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User: Roadmaster

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  1. I bought airline tickets for my family on December 2016 for a flight on February 2017. They (Aeromexico) don't even assign the seats at purchase time and I can't risk being split up (who'd want to sit next to a lone toddler all flight; and I don't trust the airlines to do the right thing and reassign seats on the spot for free). So we ended up paying 30% extra over the entire flight's cost to have guaranteed seating together. So they may have started purposefully splitting in June 2017, but a practice of "hey that's a real nice family you got there, would be a shame if they got split up" has existed since long before.

  2. Robert J Sawyer wrote an article (likely the one referenced in te summary) about this very topic, an interesting read. http://www.sfwriter.com/rmasil...

  3. Re:Better summary on Turns Out That Snaps Are Not Secure In Ubuntu With X11 (softpedia.com) · · Score: 1

    False, snaps are not "meant for running in a container". Isolation (both from other snaps and to keep control over which devices and resources it can access) is achieved via other mechanisms, such as apparmor restrictions. Also, the entire snap is packaged as a squashfs, and all snaps are simply mounted read-only, so they can't modify each other's (or even their own) packaged files.

    Snaps also have access to a per-snap writable directory for user and runtime data, but again, they can't even see other snaps' writable dir.

  4. Inaccurate summary. on Mexico City Plans Car-Driving Ban To Fight Air Pollution (csmonitor.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, without RTFA, the summary is misleading. It makes it appear like this program is a novel thing that has never been done.

    In reality, Mexico City has been keeping a percentage of vehicles off the road for pollution fighting purposes since 1989. Vehicles stay off the road one working day per week according to their license plate's last digit.

    Newer (10 years old or newer) cars were allowed to drive every day. Also, while all cars have to pass mandatory emmissions control, that had no effect on whether they could be on the road (so for instance, a newer but more polluting car would be able to go out every day while an older, potentially less-polluting car would have to stay home one day a week).

    Earlier this year a court mandated that the permit to be on the road daily should be tied to the car passing emmissions control. More cars on the road are part of the reason why pollution levels reached a high-enough level to prompt the government to remove all exceptions to the program and have all cars, irrespective of age and pollutant output, stay home one day a week.

    Incidentally, this program is part of the reason why there are so many cars in Mexico City: faced with the prospect of not being able to use the car once a week,many families bought a second car to also have coverage on the first car's off-the-road day.

  5. HAHAHAHA Because Bill Gates, of all people, understood the internet from the get-go.

    It's not a series of tubes, it's a Tidal Wave.

  6. Neither commuter nor "communter" on Choose a Better Train With Web Scraping (hackaday.com) · · Score: 5, Informative

    VIA Rail is NOT a commuter train service. It offers "intercity passenger rail services", not commuter service, which Wikipedia defines better than I can: "Commuter rail, also called suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates between a city centre, and the middle to outer suburbs...". Again, not what VIA Rail primarily does.

    Examples of agencies which offer commuter rail service in Canada include Greater Toronto's GO Transit trains and Montreal's AMT. These do, indeed, offer service between communities forming part of a greater metropolitan area and said area's city centre. At least in Montreal, the AMT has some exclusive tracks and agreements on shared tracks which prioritize commuter trains over other scheduled trains at rush hour.

  7. KRULL on Movie Composer James Horner Dies In Plane Crash · · Score: 1

    Music for Krull was also composed by Horner. Given the fantasy theme I think this is also "notable to the ./ crowd".

  8. Re:It's not rude if everyone understands the proto on So Long Voicemail, Give My Regards To the Fax Machine · · Score: 1

    Who says they are unknown? I have caller ID at work. If I'm talking with a co-worker and a customer calls the customer should take priority in most cases. I've done this hundreds of times and it is the proper behavior. It's not rude, it's prudent. Our collective jobs depend on being responsive to our customers and we don't let our egos interfere with that fact.

    What will you do if you're on the phone with a customer and another customer calls? Will your caller ID tell you if it is indeed a customer or maybe an unrelated (e.g. "wrong number") caller? How about the possibility of it being a new customer? (not sure if your org has a separate department to handle new signups).

    It's only rude if there isn't a clearly understood reason for interrupting the call. My company employs just a handful of people and if a customer calls we need to have someone answer the phone. There is almost nothing I could be doing that would justify me ignoring a call from one of our customers during working hours. Anything I have to say to my coworker can probably wait a few minutes and we all understand that.

    This is quite understandable. I was envisioning the above-mentioned scenario of two potentially-equal-priority callers in which case call waiting is a nuisance (that's what busy signals are for). Your "preemptable caller" scenario is a good use case for call waiting + caller id, but it will not always be the case.

  9. Re:I stopped using it 5 years ago on So Long Voicemail, Give My Regards To the Fax Machine · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why would you prioritize an unknown caller over someone with whom you're already having a conversation? Just as interrupting a conversation is rude, call waiting should be banned (just as voicemail!) and emergency calls routed $SOMEWHERE that guarantees a live immediate response (or perhaps keep the sole instance of voicemail in organizations).

  10. Re:"to provide support for the cultural sector" on Quebec Plans To Require Website Blocking, Studies New Internet Access Tax · · Score: 1

    Just ignore the keyboard labels, configure it as english keyboard and you're done. I did that for 4 years with a Samsung QX410 with that same keyboard layout. OTOH, the XPS13 is an awesome machine, so I'd recommend that over anything else anyway.

  11. Re:Trello on Ask Slashdot: Issue Tracker For Non-Engineers? · · Score: 1

    Another +1 for Trello, due to lack of mod points. It works well on mobile and ipad and even has an app (I think). And the metaphor is dead simple to use.

  12. Er, don't maximize your browser? on The Case For Flipping Your Monitor From Landscape to Portrait · · Score: 1

    Maybe this guy hasn't heard of resizable application windows, invented over 30 years ago, and which render his "allow me to blow your mind" bravado into the realization that he's not as bright as he thought.

    Just size the browser so it uses up half the screen, then you can have other stuff in the remaining half. You can use a tiling window manager, or just configure easy tiling shortcuts to set up your windows that way.

    Using a single, maximized window at that resolution is doing it wrong (tm).

  13. OATH on Ask Slashdot: Open Hardware/Software-Based Security Token? · · Score: 4, Informative

    My organization uses 2FA with a standard that's compatible with Google Authenticator and a Yubikey (OATH: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I... and http://www.nongnu.org/oath-too...). People with smartphones could use Google Authenticator to obtain auth tokens; an inexpensive ($25 per person) yubikey provides a very easy way to enter tokens without much hassle; and the open-source oathtool can generate tokens for other uses (i.e. add a "paper" authentication device with a long list of sequential tokens).

  14. Re:why? on Goldman Sachs Demands Google Unsend One of Its E-mails · · Score: 1

    Righto, unless you're renting your house from the postal service, or are using their "USPS bank" for your safety box, they are completely different entities, so I still maintain it's a bad analogy. Google owns both the post office and the safety deposit box where you put your letter.

  15. Re:why? on Goldman Sachs Demands Google Unsend One of Its E-mails · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Not an entirely accurate analogy. You own the house (and even if you didn't, the *mailbox* from which you retrieved the letter is distinct from the dwelling where you're likely to store it afterwards).

    In gmail's case, google *owns* everything, and they just let you use the storage and mailbox assigned to you. So given a court order, they could remove the email without technically accessing anything that's actually yours.

    Now, if the recipient makes a local copy, then your "break into my house" analogy would be more accurate, applying to the copy in the recipient's system.

  16. Re:IF.. on Match.com, Mensa Create Dating Site For Geniuses · · Score: 1

    Hm, if they were that smart, they'd also know that the name they chose for their society (whatever) means something like "stupid" in spanish. So not a lot of thought went into that...

  17. Use of possessives on Why Charles Stross Wants Bitcoin To Die In a Fire · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hate being a grammar nazi but, this Stross guy being a writer, I think it's warranted. Lack of mastery in his own craft makes me distrust his research a bit, even if it's a bit of an ad hominem on my part.

    to damage states ability to collect tax and monitor their citizens financial transactions, as seen both in TFA and the Slashdot summary, lacks possessives and looks just plain bad.

  18. Re:I KNEW IT! on Want To Fight Allergies? Get a Dirty Dog · · Score: 1

    Where I live, Police will not enforce such laws. Animal control will not enforce those laws.

    TFTFY. But really, if your authorities don't do their job, that's again no reason to seek outright bans on household animals. Vote to have the authorities changed by a team who cares. Failing that, move to a different location where authorities do care.

  19. Won't work on Skype Is Evaluating Adding Typing Suppression Feature · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It'll just lead to a lot of head-scratching and "can you repeat that" over weird, distorted-for-no-apparent-reason audio. At least I hope it works better than Google+'s "looks like you're typing, so I auto-muted you" feature, that one was a disaster for collaboration since the speaker couldn't go anywhere near the keyboard while talking. At least there's a way to say "don't mute me" now.

  20. Already done, people didn't want it. on Time For a Hobbyist Smartphone? · · Score: 3, Informative

    There was already a phone proposed that could have done this with no problem. There wasn't enough interest on it to make it a reality.

    http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge

    And before you go complaining about the cost, please have a look at flagship Android phones and how much they cost *off contract*. The Edge was a pretty good value.

  21. Re:The Cryonics Institure on The Cryonics Institute Offers a Chance at Immortality (Video #2) · · Score: 1

    I know it's a strange word but it's spelled correctly: Cryonics (from Greek kryos- meaning icy cold). :P

  22. Leery? on Ubuntu Edge Smartphone Funding Trends Low · · Score: 1

    " I'm leery of spending quite so much on any phone.".

    No, you're leery of not being subsidized by your phone carrier. Most high-end smartphones cost about the same as the Ubuntu Edge, if you buy them off-contract. Look at the 32-GB iPhone 5, it's $749, which is close to a 128-GB Ubuntu Edge (and of course I'm ignoring the Edge's other specs which also quite good).

  23. Coworking on Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Way To Work On Projects While Traveling? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I suggest you look at the concept of coworking. Basically you'd rent, short-term, a desk in an open-plan office full of people who work under the same arrangement. This includes internet access, power, and perhaps snacks and drinks. The other people in the place provide the social work atmosphere you crave, and exposure to other interesting things they may be working on. You can pay by the day, week or month (week and month payments usually cover a set amount of days but are cheaper than paying by the day).

    Coworking spaces exist in many cities around the world, and since coworking enthusiasts are, well, very enthusiastic about the concept, they communicate with each other and set up collaboration networks. Before you leave on your trip, I suggest you look for local coworking spaces to scout the concept, and talk to the space owners about your plans. They can certainly give you more information and tell you about the "coworking visa" which "allows active members of one space to use other coworking spaces around the world for free for a set number of days (3 is the default)."

    Read more about it here:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking
    http://wiki.coworking.com/w/page/16583831/FrontPage (they have a worldwide directory).

  24. Presupposes that all children are good on Smart Guns To Stop Mass Killings · · Score: 1

    "disable firing if the gun is pointed at a child or someone holding a child.". This is absurd, what if it's an evil child? or what if someone is holding an evil child to prevent it from escaping and yelling "take the shot before he runs away!!" ? What about dwarves? this wouldn't work against e.g. minime.

    Simplistic heuristics will not cut it when you're talking about, literally, a life-and-death decision.

  25. $313 on US Doctors Back Circumcision · · Score: 1

    "each circumcision that is not performed costs the U.S. health-care system $313.".

    At least they're telling you what's the most you should be willing to pay for this. I don't think that the medical "industry" will see a profit from this.