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User: Pentavirate

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  1. Re:More government control, that's the ticket on Proton-M Rocket Carrying Russia's Most Advanced Satellite Crashes · · Score: 2

    You have a strange view of the American Dream. The American Dream is that the playing field is level so that if you're smart enough and work hard, you can be successful. I think the statistic is that 80% of all millionaires are first generation rich.

    That's not to say that the people who have made it don't try and use the government to throw up barriers of entry, but that's not part of the American Dream. Those are people who are trying to foil the American Dream, but it's still out there and as viable as ever.

  2. Re:First sandwich on Geeks For Monarchy: The Rise of the Neoreactionaries · · Score: 1

    How about McAfee? That could be interesting :)

  3. Re:iGoogle Disaster was overblown on The Case Against Gmail · · Score: 1

    iGoogle was already monetized. The whole purpose of iGoogle was to make sure that when you opened a browser, you saw Google. If you first see Google and you need to search for something, you'll use Google's search engine. That's it. It was meant to drive people to continue to use Google Search instead of another search engine.

  4. Re:twisted pair, twisted logic on Who Really Invented the Internet? · · Score: 2

    Completely agree as I believe everyone agrees. The point is that the originial context of the argument is to justify a higher rate of taxation on the successful business based on the fact that the government is the reason that the business is successful yet everyone enjoys the same infrastructure whether you are successful or not.

    There are many reasons to have a progressive tax structure (and many reasons not to). Being successful at your business is not one of them. To argue that the owner's blood, sweat, and tears is secondary to the government's role in providing infrastructure and therefore they should pay a higher tax RATE is insulting.

    The argument Obama was making is poor and downright terrible politically. Who's running his campaign, anyway?

  5. Re:twisted pair, twisted logic on Who Really Invented the Internet? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So I have a question that maybe you can answer.

    The vast majority of new businesses fail in this country. So if you have 2 businesses in a business park. One is wildly successful and the other goes bankrupt after a couple of years. The same road runs in front of both businesses. They both have the same mail service. They both have the same internet piped into their office suites. Who is PRIMARILY responsible for the business that succeeds? Is it the government or the owner?

  6. Re:Where is why? on Taking Issue With Claims That American Science Education is 'Dismal' · · Score: 1

    Really? Do you have a citation?

  7. Re:Hardware maker blames software! on Nokia 900 Being Given Away Due To Software Glitch · · Score: 1

    Better to blame the software than the user.

  8. Re:Cause and Effect on DoJ Files Suit Against Apple, Ebook Publishers · · Score: 1

    If Amazon and B&N can still offer more variety of books at a lower price then more power to them. Apple has made no attempts to prevent eBooks from other sources from being read on the iPad.

    The problem is the 6 largest publishers got together and decided that they would only use the agency model with a 30% profit for the retailer. End of story or else the retailer can go suck rocks. It's not like 1 or 2 publishers did this independantly. All 6 agreed to the exact same terms at the exact same time when Apple made the exact same agreement with all 6. Amazon didn't have a choice at that point.

    If you look at the complaint, the DOJ has plenty of emails and phone conversations that show that they definitely colluded together to do this.

  9. Re:Just wrong on all counts on DoJ Files Suit Against Apple, Ebook Publishers · · Score: 1

    If they did it alone, then that is true. Unfortunately all 6 publishers got together and combined forces with Apple to make this happen. That is what makes it collusion.

  10. Re:Finally the E-Book Publishers are getting caugh on DoJ Files Suit Against Apple, Ebook Publishers · · Score: 1

    While that's true, there's more than one supplier. If Chevron artificially limits supply in order to drive prices up, then Shell comes along and pumps more in order to make more money on the back of Chevron's restraint. When Chevron gets a whiff of this, they start pumping more too. The problem with this kind of collusion is that there's incentive for some to cheat.

    This happened in the oil embargo of the late 70's. OPEC decided to limit production. Saudi Arabia limited theirs and drove prices up. All the other OPEC nations were pumping like mad to make as much profit as possible but since Saudi Arabia was the largest producer, it kept prices high. Finally Saudi Arabia got sick of it and pumped like mad to punish the other cheaters and drove down prices even lower than they were before.

    Embargos and price fixing usually don't last long because of the incentive to cheat. If you look at the complaint, there was a lot of discussion between the different publishers just to make sure nobody was going to cheat and cut a different deal with Apple.

  11. Re:The Most Secure Mobile OS on Ask Slashdot: Most Secure Mobile OS? · · Score: 1

    It's simply because the bluetooth api isn't open on WP7.5 yet. I think that's a major pain but it does only affect a limited number of potential applications.

  12. Re:They are afraid of GPL on How Big US Firms Use Open Source Software · · Score: 2

    What price difference? MS based development is usually much faster thanks to great tools like Visual Studio.

  13. Re:We Now Live the Future We Warned Ourselves Abou on Predator Drone Helps Nab Cattle Rustlers · · Score: 1

    It's actually the Border Patrol and not the military. We don't have a militrized border on either side but especially on the Canadian border. These are not military Predators.

  14. Re:Tax evasion on Federal Contractors Are $600 Screwdrivers · · Score: 1

    Most states have an uninsurable option already in place. They require insurance companies operating in the state to pay a certain percentage of the premiums the receive and place it in this pool. This goes to the uninsurable who can then receive this insurance for the average premium rate in the state. Obamacare is so not needed.

  15. Re:And silence.... on Nokia Unveils Its First Windows 7 Phone · · Score: 0

    Ice Cream Sandwich has added a peopl hub integrating social networking like WP7. It has a new "Roboto" theme that resembles metro. It now does app switching similar to WP7. It also has added a lock screen to camera feature like WP7 has.

    iOS5 has added the split keyboard like WP7. It has also added twitter integration like WP7 (though in a terrible way). iMessage has copied features from WP7. Auto-uploading of pictures was added much like WP7 already has. Made the volume button a hardware camera button along with a lock screen shortcut to camera which are both features that WP7 had from the beginning.

    It's really not that big of a deal. Everyone takes what is working from each other and incorporates it in their own way. The point is that there are enough features that are really good in WP7 that Android and Apple feel the need to copy. It definitely shows it to be a contender.

  16. Re:This is the stupidest headline ever on Nokia Unveils Its First Windows 7 Phone · · Score: 1

    No you're not.

  17. Re:What the fuck is a "Gringotts"? on Microsoft Pays $44 Million To Samsung and Nokia For Mango Marketing · · Score: 1

    Also, I forgot to mention. Backups are automatically done to windowsphone.com. I've used it several times and it works great.

  18. Re:What the fuck is a "Gringotts"? on Microsoft Pays $44 Million To Samsung and Nokia For Mango Marketing · · Score: 1

    I also own a WP7 running Mango. It's far easier to use than Android and is probably on par with iPhone, though more innovative than a screen of icons. The app store hasn't been a problem yet for me. You'll find all of the 90% apps (as in the ones that 90% of the people use). Where you can have some trouble are apps made for a specific companies services such as bank apps, though I use the mobile site instead. The wifi does switch off when the phone is locked but only when it's not plugged in. This is purely to save battery. You can turn the 3G off in the settings so that it never uses it, though being a smart phone, you have to have some data service or else the phone company won't hook you up. Getting pics is done through Zune which is fine, but not as straight forward as a mounted hard drive. There is a trick you can do to mount it as a hard drive, but I haven't tried it but supposedly once it's done, it's easy after that. I really like my phone (Samsung Focus). In fact, the only reason my wife (who is very non-technical) went from a feature phone to a smart phone was because she saw how easy mine was to use. Android intimidated her. I'm sure she would have been fine with an iPhone as well, I just hate the ecosystem that's thrust on you.

  19. Re:Tabtop momentum building on Is ARM Ever Coming To the Desktop? · · Score: 1

    You can always try the Guru plug Display. At $199, it's not a bad price.

  20. Re:AGW on Michael Mann Vindicated (Again) Over Climategate · · Score: 1

    The globe is warming on average. This point is virtually undisputed, and is verified by temperature readings all over the globe and by satellite IR readings.

    In science there is always things to dispute

  21. Re:Apps on Google+ Registers 25 Million Visitors · · Score: 1

    Put the same password on both accounts. Alternatively, my wife and I use the gmail imap access and Live Mail syncs both accounts at the same time.

  22. Re:Not fear - disgust on Women Arrested For Refusing TSA Search of Children · · Score: 1

    Except that because the TSA is part of the governement, they could care less if the airlines get more or fewer passengers. The free market doesn't work in this case, only bad press and lobying.

  23. Re:case on George Washington Racks Up 220 Years of Late Fees At Library · · Score: 1

    We have a lot of writings from George Washington where he states his abhorrence to slavery but he also lived in a tough economic situation. It was impossible in the south as a farmer to survive without slaves. He was competing with others that were using free labor. There was also a shortage of laborers for hire because there just wasn't a market for it.

    He felt so strongly about it that he never bought nor sold any of his slaves and freed them upon his and Martha's deaths. He often faced serious debt because of his part in the revolution and because his land just wasn't that good for farming. Also through his slaves having children, he was supporting a lot more people than his plantation justified. He could have paid off debts and reduced his expenses by selling some of his slaves but he refused on moral grounds.

    It's easy to judge with our 21st century lenses, but they lived in a different times and circumstances. Regardless, it doesn't ever negate the incredible good he did for not only America but the whole world.

  24. Re:Clear Hoax on Commodore 64 Primed For a Comeback In June · · Score: 1

    I loved Space Taxi!

  25. Re:Fuck ACTA on Making Sense of ACTA · · Score: 1

    Sounds like a dictatorship.