Slashdot Mirror


User: Dancindan84

Dancindan84's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
554
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 554

  1. Re:Not sure how standing up would solve anything.. on Switching From Sitting To Standing At Your Desk · · Score: 2

    Yeap. I worked a summer on a sorting line in a recycling facility. Standing still on hard flooring is brutal. Even adding rubber mats didn't help a ton, and good shoes weren't really an option since we needed steel toed boots.

    The thing that helped the most? Dancing. We put on music and danced while we sorted and it was light years better than just standing still.

  2. Re:u can rite any way u want on Is Germany Raising a Generation of Illiterates? · · Score: 1

    Like the above person mentioned, you can use context to determine the correct meaning. 99% of the time, you can assume the person means the former. If you happen to be at Terminus, you can instead assume the latter.

  3. Re:um.... on Mathematicians Use Mossberg 500 Pump-Action Shotgun To Calculate Pi · · Score: 2

    It's just a way for mathematicians to get people to stop asking inane questions during the apocalypse.

    "Can you estimate Pi?"
    "Sure. Hand me that shotgun."

    "Do you know Euler's Number offhand?"
    "Of course. Hand me that bazooka."

    "What's Pythagoras' constant?"
    "Seriously? Do you see a tank around here?" Eventually you get left in peace.

  4. Re:Um, no? on Mathematicians Use Mossberg 500 Pump-Action Shotgun To Calculate Pi · · Score: 1

    Ok, even if I give you that you can cut with a push mower while pushing down with the exact amount of force to just keep the weight off the front wheels, cutting your lawn in a series of circles would mean you have to keep that downward force applied for the entire duration of cutting your lawn. And you'd still get dizzy. The only way that would be acceptable is if you had Yakety Sax playing in the background while you mow and stadium seating for the show.

  5. Re:Um, no? on Mathematicians Use Mossberg 500 Pump-Action Shotgun To Calculate Pi · · Score: 1

    If I was talking to her like a child I would have said, "That's neat" and patted her on the head. I say stuff that's ridiculous and my wife corrects me without talking to me like a child, and vice versa. We can even do it with a little ribbing like I did in this case without getting butt-hurt about it. I actually find it hilarious when it dawns on me that I have one of those, "Oh @#$%, I just said something really stupid and she caught me," moments and I'm glad I'm in a relationship where we can poke a bit of fun at each other and enjoy it.

  6. Re:Um, no? on Mathematicians Use Mossberg 500 Pump-Action Shotgun To Calculate Pi · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I was unclear about that too, but it was easier to point out how ridiculous it was the way I did rather than getting into acceleration and turning velocity vs. straight line velocity.

  7. Re:Um, no? on Mathematicians Use Mossberg 500 Pump-Action Shotgun To Calculate Pi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This reminded me of a story my wife told thinking it made her math teacher sound smart. She said that they sat down and figured out that it was most efficient to mow their lawn in a series of circles rather than in a rectangle or lines like most people do. I facepalmed and she asked me why.

    I responded with something along the lines of, "I'm sure they figured out that mowing in circles is theoretically more efficient, except that most lawn mowers have a finite turn radius that makes it impractical and push mowers can't cut while turning since they have to be lifted."

    "Also, people tend to get dizzy going in circles for more than a few seconds, so unless they employ a ballerina to do their lawn mowing, all they showed it why you don't ask a mathematician to solve an engineering problem."

  8. Re:Um, no? on Mathematicians Use Mossberg 500 Pump-Action Shotgun To Calculate Pi · · Score: 1

    That's what I was thinking. I'm not rain man and I know it to 6 significant digits off the top of my head, which is 6 9's accuracy. Most people estimate it at 3.14, which is still more accurate.

    This just screams of mathematicians pretending to be engineers.

  9. Re:just escape to Madagascar on Racing To Contain Ebola · · Score: 1

    You mean they haven't closed their ports already?

  10. Set up for failure on Ask Slashdot: How To Start With Linux In the Workplace? · · Score: 1

    I'd say that attempting to start it in the workplace on outdated machines with people who've likely been using the same OS for over a decade because they've never been upgraded is the wrong way to go about it. While it is a decent use case for Linux on the desktop, you're also setting it up for failure.

    Showcasing it on decently modern machines and with users who (likely) aren't so entrenched to show that it's capable of competing with a modern OS, and THEN taking the, "Oh, and this will also run on that old crap hardware pretty decently" approach after would be better. Unfortunately that process should have started a year or more ago to be effective.

    At this point I'd agree with most of the others above. Tell your boss he's better off shelling out to upgrade the computers rather than trying to keep the dead walking.

  11. Re:Am I getting old? on Raspberry Pi's Eben Upton: How We're Turning Everyone Into DIY Hackers · · Score: 1

    Honestly I thought of that (married with 2 young kids), but I still find the time to program, play video games and D&D. Hardware tinkering's just fallen off my radar, and I never thought that would happen.

  12. Re:Am I getting old? on Raspberry Pi's Eben Upton: How We're Turning Everyone Into DIY Hackers · · Score: 1

    Well, that's not it then. I'm 34. I work as a computer programmer at a college, so if you'd asked me 10 years ago if I'd be doing programming or hardware tinkering as a hobby I'd have said hardware tinkering, because I wouldn't think I'd have wanted to come home and program after a day at work of programming... but that's exactly what I do.

    It's different programming mind you. I play around with a PHPBB forum coding a custom shoutbox and D&D dicebot for me and my friends to play with, or playing with smartphone apps as opposed to customizing/fixing HR and accounting software, but it's still programming.

    I even had someone else build my last computer. Still custom and I spec'd it out myself, but just couldn't be bothered with actually assembling it myself.

    My other option was time, since I'm now married with two young kids (2.5 and 4 months), but I still find the time to tinker with programming outside work so it's not strictly that either.

  13. Am I getting old? on Raspberry Pi's Eben Upton: How We're Turning Everyone Into DIY Hackers · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There was a time I would have jumped at playing with a Pi, and I did take a look into using it as a media device like he mentions in the article. I looked at what it was capable of and what I'd have to do to get it to do what I wanted vs. building a media PC around XBMC... and bought a Roku instead. I just couldn't be bothered. I still love tinkering with stuff programming-wise, but I've completely lost my ambition to tinker with hardware. Am I just old, or what?

  14. Re:Bu the wasn't fired on Mozilla CEO Firestorm Likely Violated California Law · · Score: 5, Funny

    Naw, they were playing musical chairs and he was left standing because he threw his.

  15. Re:here's how stupid this is on AMD Unveils the Liquid-Cooled, Dual-GPU Radeon R9 295X2 At $1,500 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's not so much the thermal conductivity of the GPU->water vs. GPU->copper heatsink that's the direct benefit. It's using the water to carry the heat to a much larger radiator rather than having to have the heatsink directly on the GPU (which greatly limits its size).

  16. Re:Sexually transmitted political power? on Geeks For Monarchy: The Rise of the Neoreactionaries · · Score: 2

    I'd contend that raising someone from birth with the expectation that they've been raised to rule would almost guarantee an enormous ego.

    Also, raising someone from birth to perform ANY job may get you someone who's better equipped to do that job. I'd expect it would likely also lead to a rather miserable person.

  17. Re:Sexually transmitted political power? on Geeks For Monarchy: The Rise of the Neoreactionaries · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah. Anyone who thinks leadership should be determined by bloodline doesn't spend enough time with their family.

  18. Re:Resale, rental, input, pricing, exclusives on The Surprising Second Life of the PlayStation Vita · · Score: 1

    I think I know your problem. You're supposed to look at the monitor.

  19. Re:Health, convenience, and scale on Team of Dentists Create "The Six-Second Toothbrush" · · Score: 1

    114 seconds a day * 365 days (life of the brush) works out to about 11 1/2 hours. At $405 that means it costs about $35 per hour of time savings. Not a great investment in time but not horrible, and probably worth it to a fair number of people.

  20. Re:As Henry Ford said... on How BlackBerry Blew It · · Score: 1

    This just made my day. Thank you sir.

  21. Re:Sounds like an episode of Doomsday Preppers on DoD Declassifies Flu Pandemic Plan Containing Sobering Assumptions · · Score: 1

    "there is no way that x would ever be able to do y" you can say "Zombies! Now shut up and accept the scenario."

    The creators of 28 days later tried that tactic and people still whined that zombies aren't supposed to be fast. :P

  22. RPGs on Ask Slashdot: Good Ideas For Creative Gaming With Girlfriend? · · Score: 1

    Really? No ones taken the low hanging fruit of, "Lots of people say they like to role play with their signifigant others," or "My brother says him and his wife do role playing, but he just looks at me funny when I ask what rule set they're using," yet?

  23. Re:A contradiction in terms? on Write Windows Phone Apps, No Code Required · · Score: 1

    Yeap, particularly since there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between creative and logical thinkers. It's pretty rare to run into a truly creative programmer because they tend to be very logical, "follow the yellow brick road," type of people*. Conversely, the most creative people I know tend to shy away from programming because it looks too much like algebra.

    While something like this will tend to get flooded with chaff, the possibility of this leading to more creative people being able to create applications is a good thing. Even if this is just the first, limited, step that leads to more robust and flexible options down the road.

    *Note: The BEST programmers I know do tend to be both creative and logical. It's still more rare than not.

  24. Re:FAIL on New Attack Uses Attackers' Own Ad Network To Deliver Android Malware · · Score: 4, Funny

    Problem
    Between
    Kindle
    And
    Chair?

  25. Re:Names on Microsoft Will Have To Rename SkyDrive · · Score: 1

    Huh... that actually does sound cool. Quick google search brings up a sourceforge project called NoDrives that allows you to hide drives using registry keys. Not sure if that would be a problem or not.