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User: CanadianRealist

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  1. Re:Welcome to the future. on Tesla Is Prohibiting Commercial Drivers From Using Its Supercharger Stations (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    I do not have to tell Chevy where I drive, nor do they get a say in where I go.

    Tesla is not talking about limiting where people can drive, they're talking about limiting their ability to use free charging stations. So the proper comparison would be that right from the moment you bought your car, Chevy told you that you couldn't go to their free gas stations.

  2. Re:A lack of imagination? on Space Is Not a Void (slate.com) · · Score: 1

    The radiation problem is not related to zero-G. No amount of gravity, simulated or otherwise, is going to solve that.

  3. Re:I've seen a UFO, and it demonstrated science on Ask Slashdot: What Is Your View On UFO Sightings? · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't believe in aliens, but I'm pretty sure if you spend much time near an airport watching planes at night you are very likely to be "abducted and probed".

  4. Re:It makes sense. on The IRS Decides Who To Audit By Data Mining Social Media (typepad.com) · · Score: 1

    If an IRS agent can just decide to audit someone that could allow all sorts of abuse. If they can simply report that they discovered that someone owns a sports car but doesn't seem to have the income to afford it, that should be ok.

    I wonder if the DMV could forward to the IRS a list of people registering very expensive cars.

  5. Re:advertised as non lethal on Tasers Implicated In Far More Deaths Than We Previously Thought (fastcompany.com) · · Score: 2, Informative

    So, here's your clue for the day: if the police officer tells you to stop and put your hands up, do it.

    You forgot one very important bit of advice. Be white. If you're black then even while doing everything the police tell you to do you still might get shot.

  6. How do you define "best"? on 'Best of' Lists Are the Worst (theoutline.com) · · Score: 1

    Depending on what you're talking about, people will likely use very different definitions of "best." Forget about "best." What is the metric that you use to define one item as being "better" than another?

    Consider comparing apples to oranges. Which is best? Do you mean which tastes better (according to who), which has more vitamins (which vitamins), which is the better value for the cost, which lasts longer, which is easier to grow. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.

    Without a well defined metric, saying something is the best is pretty much meaningless.

  7. Re:is 40% high on Norway, the Country Where No Salaries Are Secret (bbc.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't forget to figure in your health care costs. That's a service which most (first world) governments provide, using money paid by taxes.

  8. Re:No it won't on Facial Recognition Could Be Coming To Police Body Cameras (defenseone.com) · · Score: 1

    Want to be sure that the cameras don't get switched off? Just pass a new law that says that in any case where the body cam was off or the video went "missing" the suspect's testimony will be taken as true and the officer won't be allowed to testify.

    One possible upside to adding facial recognition to the cameras is it may make more police forces want to use them.

  9. If anyone is pretending that the president's ability to communicate is reliant on Twitter, it would be Trump himself, who keeps using Twitter to communicate. And as long as he continues to do so, people will continue to recognize it for what it is.

  10. Re:Compared to tile roofs on Tesla's Highly-Anticipated Solar Roofs Go Up For Pre-Order Today (inhabitat.com) · · Score: 1

    Seems really wasteful to cover the non-productive side of the roof with solar tiles. They could presumably produce similar looking non-solar tiles at a much lower cost so that you could have the uniform look without paying extra for solar tiles that won't be doing anything for you.

  11. They want to "educate" you to believe that Windows Store apps are all that there is.

    For those who might have already learned otherwise, Microsoft will eventually offer special summer camps for a more "intensive education" to allow students "relearn" what they've learned incorrectly. These will be called Windows Reeducation Camps.

  12. what is the new term for people who criticize a paper without reading it?

    Do we really need a new term? Can't we just keep calling them Slashdotters?

  13. Re: Dangerous comment on Open Ports Create Backdoors In Millions of Smartphones (bleepingcomputer.com) · · Score: 1

    when the entire role of the system is to act as a server, you close all unneeded open ports not pertaining to that role

    When you have something not needed listening [ ... ] allow attack vectors that are not monitored as closely

    what you install needs a port open, it isn't a bad thing unless what you install is insecure or malicious

    So on a dedicated server there's really no need to close unneeded ports. Simply don't install anything insecure or malicious on your server and everything will be fine.

  14. Sure, the app maker may scrape all your data and send it to their server. How is it in any way better to then leave a port open so that anyone can try and compromise your device and grab a copy for themselves?

  15. Abusing self-driving cars on Humans Are Already Harassing Security Robots (cnn.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    While self-driving cars may be the perfect driver, that opens them up to abuse. Human drivers will known they can cut in front of a self-driving car without facing any repercussions. Pedestrians and cyclists can do the same.

    Here's an idea for a repercussion, at least for people driving cars. Send a video of the driver's behaviour to their insurance company. The insurance company can then raise the driver's insurance rates appropriately based on their driving habits displayed.

    Simpler would be to send the video to the police, but they're probably less likely to do something.

  16. Re:Imagine when the dishonest and corrupt CIA on Lyrebird Claims It Can Recreate Anyone's Voice Based On Just a 1 Minute Sample (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty sure we've already seen 1 through 5 with Trump. At this point I wouldn't be too surprised if 6 happened.

    How far are we really from denial of objectivity? How many Americans are religious? How many of those believe that their religion is the one true truth?

  17. Re:Not for PC, though on StarCraft Is Now Free, Nearly 20 Years After Its Release (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 3, Funny

    He did try whining. Does that count?

  18. Re:I Haven't Seen the Bill Yet on Canada Hid the Konami Code In Its Commemorative $10 Bill Launch (engadget.com) · · Score: 1

    I like our colourful bills, very easy to identify - to the point that it's not even necessary to look at the number on them. I think I would find different sizes annoying - just try gathering up pieces of paper of different sizes and pile them neatly. Maybe different textures for the blind? (I just realized that my original statement about braille was incorrect. There are raised dots, but there are differing numbers of blocks of six raised dots.)

    The plastic seems durable, and allows for transparent areas. The only issue I've found is it can be a little bit harder to count bills when your hands are dry, especially with brand new ones.

  19. Re:Taxes are for dummies on Sorry America, Your Taxes Aren't High (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    So, you are saying that all the folks that voted for Trump are racists?

    Really? Seriously? So, you are saying that you're that illiterate? He absolutely did not say any such thing. Yes, he wrote a sentence that had the words "all" and "racist" in it, but the meaning is clear:
    The ignorant racists who voted for Trump are all getting screwed by him.

    Similarily:
    The women who voted for Trump are all getting screwed by him.
    The decent people who voted for Trump are all getting screwed by him.
    The Latinos who voted for Trump are all getting screwed by him.

    Wow, did I just say that the all the people who voted for Trump are Latino women who are simultaneously decent people and racists?

  20. We use letter size paper because we use it to write letters. Who ever heard of someone writing an A4?

  21. Re:I Haven't Seen the Bill Yet on Canada Hid the Konami Code In Its Commemorative $10 Bill Launch (engadget.com) · · Score: 1

    If you had just looked at the picture you'd have seen that it's purple, i.e. it's a $10.

    (Sure, there's plenty of room for the denomination. It's there in large print twice on each of the front and back, spelled out in both languages on the front and there are multiple small "10"s on both sides of the bill as well as well as braille. But like I said, it's purple!)

  22. Re:fact is on New UBI Program Launches In Canada To 'Define Our Future' (thestar.com) · · Score: 1

    Are you suggesting that it has been proved that giving people free stuff produces poverty in the long run? Worse poverty than if they had been given nothing?

    This is an experiment, like many others, that is attempting to see what happens, maybe even prove that giving people free stuff is beneficial.

    Oh and Fact is that while the use of the ellipsis in the summary may not be ideal, it is pretty clear that "Fact is" belongs with the next sentence, as in:

    Fact is, job scarcity in traditional vocations is acute, worsening and permanent

  23. So what you're saying is you want to know Which? methodology they used, Which? brightness setting, and so on. You can't tell by looking at reviews of individual laptops, Which? are members-only, Which? is really annoying.

  24. From Robert A. Heinlein, Excerpts from the Notebooks of Lazarus Long

    Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.

    Good thing that Elon Musk listens to experts. I believe those experts are telling him that he can't go to Mars.

    After so many years of reading science fiction it's nice to see some of it becoming science fact. Please keep pushing ahead Elon.

  25. The grace period is already fine. A red light means do not enter the intersection. (If you are already in the intersection, then yes, you should get out as quickly as reasonably possible.) A red light camera should only be triggered when a vehicle crosses the stop line after the light has turned red - that is the definition of "running a red light."

    The amber light is a signal that the light will soon be changing to red. When the light goes amber you are supposed to stop if reasonably possible. If it is not reasonably possible to stop before the intersection then you should have no problem passing the stop line before the light goes red. The amber light should last sufficiently long to allow that.

    The main failure point with this system is too many people treating the amber light as a signal to speed up to avoid the red light - and many people doing so when it's far too late. The main problem with the red light cameras is when they are used as an income source rather than a safety device. Some places have found they can increase the income from the cameras by shortening the length of the amber light. Doing so also likely increases the risk of accidents caused by people making emergency stops because the light just went amber and they don't want to get a ticket. So the desire for increased income can change a "safety device" to something that increases the risk of accidents.