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Comment Re: Easy, Less Corporate Greed (Score 1) 250

WOW, just.... wow.

While I have to admit, having so many miss my point entirely when it comes to alternative forms of capitalism I didn't see much point in engaging in debate (though, admittedly, not surprisingly)... but to debate you would be like, well, it reminds me of this quote form GOTG as I misread your handle has LordClueless and thought you were just trolling on first take.

Drax: *Nothing* goes over my head...! My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it.

Comment Re: Easy, Less Corporate Greed (Score 1) 250

No, my solution is for Uber to *not* keep their profits stable on these types of fairs. They would/should take a fractional loss on this subset of fairs with Uber "footing the bill" on any deviation from a standard fair in these situations

They'll make up any loss, and likely more, in the long run from all the benefits to both drivers and customers - and ultimately Uber - that it yields.

Comment Easy, Less Corporate Greed (Score 2) 250

Have Uber shoulder the burden, not their customers. Raising prices on customers during emergency situations - like Sandy - is disgusting and reeks of "price gouging" which, IIRC, is illegal in FL for supplies around tropical storms (though I may be wrong, I just recall there being talks of enshrinimg "don't be a d-bag when times are at their worst" in law) - if not, it should be.

Uber should just raise the % the driver gets during these peak times, it's stupid they don't already do that because everyone wins.

Customer: has good experience with über when they may not have used it before.

Driver: incentive to work during emergency / high demand time.

Uber: increases the likelihood of attracting new / more regular users by acting like a Good Samaritan not a corporate greed machine.

... and for a previous comment I noticed around "that's capitalism" well actually that's "unregulated capitalism" which is also what gives us snake oil salesmen. As soon as regulations are withdrawn, bad things happen - the market *cannot* regulate itself. Have you forgetten the kessons of this past recession already?!?!

Comment Flip Down Plate Privacy Shield? (Score 1) 258

Anyone know what the law is there, or in their area - would one be within their rights to have a flip down cover or flip up license plate for when your vehicle is parked? I could see there being potential legal issues (though to be fair, it's not being "operated") while it's on a public street - but what if it's in your driveway, are you within your rights to shield your license plate form view? How do these readers work, is there a detectable signal or anything that could be used to trigger your license plate to become covered when scanners are near? Garbage trucks are easier, set it to dB levels and you'll be covered when they're banging around at 5AM and banging around on a predictable schedule at that. Do we know what camera's they use? Is there a film that one could put over the plate to render it obscured from view of the camera but not the naked eye? What about a transparent cover that changes your plate to be 8888888 or even just by one digit - granted in the reality of aggregated data, you would need to change what you change your plate to on a semi-regular basis. It's not only that it identifies you it's that it remains a constant identifier for you. There is a distinction. Just throwing ideas out.

Comment Setting a New Legal Precedent? (Score 1) 179

I wonder if this just set a new legal precedent that can be used by the defense the next time a security researcher finds her/him-self on the wrong side of a legal team for exploring a service that was open to the web. As according to this ruling if you leave it open, it's your fault if someone else gets access to it. So, basic example, you should have "no expectation of privacy" if you leave directory browsing turned on as per the judges reasoning/analogy, it's the exact same thing as leaving your blinds open and a passer by gets a peek.

Comment Re:At the same time (Score 1) 323

One example was the Hawker Hurricane, which was in service before the Spitfire was developed, and which outnumbered the Spitfire by about three to one in 1940.

TL;DR = That's not entirely true, the Hawker Hurricane entered service 10 months before Vickers-Armstrong Spitfire, but the first maiden flight of a Spitfire happened about six months before the first maiden of a Hurricane.

Long:
Spitfire began production on/around June 1936, Hurricane production began, also, in 1936. The first maiden of a Hurricane Merlin II was on 12 October 1937 - and those planes then immediately entered service - but the first maiden of a Spitfire came months prior to the Hurricanes, the Spit's "eight minute maiden" was on March 5, 1936, but while displayed in proper flight later that June (27th) 1936, it didn't enter full scale production until the following summer, and service followed that August 1938.
It was that delay in entering full production and the additional man hours to complete each air-frame (Hurricane took less time to & cost less to build - 10,300 man hours vs the 15,200 for the Spitfire - though the Spitifire, even with the same armament, was much more advanced than the Hawker, but on the same hand, the Hawker the more rugged of the two)... and not to mention that Vickers, the parent company, didn't really want anyone other than Vickers to build the Spitifire (initially). That all conspired to reduce the overall number of Spitfires produced in comparison to the Hurricanes, but only during the lead up to the Battle of Britain. Overall, more Spitfires were produced during the total war effort.
Some 14k Hurricanes were produced (includes Sea Hurricanes), but the first production commitment for the Spitfire was for a paltry 310. Even so, Castle Bromwich (a primary Spitfire production facility) was producing 320 aircraft per month at it's height and a total 12,129 Spitfires were produced from that facility alone and when the last production Spitfire rolled off the assembly line in Bromwich, a total of 20,351 Spitfires had been produced (all variants) - outnumbering the final count of the Hurricane by over 6k aircraft.

While it is true that the Hawker outnumbered the Spit ~3:1 or 2:1, depending on where you get your stats, entering the Battle of Britain, the Sptifire suffered significantly lower attrition rates during those months, particularly the Autumn months, than it's counterpart. Even so, the Hawker downed more enemy assets than the Spit and had a significantly lower R&R (re-arm/re-fuel) time than the Spit, under ten minutes with a good crew for the Hurricane, almost 30 minutes for the Spitfire... So YMMV depending on what you flew. It's quite possible the Hurricane suffered higher attrition rates because there were more of them to shoot at and their pilots never really got any down time. A Hurricane pilot would be lucky to get a bathroom break, where a Spitfire pilot could have a break and a cuppa...

At the end of the war, universally, it is the Spitfire upon which victory fell - both in general estimation and in the hearts of the British people... but for those of my fathers & grand-fathers generation, well, they still argue pro/con Hurricane/Spitfire to this day...

Comment Re:a historic relic no longer tolerated. (Score 1) 461

There is a distinct difference, in places like Pakistan, Iran, UAE and "Best Korea" strip clubs do indeed exist, and rhysweatherley is right in that "average Schmoe is not rich enough or well connected enough to swing an invite"

They key difference though is in the US/Western strip club, the women are not required to turn tricks, whereas in underground clubs I seriously doubt they have the freedom to say no.

Comment Re:There's a clue shortage (Score 2) 574

Apple is bringing a data center to Northern Nevada, just outside Reno. Problem is, their entry level requirement is that you've worked at a minimum of 10k server data center previously (select Reno) for their "Site Services Tech" position it's "4+ years experience working in a large data center (10,000+ servers)..

Problem is, there aren't any 10k centers in Northern Nevada, yet they got oodles of tax breaks to "make local jobs".

Someone didn't think this through.

Comment Re:2600 meetings (Score 1) 71

I too attended 2600 meets for quite some time many moons ago and it was a great way to meet new people, share tips/tricks and just generally socialize with "like minded folk".
I'll second your "unwanted LEO attention" but we got ours for a pretty good reason. The average meet was around 10 to 15, but at the time attracted mainly young computer enthusiasts - the vast majority hadn't even graduated high school. Even though I was still in my early 20's at the time, I'd taken on the roll of elder statesman and, towards the end of my tenure, was bringing teaching aides to each meet and sharing basic skills like soldering, circuitry, and the theory behind voiding warranties. I have to say, seeing that "light bulb" moment when someone learns something is uniquely rewarding
After being worn down on the beggs and please, I finally acquiesced and did a practical demonstration. At the time there was a cheap gadget at Radio Shack that had an acoustic coupler on one side, a 10 pad on the other, and a wee bit of memory for storing phone numbers. You would enter the number, hold it to the pay phone, and it would play back the tones but - with a few minor tweaks - you could convert it into a box of many colours.
While I was doing a demonstration on how to make one, by first going over (ala Q & A) the circuitry inside, discussing which parts were replaced, why, what they did, why they did it et al - making it much more of a learning experience and less of a phreaking one, a young chap snuck off with the working version and decided to test it out on the payphone in front of the book store where we met and the sight of a 14yr old holding a strange device to a phone & laughing maniacally was enough for the book store owner to call the ol' bill.
Suffice to say, we all learned something that day...

Comment Re:Well (Score 1) 180

Yep, this would be right out of their play book, where step 1 would be to discredit "security applications" and create distrust of encryption - to change the public opinion of it.

The director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, said on Thursday that the “post-Snowden pendulum” that has driven Apple and Google to offer fully encrypted cellphones had “gone too far.” He hinted that as a result, the administration might seek regulations and laws forcing companies to create a way for the government to unlock the photos, emails and contacts stored on the phones.


Because if you create a back door for the .gov, only the .gov will be able to use it and will never abuse it. pfffft. too bad we don't have some type of golden key instead of a back door...

Comment Re:Parajet Sky Runner (paraglider + dune buggy) (Score 1) 151

True on all accounts, but as we're still not even really past "beta" on the whole "flying car" thing, it's a shot in a decent direction. It's not aiming to be a commuter, but as an off-road vehicle with true x-y-z axis access. With a purported 200mi range in the air and off-road capabilities, it sure looks like a viable option (in clear weather) for getting around the outback and other under-paved, under-developed areas.

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