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Comment Re: Really Cheap Satellites may not be good (Score 1) 57

That would be the wrong way to do it, if you wanted to do it as anything other than a novelty (ex: Apollo).

It's expensive but relatively straightforward (as in, not THAT complicated, but not easy) to develop a supply chain that would be capable of getting humans to the moon and back on a regular basis, where over time the cost per trip would drop dramatically. Establishing the supply chain is expensive, but once established it would be, comparatively, inexpensive to get people from the Earth to the moon and back on a regular basis:

Multiple small launches of supplies etc. that would land on the moon as well as multiple launches of supplies and also landers to get into lunar orbit. Build the craft that would go from Earth orbit to lunar orbit and back in Earth orbit by sending up multiple modules and constructing them in space, ala the ISS. You would still need a lot of fuel, but launching fuel into space in the same craft as people is a bit less efficient as launching the fuel into space in a less expensive craft.

Other than for science and engineering purposes, I don't know that there would be a good argument that there is much value in regular back and forth to the moon, or having a constant human presence there (not a colony, but maybe an outpost kind of like the ISS, except, you know, on the moon), but it's certainly doable, probably for less than what the US spent invading Iraq.

This isn't to say we should do this, just that as far as space travel goes, it is possible to build a supply chain that would eventually yield some efficiencies, if we found a reason to invest the money into it.

Comment Re:great! (Score 1) 520

I'm all for voter IDs, assuming the following:

- they are 100% free to the voter, which also means that none of the dependencies may cost money either
- they are available in a way that doesn't require taking time off of work or time away from family or require traveling anywhere
- there are people provided who will help individuals who don't understand how or want assistance in obtaining the ID obtain the ID
- they do not require a fixed address so that the homeless are not disenfranchised

Not everyone is able to take time off of work or travel easily, nor can everyone afford even a nominal amount to pay for the necessary documentation, nor do they understand how to work through a potentially confusing bureaucracy, nor do they have an address, etc. Those people still deserve to have their vote counted.

Anyone who thinks we MUST have voter ID but isn't in favor of doing everything we can to ensure that NO ONE who is eligible to vote is unable to is just a supporter of voter suppression.

Comment Re: How the fuck (Score 1) 418

I worked for a start up that handed all new developers the keys to the kingdom on day 1, regardless of experience level.

On day 1 you were expected to deploy code changes to production (minor stuff - usually adding yourself to the about our team page) AND republish the production DB w/backup.

It was every bit as stupid as it sounded, and yes, in the very short time I was there before I got the hell out of dodge, at least 2 or 3 times the site was taken down completely by a day 1 newbie fucking this process up. At least they had backups, though.

Comment Re:I don't care WHY he did it (Score 1) 227

Except the why matters.

If my next-door neighbor kills her husband because he cheated on her, that's bad.

If my next-door neighbor kills someone because they are foreign born, and makes it clear that she did it because they are foreign born, that's bad, but it also is trying to send a message to other foreign born people that they are at risk of random attacks despite doing nothing wrong. It's literally terrorism.

I know someone who accidentally killed someone with their car - they were stone sober, but got distracted by their kid screaming in the back seat, turned around to see what happened and boom, hit someone. Do you think that person deserves the same penalty as someone who got shitfaced and ran someone over with their car?

Why matters.

Comment How absolutely stupid. (Score 5, Insightful) 456

If people wanted to take down aircraft, they would be able to take down aircraft. They don't want to take down aircraft - they want to terrify the easily frightened so that the easily frightened will overreact and do insane stupid shit like we have in the US.

If the shoe bomber or the underpants bomber or any other kind of person they sent had been ACTUALLY tasked with taking down a plane rather than sowing fear and absurd responses, guess what? They would have set the fucking things off in the bathroom, not tried to do so while sitting in their fucking seat where people could see them. They sent morons to do something moronical, and the morons in charge ate that shit up.

If they actually wanted to kill people, they would have suicide bombers go and wait for security screening lines to inevitably get backed up. They'd kill way more people that way and they wouldn't have to go through the security theater at the airports that weeds out the dimmest bulbs in the bunch.

What they're doing now - attacking soft targets by ramming into crowds with trucks and shit - can only be meant to do one thing: terrify morons and get them to overreact, just like the morons are doing.

Fucking cowards. By that I mean the "terrorists" and the pants-pissing weaklings who vote the "leaders" into office who try this shit. Literally anyone who is legitimately afraid of being killed by a terrorist and doesn't live in a literal war zone is a fucking moron.

Know what killed and injured more people than the attack on London Bridge last week? FUCKING EVERYTHING. More people - by a fucking MILE - get killed every day from drunk driving in the US. More people get killed - by 10 fucking miles - by tobacco use in the US, every day. Domestic violence kills more people than terrorists do. Fuck, having to DRIVE instead of FLY because the airports are so fucking toxic kills more people, I'm sure.

Comment Re:As if it's a bad thing (Score 1) 608

It's not so much that it's a "profoundly important" event but rather that doing so can have an impact on the working relationship - and the context here is work/projects together, so that's relevant.

I work and have worked with mostly guys throughout my career. I have been asked out by guys I've worked with maybe a dozen time over the course of my career, while I was working with them. In 4-5 cases I've been asked out by guys I had worked with, but after I stopped working with them.

In the case of being asked out by someone I was working with AT THE TIME they asked, yes, it had an impact because I was put into the position of rejecting an advance from someone that I had to continue working with.

When I was early in my career, the men who asked me out were younger and as a consequence handled rejection less well than they might have if they were older - when I say "less well" I mean gossiping about me, trash talking me to other people, and in one case, trying to get me fired because he couldn't handle being in the same room with me.

Later in my career, when I was asked out, even if the men wouldn't have reacted badly to rejection, I tended to take it as significant because of my previous experiences when I had said no. At best it merely stressed me out - was this going to be a guy who acted out when rejected? At worst it got me to seriously consider leaving the company because the person who asked me out was wildly inappropriate (senior to me, worked directly with me) and I felt that my long-term viability at the organization would be threatened by saying no (and I still said no.)

The men who asked me out when I no longer worked with them? It wasn't a profoundly important event at all when they did. In a couple of cases I said yes, but in no way did I feel like "oh shit, my job is now in danger" if they reacted poorly to a rejection.

Also, on the notion of "moving slowly" - again, the context here is work/projects. This isn't a bar where people are going to be social; getting to know someone before asking them out makes sense in a work place. In fact, I would say that "someone not understanding that a work place is different than a bar" is probably one of the top reasons to reject someone out of hand.

Comment Re:As if it's a bad thing (Score 1) 608

Yeah, there's a difference between "moving slowly" and being a creeper.

Creepers are - wait for it - creepy. They behave creepily. Hanging around for no reason at all and being creepy is being a creeper. Taking the time to get to know someone in appropriate ways when you work with them is not being creepy in and of itself.

That you seem to struggle with this concept indicates to me that you probably - unintentionally, I'm sure - come off as creepy. People who don't "get" social interaction protocols usually do come off as creepy; usually it indicates they were poorly socialized or have something else going on that prevents them from grasping the basics of social interaction.

To your point of Bob and Yan, you do know that some people - shocker! - like to get to know someone a little bit better before they are interested in going on a date with them, right? In fact, I've even been in a long term relationship with someone who, had they asked me out on day one, I would have given a hard no to (and probably vice versa).

Comment Re:As if it's a bad thing (Score 1) 608

Yeah, you're completely ignoring the fact that men are overwhelmingly the initiators of violence against women, and often initiate such violence because their egos got dinged.

When a guy turns down an advance from a woman, he's probably not thinking "oh shit, I hope she doesn't physically attack me for saying no" but I guarantee you that most any woman is thinking that.

When I say "no" I do it in a polite way that is intended to minimize harm to the existing relationship (if there i one) and to minimize the potential for a guy to react violently to being rejected. I *should* just be able to say "no, sorry, not interested" and that would be that. Unfortunately, when I do say something like that, usually the response is anger, insults, and in a couple of cases, threats of violence. When it isn't hostile, it's often wheedling - as you say, negotiation, but the fact is, I was unambiguous, and they're just hoping I can be persuaded.

Comment Re:(Un)solicited sexual advances (Score 1) 608

Unsolicited in this case usually means unwanted.

Most reasonable people will take being asked out by someone appropriate (ex: not their boss, not someone they work directly with) but are not interested in by saying no and leave it at that.

If a person isn't appropriate, then they may feel coerced or as if now things have been made weird, and that can trip it over into "unsolicited" and problematic.

If a person says no and, even if it were appropriate to ask in the first place keeps getting asked, that's unsolicited.

It's not that hard. The problem - in tech especially - is that people who aren't very good with people will often fuck up either the "appropriate" part or the "don't be a creepy asshole about it" part.

Comment Re:Now that's interesting, and maybe the answer (Score 1) 608

Let me explain this in a simple way:

I have a friend who worked in a software shop a few years back. His boss was a psycho, and would shit all over people, and specifically would shit all over my friend because my friend was - I am not kidding - red-headed. Seriously, his boss would make fun of him for being a ginger. His boss would encourage the other people on the team to fuck with him as well.

My friend complained about it and was told to toughen up, they were just fucking around, and can't he take a joke?

My friend quit that job.

And you know what? In every fucking job interview he had after that, you better believe he made sure to check to see if they had a welcoming environment and people were expected to behave decently.

Now, imagine if you will, that you run into that situation fairly regularly, and perhaps you will understand why some people might have different priorities.

Look at this article and the number of absolute fucking morons who are posting in this thread about how women are this and women are that and women aren't suited for this work and blah-de-fucking-blah and ask yourself: Gee, do you think maybe there's a reason that has nothing to do with women in and of themselves that might just might be making them prioritize things a little differently when trying to get into a project?

Comment Re:Hmm... (Score 1) 608

I think you fail to understand just how much gender coded context there is even in those impersonal communications settings. People use pronouns to refer to another person quite regularly, and people grate when the wrong pronouns are used.

You're also doing the ridiculous thing of saying "people can't behave well, but it's just too difficult to get them to stop being assholes, so even though you did nothing wrong, you've got to change yours."

If it will only cause misfortune to come out as *gasp* female in this environment, then guess what, chuckles? The environment is FUCKED.

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