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Comment Re:Start here (Score 1) 1145

For the record, in Ireland, 30mph went to 50kph (up), 50mph went to 80kph (roughly same), 60mph went to 100kph (up), and 70mph went up to 120kph. Despite this, people found plenty to complain about. 40mph was taken out, and many of those roads went down to 50kph. People were mostly better off with the new system, but still kicked up a fuss and tried to stop it. If you tried that in America, I'm guessing people would consider it some kind of violation of their right to freedom.

As cdecoro says below, though, this is just about the last thing that should change. We've used both systems for decades. Nowadays, we measure roads in km but people in feet. Milk is in litres but beer is in pints. Sugar is in kgs, butter in pounds, people in stones. Out of interest, how would Americans react to a dual system on packaging, like 1lb / 454g?

Comment Re:Beer doesn't make you more creative (Score 1) 325

It's funny how silly the anti-drug slashdotters can be.

No, beer doesn't "make you more creative". What does that even mean? Creativity is not a measurable quantity. It's not something which can be simply turned up.
However,
- Happiness is important for creativity. Alcohol tends to make people happier.
- Varied thoughts are crucial for creativity. Alcohol causes us to think along very different lines.
- Relaxing is always good. Alcohol makes us relax.
- Sometimes it's important to think less analytically, and alcohol certainly helps that.

I'm sure there are more factors. There are similar arguments (or the same ones) to be made for just about all drugs. Drugs have been central to human creativity since time immemorial. They do not cause creativity in themselves, they are not necessary for creativity and they do not take the burden of creation away from the creator. What they do quite effectively is alter the mind, and many people find that some altered state helps them to create. The notion that people only think that drugs help their creativity is laughable. It's simply not true, no matter how many of you say it.

Comment Re:Absurd (Score 2) 274

While on paper, they've been 'targeted' at the desktop, that's not been the story for a while, although that may change w/ the Windows 8 fiascos.

Are you still talking about the HURD in that sentence? That's pretty funny. Ever since Linux became a viable kernel for the GNU system, the HURD has been targeted squarely at dreamers and unemployed kernel developers.

Comment Re:Kids (Score 1) 393

Should be scored 5, Informative.

It's sad how many people here seem to genuinely think that "saving money" is a good reason not to have children. What exactly are you saving money for? Buying your next gadget? There are much more important things in life. And I quite frankly don't see the sense in not leaving a legacy.

Comment Re:What about *BSD? (Score 1) 178

Now, today, Microsoft has finished by saying Linux can and will only exist at Microsoft's whim. They hold the keys to the kingdom, and can lock and unlock any OS as they see fit. [...] now we are humbly begging for permission to be allowed to use non-windows on our own computers, while also praying the check clears to buy that capability which should be a natural right. [...] If Microsoft officially claims they have revoked the certificate and thus permission for the Linux preboot loader, then instantly every desktop and server in this country running Linux is in violation of the law. Booting it is a felony.

I emphasized the bits in your post that were sensational nonsense.
Microsoft could never revoke the keys for Linux, because it is actually too popular for them to get away with it.

Signed booting absolutely MUST be controlled at the highest level by the owner of the computer. No one else!

Agreed.

This means there should be ZERO keys or certs installed by default, and it should be a very serious crime to try and sneak one in, similar to any other mass scale computer intrusion laws.
One should be required to learn how it works, why it works, what the advantages of signing your own boot loader would be, and then using that knowledge to enable it and upload your keys.
If someone can't do that, then clearly they don't need this feature.

Now I think you're being ridiculous. You can't expect regular end-users to understand the workings of something just to get to use it. It's not the way most people want technology to work, and it doesn't have to be.

Comment Re:What about *BSD? (Score 3, Informative) 178

the losing battle for openness

What losing battle? Open source software hasn't been as prevalent as it is now since proprietary software first arose. Linux, in particular, is in the strongest position it's ever been in, and it looks like 2013 will be a very big year for Linux. Sure, there are always setbacks like this, but look: it's been just over 3 months since Windows 8 began to be sold, and the problem is already almost completely solved.

But in the spirit of openness, hopefully bootloaders for NetBSD, OpenBSD, and FreeBSD will also be eventually signed.

So you have time to whinge, but none to RTFA:

A signed pre-bootloader will allow for chain-loading of boot-loader of any other operating system thereby enabling users to install non-signed Linux distros on Windows 8 UEFI hardware.

Everyone should be able to install and run whatever they want on their own computers.

Yes, but not everyone should be able to install or run whatever they want on your computer. In fairness, UEFI goes some way towards securing your PC. Microsoft did well for the consumer in that respect. They're also a fairly ruthless company, and they're not going to go out of their way to make sure you can install rival operating systems from day 1. But today, at about day 100, the problem is a long way towards being solved. Get over it.

Comment Re:But...Unity. (Score 1) 222

A clever combination of light trolling and misdirection, but you won't distract me from the fact that you haven't addressed my points at all.
Complain about Unity when it's relevant, and then, talk specifically about what's wrong with it. Otherwise, people who need to hear won't listen.
That, drankr, is my message to you. Take it or leave it.

Comment Re:But...Unity. (Score 1) 222

Well that's just, like, your opinion, man.

This is a line by the Dude in The Big Lebowski. It was a joke, never mind. I'm European too, and I express my opinions. I shall proceed to do so thusly:

Complaining about Unity in this comments thread is:
+ Off-topic, because the article is about moving to a rolling release system. Unity has no greater significance to this point than any other package in Ubuntu.
+ Flamebait, because it will provoke a strong negative response, and it won't create interesting, informative or insightful commentary.
+ Retarded, because if you want somebody to take your criticism seriously, you do it at an appropriate time and in an appropriate manner.

Comment Re:easy (Score 1) 171

Will mods please raise this comment to +5? The GP clearly didn't RTFA or didn't understand the situation, FFS.
If there actually were a 4% shrinkage over less than a hundred years, then how big was the proton hundreds of millions of years ago? How about 13.7 billion years ago? Use your heads, please!

Comment Re:It's not smaller, everything else is bigger! (Score 1) 171

Is there anything that precludes this as a possibility?

Yes. That would mean a continuous growth, not a sudden change when a different method is used. Not to mention that a 4% change in a few years would mean that the proton was enormous around the time of the dinosaurs, even. If the proton was shrinking that quickly relative to collections of atoms, we would need an overhaul of a great deal of the current body of science.

Comment Re:"go ahead by a lead planning agency" (Score 1) 104

people just take it for granted that some government agency can prevent a business from opening wherever

How do you know that people take it for granted? Do you live in Ireland? No, it's quite clear that you don't.

All planning permission is obtained through An Bord Pleanála. Anyone can appeal the issue of planning permission or bring to attention the lack thereof. How exactly do you propose that a company like Intel would buy or lease enough private property in Leixlip to create 4,300 jobs without getting permission?

Your comment is rightly scored at -1. While I'm on the subject, I read through the first few "comments worth making" and they are also correctly scored. The irony of you posting this as your sig is that many of the replies effectively point out the madness in the original post. Clearly, roman_mir is trying to help people, but is so ill-informed and impervious to reason that he's just posting the same old nonsense over and over again without questioning himself.

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