Comment Re:OT: sig (Score 1) 533
They probably did, but those verbal commands are not the configuration, they are the equivalent of clicking on a button marked "lights" or "increase temp 5 degrees".
Comment Re:OT: sig (Score 1) 533
The difference with the computer is it has to be able to operate a single bulb or half a million bulbs or a washing machine or
To enable the computer to fulfill these various roles it needs other switches to switch between the various tasks, the more tasks that are possible the more switches are needed.
How is the the computer to know whether you want one bulb lit or a radio turned on unless there is a method to instruct/configure it?
Comment Re:Nurse != Secretary (Score 1) 406
Uh, yeah, doesn't sound like socialism to me. Right.
Whether or not it is socialism was not being discussed, it was just being pointed out that in the UK you can pay for your healthcare out of your own pocket, pay into private healthcare insurance or rely on the NHS.
And you know what, of all the taxes people complain about (and there are lots of taxes to complain about in the UK!) National Insurance is rarely one of them.
Comment First Post! (Score 1) 2
Hello? Anyone here?
Comment Re:Seriously? (Score 2, Informative) 384
Comment Re:Evidence-based medicine (Score 1) 1064
The same issues exist in Britain, Germany, and everywhere else that socialized medicine is the norm. It may be a better situation for people who couldn't normally afford the treatment, but for anyone who can afford it's fucking horrible.
This is nonsense.
For example, in England if you can afford to pay for treatment you are free to do so, if you want to take out insurance to pay for treatment you are free to do so, if you want to use the National Health Service for your treatment you are free to do so.
It's better for everyone except the insurance companies.
Comment Re:less freedom if you're a monopolist (Score 1) 479
Whether they are right or wrong, and whether I trust them or not, Microsoft are legally a monopoly.
Comment Re:less freedom if you're a monopolist (Score 2, Insightful) 479
I disagree that Microsoft is a monopoly...
What you think is totally irrelevant.
Courts in more than one country have decided that Microsoft is a monopoly, therefore in those countries they are legally a monopoly and are to be treated as such.
Comment Re:Ob (Score 1) 623
I used to have a Morini.
A 3 1/2 Sport. Lovely little bike, but not without it's foibles. The carburettors would fall off and the nipple would pull off the front brake cable.
Comment Re:Novell already did this (Score 1) 460
...no one ever seems to remember that linux isn't an OS. Red Hat is, Debian is, Ubuntu is...
Well, your nearly right. Linux isn't an OS, GNU/Linux is an OS. Red Hat, Debian, Ubuntu etc. are distributions.
Submission + - MS security guy wants Vista bugs rated down
jcatcw writes: "Gregg Keizer reports that Michael Howard, an MS senior security program manager, says that the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) is being too conservative in its Vista vulnerability rating plans. Microsoft's own bug hunters should cut Windows Vista some slack and rate its vulnerabilities differently because of the operating system's new, baked-in defenses."
Submission + - Can't Rape the Willing? 17 yo Gets Off - His Teach
Trnscndr writes: http://falsepretender.blogspot.com/2007/03/cant-ra pe-willing-17-yo-gets-off-his.html
A Tacoma judge ignored a plea bargain and sentenced a former 25yo female teacher to six months in jail for performing fellatio on a 17-year-old student in April, 2006.
Who would blow this regular gig?
Submission + - Protesters labeled "terrorist sympathizers"
Trnscndr writes: Yesterday in Washington, thousands of Christians marched against the war in front of the Whitehouse. More than 200 were arrested and fined, not for violence, but for standing instead of walking on the sidewalk.
If anyone thinks there is a liberal bias in American news reporting, take a second look, and a third... First of all, as Stephen Colbert likes to say, "Truth has a liberal bias". The big problem is, who is telling the real truth? Nobody on your cable dial.
Submission + - Deepwater sunk perhaps with youtube help
anagama writes: "You may recall some time ago a slashdot topic about Mike DeKort, an engineer from Lockheed Martin working on the Coast Guard's Deepwater project (basically, construction of new ships). He released a whistleblower video on Youtube outlining problems and cover up/apathy related to the ships under construction. Well, in the news today, looks like the Coast Guard is taking over the project and ending its contract with Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman. Perhaps the (digital) pen is mightier than the sword (manufacturer)."
Submission + - Federal Agencies Postponing Switch to Vista
carl writes: Several federal agancies are postponing the switch to Vista until at least 2009 according to Federal Computer Week. From the article:
"Many federal agencies are not planning to move to Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows Vista, anytime soon. Several agency chief information officers said they either see no business reason to move from Windows XP to the new operating system, or are budgeting and planning for the transition in 2009 or beyond."
"Many federal agencies are not planning to move to Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows Vista, anytime soon. Several agency chief information officers said they either see no business reason to move from Windows XP to the new operating system, or are budgeting and planning for the transition in 2009 or beyond."
