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User: fazookus

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Comments · 53

  1. Competition... on Should Microsoft Be Required To Extend Support For Windows XP? · · Score: 1

    Even a card carrying bleeding heart liberal such as myself realizes that if MS doesn't continue to innovate they'll be chewed up and spit out by the brutally competitive generic general purpose PC market. BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAA-snort-giggle.... Sorry, where was I?

  2. Unless there's Rayleigh Scattering involved. on Army Laser Passes Drone-Killing Test · · Score: 1

    I'll pretend that I Rayleigh Scattering is something that I picked up in a physics class and not something I looked up on Wiki when I got a cool new green laser http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering

  3. Verizon & old phone booths on New Zealand Converting Old Phone Booths Into National WiFi Network · · Score: 1

    Verizon, an ISP in New York, NY, USA actually did this ten years ago, they were planning on a thousand wifi phone booths in Manhattan by the end of 2003. And they actually did it, I'm not sure how many were actually installed but I used them on several occasions, they worked just fine. And they dropped the whole thing not too long later. Maybe people weren't within range, maybe the technology wasn't up to it, I don't know.

  4. Driving & Texting on First California AMBER Alert Shows AT&T's Emergency Alerts Are a Mess · · Score: 1

    Survivor of the 4:00AM NYC alert debacle here.

    I was told by the he idea of the 'amber alert' alarm blasting out of your cellphone is that if you're on the road you might see the car involved with the crisis and call it in and save the child.

    Problem is that very loud alarm is going to tend to make people pull out their phones, type in the password, and read the message. But driving an texting is very dangerous and justifiably illegal. What are the odds of someone getting killed in a car accident caused by the alarm vs. actually saving the victim?

    I'm thinking the car accident is far more likely.

    PS If you haven't had the pleasure the alarm sound is VERY LOUD and, well, really alarming. When it went off in the very early hour my heart was pounding for a half hour and I never did get back to sleep that morning. I'm wondering how many people will get heart attacks from such an event, now that I think of it.

  5. Manhattan and subway maps on A Circular New York City Subway Map To Straighten Things Out · · Score: 3, Informative

    This makes sense. The original subway system started in Manhattan and it is still basically the hub for the entire system... if you want to go from the Bronx to Brooklyn you have to go by way of Manhattan. If you take the F train in Queens to go to Brooklyn you use the 'downtown' train, named so because it goes downtown when it goes through Manhattan. There are generally no direct lines borough to borough though there are exceptions, so Manhattan, while physically small, is disproportionately large in terms of lines and passengers served, as is shown on the circular map.

  6. Re:worth it on Energy Production Causes Big US Earthquakes · · Score: 1

    How much is the economic value of I-35 worth to you?

    It leads to Texas, so none. ;)

    And how many deaths per dollar? A recent trial set that to be $150 plus disappointment. We're talking Texas here, of course.

  7. "Power Only" USB Cables on Researchers Infect iOS Devices With Malware Via Malicious Charger · · Score: 1

    I believe there are iDevice cables that don't carry data, only power. If not, there's http://www.kickstarter.com/, I'll take my usual 15%

  8. Re:Good idea! on Electronics-Loving 'Crazy Ants' Invading Southern US · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hold my beer and watch this! Those would be your red neck ants.

  9. Re:Wow... on Windows Blue Is Officially Windows 8.1, Free For Existing Users · · Score: 1

    Eventually they'll be going to ME and then they'll start all over again.

  10. Re:You know... on How Netflix Eats the Internet · · Score: 1

    I would be more than happy to be able to actually download movies from Netflix during non peak times to watch at some other time. This would allow spreading out the bandwidth over the course of a day instead of everyone streaming at peak times such as 7PM EST,CST,PST

    Streaming services will continue to degrade our bandwidth unless we are given the ability to download movies\shows during off hours to watch later.

    Impossible, it would never work. Oh, well, there's http://store.steampowered.com/, which does what you're thinking of... damn, there's money to be made in there somewhere...

  11. Re:Let's not kid ourselves here on Netflix: 'Arrested Development' Won't Crash Our Service · · Score: 1

    I think you have to come from a highly dysfunctional family to really appreciate this... I did have a really dysfunctional childhood and loved the show, two friends from relatively normal families just didn't get it.

  12. Re:Holy moly on New Process For Nanoscale Filtration Holds Promise of Cheap, Clean Water · · Score: 2

    The problem with rainwater harvesting that most of the worlds potable water already comes from rainwater... in anything approaching a largish scale you're going to be in conflict with river basins and the like and grabbing rain destined for forests, farm animals and crops.. The advantage of desalination is that you let nature harvest the rainwater and concentrate it for you and then just process that.

  13. Re:The cynic in me... on Drone Comes Within 200 Feet of Airliner Over New York · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You have to wonder how someone in an airliner going 200+ mph could even see something that small going ~0 mph, much less be able to describe it in such detail...

  14. Re:Therewhile ... on World's Longest High-Speed Rail Line Opens In China · · Score: 2

    Actually the Amtrak 'Metroliner' hits 140mph from New York to Washington, DC, and their somewhat more fancy Acela line does a bit more than that (and stops less often). It's not great but for that short stretch it's fairly modern train.

  15. Waiting for the NRA on Fires Sparked By Utah Target Shooters Prompt Evacuations · · Score: 1

    This just in from the NRA: The only solution to wildfires caused by guns is MORE GUNS!!!

  16. Think "Shrimp" on Scientists Advocate Replacing Cattle With Insects · · Score: 1

    People in the US (maybe 'the West') consider shrimp a delicacy, and what is a shrimp but a marine cockroach? It's all in the marketing.

  17. Re:Mobile Me? on The Worst Apple Products of All Time · · Score: 1

    Happily you can use Google to sync up your various devices now... not sure if it scales beyond my iPhone and a couple of varied Windows and Mac computers but it does nicely for my purposes. I'm sure everybody knows this, just thought I'd throw it in. PS It uses Active Sync!!!!

  18. Defense Contractor Web Services? on Uncle Sam's Travel Site Grounded By Breach · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm a Govtrip user as well (the "E-Gov Travel Center for Excellence" just emailed me to tell me everything is just fine, so it must be back) and my primary question is why do we have defense contractors running internet travel sites?
    Govtrip took a long time to become ready for prime-time and to this day isn't a model of the programming arts.

    Wonder how much it costs...

    A greater concern is "Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing (e-QIP)". If you need a security clearance you go to the e-QIP site and put in your life history, friends, bank info, credit history, medical history, everything.
    It's a identity thief's dream, absolutely everything needed for somebody else to become you. In fact someone with this kind of information would have a better claim to being you than YOU would.

    But don't worry, it's hacker proof.

  19. iTunes ain't done until Vista won't run. on ITunes 8 a Real Killer App; Taking Down Vista · · Score: 1

    Had to be said.

  20. Re:We already have compressor-free refrigerators! on Researchers Pave Way For Compressor-Free Refrigeration · · Score: 1

    Or for all you Einstein fans out there:

  21. Re:I have a Chumby... on David Pogue Gushes Over the Chumby · · Score: 1

    I have one, too, and frankly most of what it does makes demands on my all-too limited attention span, although it's OK as a clock and for playing music. The thing COULD have been the Video Phone we've been promised to go with our flying cars all these decades if only they put a cheap webcam into the thing; as it stands now it has drivers for a USB webcam but I'm not sure that's going to be close enough

  22. Re:weird, huh? on Satellite IDs Ships That Cut Cables · · Score: 2, Funny

    For what it's worth, your basic two year old is breathtakingly smart, just not in the IQ sort of way. It's when they've gotten older and stupider that they become able to contribute to Slashdot.

  23. Re:WTF? on Apple Announces MacBook Air · · Score: 1

    Time Capsule(TM), hey? That explains why Apple didn't get the external storage feature built in (technically speaking) to the 'old' "N" base stations.

  24. Re:Chuck Norris on Balancing Robot Can Take a Kicking · · Score: 1

    I was waiting for the robot to get mad too...

  25. Re:Wasn't Verizon blocking outgoing email? on Verizon Offers 20/20 Symmetrical FiOS Service · · Score: 1

    I have Verizon DSL in Manhattan and haven' t seen either of those problems... where are you talking about? Of course the irony here is that people in Manhattan will probably be the last people in the USA to get FIOS since running fiber under city streets will be a major production, *sigh*.