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  1. Re:Screw you, Metallica! on Napster: the Day the Music Was Set Free · · Score: 1

    Maybe not to YOU. But to whoever sold them that $16 CD full of shitty filler...very much so.

  2. Re:So Floor It ! on San Diego Drops Red-Light Cameras · · Score: 1

    There's a 4-way intersection/stoplight in a residential neighborhood in Boulder, CO that is "speed sensitive," with signs to go with it. The light defaults to green for the more major of the two streets. Stay going the speed limit or under while on the major road, and it stays green. Go over the speed limit (which is easy to do given the size and topography of that road) and you get a red.

  3. Re:Same old tactics on YouTube Drops 2 Billion Fake Music Industry Views · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure if it's still in use or not, but the way the album sales chart was calculated 10 years or so was through a service called Soundscan. The way it worked (in a nutshell) is that certain stores would submit their sales numbers to Soundscan, and then Soundscan would run those numbers through an algorithm to "calculate" the sales from other, non-Soundscan stores. I have no idea how accurate these numbers were.

    There was a case I know of where one label (a larger independent label) got wind of which stores were the Soundscan stores. This was tricky information, because one album sold in these stores "represented" many more albums sold from the other stores, baed on that algorithm. So this label would send bands and artists on tour, and focus all of their in-story appearances on these Soundscan stores. This, of course, led to more sales in those stores, which tended to inflate the label's sales numbers for less effort than honest sales would have taken.

  4. Re:Did the message spoof your email address on Ask Slashdot: What To Tell Non-Tech Savvy Family About Malware? · · Score: 1

    It was just my name, with the "from" address being some other address I didn't recognize. He assumed it was me because it was my real name.

  5. Re:Congratulations, FTC, and thanks! on FTC Whacks "Rachel From Card Holder Services" · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I believe it goes something like this:

    1. charge customers for caller ID on incoming calls.
    2. charge customers for the ability to hide their ID on outgoing calls.
    3. charge customers for the ability to "see" hidden ID's on incoming calls.
    4. go to number 2. rinse and repeat.

  6. Re:I used to think this stuff was cool on Successful Engine Test in UK For Planned 1000 mph Car · · Score: 1

    That's kind of my point. You are correct; roll cages or airbags are going to help. But in the process of figuring out something ENTIRELY NEW that is a viable safety measure, commuter car traffic can become safer.

  7. Re:I used to think this stuff was cool on Successful Engine Test in UK For Planned 1000 mph Car · · Score: 1

    In order for a 1,000 mph car to be approved for driving/testing by a human, i would imagine the funding agencies would require all kinds of safety gear. if, through the development of new safety tech brings us some new breakthrough that scales down/back and makes 80 mph crashes much safer, isn't that a worthwhile pursuit?

  8. good news for @SadMarsRover on Curiosity Rover Being Upgraded With Autonomous Sensor Program · · Score: 2

    Does this mean that @SadMarsRover will be able to get his instagram on again?

  9. Re:Is it worth it? on Only English Final Fantasy 2 NES Cartridge On Sale for $50K · · Score: 1

    Yup, mostly. Usually it's only something i notice either with brand new releases that a label/distro is pushing, or older collectible records that are 15-20 years old, and someone is selling/trying to collect the whole "set". There are a few releases I've gone after or even own in all the variants, but for the most part, once i own ONE release of a record, that's enough for me to say i own it and i don't feel the need to grab all the others. Usually my threshold is when i find one idon't have and it's super cheap, i'll pick it up.

    I wonder if other genres do the same? I do dabble in a few others, but don't recall seeing like hip hop or electronica singles or LP's doing the same thing. Curious observation.

  10. Re:Is it worth it? on Only English Final Fantasy 2 NES Cartridge On Sale for $50K · · Score: 1

    Closest I've ever come is picking up an audiophile magazine at a bookstore, in which there was a review of a 1 meter RCA cable that cost $5,000. That's more than I've ever spent on audio equipment in my life, combined. I don't like being a collector. I just enjoy collecting the records.

  11. Re:Is it worth it? on Only English Final Fantasy 2 NES Cartridge On Sale for $50K · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Altho i'm loathe to use the word/admit it, i collect vinyl records. i tend to focus on a specific sub-genre of one that's not uber popular, so the records i'm really after and willing to spend more than list price on usually don't go for too much. Many of my peers are into collecting every variation of a record that's pressed on multiple colors of vinyl. (ie, a label will press 1000 of a particular band's album. 500 of these will be on black vinyl, 250 on red, 200 on green, and 50 on clear vinyl.) My collector nerd friends would then seek out all 4 versions. Indeed, a lot of labels even offer a pre-sale package featuring all 4 variants, particular for these guys.

    In addition to a completist mentality behind wanting to own every variant of a record, there is also a demand (ranging from "mildly interested" to "i will mortgage the house to get this") for "test pressings" of records. These are just like what they sound. There are usually fewer than 20 of these made per release. Often less than 10 or even 5. Plain white labels or possibly a boilerplate label with "artist, song title, label" info handwritten onto the labels. No printed cover. A few go to the label, some to the band, for listening to and final proofing before the "go ahead and make us 1000 copies" order is put in. It's very rare that there is a change to an album once the test pressings have been created and they are almost NEVER available for sale to the general public. I've mostly only seen them for sale after the album comes out, strictly as collector items.

    The $50k asking price may be ridonkulous, but the demand for this one-off game makes perfect sense to me in light of what i've seen people get stupid over in the vinyl world.

  12. Re:would i rather on Why Amazon Wants To Pay Sales Tax · · Score: 1

    I've taught bike mechanics to adults and to kids, and have always challenged every class with "anything you can carry by car, you can carry by bike." So far, no one has come up with anything that breaks that scenario.

  13. Re:would i rather on Why Amazon Wants To Pay Sales Tax · · Score: 1

    One surprising benefit I found when I started commuting by bike was that i planned my outings much more thoroughly even when I opting to drive the car. The commute being 12 miles one way, turning around halfway to go back and get something I had forgotten wasn't usually an option. So, I got good at becoming efficient at planning where I was going, how to get there, and what other outings I could piggyback on that were around the same area at the same time. After having driven to work/grocery store/etc for decades, it was a nice refreshing brain muscle to realize had been neglected.

  14. Re:would i rather on Why Amazon Wants To Pay Sales Tax · · Score: 1

    You could run (presumably, at least some of) your errands on a bicycle.

  15. Re:Sounds good. on The DHS's Latest Investment: Terahertz Laser Scanners · · Score: 2

    Long before 9/11, i went with a friend and his father to pick up a family member of his at the airport. This was back when anyone--not just ticketed passengers--could go through security, all the way to the gate. my friend's dad was carrying a messenger bag type satchel that he got at a military surplus store. For some reason, it triggered some alarm or the other, or maybe he was just picked randomly, but the bag he had was putting off a chemical signature of TNT explosives, and he was given the option to leave the bag in his car, or not enter the secure area. All because of some residue from who knows what back when the bag was being used in the military.

  16. Re:Shemagh/Keffiyeh. on Slashdot Asks: Beating the Summer Heat? · · Score: 2

    Good point. My father, who's been stationed around the world in various hostile climates over the course of his military-related job, has always suggested "doing as the locals do." figure out what the indigenous people of any location or climate do, and emulate them. they've likely been doing whatever they do to cool off/heat up/dry out for hundreds or thousands of years, and had much more time to figure out how to deal with the extreme climate than us.

    Same goes for other living condition issues like how to light up an area after the sun goes down (when running electricity isn't feasible/worth it), etc.

  17. Re:Here's an idea on Google Proposes Fighting Piracy By Blocking Ad Money · · Score: 1

    It would seem that at a certain point, making the entirety of works all of the record labels have ever created available via itunes, netflix, or whatever would be the cheaper and simpler solution. I wonder what that point is. Are we close to reaching it? Have we already?

    Of course, this seems simple when put into so few words, there's got to be something I'm missing. What is it? Aside from the general "Content companies only want control," what excuse would major labels give for this?

    I've been buying music from independent punk rock labels for going on 20 years. I've heard from many people who ran labels in the 80's that they would much rather have distributed their stuff online for free (bandwidth, hardware costs notwithstanding) rather than sitting around dubbing tapes or spending money on plastic discs with music on them. money that had to be recouped in order for a band to be deemed a "success."

  18. Re:Why? on Facebook Says Your Email Is @Facebook · · Score: 1

    Emails sent to your @facebook address show up in facebook as messages.

    Replies to those emails show up as emails to the address you sent FROM, originating from the @facebook email.

    i only know this because i wanted to forward some photos from an email to someone i only have facebook contact info for and all this about @facebook emails had been in the news recently, so i went with it.

  19. Re:Who is stalking me? on Facebook Tests the Waters With Paid Perks · · Score: 1

    And when that happens, the new "Pay $5/day to see who's stalking YOU!" feature becomes available.

  20. Re:Facebook *and* Google on Dealing With the Eventual Collapse of Social Networks · · Score: 1

    I think one major difference is that the the three you mentioned, and many of the others of popular cum changed and/or gone away sites is that Google and hopefully (for their sake) Facebook have the foresight to be constantly adapting to what's needed and wanted in the user marketplace. If Google lags and someone else comes along and manages to get more direct marketable eyeballs than Google does, then yeah, they'll change and/or shrivel up as the ad dollars migrate. But how many people do they have working on this exact problem on a daily basis? I'm guessing more than Geocities ever did.

  21. Re:I read tfa and Im still not sure what happened on Snoozing Pilot Mistakes Venus For Aircraft; Panic, Injuries Ensue · · Score: 1

    What I really don't like is the whole sleeping in the cockpit game. If it is legal, it shouldn't be.

    This was my first thought. I have no problems with members of flight crews sleeping on flights they're responsible for, so long as there are other flight members who are awake, alert, and on the controls at all times. I do think there's something wrong with a pilot or copilot sleeping in the cockpit with their hands within reach of the controls.

  22. Re:Evolve or die on Pirate Bay Promotion Attracts Over 5000 Artists · · Score: 1

    To be fair, Victory has a history of being shitty to artists. One of my friends put it simply "bands who sign to Victory in this day and age have it coming."

  23. Re:They're hardly perfect on TSA 'Warning' Media About Reporting On Body Scanner Failures? · · Score: 2

    In 2010, I flew from Denver to Minneapolis. It was a visit during which, I would be riding a loaned bicycle, so I brought a multitool should I need to do some roadside repairs on the loaner. On my flight there, I had plenty of time to go through security and if the multitool (which had a 2" knife blade) was not allowed, I could go check the bag it was in. I went through security without a hiccup.

    Landed in Minneapolis, and went to check with security, since I wouldn't have such a time window on my return flight, and wanted to see if I would need to check the bag with the multitool in it or if it would be allowed. I went up to the security station and politely asked the TSA agent if this would be allowed. I had it in my hand as I approached. The knife blade wasn't visible but it was obvious that it was a bicycle multitool. I asked if it would be allowed. A fellow agent came over in the middle of my explanation, and started to ask some questions about the tool.

    The first agent sort of waved his hand and said "It's ok, it's a bicycle multitool. It has wrenches and screwdrivers, right? You should be fine."

    To which i responded "Well, it does have a 2" knife blade on it, in case you need to cut something."

    At this point, the agent stiffened up, looked around and in a very serious voice said "Sir? You have a knife on your person? How did you get into this secure area? You need to leave this secure area immediately or..." and then went into this official sounding tirade.

    I tried restating my question, but you'd think I had threatened to stab the guy. I checked the bag on the return flight, but it turns out they didn't like the burly bicycle lock in my check bag, either. As if a big chain would be a threat in the belly of the plane...

  24. Re:How about no textbook at all? on Math Textbooks a Textbook Example of Bad Textbooks · · Score: 1

    I fondly remember learning the multiplication tables for two reasons:

    1. We moved a lot when I was a kid, and one of my new schools only learned them up to 10x10, whereas my previous school had taught them up to 12x12. Seems pretty minor in retrospect, but it gave me some kind of incredible confidence. It almost felt like a super power.
    2. More importantly, my innate sense of trying to cheat/be lazy taught me to find patterns: 9 times any single digit number is that digit with a zero after it minus that digit. 5 times any number is half of 10 times that number, etc. The trick where you open both palm, and fold down the finger that corresponds with what you're multiplying by 9, and the fingers on the left of the folded digit are now the tens column while the fingers on the right are the ones column. (I'm not sure i can explain why it works, but I know that it wouldn't if we had 11 fingers...)

    Finding those shortcuts, and seeking them out, felt like finding some kind of cosmic Easter eggs or something. I feel like that encouraged me to be inquisitive in other areas, and appreciate when I found connections.

    I don't think the fact that i know by rote what 11 times 12 is is beneficial, but the fact that i know that there are patterns and connections to be found has helped me be confident to face and solve many other problems, math or otherwise.

  25. Re:All you need is a clipboard on How To Sneak In To a Security Conference · · Score: 1

    I live in Boulder, CO, and there's a walking mall downtown, where lots of tourists and locals congregate to shop, eat, hang out outside. Which brings about the petition signature solicitors. It's completely legal to ask folks for signatures, but as a local who has spent more time there than most tourists, it starts to get old being asked by every petitioner on the block if you have a minute for their cause.

    One local business has started offering clipboards that one can check out for free, with some papers clipped on and a pen attached via a ballchain. This is for locals who want to walk down the mall for short errands or to grab lunch or whatever, and not be hassled by the other petitioners.