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User: QuebecNerd

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  1. Since a few years here in Québec/Canada, Restaurants are obligated by law to give a paper receipt in hand even if the customer doesn't want it. They need to throw it out themselves if they don't want it. A special section is added to the receipt by the black box of the gouvernement and they don't even compensate for the additional paper and wear and tear of the printer! Inspectors are visiting restaurants and handing out penalties if those laws are not respected... Total Opposite...

  2. Re:The dude accepted on Dealership Remotely Disables A Car Over A $200 Fee (www.cbc.ca) · · Score: 1

    Most cars leases from Kia and Hyundai are financed by real public banks that are completely separate entities like Scotia Bank for example. The public bank paperwork is indeed signed at the dealership. In this case, this finance company is part of the Beaucage Group who owns at least two dozen dealerships that I could count. They seem to provide higher risk loans. I live in Sherbrooke and like most people I distrust car dealership. I personally think that wide spread abuses will eventually make people want a dealership-less model like Tesla.

    What I meant by the 'dude accepted' was that he accepted to have the GPS Tracker installed in his car. If you read the story carefully you will see that this is not what is contested here. As I stated in my original post, the client says that the 200$ removal fee was not agreed upon and certainly not the use of the tracker to immobilize the car. It is certainly a shocking story and if it turns out that it wasn't in the contract, he could sue the Finance company easily for money lost. Moral damages are not that high here.

    If it turns out that there was a GPS removal clause and fees were specified, the finance company acted within its right even if it did so stupidly for a small amount.

    Either way, this will damage their reputation rightly OR not depending on what the facts will provide.

  3. The dude accepted on Dealership Remotely Disables A Car Over A $200 Fee (www.cbc.ca) · · Score: 1

    Seems standard practice to me to put a GPS Tracker/Immobilizer on a high risk loan from a finance company. The clients was informed and has accepted the situation. The only problem is the use of the immobilizer for a 200$ unpaid fee in which the fee AND the use are debatable in the first place. I have first hand information that the finance company activated the immobilizer and not the dealer. In that scenario, by not removing the device free of charge, in their mind they lose the 200$ fee and the device itself on top of lose the high interest in that loan since the client paid the balance. I also have first hand information that this fee will not be charged to the client. The rest is a civil mater and if the contract really doesn't mention this removal fee, it doesn't look good for the finance company.

    Unfortunately, even if the dealership itself was not involved it has already taken a hit from the bad reporting. Remember that this is how Donald Trump won the election, by spreading fear,uncertainty and doubt about his enemies and promising the undeliverable moon to his supporters.

  4. Dear Assholes on Automakers Are Asking China To Slow Down Electric Car Quotas (electrek.co) · · Score: 1

    You had years if not decades to prepare for this. I'm looking at you too Mazda, Subaru, Honda and Toyota with your absent or weak offering.... You had the facilities, the know how and the people. Instead startups developed the technology from scratch as most of you chose to drag your feet as slowly as possible to artificially preserve your old business model. Now you're crying over the fact the you're not ready and that the world is changing too fast... You don't deserve ANY pity as you are the artisan of your own demise.

  5. I was running one on Re-Discovering The 'Lost Civilization' of Dial-Up BBS's (ieee.org) · · Score: 1

    Back in the early 1990 I started a BBS running Wildcat BBS on one node in a small town in Québec/Canada. It quickly became bigger. I quit my day job as a financial/cost analyst and I had to add many other nodes and my house was soon overrun by network cables and computer hardware...

    In 1993 I added internet email using UUCP and newsgroups unsing PlanetConnect satellite service and migrated to a full PPP connection provider in 1995. I was able to get broadband connection from my Telco and began connecting high speed Internet client in 1997. I sold that company in 2001 to a bigger ISP but it was the best experience of my whole life. Just remembering and writing these details brings me goosebumps! Things were moving quickly on the hardware and software front. I was using Livingston Portmaster 2 and Portmaster 3 hardware (I kept them as a souvenir). A PM3's cost was 25,000$ and an equivalent Cisco unit was 50,000$+! I can proudly say that I developed my first Web App in 1994, it was a online payment system for my ISP business.

    After 2001 I kept going as an IT consulted/Developer and still doing it today. Several years ago I bought a maple and I take time off during maple season to make maple syrup and server traditional sugar shack meal to my clients. Those are the last 25 years of my life... Many more to come I hope.

    JF.

  6. Here's the exact email on Amazon Is Killing Off Its $12/Year Plan For Unlimited Photo Storage (petapixel.com) · · Score: 1

    I was on that plan and I recently received the email. Here's the exact wording:

    "Hello,

    We recently learned that you received an email incorrectly announcing your Unlimited Photos plan was being changed into an Unlimited Storage trial. We're very sorry about this. We meant to let you know that the Unlimited Photos storage plan is no longer available, but you can continue to use your plan until it ends.

    To make up for this, we are giving you 12 free months of the Unlimited Storage plan, which lets you store as many photos, videos, and other files as you like. When your promotional Unlimited Storage plan ends, you will be charged $59.99 for a one-year plan. You can cancel your promotional plan at any time.

    This offer is valid until your current plan expires. Please accept this offer on your “Manage Storage” page: https://www.amazon.com/gp/phot...

    We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

    Sincerely,

    Customer Service Department
    Amazon.com"

    I will take the freebie but not sure if I'm going to continue after that. I have 2.5TB of uploaded RAW photos. It took a while to upload that and it sucks that I may have to do it again. The freebie will expire in 2018 so we'll see what's available at that point.

  7. Re:Took how many YEARS for a patch??? on Software Error Releases Up To 3,200 Inmates Early (seattletimes.com) · · Score: 1

    To the developers:

    Find that line of code: remaining_sentence = (base_sentence - good_behavior) + (extra_time - good_behavior)

    Replace with this line: remaining_sentence = (base_sentence - good_behavior) + extra_time

    There...fixed it for you.

    Hope this help.

  8. Re:So they want to piss on the maker community? on New MakerBot CEO Explains Layoffs and the Company's New Vision · · Score: 1

    They already took a piss 2 years ago when they went closed source. Now they want to take a big steamy dump with their iTune for 3D printing.

    The thingiverse repository as we know it may change completely.

    Their first and foremost goal seem to divorce completely from the knowledgeable maker community and attend to the ignorant mass consumer flock who dean't know better.

    The movie 'Print the legend' is really interesting to watch and Bre Petis really takes a hit from many comments. He's being called an a-hole by is ex VP Marketing!

  9. Re:Orange County's system on California Gets Past the Yuck Factor With "Toilet To Tap" Water Recycling · · Score: 2

    Most people don't know what that but you are 100% correct.

    I do 2 things to earn a living. I'm an IT Consultant and I operate a maple farm. We use Reverse Osmosis to separate most of the water from the maple sugar crystals. For me, pure water is the waste and the rest is my base product that I boil later.

    My small RO machine can produce around 800 gallons of pure water in an hour depending on the pressure I apply on the membrane. With a properly maintained membrane, only H2O is produced, no viruses, no bacteria and no antibiotics can get beyond the membrane.. So yes, it is purer than well or tap water even the natural minerals are removed (they need to be re-added later). The pure water then created will often get polluted by the distribution pipes themselves however.

    I would have no problem at all drinking waste water from Reverse Osmosis Filtrate.

  10. Re:Ever use sat internet? on Elon Musk's Next Mission: Internet Satellites · · Score: 1

    Internet satellite usually come from a single Geosynchronous satellite which is located at a 42,000km orbit. At the speed of light it take 280 msec to cross that distance back and forth and you can add some more delays for the earth network time. This delay doesn't affect streaming or downloads but it will affect lag sensitive operations like ssh, gaming, vpn, voip, etc.

    The proposed 700 sat network will most likely be in low earth orbit like the iridium satellites at around 750km. At that altitude, the delay becomes 5 msec which is more than reasonable.

  11. 3M per satellite in orbit is a very low cost. on Elon Musk's Next Mission: Internet Satellites · · Score: 1

    Their Falcon Heavy launcher would be able to launch more than 50 of those in one shot bring the launch cost at just under 2M per bird witch is quite cheap.

  12. Re:Beema and Mullins on AMD Beema and Mullins Low Power 2014 APUs Tested, Faster Than Bay Trail · · Score: 1

    Nice reference...

  13. Their real motives will be revealed on Defense Distributed Has 3D-Printed an Entire Gun · · Score: 2

    I think that the real motives of the NRA has more to do with the liberty of companies to sell guns than with the liberty of people to own them.

    If it ever come to the point were guns sales plummet 50% because people are 3D Printing them for a few dollars instead of purchasing them from gun manufacturers for a few 100s... I would be curious to see the NRA's reaction.

    Just sayin...

  14. Re:They did that in Québec last year on Hurt Locker Studio Begins Requesting Canadian ISP's Subscriber Info · · Score: 1

    I agree, I was just pointing out that it wasn't the first time that Voltage did that here. If anything, the current landscape should weaken their claim but since the 'offenses' possibly took place before the new law maybe they will be subject to the 'old' law.

  15. They did that in Québec last year on Hurt Locker Studio Begins Requesting Canadian ISP's Subscriber Info · · Score: 1

    It is worth noting that It's not the first time that Voltage Pictures tries to fuck with Canadians. Last year they had a run at a few dozen Quebecers over the Hurt Locker that time:

    http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5999/125/

    I never new if they ended up with some settlements or not. What I do know by experience is that when I rented the Hurt Locker I ended up not watching it because the DVD was only in French. French is my native language but I hate translations, they are simply un-watchable. The Hurt Locker was distributed here by Maple Pictures and contrary to 99.9% of DVDs and BDs, they made two different versions for Canada, one in French and one in English. The English version was nowhere to be found in Québec. Talk about under using technology...

    I can only imagine the poor bastard that actually bought the movie only in French (without knowing it) and ended up downloading a proper original English version and getting a 'pre-settlement' letter in the mail 2 years later...

  16. Re:I've never seen camera serial # in EXIF on Activision Blizzard Secretly Watermarking World of Warcraft Users · · Score: 1

    Most decent DSLR do that. My Nikon D800 does it. My Nikons D700, D300, D300S and D7000 did it before and my friend's Canon 5DMKIII and 5DMKII do it too. I see it just by looking at my library in Lightroom.

    I have a smaller Fuji X10 and a Nikon P7000 abd they do not insert their serial number in the EXIF data.

  17. Re:Maple Syrup Strategic Reserve? on Police Probing Theft of Millions of Pounds of Maple Syrup From Strategic Reserve · · Score: 2

    That is completely true in theory and slashdot is not the place to debate the UPA practices. However, there are small details about the implementation and politics that make it often unfair. For example, the stolen inventory discussed in this story was supported by the producers since the UPA pays us only when the syrup is sold which can be a year or so later.

    Over the years, I became mostly self sufficient and I sell the major part of my production in meals and products sold at my establishment. I did that to have as little to do with them as possible.

  18. Re:Maple Syrup Strategic Reserve? on Police Probing Theft of Millions of Pounds of Maple Syrup From Strategic Reserve · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I do mainly 2 things in my life:

    1- I'm an IT consultant 9 months/year
    2- I produce maple syrup on my maple farm 3 month/year

    I've been doing that for years and let me tell you that it is true that is a monopoly benefiting mainly the big producers and the small one are kinda left behind. But then again, It is similar to most farming in most countries.

  19. Re:Montreal Mini Maker Faire on Meet Interesting People at a Mini Maker Faire (Video) · · Score: 2

    I was there with my son last weekend in Montréal and we both enjoyed our experience very much.

  20. Re:What's next? on Microsoft To Run Linux On Azure · · Score: 1

    They have a history of double dipping so why the hell not?

    Surely, at some point, it will become inconceivable that they earn more money from AWS or other cloud users patent fees than from their own cloud clients. They're extracting money from Android manufacturers. They know all too well how and where to piggy back themselves onto others along the food chain... Parasites...

  21. What's next? on Microsoft To Run Linux On Azure · · Score: 2

    As a 'distributor' of Linux services will they be suing themselves for all the 'blatant' patent infringement that Linux is doing or just trap the end users with those patent fees?

  22. Re:Coldfusion on Ask Slashdot: Tips For Designing a Modern Web Application? · · Score: 1

    Indeed but the core of ColdFusion comes from Allaire and after that MacroMedia. Railo is independent from Adobe and also Open Source. It run under Tomcat (ColdFusion also runs on tomcat as of version 10). Open Blue Dragon is also a good Open Source alternative. I've found that Railo requires the least (if any) amount of modification from ColdFusion code.

  23. Re:Coldfusion on Ask Slashdot: Tips For Designing a Modern Web Application? · · Score: 2

    I agree with you and I frequently use Railo on AWS/EC2 images. I really don't know why people are so judgmental on ColdFusion. Many of them never tried it. It's fast, mature, easy to deploy and plays well with others (java, .net, etc). I first used ColdFusion in 1995. I was bundled FREE with Oreilly 'website pro' web server software back in the days when they were making software.

  24. Failled expectations on Text Message Brands Quebec Man a Terror Suspect · · Score: 1

    I kindda expect this overreaction from the US authorities. They have proven quite effective at that over the last 10 years.

    Without really knowing how it all went down, my expectations falls really short when I see my provincial police force being tools to the US.

    The patriot act is a US law this can be interpreted to permit all kind of stupid action by law enforcement IT DOES NOT automatically extend to the rest of the world and their law enforcement. Too often, other countries overstep their own boundaries under the pretense of helping the US government. I feel a little ashamed to be a french guy from Québec...

  25. Re:Interesting line... on Aerospace Corp Pays $2.5m To Settle Rogue Software Dev Case · · Score: 1

    He died young indeed but when you live 48 hours per day; what do you expect?