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Comment This sounds like an anarchists dream (Score 1) 43

So a well motivated group of people with cans of spray-paint will be able to blind air traffic control in London City? That sounds like a recipe for disaster. And even if that proofs to be near to impossible due to security, it seems rather trivial for that same motivated group of people to just dig up the 3 cables and cut them at the same time. This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

Comment Re:Zero is wrong... (Score 2) 1067

First issue, x/0 mathematically is infinity, not zero. Plus, you want the same exact result across all applications ever? There are certainly times where zero is appropriate, there are also many times when one would want to have some representation of infinity; yet others where this simply indicates an error of some other sort and zero is a valid result.

Actually, mathematics does not define the result of x/0 (except in the extended complex plane or Reimann sphere, the answer there is complex infinity). I also fail to see when zero is an appropriate answer. If an application is asked to divide by zero, any subsequent result that uses the outcome of that division will not be mathematically valid. Surely one can see that the application should stop the calculation and report to the user.

Comment Re:Just another case (Score 1) 506

Seriously? You're worried about the Jews taking over America? What about all the people who call themselves Americans, clearly distancing them from the original population who are classified as Native Americans? They've been an occupying force for ow, I don't know, 300 years? Or was it 400? When are these people gonna do the right thing and return the country to the rightful owners? Sound ridicules? So do you.

Comment Re:I would go if there was a suicide booth (Score 3, Insightful) 453

And why would that be a problem? We're not talking about a temporary experiment setup for fun. The goal is colonization! Looking at all previous colonization efforts (of which the USA is most probably the clearest example) contamination of the local flora and fauna is a certainty. Just look around and count the number of bison's, native americans and horses. As a reference, the continent used to be filled by the first two and devoid of the last (for the last 10.000 years or so of course).

In addition to that, would it not make sense to have the people on Mars search for proof BEFORE they kick the bucket? And when we contaminate the soil in a way that makes it impossible to detect signs of life native to Mars with our current detection techniques, we will have to invent new ones. It's been going on for about 150 years on earth. Hell, we've even found a name for it: Scientific Progress!

Comment Re:Photographer jumps straight to DMCA takedown (Score 1) 667

Well, yea, of course we do. He is a hobby photographer from what I've read. So I think we can safely assume he is not a law expert. He might have used the wrong tool, but from what I gather, he was getting results using that tool. He encountered a lawyer who did not take to kindly to the take-down but did she even bother to find out if he understood how the DMCA had to be used? As a lawyer, she was the perfect person to contact him and educate him on the use of DMCA. Of course, the things Jay Lee posted online could well be a misrepresentation of the truth. He might have gone completely psycho on her. In that case, I would totally agree with her actions. The problem with that belief however is that sites that she uses to communicate with the world paint a very different picture of her personality. This makes the story of Jay Lee very believable. In addition to that, Jay Lee has agreed to take down the material he posted online. Candice Schwager however, has continued to post wild accusations and strange conspiracy theories on her blog making her look even more like a complete nut job. In conclusion, I would like to put forward that your statement ("He is a jerk!") is not supported by the facts found online and I therefore move to strike it from the record :)

Comment Re:How can you quantify the loss? (Score 2) 663

While I am pretty sure that is the question the Hollywood people are asking themselves, I don't agree with the fact that it is the right question. In my opinion, the right question is: "How do we give our movie viewing audience what they want". And given that 80% of the people who downloaded it didn't come from the US, I think that that 80% was so excited about this movie that they didn't want to wait till it was in their local cinema.

In this world where more and more companies are using social media to get a better understanding of who their customers are, Hollywood still sees the world as regions. They try to withhold movies from people who are obviously eager to see them. It's obviously a financial issue, distribution of a movie costs money and world wide distribution through the current channels would probably be to expensive. But what if you'd change to a completely digital distribution system? And then provide all movies through this network so every theatre would have instant access to all movies? Maybe you could determine the selection of movies based on what people around that theatre would actually want to see...

Comment Re:How is this Groupon's problem? (Score 1) 209

So an idiot offered a deal where he lost money. It's not like Groupon set up the deal, decided on the services offered or set the price and number of packages. That was all the photographer's choice, it's not Groupon's job to decide any of that or do an analysis of the deal. Their job is to sell the coupons.

Stores didn't tell Gillette to charge for the razor, they just sold the blades. It's not the store's job to determine if the manufacturer makes money. Groupon is no different.

It kinda is. Well, that is if Groupon wants to stay in business. Imagine you are a business owner and you read that Groupon is selling deals that puts other businesses out of business. That would be bad press for Groupon's target market no? Also, imagine you are one of the buyers of a coupon and you find out that the photographer that is supposed to do your photo-shoot went bankrupt. As a customer you will feel cheated. You might not want to buy another coupon from Groupon. So it's Groupon's problem because, like any business, they most probably strive to provide their customers with good service. With regards to your Gillette comparison, it does not work. Gillette uses a store to sell their product. The store has every right to provide their customers with coupons for both handles and blades. It does not change the price Gillette charges the store for their product.

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