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User: woolio

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  1. Re:Deprecated on Boeing Delivers Massive Ordnance Penetrator · · Score: 1

    That M.A.D. example has been deprecated. The new canonical example is "threat of 9/11-style terrorism".

    The 'threat' only seems to be from our own government. What about our enemies?

  2. Innovation == Feudalism ? on Zynga To Employees: Surrender Pre-IPO Shares Or You're Fired · · Score: 0

    Just like all the bank CEOs who work really hard producing things of value we take for granted. They need to be paid for such a hard life and creating all sorts of innovation.

    If we didn't have CEOs, to whom would we give our money?

    Charging $5 to use an ATM is not innovation.

    Charging more dollars for DSL (a 10-year old technology) than 4G wireless internet is not innovation.

    Underpaying H1-B employees instead of hiring qualified domestic workers at market salaries is not innovation.

  3. Re:Conclusion on Study Compares IQ With Browser Choice · · Score: 2

    They also know your real name, address, pet history, tax history, and the real reasons for all your social and romantic failures.

  4. Re:All of those studies are the same on Study Compares IQ With Browser Choice · · Score: 2

    The average joe probably knows all the details of the a particular play during 1984 by a Pittsburg NFL team.

    [I for one, have no understanding of why the rest of the United States is so damn fond of watching 'football']

  5. F1ST P0ST! on Hackers Could Open Convicts' Cells In Prisons · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    F1ST P0ST!

    Or did everyone else get infected?

  6. Who??? on Seigniorage Hack Could Resolve Debt Limit Crisis · · Score: 1

    Who is going to buy $1.6 trillion of bonds from a country on the verge of defaulting on its existing debts and/or lowering its credit rating?

  7. Who needs dollars, I have real estate! on Seigniorage Hack Could Resolve Debt Limit Crisis · · Score: 1

    If you haven't diversified out of dollars and into something else by now, you are screwed.

    Well, it's a surely a good thing then that my investment is my house (real estate!).

    Devaluing the dollar might be one way to end the real estate crisis!

  8. Indeed! on Why People Who Make Things Should Learn Chinese · · Score: 1

    Indeed. Only non-mathematicians could mistake "x^3" as being "e^x".

    [Write out the Taylor series for "e^x" and you will see that this mistake is extremely silly]

  9. Bing! Bing! Bing! on What's Your College Major Worth? · · Score: 3, Funny

    What kind of voter are you if you can't think critically, or if you don't understand politics and science? Can you manage your financial decisions without and understanding of math and business? Think about what a better neighbor, parent, and traveler you would be, if you could speak a foreign language.

    Answer: an ethnocentric American Republican.

  10. New senior guys SHOULDN'T get senior pay! on Why the New Guy Can't Code · · Score: 1

    My company values mid-career hires much more than the 'new guys'.

    During my first four years (hired as a 'new guy'), I mastered our ~600k line codebase, solved more than 100 difficult software bugs, . For a new product, I was the main contributor to the feasibility study, successfully proposed radial new engineering design (that avoided many technical issues of the traditional design), and effectively functioned as the lead developer.

    I also oversee 4 people, three of which make 30%-50% MORE* income than I do. WTF?!?!

    BTW, I'm open to employment offers!

  11. Re:Weird on Osama Bin Laden Reported Dead, Body In US Hands · · Score: 1

    The way I look at it, Osama bin Laden is no more evil than George W. Bush.

    The way I look at it, Osama bin Laden is no less evil than George W. Bush.

    There. Fixed that for ya.

  12. I do NOT concur on Patent 5,893,120 Reduced To Pure Math · · Score: 1

    The claims require a physical implementation (e.g. "An information storage and retrieval system").

    You mean the algorithm has to be implemented/executed on a physical device? How difficult is that? Let's assume that a patent doesn't restrict the target algorithm to a restricted form of implementation such as a digital watch processor, a cell phone, etc. How is this different than patenting the math itself? Moreover, restricting the form of implementation would only necessitate that the patent submitter submit several patents, one for each conceivable application of his algorithm.

    When patents become as broad as claiming usage of algorithm 'x' in 'a communication system', is this really any different than patenting algorithm 'x' itself? Does it matter if 'a communication system', is a remote-control changing the channel on a TV with IR LED pulses, a 4G cell phone, a low-earth orbiting satellite link, or tin cans connected by string?

  13. MORON! on Ask Slashdot: Do I Give IT a Login On Our Dept. Server? · · Score: 1

    It's probably also AGAINST THE LAW. Christ. Submitter is an unmitigated moron. People are going to jail for HIPPA violations and you want to dump any old crap on the hospital network for a CALENDAR? Just use an external web based thing ya moron. Try Google Apps.

    Did you read your comment before posting?

    Do you really think that using Google Apps to maintain appointments {which might be medical related such as "do 'x' surgery on patient 'y'" are acceptable under HIPPA?

    You must be one of those people who use their personal laptop on the company LAN and use GMail for 'saving' company documents...

  14. Re:Reasonable Choices. on Engineering Election Debates With Subtle Cues · · Score: 1

    This may be why we had a record 1.6% deliberate donkey vote in our last federal election.

    Who are you to say that a donkey couldn't run a country better than previously elected humans?

  15. WTF! on Vatican Warns That Internet Promotes Satanism · · Score: 1

    The Vatican's Catholic Church tells everyone (and I mean everyone) that the entire reason for life is to be tempted to sin, but instead to have faith in Jesus and avoid sin. ...
    Even if this self-pitying myth about "Satan's war on the church" were actual truth, the Church should embrace it. Because it's "god's plan" to offer us temptation for us to refuse. The Internet is doing god's work.

    Basically, what you are saying is that if I were to obey the Church's teachings, then we shouldn't go to church!

    Interestingly, if you replace 'Satanism' with 'terrorism', and replace 'Jesus' with 'X political party', you have just perfectly described many national governments. I guess separation of "church and state" really means "divide and conquer".

  16. Re:Monitor performance? on Samsung Plants Keyloggers On Laptops · · Score: 1

    Imagine if the performance of the master bedroom were a major area to be monitored...

  17. Of Course! on US Contemplating 'Vehicle Miles Traveled' Tax · · Score: 1

    If I lived in Arkansas, and I only drive on local roads in state, and I do 3-4000 miles a year doing so,... why would this be justified by either Constitution or 10th amendment?

    Probably because your state built local roads where you live, you are not having to drive out of state to get to where your going! Thus interstate commerce is being prevented and thus falls under federal regulation!

    IANAL!

  18. Well on First Brit Prosecuted Over Twitter Libel · · Score: 1

    On the minus side, it means that a big company can add a paragraph to their legal threatograms saying "Please note that if you lose in court, you'll have to pay our fees. We're up to £1,500 already and we haven't even started yet.

    Can we sue them for extortion, then?

  19. Lawyers are scum! on First Brit Prosecuted Over Twitter Libel · · Score: 1

    and then let's be generous and say 40 hours to get precedents

    Why the hell should should a lawyer earn 10000 pounds just for *1 week* of simple research [90% of which is probably done by a secretary anyway]? That's a freakin' year's salary for some people!

  20. Hah! on CS Profs Debate Role of Math In CS Education · · Score: 2

    First, while it's true that numerical math is not used in many CS areas, discrete math is. Logic, set operations, and the like are used pervasively in CS. And learning numerical math is a core breadth area that instills mental discipline. Quite frankly, if math is not your strong point, then you should consider moving out of CS.

    Are you kidding?

    I was in a PhD program in Electrical Engineering at a top-10 university [not trying to start a pissing contest here]. Quite frankly, I had a much better opinion of CS until I started taking a lot of graduate-level CS courses there.

    Saying CS people do a lot of math is like saying a bank teller or cashier does math all day.

    I found undergrad and graduate CS students alike would go running for the hills as soon as someone said the words 'integral' or 'derivative' . Random processes and statistics were avoided.

    Most 'numerically' focused papers/research was focused about speeding up raw calculations (such as matrix multiplication) without any understanding of the application and without any critical examination of the possibility for lowering complexity through close approximation, transforms, etc...

    Many papers (especially related to CPU/compiler performance don't even average measurements properly). Even the industry-standard 'SPEC' CPU benchmarks use the wrong type of averaging which leads to incorrect results -- in some cases a faster computer (which completes all benchmarks faster than a slower computer) can have a *worse* score than the slower computer].

    Computer architecture and programming are fine things to learn, but they are not enough in themselves. If a person wants to be an architect, they have to know not only about construction but also about design -- art, etc... Likewise, I think too much of CS is focused on either way-to-abstract stuff and/or trade skills without giving students a chance at actually learning something more domain-specific.

    Programmers are a dime a dozen. Decent programmers that truly understand what they are implementing (in a specialized field - engineering, sciences, etc) are very rare.

  21. That which does not follow.... on IT Graduates Not "Well-Trained, Ready-To-Go" · · Score: 2

    I suggest replacing IT with Construction and replace 'hang some coat hooks' with 'replace a hard drive' ?

    Will the result be any better?

  22. EASY SOLUTION on Ask Slashdot: Is There a War Against Small Mail Servers? · · Score: 1

    Forward your outgoing mail in your mailserver to your ISPs SMTP server.

    Problem solved.

  23. Re:Cable modem mail server? No on Ask Slashdot: Is There a War Against Small Mail Servers? · · Score: 1

    You do realize one can get their own VPS for about $100/year, right?

  24. Re:Just call them. on Ask Slashdot: Is There a War Against Small Mail Servers? · · Score: 1

    Did you call them for the residential account or the business one?

    Their residential TOS forbids running servers at home. I cant imagine that they eould happily help in such a case....

    But if they did, I would like to do the same!

  25. USA didnt succeed on Chinese Intellectual Property Acquisition Tactics Exposed · · Score: 1

    excellent points

    people can look at Russia and easily see kt as a failure of Communism. Why do people assume that the USA is a good example of a successful capitalistic government?

    (perhaps if success is defined more broadly than GDP the point becomes more clear)

    [is a student that graduates with a C average a success?]