Slashdot Mirror


User: qparadox

qparadox's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
8
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 8

  1. Ahem. Beam divergence. At the distance an aircraft would be from the laser-pointer, the spot will have spread sufficiently that this is not the case.

    Incorrect. Even if the beam has increased significantly in size (to tens of cm), your eye is great at focussing light coming from infinity. This means the intensity at the back of the retina can still be high enough to cause damage. Remember that the pilots are also in the dark so their pupils are fully dilated and their blink reflex may be slowed. With the multi-watt laser pointers available online, its only a matter of time before we see pilots being permanently blinded in these cases. Of course, permanent damage is irrelevant if the plane crashes because the pilot has been temporarily blinded by a lower intensity beam.

  2. Perovskite is a mineral ... but this isn't it on Scientists Develop Solar Cell That Can Also Emit Light · · Score: 5, Informative

    When the article references perovskites, it is referring to a crystalline structure similar to the mineral perovskite (calcium titanate). These solar cells are NOT made of calcium titanate, nor is calcium or titanium even in them. Instead, they are make of organic - inorganic halides, in this case: CH3NH3PbX3 (where X = Cl, Br, I). The proper wikipedia link for the summary is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  3. Re:Home owner declines Tesla assitance? on Tesla Model S Caught Fire While Parked and Unplugged · · Score: 3, Insightful

    http://business.financialpost.... When Tesla offers to pay the owner of the car for the damages to his home, the guy declines. Now, call me stupid, but that's a little weird no?

    Its not really that unusual. He likely has fire insurance that will cover the damage to his house and would rather deal with the insurance company than directly with Tesla. The insurance company can send the bill to Tesla and deal with the hassle, administrative details and lawyers, rather than the car owner.

  4. Re:Pretty sure you can't block them all on FBI: $10,000 Reward For Info On Anyone Who Points a Laser At an Aircraft · · Score: 1

    Just issue the pilots with anti-laser glasses. They can choose for themselves when to filter and when not to.

    In addition to the distraction that putting goggles on during landing would cause, the goggles would filter out everything in the green range and significantly impact peripheral vision. While most laser of the offending laser pointers are 532 nm (frequency doubled 1064nm), some will be off by +-20nm and so the goggles would need to block in the proximity of 40 nm of spectrum. The standard goggles that offer protection against green block 190nm~600nm. So not only will the laser be blocked, but many indicator lights as well. While green laser pointers all all the rage now, if the idiot pranksters switch colours to red, the green blocking goggles would need to be completely replaced. Goggles may be able to provide last minute protection in some cases, but they are certainly not a panacea. If you've ever had to wear laser safety goggles, you'd know its highly disorienting to wear them for a long period of time.

  5. Re:I'm a developer in Vancouver... on EA CEO's Departure Might Be Good For the Company · · Score: 1

    Its even worse than that in BC. Here we have what's often referred to as the "EA Exemption;" if you're a "high technology professional," then the ESA doesn't apply. I'm pretty sure the Section 39 (mentioned above) also doesn't apply as Part 3 of the Act is essentially ripped out.

    "The hours of work provisions of the Act, including those governing meal breaks, split shifts, minimum daily pay and hours free from work each week, as well as the overtime and statutory holiday provisions, do not apply to “high technology professionals”.

    You can find more about it on the governments fact sheet here: http://www.labour.gov.bc.ca/esb/facshts/high_tech.htm

  6. 200 kHz and it breaks apart clumps on Electrical Field Treats Brain Cancer · · Score: 3, Informative

    Taken from the US Clinical Trials Site:
    http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00379470?orde r=2

    "Since they change direction very rapidly (200 thousand times a second), they do not cause muscles to twitch, nor do they have any effects on other electrically activated tissues in the body (brain, nerves and heart). Since the intensities of TTFields in the body are very low, they do not cause heating."
    ->So it appears to be low intensity EM radiation at approximately 200 kHz.

    "Due to the unique geometric shape of cancer cells when they are multiplying, TTFields cause the building blocks of these cells to move and pile up in such a way that the cells physically explode."

    ->To me it sounds like a rather localized effect requiring significant tuning to see any effect meaning that you're still safe to use your cell phone and can save the tinfoil for BBQing.

  7. Re:Little evils versus Big Evils on Google Bans Ads For Essay-Writing Services · · Score: 1

    Advertising for Tobacco is banned or regulated in many jurisdictions, including canada: http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/le gislation/canadian_law/federal/tobacco_act/tobacco _act.cfm Google has not banned searching for these terms, they've only decided that they will not support these services advertising on their site, as is completely their right to choose to do! For all of you whining about Google making moral choices, the question of providing documents allowing people to cheat isn't one of morals; its a question of ethics. The question is: "is it immoral for Google to actively support services attempting to help students cheat in exchange for money?". Its beyond my capacity to think up an ethical framework that wouldn't answer that question as firmly YES. This isn't a matter of free speech, this is a matter of companies who are facilitating and providing unethical services. Google has, and should, ensure it is not actively supporting these companies in their facilitation.

  8. The Developer Demographic Data on MS-Funded Study Attacks GPL3 Draft Process · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here's a summary of the developer data used in the study, see pp 21-22.

    Demographic Group
    Pragmatists 19
    Intellectuals 8
    Philosophers 7

    GPLv2 / LGPL / GPLv2+Commercial: 20
    included: Linux, MySQL, XenSource, Snort, Amanda, JBoss, GCC Toolchain

    Non-GPL: 14
    Includes:Apache, PHP, Apache Geronimo, Perl, PostgreSQL, Eclipse

    Raw Data:
    Amanda 2
    Apache 4
    Apache Geronimo 3
    Eclipse 1
    GCC Toolchain 4
    Jboss 3
    Linux Kernel 7
    MySQL 1
    Perl 2
    PHP 2
    PostgreSQL 2
    Snort 2
    XenSource 1