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Comment Re:I'm sure pirates will like them. (Score 2) 216

And you forget about the ever-present dockworkers unions, that note what goes in each container, and where it is located... this might make things much easier for the mafias.

That said, the biggest offense is that our wealthy and powerful are continually trying to find ways to eliminate -- and put to death -- the very people who have supported them.

In other words, they are traitors.

Comment Re:My guess (Score 2, Insightful) 631

You know, money is a commodity of value that is used as a medium of exchange.

So there's the difference between bitcoin and national fiat currencies: national fiat currencies have as their commodity the mutual defense of the nation, which in turn makes for more reliable business, and thus profits.

With bitcoin, the valuable commodity is... finding a greater fool. In other words, bitcoin is entirely bubble.

Maybe I'm wrong. Bitcoin's valuable commodity could be laundering. But if that is the case, then I still have no value for it.
No, I never did trust bitcoin.

Comment Re:Still ugly (Score 1) 164

Look into velomobiles. Practically speaking, they have to be tadpole style trikes, but they'll do twenty-forty mph, at least until you add electric assist.

Some velomobiles are the Mango, the Go-One, the alleweider, for starters. I built my own, but it isn't terribly useful. The useful ones cost $8k-$22k.

Aside from that, visibility is not a problem.

Comment Re:Change--put a dollar figure on MS hate (Score 1) 742

Let's see: Microsoft, by the Word corruption bug and actively denying it existed, stole $11000 from me in direct costs, and caused the loss of at least $25k in additional contracts.

That is money that my son WOULD have had access to. So by all means, if Microsoft contacts me, and strokes me a check for $35k plus interest at Microoft stock growth rates, and adjusted for price inflation, then the Microsoft hate needs to end there.

Until then, it isn't Microsoft killed my pappy, it's Microsoft stole $35000 from my pappy, and that means Microsoft stole $35000 from ME.

Make it good, Microsoft. If You aren't aboout rectifying your wrongs, then you're just a whiner. Annoying, too.

Comment Re:Biological psychology treads on dangerous groun (Score 1) 160

Quote GK Chesterton, âoeThe blue cross":

"Reason and justice grip the remotest and the loneliest star. Look at the stars. Don't they look as if they were single diamonds and sapphires?" well, you can imagine any mad botany or geology you please. Think of forests of adamants, with fields of brilliants.think the moon is a blue moon, a single elephantine sapphire.But don't fancy that all that frantic astronomy would make the smallest difference to the reason and justice of conduct. On plains of opal, under cliffs cut out of pearl, you would still find the noticeboard, "thou shalt not steal."

Submission + - How to dazzle facial recognition algos? (diyphotography.net) 1

sandbagger writes: Dazzle painting was that zebra striping used during the Great War to make surface ships difficult to follow in the foggy North Atlantic. Similar cosmetic pattern breaking may be proving useful in confusing facial recognition. Adding moth-like cosmetic paint daubs to the cheeks appears to break at least some facial recognition software. What's your experience, and, theoretically at least, what are its uses. (If anyone at Fort Meade is reading this, this is just a purely theoretical exercise.)

Submission + - Comcast to Acquire Time Warner Cable for $45 Billion (nytimes.com) 1

davidannis writes:

Comcast is expected to announce on Thursday an agreement to acquire Time Warner Cable for more than $45 billion in stock, a deal that would combine the biggest and second-biggest cable television operators in the country. For Comcast, which completed its acquisition of NBC Universal, the television and movie powerhouse, from General Electric less than a year ago, the latest deal would be its second big act to radically reshape the media landscape in the United States. And the merger is almost certain to bring to an end a protracted takeover battle that Charter Communications has been waging for Time Warner Cable.

For consumers, this means an even larger company with a reputation for poor customer service aggressively lobbying against things like net neutrality.

Submission + - "Shark Tank" Competition Used to Select Education Tech

theodp writes: With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the tech billionaire-backed NewSchools Venture Fund, the Silicon Valley Education Foundation used a competition based on the reality show Shark Tank to determine which educational technology entrepreneurs would win the right to have teachers test their technology on students for the rest of the year. 'Ten companies, selected from 80 original applicants,' reports Mercury News columnist Mike Cassidy, 'had three minutes to convince a panel of educators and then a panel of business brains that their ideas would be a difference maker in middle school math classes.' The winners? Blendspace, which helps teachers create digital lessons using Web-based content; Front Row Education, which generates individual quizzes for students and tracks their progress as they work through problems; LearnBop, which offers an automated tutoring system with content written by math teachers; and Zaption, which lets teachers use existing online videos as lessons by adding quizzes, discussion sections, images and text.

Submission + - China's Jade Rabbit Fights to Come Back From the Dead

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: CNN reports that reports of Jade Rabbit's demise may have been premature as signs are emerging that China's first lunar rover may be up and running again. Following technical malfunctions Xinhua says that the lunar rover had lost communication with mission control but on Thursday the state news agency said that the rover was "fully awake" and had returned to its normal signal-receiving status. "Jade Rabbit has fully resurrected and is able to receive signals, but still suffers a mechanical control abnormality," says China's lunar program spokesman Pei Zhaoyu. "The rover entered hibernation while in an abnormal state. We were worried it wouldn't be able to make it through the extreme cold of the lunar night. But it came back alive. The rover stands a chance of being saved as it is still alive." The lunar rover's end seemed near when it signed off at the end of January with a poignant message: "Goodnight humanity." Yutu, as the device is known in Mandarin, had been out of action for two weeks following a technical malfunction, and media around the world filed its obituary late on Wednesday after a short statement on Chinese state media alerted the world to its apparent terminal failings. Should Jade Rabbit make a full recovery, it would cap another success for space exploration, which has seen NASA's Opportunity Mars rover, currently exploring the red planet, far outlast its expected lifespan.

Submission + - Australian police deploy 3D crime scene scanner (computerworld.com.au) 1

angry tapir writes: Police in the Australian state of Queensland will employ a handheld laser scanner that can be used to map crime scenes, including in areas where there is no GPS reception. The police will use the Australian developed Zebedee laser scanner: A LiDAR scanner that is mounted on a spring. As a user walks around, the spring moves and the scanner captures the surrounding area. Software processing then uses the data to construct a 3D model. Previously the technology has been used to capture areas of cultural significance, such as the interior of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. As an added bonus, the Zebedee looks ridiculous when in use.

Submission + - Jed McCaleb's Exit from Ripple Labs: The Plot Thickens (bitcointalk.org)

An anonymous reader writes: Jed McCaleb, the creator of E-Donkey and the founder of one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges, Mt.Gox, dropped out of Ripple Labs (a company that he is also a co-founder) to 'spend his time looking into new things: man-made surf parks and artificial intelligence'. As was written in an article from Wired: http://www.wired.com/wiredente...

But a video recently uploaded in YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ2DCKLHaQs&t=461) says otherwise. In the video, he mentioned that he left the company due to 'disagreements with someone brought on to be CEO'.

So which is it really? Maybe we will hear Jed McCaleb's side of the story in full in the near future. But for now Jed is probably busy on a new 'secret bitcoin project' (http://alphatesters.secretbitcoinproject.com/).

Submission + - MPAA Head Chris Dodd: I'm Willing To Discuss Copyright Reform As Long As Nothing (techdirt.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Chris Dodd, head of the MPAA, has decided that, 16 years after the Napsterpocalypse (which singlehandedly killed the recording and motion picture industries, both of which are now nothing but vague memories for pre-Gen Xers), it's time to meet the tech industry in the middle and start working together.

But, as is Dodd's way, "in the middle" means drawing a line inches away from the MPAA's position and "working together" means making heavy concessions to the incumbent industries.

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