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Comment Re:Discrimination (Score 1) 579

Wikipedia's WikiProject Editor Retention has looked at the same problem, but from a retention point rather than the perspective of attracting new women. There were no real answers, just lots of speculation. Lots of people blame the culture, or say the place is too "rough and tumble" but I found that conclusion rather sexist, as it says that women can't compete for ideas in the same environment as men. There doesn't seems to be a difference in retention of men and women, they just aren't coming to Wikipedia to begin with.

Comment Re:What trolls (Score 2) 382

Exactly and literally. Smokey and the Bandit was still in or just coming out of theaters when I was 14. And yes, we were trolls (not on CB though). We did real world trolling. Smoke bombs, bottle rockets, bb guns, sling shots, chunking wax balls from those stupid wax sippy candy at cars (no damage, in case you got busted) etc. We used to do all kinds of crap that would have gotten our asses kicked if we didn't know the alleys and yards you could jump fences in without a dog biting you. Trolling on the internet is for pussies. We were bored, but we got a good work out, without inflicting TOO much damage. I don't recommend what I did, but kids that think that they are breaking the rules, trolling, from behind a laptop that mummy and daddy bought them aren't exactly rebels. They are just cowards.

Comment Re:Ticket ToS (Score 1) 226

Not exactly. There is no freedom of panorama in the US, so sorry, but you are mistaken. Some photos of the inside might be ok, but anything that has arguably has artistic content (ie: more than text) would be fully copyrighted by the designer. You could argue "Fair Use", but the copyright still doesn't change hands, it isn't yours. Years of arguing with lawyers and such on Commons will teach you that.

Comment Desert (Score 1) 246

No question, particularly in Arizona. The lack of rain makes it "older" on the surface, less erosion. I would love to build a giant metal detector and go searching for meteoroids and the like. I lived in Phoenix and miss roaming around the govt. land, which is plentiful, so there isn't anyone to ask permission. Just do the roaming in the winter, which is very mild, bring lots of water and curiosity. The mountains are climbable and everything is fairly accessible. You can bet most every day will be sunny and clear.

Comment Re:Update cycles (Score 1) 391

Sounds like a good deal. I did opt for a lot more options, tv card, wireless, dual burners, fairly high end card in its day etc., which ate up part of the balance. I know I could have built for a little less, but sometimes it is a matter of putting the risk on someone else, and how much your time is worth at the time. But either way, it shows it pays to buy quality. I'm using that computer right now, on my TV in the bed room :)

Comment Re:Update cycles (Score 1) 391

I tend to buy boxes with fairly high end parts (not expensive, just high quality), and when I built them I did the same. High end enough that I really didn't have to upgrade until everything was no longer "state of the art", so no parts to recycle in.

My ooold computer has a Q9550 and 8 gigs of ram, just as I ordered it. It is still pretty usable as a daily backup video player, and not bad for midline gaming like Portal 2, Goat Simulator, etc. Upgraded the video 3 years ago, $150-175 for what was then a steal.

5 years old, and the CPU is still on the front page of Passmark, at >4000 pmarks. Not bad. Paid around 1800 without monitor. Upgraded to 7 Pro over Vista, but even the original install is intact. Hard to beat that kind of stability, and not convinced you can build it by hand anymore.

Comment Re:Dirty power (Score 1) 278

Generally speaking, anything with lots of parts has more points of failures. Since CFLs all have ballasts, my experience has been that spikes does take a toll, by virtue of them dying after the storm.an incandescent is just a big resister. Yes, it can break but it is fairly tolerant by virtue of being tungsten and having no other parts. This is why I spend the money for the better CFLs. I've been using CFLs for well over a decade now. Been using them since the 90s, so not an expert, but I've owned a lot of them.

Comment Re:Police (Score 1) 584

"Junior has permission to use this gun, but only at these times"

Are you fucking kidding me? This isn't a toy or an internet device, it is a self defense tool. I think that mandating "smart" guns is stupid, but this is even more stupid. Most people can't even program their DVR, and you want them to program a GUN?

The beautiful thing about a gun is its simplicity: simple point and click interface. Add some basic safety and legal training, and the average person is just fine without any "smarts" to foolishly rely on.

Comment Re:Guess they overestimated some. (Score 1) 131

I'm glad to see that even the ACs around here see the benefit of this. I read enough of the article (really) to get a pretty good feel, and wondered if /.ers were going to trash or praise the idea. As a training tool, it is pretty useful, more practical ways than it might seem at first glance, as it is fun enough to keep people's attention when being trained.

And yes, there are some real life parallels to zombies, like the AC said, or rapidly spreading infectious disease. Interesting stuff.

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