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User: compro01

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  1. Re:Subsidies inflate pricing. on Ron Paul Wants To End the Federal Student Loan Program · · Score: 1

    Removing Federal student loans will LOWER the costs of tuition.

    maybe, someday, eventually, whenever "the market" fixes itself, if the assumptions its based on (namely that the sweet spot in the price-demand curve for university education is in the vicinity of an optimal level of university-educated citizenry) aren't found to be utter BS.

  2. Re:Show me your work! on Android ICS Will Require 16GB RAM To Compile · · Score: 1

    The Xeon E5620 CPU they specify does hyperthreading (8 cores + 8 virtual cores). Hyperthreading really shines on compilation, so that's probably where the extra CPU time comes from.

  3. Re:Why Sprint!? on Sprint Cutting Unlimited 4G Data Plans · · Score: 1

    Because changing carriers would just net you more of the same.

    Isn't a collusive free market wonderful?

  4. Re:Why *partial* caps?!?!?! on Sprint Cutting Unlimited 4G Data Plans · · Score: 1

    Even if they knew, why would they care?

    They would care if it could allow them to make more money.

  5. Re:Can't wait.. on Feds Take USAjobs.gov Back From Monster, Performance Tanks · · Score: 1

    For example, a middle class person in the US who would benefit from hip replacement to reduce pain would expect to have the surgery (assuming they are in a condition to have it) in weeks while it's typical to wait for many months in Canada -- few middle class Americans I know would find this acceptable. When talking to someone from Canada not too long ago, I was quite surprised they were fine with the notion of living in unnecessary pain for six extra months.

    We're not really "fine with it" and we've been trying to improve the wait times situation for awhile now. It's just that any correction to the main problem (a shortage of the appropriate doctors and surgeons) takes a long damn time to have any effect.

    We are making progress here in Saskatchewan (Previously, we were the 2nd worst province for surgical wait times). The plan is to get joint replacement wait times down to 3 months maximum by 2014.

  6. Re:Wow meets Kung Fu Panda?! on Blizzard Announces New WoW Expansion: Mists of Pandaria · · Score: 1

    Or it could have been the other way around. In Warcraft lore, the Pandaren predate that movie by at least 5 years. They showed up in warcraft 3.

    Also, a bare-fisted melee character was part WoW in the early alpha. It was the priest discipline spec, though that got removed very early, probably for balance reasons. Pre-cata, you could still see remnants of that in some of the discipline talents.

  7. Re:Vaccines don't contain mercury on Proposed Mercury Ban Threatens Vaccines · · Score: 1

    The EPA guideline state that you should not give to an infant more than 0.1 microgram of methylmercury per body weight per day.

    Methyl mercury is a completely different chemical from thimerosal. You may as declare that salt is dangerous above 15 ppm as that's the limit for chlorine gas.

    furthermore, methyl mercury is bioaccumulative, thimerosal is not.

  8. Re:Not threaten, help. on Proposed Mercury Ban Threatens Vaccines · · Score: 1

    1. Yes, they can, but other available preservatives reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine. Not using a preservative is fine when you can either refrigerate stuff or use single-dose vials, which is considerably less than practical when you're doing vaccinations in 3rd world countries.

    2. Hahaha. We stopped using thimerosal in practically all vaccines (some flu, tetanus, and diphtheria vaccines still use it) years ago, due to the above problems being surmountable in first world countries. Lo and behold, the anti-vaccine nuts haven't gone away and moved the goalposts into the parking lot by claiming unspecified "toxins", immune system stress", and other pap.

    Furthermore, thimerosal is not bioavailable to any relevant degree.

  9. Re:The actual concerns on Proposed Mercury Ban Threatens Vaccines · · Score: 1

    Mercury is a neurotoxin that accumulates in the body.

    Elemental mercury, yes, thimerosal, no.

  10. Re:Why so hard. on Global Warming 'Confirmed' By Independent Study · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why is it so hard to accept that human actions can have consequences ?

    Because God wouldn't allow that to happen.

    No, seriously, that is essentially what many of these nuts believe.

    http://www.cornwallalliance.org/articles/read/an-evangelical-declaration-on-global-warming/

  11. Re:all the better to rebuild plantation economies on Ron Paul Suggests Axing 5 U.S. Federal Departments (and Budgets) · · Score: 1

    Because that's a wonderful way to create scores of new criminals and therefore is considered a very stupid idea by anyone who has enough vision to see past their nose?

  12. Re:In other words, we should give up. on Ron Paul Suggests Axing 5 U.S. Federal Departments (and Budgets) · · Score: 1

    When I was in school there was no Department of Education.

    I'll take it you're in your 70s then.

    Or does the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare not count?

  13. Re:In other words, we should give up. on Ron Paul Suggests Axing 5 U.S. Federal Departments (and Budgets) · · Score: 1

    Yes, the entity known as the United States Department of Education did not exist until 1979.

    Prior to that, it was part of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

  14. Re:all the better to rebuild plantation economies on Ron Paul Suggests Axing 5 U.S. Federal Departments (and Budgets) · · Score: 1

    Sure, require that all private schools accept anyone and everyone who applies and see how your vaunted private efficiency works then.

  15. Re:Bad title. on Android Source Code Gone For Good? · · Score: 3, Informative

    Now 4.0 is out.

    4.0 is out? Where? The first phone running 4.0 (the Galaxy Nexus) doesn't come out til next month.

  16. Re:Business smarts on Ballmer Slams Android As Cheap and Overcomplicated · · Score: 1

    Why haven't they fired the guy yet again?

    Probably because he personally owns about 4% of the company's stock and likely a substantially higher proportion of the voting stock.

  17. Re:Which side were the Greens on? on Canadian Supreme Court Rules Linking Is Not Defamation · · Score: 1

    Crookes "resigned" (more a case of "you can't fire me, because I quit") from his position in the Green party back in 2006 and he was never a parliamentary candidate for them. He was their head campaign manager from 2000 til his resignation.

  18. Re:easy way to abuse this: on Canadian Supreme Court Rules Linking Is Not Defamation · · Score: 1

    You'd also need to live in Canada. CIRA has presence requirements for obtaining a .ca domain. Basically, to get a .ca domain, you either need to be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, a native, an Indian band, a corporation registered in Canada, hold a Canadian trademark, be the executor/agent/etc. for someone of the above, or be the Queen.

  19. Re:Which side were the Greens on? on Canadian Supreme Court Rules Linking Is Not Defamation · · Score: 1

    Did you skip the summery? The plaintiff in this case was a former campaign manager for the Green Party of Canada.

    Also, copyright reform is a significant part of the Green Party of Canada's platform.

  20. Re:Slander. on Facebook Is Building Shadow Profiles of Non-Users · · Score: 1

    No, slander is defamatory speech.

    Defamatory writing is libel.

  21. Re:What are the similarities .... on Samsung Lawyer Fails To Differentiate iPad and Galaxy Tab In Court · · Score: 1

    Rectangular LCD touch screens? I think it goes a bit deeper than that.

    Nope. Here's the specific patent Apple has on an "ornamental design for an electronic device". The claim is on the drawings as shown. Nothing about internal hardware, software, drivers, or anything else except a flat rounded box with a screen on it that one may hold and use as shown in figure 9.

  22. Re:Walkers? on NATO Exercise Banned From Jamming GPS · · Score: 1

    The strength of jamming that will knock out military GPS receivers at 20 miles is likely to screw with less robust civilian gear significantly further away.

  23. Re:Huh? on BlackBerry Outage Spreads To North America · · Score: 1

    Having major prolonged downtime and thus looking incompetent while the competition is running a big media blitz for their latest product is rarely good for sales.

  24. Re:Canadian Technology! on BlackBerry Outage Spreads To North America · · Score: 1

    Must be some other part of Canada. I have never heard the word "hoser" used non-ironically here in Saskatchewan.

    We do use "eh" plenty though.

  25. Re:That's subversive! on US Intelligence Mining Your Social Network Data · · Score: 2

    Typical US Government. They were supposed to order shirts, not coats.