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Comment Re:Let it happen and blame it on Bureaucrats (Score 2) 178

Major earthquakes have been expected in that area almost since the first settlers arrived.
I'd like to know the names of the building inspectors that collected millions of dollars in building fees who allowed these now unacceptable structures to be built.
What is the date they will be fired, have their pensions revoked, or have civil charges brought against them?

I know. They're government bureaucrats. It just felt good to type that.

Comment Just Erase Everyone's Memory (Score 1) 164

I would have thought that Google would have just used the device they have to selectively erase the memory of people who saw it. Then they could just let the counter roll over to 0.
It was originally intended to erase people's memory so they would have to look up everything, but they eventually found out that every one is doing that on their own with what Google already provides.

Comment The Crisis is Only for the Little People (Score -1, Troll) 784

Like the Blogfather over at Instapundit always says:

I'll believe there's a crisis,
When the people who are saying there's a crisis,
Start acting like there's a crisis.

Until then, I don't want to hear a damn thing about my carbon footprint while the President sends a couple C-5 planes before any trip he makes, along with two 747's, and dozens of ground vehicles.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

Comment We Need a Nuclear Coffee Pot (Score 1) 769

I used to work for a company that made nuclear power plants. One morning while waiting for the coffee pot, I calculated that if you took the secondary side steam (not the radioactive loop) our design would make enough hot water to make a cup of coffee for every person in the country each day.
I didn't figure out the distribution issue though.

Comment You Are Paying for TV With Internet Only Service (Score 1) 223

I dropped TV services when the digital OTA change took place. I get about 30 programs, although some are duplicate. I couldn't take paying for bringing all that paid programming into my house. Besides the shopping channels, too much is just 1/2 hour commercials. I especially didn't like paying such a huge amount for ESPN, NESN, and YES.
Have you looked at what your internet service includes? All cable/DSL/FIOS/uVerse services include ESPN3, Music Choice and Nick Jr. Boost for "Free!". Nothing is free. You're paying for TV, even if you don't use it.
My Cox 5 Mbps internet only is going up 14% next month to $49. They know they're losing TV and phone customers. There's nothing else available except satellite with low caps. Even if I could get DSL in my area, AT&T stays with a couple dollars of the cable rate. I use an old Ooma, so phone is still free, but I need internet.

Comment Re:another ex-Sprinter here (Score 1) 207

I had the TouchPro2 on a $30 SERO plan. Windows API services were shut down well before by 2 year contract expired. I changed the phone to Android, but it would often lock up just trying to answer a call. Even though I have Sprint towers 4 miles to my north and south, I could very rarely complete a call. Forget about data. I was provided with an Airrave for the $4.50/month fee. I could upgrade to a LTE phone, but that would have locked me into another 2 years, raise my rate from $30 to $50/month, and my calls and data would still be going through my Airrave on the internet line I pay for anyway.
I bought a Verizon Droid 4 off of Craigslist for $80. Replaced the glass on it, got the software changed to Cyanogenmod, and got it running on PagePlus. There for $30/month I get 1200 min, 300 texts, 500 MB data and it runs on the Verizon network.
The triple bad news for Sprint is two of my neighbors now can't make Sprint calls since they were hitting my Airrave.

Comment NTSB Power Grab Never Ends (Score 1) 996

The NTSB won't be satisfied until everyone is off the streets. They keep increasing their power grab by going after the largest cause of death, but once they get that, there will always be another reason for the most number of deaths for them to go after. It never ends with the government increasing their control over us.

Comment Re:White House Fees for Electric Planes (Score 1) 239

The biggest hurdle is that the Obama White House wants to put a $100 per flight fee on any electric aircraft flight within controlled airspace in the US. Uncontrolled airspace is defined as the area below 1200' above the ground. It's 700' above the ground in higher congested areas. In sparsely populated areas of the western US there are areas where uncontrolled airspace goes up to 18,000 feet, but the bottom line is that almost all of the places any aircraft flies is considered controlled.
The way FAA regulations are written is that everything is prohibited unless it is specifically allowed. The Obama White House proposes to have that $100 fee per flight on all flights except those operated by the government or ambulances. There is also an exception (for now) for piston powered aircraft. That means that the $100 per flight fee applies not only to jets, but it applies to electric aircraft, gliders and hot air balloons.
Reference: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2012/assets/jointcommitteereport.pdf
Page 33 of the file = page 23 on the numbered pages.

Comment Re:WebOS is staying on my TouchPad (Score 1) 96

HP still has an interest in keeping up some WebOS development, since they are looking for someone to buy the operating system. Shutting down everything would reduce the value too much, so a bit of investment is needed to maintain the software, plus keep some of the development team intact so any potential buyer can have that knowledge base transferred.

Comment OK for Government, but Not Private Industry (Score 2) 90

So they want to restrict private companies from collecting and sharing someone's location data, yet the federal government is planning on implementing a rule that requires someone flying in a private plane to have a verified and approved security threat before they will prevent the government's location tracking to be made public. http://www.nbaa.org/ops/security/barr/20110318-barr-bolen-aopa.php
This is referred to as the TMZ bill since it will allow paparazzi to know the location of celebrities. It will also allow companies to learn where their competitor's aircraft are.

There's just one more step before toll transponder information is made public too.

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