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Comment Re:Bloody Idiot (Score 1) 588

by GoCrazy (#46746333) Attached to: Jenny McCarthy: "I Am Not Anti-Vaccine'"
Interesting comment. However, I think it's detrimental to entertain "if" situations about her inane accusations, because it creates a hypothetical where she's right.

Let's just keep it at: There is no correlation or medical proof vaccines cause autism, and if you're willing to sacrifice your children because Jenny McCarthy told you so then good riddance to your blood line.

Comment Re:Why is this so difficult to believe? (Score 1) 723

by GoCrazy (#46724145) Attached to: Can the ObamaCare Enrollment Numbers Be Believed?
From the article, it goes something like this:

14 states contribute a total of 2.4 mil
36 states need to contribute 7,.1 - 2.4 = 4.7 mil
(over 6 months)

At the beginning of March, the 36 states were reporting they had 2.6 mil, leaving (4.7 - 2.6 = 2.1 mil) that needed to sign up in one month

7 of 36 states are already reporting a total of 0.59 mil, which means the remaining 29 need:
4.7 - 0.59 = 4.1 mil total
OR
2.1 - 0.59 = 1.5 mil in (1) month

Not impossible, but based on any of the previous projections it's still a stretch:

-2.4 mil in (6) months per 14 states yielding: [(2.4/6)/14]*29 = 0.83 mil

-2.6 mil in (5) months per 36 states yielding: [(2.6/5)/36]*29 = 0.42 mil

-0.59 mil in (6) months per 7 states yielding: [(0.59/6)/7]*29 = 0.41 mil

Submission + - Internet users spend 1,389 man-years per day just typing passwords (microsoft.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Article in latest issue of IEEE Security+Privacy has the estimate and lots of other juicy stuff (paywall, but original pdf here http://research.microsoft.com/...). Microsoft authors accuse industry of using O(N) solutions (where N is number of users) even when O(logN) or better solutions exist.

“We appear to have lost sight of the original goal. We are pursuing substitute goals, such as password complexity and expiration, as ends in themselves long after it has become clear that they do little for the original problem.”

Submission + - AT&T's Next Phone Upgrade Plans are a Huge Ripoff (theverge.com)

Submitted by GoCrazy
GoCrazy writes: AT&T unveiled its new Next plan today, which allows you to pay a small monthly fee for the privilege of upgrading your phone every year without a down payment. It's an obvious response to T-Mobile's Jump plan, which costs $10 a month and allows for an upgrade every six months. Both plans sound like a great idea: you'll get a new phone much faster than before, without having to pay full price up front or resigning your contract every time.

The big differences with AT&T's Next plan are that it costs anywhere from $15 to $50 a month depending on which phone you buy, and also that it's an absolutely clear ripoff designed to cheat customers into paying full price for their phone without actually buying anything.

Submission + - Indie Game Jam show collapses due to interference from "Pepsi Consultant"

Submitted by Sockatume
Sockatume writes: Would you like to see a half-million-dollar TV show in which four teams of indie developers and Youtube personalities compete to create amazing videogames? Tough luck, because GAME_JAM from Maker Studios has spectacularly imploded. Although a lot could go wrong with this kind of show, the blame isn't being levelled at game developer egos or project mismanagement but the heroic efforts of one Matti Leshem, a branding consultant brought in for Pepsi. After imposing Mountain Dew branding rules that even banned coffee from the set, his efforts to build a gender divide amongst the teams culminated in the competitors downing their tools and the projection collapsing. Accounts from Adriel Wallick, Zoe Quinn, and Robin Arnott are also available.

Submission + - The POW Who Blinked 'Torture' In Morse Code

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: The LA Times reports on the passing of Jeremiah Denton, the US Navy pilot held by the Viet Cong, who let the world know in a TV interview that POWs were being tortured by blinking out the word "torture" in Morse code. From 1965 to 1973, Denton was held at the "Hanoi Hilton" and several other infamous Vietnamese prisons and was held in isolation for lengthy periods totaling about four years. At points, he was in a pitch-black cell, a cramped hole crawling with rats and roaches. His beatings opened wounds that festered in pools of sewage. Frustrated that Denton would not confess to alleged American war crimes or reveal even basic details of US military operations, jailers subjected him to horrific abuse. Taking command of fellow POWs he usually could not see, Denton fashioned a secret prison communication system using the sound of coughs, hacks, scratching, spitting and throat-clearing keyed to letters of the alphabet. "When you think you've reached the limit of your endurance, give them harmless and inaccurate information that you can remember, and repeat it if tortured again," he told his men. "We will die before we give them classified military information." Thinking they'd broken him, Denton's captors allowed a Japanese TV reporter to interview him on May 2, 1966. "The blinding floodlights made me blink and suddenly I realized that they were playing right into my hands," he wrote. "I looked directly into the camera and blinked my eyes once, slowly, then three more times, slowly. A dash and three more dashes. A quick blink, slow blink, quick blink ." While his impromptu blinks silently told the world that prisoners were being tortured, he was unabashed in the interview, which was later broadcast around the world, in his denial of American wrongdoing. "Whatever the position of my government is, I believe in it — yes, sir," said Denton. "I'm a member of that government and it is my job to support it, and I will as long as I live."

Comment Flex Degrees (Score 1) 2

The University of Wisconsin has something called a flex degree where you can, as they advertise, "earn credit for what you know":

You may draw upon your existing knowledge to complete assessments and make progress toward your degree. It does not matter where you gained your knowledge—from prior courses, work experience, military training, or other learning experiences. If you know it and can show it, you can use it to earn credit.

I'm sure other universities may offer something similar.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What's the fastest, cheapest way to get a Bachelor's degree? 2

Submitted by AnOminusCowHerd
AnOminusCowHerd writes: I have an Associates degree in programming and systems analysis, and over a decade of experience in the field. I work primarily as a contractor, so I'm finding a new job/contract every year or two. And every year, it gets harder to convince potential employers/clients that 10-12 years of hands-on experience doing what they need done, trumps an additional 2 years of general IT education.

So, I'd like to get a Bachelor's degree (preferably IT-related, ideally CS, accredited of course). If I can actually learn something interesting and useful in the process, that would be a perk, but mainly, I just want a BSCS to add to my resume. I would gladly consider something like the new GA Tech MOOC-based MSCS degree program — in fact, I applied there, and was turned down. After the initial offering, they rewrote the admissions requirements to spell out the fact that only people with a completed 4-year degree would be considered, work experience notwithstanding.

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