Comment Justice Revenge (Score 1) 914
This isn't about greater justice. It's about greater revenge. Not the same thing.
Comment Re:A simple request. (Score 1) 623
Yup. You gotta call their bluff, or they'll just keep trying to get away with that shit. Russia needs it's nose bloodied, and if that ain't enough, have all its people incinerated in nuclear fire.
The earth will recover. Hell, humanity might even survive. Probably solve our global warming problem, too.
Comment Re:A simple request. (Score 0) 623
It is better to have World War 3 than have the Russians get away with shit like this.
Comment Re:Had he not waited. . . (Score 2) 129
He fell victim to his own reality distortion field.
Silicon Valley Billionaire Takes Out $201 Million Life Insurance Policy 300
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "The Mercury News reports that somewhere in Silicon Valley, a 'mystery billionaire' has bought what the Guinness Book of World Records says is the most valuable life insurance policy in history — a policy that will pay his survivors a cool $201 million. Was it Larry Ellison? Eric Schmidt? Elon Musk? Zuck? Nobody knows because the name of the buyer is a closely guarded secret. 'We don't want hit men running around Palo Alto trying to find him — or members of his own estate,' joked Dovi Frances, the Southern California financial services provider who sold the policy. By last count, California boasts 111 billionaires with more than a third of them in tech, while San Francisco has 20 billionaires alone so it could be any of them. But why does a billionaire even need to take out life insurance when he or she has so many other assets. The most likely answer to this question is taxes and estate planning.
Upon death, an estate would be liable to pay off loans on any leveraged properties, plus a lot of money as part of the death taxes owed. This could force the estate to liquidate holdings to raise the money to pay off these liabilities even if it weren't the most opportune time to sell the assets. By taking out the life insurance policy, it would give the estate more flexibility in paying off the taxes and other debts owed, without necessarily having to sell assets to do so. 'In California, there are state death taxes that are exceptionally high (45 percent),' says Frances adding that the policy is actually a combination of more than two dozen policies, underwritten by 19 different insurers because if any single company had to pay out such a lavish benefit, it could be crippling. 'If your properties are leveraged then those loans are called immediately and need to be paid off, you want to hedge yourself against such a risk so [your beneficiary] can receive the proceeds without being exposed to taxes.'"
Upon death, an estate would be liable to pay off loans on any leveraged properties, plus a lot of money as part of the death taxes owed. This could force the estate to liquidate holdings to raise the money to pay off these liabilities even if it weren't the most opportune time to sell the assets. By taking out the life insurance policy, it would give the estate more flexibility in paying off the taxes and other debts owed, without necessarily having to sell assets to do so. 'In California, there are state death taxes that are exceptionally high (45 percent),' says Frances adding that the policy is actually a combination of more than two dozen policies, underwritten by 19 different insurers because if any single company had to pay out such a lavish benefit, it could be crippling. 'If your properties are leveraged then those loans are called immediately and need to be paid off, you want to hedge yourself against such a risk so [your beneficiary] can receive the proceeds without being exposed to taxes.'"
Comment Re:Going bust not unique to drop-outs (Score 1) 281
only they ended up with a degree that had no value for getting a job
Yeah, that's not really a problem for a CS or engineering degree, which given the context, is all we're really talking about.
Comment Some of these are only lies for noobs (Score 1) 452
I've never said "I could do it better myself" and it not been true. But then again, I usually have the sense to not rewrite working code if I can help it.
Also, I've found code can easily be self-documenting, though the quality of that self-documentation is dependent on the quality of the code itself and the programmer who wrote it. Usually the only time it is necessary to document code, it is not the code that needs explaining, but the reason for why the code must exist in the first place. This exemption void where prohibited by company policy, when documenting an API, or any code to be consumed by web developers.
Comment Re:And... (Score 4, Funny) 676
I know several illegal residents here with their entire family living off of state and federal programs
I know several people who make up stories like this and post them anonymously on the Internet.
Comment Conspiracy nutters (Score 1) 125
For people who hate "deletionists", they are remarkably concerned over an article's resurrection.
Youtube and Facebook May Be Banned In Turkey, Again 57
Taco Cowboy writes "Istanbul (dpa) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is considering banning YouTube and Facebook after local elections at the end of this month, according to remarks carried by local media Friday. It may, or may not be related to the criticisms arising from (not-yet verified) leaked recordings of Mr. Erdogan's involvement with corruption. 'We will not let YouTube and Facebook destroy our nation. We will take measures, including closure,' said Erdogan, who has previously made comments against social media sites. YouTube had been banned in the country for two years and was recently unblocked."
NASA Wants To Go To Europa 216
MightyMartian writes "'NASA and the White House are asking Congress to bankroll a new intrastellar road trip to a destination that's sort of like the extraterrestrial Atlantis of our solar system — Jupiter's intriguing moon, Europa.' Since Europa seems one of the most likely worlds in the Solar System other than Earth where we have some hope of finding extant life, let's hope Congress gives the green light to this project."
Comment Gamify all the things (Score 5, Funny) 146
My tasks are already games. I push buttons for money points, and the more money points I get, the easier it is to get more money points.
A lot of people have been saying the programmer class is overpowered, but they're usually just envious whiners who dumped all their talent points in the humanities skill tree, and then QQ when they get pwned at life. Besides, most of them borrowed money points in the tutorial levels, the noobs, and now they wonder why they can't afford the endgame gear and think we should just give it them. Can you imagine that? Welfare epics! As if!
MtGox Sets Up Call Center For Worried Bitcoiners 240
An anonymous reader writes "Did you lose bitcoins in the MtGox debacle and are worried that you'll never get them back? Fear not, a call center has been set up in Japan to help allay your fears. From the article: 'Bitcoin investors left hanging by the sudden shuttering of the MtGox electronic market will soon have a way to learn more about the fate of their cryptocurrency holdings—a Japanese phone hotline. In an announcement on the company's website, MtGox said that a call center had been set up to handle inquiries about the company. The call center will go live on the morning of March 3, Japan time.'"
Comment basic createware (Score 1) 531
I use OS X, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android, so exceptions/substitutions are made when an app isn't available for a given platform.
DropBox - Because that's where all the stuff I'm working on at any given time is.
Firefox - Because I'm a same-browser-on-everything kinda guy, and I'm too stuck in my ways for that to be Chrome.
LibreOffice - Because I'm a same-wp-on-everything kinda guy, but not so stuck in my ways that it has be OpenOffice.
Manga Studio - Because I create comics as a hobby, and even on the machines that don't have stylus input, I like to be able to open the projects I'm working on, and work on lettering or coloring. I don't use the GIMP because I think it's worth buying myself nice software sometimes, and I don't use Adobe Creative Shite anymore because that doesn't have to mean wasting money.
CyberDuck - Because a simple drag-and-drop ftp client is handy for getting my stuff where it's going.
Comment 52-pick-up (Score 1) 195
I use the 52-pick-up sort
