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Comment Re:Cripple Linux? (Score 1) 174

--You can turn endless scrolling off in your Preferences. Besides it's one of the stupidest ideas ever, once you scroll past something 99% of the time you'll never want to see it again (and if you do there's the "previous page" link, not to mention a lot of times the *same content* gets reposted by different followers) and it's uselessly taking up resources. 2GB of RAM should be _fine_ for web browsing, if people would only design their webpages a little smarter.

Submission + - Robots Step Into the Backbreaking Agricultural Work that Immigrants Won't Do

HughPickens.com writes: Ilan Brat reports at the WSJ that technological advances are making it possible for robots to handle the backbreaking job of gently plucking ripe strawberries from below deep-green leaves, just as the shrinking supply of available fruit pickers has made the technology more financially attractive. “It’s no longer a problem of how much does a strawberry harvester cost,” says Juan Bravo, inventor of Agrobot, the picking machine. “Now it’s about how much does it cost to leave a field unpicked, and that’s a lot more expensive.” The Agrobot costs about $100,000 and Bravo has a second, larger prototype in development. Other devices similarly are starting to assume delicate tasks in different parts of the fresh-produce industry, from planting vegetable seedlings to harvesting lettuce to transplanting roses. While farmers of corn and other commodity crops replaced most of their workers decades ago with giant combines, growers of produce and plants have largely stuck with human pickers—partly to avoid maladroit machines marring the blemish-free appearance of items that consumers see on store shelves. With workers in short supply, “the only way to get more out of the sunshine we have is to elevate the technology,” says Soren Bjorn.

American farmers have in recent years resorted to brought hundreds of thousands of workers in from Mexico on costly, temporary visas for such work. But the decades-old system needs to be replaced because “we don’t have the unlimited labor supply we once did,” says Rick Antle. "Americans themselves don't seem willing to take the harder farming jobs," says Charles Trauger, who has a farm in Nebraska. "Nobody's taking them. People want to live in the city instead of the farm. Hispanics who usually do that work are going to higher paying jobs in packing plants and other industrial areas." The labor shortage spurred Tanimura & Antle Fresh Foods, one of the country’s largest vegetable farmers, to buy a Spanish startup called Plant Tape, whose system transplants vegetable seedlings from greenhouse to field using strips of biodegradable material fed through a tractor-pulled planting device. “This is the least desirable job in the entire company,” says Becky Drumright. With machines, “there are no complaints whatsoever. The robots don’t have workers' compensation, they don’t take breaks.”

Comment Re:truly an inspiration. (Score 1) 494

If I want to do stuff that doesn't involve deep thought, I play some mindless video game (like an old NES game with an emulator, or an old arcade game like Pac-Man), or I go hiking or biking, or maybe watch some silly TV show like Big Bang Theory.

And other people watch Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty. Some smoke weed. Some find themselves on mindless websites. I fail to see why those choices are any less valid than yours.

You also seem to know an awful lot about Duck Dynasty; are you a closeted fan? I've never seen an episode myself -- no CATV in the Shakrai household -- the little bit I know about it comes from those people that get offended over it, which amuses me because nobody is forcing them to watch it.

BTW, you may think Robertson is an idiot, but he's made millions of dollars while you tilt at windmills on Slashdot.

Comment Re:truly an inspiration. (Score 1) 494

I guess I can believe one of two things:

1) You're a smug elitist.
2) You're clairvoyant enough to know what every single viewer of Duck Dynasty believes.

I used to watch 24; if we apply your logic that means I condone torture. Funny that, I always found the show appealing because it had lots of gunfights, explosions, the occasional set of tits, and didn't require me to think very hard.

Comment Re:truly an inspiration. (Score 2) 494

If they have interests such as following the Kardashians and Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty, and you have interests which include baroque music and classical literature, then it's safe to say that you're more intelligent than them.

An interest in Duck Dynasty is not mutually exclusive with an interest in classical literature. I don't much care for the former but we've all got our own outlets for those times when we just want to turn our brains off for a little while. Is watching Duck Dynasty any worse than playing GTA?

Comment Re:truly an inspiration. (Score 2, Insightful) 494

Most of them can't follow me in a real conversation, nor do they care to. The topics that interest them seem vain and insipid to me, and the topics that interest me seem boring or pretentious to them (based on their direct feedback).

So your argument is that because they have different interests you're smarter than them? That's not sexist, that's fucking stupid....

Comment The Revolving Door Argument is Thin Anyway.... (Score 5, Insightful) 86

The pool of people who are knowledgeable about the practices, challenges, and daily business realities of the telecommunications industry (or any industry for that matter) is a small one indeed; good luck finding someone in that pool with the experience necessary to lead an agency the size of the FCC who hasn't worked for the industry at one time in his or her life.

Comment Re:Seems to be OK all around then (Score 1) 616

but they still don't seriously threaten our society

exactly because we have vaccines, you fucking moron

and if not enough vaccinate, the diseases find vectors to proliferate again, AND they have a chance to get lucky and develop new strains that can get around our exisitng vaccines, threatening everyone period

everyone has to get vaccinated. if not, the person is ignorant, irresponsible and dangerous to all of our health. if you don't agree with that statement, you don't know what the fuck you are talking about and/ or you are blindly selfishly irresponsible

you have no freedom to choose something that threatens other people's lives (nevermind your own)

Comment Re:Next up... (Score 4, Interesting) 128

That's a matter of perspective. I've been there numerous times and have found that the Canadian side has the best views but the American side is less of a tourist trap. The Canadians have done a piss poor job of keeping development in check, in fact, there's a school of thought saying that the Horseshoe Falls are perpetually mist covered (historically they weren't) because of changes in the local wind currents brought about by development on the Canadian side.

Besides, the coolest thing there is the Cave of the Winds, and that's in good ole USA. No trip would be complete without seeing both sides, but there are plenty of people (myself included, obviously) that think the American side is at least the equal of the Canadian side.

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