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User: ff1324

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Comments · 87

  1. Re: Interesting on Dish Introduces $20-a-Month Streaming-TV Service · · Score: 1

    I wonder at what price point NHL and MLB would sell anywhere, any device access with no blackouts. Or even lock it to a single team.

    All I would need besides OTA TV is my Blues and my Cardinals.

  2. iOS works fine on Ask Slashdot: Suitable Phone For a 4-Year Old? · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm a firefighter, my wife's a paramedic...we're away from our kids (not simultaneously) for 24 hours each shift.

    Facetime is a wonderful thing for when one of them needs, well, a little facetime with whatever parent is at work. They get to chat with grandparents as well.

    We bought a couple of refurbed iPod touches, put them in otterboxes, threw a few apps on them, and handed them over. They can facetime us as long as they have wifi (at our house, family, close friends), their texting is limited to iMessage and locked down to the existing contacts...this way they have an opportunity to learn proper etiquette and manners about the phone and texting and pictures.

    They're 7 and 8, have had this for two years, and they're not little tech junkies. Also, I'm not paying an extra $40 per month per kid for connectivity that's only occasionally necessary.

  3. Re:The exception proves the exception on Missouri Republican Wants Violent Video Game Tax · · Score: 1

    You're right. He wasn't a guard.

    He was a sheriff's deputy with 15 years on the force, and he exchanged gunfire with one of the shooters.

    And your answer is explained in the Jefferson County Sheriff account that he was looking in on the smokers on campus.

    Next?

  4. Mom's Basement on Ask Slashdot: Geekiest Way To Cook a Turkey? · · Score: 1

    Mom! HEY MOM! Bring me some turkey down here! MOM!!!!!

  5. Political grandstanding at its finest on Texas Attorney General Warns International Election Observers · · Score: 4, Informative

    Grandstanding akin to calling a press conference to state the sky is blue.

    FTA: “I have specifically informed the Texas team that Chapter 61 of the Texas Election Code would not allow them into actual polling places, and they understood this limitation,” per the election authority.

    So the observers were told of the limitation, accepted it, and understood it, but the AG in an effort to bolster his own image couldn't resist the urge to make a scene.

    Texas as usual.

  6. Commercial grade...not hobby grade on Ask Slashdot: Ad-Hoc Wireless Mesh Network For Emergency Vehicles? · · Score: 4, Informative

    Disclaimer: I work for a paid fire department but started as a volunteer. I understand the financial challenges for both m

    Our metropolitan area uses InMotion OMG1000 or OMG1050 mobile routers. The cost just over $2000 each, but they create a man network for emergency equipment, have up to four different WAN connections, are remotely configurable and upgradable, and provide GPS services. They're almost bulletproof.

    Wiring up WRT54Gs isn't the answer. You'll spend more time than your time is worth creating a solution than finding funding to implement one. Apply for a FIRE grant or cooperate with multiple agencies to access a larger program. Check with your county or state.

    Realisitcally, an air card is all you need otherwise. If enough agencies want in on the project, see if the wireless provider will put you on your own APN.

    Good luck.

  7. It WAS ready for prime time... on Why We Love Firefox, and Why We Hate It · · Score: 1

    FF was a great browser and it was perfect to set up for those who weren't technologically savvy. But the constant failure of the Flash plugins have detracted from its usefulness. The occasional profile failure without any simple method of restoring settings is aggravating as well.

    Memory hog? Not really...and if it is, so what? Buck up and get yourself enough memory to run everything efficiently.

    It's just not ready for prime time any more. Almost, but not quite.

  8. Re:Lame on Scientists Keep Rabbits Alive With Oxygen Microparticle Injections · · Score: 1

    Didn't see The Abyss?

  9. Re:Security by obscurity? on Chuck Schumer Tells Apple and Google To "Curb Your Spy Planes" · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You can ask, but you can't get it. At least not here.

    We purchased ArcGIS to evaluate our responses at the fire department I work for. The county, highway department, assessors office, and other 911 centers were more than happy to share data with us. The water company wouldn't. We were originally told their security policy would not allow them to share data with us.

    That's right. The water company could not tell the fire department where the fire hydrants are because of security policy.

    Total WTF moment...

  10. Re:engineer on The History of the CompSci Degree · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Many moons ago, I was a junior in college and chasing down CS as my bachelor's degree. One day, I decided I'd had enough arguing with machines. Now, as a firefighter, I love coming to work, and make more than most of my friends who continued on to CS degrees.

    Today?

    I'm doing the IT / programming / database / GIS work for my fire department...still arguing with machines, but now its enhanced by arguing with bureaucrats.

  11. Re:I will be doing one thing about it. on What To Do About an Asteroid That Has a 1 In 625 Chance of Hitting Us In 2040? · · Score: 2

    I'm pretty sure if I yell "CANNONBALL!!!" it makes a big splash.

  12. College! on Ask Slashdot: Dealing With University Firewalls? · · Score: 0

    Turn off the computer and go outside. Go to a bar. Go to a concert. Go skiing. Go to the beach. Go to a party. Repeat as needed.

    THIS is what college is for.

  13. Re:Posting Pics? on How To Catch a Laptop Thief? · · Score: 1

    A nasty lawsuit saying what? "waaaaah! I was caught using stolen goods wearing nothing but my princess leia costume?"

  14. Keeping their monopoly on Congressmen Worried About Amazon Silk Privacy Issues · · Score: 1, Troll

    Its not that Congress is truly outraged about Amazon invading privacy. They're outraged they have competition in privacy invasion.

  15. Stupid laws by stupid legislators on Teachers, Students Fight To Be Facebook Friends · · Score: 1

    The fact this law is named after someone tell me it is knee jerk reaction pushed through by a state legislator looking for votes in their district, there is no chance of it being repealed legislatively, and it addresses a negligible risk to kids without understanding the problem. It's like killing off all of the Grizzlies because one ate some tasty humans.

  16. Firefighter safety on Ground-Based GPS Mimic Is Inch Perfect · · Score: 1

    Robotics? Who needs robotics...

    Actually, the first thing I thought of was the ability to locate every firefighter on a fire scene; their location in three dimensions would allow for downed firefighters to be found much quicker.

  17. Guns on Apple Nixes iPad Giveaways · · Score: 1

    If Smith & Wesson put forth a policy stating gun users may not use guns to kill people, that would eliminate all firearm homicides, right?

    Well, according to The Steve's legal eagles anyway...

  18. Real World Billing on Harvard Professor Creates Paper Accelerometer · · Score: 1

    If it only costs four cents to manufacture, your doctor's office will bill $42.65 for it.

  19. Re:they need to talk to other systems on Virus Shuts Down Australian Ambulance Dispatch Service · · Score: 1

    Almost every CAD system utilizes the Internet for connectivity to mobile clients, messaging, mapping, data transfer, and other interconnections. Not every connection can be placed in a VPN. It's not that someone has failed by connection a critical system to the intertubes, its their failure to secure the systems connected to the intertubes.

  20. Skynet needed 25 days on USAF Unveils Supercomputer Made of 1,760 PS3s · · Score: 1

    Skynet needed 25 days to become self-aware. Should we expect Slashdot entries on Christmas or shortly thereafter telling us that someone or something was born?

    Actually if Kristanna Loken comes looking for me, I'm ok with it...

  21. Get the payment info on Defending Self In a Case of On-Line Identity Theft? · · Score: 2, Informative

    Unless the registrant paid cash, which is almost impossible online, they likely paid with a credit card. Check with your local prosecuting attorney about filing a fraud case against John Doe and see if they'll file subpoenas to the registrar and credit issuer for identification purposes.

  22. Sick by Shel Silverstein on 'Wi-Fi Illness' Spreads To Ontario Public Schools · · Score: 1

    This whole thing reminds me of a poem...

    Sick

    'I cannot go to school today, '
    Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
    'I have the measles and the mumps,
    A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
    My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
    I'm going blind in my right eye.
    My tonsils are as big as rocks,
    I've counted sixteen chicken pox
    And there's one more-that's seventeen,
    And don't you think my face looks green?
    My leg is cut-my eyes are blue-
    It might be instamatic flu.
    I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
    I'm sure that my left leg is broke-
    My hip hurts when I move my chin,
    My belly button's caving in,
    My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
    My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
    My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
    I have a sliver in my thumb.
    My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
    I hardly whisper when I speak.
    My tongue is filling up my mouth,
    I think my hair is falling out.
    My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
    My temperature is one-o-eight.
    My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
    There is a hole inside my ear.
    I have a hangnail, and my heart is-what?
    What's that? What's that you say?
    You say today is...Saturday?
    G'bye, I'm going out to play! '

    Shel Silverstein

  23. Tough passwords... on Verizon Changing Users Router Passwords · · Score: 1

    Did they only change password1 and admin1? What about such winners as admin, password, 123456, and default?

  24. Technology advances... on Company Claims Patent On Spam Filtering, Sues World · · Score: 1

    If you read the patent, it looks more like they describe a white-list. I'm pretty sure those existed before because I've never been allowed in any cool bars. Or Bushwood.

  25. Re:Shazam... on Open Source Music Fingerprinter Gets Patent Nastygram · · Score: 2, Funny

    Before it was a call in service, it ran in my head....

    But the storage device was buggy and lost information on a regular basis, had considerable system down time of 6-9 hours daily, was poor at multitasking, had considerable power demands, and was very poor at recognizing crap like rap, hip-hop, and techno. I'd post more about my brain, but some lawyers have already told me it's not really mine anymore since I'm married.