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Comment Re:Makes me wonder... (Score 1) 509

In Spain, you would simply log into your bank account online and send him the money electronically. If he uses your same bank, it costs nothing. If he uses a different bank then it costs anywhere from €1.5 to €3.5, which is still pretty cheap.

If your friend uses a bank in a different country, then you are back to the same problem. It is the same in the whole world. If you have to do an international wire transfer, it costs anywhere from US$25 to US$45.

Comment Is this really important to anyone? (Score 1) 350

I SO don't care about this. I think reporters are just trying to make a story out of this and there is really no story to tell. Is ANYONE out there really worried about what happens to these images? I know that I don't give a crap.

what I do care about is being able to just walk up to my gate. Why can't the TSA try to do something we do care about? Which is to walk up to the gate without taking off my shoes, belt, suit jacket, removing my laptop from the bag, etc. They can put scanners everywhere if they want to. Put images on the internet, post them on screens as entertainment at the airport just do something that will let me simply walk up to my gate without going through a bunch of pointless security procedures.

The TSA is more concerned about making themselves look relevant than they are about making travel safe and convenient. I am sure the technology exists that will allow us to walk right up to the gates and they can know whether someone poses a threat or not, and that it could be done with a lot less TSA agents than we have now. But we will never hear about that, because the TSA isn't in the business of making the TSA smaller.

Comment Build more reactors (Score 1) 466

The solution to this is to build more nuclear power plants. Nuclear is the cleanest and safest energy we have available, and people freaking out and trying to ban nuclear power is just misguided. We need to take advantage of new technology and build newer more up to date plants that won't have these problems.

Comment Re:VOIP sucks. (Score 1) 426

Now, if cutting the analog cord meant that the telephone providers would be required by law to build out their digital capabilities to anybody within their previous POTS coverage areas, then that would be great for folks who haven't had any good broadband options so far.

I think that is the whole point of bringing this up to the FCC. Currently the Universal Fund requires them to provide coverage to everyone, but that does not extend to Internet Access. That needs to be addressed, and that is why the FCC needs to be involved.

Comment Re:Open Office is there (Score 1) 179

Novell maintains its own version of OO.

It also supports it via contracts with third parties such as this one

There is plenty of support out there for OO and other Open Source Projects. Digium will sell support for the Open Source Version of Asterisk. The OS is will supported also. I think that the support for OO is at or near the level that MS can provide for MS Office if you know where to look.

Comment Re:So? (Score 1) 221

It's easy to say "just don't spend the money" when you haven't played the game. I've been a casual player of the game since April, and I must say, this is the definition of bait-and-switch. The business model of cheapening everything, but forcing players to buy them, is a horrible one to go buy. Given it's accessibility and cartoony environment, this game attracts many younger kids who find paying for items online a huge hurdle. Also, to suggest that they weren't making money before is simply wrong. I had mentioned this in another response here on /., but I'll say it again. In the actual forum post, Ben Cousins has clearly stated that it's not an issue with money but rather with a sustainable business model. Also not mentioned here was a previous interview where he had stated that only 5% of players would need purchase clothing items for them to turn a profit. As a player, I can tell you they clearly were not in the negative. Most likely, some corporate heads at EA called DICE and said "Hey, we're losing money from our other shitty games, so you need to pick up the slack". To do what they did is not illegal, but it sure as hell is professionally unethical. It's a great game, but doesn't have enough to offer to keep it's fan base. Trust me, the fans aren't going to just swallow this one.

Comment Re:Yes (Score 1) 227

I have a pair of older mechanical typewriters. I don't use them to write (which I do professionally, albeit technically). I could see using them for pre-printed forms not available in PDF, but they're there mostly because I like the idea of having them more than they are useful (free/cheap garage sale fare). I might bring one with when I move; but I haven't ever even changed the ribbon in either of them.

I write mostly on the computer, but have written stories and drafts on paper even recently. Hell, if it's a line or two or an idea, I'll SMS it (with an old crappy cell phone, not iPhone/Blackberry/etc.) to my e-mail address. It's just a matter of what is available at the time. Words are words, regardless of how they are put in the particular order you put them in.

Also, if it's a long doc, I'll print it out and edit it by hand by scribbling on the page, then make the changes in the electronic file.

That being said, I like reading from paper, not an LCD screen, but I have been eyeing an e-book reader for a while now; too bad they all seem to have pesky DRM. It's just a matter of which one is the least evil.

>That said, I'd buy one of Burroughs's typewriters.

I would agree. And his stash of magazines he used for his cut-ups, too. :-)

Comment Re:It Hurts (Score 3, Insightful) 320

Personally, I like

This picture also depicts the union of a sperm with an ova, indicating an extraordinary insight into human reproduction.

and then

I postulate that Leonardo da Vinci wrote the Voynich Manuscript circa 1460 when he was about 8 years old.

Meanwhile,

An early microscope was made in 1590 in Middelburg, The Netherlands.

How exactly did a youthful da Vinci figure out what an ova and sperm look like? If Leonardo da Vinci (as a child) could sketch sperm and ova over 100 years before a crude microscope was invented and almost 200 years before Hooke and Leeuwenhoek, then that alone would be an astonishingly significant discovery. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that Leonardo would build a microscope, discover cell biology, and not bother to write something up about it as an adult. He was, after all, interested in pretty much everything. The more reasonable conclusion is that Edith Sherwood is willing to interpret images very "liberally" (meaning here, without much evidence), without making even simple checks for logical consistency. This is a single example, but the carelessness calls the rest into question. (As you have already indicated)

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"The fundamental principle of science, the definition almost, is this: the sole test of the validity of any idea is experiment." -- Richard P. Feynman

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