Slashdot Mirror


User: shadwstalkr

shadwstalkr's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
191
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 191

  1. Re:cool but, on 3D Crystal Grown On a DNA Lattice · · Score: 1

    This is how cutting edge science usually works. The researchers don't know, and sometimes don't even care, what the eventual applications of their discoveries might be. However, proposals for pure research don't stand a good chance of being funded. Therefore, to get money you have to wax poetic about all the good your work will eventually do for mankind, while all you want is to get on with your research.

    So yes, they are guessing. Wildly.

  2. Re:I wonder on Sun Buys MySQL · · Score: 1

    This day is already here for the vast majority of computer users. I've seen some very bright people type "yahoo.com" into their browser's search bar, then click on the yahoo link in google. This is every time they check their mail, presumably because they never learned about bookmarks. It might sound ridiculous, but it is far more intuitive for someone who doesn't understand (or care) what URLs are. One box only works now and then. The other box works every time and always in the same way.

  3. Re:Doesn't quite work on Comcast Hinders BitTorrent Traffic · · Score: 1

    You've never called Comcast customer service, have you.

  4. Re:Well... on Busting the MythBusters' Yawn Experiment · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe we should be teaching kids how to do science in school instead of letting the Discovery channel do it. Mythbusters can inspire kids to be passionate about science, and I think that's about all we can expect from a TV show.

  5. Re:Well... on Busting the MythBusters' Yawn Experiment · · Score: 1

    Their science isn't all that bad. They don't put a lot of the things they do on the show, so it can look like they did only one trial, or didn't have a control when they actually did. I'd call it more science fair science than tabloid science. A lot of flair with more emphasis on qualitative than quantitative, but they're still trying to be objective.

  6. Re:ch0wned! on Laptops And Flat Panels Now Vulnerable to Van Eck Methods · · Score: 1

    It's not like someone turned on the Vulnerable switch.

    Yeah, sorry. That was me. I just bumped into the damn thing, honest.

  7. Re:Would you trust these professionals? on Is Assembly Programming Still Relevant, Today? · · Score: 1

    I mostly agree with you, except that I think FORTRAN needs to stay in the curriculum, at least in a survey course. Unfortunately there are a lot of science departments that use FORTRAN exclusively, because older professors have decades of code and no motivation to learn a new language. Until the next few generations of grad students can convince professors to use SWIG and Python (or something similar), a complete CS training requires at least a general knowledge of FORTRAN.

  8. Re:This nation... on High Schooler Is Awarded $100,000 For Research · · Score: 1

    Ooh, we only have the budget for 10 more students like her. Sorry, our hands are tied.

  9. Re:OS X Intel? on Visual Basic on GNU/Linux · · Score: 1

    They have similar syntax for a reason. Java was made to look like C++ (which was made to look like C), because C++ developers were the initial target audience. C# was made to look like Java, because Java developers were the initial target. PHP was initially supposed to be like Perl and C, because that's what web developers used when it was designed. The OO syntax that has been tacked on in the last two versions looks like Java, because Java has become the dominant interpretation of the OO paradigm. This is because most CS and programming trade schools teach OO using Java.

    So they're all similar because they all descend from C to make developer transition easy, and because most developers only know the few most commonly used languages. It really has very little to do with ease of syntax. (Yes, I'm a Lisp snob).

  10. Re:Social Networking Protocol on Social Networking Sites Opening Their APIs · · Score: 1

    What's your business plan for this decentralized protocol?

  11. Re:OpenCD is similar on French Kids Get OSS on USB Sticks · · Score: 1

    CDs are so last century. If you want to be "hip" and "shout out" to this new generation, you have to give them their UBS gum sticks. You see, they put the things on their thumbs. It's "cool."

  12. Re:One step forward, two steps back on Solving DRM in the BitTorrent Age · · Score: 1

    Which corporate salesman will get fired over these ideas when they don't work?

    None. They'll blame it on you.

  13. Re:Mod me off-topic on Solving DRM in the BitTorrent Age · · Score: 1

    And when any library within 50 miles of me gets some nonfiction books that have been published in the last five years, maybe I'll go there instead of a bookstore. Call me crazy, but books like "Teach Yourself dBase+" and "Program Your PET" just don't do it for me.

  14. Re:Vast differences on Solving DRM in the BitTorrent Age · · Score: 1

    I doubt anyone could read an entire book during a visit to a bookstore like Barnes and Noble.

    You've never worked at a Barnes and Noble, have you. You'd be amazed at how long people are willing to sit in the store to save $20. Not just short books either: for a few days after each Harry Potter release, there are people sprawled out everywhere reading the book.

    For the average person though, you're right.

  15. Re:Movies and music need to be seen and heard on Solving DRM in the BitTorrent Age · · Score: 1

    No, DRM keeps lazy people honest and makes honest people criminals.

  16. Re:Who's the @**hole now! on Aqua Teen Hunger Force Brings Boston to a Halt · · Score: 1

    I completely agree with you on this. The marketing company responsible for this campaign should have notified the police and put contact information on the back of each device. This debacle is really a result of this ridiculous guerrilla advertising mentality that's taken hold recently. Marketing drones take note: we know it's an ad, being honest with us won't make us like it any less.

  17. Re:Hopfuly this is a trend on NASA Will Go Metric On the Moon · · Score: 1

    The problem wasn't just that they were using imperial units, but that they didn't mention it, and NASA assumed the units were metric without asking.

  18. Re:Bicamerial mind breakdown on Parasites Makes Us Dumber or Sexier · · Score: 1

    Snow Crash has some neat ideas, but it's just fiction.

  19. Re:CIA? I suspect not. on The Numbers Stations Analyzed, Discussed · · Score: 1

    What is a normal looking one-time pad?

    "How do you explain this notebook filled with lines of random letters printed on flash paper?"

    "I like to solve crossword puzzles by brute force, then roll quick-burning cigarettes."

  20. Re:leave to the british on Neuroscience, Psychology Eroding Idea of Free Will · · Score: 3, Funny

    Concentrating our criminal population into small, essentially unsupervised communes where they have little to do but exchange ideas and improve their physique? Nah, it'll never work.

  21. Re:You lost me at on Give an Internet Freedom Disk · · Score: 1

    I just want to know if it's going to be compatible with my cups.

    Geez, can't you search through the website of your cup manufacturer, call their tech support, explain what a wash cycle is, search the forums of your dishwasher manufacturer, find your local PPWG (Pots/Pans Washing Group), read the toprck man page, read the water flow schematic, and/or try it yourself?!? If you're too stupid to RTFM and figure out the cycles on your dishwasher, you shouldn't even be using it!!!

  22. Re:Free Market on China Readies Royalty-Free DVD Format · · Score: 1

    sent to jail for duplicating a DVD (despite it being explicitly permitted in the constitution)

    Being an American, I'm not too familiar with my nation's fundamental documents. Can you direct me to the DVD duplication clause in the US Constitution?

  23. Re:that's a bizarre reaction on Many New Species Found Under Antarctica · · Score: 1

    a colossal school of herring? off new jersey? isn't that good news?

    Depends on how much you like pickled herring. Covered in raw sewage. They probably owe money to the mob, too.

  24. Re:Raised eyebrows... on Sense of Smell Tied To Quantum Physics? · · Score: 1

    s/smelling things/olfaction/g
    s/smelly stuff/odorant/g

    I can already olfact the odorant of sweet, sweet grant money.

  25. Re:If you've ever seen how fast a fire moves... on Arson Science Rewritten · · Score: 1

    It's rather pointless to put a corpse in the defendants chair.

    Not to mention quite messy, and don't even get me started on the stench! Besides, everyone knows that corpses refuse to raise their right hands and swear to tell the truth.