oz.net · Domains · Slashdot Mirror

Re:Putting it in perspective by Xybot · 2006-09-27 10:40 · Score: 1 · on Space Elevator vs Wildlife

I disagree, I believe a much more achievable short term solution for getting large amounts of materials into space, would be to start investing in Railguns/Massdriver technology:

http://www.oz.net/~coilgun/theory/electroguns.htm

Re:The Minutes Of The Meeting by reconn · 2005-11-16 06:54 · Score: 1 · on US Keeps Control of the Internet

Here's to another 200 years of "well enough."

important flash? by ASLayerAODsk · 2005-06-18 09:18 · Score: 1 · on All Your Base Are Turned Five

so..did someone summon the coinbahd??? *how old is this?* http://www.oz.net/~will/adventures_of_coin_bird/co inbirdflash.html

Re:Look at the possibilities! by IO+ERROR · 2005-06-08 19:31 · Score: 4, Interesting · on Rail Guns Closer to Reality

No, I can't really see any easy beneficial (which is, I guess, to say "non-military") applications for this tech, unless you can tell me how this could aid in space exploration (a means of launching spacecraft, maybe?)

Powering spacecraft or launching cargo or many other things...

BUSHFERATU! by Anonymous Coward · 2005-05-09 15:04 · Score: -1, Troll · on ITunes Music Store launches in 4 More Countries

Bushferatu!

Bushferatu! by Anonymous Coward · 2005-05-06 16:35 · Score: -1, Offtopic · on From Carnivore to Herbivore

Bushferatu!

Bushferatu! by Anonymous Coward · 2005-05-06 16:23 · Score: 0 · on The Sharpest Ever Global Earth Map

Bushferatu!

Bushferatu! by Anonymous Coward · 2005-05-06 16:21 · Score: 0 · on HP Deletes Negative Corporate Blogger Comments

Bushferatu!

It's all part of the plan... by Anonymous Coward · 2005-01-21 17:01 · Score: 0 · on Sun Releases Largest Radiation Storm in 15 Years

Thank You, ...

Re:Creationism Bashing by EllisDees · 2005-01-14 04:53 · Score: 1 · on Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional

>Sadly, scientists view the Grand Canyon and erroneously claim that millions of years of irrigation led to its creation. Why couldn't it have been a world-wide flood?

Would a fast-moving deluge form these? This picture was taken upstream of the grand canyon. Can you even think of a realistic scenario where these extremely twisty canyons could form under flood conditions?

Fire Hose Justice by handy_vandal · 2004-12-19 04:05 · Score: 1 · on 6-Month Sentence for NASA Cracker

"It would be like clearing a sidewalk full of spectators with a fire hose so you can walk through it," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Nyhus.

Which is fine, as long as Uncle Sam is holding the fire hose, and rioting citizens are taking the splash -- and not the other way around.

-kgj

OS X Still Incorrectly Draws Portait Image Preview by dnahelix · 2004-08-09 20:45 · Score: 2, Interesting · on Apple Releases 10.3.5

When the 'show icon preview' box is checked in the 'Show View Options'
pane, the preview icon for images with a portrait aspect
ratio (taller than it is wide) are incorrectly drawn.

View an image of it happening here.

This is a screen shot of two folders I made.
Each one has a set of images that are named to match their size
(in pixels).
'show icon preview' is on for both of these folders.
The icon size is set to 128 pixels.

As anyone can see, the landscape images have correct previews,
but the portrait images get smaller. It appears the more narrow
the image is, the smaller the preview.
It is not using it's 128x128 icon space.
The 8 x 128 image is so narrow, it's preview icon disappears altogether!

I've written Apple and sent them the link... *sigh*

I'm sick of all my portrait images having tiny thumbnails!
10.3.5 - Bug Still There!

OS X Still Incorrectly Draws Portait Image Preview by dnahelix · 2004-08-09 20:45 · Score: 2, Interesting · on Apple Releases 10.3.5

When the 'show icon preview' box is checked in the 'Show View Options'
pane, the preview icon for images with a portrait aspect
ratio (taller than it is wide) are incorrectly drawn.

View an image of it happening here.

This is a screen shot of two folders I made.
Each one has a set of images that are named to match their size
(in pixels).
'show icon preview' is on for both of these folders.
The icon size is set to 128 pixels.

As anyone can see, the landscape images have correct previews,
but the portrait images get smaller. It appears the more narrow
the image is, the smaller the preview.
It is not using it's 128x128 icon space.
The 8 x 128 image is so narrow, it's preview icon disappears altogether!

I've written Apple and sent them the link... *sigh*

I'm sick of all my portrait images having tiny thumbnails!
10.3.5 - Bug Still There!

Linux Users! Check it out! by dnahelix · 2004-05-28 04:27 · Score: 1 · on Flash 7 for Linux Released

DNA's Flash Site

Now You Can Look At My Site! by dnahelix · 2004-05-27 19:01 · Score: -1, Troll · on Flash 7 for Linux Released

Shameless Plug

Re:Harddrives can be pretty versatile by marcansoft · 2004-05-09 09:47 · Score: 1 · on Build A Stereo From an Old Hard Disk

OR, make a motor out of the magnets. I haven't actually, but I opened up a motor with a HDD-like magnet, played 12V though it, wow, did it spin fast.

Make sure they don't get close to your TV or CRT monitor though... I onde got a _normal_ magnet too close--it took about a month of on/demagnetize/off/wait cool down/repeat each day for it to go. Better not try a supermagnet.

Also, they can be used for building a magnetic levitation device.

Re:Additional Photos by fucksl4shd0t · 2004-04-25 19:46 · Score: 1 · on OO.org Selects Its Own Sea Bird

Isn't that one of the guys from this band?

entirely computer generated music... by donutz · 2004-01-26 09:56 · Score: 2, Interesting · on Yamaha Releases Singing Synthesis Software

You clearly don't understand. This is the last piece in the puzzle of completely eliminating musicians. We have had a drum machine to replace you for a while, electronic instruments and MIDI.

Now we can finally get rid of these whiny musicians, always complaining about "I need to feed my family" and "I'm a professional and should be paid like one."

Close...this is just the piece of the puzzle that gets rid of those money-grubbing vocalists. Combine this latest development with a computer composition engine and we won't need any musicians at all!

Re:the next economic boom by Thing+1 · 2003-10-22 09:48 · Score: 1 · on Robot Sales Are Exploding

The unemployable [...] will probably come up with fantastic artwork that would never have been created had they been spending 8 hours a day at McDonald's. That's a shame, because art is one of those of things robots can't build, and may never be able to build.

Computers create poetry, art, and music. (Scroll to the bottom, then go back up a couple pages for the sample MIDI links -- or search for "sample midi output".) There's also listenable Mandelbrot music.

Perhaps it's not Wordsworth, Dali, or Pink Floyd, but it can only get better.

(Some of the music from the first link reminds me of Ray Lynch's work.)

In case of /.ing... by n0nsensical · 2003-07-18 13:24 · Score: 1 · on Build Your Own Gauss Pistol

...which seems to be taking place as we speak...
Link to more theory than you probably care to know
More Prototypes
Links to more than more than you probably care to know
Barry's Coilgun Design Site

Re:Quality by shepd · 2003-07-11 22:05 · Score: 2, Informative · on Digital Domesday Defies Doom

>whereas IIRC the resolution of laserdisc is only somewhat better than VHS and not as good as DVD.

Laserdisc stores infinite horizontal resolution, and carries a full NTSC (or PAL, or whatever you like) signal, which, if done properly, ensures most of the 525 (or 625) lines of resolution are on a disc without laser rot. According the the FAQ it's actually 420 lines, but since they are 100% wrong on the resolution of DVD (500 lines is NOT a standard NTSC DVD resolution and won't play back on a great number of players, PAL or NTSC, *ONLY* 480 is compatible, *NO* other vertical resolution is supposed to be playable), and they can't make up their minds about LD resolution (it also suggests 482 lines), I doubt it's validity on these measurements.

Knowing now that laserdisc and DVD vertical resolutions are virtually identical, and knowing that laserdisc stores more horizontal information, we seem to see that laserdisc is superior. However, being an analog composite signal, it has the usual drawbacks, such as poor chroma separation, noise, and quality -- the effect of all depends highly on your equipment (modern comb filters are nearing perfection) and disc quality (laser rot, scratches, etc).

But, balanced with the obvious MPEG artifacts found in crappily encoded DVDs, it can be a tossup. I'd probably take the DVD anyways, because there's a lot more tangible features it has over LD (portability and ubiquity being two big ones).

SWAMPFLY!!! by dnahelix · 2003-03-27 06:31 · Score: 1 · on Flash Applications That Can Be Used Online and Off

SWAMPFLY

Re:Video Game engines by sQuEeDeN · 2003-03-04 15:51 · Score: 1 · on Quake II Mods for Engineering Students

Well, the physics in counter-strike suck, but the physics engine in Halo, love it or leave it, is pretty good.

Don't believe me? check out the Halo Warthog Jump!
I'm not even kidding, they used massive amounts of grenades to play with ballistic trajectories.
The video is pretty funny tooo ..hrm, seems to be a bit slow today.

If you liked getting in a locomotive ... by The+AtomicPunk · 2002-12-03 07:25 · Score: 2, Informative · on The Evolution Of The Cost-Effective TrainCam

I strongly suggest you visit the Portola Railroad Museum (http://www.oz.net/~samh/frrs/)
where you can not only get in, but learn to OPERATE a locomotive for an hour for $100. It's DAMN FUN. :)

WBEM/CIM (DMTF) by bgins · 2002-08-07 19:27 · Score: 5, Informative · on WBEM/CIM (DMTF) Anyone?

That's a good question. I don't know its current status as far as availability, interoperability and level of implementation.

For those who have never heard of WBEM, it was an initiative to provide a framework for cross-platform management of machines.

WBEM = Web Based Enterprise Management
CIM = Common Information Model
DMTF = Distributed Management Task Force

WBEM comes in different flavors based on whose implementation on whose platform:

SBLIM = IBM's "Standards Based Linux Instrumentation for Manageability" (Open-Source)
WMI = Microsoft's "Windows Management Instrumentation"

Each implementation of WBEM consists of services which expose some core set of platform/application/host-specific objects via a (theoretically) platform-independent CIM object.

M$ had some sample scripts in the resource kit at one time, but the best link I can find is this. (One of these scripts found its way into Knowledge Base article Q271362; it gives you the short names of services so that you can start and stop services from a W2K command line or script; my version is here).

There seems to be a WBEM implementation for Solaris as well in JIRO, but my guess is that it's a small subset of CIM for managing storage devices.

I would recommend seeing what SW is out there from Computer Associates, Tivoli, and similar places that is "cross platform", particularly ones that might be MMC-based, or best yet that say they use WBEM/WMI/..., and get a trial version to see how interoperable it really is. Then decide how much functionality you need, and whether it's already hardwired into the implementations for your platforms or whether you want to buy something or implement it yourself.

Why go small? by moldar · 2002-07-09 06:00 · Score: 1 · on Alternative-Fuel Vehicle Recommendations?

I was at a parade for the 4th of July and in the parade was an Elecric Porsche! This is a link to another person and their experiences.
So, why not go for the best?
No - I don't know how much Oomph the vehicle keeps

In the future... by leighklotz · 2002-05-08 08:07 · Score: 3, Funny · on New Lighting Technology To Wipe Out Wi-Fi Access?

When I was a kid, I had a set of encyclopedias of the sort that were parodied in Science Made Stupid a wonderful book if you don't have it.

Anyway, one illustration that stuck with me was a drawing of a man at home at a desk, reading a book. In the background are baseboard radiators with little squiggly lines coming out of them. The caption reads "In the future we will save energy in home heating by using microwave radiation to heat, people but not the furniture." This article on microwave lighting reminds me a little of that picture.

Re:Costs by TheDigitalOne · 2002-01-31 05:24 · Score: 1 · on Artwork from Ancient Atari History

Costs - not too bad these days, most of the "classics" can be had for between $500 and $1000 depending on condition. According to KLOV the current top 10 collectible games are:

1. Pac-Man

2. Galaga

3. Donkey Kong

4. Star Wars

5. Ms. Pac-Man

6. Dig Dug

7. Asteroids

8. Defender

9. Tron

10. Tempest (tie)

10. Centipede (tie)

Of course those aren't the ones I have in MY game room at home (old photos, the collection has changed quite a bit since then!), I currently have Tempest, Star Wars, Joust, Centipede, Rampart, Asteroids Deluxe, Battle Zone, Donkey Kong and a couple of pinball machines.

The real challenge isn't acquiring the games, it is keeping them up and running, after 20-30 years they take a certain amount of maintenance to keep running.

Re:rape by Anonymous Coward · 2002-01-20 04:19 · Score: 0 · on Review: Black Hawk Down

The Belgians got into it too.

SCIENCE MADE STUPID by gwizah · 2001-08-27 09:02 · Score: 3, Informative · on Science And The Premature Press Release

For further reading into this and other unexplained phoenomena concerning scientific research may I suggest: SCIENCE MADE STUPID

Why Covad? by chuckw · 2001-02-09 04:17 · Score: 1 · on DSL Woes

When I called Covad a year ago asking about DSL, they offered me less bandwidth at a higher cost than my CLEC *and* they said they'd take three times longer get it installed. Thanks but no-thanks. I ran down the offer QWest gave me with the Covad operator and asked her to explain why I should go with Covad over QWest. She was quiet for a second and then piped in with their service level guarantee. The SLG basically says I'm entitled to a porportional amount of my subscription cost back for any downtime. My response was BFD.

I went with QWest for my local loop and chose a different company to be my ISP. In the last year I haven't seen a single outage! I pay less and get more bandwidth and couldn't be happier.
--
*Condense fact from the vapor of nuance*
25: ten.knilrevlis@wkcuhc

Re:PGPSDK by IngramJames · 2001-01-24 18:42 · Score: 1 · on Where Can I Find Beautiful Code?

It's also a great example of how NOT to provide documentation. All the functions are listed, all the options are shown, but...

1)In places the documentation is simply innacurate (p169 "keyCount indicates the number of keys required to decrypt the message that are not currently available, and these are identified by keyID in the referrenced keyIDArray" should read "keyCount shows how many keys the message was originally encrypted to, regardless of how many of these are in the currently open keyring. Period.")

2) There is a tiny amount of sample code which shows the most basic functions. Everything else is left to your imagination and trial and error...

You want to see good code..? Check out:
http://www.oz.net/~srheller/dpgp/index.html which shows you how to use the API... It's in Delphi, laid out nicely, with nice comments.

</flame PGP SDK>

James
---------------------------

Finally... a story where this is *not* offtopic... by Anonymous Coward · 2000-05-19 20:38 · Score: 5 · on Oxford Yanks Student Page Over Spoof DeCSS

and I'm asleep at the keyboard. Doh!

Oh well... here it is.
Add your own, and spread this far and wide:

This announcement brought to you by the DeCSS Polar Bear.

Time for Slashdot to take a stand... by Anonymous Coward · 2000-04-05 03:12 · Score: 4 · on MPAA Files Another Injunction Against 2600

The following is a list of all the mirrors from the 2600 site.

Selectavision? New age punks. Recall DiscoVision! by Anonymous Coward · 2000-01-21 13:20 · Score: 0 · on RIAA Sues MP3.com

That's right, well before RCA ever put stylus to plastic, the DiscoVision sarted by the tiny unknown Japanese company, Pioneer, together with MCA, released DiscoVision in 1974! Well before LaserDisc, well before NeedleVision. It was a collosal failure! but the first video on disc system.

Re:Genius or crazy scientist? by Tackhead · 1999-09-17 18:42 · Score: 4 · on I Am Not Doctor Strangelove

Genius, bar-none.

How crazy was Project Chariot? Consider the fact that Bikini Atoll is now one of the best sites for skin diving and sport fishing on the planet. (Read that as "lots of shipwrecks in pristine condition" and a nearly-undisturbed environment for the past 40 years.) The most serious radiological contaminant on Bikini is Cs-137, and the main reason it's a problem is because the local vegetation picks it up in place of potassium. It's a land problem, not a sea problem. Since a putative Alaskan harbor isn't a likely site for crop-growing, and since it would have been excavated with high-yielding thermonuclear devices designed to maximize explosive yield and minimize heavy radionuclide production, the residual radiation levels around the site would have dropped to habitable levels relatively quickly. (Of course, whether it would have cooled off in time to be economically viable compared to conventional construction, or even whether or not a harbor would have benefited the Alaskan economy is a question for economists, not physicists :)

IMHO the best use for nuclear explosions would have been Project Orion; a nuclear pulse engine. Another cool project killed by the ignorance of the public when it comes to things nuclear.

Teller has every right to be bitter. It appears from the article that many people are unable to separate the man from the device he helped build. In an age in which the public is so frightened of the word "nuclear" that they argue to ban space probes like Cassini due to their RTGs, and in which people prefer the cyanide in apricot pits to chemotherapy "because it's the natural way to fight caner", it's not surprising that Teller's vision of the application of technology to build a better world is viewed as hubris, and his contributions are held in low esteem.

Back to nukes. Anyone interested in the history of atomic weaponry should consider a visit to the National Atomic Museum in New Mexico. The timing is great - the first weekend of October also marks the date on which White Sands Missile Range opens up the Trinity Site to the general public, allowing tours of the site of the first fission explosion.

Finally - whatever your opinions on the horror of the bomb's use - the physics behind it was still beautiful. Anyone wanting more detailed information on the design is highly encouraged to read Carey Sublette's Nuclear Weapons FAQ - a 14-part document also available at the FAS High Energy Weapons archive.

Re:He's dead Jim by rcw-work · 1999-06-11 06:26 · Score: 1 · on The root of all eBay's troubles

heh, either invasion, or something resembling this scenario (sung to the tune of "Going The Distance" by Cake):

http://www.oz.net/~rcw/deleted.the.data base

Slashdot Mirror

Domain: oz.net

Comments · 37