Comment Re:Even higher! (Score 1) 1040
Why shouldn't it?
Comment Re:Even higher! (Score 3, Insightful) 1040
Not true. We seem to look at third-world shitholes and say "hey, at least we're not a third-world shithole, we've got $THING better than they do". In my experience, at least, we don't generally compare ourselves to other first-world countries and especially not western and northern Europe, probably because we privately admit to ourselves that (unemployment aside) we're not doing as well as they are generally.
Congressman Introduces Bill To Limit FCC Powers 176
An anonymous reader writes "Representative Bob Latta (R-OH) introduced a bill on Wednesday that would limit the FCC's power to regulate ISPs in a supposed effort to keep the internet free. The bill's text is currently not available on the Library of Congress webpage or on congress.gov, but a purported copy has been spotted on scribd. Representative Latta's press release nevertheless indicates that the bill is intended to prevent the FCC from re-classifying ISPs as common carriers under Title II. Latta is one of the 28 representatives who lobbied the FCC earlier this month and were shown to have received double the average monetary donations given to all House of Representative members from the cable industry over a two year period ending this past December."
Comment Re: OS X (Score 2) 611
Pssh. English wasn't invented, it's the product of a series of quick stand-ups behind the docks.
Gun Rights Groups Say They Don't Oppose Smart Guns, Just Mandates 584
Lucas123 (935744) writes "When two gun stores attempted to sell the nation's first integrated smart gun, the iP1, gun advocacy groups were charged in media reports with organizing protests that lead to the stores pulling the guns from their shelves or reneging on their promise to sell them in the first place. But, the National Rifle Association and the National Shooting Sports Foundation say they do not oppose smart gun technology, which they call "authorized user recognition" firearms. "We do oppose any government mandate of this technology, however. The marketplace should decide," Mike Bazinet, a spokesman for the NSSF, wrote in an email reply to Computerworld. However, the argument for others goes that if stores begin selling smart guns, then legislators will draft laws requiring the technology."
AMD Preparing To Give Intel a Run For Its Money 345
jfruh writes: "AMD has never been able to match Intel for profits or scale, but a decade ago it was in front on innovation — the first to 1GHz, the first to 64-bit, the first to dual core. A lack of capital has kept the company barely holding on with cheap mid-range chips since; but now AMD is flush with cash from its profitable business with gaming consoles, and is preparing an ambitious new architecture for 2016, one that's distinct from the x86/ARM hybrid already announced."
Comment Author must be doing it wrong (Score 1) 222
I used to eat 3-4 Lean Pockets a week, so I've got a pretty good idea what I'm talking about: I've never had the problem he describes with the outer portions being lava-hot but the center being frozen. This has been so across 3 different microwave ovens, one of which was an ancient late-'80s unit made when turntables were a premium feature and you set the time with a dial.
My secret? Following the goddamn directions on the box and adjusting for the microwave's rated power. The directions are usually for a 1000 Watt microwave (some products calibrate for 1100W for some reason). That's what my current unit is, so that's easy. If the microwave is 900W, you nuke the food for 10% longer, so if the directions call for 3.5 minutes you convert that to seconds (210) and add 10% (21), giving 231, then convert that back to minutes and seconds, which is what the microwave groks (3 min 51 sec). Stupid easy.
I have had the author's described problems when heating up leftovers, especially stews.
Comment Re:640k isn't enough for everybody (Score 0) 522
Fuck off, Blastard.
Comment Re:Doing it that way has merits! (Score 1) 522
You may like WriteMonkey, a stripped-down, distraction-free word processor for Windows.
Comment Re:640k isn't enough for everybody (Score 1) 522
That depends entirely on the program: not all DOS programs can use EMS or XMS or DPMI; they have to be written specifically for those standards. WordStar 4.0 supports none of these, so it is in fact limited to 640K minus whatever else is running in conventional memory.
Supermassive Black Hole At the Centre of Galaxy May Be Wormhole In Disguise 293
KentuckyFC (1144503) writes "There is growing evidence that the center of the Milky Way contains a mysterious object some 4 million times more massive than the Sun. Many astronomers believe that this object, called Sagittarius A*, is a supermassive black hole that was crucial in the galaxy's birth and formation. The thinking is that about 100 million years after the Big Bang, this supermassive object attracted the gas and dust that eventually became the Milky Way. But there is a problem with this theory--100 million years is not long enough for a black hole to grow so big. The alternative explanation is that Sagittarius A* is a wormhole that connects the Milky Way to another region of the universe or even a another multiverse. Cosmologists have long known that wormholes could have formed in the instants after the Big Bang and that these objects would have been preserved during inflation to appear today as supermassive objects hidden behind an event horizon, like black holes. It's easy to imagine that it would be impossible to tell these objects apart. But astronomers have now worked out that wormholes are smaller than black holes and so bend light from an object orbiting close to them, such as a plasma cloud, in a unique way that reveals their presence. They've even simulated what such a wormhole will look like. No telescope is yet capable of resolving images like these but that is set to change too. An infrared instrument called GRAVITY is currently being prepared for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer in Chile and should be in a position to spot the signature of a wormhole, if it is there, in the next few years."
Comment Re:Here's a better idea (Score 1) 187
To be devil's advocate (I don't necessarily agree with the author's proposition, though I can see how he got there), your business model of making cheap crap doesn't deserve protection; either adapt and make more expensive, maintainable stuff or die.
Comment Re:Hugh Pickens DOT Com (Score 1) 182
They're all variations on that name. Can't remember them exactly, but one was "Hugh Pickens" (no dot com) and there was another one that's similar.
Comment Re:Hugh Pickens DOT Com (Score 1) 182
Hugh Pickens has at least three accounts that I've seen attached to stories.
Comment Won't happen (Score 2, Insightful) 182
Oklahoma is one of the most conservative states of the Union. Instead the state government, under pressure from jerb creators, will cut social programs and raise sales taxes, while cutting corporate income taxes.
