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User: ryzvonusef

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Comments · 397

  1. Re:And? on Australian Economists Predictions No Better Than Flipping a Coin · · Score: 1

    The hell? I dunno why, but that post above was mine, dunno why it got posted as "anonymous." (must have clicked the checkbox accidentally)

  2. Re:Wow, at that rate on Google Announces 2,000 Schools Now Use Chromebooks, Up 100% In 3 Months · · Score: 1

    To save everyone the bother:

    http://m.xkcd.com/605/

  3. Re:Not going anywhere... on Flying a Cessna On Other Worlds: xkcd Gets Noticed By a Physics Professor · · Score: 1

    Tanks for the tip.

    Another tip: xkcd comic usually get a transcript (which helps as an explainer) after a day or two.

    Can I get a Tank too? I am not picky, though I wouldn't mind a nice little Sherman :D

  4. Re:When the Big Appliance in the sky calls on Interviews: Ask Blendtec Founder Tom Dickson What Won't Blend? · · Score: 1

    IIRC, they *did* blend an iPhone, I think it was a diversion from blending a crowbar...

  5. Re:Brogramming??? on Is 'Brogramming' Killing Requirements Engineering? · · Score: 1

    Have you *looked* at Mario's stats?

  6. Re:Invest in walkie-talkies on Can Any Smartphone Platform Overcome the Android/iOS Duopoly? · · Score: 1

    It's called Push to talk, I believe:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push-to-talk

    My dead-beat nokia feature phone has it coded in, but no surprise it is not carrier supported.

  7. Re:Stone age society develops space age technology on Iran Says It Sent Monkey Into Space and Back · · Score: 1

    The Hell, that's totally different. So they have a Persian-nisation program, even the French( and Quebecois) have French-ification program and regularly ban non french words from the vocabulary. like banning "email" and insisting it be called "courriel".

    But just like the average Pierre on the web doesn't give a fuck what Academie francaise says, no one in iran will give a hoot about what to call pizza. You are making a mountain out of a molehill, bring non-issues in such discussions.

    PS. "elastic loaves" makes sense in persian, since that's a rather awkward translation of much more normal persian words. Heck Elastic is a very bad though literal translation. Taking a guess, based on similarities of our dietary culture, they probably differentiate breads made from refined flour, which you call cake/pastry flour, which makes bread more "elastic" than the non-refined variety. My dad recalls there were like atleast 15 different variety of breads, and the pizza dough probably resemble the bread that is made from the "elastic" flour.

    Then the Persian grammar nazi barged in and insisted that it *be* named similar to that bread, as the French probably looked on in approval.

  8. Re:Stone age society develops space age technology on Iran Says It Sent Monkey Into Space and Back · · Score: 2

    And that's different from the U.S. how?

    You mean other than the fact that you don't run the risk of having the religious police give you trouble over your beard length, that you don't get locked up in prison for being insufficiently Muslim? That you can still say the word "pizza," which has been banned in that country for being too western? That little details like being sent to prison or even killed for having been raped tend to stand out? Or charming features of Iran's foreign policy such as backing the annihilation of a specific country on religious grounds, or the steady support of some of the worst medieval-minded terrorist groups in the world because they are such?

    Never mind your completely spurious and disingenuous comparison of the school systems, or the fact that you just sitting here talking about it openly would - there - put in at risk of death in prison.

    Woops! Here I am feeding a troll. Never mind.

    I am sorry, but WHAT THE FUCK?

    My dad was was posted in Tehran for two years, and and he regularly ate pizza like once a month. I would take you seriously if you weren't spouting such craziness. I mean, where did you *even* get this sort of silly ideas from?

    Also beard length and and the insufficiently muslim thing(what does it even mean, anyways?) is Taliban-run Afghanistan, My dad recalls that plenty of men were clean shaven in Tehran, and he had no trouble buying razors.

    Seriously people, Iran is not North Korea; heck not every third-world country is the same variety shitness, there is a gradient.

  9. Re:Reminds me of a similar case in Pakistan on Chinese Supplier Gets Dumped By Apple For Fraudulently Using Underage Labor · · Score: 1

    Look, if you want me to take you seriously, stop spouting "infidel" like an ignorant berk.

  10. Reminds me of a similar case in Pakistan on Chinese Supplier Gets Dumped By Apple For Fraudulently Using Underage Labor · · Score: 1

    You may recall, there was a child labour scandal about footballs in Sialkot. The Companies reacted by implementing harsh penalties for child labour, and that was that. Or was it?

    You see, while indeed there was child labour involved, it was still preferable to the alternative. It was quick clean work, nothing more dangerous than needle tip, which was easily remedied by a thimble. There was no dangerous chemicals involved, no dangerous work place environment. People used to pick up the materials from the factory, stitch them at home, and return the finished goods next day.

    Since it was at home, there was no risk of exploitation, and it was a flexible schedule, which meant that people had the time *and* the money to actually go to school. Women could also join in, without fear of social ostracization. All family members with a free hand could join in, even if they were otherwise immobilised.

    Now, however, things are different. People must go to factory grounds, and have age verification. This means that suddenly, a large part of the workforce is unable. Therefore, either they must find other jobs, or be unemployed. The other main industry in Sialkot is leather, and I don't need explain just how bad a tannery is.

    Even worse, kids who used to support their education with football money are now left with a job *or* schooling. House wives are now unable to travel to distant factories. People are angry that they are being denied good, clean jobs. Football stitching doesn't pay enough as a main job, but as an extra income, it was invaluable.

    I am sure the west was assuaged of the guilt of child labour, but that means that 15 year olds in sialkot are now left with nothing to do.

  11. Re:To offset the usual chatter on /. on Peugeot Citroen To Introduce Compressed Air Hybrid By 2016 · · Score: 1

    Sorry, I am not an engineer, so I can't answer this, but as I understand, the CNG running engines don't provide enough *power* on steep climbs, so cars have to switch over to petrol for the climbing portion, then switch back to the cheaper CNG for gentler slopes. Also, AFAIK, it isn't possible to do a diesel/CNG hybrid, and Bigger cars (~2000 cc plus engines) usually don't benefit from CNG.

  12. Re:To offset the usual chatter on /. on Peugeot Citroen To Introduce Compressed Air Hybrid By 2016 · · Score: 1

    The point was CNG has already explored these frontiers, and have developed technology to render this commercially feasible.

    More specifically, I was referring to the Pump-end of the equation; CNG stations cover about the same area as normal petrol station, and have an automated setup for compression, *cooling*, storing and dispensing gas at the pump; this is *not* a new or difficult thing to do, as americans presume, and you are not to blame, you have most likely not seen CNG pumps in action, so setting up a small commercial gas setup must seem like an awkward proposal, where as it is not.

    Oh of course, air would be different, but it's not *entirely* a new setup, they have CNG as a base. Also, apparently MDI already have that end figured out.

    At the engine end, yes, the setup is *much* more diverse than CNG, but then again this is why MDI hasn't released a product for ten years; not because they are vapour-ware (ha!) they might as well be, but because they have gone through four different engine designs to counter this problem.

    ----

    Basically, I (and I think I can say the same for Tata Motors) can see value in this setup for tiny daily commute cars. I think this would be feasible for Auto-Rickshaw type of setups.

  13. To offset the usual chatter on /. on Peugeot Citroen To Introduce Compressed Air Hybrid By 2016 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here is some some quick responses.

    1- No, running around in car with gas full of high pressure tank is the not the end of the world, people (including yours truly) do it with CNG enabled cars.

    2- As for compression/decompression energy losses, same as for CNG, you need to cool it it blah blah, and is done so on a commercial scale at every CNG station; therefore can be done.

    3- CNG suffers from power problems on steep climbs, same seems to be the case for air. But for regular commute, it's perfect and economical.

    4- Air car suffer from low power density (much lower than CNG), but AFAIK, a full tank can last you the usual daily commute, which ought to be enough for a small city car. (which is what it will be able to power anyway, can't carry the load of bigger cars as of yet) And you could charge at work too(regular mains-running onboard compressor apparently take 3-4 hrs), so there is that.

    5- MDI realised that air alone won't be enough, so they have been developing hybrid versions themselves.

    TL;DR Air could prove to be good for the usual regular commute, since fuel costs will be minimum (air is free, all it will cost is running the compression and pump, which, looking at local CNG setups, will prove to much less than petrol equivalent, if commercially done)

    Here is some aircar nerd sites:

    - http://www.aircars.tk/

    - http://www.cyber-media.com/aircar/index.shtml

    (I would take their figures with a grain of salt, but well, the video shows running prototypes, so at least there is *something*)

  14. Re:Who loves USA on Responding to US Gambling Law, Antigua Set To Launch "Pirate" Site · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes we are!

    GIBE MOAR GREEN CARDS!

    Seriously, our hatred of the west ends immediately the moment an option for us to immigrate there becomes available. We are such hypocrites...

  15. Re:Why the fuck is this even on Slashdot? on Pakistan Boycotting Call of Duty, Medal of Honor Games · · Score: 1

    Look, generalisations are okay when we have no info, but we should not forget that beyond those broad strokes exist people who have normal lives, and are more concerned with making sure they don't freeze the night rather than, say, cursing all those heathen infidels to death.

    I didn't learn this lesson either, until I had spent five years in Kenya; that's when I realised that there is more to those people then being merely a stereotypical bunch of backward savages whose sole purpose is to lose against us in cricket. I would never have imagined that they would teach me to speak better English than my country men, for example, and certainly not that they would give me my passion for reading so strongly that I cannot resist reading the label of cans.

    I was pissed then, that my dad was forced to a crappy posting in Nairobi, but now, looking back, I think that was the best possible thing that could have happened to us. I no longer think of people a bunch of generalisations, not after having witnessed my preconceptions being so thoroughly trashed.

    I know not every one can visit every place to learn it's background, but in this day and age of Wikipedia and internet resources, I highly encourage people to just take a tumble through webpages at random, and discover a new culture everyday.

    For example, recently on reddit, some one was asking for advice about getting out, and I correctly guessed that he was from Mauritius. He was naturally surprised and assumed that maybe I was from there, but actually, I had gone on a info dip on Mauritius on a lark, and therefore I could connect the dots in his comment.

    I highly suggest every one to do the same; to sprout out ignorant statements, in this day and age of knowledge access, would be a miserable shame.

  16. Re:Why the fuck is this even on Slashdot? on Pakistan Boycotting Call of Duty, Medal of Honor Games · · Score: 1

    Come come now, you know that's NOT how it is.

    Our greatest misery is that we DON'T choose our leaders, good *or* bad! The key players are NOT the electorate, but the Army, Western (UK and US separately) and Gulf leaders(Mostly KSA and UAE), each having it's own horse, and playing the game.

    Army ensures that there will be no coup as long as their defence kitty is untouched, West insures there will aid for them to usurp, Gulf ensure the will kowtow the opposition with the threat of the Holy wrath, using the Islamic angle. (Also the Gulf and the West also play off the secular and the Islamic parties, while both make sure we don't jump in the China camp)

    As long as these three parties are satisfied, you can stuff ballot boxes and carry on, sans consequence.

    So you see, the West *is* an active party, not a passive party, merely dealing with the result of our elections. You help in the selection of our leaders, most recently in the previous election, where a *truce* was commissioned to write off all corruption cases against them, allowing them to run unimpeded. This is what allowed Benazir Bhutto to come back, not that it helped her much...

    Please understand, I am not sprouting conspiracy theories, these are facts.

    (BTW, what pisses me off is that when the West actually grows a spine and say, condemn a dictator, only to turn around and accept the same guy for selfish reason! Like Musharraf, condemned rightly for military coup, then suddenly accepted when 9/11 comes around, you got to admit that's hypocritical of the West)

    Also, I know that revolution will not bring us change, but at least the *current* corrupt bastards will face a comeuppance. I mean, the French revolution wasn't exactly all milk and honey (horrendous excess were carried out by the revolutionaries too), but I don't think the French people will disagree that it was better than the alternative (letting the dynasty continue on unheeded).

    In any case, I don't support revolution, (for once, just hold a fucking functional election, damn it!) but I strongly protest your statement that we should *not* criticise and demand the removal of our current leaders despite their excesses, simply because the *possible* alternative could be bad. We are already at rock bottom, the only way can go now is UP.

    (Beside, we just had a mini revolution, you may have heard of it, that Canadian *moderate* Mullah Tahir-ul-Qadri leading it. People joined him because we had *severe* fuel crises, what does he do? Cuts a deal with the govt after a few days of protest, and goes away, people are left to manage the fuel crises on their own. Yeah, revolutions suck)

    I have no delusions that corruption will end, but can we *at least* go back a bit in time and get some fuel? People don't care about corruption if they have electricity to run their welding machine and actually earn a living enough to pay for said corruption.

    Also not mentioned in this rant is the constant threat of terrorism, as some one who has had people affected by this (policeman living two houses away died in terrorist attack, neighbour front door having to support all their extended family who fled the crises in Waziristan, my own sister's uni attacked by terrorist)You can't imagine just *how* bad things are.

    ----

    As for getting out of Dodge, well, have you got a spare bunk? ;p

    Seriously though, things are not easy, we tried for my brother who is highly qualified, but no one abroad wants to give him a job visa, not that I blame them, I mean, would *you* call over some one from Pakistan? Our county's bad reputations means we are stuck.

  17. Re:Why the fuck is this even on Slashdot? on Pakistan Boycotting Call of Duty, Medal of Honor Games · · Score: 1

    You are an English speaker with education and access to high technology.

    You mean, exactly the market these games would cater too? My comment *is* relevant

    Besides, I am not responsible for the actions for every of 180 Million of our country's citizen, nor for the One or so Billion Muslims in the world.

    (Also, who the fuck says "Sacred Territory" in Pakistan any more? That bullshit died in the 80's.)

  18. Re:Why the fuck is this even on Slashdot? on Pakistan Boycotting Call of Duty, Medal of Honor Games · · Score: 1

    What sort of arrogant patronising bullshit is this? Be happy it's only rabidly corrupt people, other wise it could be *GASP* the mullahs! What difference does it make for us? One of our harshest laws was made not by a mullah but by the Prime-Minister elected from a Secular party, he sold out for some votes, does it make any difference?

    We are *actually* regressing backwards! We used to have plentiful electricity due to our big dams, plenty of fuel from our gas fields, people were poor, but damn, at least you could earn a living (you had to pay bribes and extortion money even then, but at least your machines *ran*), cook food, heat your house ans easily avail transport.

    Now we have minimal gas or electricity, factories are closing down, people cannot earn a living, cannot easily avail transport, cannot friggin' light their stoves or warm their houses, I myself had to find a charcoal burner and some (badly made)charcoal, to warm the room!

    Now see, this is not like Africa or whatever, where people don't *have* the infrastructure in the first place, our country *has* the setup, heck I pay monthly bills for it, and *yet* I don't get anything!

    So no, I would like to try this *unknown* devil, things can't get any worse. I hate the prevalent Western attitude of "let's support these corrupt dictators, at least it's not worse". Yes it is,

  19. Re:So what kind of "ban" is this? on Pakistan Boycotting Call of Duty, Medal of Honor Games · · Score: 1

    Stupid association of like ten shops in some god forsaken hood; I didn't even know it existed.

    Not related to govt at all. Ignore him, I assure you will get this shit in pirated in any damn place.

    I mean if his "ban" meant anything, you wouldn't be able to get risque stuff now, would you? Yet at 30 rupees a pop, you can get them quite easily.

  20. Why the fuck is this even on Slashdot? on Pakistan Boycotting Call of Duty, Medal of Honor Games · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I am from Pakistan, and all I can say is "LOL, a ban, haha, how cute"

    This is just a storm in a teacup situation; For one, now one gives a flying fuck, and secondly, pirates CDs for 30 rupees (~30 cents) each man, if one shop doesn't, you don't think there are 100 other shops in the same damn plaza who will provide it?Besides they haven't been able to stop outright *porn*, they will do something like this? Yeah right.

    Go back people, noting to see here, no one cares except some bourgeois who like to #TweetLikeABurger . Mr "Association President" just wanted the world to know that (a) He exists; and (b) Vote for me at the next association election!

    This isn't even news here, I didn't even know this was an issue (For once, Slashdot provides news on time!). We are more concerned over CNG (no fuel for cars, winter heaters or stoves), or the fact that the investigator who was investigating corruption charges against our PM conveniently committed suicide (The fact that there were signs of torture, or that he had sent SMS to pals regarding him being pressurised to change evidence is obviously unrelated.)

    Come on people, we are people of, what, 180 million? Most of whom can't even afford to feed them self, much less buy games. We are Hungry, cold, freezing and Immobile, not to mention without work. We have better thing to worry about, besides, no one can outdo us in cursing our nation, I am sure your games pale in comparison.

  21. Relevant TVTropes on Facebook Banter More Memorable Than Lines From Recent Books · · Score: 1
  22. Re:It is standard for Boeing on Boeing 787 Dreamliner Grounded In US and EU · · Score: 1

    I think the idea was that electrical problems and faulty latches can happen in both, but at least the plug system would act as an *additional* fail-safe; plugged doors would stick, no plugged doors would blow off.

  23. Re:Why do we need flexible phones? on Researchers Develop Solid But Flexible Electrolyte For Bendable Batteries · · Score: 1

    You should check out the Nokia Morph Phone Concept.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX-gTobCJHs

    They had certain ideas about the possible applications of a flexible phone.

  24. Re:who vets this stuff? on No, Life Has Not Been Found In a Meteorite · · Score: 1

    You mean common Srilankan name.

  25. Relevant XKCD on Bug Sends Lost-Phone Seekers To Same Wrong Address · · Score: 1