Posts by Armando 123

Re: A bit off topic

"Microsft R&D South"? That's what the MS engineers called it in the not-too-recent past. (Might still, for all I know.)

Re: Hang on a cotton picking minute.....

There is much in what you say, Piloti, but at least in a free society you get to choose how you end up with no money at the end of the month. But in a communist dictatorship, like China or Boston, you have no rights.

Still, at least the student is learning a useful skill, unlike our "social media" intern.

Re: On upgrades: Well I have to give it to Apple

"Yes, Apple may do better with updating their products but it isn't like they have a large product line to support."

Which, from the business side, makes one heck of a lot of sense.

Re: What a douchebag...

Hold on, keep in mind that Apple Store employees deal with a lot of people who know nothing about the guts/inards/workings of computing thingies. When they start talking to me, I'll politely interrupt with an "Excuse me, I'm a Unix and Oracle developer", at which point comes the "ah, okay" and more technical explanation.

OTOH, Best Buy is honey-badger-like in its not caring ... though the worst was CompUSSR.

Re: Vejur

If it involves a young Persis Kimbata, I'm for it!

Re: Give it 5 years and there will be a rare earth glut

Spot on. People react quickly to profits & prices, but what happens is that SO many people will react that the manufacturers will use less or alternates, while producers will mine everything to get it ... and soon there is a glut on the market.

It was ever so. Anyone else remember the OPEC embargos of the 70s? All the non-OPEC nations started pumping out all they could because the prices of oil and gas went up. What's more, the members of the OPEC cartel did the same, though they had signed an agreement not to. In addition, the price initially went up so people cut back uses where they could ... and, well, see above.

Re: Failed ideas

Yeah, because the iPad is, um, wait, Baldur's Gate is coming out for the iPad?

#include "emily_littella.h"

Nevermind.

Nearby supernova

No kidding; a nearby supernova would be exciting and interesting, but so is a war ...

Re: So what is the tax rate for IE6?

Or perhaps "If you still use IE6, you can't afford it."

Re: Gun ownership.

Um, religious folk do fall under the banner loonies.

Huh

"What's wrong with socialist victories? To hell with poverty!!"

Uh, I'm guessing you've not noticed how socialism and poverty go hand in hand. #empiricalevidence

Benjamin Franklin was the first to point this out, before socialism had a name. He was a well-respected scientist and businessman before the American Revolution. In 1770, IIRC, he visited The Royal Society in London and was an honored guest, the great scientist from the colonies, and all that.

He was talking with some of the Society members and one who had been to North America commented that, in Britain proper, they treat their poor much better. Franklin responded, "Ah, I wondered why you had so many of them."

Re: his own cat? is that even legal?

This could only be better if the cat were still alive #dogperson

Re: WTF is economic espionage?

My father worked for a heavy-industry manufacturer and, in the 80s and 90s, foreign "businessmen" who pretended not to understand English were sometimes given tours of manufacturing facilities. They were generally engineers or technologists, and the company quit granting the tours once they realized what was up.

Re: I wonder what they saw that they interpreted as a "red crucifix"

Graham, you are probably right; the aurora borealis would cover the facts and explain the descriptions. That would make high levels of solar activity the likely (though not definite) cause.

Then again, I seem to recall that the years in the ASC cannot always be taken literally, as events and years were made to fit a pattern. The order is probably valid, but the exact years might not be reliable in all cases. I read that years ago, though, so maybe they have been determined to be reliable.

Re: We look at the tablet and we think it's going to fail.

MS might have done the tablet first (or at leat before Apple). Things seemed to be heading tabletward as the tech got more affordable. However, MS viewed it as an oversized PDA. Apple figured out how to make a tablet a proper ly useful device (within certain definitions of usefulness).

"it was only a matter of time before they nicked the idea of telling you to shut up and do what you're bloody told."

Oh, MS have been doing that for YEARS.

Re: Odd that they didn't choose another OS

Neither Larry Ellison nor the IRS would cut them a deal.

Re: Mars Bar fried in mineral oil?

Ever been to a state fair in the US? You will immediately feel good about yourself, for one thing.

I will say that some of the things sound disgusting and while not my choice of food, are tasty. I had a nibble of a fried Snickers and it was good. (Of couse, that one bite gave me my daily calorie allowance.) Heck, Simona de Silvestro, a Swiss driver in Indycar and hardly a sterotypical state fair type, has developed a taste for corn dogs after a trip to a state fair.

Re: Zuck will spend most of that money, however, on a gigantic tax bill.

Because the tax rate will be > 50% for federal, state, and local taxes, plus he'll have to hire an army of accountants and they don't work for free.

Re: GitMeMyShootinIrons

Perhaps, to paraphrase P.G. Wodehouse, when you start with a baby like that, you don't need to drop him on his head.

Re: One of you, folks, is in great danger

"Oh jeez, yes let's port every application to be a website. Goodbye consistent UI and multiple monitors."

I hear what you're saying, but there are big differences between what works best among, say, Eclipse and Photoshop and a POV racing game. Granted, there are things that SHOULD be consistent ... anyone who changes CTRL-C, -V, and -X (s/CTRL/CMD/g if $apple) should be shot, slowly and painfully ... but obviously they are different applications doing different things for different reasons.

Re: 'Toyoto' brand valued more than 'Mercedes Benz' ???

Spoken like someone who's never driven a Mercedes ... or had his Toyota recalled for brake issues.

Just sayin'.

Seriously, we're in the market for a new car and someone suggested a certified pre-owned BMW. I can honestly say a one-year-old CPO 328i that I drove, at $30,000, is a better car than any other new $30,000 car I've ever driven.