Comment Here's My Question (Score 1) 826
If you're a white male, and you were there, would you have offered this guy your shirt to wear, and then worn his shirt? Looked the pilot and Delta employees in the eye while you put it on?
Comment Re:RTFA (Score 2) 406
Maybe not a big deal on a Linux system with an older G++ already installed, but this could be a serious issue for bootstrapping GCC on non-Linux platforms. Where you might have only needed the native C compiler before, now you will need the native C++ compiler, which may be an expensive product.
Unless they're going to make it a multi-step bootstrap where the first pass is only C code. I highly doubt that.
Comment Re:specific claim (Score 1) 143
We did this in the late 1980s with SunOS diskless boot of 3/50 and 3/60 workstations. They didn't get their "preferences" from a separate server, though, which would be enough to not be prior art for the patent.
Comment Phone app doesn't require interaction with phone? (Score 1) 145
“Pay With Square, Square’s cellphone app, which eliminates even having to take the phone out of your pocket or sign a receipt.”
Okay, so how does the cell phone app work if I don't actually unlock the phone or run the app?
And while you're at it, if I'm inside a shopping mall, the GPS location is going to be completely wonky and it will have no idea what store I'm actually in.
Comment Light of Other Days (Score 1) 1365
"Light of Other Days" by Bob Shaw. The concept of slow glass was excellent science fiction, while the story line was heartbreakingly sad. I read this in an excellent collection which included Godwin's "The Cold Equations" mentioned earlier, as well as the great Asimov story "Nightfall."
Comment Re:Civil Disobedience Idea (Score 3) 186
What about going through the security line stating you don't want to be groped or scanned and then turn around and leave?
You didn't break any laws but have the same effect.
Sure you did. Once you enter the line you must complete the security scan. You can not say no thank you and turn around. It's a $10,000 fine, too.
Comment Re:democracy (Score 3, Informative) 183
Last year, day before Thanksgiving. They called it "Opt-Out Day."
Another Death in the Cloud As Apple Kills Off iWork 134
Google is retiring the iGoogle page, but on a much shorter time scale, Apple is shutting down an iService of its own: the cloud-storage site iWork.com (linked to Apple's office apps suite iWork) is slated to go offline at the end of this month. Says the article, over at SlashCloud: "As of that date, 'you will no longer be able to access your documents on the iWork.com site or view them on the Web,' reads Apple’s note on the matter, followed by a recommendation that anyone with documents on iWork download them to the desktop." Both of these announcements remind me why I covet local storage for documents and the ability to set my own GUI prefs.
Comment Re:Frequency is troubling (Score 1) 813
What? Where you do live that power lines are not strung through conduit when laid underground???
Comment Re:Bad Idea (Score 5, Insightful) 341
I don't have time to write my own make files to get the thing working.
So you're too cheap to give some money to the person who's offering to do all that work for you?
Comment Provide Support (Score 1) 341
What about this model? Anyone can download the source for free and they're on their own. Donors can get a precompiled binary custom-tailored to their system as needed, and a direct line to you whereby you provide support for installation problems, bug fixes, feature requests, etc.
Comment Where's the "Primary" ? (Score 1) 346
So if this sets the primary email to a Facebook address, and notifications are sent to the primary email address, and incoming email becomes Facebook messages, whose arrival triggers notifications, I'm sensing a bit of an obvious problem here.
But looking over a friend's shoulder at their account, the Facebook address is not set to primary and in fact there appears to be no option to even make it primary.
Comment Re:kinda cheating (Score 1) 389
Far more static structures than you think are not static. Bridges always need to be designed for impact and vibration; long bridges for wind and sway. Tall buildings need to take wind into account and also be able to sway. Depending on geographic location, both might need to be designed for earthquake movements. Structural dynamics is an important field, not only in the more obvious forensic cases (Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Boston's Hancock Tower) but everywhere, as regular movement leads to fatigue leads to failure.
Comment Re:kinda cheating (Score 4, Informative) 389
Civil engineers are also held legally responsible and liable if there's a problem, and it should never, ever, fail or fall down outside of extraordinary circumstances. Unlike software which warrants left and right that there is no warranty and if you're lucky you'll get a patch with a bug fix.
Or compare the licensing requirements:
Civil Engineering: get a degree, pass the Fundamentals of Engineering, optionally get another degree, work professionally for a number of years, apply to take the PE exam, take the 8-hour PE exam, if you're lucky enough to pass (most don't), you now have your Professional Engineering license in that state (only) and can sign/stamp documents and plans.
Software Engineering: n/a
Comment Re:Finally! (Score 1) 137
s/can't/won't/g
When it comes down to it - all that matters is the results. I don't care WHY you won't do it. That you won't do it is all that matters to me.
There, I fixed that for you.
