Comment: Re:they punish employees, period (Score 1) 948
tho that changes big time this year now that hte earned income tax credit has been removed
Citation needed. Or do you mean the payroll tax rollback that expires in March?
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Comment: Re:Leveson (Score 1) 105
Came here to say this as I heard that on NPR this morning. Has the transparent society begun?
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Video game consoles are 'fundamentally doomed'->
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by
zacharye
zacharye writes "Microsoft just sold nearly one million Xbox 360 consoles last week alone, but we’re nearing the end of the road for video game consoles according to one industry visionary. Richard Garriott, known for having created the fantasy role-playing franchise Ultima and the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Tabula Rasa, says converged devices such as computers, smartphones and tablets will soon render dedicated game consoles obsolete..."
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Link to Original Source
Is Ubuntu Still The Most Popular Linux Distro?->
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by
jimjimovich
jimjimovich writes "Recently, there has been a flurry of blog posts claiming that Linux Mint is now more popular than Ubuntu. Is this just noise created by those who dislike the new Unity interface, or is Ubuntu really loosing popularity?"
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Link to Original Source
Cracking Down on "Conflict Minerals"->
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by
Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "One of the lesser known provisions of 2010's Dodd-Frank financial reform act is about to have a big impact on consumer electronic companies. It's a rule on "conflict minerals," which are mined in eastern Congo and often fund the warlords who are perpetuating an atrocious civil war there. Some of these minerals end up in cell phones, computers, etc. Right now the SEC is finalizing the rules for implementing the law, but the basics are already known: Every company that uses one of the named minerals will have to trace its supply chain back, and try to determine if they're sourcing from Congo's "conflict mines." Some electronic companies are trying to get out ahead of this issue (most notably HP, Intel, and Motorola) by rolling out pilot programs that make it easier to determine where their minerals come from. When the rules go into effect, this will be a big deal. The SEC estimates compliance costs at $71 million, but groups fighting the rules say costs will actually amount to billions."
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Link to Original Source
Is Privacy Just for Pedophiles?->
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by
Luyseyal
Luyseyal writes "Ex-News of the World journalist Paul McMullan told a British panel in the phone hacking scandal, "Privacy is the space bad people need to do bad things in. Privacy is for paedos." Is privacy over? Should journalists be able to use any means necessary" to deliver the truth to the public?"
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Link to Original Source
Comment: Re:Bad example (Score 1) 373
General principle of relativity
Special relativity predicts that an observer in an inertial reference frame doesn't see objects they'd describe as moving faster than the speed of light. However, in the non-inertial reference frame of Earth, treating a spot on the Earth as a fixed point, the stars are observed to move in the sky, circling once about the Earth per day. Since the stars are light years away, this observation means that, in the non-inertial reference frame of the Earth, anybody who looks at the stars is seeing objects which appear, to them, to be moving faster than the speed of light.
Since non-inertial reference frames do not abide by the special principle of relativity, such situations are not self-contradictory.
My take is that it's better to pick the "most inertial" frame you have available. It is a heuristic like Occam's Razor but the upshot is the math is easier.
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Comment: Re:You can't have one (Score 1) 209
Haha awesome -- and they only provide a 2 year warranty. You would think that for 6 figures they could eke out a lifetime warranty...
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Comment: Re:Amazing (Score 1) 209
It's the Greek equivalent of "goy".
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Comment: Re:Amazing (Score 3, Insightful) 209
Another commentator mentioned the economic aspect. I won't repeat what s/he said but I did want to add that the Roman economy was largely predicated on conquering territories to generate tax revenue. Why? Because the Senate had voted to exempt themselves from all taxation. As they gained more and more land, it generated less money for the treasury necessitating conquering more people.
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P.s., I don't have a citation right now.