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User: GerryHattrick

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Comments · 326

  1. Re:YOU are missing the big picture on Smartphones Driving Violent Crime Across US · · Score: 1

    Living in Western Siberia is just as complex as anywhere else. Less low level crime, because everyone knows who did it, more high-level corruption, because everyone knows who needs it. And don't think 'tribal' societies are easier either - you'd better know whatever holy book they use pretty well, if you'd like to live.

  2. Re:as popular as the clapper! on 80FFTs Per Second To Detect Whistles (and Switch On Lights) · · Score: 1

    On this chilly Spring morning in England it is 234.9V. That's either a British compromise, or yet more evidence that we never did really want to join 'Europe'.

  3. Re:as popular as the clapper! on 80FFTs Per Second To Detect Whistles (and Switch On Lights) · · Score: 1

    We still have ours, but use it only for the Christmas tree lights. It will switch 13A at 240V, but that doesn't seem very safe.

  4. People who are stupidly credulous respond better to authoritative counselling.

  5. Re:Theory on Kenya Police: Our Fake Bomb Detectors Are Real · · Score: 1

    I tested my rods on a road with trenches either side, looking for 'pipes', with a friend who could see down the trenches. Nothing, but at one spot they always crossed even with no pipes evident - eventually we noticed there was a wire running overhead at that point. Not saying it 'works', only - and most likely - that it sensitively discloses the operator's own subliminal suspicions/intuitions. Plus, confirmation bias - how many other trials have I not reported? But in the bomb case, provided the bad guy thinks your fake detector works, you're half way there with all these credulous locals. Dice would be just as good, if he believed you were a wizard. All busted now, of course!

  6. Theory on Kenya Police: Our Fake Bomb Detectors Are Real · · Score: 1

    A pair of L-shaped brass rods, one in each hand, seems to work for 'dowsing'. They swing across each other over a target. But if you clamp the handles in a swivelling frame, they (unsurprisingly) swing only parallel. Hypothesis, the kit indicates only what the operator is subliminally suspecting (just like the traditional stressed hazel twig, or magic pendulum). So you can do a bit of theatre with such things (especially if the credulous believe they work), but it's fake, but/and it's fake for a reason.

  7. Walk the Plank on Ask Slashdot: What Planks Would You Want In a Platform of a Political Party? · · Score: 1

    It's arguable that the rise of 'Party' is a direct cause of the decline of true 'democracy'. We used to vote for individuals we trusted, either as 'representatives' (US) or 'members' -whose outlook we largely shared (UK). Now the effective choice is too often binary between Parties, and the individuals concerned stand no chance of election unless they jump through whichever hoops the party machine requires for selection. How might a simulation look if candidates were forbidden from joining a Party until after an election?

  8. I wouldn't 'Ask' on Oracle Fixes 42 Security Vulnerabilities In Java · · Score: 1

    I really would tell all my country-cousins to update their Java, but I couldn't rely on them to untick the 'Make Ask my default homepage, and add the toolbar' box. That sort of inertia-sell to the ignorant inspires no confidence at all.

  9. Re:Link to torrent on Australian Bureau of Statistics Doesn't Like Direct Downloads of Census Data · · Score: 3, Informative

    Usual reason for doing this with official data is to avoid sensation-seekers 'hotlinking' to specific data without noting the disclaimers, statistical cautions, changes of basis etc. which moderate any interpretation.

  10. Re:Not the technology on FAA Pushed To Review Ban On Electronics · · Score: 1

    AF447, they probably never knew (mostly 1g, apart from the bumpy bits and the swaying they'd been warned about). But takeoff and landing? You really might need your wits about you, if only to help others. Flying is still not magic.

  11. Not the technology on FAA Pushed To Review Ban On Electronics · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Takeoff and landing, you're supposed to concentrate on safety instructions which (very rarely) you might need to think about right soon and seriously. Just... put down the gadget for a moment, and join the real and dangerous world of the paid staff.

  12. Challenge on Seniors Search For Virtual Immortality · · Score: 1

    Interesting to specify a system which relied on multiple targetted questionnaires, textual analysis of e-mail, docfiles etc for style and keywords, tagged pictures, family tree, DNA results even. Usecase being for posterity to interrogate the deceased 'as if' they were still there. Analysis fundamental enough to be extensible as technology evolves. But hear this - it must be open source, because it can only be microseconds before some megacorp or startupgeek patents every obvious feature and makes all posterity proprietary. Could still be a profit-zone, if ingenious questionnaires inputting to the Standard (please) parameters could be placed on sale, and of course the software for Gedcom and DNA export can be as commercial as you like.

  13. In Russia, the Left hates You on Is "Left" Vs. "Right" Hard-coded Into Your Brain? · · Score: 1

    Classification error to identify lefties as 'liberals'. My hypothesis has always been that lefties are 'anti-authority', probably because they resented their father. In Russia, lefties hated the Tsar, now the same kind hate the Communists, or whoever else is in power. Similar everywhere.

  14. Burn the Witches on European Court Finds Copyright Doesn't Automatically Trump Freedom Of Expression · · Score: 1

    Agree with anything the self-important 'ECHR' says, and it's like agreeing to burn witches. Well, in ECHR terms, soaking their feet gently in nice warm water and giving them a pension-for-life as an 'excluded community'. Don't join the nonsense train, use the Comfy Cushions.

  15. Precision pays on Ask Slashdot: How To Convince a Team To Write Good Code? · · Score: 1

    "...we would can..." - seems to be a bug right there.

  16. Ankle blisters on Crowd Funding For Crank Physics · · Score: 1

    Haven't ridden a bike hard since I was young. But I do remember the blisters on the inside ankle joint. Mebbee a canted angle relieves you of that worry, so you can pedal .001 % harder.

  17. Archive on Death of Printed Books May Have Been Exaggerated · · Score: 1

    Quarter of a ton of books in my study, most over 50 years old, reference not fiction, long 'out of print'. e-media won't help. But sometimes I find vital things all mixed up from Google Books or PG scans, and can then buy originals from specialist dealers or Abe Books. Good news for a certain kind of bookseller.

  18. Paper gets read on Campaign To Remove Paper From Offices · · Score: 1

    Ever noticed people no longer read e-mails? They see the first 2 lines, decide to reply later, then when they do their reply is only about what they remember. Best to put any complex text in an attachment - they might even print it and take it seriously. I want a format which cannot be read *unless* it is printed. Ideas?

  19. Re:It's just a big scam to make Windows 9 look goo on Windows 8 Even Less Popular Than Vista · · Score: 1

    I care so much, I checked - actually, it's 95. Try putting anything else on a Libretto 30! It runs Scrabble perfectly from a CD image, and has all her recipes to hand. Two others dual-boot Mint, which is fun and upgrades free and nicely (so far), but people here with things to do click on familiar applications intuitively so they always boot XP instead.

  20. Re:It's just a big scam to make Windows 9 look goo on Windows 8 Even Less Popular Than Vista · · Score: 1

    No real choice here. 6 computers in this house run XP,. the offline kitchen Libretto won't go beyond 98 and there's a netbook that came with Win7 that nobody wants to use, not even visitors. What's my upgrade-path supposed to be? Is it free? So I bought some spare OEM XP keys, which should cover any junk replacements I may need to get, that will 'just work' well enough. 'Singer Sewing Machine' was a great case study at business school (qv).

  21. Freebie on Media Center Key Accidentally Gives Pirates Free Windows 8 Pro License · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just admit that you can't even *give* it away.

  22. Tag-your-ear? on Student Refusing RFID Badge Now Fights Expulsion Order · · Score: 1

    So we went on an expensive Oldies holiday ['vacation'] in very foreign parts. The hotel wanted us to wear yuckie plastic adolescent wristbands to prove our right to unlimited 24-hour booze. Did I hell? - some of us have principles. (Yeah, but it made a great waterproof watchstrap when cut, and the bouncers respected that.)

  23. DG's Graduated Response on Director General of BBC Resigns Over "Poor Journalism" · · Score: 1

    Exemplified by BBC's own programme years ago, if you look up 'The Dirty Fork Sketch'. (Original).

  24. Twitter story, really on Director General of BBC Resigns Over "Poor Journalism" · · Score: 1

    The more interesting fact is that the programme did NOT name the suspect. Its editor trailed an unwise hint on Twitter, and the blogsphere guessed many names, most of them (probably...) wrong. You had to search quite hard to deduce that the unfortunate Peer was in the frame. Now the media politics is overwhelming some scandals that do need reviewing.

  25. Re:Donate to an artist or art class on Ask Slashdot: What To Do With Over 500 Used DIMMs? · · Score: 2

    I had two 1-bit 6-lead toroid memories in clear epoxy. Made them into neat cufflinks. They were stolen in Amsterdam (shouldn't have taken them off)..