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User: oodaloop

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Comments · 3,112

  1. Re:But when they get on a plane. on GPS Shoes For Alzheimer's Patients · · Score: 3, Funny

    I just have one question for you. Why do you hate America?

  2. Re:ultimate real world pointer on Using the iPhone As a Pointing Device For the Real World · · Score: 1

    Uh, so you want a missile to lock onto the forward observer's location, and not the enemy's location? Doesn't that seem a little dangerous?

  3. Re:Oh Good! on GPS Shoes For Alzheimer's Patients · · Score: 1

    Well, it's not available yet. Have a little patience.

  4. That's how they track you on GPS Shoes For Alzheimer's Patients · · Score: 1

    in Nakatomi Plaza. If you're inside when it's taken over by terrorists, make sure you take off your shoes so they can't track you.

  5. Re:Go Arnold! on California To Move To Online Textbooks · · Score: 1

    Finally, a car analogy. Now I get it!

  6. Slap in the face? WTF? on iPhone Users Angry Over AT&T Upgrade Policy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    AT&T and Apple are trying to get new customers by lowering the initial cost and subsidizing the remainder on a 2 yr plan. If you already have an iPhone, you don't qualify, plain and simple. Why is this a slap in the face? When did we as a society get our collective sense of entitlement?

  7. Re:Where will all the helium come from? on Inflatable Tower Could Climb To the Edge of Space · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can't we just mine helium from the sun?

  8. Re:FTFA on 11-Year-Old Graduates With Degree In Astrophysics · · Score: 1

    Or exceptional in less dramatic ways. Your last part reminds me of the Onion article about most of our teachers having teaching disabilities. We could certainly do better as a country and as a species to teach our children. I have to wonder how many more kids could do this well if they were encouraged and provided the means to do so.

  9. Or... on Most Blogs Now Abandoned · · Score: 1

    some people post less often than 120 days. I started mine to let my family know how I was doing in Iraq and posted once in a while to let them know I was OK. Now I post various updates to my life, book reviews, or anything else I feel like. Surprisingly, some people in my and my wife's family actively read and await the next post. I have a friend who sometimes posts less often than 120 days, but I wouldn't call his abandoned either.

  10. Re:Aspergers on 11-Year-Old Graduates With Degree In Astrophysics · · Score: 1

    I don't recall using the word offended. I just have a problem with labeling, diagnosing, and treating every set of personality traits. Where will this end? Will everyone who has trouble driving manual transmission take meds and go to a self-help group? Will everyone who has a fear of public speaking just commiserate with one another in online groups where they don't have to face their fears? I worry that giving kids names for their problems will label them for life, make them a source of ridicule, and turn them into that syndrome if they weren't it before. If you tell them they're fine, to do their best, they can do whatever they want in life, they'll turn out much better than if you tell them they have X syndrome and need medication for their problem. I also fear for our future, when people will feel sorry for themselves for their syndromes instead of just getting on with life. How about you develop some coping skills and get through life like the rest of us, and everyone else who ever lived?

  11. Re:ultimate real world pointer on Using the iPhone As a Pointing Device For the Real World · · Score: 1

    A laser ranger finder is different from a laser target designator, which is what "lasing" refers to. When you "lase" a target, you are bouncing a special laser off a target so that another system (perhaps very far away) can detect the reflected light and zero in on the source (this is what they were trying to show in Transformers, but with the wrong kind of laser). A laser range finder will bounce a laser off a target back to you and tell you far away it is. Two entirely different systems. I think this difference in definition of "lasing" is what is causing the confusion. A system like one you are describing is certainly useful for some applications, but it does not compare to, nor could it replace current laser target designation systems.

    But in any case, why would mortars need GPS or a compass? You have to point it towards the enemy manually, load it manually, and adjust the inclination manually. Having more information digitally wouldn't help.

  12. Re:ultimate real world pointer on Using the iPhone As a Pointing Device For the Real World · · Score: 1

    I can see costs going down eventually, but current lasing systems are expensive and I don't think the costs justify the small additional capability. The lasers used to lase targets are not the same as the ones in pointers or the ones they used in Transformers. They're very powerful and need to be detected from long distance. Plus the whole package has to be durable, waterproof, rugged, etc. And for a laser with a glass tube (the only kind around AFAIK), this means a lot of expensive packaging. I'm not convinced the benefits are worth the cost, given how effective low cost solutions are.

    And again, depending on the targeting system, calling it up on the radio is fine. Think about the scene in Transformers again. They call in the target, A-10 Warthogs roll in, see the target in the vicinity, and shoot it. They used lasers in the movie, but they aren't necessary when you can physically see the target and are shooting it with bullets vice missiles.

  13. And when it dies on Epix Provides "Free" HD Studio Content Via TV and Internet · · Score: 5, Funny

    we can all say, "Epix Fail!"

  14. Re:Aspergers on 11-Year-Old Graduates With Degree In Astrophysics · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Have you heard of oodaloop syndrome? It's where you get sick of every personality quirk being called a syndrome.

  15. Re:ultimate real world pointer on Using the iPhone As a Pointing Device For the Real World · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yeah, depends on the target. If you're bombing a hilltop, lasing provides far more accuracy than needed. Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) is usually used in 6, 8, or 10 digit numbers. a 6 digit grid gives a 100 meter square on the ground, which is good enough for ground navigation and targeting of things like hilltops. An 8 digit grid gives a 10 meter square, which is good enough for most buildings. 10 digit grids give a 1 meter square, which are used for targeting extensively. You could denote not just a building, but which window or smokestack. Sounds cool, but it's usually more accuracy than you need. You can easily read a 6 digit grid off a tactical 1:50,000 map, or even an 8 digit grid with some practice. Like I said, for most targets, that's good enough. It's not sexy, but it works. Everybody's got GPS in the field these days though, so I guess it's kind of moot.

    You also have to look at the accuracy of the weapons systems involved. All those precision strikes you see on the news mask all the misses, some if which are way off. It doesn't do much good to lase a target if you can't reliably hit it.

  16. FTFA on 11-Year-Old Graduates With Degree In Astrophysics · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Cavalin is quoted as saying:

    I like to study just because knowledge goes to wisdom and only by wisdom can we help the world

    Wow, what a kid. All the best to him.

  17. Re:ultimate real world pointer on Using the iPhone As a Pointing Device For the Real World · · Score: 2, Informative

    Or just learn how to read a map and call off your coordinates over the radio. It's not hard* and saves taxpayers money.

    *Disclaimer: I used to teach mapping in the Marine Corps. YMMV. If you have trouble counting or following bold straight lines on a map, this may be extremely difficult.

  18. I had no idea on Software Bug Adds 5K Votes To Election · · Score: 1

    that adding involves multiplying by numbers greater than 1.

  19. Re:I fear... on 7-inch Android Netbook From GNB · · Score: 1

    How do you misspell a word like Qwerty? Did you post to slashdot on your cellphone or something?

  20. Reminds me of Groundhog's Day on Has Bing Already Overtaken Yahoo? · · Score: 5, Funny

    I dated your sister until you told me not to? BING! Needlenose Ned! BING!

    Man, I've seen that movie so many times.

  21. Re:So the WaPo reports a story a month obsolete? on MS Issued a Fix For Its Unwanted FireFox Extension · · Score: 1

    Sadly, I think the majority of visitors to this site never dive into the comments section

    I thought conventional wisdom was that slashdotters go directly to posting after failing to RTFA and sometimes TFS. Or even TFT(itle).

    What were we talking about again?

  22. Re:MyDomain.com on What Do You Do With a Personal Domain? · · Score: 1

    Just use x.com. That way people can pay the royalities directly to paypal!

  23. Re:That ain't working - That's the way you do it on Money For Nothing and the Codecs For Free · · Score: 4, Funny

    Indeed, it does sound like they are in dire straights.

  24. Re:You can ask for the world on Court Asked To Strike All MediaSentry Evidence · · Score: 2, Funny

    Harbinger of Death? Sounds delicious! I'll have a venti half-caf upside-down soy extra-hot Harbinger of Death please.

  25. Re:Captain Oxymoron to the Rescue! on A Push To End the Online Gambling Ban · · Score: 1

    It's also taxed and regulated

    Which is why most of them are registered in tax-free offshore financial centers. They're owned by anonymous International Business Companies with bearer shares. Most of these places have few laws regarding these kind of things and respond kindly to cash incentives. Some regulation.

    no incentive for organised crime to get involved as it's a huge very profitable industry.

    That's precisely why organized crime gets involved, Einstein. Money for nothing and your chicks for free.