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Messages - barney [ switch to compact view ]

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126
Living Room / Re: Peer Review and the Scientific Process
« on: October 22, 2013, 03:25 PM »
there are many abuses in practice

And that was my attempted point.  While I'm aware of the [stricter] meaning of the term, I seldom [when actually published] see it in action.  The petty jealousies of academia far surpass anything to be found in the commercial [real?] world, and ofttimes colour committee judgements.  At the end of the day, that formal process devolved to the personal judgements of the adjudicators, not all of whom are impartial and non-judgemental.  Same thing applies to the corporate world, although the motivations there [usually] tend to be a bit more clear.  Been, unfortunately, involved in both worlds, but when I discovered that my compatriots did not try as hard [as me] to clear their thoughts of possible prejudices and biases, and since I had neither the resource(s) nor the power to enforce such, I relegated the process to my mental scrapheap, where it has remained for the last decade or so.  Still read 'em, when available, but no longer place any credence in 'em.

127
Living Room / Re: Peer Review and the Scientific Process
« on: October 21, 2013, 04:40 AM »
Well, there's a large part of the problem. In a world where 2 incomes are often needed for a family to survive, it isn't really justifiable to blame people for prioritizing putting food on the table and trusting so-called "experts" vs. verifying data themselves.

Then again, if you don't have the time to check at least at a basic level, you might want to consider just keeping your trap shut.

Been following this thread for a while, but I must admit to a[n apparent] total lack of understanding.  Since any review is a peer review (some peers being greater (or lesser) than others, of course, and some being councils rather than individuals), we must accept such reviews at face value or perform the reviewed activity/action/report ourselves.  Shamefully, I'm not qualified to review certain nuclear/bio-molecular/physical reports myself (missed those particular days in class, donchano), but, being of [somewhat] rational mind, I do have the capacity of judgement according to mine own particular/weird assumptions and assessments.

That condition, presumably, exists in all reasoning beings - at least to some extent.

Hence, what is the problem with peer review, per se?  Bogus judgements?  See 'em all the time.  This seems nothing more than a complaint against human nature.

128
Living Room / Re: Mentioning a Site Could Be Criminal Now
« on: September 08, 2013, 11:19 PM »
Sigh... It might just be shorter to list what doesn't get you sent to jail. :(

Bizarre when information is a crime.

Is there any such [politically acceptable] list?!?

129
Screenshot Captor / Re: Screenshot Capture Benefits
« on: September 08, 2013, 05:31 PM »
OK, I thought i was through here, but I cannot not respond to this.  Screenshot Capture is the most complex capture program I've seen on the Internet, and I was here before there was a World Wide Web.  That complexity means two (2) things:  amazing adaptability; study is required (anyone remember matrix math in high school?).  That darned complexity that ya hafta study means an adaptability to purpose - whatever yours might be - that simply does not exist in other examples of the genre that have come across my screen.  And, then, there's the horrendous  :-\ support issue(s).  Someone makes a request, and it's usually fulfilled within a day or two (2).  Sometimes longer, but very seldom.  I've not dealt with any other software, of any kind, with that kind of developer response.  (Sure, it may exist - but I haven't been exposed to it  :o.)  As long as DC and mouser are here, this will continue to be cock o' the walk.

130
You dislike being pointed at wrong assumptions?

No.  I dislike trolls, your antagonistic approach.  And, those assumptions are yours, not mine.  I'll have no more to do with you, sir or madam.  Fare thee well.

131
My personal agreement needs refinement, which is something the staff here should care about. According to your profile, you are not a staff member but a random spammer with an ugly penguin in the badges. Now what? Good night.

Perhaps I missed something, but just what does your personal agreement have to do with matters?  This is something that was decided, without your personal approval, I'll grant, but you are not a staff member either.  If you don't like things, leave.  The rest of us can do without trolling.  This ain't your personal ballpark ... the rest of us play here, too.  We'd prefer to do it without constant contention.

132
People!  The management announced a new area.  Instead of kvetching about it and trying to microdefine it to death, why not post something relevant?!?  You got Linux?  Post Linux-ish.  You got BSD?  Post BSD-ish. You got OS/2?  Post OS/2-ish.  This thread is on page two (2), approaching page three (3), and I've yet to see anything productive posted save for the initial announcement and a few desktops.  Quit trying to micromanage it and start posting.  If you get outside the section parameters, I'm certain that someone will so inform you.  In the meantime, quit trolling.

133
Living Room / Re: Kiss Encryption Goodbye... :*
« on: August 31, 2013, 03:46 PM »
There can be no realistic expectation of privacy in today's world. A longing for it, perhaps, but not a reasonable expectation of it.

In truth, there's been no reasonable expectation of privacy since the sixties.  At least, not to my mind.  (Yeah, I'm paranoid ... my concern is whether I'm paranoid enough.)

134
May I say, sir, that I hold a great deal of respect for your longevity and persistence.  You make me feel young again  :-*.

135
Living Room / Re: Funny Animal Videos
« on: August 25, 2013, 10:06 PM »
I know! I can give him to Microsoft! He can't be as bad as Steve Ballmer, right? : )

Not unless he grows to be a grizzly  :P.

(On second thought, a grizzly on the MS campus might be a benefit  :P :P :P.)

136
Living Room / Re: Funny Animal Videos
« on: August 25, 2013, 06:41 PM »
One of my cats pees on my stuff.
So?  What did you do to piss that kitty off  :huh: :P.  That's usually a tip that said feline is unhappy with management, or at least management's actions of late  ;D ;).

Hint:  you might try a food alternative - that's worked for me in the past  :Thmbsup:.

137
Living Room / Re: Funny Animal Videos
« on: August 25, 2013, 04:23 PM »
Wasn't attacking you, mouser, just the video.  Thirteen (13) cats over the years (fourteen (14) if you count babysitting Baby Daughter's mischief maker from time to time), so I have somewhat of experience with them.  Some were very cuddly, some not so much, some totally hands off.  But I saw - or thought I did - that cat's ears flatten twice.  I like a good cat video as much as the next guy, perhaps more so because of past experience(s), but that video pretty much left me cold.  Call it a matter of personal preference, I guess.

138
Living Room / Re: Funny Animal Videos
« on: August 25, 2013, 04:05 PM »
Sorry, but Dubstep cat borders - ??? - upon cruelty.  And the cat obviously does not enjoy - the ears kinda give that away.  Irresponsible owner, in my opinion.

139
Who knows what deviltry exists in the hearts of DC ... the lurker knows  :P.  And, around here, lurking can be very educational  :Thmbsup:.

(Apologies for the misquote to those of you who recall radio drama  ;).)

140
It's been interesting to read the interchange(s) 'tween Renegade and wraith808, but methinks 40hz hath the right of it.  I've been a practising anarchist, within current governmental and societal restraints, for years - basically, helping others with things I have or can do.  (A few of you know that, btw  ;).)  However, we are constrained to work within the limits imposed by our current society, government notwithstanding.  If something is doable within those limits, all fine and well.  If not, we are damned by our own society, whether we support it or not.  If we have allowed PRISM, et. al., there are naught to blame but ourselves.  Star room conferences will always exist, in any societal configuration - can't prevent them, and rarely able to counter/circumvent them.

In order to make change, we have to work within the current system or overthrow that system.  Overthrow is unlikely in the extreme, but change is possible, however unlikely.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the conversations.

141
Living Room / Re: DonationCoder Recipe Sharing Thread
« on: July 20, 2013, 06:54 PM »
Simple but delicious!

Pasta Bake:
-Stephen66515 (July 20, 2013, 06:41 PM)

Would love to find a way to bake that on ~four (4) inch tostadas - comfort food extraordinaire.

142
Living Room / Re: DonationCoder Recipe Sharing Thread
« on: July 10, 2013, 06:43 AM »
Just use your imagination and whatever you have on hand. If your batter comes out a bit thick with some of these substitutions, add a little water to thin it down. You might even want to take an adventure into using some pureed, cooked vegetables, such as carrots or sweet potatoes.

Take your original ingredient list, diminish by half, replace bananas with carrots, shaved or pureed - I prefer shaved, but it's more work, food processor not withstanding  :-\.  Bake in some mini-loaf pans.  Been doing it for years, and it makes a pleasant change to sweets with coffee.  Flavour, minimal sweet, and complements the taste of the coffee.  Only problem is remembering to mix it the day before - I don' wanna work that hard in the morning for breakfast  :P.  Oh, one (1) other thing ... if you puree the carrots, they don't have to be all that fresh  ;).

143
Every day i have to fight off the urge for candy!
Sugar's a vegetable isn't it?
-cranioscopical (July 09, 2013, 08:21 AM)

Yep - but only if you are bovine!
-Carol Haynes (July 09, 2013, 11:48 AM)
Moooo  ;)

144
A not too funny riff on what might happen someday...

Actually has happened ... got picked up and detained a few days for a misconstrued/misheard comment at an office function.  We're at the point that casual comments can be cause for incarceration for the public good.  Methinks 'tis more for the political good, but then, what do I know, I'm just a mere citizen.

145
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« on: July 06, 2013, 10:08 AM »
Three rabbits, one shot - no problem :)

Er-r-r ... how do you get the rabbits to line up <g,d,r> :P?

146
Living Room / Re: One year on with Windows 7
« on: June 27, 2013, 02:11 AM »
... before I become extinct.

Optimist  :P.

147
Living Room / Re: DonationCoder Recipe Sharing Thread
« on: June 24, 2013, 01:52 AM »
^yum!

148
They WERE smaller 15 years ago. Then they complained that they couldn't stop crime because they were understaffed. They used that as part of their marketing pitch to add more people and hardware.

And they still haven't stopped crime  :( >:( :P!

149
Living Room / Re: Google forbids resale or lending of Glass
« on: June 20, 2013, 07:47 PM »
Congress - now they look as stupid as they sound - should just love the exposure..

Alfred Hitchcock and Les Craven combined could not come up with a scarier picture than a nude congress <shudder />.

Researchers in Japan have come up with a novel way to keep your face out of other people's snapshots taken on digital cameras, smartphones, and possibly Google Glass.

Question in my mind is why did it take so long?  After all, most civilized nations - read uncaring and suspicious of their citizenry - have had some degree of video surveillance in place for quite a while (Can you say, "London?").  Maybe, just maybe, Google is doing us all a favor  :-\ :P :P?

150
Probably irrelevant, but I don't recall voting for anyone since I achieved - acquired? - majority.

[edit] Wouldn't that be pretty much going for the lesser of evils?  If we've gone that far (or are that far gone)  ...

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