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User: LunaticTippy

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  1. Thousands of years of wrongs don't make a right on NPR Looks to Technological Singularity · · Score: 1
    It's worth keeping in mind that people have always thought they were in the middle of the endtimes. Whether catastrophic, apocalyptic, technological, alien, supernatural, or whatever. People like to feel important, and they like to feel that they live in important times.

    So far they've all been wrong. Every single one of 'em. Thousands and thousands of years of always being wrong.

    It's obvious that life has been changing a lot lately. I don't agree that it's going to be a whole new ball game. People have always thought that civilization was on the verge of something. Apparently it's human nature.

  2. Re:What kind of singularity? on NPR Looks to Technological Singularity · · Score: 1

    Well, your post was pretty annoying but that was an enjoyable link. I realize you intended it to be annoying, so well done!

  3. Now I'm confused. on EFF Calls RIAA Tactics 'Reign of Terror' · · Score: 2, Funny
    OK, my house is dusty.

    Does that mean that I dust? Or that I'm anti-dusting? If so, why all the dust?

  4. Re:DRM that plays on anything? on The History of Hacking DRM · · Score: 1
    Watermarks are powerless against cash sales, rentals, libraries, stolen, borrowed, and resold media.

    Watermarks are DOA.

  5. Re:ah well, that's all we can muster? on Paul Thurrott Bitten by WGA · · Score: 1

    It's encouraging that you're not apathetic. I had the impression that nearly everyone under 25 didn't care.

  6. Re:RTFA on Card Locks Thwarted by Shopping Club Card · · Score: 2, Funny

    Access to funds would be quite convenient.
    Free advertising for potential customers, too.

  7. Re:RTFA on Card Locks Thwarted by Shopping Club Card · · Score: 1

    If the system allowed one entry at a time, people would use it to fuck, shoot up, or sleep. Or just swipe in and close the door, blocking access for no reason.

  8. Re:It depends on Slashback: Facebook Un-Ban, Exploding Laptop, FFXI II · · Score: 1
    I don't know what the SCMS is

    You don't know what it is because SCMS killed DAT (digital audio tapes) which were supercool but ended up crippled and expensive beyond salvation.

    Apple's iTunes, my XM subscription, and other listen-before-you-buy, instant-gratification, digital distribution mediums

    Unfortunately, until consumers care enough to actually boycott the industry, the RIAA can do whatever it wants.

    You do realize that iTunes, XM, and other dist mediums all give money to RIAA right?

  9. Re:Thank god in a contry on UK Street Crime Rise Blamed on iPods · · Score: 1

    There was a man in NY who blew up his house with natural gas rather than let his wife have it. There would have been much less destruction if he'd used a gun.

  10. Senile Bacon Number on Surgical Tools to Include RFID · · Score: 1
    The biggest problem for me is my Mother. She emails 100 people all the time, forwards things around like crazy, and never listens to me about chain letters, obvious urban legends, or the fact that I don't care about aunt whoever's surgery.

    Of those 100 people, about half of them are like my mother. And so on, and so on. It all goes to a special directory, anything with my mother's address in it, but I do have to read some of them to maintain the peace.

    Anyway, I know things about complete strangers I never wanted to know. Technically I could trace how I "know" them, I suppose.

    The most ironic part is I gave her the computer as a present. So I wouldn't have to talk to her on the phone so much.

  11. Re:Common occurrence? on Surgical Tools to Include RFID · · Score: 1
    To be accurate, 3 people had something left in them. None of them were instruments. Two pieces of gauze and a sponge. The sponge was at the Mayo clinic in Arizona, hardly a low-rent shop. One of the gauze pieces was found in a subsequent surgery and was not causing trouble, the other was found when healing was going poorly and they went back in.

    My grandpa had over 100 surgeries in his life (worked in a smelter) and my family talks way too much about medical problems. I'm glad I'm adopted.

    In any case, there are thousands of instruments left inside patients every year. Family/friends + FOAF + FOAFOAF would yield several cases for most people.

  12. Re:How common is this problem... on Surgical Tools to Include RFID · · Score: 4, Interesting
    It sounds as if you're unaware that US hospitals are in a state of absolute crisis. It isn't the surgeon's fault, and it isn't their choice. They are forced to work back-to-back 14 hour shifts. Emergency rooms are having their budgets slashed, having increased business from uninsured patients who can't afford routine care, and have trouble keeping staff from the abysmal working conditions and low pay.

    Here is a good article on the subject. It claims the ER system is on the verge of collapse.

    Hardly thinking it's okay to make mistakes, these poor people are in a constant state of sleep deprived chaotic panic.

  13. Common occurrence? on Surgical Tools to Include RFID · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I'd say it's fairly common. Common enough that I personally know 3 people who've had things left inside them.

    Expect it to become more and more common as surgeons become even more painfully overworked. It's not their fault. I blame a bizarre system of high spiralling costs combined with drastic costcutting.

    This may be an effective solution for leaving surgical tools behind, but that is treating a symptom instead of the root cause. Which is typical of US healthcare.

  14. Re:The only thing that bugs me about Netflix... on Netflix Users Experience Paradox of Abundance · · Score: 1
    There are hundreds of online adult dvd rental outfits, many with $20/month unlimited plans.

    I haven't paid for porn in years though, so I don't know how good these places are. It's a weird model though. Lots of adult DVDs are under $10/each new, but most people always want something they've never seen before. Renting them out sure seems like a good way to make an easy profit.

  15. Re:YRO on Internet Gambling CEO Arrested by FBI · · Score: 1

    Hm, there should be tax breaks if you can solve a PDE in the IRS testing office! Tax breaks for people who are good at math.

  16. Re:YRO on Internet Gambling CEO Arrested by FBI · · Score: 1
    Good points. It doesn't make any sense. I suspect that compulsive shopping causes far more troubles than compulsive gambling, but there aren't many anti-shopping efforts.

    Too many times people judge an activity by the few who cannot handle it responsibly. Too many times people try to legislate behaviour.

  17. Re:YRO on Internet Gambling CEO Arrested by FBI · · Score: 1
    If the big US casinos got behind the idea, it'd be a slam-dunk. They're scared of the future, just like a lot of other huge highly profitable industries. There will always be a market for huge ridiculous casinos, just like there will always be internet gambling. They need to realize it will be with them or without them. Why not with them?

    OTOH, if casinos are against it (like now) there will be an even better-funded and more experienced lobbying effort against online gambling.

  18. Re:YRO on Internet Gambling CEO Arrested by FBI · · Score: 1
    Not if you break US law.Colorado example

    If they ignored the juicy target of US wallets they'd be fine.

    What I don't understand is why doesn't the US gov't just legalize it. They'd get giant taxes, they'd get to regulate it, and US companies could reap massive profits. It's idiotic to fight it - impossible and pointless. Of course, I feel the same way about recreational drugs, prostitution, and high explosives.

  19. Re:YRO on Internet Gambling CEO Arrested by FBI · · Score: 1
    I can spend an hour or two in a casino and generally walk out with a few extra bucks. I do it to cool off and drink free cocktails. For me the trick is to stop when I'm ahead, not get tempted to go for a bigger take.

    I'm quite aware there are good gamblers, that it is possible to make a steady income doing it. Watch out for getting banned from casinos though! A friend of mine could count cards, got banned for life from every casino on the strip.

    In any case, pointing out the few winners changes nothing. Offshore or Vegas, legal or not, casinos make mighty heaps of dough. It should be obvious where that money comes from. I can't believe people keep falling for it, it's not a public service. It's too bad they're all gung-ho to ban it. Taxing and regulating it would be better. Otherwise it's just a dollar-suction-out-of-the-US device. Why not have American businesses profit instead?

    Anyway, I've met lots of people who claim that they can make money reliably from casinos. I've seen giant casinos tearing theirselves down and rebuilding every 3 years because they have so much money they can afford to. I believe my eyes before anything else.

  20. Re:YRO on Internet Gambling CEO Arrested by FBI · · Score: 1
    Here's a quote from the colorado AG:
    Internet gambling sites and telephone sports books are illegal under state and federal laws. Colorado law prohibits the transmission or reception of gambling information by any means. Federal law also prohibits the use of wire communications in interstate or foreign commerce for the placing of bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers. In addition, the Colorado Constitution allows only certain types of "gambling," which does not include internet or telephone wagering.

    So, now that we've established that it is in fact an illegal activity I'll move on to the next issue. The gov't does not go after a Costa Rican business for one reason: lack of jurisdiction.

    The tax laws are quite flexible and easy to prosecute, that is why they use them.

    Please don't get so angry with me. I didn't make these laws, and I don't agree with them. But you'd have to be fucking retarded to ignore laws that affect our rights.

  21. Re:Thank you on Internet Gambling CEO Arrested by FBI · · Score: 1
    I think there is no legal online gambling in the US because we live in a paranoid, overprotective, easily panicked, safety-obsessed insane asylum.

    Seriously, I don't know about every state but in the 3 states I've lived in gambling is highly regulated. Some states even have laws against friends wagering on cards at home, though generally giving a cut to the house is what it takes to make it illegal.

    The states that might be most sympathetic (such as Nevada) don't want to cut into the casino's racket.

    If you are interested, here is a good resource.

    Internet gambling sites and telephone sports books are illegal under state and federal laws. Colorado law prohibits the transmission or reception of gambling information by any means. Federal law also prohibits the use of wire communications in interstate or foreign commerce for the placing of bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers. In addition, the Colorado Constitution allows only certain types of "gambling," which does not include internet or telephone wagering.

    I'm a big fan of government staying out of my life, but it is idiotic to delude ourselves about what is legal. Those fuckers are eroding our rights constantly. There's precious little that's legal anymore.

  22. Re:YRO on Internet Gambling CEO Arrested by FBI · · Score: 1
    I agree, but you leave out one important point.

    The house wins every hand. You'll continue to do fine until enough good players come along. If it is as profitable as people claim this should happen any day now. I'm also wary of online poker because cheating would be so easy.

    In any case, the best place to be is renting the table out.

  23. Human antennae on Paint-on Antennas for Mile-High Airships · · Score: 1

    I use myself as an antenna whenever I adjust my TV set's rabbit ears. It's annoying, and if I want perfect reception need insulative gloves. Or I could just hold the rabbit ears while I watch my program.

  24. Re:YRO on Internet Gambling CEO Arrested by FBI · · Score: 1
    Gambling is very regulated in the US. Here in Colorado, for example, playing cards for money is illegal unless you are at a casino ($5 stakes) or are playing with "social contacts" and the house gets no cut.

    It's treated more like drugs than yardwork here. Damned Puritan founders.

  25. YRO on Internet Gambling CEO Arrested by FBI · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I see it like this: Some people think they should have the right to gamble online. Other people think they shouldn't. Other people yet might think gambling online should be legal, but taxed and regulated.

    Right now, there is no such thing as legal online gambling in the US. Because of that, all online gambling businesses are breaking the law. This particular case might be cut and dry, but the larger issue of our rights online can still be debated.

    I think gambling is a tax on people who are bad at math, and should be 100% legal.