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User: Intron

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Comments · 2,179

  1. Re:No expectation of privacy on L.A. Police: All Cars In L.A. Are Under Investigation · · Score: 1

    I didn't ask what were lawful and unlawful uses of the data. I asked whether proper controls are in place to monitor access to the data. Who is recording the activity of the police?

  2. Re:No expectation of privacy on L.A. Police: All Cars In L.A. Are Under Investigation · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The 4th Amendment's warrant requirement only applies when there is an expectation of privacy. There is no expectation of privacy when you are out in public, nor in anything that can be investigated with plain human senses (plain view, plain smell, etc).

    When operating a motor vehicle on a public roadway, there is no expectation of privacy attached to your license plate number, or your location. A police officer can follow you around all day without a warrant, and run as many checks on your plate number as he desires, and make a note of everywhere you go.

    An officer does not need a warrant to listen to a conversation you have with someone at a park, nor does he need a warrant to take a sniff of whatever it is you're smoking outside your office.

    You guys need to get over yourselves.

    In that case, taking a video of a police officer in a public place should not be a problem.

  3. Re:No expectation of privacy on L.A. Police: All Cars In L.A. Are Under Investigation · · Score: 1

    And are all of the controls in place to prevent unauthorized use of the data, or can anyone with access browse at will? The police have already stated that release of the data violates privacy.

  4. Re:Turing? on Why Robots Will Not Be Smarter Than Humans By 2029 · · Score: 1

    It's so easy to see that this guy is wrong. I have a masters in IA, but anyone if a decent CS degree will agree that we made almost none true evolution in computers since day one. All we did until know is make it faster (and easier to use), but the type of problems we can solve (math wise) today is exactly the same kinds a turing machine could (in theory) solve in 1936. EVERY problem today can be simplified to a turing machine code somehow.
    We are still trying to make a quantum computer, which could in theory solve some kind of problems our current computational approach can't.

    Every time some guy in the IA field says that the problem is computer power, just ignore him and move on.

    Actually I have a lot of respect for Industrial Arts majors.

  5. Re:Seems reasonable on Why Robots Will Not Be Smarter Than Humans By 2029 · · Score: 1

    The hardware is the easy part. Look at the advances in software. 15 years ago your PC ran Windows and it took 2 minutes to boot!

  6. Re:Bill specifically about Glass is a bad idea... on Google Fighting Distracted Driver Laws · · Score: 1

    It is perfectly reasonable to text while stopped at a light, not so much while moving.

    No, when you're stopped at a light, you should look around yourself and be aware of the situation BEFORE the light turn green.

    If you just press the go pedal a split second after the green, you're throwing yourself into the unknown (are there pedestrian runnning the red? is there an ambulance comming your way? Is there a car coming fast that you know will run the red light? That kid playing with a ball, will he run to catch it if it goes in the street?)

    When you drive a car, you should drive your car and nothing else!

    It takes me 10 minutes longer every day to get to work because of you idiots who are texting and don't know the light is green until everyone behind you is honking.

  7. Re:Price? on New 3D Printer Can Print With Carbon Fiber · · Score: 4, Funny

    The machine costs next to nothing. Now the ink cartridges ...

  8. Yes. They determined that the IRS denied one application - to a liberal group. Or didn't they tell you that on Fox?

  9. Re:Texas Barely Registers on Map of Publicly-Funded Creationism Teaching · · Score: 1

    You're from Austin, I'd guess.

  10. Re:Good for them! on RSA Boycot Group Sets Up Rival Conference · · Score: 1

    Don't worry. They will be attending. And taking names.

  11. Re:Kill capitol punishment! Kill it dead! on Controversial Execution In Ohio Uses New Lethal Drug Combination · · Score: 1

    nobody said anything about Nazis.

  12. Re:When upgrades break code on Why Do Projects Continue To Support Old Python Releases? · · Score: 2

    That was probably going from Perl 4 to Perl 5. Going across a major release where many features have changed is going to cause problems with any language. The changes from Python 2.5 to 2.7 are likely to be much less pain.

  13. Re:oh sure on Senator Bernie Sanders Asks NSA If Agency Is Spying On Congress · · Score: 5, Insightful

    now that HE might be being spied on he suddenly cares?

    Congress has constitutional protection from the executive branch, so spying on them would likely be a major problem, even if spying on the rest of us is "legal". Also, lying to Congress is frowned upon. I think this puts Alexander in a real bind if he has to sign a letter to Congress.

  14. Re:I beg to differ on Isaac Asimov's 50-Year-Old Prediction For 2014 Is Viral and Wrong · · Score: 1

    Ho Chi Minh allied with the communists to try to free his country from the French. It has ultimately turned out to be a successful strategy as Vietnam is free and independent. If we had supported our former ally instead of joining the war against him it would likely now be a democracy. Like Iraq, diplomacy would have been a better course than military action, but there are active hawks in the US government then and now.

    In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. DDE

  15. Re:Why not Congress? on City Councilman Resigns Using Klingon · · Score: 1

    Hillary championed a national healthcare system during Bill's first term and has been hated by the right ever since. The private insurance requirement was the only way to get it passed.

    Highways were almost entirely state and local until Eisenhower (R) created the Interstates, ostensibly to support military maneuvers. The cost has been enormous, but well worthwhile for travel and commerce.

    Federal contribution to primary education is around 8% of the total (and growing), the rest is local and state. The purpose of the Federal funding is supposedly to bring all education up to minimum standards, but Congress has been known to use any excuse to bring more Federal money to their districts.

    The chief benefit of a strong Conservative voice would be in curbing Federal power and spending, but they don't seem to be accomplishing that. Both parties are bent on increasing the Federal role,just in slightly different areas. The media portray them as liberal vs. conservative, but they are really both Centralist. We need a third party with some new ideas.

  16. Re:Why not Congress? on City Councilman Resigns Using Klingon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Please. Playing ignorant(or willfully disdainful) lip service to the constitution as if it's magical is #2 on standard politician processes, after pandering to the individual groups you are talking to today.

    Besides, the Constitution is better in the original Klingon.

  17. Re:And your predictions? on Isaac Asimov's 50-Year-Old Prediction For 2014 Is Viral and Wrong · · Score: 1

    The problem with predictions like "cordless phone" and "robot cars" is that they are super easy. A lot of people want it, a lot of people dreamed of it, a lot of people ready to pay for it, so there is a high chance that this will happen. The thing you don't know is *when*. Our lives are not run by "cars with brains" in a same way it is run by smart phones, so saying that he predicted correctly both is somewhat of an overstatement.

    I'll give you an example of similar prediction: in 50 years all devices will be charged remotely, no need to plug them in. You'll enter your house and the devices you carry with you will start to charge. This is almost bound to happen. When and to what extent -- this is the question that nobody can answer (and the one that really matters.)

    Your predictions are absurd. In 50 years you won't be carrying devices, they will be embedded in your body or ubiquitous in your environment. You are looking at short term issues with present day devices.. Asimov had a 10-pound dial telephone and predicted that in 50 years we would be carrying it around and reading documents on it. Which prediction is better?

  18. Re:I beg to differ on Isaac Asimov's 50-Year-Old Prediction For 2014 Is Viral and Wrong · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Most divergent of all, he believed that increasing automatization of labor would spawn not inequality or joblessness, but spiritual malaise.

    How is this different from what we have now, I insist and ask ?

    The 60s were different in that they were one of the few times when there wasn't increasing inequality/joblesness - people married young and could hold on to a job for 50 years - which is the outlier, not the historical norm. Just look at the 19th century by comparison. For a bit more discussion, see here.

    Having lived through that period, there was a general feeling that we could do anything: stop wars, have civil rights, go to the moon, end poverty by sharing as taught in the bible^W the Whole Earth Catalog. It was a dream, but a pretty good one. Even though the war in Iraq was as unjust and pointless as Vietnam, there was a lot less marching and rock-throwing. People seem to not believe that they can change things. I would call that a malaise.

  19. Re:Retroposons on "Jumping Genes" Linked To Schizophrenia · · Score: 1

    Jumping genes are better known as retroposons. Shame on Science for not explaining this.

    Why? Do you think just naming something explains it? Has creating the name schizophrenia explained anything? Has that classification improved life for the mentally ill?

  20. Unlikely to support life on Three Tiny Exoplanets Suggest Solar System Not So Special · · Score: 1

    ... as we know it. Where there is lots of energy there could be something to make use of it.

  21. Re:1 place on Justifications For Creating an IT Department? · · Score: 2

    1 point of call and 1 place to run things properly

    Good argument against separating IT. What happens when they are busy (hint: IT is always busy). Who decides what "properly" means (hint: IT thinks they do).

    IT is separate in most organizations because it requires specialized training which they don't want to give to everyone in the company. The reason Engineering groups are always at odds with IT is because they feel they don't need to go to someone else for things they know how to do. In a TV station, why should Engineering run and maintain every piece of equipment EXCEPT computers?

  22. Re:What about Google driverless car? on Software Bug Caused Qantas Airbus A330 To Nose-Dive · · Score: 1

    Why do you think insurance companies will be happy about this? If accident rates go down, payouts go down, which means premiums go down, which means profits go down. Insurance companies aren't in business to keep you safe, they're in business to sell you their product; which you are required to buy.

  23. Re:What about Google driverless car? on Software Bug Caused Qantas Airbus A330 To Nose-Dive · · Score: 1

    Its a brake before the accident. Afterwards its a break.

  24. Re:Who would ride that bomb? on Inside a Last-Ditch Effort To Save the Space Shuttle · · Score: 1

    Climbing Everest has a death rate of something like 5% depending on how you measure it, yet there's a waiting list.

  25. Re:Good on Inside a Last-Ditch Effort To Save the Space Shuttle · · Score: 2

    Of existing launch vehicles, I think India's PSLV is cheapest for putting a medium sized payload into orbit with good success (18/20). Wikipedia says around $17M per launch.