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Comment Re:A jury who doesn't understand the subject matte (Score 1) 223

How is Google Image Search results a "page of Google's own making" any more than any text+url index search result is?

Yes, they cache the images so that you can actually search them but none of the images are first published by Google or originate from Google.
Unless they mean "technically" the thumbnails which is complete bullshit and bogus (the thumbnails are completely analogous to the small context text blurb on text search).
Or maybe they mean the time it takes for Google's spider to find out that that the original images have been taken down and no longer exist and thus need to be removed?

Comment Re:Even if this was true... (Score 1) 1009

You can use the sysprep utility that comes with pretty much every modern version of windows to migrate the same OS install to new hardware just fine, no need to buy another copy.

Windows may suck but this one complaint isn't really valid (well, except you have to waste a lot of time to do it and some things like Office may need to be reinstalled).

Comment Re:Cloning is portrayed as complicated?? (Score 1) 116

https://help.github.com/articles/using-pull-requests works well when you let everyone have their own "fork" but afaik wouldn't work for a single shared repository.

You can also do it the same way you do with subversion though in which everyone has commit/push access to the same repo and just create a lot of branches.

And obviously you can mix the two methods just fine.

Comment Re:It is so common to see it in India. (Score 1) 198

As someone who lives in the south and has gone through a lot of hurricanes I don't think your idea really makes sense.

If you properly prepare for a hurricane then running short of water/food/gas isn't a problem during the period when it would be unsafe to drive around to get those things.
Portable or whole-home generators that already exist make much more sense and are probably cheaper than designing something new to attach to cars.

And quite honestly the only thing people NEED power for in these situations is cooling or heating. Usually there are shelters to help people with this but certainly there could be better solutions (obviously not everyone can afford a generator or even has the space to run one).

In terms of food/water they tend to set up distribution centers with cases of MREs and water if things are bad.
If you have family or friends or neighbors who can't get there themselves then you help them out by getting some for them.
Maybe having neighborhoods set up emergency/disaster teams (kind of like neighborhood watch) to do this would be more efficient but in my experience it's not really an issue. Using the national guard for this is a waste.
However, the south is obviously not as densely populated as new york city so maybe they need to do things differently than typical hurricane country does it. Also, most people in NYC don't own cars so your 'using the car as a home generator' thing wouldn't really help them.

If things are REALLY REALLY bad then you were probably warned to evacuate and should have. Hurricanes aren't like earthquakes.

Comment Re:It's not that it's underpowered... (Score 1) 188

Exactly how did Microsoft "[steal] the rug from under" Nintendo (or even Sony)?

The Wii has still outsold both of the other consoles by a large margin: 97 million Wii/67 million 360/64 million PS3).
I don't know the game sales statistics and I imagine Nintendo loses out there but they certainly aren't weak if they have machines in more living rooms.

I think the tablets stealing the casual gamer market concept is largely overhyped. At best I suspect it's competing with the handheld market.
I'm fairly certain that all three companies have made nice profits from the gaming industry and it would be dumb for any of them to exit the market while that holds true.

Comment Re:What a Load of Bullcrap! (Score 1) 1199

A) In my experience a decent amount of time people don't follow these rules a significant amount of the time. Especially when you go higher up on the employee scale. I know first hand of managers that smoke near doors (against policy) and no one says a thing because they want to keep their job and not make waves.

B) Doctors are a limited resource with limited time. It doesn't matter HOW much you increase insurance premiums for smokers. Smoking increases load on the system and thus it's going to affect other people.
And quite honestly they don't pass those costs off directly to the individual. I doubt the individual would be able to afford insurance then and the insurance companies likely can make more money by spreading the cost out.

C) Smoking is addictive. The GP certainly is if he has to take a smoke break every 2 hours. What happens the day he forgets his cigarettes or runs out? That's not going to impact his work? What about when he has to take more days off of work for sick leave down the line?

I'm not trying to argue for the policy in the article. It's obviously not going to help anyone and will just make more people upset.
But arguing that smoking doesn't hurt anyone but the smoker as the grandparent was trying is inane.

Comment Re:This is bad. (Score 0) 1199

I agree that this poorly implemented (prohibition rarely (never?) works) but you have to remember that smoking is on a totally different scale than riding a motorcycle or even alcohol.

Smoking hurts other people around you and sucks up more resources from the system in terms of cost (it increases insurance prices for everyone, doctors have to spend their very precious time taking care of these people) and because second-hand smoke.

How many children every day are breathing in their parent's smoke? And then have to deal with that parent dying early from smoking-related illness?
Alcoholics might beat you but at least they'll eventually kill themselves without giving you cancer.

I will admit that I am personally biased because I had to watch what happened to my best friend and his mom because of this addiction.

Comment Re:What a Load of Bullcrap! (Score 1) 1199

A) Second-hand smoke hurts other people, not just you. How far from your workplace doorway do you stand when you smoke, hmm?

B) The damage you do to your body with those cigarettes costs other people (people who use health services), your employer (if they subsidize your health insurance), and your doctor time and money that wouldn't have to spend if not for your selfish decision.

C) Is your job allowed to tell you that they won't hire heroin addicts? Are they allowed to fire alcoholics who are drunk at work?

To some degree I agree. If you were using a nicotine vaporizer or something and it didn't impact your work then it is not another person's business.
Likewise if you only smoked at home, had a clause in your insurance that said they wouldn't cover you for smoking-related illness (but covered rehab), and doctors were allowed to just let you die so they could spend their precious time elsewhere then it wouldn't be anyone else's business either.

In practice it's probably dumb to just outright fire smokers, it would make more sense to pay for part of their rehab and make it a requirement to continue working.
And of course they'll likely need something else to help relieve stress.

You're an addict. You need help. I hope that one day you do yourself and your loved ones a service and get help for it.

Comment Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - (Score 4, Informative) 183

Think of a webkit-based instant messaging client and app store mixed together. It keeps your games up-to-date, has really good sale prices, and makes it stupidly easy to play games with friends.

The downside is that there is DRM (many games have to be launched through steam to play them) and it's kind of a pain to play games when offline.
In the past Valve has said that if they were to ever dissolve then they'll release a DRM removal tool.

Comment Re:Ermahgerd 1984! (Score 3, Interesting) 416

And who decides what a "terrorist threat" is? How do we know he wasn't being sarcastic?
A lot of shit gets said on the internet and in real life.

And notice nowhere is the actual quote of what he said posted...

Here are some context quotes by other people though:
z3nmaster69@yahoo.com writes: "Some kid will get killed if he wears one of these in the hood. I'll guarantee that!"
Buzz1158 asks: "When will the first kid be killed for a pair?"

So if he responds to that in a way that says he's "watching kids and did not mind murdering them" then that's not tongue-in-cheek?

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