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User: doug

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Comments · 268

  1. Helios Initiative on Ask Slashdot: Cheapest Functional Computer For Students? · · Score: 1

    http://www.heliosinitiative.or... is not quite the same thing, but if you're the type who does homework, you might find interesting stuff.

  2. Re:Douchebag Editors on 3 Category 4 Hurricanes Develop In the Pacific At Once For the First Time · · Score: 2

    Actually I did do a double take in that I read "peak" as in "peak activity". That didn't make sense, so I re-read it and figured it out. This is one of the few times where I think a minor oops did matter.

  3. the drone was a gift on Kentucky Man Arrested After Shooting Down Drone · · Score: 1

    If someone puts stuff in your yard, it is yours to dispose of as you see fit. This covers trash like drink cups and what not. Anything mailed to you becomes yours, even if it was mailed by accident. I think this pattern implies that owner of the drone flew it to the shooters yard, and then the drone becomes the property of the shooter. It was a gift. I'm not sure about firing a weapon in city limits, but shooting your own stuff seems legal.

  4. Re: Skill up on Ask Slashdot: Career Advice For an Aging Perl Developer? · · Score: 1

    Hey, Perl6 is older than that and I still consider it to be a fad.

  5. Re:Moose, Moo, Mo on Ask Slashdot: Career Advice For an Aging Perl Developer? · · Score: 1

    I've never been at a place where I could use Moose because of customer site requirements, but for intermal projects, it is awesome. And it is fun to work with. Useful and fun is as good as it gets.

  6. Look to larger, established companies for testing on Ask Slashdot: Career Advice For an Aging Perl Developer? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've been using perl professionally for 22 years now, and I'm not seeing much of a drop off. I am noticing that a lot of the work is in testing organizations. They've written a lot of code and it needs to be maintained. Look around for automation testing positions and you'll see that a lot of them are in perl. It is not particularly fun and sexy, but you didn't say that was a requirement.

  7. odd politics on North Carolina Still Wants To Block Municipal Broadband · · Score: 1

    This is odd politics as Roy Cooper is a Democrat, and running for Governor. I wonder how he will spin this on the campaign trail. Which segment will care about this enough to be swayed? Except for the high tech folks and people in Wilson, isn't this a non-issue? Why is he bothering?

  8. 11,000 years ago, not 300 on The Milky Way's Most Recent Supernova That Nobody Saw · · Score: 3, Insightful

    TFA says it was 11,000 light years away, so it took 11,000 years for the light to get to Earth. We should have seen it 300 years ago, but the explosion was a long time before that. So the summary's opening line of "A little over 300 years ago, a supernova ... exploded" is incorrect.

  9. Re:run constantly on her COMPANY ISSUED iPhone on Worker Fired For Disabling GPS App That Tracked Her 24 Hours a Day · · Score: 1

    I know I shouldn't feed the trolls, but I'm not wise enough to leave well enough alone.

    The guy lives in Denmark, so most likely he is not going to be either a Republican or a Democrat. Since it is likely that he will be "very liberal" by US standards, he's more likely to support the Dems if he cares at all about US politics.

    FWIW: I'm a card carrying Republican from the South and it seems that I am generally better informed than you are. Yeah for the well educated.

    And to help you out with your ad hominem attack on me, I've got nothing against them tracking their phone. It is their phone after all. But it seems like a thinly veiled attempt to track her. Or at least that is how her boss is (mis)using those features. I'm fine with her being "reachable" 24/7 if that was agreed to when she took the job, but this seems to go way beyond that. Hopefully this will give you fodder to explain how I've been ruining slashdot for the past 18 years.

  10. Re:Boorish on Jeremy Clarkson Dismissed From Top Gear · · Score: 1

    I understand. I like zippy little cars. I wouldn't touch American cars for a while, but I did like the Focus from a decade ago. I think Ford is less bad that it used to be, and occasionally does well. That said, I now drive a Honda.

  11. Re:Boorish on Jeremy Clarkson Dismissed From Top Gear · · Score: 1

    I would have sworn that my ZX5 was built in North America. A google search says that it would have been built in Mexico, which I'm fairly certain is not part of Europe. It was an awesome little car and I only got rid of it 'cause a 20 something idiot didn't know to drive slower in icy conditions and totaled it. Anyone saying that the only good Focuses were built in Europe is uninformed. Or perhaps stupid. It is hard to tell those two apart on the internet.

  12. Re:There might be hope for a decent adaptation on 'The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress' Coming To the Big Screen · · Score: 3, Informative

    The lunar colony sends food back to earth which helps keep food costs down, and thus avoids scarcity based social upheaval. Later they use continuing food shipments as a bargaining chip when trying to get recognized. I think it was effective with India and China.

  13. Re:How are they rocky? on Kepler Discovers Solar System's Ancient 'Twin' · · Score: 1

    If the concern is not having enough time to build up heavy elements, the type of the current start (Kepler-444) is not important. The question is what came before it.

  14. Re:How are they rocky? on Kepler Discovers Solar System's Ancient 'Twin' · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the early universe, things were closer together (less time for expansion), and there were more large, hot stars. A stellar generation would have been faster than it is now. That said, it does sound a bit zippy.

  15. Re:been there, done that on Ask Slashdot: How Should a Liberal Arts Major Get Into STEM? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Most degrees have a year or more of generic coursework. And some microbiology might mean a few math and science classes. That could be as much as a third of the required courses have already been completed. So a two year sprint with summers might be enough. It would be brutal as there are no soft subject classes to dilute the STEM. My personal advice is always to get the degree. Most of it is of little use, but dipping your toes in a bunch of different areas is invaluable. And many managers/HR only want to hire folks with fancy pieces of paper. If you only want some STEM, then why not a hybrid approach? Technical writers often have a minor in a STEM field, but not the whole degree. That might be something you can pick up in just a year.

  16. Have you thought about publicly shaming them? on Ask Slashdot: Dealing With an Unresponsive Manufacturer Who Doesn't Fix Bugs? · · Score: 2

    Why not just bad mouth them. If they get a reputation for poor service, then so be it. This shouldn't be anyone's first approach, but if you've tried for over a year and they're not living up to your expectations, then they squandered more than one chance to do better.

  17. Re:The Last Starfighter on DARPA Uses Preteen Gamers To Beta Test Tomorrow's Military Software · · Score: 1

    You deserve extra points for not saying Ender's Game.

    The only thing that made me think of Ender's Game was the word "preteen". Using video games to train/recruit soldiers always makes me think of The Last Starfighter.

  18. The Last Starfighter on DARPA Uses Preteen Gamers To Beta Test Tomorrow's Military Software · · Score: 1

    It looks like someone at DARPA just couldn't turn down the chance to be the next Centauri.

  19. Re:It's not that much on Big Bang Actors To Earn $1M Per Episode · · Score: 1

    considering Miami Vice was pulling these kinds of numbers in the '80s. Granted, it was only for one actor, but still.

    I think all 6 stars of Friends were pulling in $1M/episode at the end of its run. What was once outrageous is now common place. I guess that is progress of sorts.

  20. Re:Answer needed on Verizon's Accidental Mea Culpa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sure. The content streaming from Netflix has been requested by Verizion customers. They've paid for access to the internet, which includes Netflix. They are the ones being throttled. Basically Verizon is trying to double dip here - get money from regular customers plus shaking down more from content providers. If Verizon really cannot handle the flood of Netflix content, shouldn't they raise the cost to the consumers to build out the Verizon network?

  21. Re:time to die... on X Window System Turns 30 Years Old · · Score: 1

    nobody saw Logon's Run here? Am I that old...?

    You might be. I certainly am. I fondly remember the movie but didn't think the spin-off TV series was all that good.

  22. Re:Call the N S A on Man Builds Fully-Functional Boeing 737 Flight Simulator In His Son's Bedroom · · Score: 1

    Aid the enemy? He's French. Doesn't that make him the enemy?

  23. Re:The more..... on What Are the Unwritten Rules of Deleting Code? · · Score: 1

    Not really. If the code was in for 2 weeks before being found to have a corner case bug, a "look here first" indicator is not bad. Especially so if the person fixing the bug is not the same person who made the original change.

  24. Re:So.... on HP Cuts Workforce By 5%, Looks To Probe GM Hires · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bah. I have no sympathy for HP. I've never worked at HP, but I've been at plenty of places where most/all of the corporate history was lost. It is unpleasant, but you get over it. If this is an especially critical position, then HP should have used golden handcuffs to keep a few key people in place. If your employer treats you well, you usually stay put. If you are worried that you're going to get the axe, you jump ship. This is a basic truth, and if HP's management spent more time focused on its employees and less on the shareholders they would know this. Management should keep employees from having a conflict of interest. Yes, it might cost more in the short run, but it avoids situations like this. Too many people in management focus exclusively on the business side of things, and forget that people are involved. Unfortunately this is not unikque to HP.

  25. Re:Dunning-Kruger effect on Why the NTSB Is Wrong About Cellphones · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Makes sense. The only people who should be allowed access to "root" are those who won't use it unless it is unavoidable.

    - doug