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CommentsDisplaying rationaldiscourse's 10 most recent comments.

• Tragedy as Father Accidentally Shoots 7-Year-Old Son Outside Penn. Gun Shop

  December 8, 2012 at 5:00pm

  In reply to Hoax And Chains.

  Hmm, how hypocritical. Second amendment for everyone! Except for some…

• Invasion of Privacy? Feds Seek to Make ‘Black Boxes’ Mandatory in All Cars

  December 7, 2012 at 7:36pm

  In reply to Uechi.

  I do not believe the boxes will spy on you. Recording the events of a crash are important for making cars safer in the future. I don’t believe it should be required by law, but it’s pretty clear manufacturers already see the value in such a device, which is why they’ve implemented them without any provocation from the government. The data being recorded was mentioned; normal vehicle metrics as well as probably accelerometers.

  Why is everything a conspiracy?

• Burglary Suspect Calls 911 for Help After Texas Homeowner Pulls a Gun on Him: ‘What the Hell Are You Doing in My House?’

  December 6, 2012 at 10:15pm

  In reply to truthsurfer.

  A sound mentality.

• Texas Student Successfully Defies ‘Total Surveillance State,’ Citing ‘Mark of the Beast’

  November 29, 2012 at 11:42pm

  In reply to rationaldiscourse.

  I’d like to replace the first sentence of my comment with “After reading the article as well as most of its replies, it is clear that the author nor any person writing these comments has taken the effort to learn what RFID actually is and how it works.”

• Texas Student Successfully Defies ‘Total Surveillance State,’ Citing ‘Mark of the Beast’

  November 29, 2012 at 11:36pm

  After reading most of the replies to this article, it is clear that no person writing these comments has taken the effort to learn what RFID actually is and how it works.

  For starters, an RFID chip in an ID badge such as this has a maximum transmission distance of about 3-4 inches. Yes, 3-4 inches. They require a special reader to use because they are not self powered, rather, they need a power source (the RFID reader) to inductively couple with the small antenna they have inside which generates a small amount of power that is enough to allow the chip in the badge to quickly transmit a small amount of static data written to them to the reader supplying the power. This data is usually no more than a unique identifier which generally corresponds (in this case) to a database entry; most medium to large sized businesses use them as keys for doors.

  Because they have no power unless physically held up to a reader, there is no way for them to “track” you. The memory on board is what is known as “One-Time Program” or OTP, meaning it can only be written once, with the aforementioned ID number usually, and afterwards no other data can be written to the device.

  The usage of the device in this case is no different than manually taking attendance in class, only it is much faster.

• eBay Yanks Beck’s Obama Bobblehead ‘Art Project’ Meant to Raise Money for Charity

  November 29, 2012 at 10:46pm

  In reply to Xiccarph.

  eBay is a publicly traded company.

• Dad Uses Half-Naked Pictures of His Own Daughter to Sell His 1977 Datsun on eBay — And Isn’t Sorry (UPDATE: Now Says He’s Not Her Father)

  November 29, 2012 at 2:44pm

  In reply to 48Straights.

  @ celestialfire

  What this appears to be is a company that has put together a business that operates within the margins of the $30 installation reimbursement and the $10 monthly discount on services provisioned in the Lineline legislation. I would commend them on their ability to cut costs significantly enough to make such a business capable of operating. Of course, they offer additional services (data, more minutes, more texting) at a premium over the minimal baseline service.

• Dad Uses Half-Naked Pictures of His Own Daughter to Sell His 1977 Datsun on eBay — And Isn’t Sorry (UPDATE: Now Says He’s Not Her Father)

  November 28, 2012 at 10:47pm

  In reply to 48Straights.

  @ DB321

  I’m curious where this whole “Obama Phone” thing. Is there any other evidence other than one silly YouTube video? I believe there are a couple programs that help low income individuals get phones, but they are far from “free phones”. I think the “Link-Up” program allots about $30 with an additional max of $200 in the form of an interest free loan for one year for the installation. The other part of the program is called “Lifeline” provides up to a $10 discount on your monthly bill. This service is in some instances applicable to cell phones because cell phones can be cheaper than land lines in a lot of areas. Both of these programs really only help wireless companies. Both of these programs were apart of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

  I think if there was such a program for free cell phones, I would be able to find some hard information on it.