Slashdot Mirror


User: WillAffleckUW

WillAffleckUW's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
10,570
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 10,570

  1. Two versions people actively avoided on Windows 10 Grabs 5.21% Market Share, Passing Windows Vista and Windows 8 · · Score: 1

    Seriously, unless you had a laptop, there is no sane person that liked either Win 8 or Win Vista.

    "Lowered expectations"

    Show me the final cash non-renewal sale dollars at retail after returns.

    It's an epic fail. You can see it in the unit flows.

    Adding in "free" upgrades does not mean sales.

  2. Re:I must be happy on Ask Slashdot: What Would You Do If You Were Suddenly Wealthy? · · Score: 1

    You can make a $2500 gaming PC yourself for around $500 if you shop on Cyber Monday and build it yourself.

    If a $2500 gaming PC is what you want, try doing that.

  3. Re:Very Very True on The Coming Terrorist Threat From Autonomous Vehicles · · Score: 1

    I think that self-guided cars would be an improvement in a few places:

    1. Retirement communities

    2. Disabled people

    3. People who drink a lot (or are on a lot of medications)

  4. Re:Who says we're not? on Ask Slashdot: What Would You Do If You Were Suddenly Wealthy? · · Score: 1

    You only need walls if you display wealth ostentatiously. That is what the nouveau riche find. Their fancy digs and cars and yachts attract attention.

    Tiaras are for the foolish. The best watches cost $25 or less, or wear none at all.

  5. We will have cheap fusion in 20 years on How Close Are We, Really, To Nuclear Fusion? · · Score: 1

    Oh, wait, that's what they promised me at Expo 63 when I was 3 years old, along with flying cars and jetpacks.

    (yes, I know here at the UW we have a working fusion generator, but I'm just pointing out that research does not always mean commercially available in wide distribution)

    Realistically, we might see it soon for naval ships and submarines and certain military uses like powering our drone-killing laser systems, but you probably won't see it until 2050 at the earliest anywhere you care about.

  6. Re:Who says we're not? on Ask Slashdot: What Would You Do If You Were Suddenly Wealthy? · · Score: 1

    oh, and useful advice: don't give a lot to one group, they keep asking you for money, and that gets old fast. Find out what threshold their donation level is, and donate $1 less than that. I gave KUOW and the local zoo something like $10,000 each, but they kept asking for money and it was supposed to be a one time gift. They hire donation people to keep asking you for money, and it can take 3-5 years before you disappear off those lists. Throwing money at stuff like monorail campaigns is another idea.

  7. Who says we're not? on Ask Slashdot: What Would You Do If You Were Suddenly Wealthy? · · Score: 1

    A lot of very wealthy people live amongst you and don't appear wealthy, because they save and invest and live modestly.

    Your problem is you think affluenza, or sudden riches, means you need to spend like a fish.

    Smart people just put all their new wealth into their retirement accounts over a few decades, pay off their car loans, and reduce their mortgages (keeping some allows you to deduct a lot of cool things), while not appearing to be wealthy.

    First, if you inherit a fortune, or make a killing on IPOs, do the above. Then figure you'll blow 10 percent of it on silly things. Cut yourself some slack. It might sound fun to buy 10 new coats because you can (and it is kind of fun), but after that initial period you'll realize you don't really need more stuff, or it owns you.

    Other things you can do (some of which I've done) are: figure out what your most fun hobby or hobbies are, and pay for Lifetime memberships or access to them. I got SIFF Platinum Lifetime membership, NOW Lifetime, and I was good. Because those tend to be sometimes charitable things (like when I got platinum donor status to some of the local art museums and music events), you may be able to deduct a lot of that.

    And then go back to living. Everyone else will be worried about the future, but if you're diversified in sound low-cost mutual funds, you realize you never can spend that much anyway.

  8. Very Very True on The Coming Terrorist Threat From Autonomous Vehicles · · Score: 1

    Look, living in denial might be fashionable, but I'm a former combat field engineer with automation experience and it's a true statement that self-guided automobiles are far more dangerous than even self-guided drones with weapons payloads.

    The door panels alone, if used for shaped charges with anti-personnel additions, could easily be used to wreak havoc almost anywhere, if the vehicle has self-sealing puncture-proof tires, you couldn't even take it out with normal security weapons, and the GPS and internal guidance could deliver it to the target area with a 98 percent chance survival rate to impact.

    Talk all you want about how you think you can stop things, and realize that some people spend years training to do those "impossible" things.

    We now return you to your concept that you're safe. There is no such thing as safe, btw.

  9. Guess the NSA had his Ashley Madison data on Federal Court Overturns Ruling That NSA Metadata Collection Was Illegal · · Score: 1

    Sure it's illegal for the NSA to use it to force the judge to rule that way, but that has never stopped them in the past.

    Subvert, destroy, confuse. Supposed to be the enemy, but used against the USA more than our real enemies.

  10. Strange in that recent research shows F/M skew on Analysis Reveals Almost No Real Women On Ashley Madison · · Score: 1

    The bizarre thing is that recent sociological research shows that in fact there are many more college educated women than men, in some places (like NYC) it's up to 3:1 F:M.

    However, maybe the myth that they "want to cheat" might be what's at odds.

    I'll just be over here on Tinder where the real ratio matches the sociological research.

  11. Re:I would laugh but that's too much effort on Comcast Planning Gigabit Cable For Entire US In 2-3 Years · · Score: 1

    Yes, in my state for example.

    I can't help it if you're not up on current standards. You probably don't realize we were formulating IPv6 back in the 1980s, for example.

  12. Re:Wrong solution (change energy source better) on Countries Gaming Carbon Offsets May Have Dramatically Increased Emissions · · Score: 1

    Have to agree.

    Carbon sinks and carbon reductions are generally the wrong choice, in that you can run the plant clean while the inspectors are there and run it dirty the rest of the time.

    What works is moving off of fossil fuels entirely, by putting more cash into actual built alternative energy like cheaper wind and solar that are verified and measured.

    Crush the subsidies and exemptions for fossil fuels, and work on the capital need for new energy systems like wind and solar (10 year low cost loans at 1 percent for example).

    I bought four solar units through our Seattle City Light program called Community Solar. Only cost me $300 per unit, instead of $7000 to get it installed on my home, since they built it as part of a new building and got economies of scale. Now I own part of the Aquarium, the Zoo, and a Low Income Apartment Complex solar panels. Capital cost is cheaper for me, and people using the Aquarium or Zoo know it's green while people living in a low income apartment know they're using green power they couldn't otherwise afford (due to the capital cost).

  13. Re:Cobra effect on Countries Gaming Carbon Offsets May Have Dramatically Increased Emissions · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They did that in Alberta and got rid of rats entirely.

    I think you're confusing the difference between Some People Lie and All People Lie.

    Make a measurement that actually works, not one based on promises.

  14. It's like the Chinese Stock Market on Countries Gaming Carbon Offsets May Have Dramatically Increased Emissions · · Score: 1

    Much lying about what the books really say.

    Verify, then trust.

  15. Re:n=6? Seriously? on Is a Universal Flu Vaccine On the Horizon? · · Score: 1

    I don't think we were talking about Ebola. We were talking about Influenza.

    Influenza is something we've had data on for a very very long time.

  16. Re:Hardware requirements on Comcast Planning Gigabit Cable For Entire US In 2-3 Years · · Score: 1

    You can buy the routers for around $150 at Costco. I recommend that. You can also buy them online.

  17. Re:I would laugh but that's too much effort on Comcast Planning Gigabit Cable For Entire US In 2-3 Years · · Score: 1

    In remote areas, the best solution is almost always internet via your power lines. If you don't have power lines, then satellite.

  18. Better do it fast on Comcast Planning Gigabit Cable For Entire US In 2-3 Years · · Score: 1

    CenturyLink has rolled out Gigabit internet over half of Seattle, and it's much cheaper.

    Meanwhile, all the top research universities have 100 Gbps ports and 40 Gbps campus wide.

    You snooze, you lose.

  19. About time on Next Texas Energy Boom: Solar · · Score: 2

    I own 4 Community Solar units even way up north here in Seattle, and my last electric bill, before I got more efficient washer, dryer, fridge, showed $81 for electricity used, but I had $43 per unit, which means show me the money, baby!

    Adapt. Because nobody's waiting for you to get your rear in gear.

    Note: Passive solar is 10 times cheaper than active solar, so do that when you buy a new house and build it to allow for active solar. Here at the UW we have patents for solar film (like car wraps), window screens, and even have an all-electric Formula 1 race car that can charge from a solar panel.

  20. Re:All your future is belong to privacy sold on A Breakdown of the Windows 10 Privacy Policy · · Score: 1

    The only setting I have personally seen covertly changed with Win 10 updates is my mouse pointer acceleration.

    Seriously, it has been reverted to default speed by updates 4 times now!

    Datamining settings are all as I last set them.

    The mouse telemetry feedback allows us to subvert your privacy paradigm by uniquely identifying you.

    (oh, wait, I'm not supposed to admit that)

  21. I claim prior art on Swatch Trademarks "One More Thing..." · · Score: 2

    I've been saying that in print since the Internet was created (which is decades before we let you n00bZ use it).

  22. Re:n=6? Seriously? on Is a Universal Flu Vaccine On the Horizon? · · Score: 1

    Wake me when you get n=254 or higher with age matched controls and a strong signal in 2+ tests by independent sources.

  23. Highly unlikely on Is a Universal Flu Vaccine On the Horizon? · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It's the mixture of animals (pigs mostly), birds and people in close proximity that is the source of the flu.

    I doubt a universal vaccine will be developed, given the variations amongst all the inputs.

    However, (another vaccine) is correct. You can reduce your infection rate by at least 50 percent just by washing your hands (it's the scrubbing action and the use of water and soap or alcohol that does it) and covering your nose area when you sneeze (sleeve, tissue, hands that you wash after but remember you touch doorknobs.

    I find small kids defeat most screening methods, in which case you really should have taken the vaccine.

  24. Nobody cares on Judge Orders State Dept, FBI To Expand Clinton Email Server Probe · · Score: 1

    Now stop using your tinfoil for hats and move on.

  25. Re:Remember when MS said you really like Vista... on A Breakdown of the Windows 10 Privacy Policy · · Score: 1

    Clippy says everything is fine!

    Trust, Clippy, your friendly computer friend, citizen!