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Comment: Re:life-long updates (Score 4, Insightful) 687

by stonecypher (#43231455) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Is a Reasonable Way To Deter Piracy?

Who doesn't save up at least a tiny bit of money (say 3 months salary) in case of a fucking emergency?

Most of America, it turns out.

Nearly half of America has less than $500 saved. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/22/americans-savings-500_n_2003285.html

The average American - including all those billionaires - has less than $6000. http://finance.zacks.com/much-money-average-american-family-savings-7304.html

What the fuck would you have fucking done if your fucking roof had fucking leaked?

There's no need for this level of rage. Take it down several notches, please; we can be civil in disagreement.

Comment: Re:i would like one (Score 1) 413

by stonecypher (#42854791) Attached to: Surface Pro Sold Out; Was It Just Understocked?

Then you should probably stop reading Apple sites for your Microsoft reviews, because you appear to not be interested in basic skepticism. There are, you know, actual numbers you can look up. It's not heavy, it's not power hungry, it's not a tablet, and it's not expensive by comparison with laptops (or even the new iPad.)

So I mean. C'mon. Stop being a blind mouthpiece.

Comment: Re:Yes (Score 1) 467

by stonecypher (#42854581) Attached to: What To Do When an Advised BIOS Upgrade Is Bad?

Oh, Dell? You're fucked.

They've walked away from valid warrantees on me twice now, once when I had a tape recording of the employee on tech support instructing me to do something obviously wrong - on a high price machine still under base warranty which had also had an extended warranty purchased - and promising he'd make sure it was handled if it destroyed the machine as I said it was going to.

Why? Because their service company "Quixstar" or whatever decided they didn't feel like it, and Dell decided that meant they were off the hook.

I've talked various employers, many already heavy Dell customers, out of buying hundreds of servers since. I expect that walking away from that $2000 laptop has cost them something like $300,000 by now, and I'm not done.

Hewlett Packard is just as bad.

Sorry, man. :(

Comment: Why are we quoting the AAPS? (Score 5, Informative) 851

by stonecypher (#42517097) Attached to: Indiana Nurses Fired After Refusing Flu Shots On Religious Grounds

The AAPS is a fringe group with less than 3000 doctors. It's like the American Osteopathy Association: its members are whack jobs, not real doctors.

Of course there's evidence that vaccination reduces transmission. Did OP even try to research that claim or its source before reprinting it? Did we think the pertussis wave in northern California came from some reason other than that non-vax transmit where vax don't?

So tired of this knee-jerk "well let's give time to the other side" bullcrap. No. Figure out if they're insane first.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=vaccinated+less+likely+to+transmit

Comment: Re:Theoretical Maimum (Score 1) 421

by stonecypher (#42429687) Attached to: Cree Introduces 200 Lumen/Watt Production Power LEDs

A common choice is to choose units such that the maximum possible efficacy, 683 lm/W

It's way, way, way more complex than this ... but that's green light ... near-solar (or tungsten) identical bulbs to more limited 'whites' ... truly wretched colour reproduction.

You seem confused by the phrase "maximum possible."

Comment: The typical answer (Score 5, Insightful) 341

by stonecypher (#42307761) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How To Collect Payments From a Multinational Company?

Send them an invoice with the maximum late payment penalty that the law AT BOTH SIDES allows, with a giant red statement that they're half a year late, and send it it to the person responsible, with a clear explanation of how much each increased payment delay costs.

If they delay you even one month beyond that, send a new invoice with the expected increase, and cc: it with a copy of all the others you've sent to the person responsible, their manager, accounts receivable, and the office of the president.

Comment: Re:Mathematician? (Score 1) 203

by stonecypher (#42171271) Attached to: One Cool Day Job: Building Algorithms For Elevators

Isn't making the elevator go faster a job for an engineer?

It's a job for anyone who can do it safely.

For example, Southwest Airlines got a lot out of a psychologist in these regards, by reforming how they discussed lines, so that there was less jostling.

You don't shut jobs off from people who can do them for having the wrong title unless you're the Federal Government or a Silicon Valley VC.

Comment: Why? (Score 2) 170

Why would anyone buy a graphing calculator when a tablet is 1/3 the price for so much more hardware, and can have some equivalent calculator software installed for a dollar or two?

This is a market propped up by the expectations of out of date teachers. These devices have no natural sales anymore.

Life, like beer, is merely borrowed. -- Don Reed

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