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User: bdleonard

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  1. Re:Colorado site had this "bypass" option on How 3 Young Coders Built a Better Portal To HealthCare.gov · · Score: 1

    Your SSN is needed to determine a number of things (legal residency, comparing 2014 income estimates to known 2012 data, etc), but most importantly it tracks any federal tax credits that you are given when/if you purchase a policy through the exchange. This way they can reconcile your actual income with your estimated income for the year that was used to determine your subsidy. If you got too small of a subsidy (estimated income higher than actual income), you would receive the rest as part of your income tax return (when your actual income is now a concrete number). If you received too large of a subsidy (estimated income was lower than actual income) you repay the overage when you file your taxes. The actual rules are a bit more complex, but that captures the gist of it.

  2. Re:It's still under investigation on GMO Wheat Found Growing Wild In Oregon, Japan Suspends Import From U.S. · · Score: 5, Funny

    Italicize wheat?

  3. Re:Why would Intel want to kill the x86? on Why Can't Intel Kill x86? · · Score: 1

    I believe that all of the current VIA chips, and almost every x86 chip VIA ever released, are derivatives of the IDT (Centaur Technologies) Winchip. My recollection is the recent generations have been designed by the combined division originally formed from the Cyrix + Centaur engineers.

  4. Re:This isn't going to fix things. on US Postal Service Discontinuing Saturday Mail Delivery · · Score: 1

    $11.1 billion of that $15.9 billion loss are accumulated pension pre-funding payments that they have not been able to make. $2 billion is a significant portion of the $4.8 billion in operational losses. That change combined with Congress relaxing the pension pre-funding rule to something a bit more sane, and allowing the USPS to shutter facilities that the USPS itself has said they do not need, should take care of most the current fiscal problems with a relatively small impact on actual services provided.

  5. Re:Support, or broken crutch? on End of Windows XP Support Era Signals Beginning of Security Nightmare · · Score: 1

    I was just about to post something similar. I find it hard to believe that using the offline installer was not the first thing they suggested when the "Windows Update" based install failed.

  6. Re:Having solved all other problems on DoJ Files Suit Against Apple, Ebook Publishers · · Score: 3

    In 2011 the US was a net exporter of refined oil products. The US is still a huge net importer of crude oil.

    Crude Oil: http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_neti_a_epc0_IMN_mbblpd_a.htm
    Oil Products: http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_neti_a_EPP0_IMN_mbblpd_a.htm

  7. Re:Amazon Prime on Netflix Announces Streaming Only Plans and Higher Prices for DVDs · · Score: 1

    I've used both, and I know Netflix has a much more extensive catalog. I'm confident both would love to have larger catalogs of titles to offer. My guess is that in the next 12-18 months, some of the studios will make a few sweet deals with 'other' streaming services in order to remind Netflix that they can take their ball and go home when the contracts run out.

  8. Amazon Prime on Netflix Announces Streaming Only Plans and Higher Prices for DVDs · · Score: 1

    I have a feeling that Netflix is about to create a whole bunch of Amazon Prime subscribers. It works out to about $6.50/mo for the Prime subscription, and you get fast shipping (with no $25 order minimum) on all of your purchases in addition to the streaming. Amazon's streaming library isn't great, but Netflix has holes in their streaming catalog. I'm sure both are working to add new content, and Amazon gives me a bunch of other nice perks.

  9. Re:Redbox... on Netflix Announces Streaming Only Plans and Higher Prices for DVDs · · Score: 5, Funny

    Basically, this will drive people to use Redbox for disc-based movies and NetFlix for screaming.

    I use Wilhelm for all of my screaming ...

  10. Re:Welcome to not being the market leader.. on Windows Phones Getting Buried At Carriers' Stores · · Score: 1

    I think you have that scenario flipped, and the AT&T executives are just exhausted from their years of "service" in support of the iPhone.

  11. Re:whats the news here? on Pocket Wars and Cores · · Score: 1

    Last time I checked, Intel's IXP and IOP embedded product lines were still ARM (XScale) based.

  12. Re:Here come the "its not better than XP" posts on Windows 7 Trumps Vista By Reaching 20% Share · · Score: 1

    I hate that I have to right click to start a new instance.

    Somebody needs to buy a mouse with a middle button...

  13. Re:I'm surprised this is just now getting an artic on Laptop Heat May Cause 'Toasted Skin Syndrome' · · Score: 1

    I don't think Balzac hangs out much of anywhere these days.

  14. Re:I had this "idea" singe many years on Capturing Carbon With Garbage Heaps · · Score: 2, Informative

    Somebody from De Beers will be calling you shortly to correct your last statement.

  15. Re:About time. on Obama Sets End of Iraq Combat For August 31st · · Score: 2, Funny

    I always figured it would be the other way around.

  16. Re:Fusion is Easy... on Building a Homemade Nuclear Reactor In NYC · · Score: 1

    What's extremely hard to achieve, judged on the efforts of various organizations over the past 60 years, is fusion that produces more power than it consumes.

    There is some evidence that problem was solved about 58 years ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Mike I admit, that particular solution is challenging to convert to electrical power production.

  17. Re:Walruses on Louisiana Federal Judge Blocks Drilling Moratorium · · Score: 1

    You've got it all wrong. In the two months since the Gulf accident, not one single walrus has been harmed by the leaking oil. Clearly, the walrus protection plans are 100% effective!

  18. Re:According to the NSA... on The Truth About the Polygraph, According To the NSA · · Score: 1

    Reagan would have been president until the moment George H. W. Bush was inaugurated on January 20th, 1989. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_inauguration

  19. This == overthinking the problem on IBM's Patent-Pending Traffic Lights Stop Car Engines · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All this is necessary to achieve this is wider application of so called "mild hybrid" technology. Think over-sized battery, over-sized starter motor, over-sized alternator, drive by wire throttle, and a bit of ECU smarts. Any time the car is stopped (or below speed X, where X is small 3mph? ) the engine is "off" (no fuel, no spark, engine still turning if the car is in motion), and the battery and starter motor move the car. Once the speed threshold is exceeded (or battery is sufficiently low) fuel and spark are resumed. At any greater speed the vehicle is powered entirely by the engine. Having electrically powered accessories (power steering assist, air conditioning, brake booster, etc.) would be preferable, so that all of those systems still function when the engine is not spinning. It addition, making these electric tends to increase efficiency and reduce weight. If these systems remain belt or vacuum driven there can be many situation where the ECU may be forced to leave the car idling, or waste battery power spinning the engine to keep the accessories running.

  20. One problem on Fair Use Generates $4.7 Trillion For US Economy · · Score: 1

    Murder is cheap, at least in relative terms. Scenario: I want to make a mega-summer block buster movie out of your very popular (and still copyrighted) work of fiction. I can either pay you millions for the movie rights, or I could "wait" until an "accident" happens and pay nothing to anybody.

  21. Re:Airbag lawsuits? Read the article... on Company Sued, Loses For Not Using Patented Tech · · Score: 1

    My recollection was that the "automatic" seat belts went away, in part, because of some gruesome neck injuries to folks who were too lazy to manually buckle the lap belt. I believe, in a few instances, decapitation was the result for those poor folks.

  22. Re:iPad? Really? on Apple's "iPad" Out In the Open · · Score: 1

    Next up, the iPon ...

  23. Re:Beneficial to Be Difficult on Why the IRS Should Automatically Fill In Returns With What It Knows · · Score: 1

    A fair distinction, but the program is a partnership between the IRS and "Free File Alliance, LLC". http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html It meets the criteria of being an IRS program, and way to freely electronically file your federal taxes.

  24. Re:Beneficial to Be Difficult on Why the IRS Should Automatically Fill In Returns With What It Knows · · Score: 1

    Yes, it requires Silverlight. Yes, I know that sucks. It still meets the basic criteria.

  25. Re:Beneficial to Be Difficult on Why the IRS Should Automatically Fill In Returns With What It Knows · · Score: 2, Informative

    You mean you wish the IRS provided a service that they started providing last year? Despite the some what sketchy looking design, this it the site that the IRS provides for free online submittable forms: https://www.freefilefillableforms.com/FFA/Gateway.htm