Slashdot Mirror


User: bugs2squash

bugs2squash's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
2,196
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 2,196

  1. Re:WTF? on BlackBerry Launches Square-Screened Passport Phone · · Score: 1

    There may not be any data-only USB cables, I don't know. But it's perfectly reasonable to transmit data over just a differential pair. LVDS etc. do it just fine with no separate ground and I can't think of any reason why one could not detect device connection. I'm not saying that it does work, just that it could.

  2. min install on Outlining Thin Linux · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm sure I've installed minimal gentoo and Debian systems that fit that description.

  3. Re:Science vs Faith on How Our Botched Understanding of "Science" Ruins Everything · · Score: 1

    I'd like to think that, among people of faith, you are in the majority in having sufficient faith to believe that you might have been "endowed" with the capability for critical thinking and that it's reasonable to use that faculty (if for no other reason than to uncover more to wonder at the mystery of).

    I don't share your beliefs in a creator, but when I consider the position of people that do, I can't for the life of me see why anyone should consider critical thinking to be unholy. Unless they're just plain scared that it will unseat their "fixed beliefs", which seems to be rooted in insecurity rather than faith.

  4. Re:Pretty Much Sums it Up on How Our Botched Understanding of "Science" Ruins Everything · · Score: 1

    Hey, if you can come up with a good explanation of why 2+2=5 and it passes muster with the math community then go for it, it could be the next math breakthrough. But most kids working their way through school will stick with 2+2=4 and get full marks for it. Common core seems like a perfectly reasonable approach to education to me, if anything I wish it went further than it does in prompting kids to explore why they know what they know.

  5. Re:you end up with "established science" on How Our Botched Understanding of "Science" Ruins Everything · · Score: 1

    Question it, be my guest, gather facts diligently and reach a conclusion based on the facts. There are people to do that, overwhelmingly they conclude that AGW is real. As you say, life is not for the lazy...

  6. training docs on Ask Slashdot: Who Should Pay Costs To Attend Conferences? · · Score: 1

    One thing that annoys me is that it seems the only documentation worth a damn is the documentation they give out at a training session. i.e. the available system documentation is engineered to ensure that the training is the only viable way to learn enough to operate the system.

  7. risk something on Ask Slashdot: How To Avoid Becoming a Complacent Software Developer? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Design a system or an improvement to a system, argue that it should be used. Defend your ideas. Stop depending on your manager to put your ideas forward. That should solve the problem one way or another. You'll either be up to your eyeballs in responsibility for a project or out on the streets pretty rapidly I should think.

  8. Server is critical on The Minecraft Parent · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I watch my son play minecraft and I like what I see... creativity, use of a commandline, interaction with his friends (he's usually on the phone to a friend who moved away across the country, so it's a good way for them to stay in touch). It's fine for half an hour a day or so. On the other hand, when I see my nephew play minecraft I'm appalled. The chat messages are full of nasty, hateful language. It seems to me that the user experience varies greatly from one server to another.

  9. Re:Lock down the Windows desktop on Ask Slashdot: Remote Support For Disconnected, Computer-Illiterate Relatives · · Score: 1

    I use deep freeze too, it gives the kids lessons in backing up their data from time to time (you can back up minecraft etc.) so it's educational too !

  10. Re:"forced labor" on Use of Forced Labor "Systemic" In Malaysian IT Manufacturing · · Score: 1

    no, it's the gaol of capitalism

  11. Re:This is bullshit from start to finish on Scotland's Independence Vote Could Shake Up Industry · · Score: 1

    Of course there will be The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond.

  12. Re:You mean... on AT&T Proposes Net Neutrality Compromise · · Score: 1

    Which consumer level device out there will rate limit ACks for some applications if other applications are in play ? I'm not talking about a TCL script for cisco or a fancy TC rule for linux, I mean a consumer grade router that you can check the box that says "limit other applications if I'm watching breaking bad but not when the kids are watching Dora the explorer" or something similar.

  13. Re:Encryption on UK Ham Radio Reg Plans To Drop 15 min Callsign Interval and Allow Encryption · · Score: 1

    Presumably the reason to allow this is not to permit hams more freedom, but rather to persuade hams to purchase encryption units so that when the authorities ask them to provide communications they can do so in an encrypted way. Or, for the lobbyists, to make the ham radio service appear to have more utility in handling emergencies.

    I can't think of any reason why encrypting ham communications would do anything to improve the hobby, but I can see why authorities might like to have access to another somewhat secure communications alternative. How secure could it be anyway, you still have to distribute the keys ?
    The best this would do would be to make it slightly harder to listen to.

  14. Re:Scrap all the rules on UK Ham Radio Reg Plans To Drop 15 min Callsign Interval and Allow Encryption · · Score: 2

    I'm a new ham, looking into installing an antenna in my back yard. I have kids.

    The impedance at the center of a half wave dipole is low, say 70 ohms or so if it's the right length for the transmission, but at the ends it is really high. 100W (small beer for a ham operator) into 70 ohms is 80 volts or so in the middle of the antenna. At the end of the antenna the impedance is very high, say 4000 ohms, the same 100W is then 630 volts or so.

    The impedance can be much more, the power can be much, much more, these are moderate numbers for RF that can be generated from a small radio. That's one of the reasons the antennas are hoisted into the trees, it's not just for propagation.

  15. Re:Scrap all the rules on UK Ham Radio Reg Plans To Drop 15 min Callsign Interval and Allow Encryption · · Score: 1

    I think a ham operator can encrypt the control link to a spacecraft legally.

  16. But... on Windows Tax Shot Down In Italy · · Score: 1

    I only wanted windows, can I get a refund for the hardware ?

  17. Re:No comments here yet... on Ask Slashdot: What Smartwatch Apps Could You See Yourself Using? · · Score: 1

    I too want a pager. Something where I can be on call but still go to the gym / swim and know I won't miss a call. I have a device that makes sure I don't wander far from my cell phone, but it doesn't work well. It needs to be cheap, waterproof, robust, flexible, reliable reception even when intermittently immersed, great battery life and very small. Bonus points if I can tell the time by it.

  18. Re:COBOL & Scala & HTML5 on Unpopular Programming Languages That Are Still Lucrative · · Score: 1

    I have to say that I enjoy learning to write at least a basic application in lanuages that I will probably never use for production code; like erlang, forth etc. I find they help me think about things differently, in ways that I can sometimes apply to applications written in my go-to languages.

  19. what ? on $10 Bet Brings Researchers Closer to Industrial Scale Graphene Production · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So a, presumably, leading scientist balked at doing some research work for, presumably, sound technical and professional reasons, but all it took was the prospect of winning $100 to persuade her otherwise.

    This field needs to pay more!

  20. spectrum is expensive on Mysterious, Phony Cell Towers Found Throughout US · · Score: 1

    so you mean to tell me that the telcos that spend millions, billions on spectrum licensing don't spot rogue basestations mooching on their frequency allocations ? Or were all of these in unlicensed spectrum ?

  21. Re:And what they did not publish on About Half of Kids' Learning Ability Is In Their DNA · · Score: 1

    For various values of success, sure anyone can succeed. Teachers all seem to have graduate degrees out the wazoo, quite why they can't implement a solution to teach each kid whatever will get the best out of each them, at least at the elementary school or middle school level, is beyond me. Maximizing the progress each kid makes is their individual success.

  22. Re:And what they did not publish on About Half of Kids' Learning Ability Is In Their DNA · · Score: 1

    I think they meant that there was no divinely appointed royalty. After all, half the guys writing and approving the thing kept slaves. Back in the day this was a rejection of what the established line on god's word was on the subject. A break away from the god botherers.

  23. Re:What a bunch of pansies on US Army To Transport American Ebola Victim To Atlanta Hospital From Liberia · · Score: 3, Informative
    More of the usual right wing BS...

    from: http://www.cbpp.org/files/esta...

    Today, 99.86 percent of estates owe no estate tax at all, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (TPC).4 Among the 3,780 estates that owe any tax, the “effective” tax rate — that is, the percentage of the estate’s value that is paid in taxes — is 16.6 percent, on average

    ...

    Only the wealthiest estates in the country pay the tax because it is levied only on the portion of an estate’s value that exceeds a specified exemption level, currently $5.25 million per person (effectively $10.5 million per married couple).

  24. Re:dealing with the unknown on Researchers Design Bot To Conduct National Security Clearance Interviews · · Score: 1

    it's an ingredient in diet coke

  25. Re:Under two minutes of bullshit on Robot With Broken Leg Learns To Walk Again In Under 2 Minutes · · Score: 1

    What's this search nonsense ? It has pre-computed solutions for a number of scenarios, why not just look up the scenario based on the detected failure directly.