Slashdot Mirror


User: spads

spads's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
220
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 220

  1. Air pressure is necessary, because... on Siphons Work Due To Gravity, Not Atmospheric Pressure: Now With Peer Review · · Score: 2

    it holds the water column together (so gravity can act on it), but to say that it is driven by air pressure makes no sense, because if I am not mistaken (?) air pressure should be greater at lower altitudes (no?), so that it should push it up the hose, which it presumably does to a minor extent.

  2. The greatest, in fact, ONLY SIGNIFICANT, threat... on Retired SCOTUS Justice Wants To 'Fix' the Second Amendment · · Score: 1

    is not the occasional shopping mall looney. It is the scum which invariably manages to gain control of any body of governance. That is what the founding fathers sought to address. It was worded vaguely in order for said body of governance to ratify it.

  3. Re:CloneZilla on Ask Slashdot: Preparing For Windows XP EOL? · · Score: 1

    I'm mainly concerned with java and adobe/flash updates, which I believe I should still get. I'll give it a try for a while and if I run into trouble I'll probably go to linux and possibly wait for a better, new Windows release to come out. F- 8, and 7 is halfway in the ground itself.

    My main concern was using my personal desktop to connect to my work VPN, which I prefer to the company laptop. They (Fortune "mongo") screen your hardware for eligibility, but I was surprised to recently learn that they won't curtail access for XP users. As long as that persists, I'm gonna let er ride!

    Btw, that's a good idea what almity said about saving an image. That way you can reinstall with all the final updates. I think this should be fairly practical (???)since I finally wised up and moved all my user data off my main drive. WE SHALL SEE!!! :)

  4. You know the old saying... on Did Facebook Buy Oculus To Counter Google Glass? · · Score: 1

    When you don't know what to do, do something! :)

  5. Re:gimme a break on Hacking Charisma · · Score: 1

    No, though Woz might've had his share of (somewhat close relative) charm, what he mainly had was the "touch". I think charisma would be to slander him as a "bullshipper".

  6. And the definition of charisma is... on Hacking Charisma · · Score: 1

    ...what a douchebag needs to become successful.

  7. Same s-... on Silicon Valley's Youth Problem · · Score: 1

    ...different decade.

  8. Re:AR15 != battle rifle on Interviews: ESR Answers Your Questions · · Score: 1

    None of the 223 or AK type are battle rifles. Those are all assault rifles. A BR has to be a high power, like a 308 or 30-06 (incl FAL, M1(A), AR-10). The only (slight) over-lap is the AR-15's range, though it should really have more brute stopping power to be a BR imo.

  9. Re:"Settled" science is akin to religion. on Can Science Ever Be "Settled?" · · Score: 1

    True. It's like their beliefs have completely supplanted their reasoning powers(, and are providing the only bulwark against a completely overwhelming fear). Thus, they aren't really able to characterize their position in the first place, nor can they join in debate.

  10. Re:"Settled" science is akin to religion. on Can Science Ever Be "Settled?" · · Score: 1

    My working definition of religion would be "passionate dogmatism". Dogmatism isn't really a threat unless it's passionate (i.e. there's something critical at stake). Thus, religion is a more worrisome form of dogmatism.

  11. "Settled" science is akin to religion. on Can Science Ever Be "Settled?" · · Score: 0, Troll

    "The bible says it. I believe it. That settles it."

  12. Re:Ok on Ask Slashdot: How Do I Change Tech Careers At 30? · · Score: 1

    I made a career out of being fired by American companies for about 20+ years. Then, I got hired by a foreign one, which for a while seemed to be trying to make a career out of forcing me to quit! :( After 7 years, but of us seem to be failing in our cour objectives! :( Seriously, though, this company has a knack for "gitting r done" in spades, and allying oneself with one such would be my number one recommendation to anyone seeking a career in tech. THAT (i.e. serious cutting edge technologies and applications) is the main thing which is hard to do on one's own. Aside from that, I generally and strongly agree with all The Cat said about employers. It can be good to learn how to leave the scene of a disaster with dignity, however.

  13. exercise? on Low-Protein Diet May Extend Lifespan · · Score: 1

    seems like the mimimum should be to enforce some kind of exercise. it doesn't get much more sedentary than lab animals. thus, if the results are actual (??), the findings should be low prot high carbs preferable IF SEDENTARY. (though that seems somewhat counerintuitive as well).

  14. Re:Guy is foolish. on Python Scripting and Analyzing Your Way To Love · · Score: 2

    I think possibly the most significant thing he did was to get them to message him FIRST. As in David Halberstam's critical rule of diplomacy (from Best and the Brightest), the first to the negotiations table largely empowers the other to dictate the condtions of the armistice. Not that this is sufficient when dealing with women by any means, but it is significant.

    The other important things he did with this experiment is to identify the most critical questions, and confirm that women put considerable stake in those questions and resultant ratings, based on the spike in inquiries he got. I, myself, have used the site, and find it to be good overall, though I'm less taken with the questions/ratings. My main interest there is a few show-stoppers, the NUMBER of questions answered, and the explanations included with the answers. To somewhat negate the whole thing, I think high confidence* in that system might suggest an authoritarian character, which is something of a show-stopper for me.

    *I.e. causing one to be a first contacter.

  15. Yeah, I could see where having significant insight on Judge In Kim Dotcom Extradition Case Steps Down · · Score: 1

    ...into a matter could hamper your "impartiality".

  16. nice news item from the new Fluffdot! on Modest Proposal For Stopping Hackers: Get Them Girlfriends · · Score: 1

    ;P

  17. I appreciate the insight of other users on this... on Microsoft Wins WordPerfect Antitrust Battle With Novell · · Score: 1

    ...matter, which is one of the main reasons I continue to look at slashdot. Thanks for all insights provided.

    In my opinion and limited but significant knowledge, killing an application in such a way is exactly (a) the power a company like MS has with their proprietary code base and (b) perfectly consistent with that I perceive to be their business model.

  18. from Pimper's Paradise by BM: on Bloodsucking Parasite Named After Bob Marley · · Score: 0

    "Every need's got an eagle to feed."
    ("A pimper's paradise, that's all she was...")

    Amount that I esteem BM: immense, though I can by no means claim to fathom his actual dimensions.

    Amount that I esteem some middle American's thought about Darwin awards: immeasurably small

  19. Re:Who's this CowboyNeal? on CowboyNeal On Dota 2, Modern Games, and Software Development · · Score: 1

    According to Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, from whom he borrowed the reference Cowboy Neal (ie. Cassady) was "at the wheel of a trip to never-ever land."

  20. Re:Get Rid Of Paragon! on Ask Slashdot: What's a Good Tool To Detect Corrupted Files? · · Score: 1

    This is just a guess, though still something you should have specified in your original description.

    If when it originally died on the off chance that you initially powered back up into Windows first, then this Paragon thing (with the above mentioned deficiencies) would sound like the likely culprit. Otherwise, as people have mentioned, it is very strange that disk-wide issues should result from a loss of power.

  21. Re:Get Rid Of Paragon! on Ask Slashdot: What's a Good Tool To Detect Corrupted Files? · · Score: 1

    Bro, yea, chkdsk, that's just ironic enough to be possible in a Windows universe! "Oh, and remember to be sure to allow it to complete uninterrupted!" lol

  22. This one is dead easy re any intellecutal property on Oracle Vs. Google and the Right To Use APIs · · Score: 1

    It's not the what that should be eligible for copy-right protection, it's the how. APIs are the what. The implementation is the how.

  23. Re:Extreme News Flash! on Researchers Identify Genetic Systems Disrupted In Autistic Brain · · Score: 1

    Or consider this - the genes they were looking at had nothing in the world to do with it. Problem solved! ;)

    On what basis do you believe it/yours to be inherited?

    I do not feel that I could definitively know the cause of this complex condition, but I feel some affinity with it (and aversion to its contemporary medical analysis). My favorite thing that I read was the (initially (in the US) lionized and ultimately demonized) Bruno Bettelheim's Empty Fortress. He was an early one to point out the genetic twins point, something which has somewhat amazingly been able to be glossed over by all the test-tube monkeys. Basically, I am concerned that, perhaps the primary political entity, parents, have been able to dismiss this, a virtual Emperor's New Clothes type scenario/campaign. Extreme as it sounds, I myself would not dismiss this out of hand. Finally, I am not at all about assigning any kind of blame, just getting to the truth of the matter.

  24. Re:Extreme News Flash! on Researchers Identify Genetic Systems Disrupted In Autistic Brain · · Score: 1

    Oh, we're talking about random MUTATIONS (ie. some other basis of non-identical genetic twin genes?) able to counteract this (purported) complex genetically coded condition IN ALL OF ITS MAJOR ATTRIBUTES???

    Oh, and, to my knowledge, identical gestation environments theoretically equates to identical expression, NO, or do all of these (purportedly multiple) genes involved in this expression, simultaneously (in concert) decide whether to express themsleves or not?

    If the preceding is not essentially the case with genetically identical twins, how is it that they even end up resembling each other consistently in the vast majority of the cases? Is it just that we can dispense with (the law of) genetic resemblance for this one special case?

  25. Extreme News Flash! on Researchers Identify Genetic Systems Disrupted In Autistic Brain · · Score: 2

    "Autism has a strong genetic basis, but so far efforts to identify the responsible genes have had mixed results. The reason for this is that autism is influenced by many different genes, and different genes are involved in different individuals, making it hard to find the common genetic ground between patients."

    Perhaps, alternately to considering a more complex/obfuscated genetic basis, we should again consider a NON-genetic basis?

    How about the experiment everyone conveniently chooses to forget, the occurrence of autism in only one genetic twin (sharing identical genes, gestation environments, etc.).