · Score: 1

    This alone to me is enough to at least take it to trial and see all the evidence to try and figure out exactly what happened.

    If they take it to trial without enough evidence to prove he's guilty, then he can never be tried again.

  4. Re:Solid research there on LinkedIn Study: US Attracting Fewer Educated, Highly Skilled Migrants · · Score: 1

    Yeah. Except for basically every other first-world country.

    Name one country that exceeds the U.S.A. in all those categories? You can't can you? Canada may be closest but it really doesn't have anywhere near the same economic opportunities. Some country part of the Eurozone? Yeah, they've got all these wonder social safety nets that insure you won't go homeless but also insure it's practically impossible to change the socioeconomic status under which you were born because of all the taxes, rules and regulations that go with it.

    "and really only one that also offers vast economic opportunities and the ability to change who you overnight."

    Yes. For the good. And also for the bad.

    No doubt you can go straight to your ass here if you want, but you'll notice that's mostly a complaint coming from third generation or older citizens who think they are supposed to be handed everything on a silver platter. New immigrants don't have this problem and are busy making money and building business while they complain.

  5. Re:Solid research there on LinkedIn Study: US Attracting Fewer Educated, Highly Skilled Migrants · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Also, if you RTFS, they address that in their research bias section.

    Yeah, they're using Linked-in for the data on people resumes, but if you also read the study, they have come up with some new category of “Employment-based migration” under the guise this provides as this givens a better idea of STEM transfers opposed to actual immigration, while completely ignoring things like Eurozone immigrations changes that made stuff like employment based migration possible on a large scale. At least their kind enough to point out the U.S. is still the top country for immigration, probably assuming we’ll all think they’re illegals.

    The fact is, very few people leave the U.S. for jobs overseas and relatively few come here legally for jobs because it’s so damn difficult. That’s the reason these types numbers are low. I guarantee if we opened the borders for STEM grads only, we’d be overwhelmed. Many in the U.S.A fail to recognize the incredible gift they have living in this country but most outsiders would be happy to swap places with them. There’s really no place on earth as relatively free of the problems that dog all civilizations - crime, corruption, pollution, overpopulation, disease and really only one that also offers vast economic opportunities and the ability to change who you overnight.

  6. Re:yes, but on Intel Putting 3D Scanners In Consumer Tablets Next Year, Phones To Follow · · Score: 2

    I imagine there's also applications possible in the arts, gaming, etc.

    Now we can send penis models, not just penis cam shots.

  7. Re:Dogs as compass on 'Why Banana Skins Are Slippery' Wins IgNobel · · Score: 1

    I wonder what would happen if you don't allow a dog to align north-south.

    I live in a 125 year old planned community, which means a bunch of square blocks all facing perfect north and the front of my house also faces north; Therefore, the street in front of me is most definitely east-west where I walk my dogs daily and they always poop in the direction I am walking. This study as opposed to my dogs is full of shit. It seems a much simpler answer than polarized pooping is that dogs, known to be mostly color blind, don't like the light of the sun in their eyes which could leave them vulnerable to attack. I like real science behind the silliness factor of igNoble and the Banana Peel Study has just that while also very useful toward the study of frictionless materials.

  8. Re:Anti-competitive behavior is a big deal on Uber Now Blocked All Over Germany · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes, attacking government revenue streams is not exactly anti competative though. But this is the world we live in. This is such a hard thing to explain to the layperson.

    You realize are real costs involved Uber isn't paying? Taxis are commercial services and part of their fees are used to maintain roads and public facilities they use more heavily than private drivers. They are also required to provide equal access and maintain a certain percentage of handicap accessible vehicles available at all times. They also have to carry the proper insurance because if they skirted the law on this point, the rest of us would end up paying.

    And that's about what's happening with Uber and Lyft. We will end up paying the costs they are ignoring. To make matters worse, those costs will be spread out over everyone even those most will never use these services. As it's a semi-elite market, that translate to those who can least afford it will subsidize cheaper rides for those who can and we'll all pay added tax dollars essentially straight into the pockets of Uber's founders. I can't blame Germany for being smart and making them follow the rules.

  9. Re:Slashdot comments indicative of the problem on Anita Sarkeesian, Creator of "Tropes vs. Women," Driven From Home By Trolls · · Score: 1

    You must ask yourself honestly : Why is it, when faced with stories like this, is your first instinct to claim that the woman lied or made it up?

    Because they identify with her tormentors.

    Slashdot can attract these sorts of freaks on its own, and they do this to every story. As for Anita Sarkeesian, I have to ask, who?

  10. I Hate Bethesda Studios on Ask Slashdot: What Are the Best Games To Have In Your Collection? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    for taking years of my life (Fallout and Elder Scrolls Series). My love will only return as soon as you publish something else

  11. Re:Throw It Out on Ask Slashdot: Is It Feasible To Revive an Old Linux PC Setup? · · Score: 1

    My point is I've been there and done that. The between the lines problem is the paranoia about losing something you might want some day and the point of rebuilding systems like this is to see if you can delete it. It's fun once but beyond that a time blasting exercise when it would be better spent coming up with a preservation scheme so you don't end up with even more junk in the future.

  12. Re:Throw It Out on Ask Slashdot: Is It Feasible To Revive an Old Linux PC Setup? · · Score: 1

    I've been rummaging around on old backups and cleaning out my stuff and have once again run into my expert-like paranoid backups and keepsakes from back in the days (2001).

  13. Re:Throw It Out on Ask Slashdot: Is It Feasible To Revive an Old Linux PC Setup? · · Score: 1

    Yes I read it, and I've been there too, hanging onto a pile of old crap because I though I might want too look at/use it again one day. Having not done so for years, I tried exactly what he did and realized after a couple of times the effort is not worth the reward, particularly if he is trying to figure out he still should keep it.

  14. Throw It Out on Ask Slashdot: Is It Feasible To Revive an Old Linux PC Setup? · · Score: 1

    Delete it. If you haven't used it for years you never will. You're only buying yourself a mountain of lost time trying to recover and look at the same files you probably already elsewhere. Instead focus on how to stop creating the problem in the future. You've already taught yourself the lesson the hard way that there is such a thing as too many backups, at least when making them all over the place inconsistently and without scope.

    Get a CM for your notes and miscellaneous cstuff. Wikimedia works great for this and you can be sure will be around a while. Use git to manage source code, scripts and text files. I find a common repo and one for each host works best. Keep large binaries in a single big software folder, Do the same for images, movies, whatever but keep them all grouped together. Back all of it up as a unit. Put all new stuff in there in the future. Do not let yourself deviate from using whatever scheme you come up with because it's the only practical way to insure you keep your stuff without having a million copies of it later.

    I understand deleting it may be hard, but if you're like me, you probably have accumulate millions plus copies of files if you're including whole copies of OS's in your backups. You might try md5sum over important file types but checking and deleting by hand will take an incredible amount of time.

  15. Re:FTFY on Chicago Robber Caught By Facial Recognition Sentenced To 22 Years · · Score: 1

    If we could limit photo matches to just arrest records, that would be one thing but although I don't have time to look up a citation, it's also being done against drivers license photos and it's not hard to see it extending out from there. Also, I never said the technology to do real time scans was available today, only that it will be in the near future. We also don't have anywhere near complete camera coverage but you don't even need anywhere near 100% to make life oppressive. And yes, there are evidentiary rules for photo lineups as with all evidence. I am not saying the police would set about to convict a man they thought innocent, but if they think you are guilty and you are not, you could be in for a world of trouble. This is also more than about what the police might do to. In the wrong hands, it devastates the foundation of freedom the U.S.A was built on.

    And yes, public spaces are not private. You also only have privacy in your home only through abstract interpretation. Some things the forefathers could not foresee and I believe the ability for the government to "watch" everyone is one of them. This is a start in the wrong direction and the time to stop it is now.

  16. Re:FTFY on Chicago Robber Caught By Facial Recognition Sentenced To 22 Years · · Score: 1

    I am not concerned about this crime but rather how this technology can and will be used. I suppose one could argue this is no different than using fingerprints to catch a crook, except it is vastly more than that. AFIS only contains a small portion of the U.S. population’s fingerprints, mostly those who have already committed a crime. I doubt who decides everyone should be forced to give up their fingerprints and DNA while they’re at it to complete the database would have his job very long today, yet facial recognition doesn’t seem to bother a lot of people even though it’s being implemented all over the place and will ultimately go light years beyond what the former two can do.

    It’s unavoidable. Because far too many have already surrendered to the idea that “public” space means the government can watch you, at some point it will. It’s damning. An image with a likeness and couple of witnesses who agree it looks like him is far more tangible to a jury than some dry facts and scientific testimonials. It’s inescapable. When combined with data mining, the government will have the perfect capability to track and essentially know all peoples movements, anywhere, anytime. Then it’s simply a matter of having in that does not like the fact you did to get the finger.

  17. Re:FTFY on Chicago Robber Caught By Facial Recognition Sentenced To 22 Years · · Score: 1

    Chicago Robber Identified By Facial Recognition Sentenced To 22 Years

    Caught would imply that he was walking down the street and facial recognition directed authorities to him. That did not happen.

    Police state would imply they're always watching you, whether they arrest you on the spot or come by later. There's also no real line for the police to cross except better technology and that will come.

  18. Re:Sickening on Botched Executions Put Lethal Injections Under New Scrutiny · · Score: 1

    If it is illegal to kill, it should be for the state as well. Anything else is hypocritical.

    Like it or not, there are plenty of powers reserved for the state denied to the people, so this is a weak argument at best and certainly not much of a moral one. I'd argue natural law states that murderers should be killed as the whole purpose of laws against murder is to stop them from happening to us, a reverse of "kill or be killed" and most also believe in taking back what was taken. As much of our current law was derived from natural law there's nothing inherently immoral in it.

    That said, I do believe in the death penalty very much, as strongly as I believe in our justice system to apply it inconsistently and unfairly. It's for this reason, I do not support state sanctioned murder, unless committed in self-defense.

  19. And So? on With the Surface Pro, Microsoft Is Trying To Recreate the PC Market · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The tablet PC is not new. It preceded the iPad and Android tablets by several years but the technology sucked. It's better now to the point that a tablet PC is workable and for my money, MS is proving the point well with the Surface Pro line. The iPad succeeded where the previous tablets failed because they reduced functionality down to media consumption only while taking advantage of the then more advanced technology to create a far more elegant design. It’s still not suited to real work while the Surface Pro actually is. I welcome it. I have an iPad and I hate having to switch to my laptop every time I think of some small bit of work I need to do. There is a huge market for a device like this among business users and less casual home users like me. I hope they succeed and if it brings them a windfall of new money. That’s exactly as it should be.

  20. Re:Tomorrows headline.. on Brain Injury Turns Man Into Math Genius · · Score: 1

    Dozens killed or severely injured trying to learn maths.

    ...Gives new meaning to "rack you brain" for the answer.

    And apparently I didn't hit my head hard enough before I posted that.

  21. Re:Tomorrows headline.. on Brain Injury Turns Man Into Math Genius · · Score: 1

    Dozens killed or severely injured trying to learn maths.

    ...Gives new meaning to "rack you brain" for the answer.

  22. Re:Exactly on Don't Help Your Kids With Their Homework · · Score: 1

    One of the ways I always did homework and still use today is by pretending I am teaching someone else. This method works great for logical subjects like math or science where there are proofs, facts and well defined theories, less so for more disorganized and subjective material where rote memorization is required but it can work there too if I can get into the "story". It never fails to bring up, those "wait a minute" and "what now" and "why do it like that" questions I hated having on test day. At least in school, when I got to the point I could "teach" myself, I always made an A+.

  23. Re:I'm somewhat disturbed... on Federal Agency Data-Mining Hundreds of Millions of Credit Card Accounts · · Score: 1

    Better or Worse, getting more credit and using it responsibly is the key to getting even more credit, particularly the more difficult products like lines of credits, construction loans, restoration loans, business loans and so forth. It's also the key to getting higher balances on new and existing cards. After totally destroying my credit during college, the first card I got again had a $500 limit. 5 year later, I had three cards and about $20K and needed it all to pay for a European business trip that ultimately would be reimbursed by my employer.

    A few more years, I had six cards and close to $100K. I also had a $220K mortgage on and $400K house. A builder was preparing to replace a beautiful field beside my house with 60 town homes. I knew I would hate it but that I could also rent my house out for much more than the payments, so I did and bought another $350K historic house with a $260K mortgage while keeping the other. Being almost 100 years old, it needed nearly $120K in work. I paid part in cash and got a line of credit for $60K to finish the job. Done and 8 months later, I refinance the $60K back into the first but the house was now worth $550K, so I made nearly 80K on the deal. I then closed the line of credit. I still have the six cards.

    Yes, I've been fortunate but I make an average IT salary. Many can do much more, some may do less at first, but anyone can find a smart ways to use their credit and it pays to develop it. There are three basic rules: One, always pay on time. Two, try to show some but 1% utilization. Three, never close old credit. You can still pay off your cards and avoid interest on rule 2 by letting the statement cut and then paying. For rule 3, with time and a good record, you can probably get your provider to upgrade your card without changing it, so it never has to be closed.

  24. Re:Keep my parents away from it. on Ask Slashdot: How Would You Secure Your Parents' PC? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Might wanna take out the CPU as well, just in case.

    One might assume some 35 years after the advent of PC revolution, there are more than a few grey hairs running around like me with infinitely more knowledge on how to secure a computer than some smart mouth tweener. Having spent years securing their computers, I would not trust any child of mine to do a better job than I would and it's time to put the tired meme that kids know tech better than their parents to bed where it belongs.

  25. Re:I want the "cloud" term to DIE. on In Three Years, Nearly 45% of All the Servers Will Ship To Cloud Providers · · Score: 1

    Wrong. You can have private clouds, which are clouds you own. A "cloud" is just a term for interchangeable services which aren't tied to a particular piece of hardware.

    No one knows the actual origin of the term "cloud computing" and what it means can legitimately be different depending on who you ask making the effectiveness of the term fairly useless. The only reason non-IT folk latch onto it is because there's a component of "I don't know what's going on" that they can understand and it makes it seem friendly. The op was merely pointing out why it's not.

    BTW, the cloud symbol was most often used in the 90's on network diagrams to indicate frame-relay links between sites back before dedicated Internet access was common. There was an aspect of "don't know" associated with it because it used shared links, did not guarantee delivery and frequently had service interruptions. Wikipedia sites this as a possible origin of the term but I think it is the origin of the term having seen how suits quickly latched onto it when it was shown in demos and presentations. Not understanding was something they could grasp.