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User: squidflakes

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  1. So... on Text Editor Created In Minecraft · · Score: 1

    How long before EMACS is running on Minecraft Redstone?

  2. Re: SO on How 4H Is Helping Big Ag Take Over Africa · · Score: 1

    Has there been work done on researching methods for recovering land that has been subject to G.R. style farming practices? Is it possible to rebuild topsoil or is that something we have to let time and the insects handle?

  3. Re:Dumb idea ... Lots of assumptions .... on US School Installs 'Shooter Detection' System · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There is also this crazy idea about sensible gun legislation that would help to prevent stuff like this. You know, if we're talking crazy things that will never happen in the U.S.

  4. Re:Yes! on HBO Developing Asimov's Foundation Series As TV Show · · Score: 1

    Oh my god yes! Bring on the Nuclear Hand Drills!

  5. Rampant in Photography on We Are All Confident Idiots · · Score: 0

    There might as well be a Dunning-Kruger effect built in to Photoshop, considering the number of photographers who suffer under the delusion that the terrible shit they produce is actually art.

    Full disclosure - I'm a cranky photographer who's not total shit but is still mostly shit.

  6. Re:Honestly. on Ex-CBS Reporter Claims Government Agency Bugged Her Computer · · Score: 1

    Her description of the location of the classified documents sounds like something my computer illiterate grandmother would say trying to relate the plot of "War Games" or "The Net."

    What IT person do you know in this world that says shit like that?

  7. Re:She's.. on Ex-CBS Reporter Claims Government Agency Bugged Her Computer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "commercial, nonattributable spyware that's proprietary to a government agency"

    You can't parse that and have it make sense.

    Commercial spyware that's somehow unable to be attributed to a person or organization? That defies the whole point of a commercial software product.

    Commercial yet proprietary to a small group of government agencies? Again, that's not really the definition of commercial.

    I can believe she had some sort of breach on her machine, most likely malware. Hell, I'd even be willing to believe there was some sort of spearphishing attack against her by someone who wanted data off a well-known reporter's computer but the rest of it just reads like a bad movie about the internet.

  8. Re:Cost on Ugly Trends Threaten Aviation Industry · · Score: 1

    That's pure bullshit Conservative non-sense. I've had a pilots license for nearly 20 years and with the introduction of Part 61 licenses and the expansion of the aircraft allowed under sport and private pilots licenses its much easier to qualify these days.

    But hey, don't let me get in the way of a good old fashioned big government hatefest. I know it must be terrible to have regulations for people who want to operate a vehicle that requires specialized training, and I'm sure that fuel costs and aircraft costs have nothing to do with it whatsoever. Right?

  9. CAH on Flying Snake Mysteries Revealed · · Score: 1

    This story is only one word away from being a Cards Against Humanity favorite.

  10. Diamond Age anyone? on Using Nanotechnology To Build Thinner, Stronger Condoms · · Score: 2

    How long before we're hiring kids to go pick up nano pore condoms off the beach so we can recycle them in to materials to keep the nanobots off our lawns?

    Probably never, but I finally get to make the reference!

  11. Wait, so I can literally blame anything on the NSA?

    I ran out of ideas and motivation for my next book because of the NSA!

    I'm late for work today because of the NSA!

    Sorry, I can't afford child support this month because of the NSA!

    This really sounds like a steaming pile of bullshit to me. Not that I'm in any way supportive of the actions of the NSA, but stating that you're not going to finish a series because it has become too much like real life just smacks of someone taking an easy way out.

  12. Missing one piece of tecnology on How Google, Tesla, and Uber Could Team Up For the Driverless Taxis of the Future · · Score: 1

    Who will make the "life-like" driver busts that can banter with eleven different sorts of inane chatter? JohnnyCab it is not!

  13. Re:Other Hurricane Scales on Gore's Staff Says He Was Misquoted On Hexametric Hurricanes · · Score: 1

    Yep, I rode that storm out in Houston. It was a Cat 2 but HSI 45 while in the Gulf and low 30s at landfall. Katrina was mid-30s at landfall. Most of those points were, of course, for size.

  14. Other Hurricane Scales on Gore's Staff Says He Was Misquoted On Hexametric Hurricanes · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Saffir-Simpson scale is pretty antiquated for the exact reasons mentioned. Just measuring wind speed gives a very poor idea of how dangerous or destructive a storm will by, and gives no indication of relative size.

    The better scale that the AMS is starting to lean toward is the Hebert-Weinzapfel scale, which has a much easier to spell name as the Hurricane Severity Index, or HSI.

    With the HSI model, the speed of wind and the size of the wind field are taken in to account so a storm that is moderate intensity but very large in footprint, like Katrina, has a similar rating to a hurricane with a high intensity and very small footprint like Andrew. Both were similar in the amount of destruction they caused but Katrina was only SS Cat 3 at landfall, where Andrew was SS Cat 5.

    But hey, lets just make jokes about Al Gore instead, cause Al Gore. Am I right here people?

  15. Wow on Supreme Court Decides Your Silence May Be Used Against You · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ok, first off it's the Miranda Warning, not the Miranda Rights. You have them at all times, read to you or not. The warning is there to remind you that you have the option not to incriminate yourself.

    Or, at least it was until this decision. Ahh, The Roberts Court, whittling our rights down one 5-4 at a time.

  16. Seems familiar on Quadcopter Drone Network Will Transport Supplies For Disaster Relief · · Score: 1

    A network of stations where fresh mounts/batteries can be picked up for a courier going over rugged and perhaps dangerous terrain.

    So... this would be the Droney Express?

  17. Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?" on UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects? · · Score: 1

    I don't think I've ever heard "Wow, you can really taste the snail in this!" so I think you'd be fine.

    I wish I could remember the name of the dish, but if you're feeling adventurous, head down to your local asian supermarket/shopping mall, find the food court and start asking if they have snails. Alternately, just look in the warming trays. If you see a bunch of pointy shells stewing away in a greenish-white broth, you've found it!

  18. Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?" on UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects? · · Score: 1

    A grasshopper can only get so big due to the way they breathe and some of the problems with being a large creature with an exoskeleton.

  19. Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?" on UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects? · · Score: 1

    Snails are a staple in some Vietnamese communities. Its even to the point now where you can get them at some of the more authentic restaurants here in the U.S.

    They are boiled in the shell in a creamy sauce after being marinated with some native herbs and my god are they delicious.

  20. Re:And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity? on UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Funny enough, staunch vegetarians also unknowingly consume insects.

    Agreed about it all being in people's heads though. I'd be all for some delicious grasshopper crunchies, or even a Bacon, Lettuce, and Termite sandwich.

  21. Re:This EPA announcement brought to you by... on EPA: No Single Cause For Colony Collapse Disorder · · Score: 0

    Damnnation, I meant Bayer, not Monsanto.

  22. This EPA announcement brought to you by... on EPA: No Single Cause For Colony Collapse Disorder · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Monsanto.

    Friends, isn't it time you started using neocotinids on your crops? Why waste the summer dealing with the dangers of bees when you can use Genuine Monsanto(tm) Pesticides! Yes friends, be free from the worries of work-a-day bee invasions, slug infestations, and all of those annoying back yard guests with Monsanto! Spray it on your crops, on your meat, in your milk, even on your kids. Monsanto brands are formulated by actual scientists and checked for quality and killing power by our own crack team of former EPA regulators.

    Monsanto: The Best Regulatory Capture Money Can Buy!

  23. Re:Oh, that's encouraging... on HP Plans To Cut Product Lines; Company Turnaround In 2016 · · Score: 1

    In my cynical moments, and in a comment lower down, I suggested that the move to Salesforce and Workday was prompted because of the donations given to Whitman by the CEOs of both organizations. Of course, that could be stretching it, but it just seems like such an odd announcement for her to make. I could easily see Salesforce being the ones excited to advertise that size of company switching their CRM, but HP?

    I just hope that these miracle savings will go in to restructuring in a good way, and not in to more corporate jets and executive bonuses.

  24. Doomed on HP Plans To Cut Product Lines; Company Turnaround In 2016 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Its been said, but I'll reiterate.

    Salesforce is not an IT tool, it is a Customer Management tool. The whole point of using Salesforce is to make your sales and customer service people more efficient so you can do more with what you have or do the same with fewer people.

    Workday is the same thing, only it replaces any internal HR databases with its own SaaS solution in order to allow your HR people to manage more people, or in order to manage the same number of people with fewer HR people.

    At the end of the day, both of these projects are about outsourcing internal functions, possibly to save money, possibly because Dave Duffield and Marc Benioff the CEOs of Workday and Salesforce respectively were big contributors to Meg's failed gubernatorial campaign.

    I'm cynical, especially when it comes to the continued flushing of HP down the toilet.

  25. Re:Oh, that's encouraging... on HP Plans To Cut Product Lines; Company Turnaround In 2016 · · Score: 2

    Whitman's claim is so much bullshit. Its her standard claim for any situation and she's throwing around Salesforce and Workday as if they will actually solve issues. What she really means is that she's outsourcing a bunch of internal support people in addition to the external support.

    Workday is mostly a SaaS product, as is Salesforce.

    So, expect more HP layoffs, and not much more.