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Comment Re:Some people... (Score 0) 621

As someone who's been in the fandom since the beginning, I can tell you that most "bronies" (including myself) watch it with complete sincerity. The fact that so many young adults watch the show might be memetic in itself, but actual enjoyment of it requires actually enjoying it for what it is. Colorful pastel catfaced quadrepeds that are pure of intention and completely genuine. There's almost zero parental bonus, and that's okay.

It's like watching Road Runner cartoons. There is nothing below the surface, only a purity of intention translated to onscreen slapstick.

Also, this cartoon. For reference, a "cutie mark" is an outward symbol of a pony's "special talent", i.e. job skills. Ponies literally wear their resumes on their flanks. They don't limit activity (and they're open to interpretation) but they're good indicators.

Comment Re:News for nerds? (Score 5, Insightful) 381

Very much this. People who complain that this or that news story isn't "news for nerds" are forgetting that the "nerds" who read Slashdot often provide more insightful commentary than any other group of private citizen commentators, and certainly more insight than what the majority of the 24 hour news-cycle organizations. Furthermore, because Slashdot has global readership we get commentary from people outside the United States. I love reading slashdot comments for the same reasons I like listening to the BBC on the radio on my local public radio station (KQED), because I hear fresh viewpoints that originate not in this country.
 
Slashdot's readership is one of the largest college educated and tech focused groups out there. It's clear to me that the people who read these terrible story summaries and comment here are frightfully smart, and it would be a terrible waste not to capitalize on the group intelligence present here whenever possible.

Comment Do none of you fight for the users? (Score 4, Insightful) 142

No, I'm not talking about the irritating tween idiots. I'm talking about the artists. For every groupthink mob of self-entitled screaming idiots shouting their misinformed opinions at the top of their tiny little lungs, there's an artist taking advantage of the dead simple microblogging platform.

Tumblr is the home of the Drawblog (contains art), the Ask (ask a character questions, receive drawn responses) blog, and the art compilation blog. To my knowledge, none of these things substantially exist outside of tumblr. Sure, I could follow an "art appreciation" group on facebook, but because facebook doesn't deliver stuff to me in anything resembling chronological order it's largely useless to me.

I am worried. Legitimately worried that Yahoo is gonna screw up Tumblr.

Comment Re:Yes but... (Score 2) 223

The second is that it is shocking how many people still don't understand they have an option (or have believed the FUD that it is some horribly demeaning and invasive process). By staying in the public space you help educate those that don't know.

You don't get it, do you? It is a horribly demeaning and invasive process. I've had the patdown before (only once so far, I've been able to avoid it and the scanners since). Even though the agent who did the patdown was extremely courteous and detailed exactly what each step was before he did it, I still felt invaded and demeaned. I have nothing against the man, he was very professional about it. I felt weird and violated for the rest of the day. As Sonic says, "That's no good!"

If you're gonna opt for the patdown, wear shorts if you can. They don't have to pat down your legs if they're bare.

Comment Re:Dear Editors (Score 2) 35

The submission quotes from the wired article, specifically the first and third paragraphs. It's not kosher to delete words from direct quotes just because they're "hype", and might even be improper in this case (because the phrasing comes from the wired article and conveys how the writer of the article feels about the device, which gives important information for the reader). Of course, that doesn't mean a clever editor could jump in anyways with ellipsis and such, but ellipsis are ugly and in this case the sentence is so short there would be no point.

For the record, omitting the second paragraph (which details pricing) from the submission and not indicating the omission with ellipsis or making it two separate quotes is bad editing.

(I'm not a "real" editor, I just have an interest in proper formatting. I may be getting something here wrong, and if I am please feel free to jump on my head and/or correct me.)

Comment Faster? Yes. Freer of Errors? Maybe. (Score 1) 240

My peers are college age students and the people I chat with on IRC (who I happen to know are mostly young, college age adults because of the demographics of the fandom that the IRC channel I frequent was created for).
I certainly reply faster than most others who use the channel. My replies contain more words and characters and usually have correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. In most cases I can get out a grammatically correct, spelling-error free, and properly punctuated short reply faster than other people replying to the same comment with sentence fragments.

The people on the IRC I compete with in the arena of fast and tidy replies are the people who I happen to know are well into their thirties and forties, and are also heavy computer users. E.g. at least one professional writer, a computer engineer, and a professional librarian. Co-incidentally, the engineer and the librarian are both fathers with middle-school aged children.

I learned to touch type on a qwerty keyboard by playing UT2004, not having a microphone, and wanting to chat a lot. I had a personal rule that I would only use full sentences. I played that way for a few years.

It's been a while, but the last time I used a WPM test I was rated somewhere around 50 wpm. I am almost certainly remembering that wrong but I can't be arsed to go take another test.

Comment Re:Let the UN and ITU run their own Internet . . . (Score 1) 158

Folks will use the internet available to them, as dictated by their residence in European countries or elsewhere. They may "choose" their internet by moving to another country, and that's not a realistic solution. Your assertion that people have a choice between UN internet and "other" internet is false.

Submission + - Least-cost routing threatens rural phone call completion (addisonindependent.com)

kybred writes: Rural landline users are increasingly having problems with incoming calls not completing or being dropped. The culprit may be the bargain long distance carriers penchant for 'least cost routing' combined with the conversion of the Universal Service Fund to the Connect America Fund.
From the Fine Article:

"Rural phone companies are the victim here,” Steve Head says. “They charge a higher rate to terminate calls as it costs more for them. Shoreham Tel gets beat up because everyone calls them and says something is wrong with your system, but it’s not. We’ve been through all of their lines and equipment and there is nothing wrong with it; it’s the least-cost routing carriers."


Comment Quality of (Web Browsing) Life (Score 1) 686

For me, adblocking is a quality of life necessity. I find any and all advertisements that I do not seek out to be irritating and distracting, and my usual response to them is an immediate visceral sense of "fuck you". I must adblock, or else I would go crazy. Any websites that I encounter that refuse to show me content without turning off adblock immediately go on my "never visit this place again" list. My frustration with ads in the in-game browser from the steam overlay led me learn about and begin using hosts files.

That said, there are two places I can think of off the top of the head where I do not mind advertising: Steam popup notices (which can be disabled with an account option at no cost) and movie theater previews (I don't watch television, so this is the only place I can find out about movies).

If adblock becomes illegal, I will become a criminal. For me, there's no other option.

Censorship

Submission + - You Can't Say That on the Internet (nytimes.com) 1

hessian writes: "A BASTION of openness and counterculture, Silicon Valley imagines itself as the un-Chick-fil-A. But its hyper-tolerant facade often masks deeply conservative, outdated norms that digital culture discreetly imposes on billions of technology users worldwide.

What is the vehicle for this new prudishness? Dour, one-dimensional algorithms, the mathematical constructs that automatically determine the limits of what is culturally acceptable."

Comment Every Time I Use A Keypad (Score 2) 63

Every time I use a keypad, touchscreen, or other computerized device outside of my own desktop or laptop, I use my longest finger as my pointing finger. This is a habit I picked up my father, who is a longtime computer engineer.

He and I both find that using the longest finger to control such devices is very cathartic.

Comment Re:Brains are Fucking Expensive (Score 1) 1651

Your point is incisive and thoroughly annoying to me and my worldview.

To answer as completely as I can:
I do not wear a helmet all the time (for example, when walking or entering the bathtub) because I am not placing my safety in the hands of my fellow Americans when doing so. When the margin of safety is a foot and a half at best and there's nothing between me and the car passing me (like a curb would be were I pedestrian, or a grab bar in a tub) at speed differences of twenty or more miles per hour I would like to improve my chances of surviving being knocked off my bicycle cheaply and effectively.

Comment Re:Brains are Fucking Expensive (Score 1) 1651

No, my question is actually "Is spending $25-$50 for a marginal or even theoretical reduction in the chance of serious brain injury worthwhile considering the immense value I place on the spongy tissue behind my eyes?". It is rhetorical, because for me the answer is "yes".

Please, I love science! Show me more science!

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