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User: dwywit

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  1. Re:This on HP Gives Printers Email Addresses · · Score: 1

    Given HP's history of what it likes to install on a Windows machine when one of its printers is attached, I'd expect the driver and utilities for this feature to top out around 3 PB, give or take a few TB.

  2. Re:CSIRO are still good guys on CSIRO Sues US Carriers Over Wi-Fi Patent · · Score: 3, Funny

    And they need the money - they recently lost edu status with Microsoft, so they'll have to pony up more $$$ for software.

  3. Re:Quick... destroy it!. on Europeans Bury "Digital DNA" Inside a Mountain · · Score: 1

    Why not? It's up to them to prove you don't have a licence to use their products. If they have to admit in court that "sorry but our licence database cannot produce a report saying joe smith does not have a licence", that would satisfy my reasonable doubt.

  4. Re:Ubuntu on Critical Flaw Found In Virtually All AV Software · · Score: 1

    No, parts of it were running OS/400 for many years - even went back to it after trying to migrate some systems to NT.

  5. Re:ENHANCE on Top 10 Things Hollywood Thinks Computers Can Do · · Score: 1

    Which version, and is she deck-a-rep or deck-a-human?

  6. Re:14k buys a lot of film. on How To Get 39 Megapixels From a 53-Year-Old Camera · · Score: 3, Informative

    You're probably right about the sheer volume of halide crystals that could be shoehorned onto one square cm of film - but it would be very slow film. Low-speed films are composed of small uniform-size crystals. Faster film comes from adding larger crystals to the mix.

  7. Re:14k buys a lot of film. on How To Get 39 Megapixels From a 53-Year-Old Camera · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Indeed - back in the old days, my lecturer said the human eye has a brightness range response of approx 1000:1, the best B&W film is about 128:1 (about 8 stops), and colour film about 80:1, so you're going to have to play the zone system, then burn & dodge in the darkroom.

  8. Re:14k buys a lot of film. on How To Get 39 Megapixels From a 53-Year-Old Camera · · Score: 1

    I'm guessing that was Kodachrome? Beautiful film, but not necessarily appropriate for every shoot. Lots of alternatives available, for a lot less $$$. And if you process yourself (even Ektachrome isn't that difficult), much cheaper in the long run.

  9. Re:Vinyl records and tube stereos too on How To Get 39 Megapixels From a 53-Year-Old Camera · · Score: 1

    Digital back for Mamiya RB67 ~AUD$9000

  10. Re:14k buys a lot of film. on How To Get 39 Megapixels From a 53-Year-Old Camera · · Score: 2, Informative

    That's why you carry more than one back, loaded with various different types of film.

  11. Re:Weather on Solar-Powered Plane Makes First Successful Flight · · Score: 1
    Uh, no. I live off-grid with 2.5KW of PV on the roof. I can assure you that the input current drops dramatically when a cloud covers the sun, and drops more when clouds cover most of the sky, and drops to zero in very heavy rain. I've seen as little as 2 or 3 amps coming in during heavy overcast/rain, when a sunny day in spring or autumn can see 60 or even 70 amps at midday (the panels are angled at 26 degrees which actually gives me a higher peak current during spring and autumn than during summer - more amphours during summer, though, due to longer days).

    Yes, I know that 2500 watts over 24 volts gives over 100 amps, but rating is nominal, some of the panels are old, and some of the current is handled by another controller.

  12. Re:I'm convinced! on Photoshop CS5's Showpiece — Content-Aware Fill · · Score: 1
    *cough*academic version*cough*

    Is that still available? I only paid ~AUD$350 for Premiere Pro Academic/Education version (vs AUD$1200 retail), way back when I was studying.

  13. Re:Well, Yes on The Movie Studios' Big 3D Scam · · Score: 1
    Well, it's been a couple of years - what about another version of Blade Runner?

    Seriously, imagine that opening sequence...

    And the flight from the Sushi Bar to police HQ...

    And the VK interrogation of Rachel...

    Roy crushing Tyrell's eyes...

    Roy's descent in the elevator...

    Deckard's jump from the rooftop...

    I'll get on to Ridley Scott right away.

  14. Re:Beer on Scientists Discover Booze That Won't Give You a Hangover · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yup - the yeast see all the O2 and sugars and start an aerobic party, rapidly reproducing over the next ~24 hours. Then the O2 runs out, the yeast say "oh, well" and start on the anaerobic after-party, producing (amongst other things) ethanol and CO2, When the sugar runs out, or the ethanol content reaches a certain level, the yeast roll over and go to sleep. You want as little O2 as possible in contact with the fermenting wort until you've bottled/kegged it, matured it and poured it.

  15. Re:You can buy a serial-to-usb converter for $15 on Will the Serial Console Ever Die? · · Score: 1

    Not to mention synchronous protocols - anyone remember v25bis?

  16. Re:xor my heart on x86 Assembler JWASM Hits Stable Release · · Score: 1

    Ah, RPG - my first language after Apple basic. I nursed a suite of apps from RPGII on a System/36 through migration to an AS/400 (RPGIII), then re-written in ILE/RPG. I quite like that language. Perverse in this day and age, I know, but I had a lot of challenges and satisfaction - especially when it's the only compiler on the system.

  17. Re:Indeed on Duke Nukem Forever Not Dead? (Yes, This Again) · · Score: 1

    $2000? Hell, I remember speccing the first PC where I worked (at the time). 80286, monitor, printer and modem, PC-DOS, wordperfect, quattro - it came to over AUD$8000. Yes, eight thousand.

    It was an IBM, and it probably still works.

  18. Re:I can't blaspheme?! on Ireland's Blasphemy Law Goes Into Effect · · Score: 1

    Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

  19. Re:Congrats, you google bombed "afterbirth" on Dad Delivers Baby Using Wiki · · Score: 1
    Oh, it's not that bad. If you've just watched your significant other give birth on your bathroom floor, the afterbirth^W aftermath isn't such a big deal. Anyway, you need to check the placenta for torn bits or fissures in case any bits of it were left inside.

    It's amazing how calm a baby is after a homebirth. Wifey had two at home, and not a single strangulated cry from either. Took about 20-30 anxious seconds to take their first breath, but all went well (he's now a swimming club champ, and she's a dancer).

    Trust Darwin, brothers. Our female partners have evolved to do this. Couldn't honestly say they enjoy it, but they cope (mostly), and it's humbling to watch - especially contraction waves moving up the abdomen - and their ability to forget the pain afterwards.

  20. Re:Proposed Anti-Anti-Piracy Advertisement on Hollywood Sets $10 Billion Box Office Record · · Score: 3, Interesting
    There's a spreadsheet you can download from the Screen Australia website - it's called the "standard short film budget" (there's one for feature-length, too).

    People like writer, producer and director are "above the line" items, and everyone else is "below the line".

    All the "below the line" items start at union award rates, and "above the line" items start at 10% of the budget (i.e. add up everything else, then add 10% for each person in that category). It's only a starting point - obviously anyone with a name or reputation can negotiate whatever they want, but I (the producer) am only obliged to offer you (key grip) the award rate. If I (the producer) want you (director), I should offer you at least 10% of the budget. I might also offer you a share of royalties, or even some merchandising income.

  21. Re:Another case of Life immitating art on Quebec Data Center Built In a Silo · · Score: 1

    I hope they drained off all the residual static from the van der graff generator. Can you imagine if some of that got left behind?

  22. Re:Mainframe or Server? on IBM's Newest Mainframe Is All Linux · · Score: 1
    If that's true, it doesn't make sense to me. OS/400 was written, *THEN* the hardware was designed to run it. There's no point porting *nix to AS400/iSeries hardware. The strength of AS400 + OS400 is all in the operating system, and you've got to experience such a system before you can appreciate the difference between it and any *nix OS.

    Yes, I was an AS400 programmer/admin, why do you ask?

  23. Re:I guess... on IBM's Newest Mainframe Is All Linux · · Score: 1

    God yes - same goes for Cl on the AS400/iSeries/whatever they call it these days.

  24. Re:This is ... on Brain of Patient H.M. Being Sliced, Streamed Live · · Score: 2, Funny

    Carpaccio for Zombies?

  25. Re:not always quite so on Modern Tech Versus the Past · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Going further back, war in the Middle Ages sucked. There were no medics back then, so if you got a good nick, you ended up dying of blood loss right there, or an infection before a week.

    Actually there were some pretty clever medics 'way back when. When Henry V took an arrow in the cheek, one surgeon devised a tool to reach down into the wound and extract the arrow stub.

    http://www.rcpsg.ac.uk/hdrg/2006Nov3.htm

    Not that such treatment would be available to everyone, of course. I've always thought that pre-antibiotics, if you made it to adulthood, your immune system was tough. You'd proved yourself resistant to or at least able to deal with all those childhood diseases without modern treatments. There were *some* valuable herbal and folklore remedies, but imagine the prospect of facing smallpox, bubonic plague, cholera, typhus, even measles without antibiotics, anti-pyretics, a decent diet, and good hygiene.