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User: Notabadguy

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Comments · 601

  1. Deliberately voting to the white house a known and well established narcissist, psychopath, compulsive liar, scammer, con-man and child molester for the sole purpose of pissing off half the U.S. population and wilfully destabelizing society and risking plunging it into chaos should be considered an act of treason punishable by prison time.

    Everyone realizes that the only viable solution to all of these problems that you and everyone else bring up *IS* Prison. So the US is working as quickly as it can to turn the US into a prison.

    I bet when that gets done, you'll still be unhappy.

  2. As with all editorial questions... on Is a Lack of Data Holding Back Universal Basic Income Programs? (technologyreview.com) · · Score: 1

    Maybe.

  3. Re:True, but it'll be sold on FCC Panel Wants To Tax Internet-Using Businesses, Give the Money To ISPs (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    as give away to rural communities. A rural voter has somewhere around 40x the voting power of a city voter thanks to our Senate, Electoral College and Gerrymandering. We need to get those folks to stop falling for this crap and get on the side of the rest of the working class.

    That's why equal representation is enshrined in our constitution. Not proportional representation. Equal representation.

    "There's more of us, so they don't count" is not valuable to a political process.

  4. Re:New game: The Onion or California? on California Considers Text Messaging Tax To Fund Cell Service For Low-Income Residents (thehill.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Taxes are cornerstones of modern society, particularly ones that are used to fund things for the disadvantaged.

    Sorry you hate people, be sure to bring that up with your god when you're at the gates, he'll totally understand.

    I'm sure you've heard that all taxes are regressive, and bureaucracy propagates bureaucracy. If a government can demonstrate fiscal austerity, responsible spending, and minimal waste on grossly negligent pork products and needs to increase taxation to raise revenue...alright.

    You assume that governments automatically know what is best. They don't. You accept that if the government says it needs more money, the first response should be for them to steal more of everyone's money instead of auditing their spending for waste. Have you ever SEEN a CBO report? On how grossly wasteful and financially irresponsible virtually every aspect of our government is?

    It isn't people-hating to question bureaucracy, it is civil duty - and while civic responsibility is a pipe-dream in America now, the only people hating is YOU. You hate people so much that you think the government should take their money unquestioned.

  5. Decrease in growth != Smartphone decline on We're No Longer in Smartphone Plateau. We're in the Smartphone Decline. (nymag.com) · · Score: 1

    It really irritates me that people describe falling growth as a decline.

    -Any product reaches market saturation.
    -Sales will shrink because of maximum penetration.

    Smartphones in decline isn't less unit sales being made, it would be fewer smartphones being used.

  6. Moving is Risky on Americans Are Moving Less Than Ever, and It's Bad For the Economy (qz.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Moving might be good for the economy, but stability is good for people. Pensions are a word of a prior age, employer training and investment in their employees are less, relocation packages are stingier or often non-existent; loyalty is a nebulous word without meaning in corporate culture today...all of those destabilizing factors make moving and taking a new job a risky affair.

    That doesn't address homes, values, children, schools, or anything else.

  7. Re: No doubt on Wisconsin's $4.1 Billion Foxconn Boondoggle (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    A true libertarian should take his views that business will be alway honest if only they didn't have to adhere to anything but making money, and translate that to humanity will all be law abiding and peaceful if we only eliminate all laws

    That is as extremist as pushing liberals or conservatives to their extremes.

    A true conservative should take his views that society must bow to God, our way is the only way, military service should be mandatory, and guns should be given to every citizen.

    A true liberal should take his views that people can own nothing, businesses are evil, everyone should work for an all-seeing, all-powerful government that IS God, and we need to grind people into un-individual paste unless they are special snowflakes.

    A true libertarian believes that all people have the right to life, liberty and happiness, freedom of choice, and voluntary association. That means state rights, not federal rights. Constitutionalism. Returning power to local communities. The way our founding fathers intended. Both sides of America believe in one thing: Government overreach to pursue their own agendas.

  8. Re:We are the Borg... on A Future Where Everything Becomes a Computer Is As Creepy As You Feared (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    Now that I'm older, I might not mind if they put a chip in my dick, so I can get a guaranteed boner, as long as no one hacks it - up down, up down...

    left, right, left, right, B, A, B, A, Start.

    Then she came.

  9. Re:Riiiight. on Tech Suffers From Lack of Humanities, Says Mozilla Head (theguardian.com) · · Score: 2

    Psychologists can actually help people, though I suspect it's the thin end of the bell curve of that crowd. And killing all the lawyers never solves anything - not saying don't do it, just that we'll inevitably need a new crop of them.

    That's where corporate America took a hard turn. When insurance companies decided to stop paying for mental health visits, or revising co-pays to make using insurance for psychology services expensive, an entire industry got turned on its head and psychologists were out of work. They turned their target on corporate America and made a compelling case for why their behavioral analysis abilities would be a force multiplier to increasing the success rate of successful hiring, and boom - HR departments became...well, look at what they have evolved into today.

    Like attracts like, and like promotes like. Adding a wave of soft science and psychologists didn't fix that - it just changed the paradigm of what was liked.

    Tech doesn't need more humanities majors. Tech needs more well rounded people.

  10. My company issues Surface tablets instead of laptops these days.

  11. Re:That was the plan all along. on Toys R Us Cancels Bankruptcy Auction, Plans To Revive Brand (theglobeandmail.com) · · Score: 2

    Get rid of all the the 'problems' and start over.

    The Halloween stores in my area are going to be disappointed.

    My wife says this is the most genius thing she's seen in ages.

  12. Prepare for Bankruptcy Anyway on Toys R Us Cancels Bankruptcy Auction, Plans To Revive Brand (theglobeandmail.com) · · Score: 1

    The news on the massive Toys R Us data breach from abandoned employee information in a defunct store didn't go anywhere because who's going to get sued?

    Looks like Toys R Us is opening the door back up to litigation.

  13. Re:do I just hang out on lefty sites on Trump Administration Prepares a Major Weakening of Mercury Emissions Rules (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    Pseudo-apologies for my lack of engagement with you. Between your grandstanding and ad hominem directed at a mildly interested bystander, I hope you don't have a career that requires you to engage in other people.

    But more specifically, you're a classic example of an invocation of Danth's Law. Incredibly so, with someone who wasn't arguing with you.

  14. Re:do I just hang out on lefty sites on Trump Administration Prepares a Major Weakening of Mercury Emissions Rules (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    Sorry that you don't like my source?

    http://bfy.tw/K9Wp

  15. Re:do I just hang out on lefty sites on Trump Administration Prepares a Major Weakening of Mercury Emissions Rules (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    > I found it most interesting that while the levels of lead are higher than EPA regulations allow, they're lower than what everyone in the US was exposed to before 1995 from leaded gasoline.

    You know, we used to let people put radium on watch faces without protective gear, re-pointing the tip of the brush by smoothing it with their mouths. We also used to cover the insides of buildings with asbestos. All of that was 100% legal under the laws of the time.

    Just because it was like that before and was legal doesn't mean it was SAFE.

    Why should any of that keep me from finding the article interesting? I learned something today.

    I think the thin mint oreos are interesting too. I'm not making a case for or against them, simply noting that their existence is interesting to me.

  16. Many physicists however are definitely sexist against women. Not all but enough to be a real problem.

    Many physicists however are definitely against Italians. Not all but enough to be a real problem.

    Stating opinion without proffering evidence for your position or even bothering to characterize it in an objectively unambiguous manner can be quite a bit of fun.

    Many physicists however are definitely against mint chocolate chip ice cream.

  17. Re:do I just hang out on lefty sites on Trump Administration Prepares a Major Weakening of Mercury Emissions Rules (nytimes.com) · · Score: 2

    I...am not sure why you are being confrontational. I'm neither the OP, nor the comment OP - I just noted that I had read the linked article because I was bored, saw an interesting anecdote that the lead levels at the town where the smelter was located weren't any higher than the baby boomer generation was exposed to every day, and googled, "When did the EPA disallow unleaded gasoline?"

    Which ... has a pretty clear timeline.

    I'm not sure why you're grandstanding, like there's a court of public opinion that you need to be right for. Nor why you're being confrontational. I *will* note that your poor behavior is consistent with the long downslide of comment quality here at slashdot.

    If you'd be more interested in discussion and education and less interested in "You're wrong and I'm right, so you're an idiot" we wouldn't have all these stupid political discussions, arbitrary lines drawn in the sand, and verbal vomit.

  18. Re:do I just hang out on lefty sites on Trump Administration Prepares a Major Weakening of Mercury Emissions Rules (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    I googled "When did the EPA disallow leaded gas?"

    First link.

    1971: President Richard Nixon signed the Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act, which restricted the lead content in paint used in housing built with federal dollars and provided funds for states to reduce the amount of lead in paint. Subsequent legislation created the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which effectively banned leaded paint in 1976.

    1984: The U.S. Senate considered banning the use of lead in gasoline, with Vernon Houk, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Center for Environmental Heath, reporting that “if no lead had been allowed in gasoline since 1977, there would have been approximately 80 percent fewer children identified with lead toxicity.”

    1985: The EPA discussed a total ban on leaded gasoline by 1988.

    1990: In amendments to the Clean Air Act, lead was banned from gasoline. The measures would take effect in 1995, giving gasoline companies five more years to completely phase out lead.

  19. Re:do I just hang out on lefty sites on Trump Administration Prepares a Major Weakening of Mercury Emissions Rules (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1, Troll

    Perhaps you should actually read the article you linked to. The standard that you claimed tightened the noose was set in 2008. Under Bush.

    I read the article, then the comments. I found it most interesting that while the levels of lead are higher than EPA regulations allow, they're lower than what everyone in the US was exposed to before 1995 from leaded gasoline.

  20. Re:do I just hang out on lefty sites on Trump Administration Prepares a Major Weakening of Mercury Emissions Rules (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    BeauHD, you should probably post with an alt if you don't want the community discarding what you say offhand as a troll given your incredibly public history of being a nutjob.

  21. C'MON SLASHDOT EDITORS?!? on Thieves Who Stole GPS Tracking Devices Were Caught Within Hours (nbc4i.com) · · Score: 1

    Dear Slashdot:

    We are used to getting week old news that you scraped from other news sites days after they left the headlines.

    This story is more than a year old. FROM THE OP.

    If you want to push the boundaries of credibility, at least push the limits. Here are a few sample headlines you might try.

    "NEW PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE COBOL POISED TO SWEEP THE DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY"

    Or if you want to add a slashdot editor stamp of approval to that headline with some grammatical mistakes, you could try this:

    "NEW PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE COBOL PISSED TO SWEET THE DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY"

    C'mon, up the ante here.

  22. Nowadays Bitcoin is only useful for speculation. It cannot be used for small payments because of the high transaction fees, and its value is too volatile...not to mention the energy cost associated with it.

    That was true in November and December 2017, but you're rehashing peak from a year ago.

    These days, transaction fees are pennies and timing is less than 30 minutes.

    Also, the primary use of bitcoin around the non-darknet internet is for gambling and sports betting sites. Casinos that accept bitcoin instead of fiat currency. There are only a couple of states in the US with legal gambling, and I can't drive 20 hours on a whim to get to one of them. The US Treasury Department cracks down as hard as it can on any payment processing with fiat currency, and the payment processors obey.

    Last month, I had a check from one of the most reputable online casinos 'bounce' because my bank couldn't cash it - because OFAC (Office of Foreign Asset Control) has the account tied to terrorism. You know, because gambling.

    There are many sports betters out there, or casino gamblers without access to a casino - and none of those casinos are in the US. Bitcoin circumvents payment processor fees, currency exchange fees, and fees for fiat-based wire transfers or checks.

  23. There's absolutely no way any cryptocurrency will ever gain a foothold as a currency used for every day transactions if the best it can offer is, as you said, 80% price plunges every two or three years.

    That still wouldn't be a problem if transactions were quick, cheap, and you'd have some intermediate store of value.

    Say I receive X Bitcoin as payment for a job, and buy X Bitcoin worth of coffee beans for that. Then I sit on that for a year (Bitcoin goes up to 15x what it was when I bought the coffee beans), I sell the coffee beans for 1/15X worth of Bitcoin, and exchange that into whatever 1/15X Bitcoin is worth then. Most likely, somewhere near the price of that stack of coffee beans I started with.

    That would be entirely feasible if transaction costs were low, transactions quick, with enough intermediate stores of value to choose from. But from what I've read transactions are slow and/or costly. Meaning the exchange rate may go up or down 10-20% or more while I'm waiting for a transaction to go through. And for small exchanges, transaction costs may be a significant part of the total. Not to mention the limit # of places that will take Bitcoin as payment. That is why it's no use for every day transactions.

    That is not what Bitcoin is supposed to be though. Bitcoin is a medium of exchange, its value pegged to something like the USD is irrelevant. Everyone trying to speculatively make it an investment, or valuable on its own....fuck 'em.

    Online gambling isn't legal in most US states. For those of us who live 18 hours away from somewhere with a casino and want to do some gambling, we have grey market casinos with licenses in Curacao, or Malta, or Costa Rica, who then serve American customers. Many of these use third party payment processors, and putting a credit card out in the wild isn't a good idea, so you use cryptocurrency instead. Take bitcoin for example.

    1. I buy $1,000 USD worth of Bitcoin at AcmeExchange.
    2. I immediately transfer those bitcoins to my bitcoin wallet. This takes ~45 minutes tops and costs a few cents.
    2. I immediately transfer that $1,000 USD worth of bitcoin to AcmeCasino. This takes ~45 minutes tops and costs a few cents.
    3. AcmeCasino deposits $1,000 USD into my account. I no longer have bitcoin - I used it to transfer money from one place to the next without having to use fiat currency with an unknown payment processor.
    4. I gamble at AcmeCasino for a week; I play some live dealer roulette, spin a few slots, hit a jackpot, and up with $2,000 in my account.

    Lets say that in the week that I've been gambling with that $1,000, the price of bitcoin went from $1,000 to $100,000. Or from $20,000 to $0.01. It doesn't matter.

    5. I make a $2,000 withdrawal request from AcmeCasino.
    6. AcmeCasino transfers $2,000 in bitcoin (at whatever the current market value is) to my wallet.
    7. I immediately transfer $2,000 in bitcoin back to AcmeExchange.
    8. I immediately sell $2,000 in bitcoin back to AcmeExchange - where coins are bought and sold against liquidity, not waiting for buy and sell orders.

    I now have $2,000. The actual value of Bitcoin at any stage of that is irrelevant. I didn't hold onto any bitcoin, don't care what the value of it is, only that it is a medium of exchange to move legal tender from one place to another.

    Fuck the investors, the speculators, the bloggers, the newscasters, and everyone trying to make cryptocurrency out to be a commodity. It isn't. It has never been. Hoarding dollar bills under your mattress is also stupid - even if dollar bills suddenly become more valuable against the rupee, or the yen, or peso. They are just a medium of exchange, not a commodity.

  24. Re:What's supposed to be the alternative to opioid on OxyContin Billionaire Patents Drug To Treat Opioid Addiction (cbsnews.com) · · Score: 5, Informative

    After a recent operation the first thing they did in the recovery room is shoot me full of opioids and I'm in commie Europe. When I went home I got a small number of oxycodone tablets for if things went off the deep end and the NSAIDs became useless (as they tend to do for serious pain). What's supposed to be the alternative?

    CBD. Cannabidiol. People primarily associate marijuana with THC, which is the euphoria-inducing drug, but the other piece of marijuana is CBD, which is one, if not the most effective and non-addictive painkiller available.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    That's where medical marijuana is finding its niche. People who need pain relief get CBD; you can get patches, ointments, tinctures, sublingual drops, pills, or vape pens. People who want to replicate opiods get CBD with a bit of THC. People with panic attacks, PTSD, mental disorders, etc get THC. The ratio of the chemical formulation provided depends on your symptoms.

    Its no surprise that anti-marijuana research and lobbying is primarily funded by big pharma - its competition.

  25. Can we use Exit to tell Slashdot that their current editors won't be back? Can we use Exit to tell Slashdot that their current editors won't be back?

    There it is.