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User: stinerman

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Comments · 2,645

  1. Re:The Selfish Gene on Game Theory Analysis Shows How Evolution Favors Cooperation's Collapse · · Score: 2

    I see what you did there.

  2. If I was running a school system ... on Football Concussion Lawsuits Start To Hit High Schools · · Score: 1

    And you'd be ran out of town.

    In many places in small town america, high school sports (especially football and basketball) are a big entertainment draw. In my hometown of 6,000, it was not unusual to see over 1,000 people at a football game.

    I hate to say it, but most people are more interested in winning the state championship than in leading the state in graduation rates.

  3. Re:He still plead guilty to something ... on Hacker Threatened With 44 Felony Charges Escapes With Misdemeanor · · Score: 1

    That's a good point. If the crime you're charged with carries a maximum month sentence, you should be out on bail after the month automatically.

    I'm also glad to hear that you've turned your life around. Well done, sir.

  4. Re:TWC are (surprise, surprise) crooks and thieves on Overbilled Customer Sues Time Warner Cable For False Advertising · · Score: 1

    Declare all exclusivity/franchise agreements null and void

    Exclusive franchise agreements haven't been allowed since 1992.

    The Communications Act requires that no new cable operator may provide service without a franchise and establishes several policies relating to franchising requirements and franchise fees. The Communications Act authorizes local franchising authorities to grant one or more franchises within their jurisdiction. However, a local franchising authority may not grant an exclusive franchise, and may not unreasonably withhold its consent for new service.

    Its a natural monopoly. The infrastructure needs to be separate from the services.

    I'm lucky. I live in an area where I have about 4 choices for TV/Internet/etc. That's still not enough.

  5. Re:TWC are (surprise, surprise) crooks and thieves on Overbilled Customer Sues Time Warner Cable For False Advertising · · Score: 1

    There's your problem. Rogers/Bell shouldn't be ISPs. They should only be concerned with the wires.

  6. Re:A minority view? on Teaching Creationism As Science Now Banned In Britain's Schools · · Score: 1

    AFAICT, it looks like you can't use God scientific evidence of anything. This makes sense because the existence of a creator cannot be empirically determined (can you think of a repeatable experiment that would prove or disprove that there is a creator?). That is unless the creator revealed himself to us, at which point, the study of the creator would be a science.

  7. Re:Backup? on One Developer's Experience With Real Life Bitrot Under HFS+ · · Score: 1

    Totally read "4 terabytes of pornography". I was debating where to make a toast to you or send you a drum of Jergens.

  8. Re:republican voters? on FWD.us: GOP Voters To Be Targeted By Data Scientists · · Score: 1

    Good for you. I actually agree with your position. We are not the majority.

  9. Re:This will hugely backfire... on FWD.us: GOP Voters To Be Targeted By Data Scientists · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I will bet one Internet that as soon as a Republican President is put in charge of NSA surveillance those poll numbers will flip overnight. As long as the guy from the other party is doing X, X is bad. When its your bastard doing it, X is suddenly good.

  10. Re:Criminal System on Clueless About Card Data Hack, PF Chang's Reverts To Imprinting Devices · · Score: 1

    Of course they can be used to pay taxes. I paid the balance of my federal income tax using a credit card.

    Yes, I know...

  11. Re:Never store sensitive data you don't need. on Clueless About Card Data Hack, PF Chang's Reverts To Imprinting Devices · · Score: 2

    I've worked with payment processing here in the States. You can store the number and the expiration date but not the CVV2. Of course, no CVV2 means higher processing fees, which means customers will ask for ways of storing the CVV2. We tell them that makes them non-compliant and they don't really care. They just want lower processing fees and pay lip service to compliance.

  12. Re:Who is doing this? on Bitcoin Exchange Flexcoin Wiped Out By Theft · · Score: 1

    You will still pay those taxes, even if they are in Bitcoin, because the US courts will force you to, or they will throw you in jail for tax evasion..

    This is about the only false part of your post. Taxes must be paid in legal tender, which Bitcoins are not. One must first convert them to dollars and then onward to the tax man.

  13. Re:Who is doing this? on Bitcoin Exchange Flexcoin Wiped Out By Theft · · Score: 1

    I would put it past them. This is incredibly small potatoes for them. I know a lot of the bitcoin apologists think they're doing something incredibly revolutionary. They aren't. Basic economics says this is bound to failure because there is a fixed amount of coins to be mined. That's a very bad feature of a currency (works great for an investment, though one will always need to find the next fool)

    Maybe organized crime is involved or maybe a couple of 8th graders. I really don't know, nor do I care. I'm just basking in the shadenfreude at this point.

  14. Re:Ha ha on MtGox Files For Bankruptcy Protection · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My toaster isn't worth as much as it was when I bought it, either.

    Money is supposed to be a medium of exchange, not an investment. If you believe that a zero inflation rate is a good thing, I suggest you take an introductory course in economics.

  15. Re:Paul Krugman, 1998 on Krugman: Say No To Comcast Acquisition of Time Warner · · Score: 1

    Yes. That is the kind of logic you get when you've been reading the website he's linking to.

  16. Re:Ok on Krugman: Say No To Comcast Acquisition of Time Warner · · Score: 2

    Not everwhere is there a monopoly. For instance where I live in Columbus, I can choose from Time Warner or WOW. If you or I or anyone else wanted to, they could set up a company and run their own wires. Guess what? No one else wants to. Last mile connectivity is a natural monopoly and ought to be regulated as a utility.

    As someone else in the comments said, let's require them to split the infrastructure from the services. Then we'll have real competition.

  17. Re:Dont do anyone any favors on Court Says Craigslist Sperm Donor Must Pay Child Support · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, but that would mean that Kansas would have to admit that lesbians are people with equal rights and responsibilities. Not likely.

  18. Re:So, whom to H8? on The Whole Story Behind Low AP CS Exam Stats · · Score: 1

    True. Not only AP but CS at all. When I was in high school (early aughts), no programming/CS classes were even offered. To the best of my knowledge they still aren't.

  19. Re:police arive within 'minutes' on How the Lessons of Columbine Saved Lives At Arapahoe High School · · Score: 1

    Well the question is really why is it such a recent phenomena in the US? Its a very difficult question to answer. Bowling for Columbine tried to answer it (or at least pretended to try to answer it), and didn't really have a good answer.

    I don't think anyone can make a case that school shootings are a direct consequence of a lack of firearms. That can't possibly be true as evidenced by the fact that Europe doesn't have these things happen daily. It has to be something cultural. We do have a weird fetishization with firearms in this country. I don't know where that came from. Perhaps it was a necessary consequence of decades of moving west across the plains and living off the land.

    I don't claim to have all the answers, but it simply cannot be the case that school shootings are directly related to the number of privately-owned guns.

  20. Re:Lol@fads. on Surge In Litecoin Mining Leads To Graphics Card Shortage · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Now that's the right attitude to have. You know it's a bunch of people buying an investment (not a currency), hoping it will appreciate so that they can cash out once it hits a high enough price point.

    Bitcoin/Litecoin is an (irrational) investment, not a currency.

  21. Re:A US perspective on UK Retailer Mistakenly Sends PS Vitas, Threatens Legal Action To Get Them Back · · Score: 3, Informative

    In the United States getting stuff in the mail unsolicited is considered a gift and is not required to be returned...for the exact reason you specified; I can mail everyone on my block an Ubuntu cd and then claim they owe me $10 for accepting it.

    I don't know if a shipping error counts as being unsolicited, but I don't think the company would have any recourse. IANAL.

  22. Re:Regressive on Geeks For Monarchy: The Rise of the Neoreactionaries · · Score: 1

    That doesn't require a monarch. Just divorce the duty of head of state from the President. We could have a "First Citizen" or something like that. They can do all the stupid diplomatic and cultural stuff that the President doesn't really have time to do.

  23. Re:Australia on Ask Slashdot: Can You Trust Online Tax Software? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yeah, I mentioned that at work once. That in foreign countries your return is pretty much done for you, and you just sign off on it. If it isn't correct you provide proof and then send that amendment back in. I got an incredulous stare and an "Oh, that'd be great for the government. They could say whatever they wanted and people would just pay up."

    *sigh*

    A good many people have no idea that the IRS already has all your W-2s and could fill out a simple 1040-EZ on your behalf. Sure, when you're itemizing it would get a bit more complicated, but for the vast majority of folks who don't itemize, there is no reason that the IRS can't have everything filled out for you, and all you need to do is sign and return.

  24. Re:lower insurance? on Most Drivers Would Hand Keys Over To Computer If It Meant Lower Insurance Rates · · Score: 1

    Err... that's "underestimate the amount of risk".

  25. Re:lower insurance? on Most Drivers Would Hand Keys Over To Computer If It Meant Lower Insurance Rates · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We will not have a robot driving the car (or a computer) for a very long time.

    People's cognitive biases are such that they overestimate the amount of risk involved in driving when they are in control (hence everyone saying they're above average in driving ability). Even then, there will be laws against such things. If, due to a software bug, 1 person died per day in a car accident, the cars would be classified as death traps in the media and in government. Of course, the fact that 32,367 people died in vehicle deaths in 2011 wouldn't matter. People will be able to handle 30,000 people per year dying due to driver error. They won't be able to handle 300 people dying per year due to software error.