


Forgot your password?

Comment: Re:youmail (Score 4, Insightful) 234

by _anomaly_ (#48663349) Attached to: The Slow Death of Voice Mail
Exactly this! If you've got voicemail, take the courtesy to listen to it before calling someone back. If someone has voicemail, I'm going to assume it's for a purpose: so I can leave information of lower importance, assuming you'll get it eventually. If you're going to break this social contract, and you can't be bothered to check your own voicemail before calling someone back, then disable your voicemail already!

Comment: Re:It's too bad, really (Score 1) 223

by _anomaly_ (#48377757) Attached to: Overbilled Customer Sues Time Warner Cable For False Advertising
I think you're onto something here.

How many times do you think there has been a legitimate lawsuit that should be filed and tried but never saw the light of day or was seen to the end because the plaintiff didn't have the resources to keep it funded to the point they had their day in court?
I suspect it's a lot.

Make all lawyers like public defenders... paid for through taxes, with bonus incentives for winning cases or something. So, when a lawsuit is filed, both the plaintiff and the defendant get assigned a lawyer, or lawyers.

But, IANAL and my knowledge of the justice system and how lawsuits work is very limited, to be honest.

Comment: Re:This is related (Score 2) 294

by _anomaly_ (#48269271) Attached to: Ebola Forecast: Scientists Release Updated Projections and Tracking Maps

"Testing negative" and "no symptoms" is essentially meaningless in this context.

Sorry, but no, it's not meaningless. Do the current test methods provide a definitive answer as to whether or not someone is infected with the virus? No, the current methods are difficult and prone to cross-contamination and human error. However, you're forgetting that the general consensus is that someone infected is not considered to be contagious until they're symptomatic. Therefore "no symptoms" carries a lot of meaning.

Frequent, early testing is useful for early diagnosis if she contracts the disease. But the fact that she has tested negative doesn't say anything about whether or not she needs to be quarantined.

Wow. So you're saying that people should be quarantined without any evidence of infection? Or maybe you think that anyone who has traveled to Africa should be quarantined? That's a severe misuse of public health care resources and would be severely detrimental to our ability to keep the disease from spreading in the U.S.

And FYI, I'm not opposed to any form of quarantine, but doing so only with circumstantial evidence would be a Bad Thing.

Comment: Re:my thoughts (Score 1) 372

by _anomaly_ (#48220747) Attached to: NY Doctor Recently Back From West Africa Tests Positive For Ebola

These are people who take all available precautions, realize there is still a danger, and still try to save lives. These people are heroes.

No doubt. I think some of the posters above need to look up altruism, and realize that some people in fact exhibit altruistic traits, to the benefit of everyone.

Comment: Re:I've gotten 4 (Score 1) 210

by _anomaly_ (#47890585) Attached to: Turning the Tables On "Phone Tech Support" Scammers

I haven't gotten any of these calls either. I'm not saying that I want these calls to start coming in, but I'd sure have some fun with it if they did.

So, I wonder. I only have a cell phone... are those that are receiving these calls on a regular basis only getting them on land lines, or am I just lucky to not be getting them on my cell phone?

Comment: Re:Not the usual way science is done (Score 1) 74

by _anomaly_ (#47871325) Attached to: Reanalysis of Clinical Trials Finds Misleading Results

Drugs go through four phases of clinical trials, as required by the FDA.

That being said, the whole clinical trial process to get a drug approved by the FDA is pretty messed up. From how pharmaceutical companies are involved, how patients are (are not) qualified to participate, how adverse events aren't necessarily properly documented, the list goes on.

Comment: Re:A few issues with this... (Score 2) 595

by _anomaly_ (#47749477) Attached to: New Nail Polish Alerts Wearers To Date Rape Drugs
You keep asking for sources about whether or not compromises were made in testing accuracy to get it in the form of nail polish. I assumed you were just being lazy, because how could there not be a more in-depth article out there on something that's getting so much attention. Well, after a bit of searching, it appears you probably weren't being lazy... I couldn't find anything out there in the form of details. Maybe the detection rate isn't so great... or (god forbid) they're having difficulty with false positives or false negatives.

Comment: Re:definition is clear (Score 1) 306

by _anomaly_ (#47650047) Attached to: New NSA-Funded Code Rolls All Programming Languages Into One
The phrase "programming language" is so vague that it's wide open for interpretation. That's why I'm not going to say you're wrong, which was my first inclination, but simply disagree with you.

My definition of a programming language is that which is compilable into machine-readable form.

Now you're going to say, "HTML can be compiled into machine-readable form, it's displayed on your screen, isn't it?!". Yes, the content that originated from HTML (and others) is displayed on your screen, but that's because the browser is interpreting the HTML and then displaying it. Like someone else already responded to you and said, HTML is data, or more specifically structured content.

An analogy that may help distinguish HTML (and CSS and the like) from what I consider programming languages would be to take printing a certificate using a word processor. The words and images you insert into the word processor isn't a "programming language". It's a "template" which is used by the printer in order to display the content (on paper), just like browsers that use the HTML to display the content (on the screen).
HTML tags for forms, different types of media, etc. kind of blur the lines a little bit because they instruct the browser to perform certain actions, but that doesn't invalidate the interpretation of HTML as a display template, or data.

Comment: Re:Nonstop comcast rate hikes (Score 1) 250

I know. That's why, just about every year, I have to either change to a similar plan with less benefits or bump up my deductible to keep it from going up much. The only time I didn't have to do that was last year, when I did a "risk re-evaluation", which turned out in my favor.
