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User: wagnerrp

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Comments · 2,465

  1. Re:Lasers? Fired from a shark? on Self-Guided Bullet Can Hit Targets a Mile Away · · Score: 1

    No, this is more of an anti-material weapon. It's so much longer than even a normal rifle round that a human body won't to much to stop it. Unless you happen to hit a vital organ, or get a solid hit on a bone, it will just go in one side and right out the other, doing limited damage in between. It's a common problem with flachette-style rounds.

  2. Re:Lasers? Fired from a shark? on Self-Guided Bullet Can Hit Targets a Mile Away · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you're covered in flat mirrors, you only get specular reflection, where the light travels in one singular path. If the seeker head is not directly in that path, it will not be able to see you, and will not track. Laser guidance required diffuse reflection, where the laser light is scattered in all directions, and the seeker head can see it from any location.

  3. Re:Dart Maybe? on Self-Guided Bullet Can Hit Targets a Mile Away · · Score: 2

    They said 10cm long (they actually said 4 inches long). A rough guess based off the video, I would say its a 1cm (.40 caliber) flachette, with a 20mm sabot. The smoothbore Rheinmatall on the M1A1 may be a 120mm gun, but it fires a 24mm APFSDS round, or Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot.

  4. Re:DVD ? DVDead. on Tenative Ruling Against Kaleidescape in DVD CCA Case · · Score: 2

    The only way you can willfully circumvent copyright laws with this thing is by renting/borrowing a movie, ripping it and returning the disc.

    The newer Bluray models don't even allow that. You still rip it to hard disk rather than accessing the disc each time, but you have to purchase disc vaults that only allow you to play content secured inside. Now sure, you could cut the things open to retrieve the discs, but I doubt it would let you add a new disc to a slot it thought was already filled, and at $7000 each for 320 discs, it costs more for the unit than it did to purchase the movies themselves.

  5. Re:Do Not Want on UCLA Professor Says Conventional Wisdom on Study Habits Is All Washed Up · · Score: 5, Insightful

    His methods all sound nice, "don't take notes!". Well, he should go and try that in engineering. Lets see how long he'll last.

    Sounds reasonable to me. Your engineering textbooks contain all the equations, formula, and methodologies you need to learn to get a degree, so why do you go to class? The classes teach you the background of why those methods are used, and when is the proper occasion to use them. When you take extensive notes, half your attention is spent recording the lecture verbatim, and you're not actually taking an active part in learning it.

    He's saying don't do that. Pay attention. Think about what is actually being said. At some point in the short term after the class, while all that stuff is still fresh in your mind, replay through the class and write as much of it as you can down. The forced recollection will leave a far better imprint. If there are things you missed, ask a classmate, review the text, go meet the teacher in their office. You've got more than one chance to acquire all this information.

  6. Re:ISRU... on Deathmatch On Mars: an Interview With Warren Ellis · · Score: 1

    Because the gravity well on the Moon is inconsequential. Escape velocity on the Moon is less than a quarter that on Earth, but more importantly, there is no significant atmosphere. That means you can build launch rails to accelerate spacecraft magnetically. Since the Moon is tidally locked, and the Earth always faces the same direction, your launch rail could be statically built and launch craft into Lunar transfer orbit with no fuel consumption. With current "first world" utility rates, you would be looking at around $1/kg for electrical costs, and maybe another $10/kg when you factor in fuel for Earth orbital insertion, and the vehicle to perform that. Compare that to the current launch vehicles which run $5000-$10000/kg for LEO from Earth.

    On the other hand, if you go out and start mining the asteroid belt, those things are out in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of thousands of miles apart. With solar intensity out that far less than a quarter that on Earth, you're likely going to need to bring your own power source if you intend to do that.

  7. Re:I HAD to buy it... Once... on USPTO Declares Invalid Third of Three Critical Rambus Patents · · Score: 2

    I was given a very nice Compaq Deskpro series computer with about a 1.5G P4 (this was a while ago!)

    The 1.5GHz P4 was never very nice, even a long while ago. A late model P3 of the same time frame would handily outrun it at half the power consumption.

  8. Re:Excellent on XBMC Running On Raspberry Pi · · Score: 1

    I'm not saying this should be used for recording, but rather refuting hairyfeet's claim that the reasons it shouldn't are because it doesn't have enough power to record. It has plenty of power to do the basic data copy needed to record, it just doesn't have the power to do all the ancillary tasks that go along with being an HTPC.

  9. Re:LTSP on XBMC Running On Raspberry Pi · · Score: 1

    Now if only there were a mechanism for the remote X applications to hit the hardware decoders available to the local X server, so you weren't trying to push several hundred megabit of raw video across a wireless network...

  10. Re:Impressive hardware on XBMC Running On Raspberry Pi · · Score: 1

    The big news is that the CPU on the iPhone 4S is a good 6-7x faster than that on this Raspberry Pi, so it comes down to optimizing the device for the tasks you intend for it to perform.

  11. Re:Excellent on XBMC Running On Raspberry Pi · · Score: 4, Informative

    Recording HD or even SD video can put a strain on a chip and the Raspberry was made to be low priced not high powered. But I have a feeling once you added all the stuff required to make it a fully functional HTPC you'd be better off just getting one the the AMD E-350s and calling it a day.

    Recording HD or even SD video hardly puts any strain on a chip, since you would be foolish to record anything that didn't come pre-compressed, either from a digital tuner, or analog encoder. All the chip has to do is shuffle bits from the capture subsystem to the storage subsystem. The question then becomes one of whether the performance of a late-90s PC is sufficient for your metadata needs, running the database, processing guide data, performing scheduling decisions, post-recording analysis of the video, etc...

    If you're actually looking for a fully functional HTPC, you're better off getting real hardware, and not some intentionally underpowered system. Electricity is cheap, modern chips idle very efficiently, and it's not like you can't just put the thing in standby or power it off if you're that concerned. Having some real meat behind your HTPC just opens up a bunch of new possibilities, and opportunity for expansion.

  12. Re:Sweet! on VGA and DVI Ports To Be Phased Out Over Next 5 Years · · Score: 1

    You are correct. Outside of a few ARM development kits, you can't buy a PC with built in support for CEC, ethernet, or audio return. None of the graphics card manufacturers support such.

  13. Re:So Long DVI... on VGA and DVI Ports To Be Phased Out Over Next 5 Years · · Score: 1

    ... and remote control, and ethernet, and anything else carried on the auxiliary channel.

  14. Re:Sweet! on VGA and DVI Ports To Be Phased Out Over Next 5 Years · · Score: 1

    DVI does not have the pins to support HDMI's CEC and auxiliary data channels.

  15. Re:why phase out DVI? on VGA and DVI Ports To Be Phased Out Over Next 5 Years · · Score: 1

    No, they aren't. They are physically the same, but electronically different. HDMI devices are just backwards compatible and capable of running in both modes.

  16. Re:It is in fact electrically compatible with HDMI on VGA and DVI Ports To Be Phased Out Over Next 5 Years · · Score: 1

    The connectors are the same physically, but the video signal is different electronically. DVI has dedicated channels for red, green, and blue. HDMI has three data channels that are generically used for audio and video, including other colorspaces and subsampling. Future high resolution displays can use increased pixel clocks for sufficient bandwidth, but dropping dual link support would leave existing dual link monitors unusable.

  17. Re:why phase out DVI? on VGA and DVI Ports To Be Phased Out Over Next 5 Years · · Score: 1

    Typically any cable you get with a monitor 1920x1200 or smaller is missing the center six pins, making it single link only.

  18. Re:Not Windows style DRM on Ubisoft Has Windows-Style Hardware-Based DRM For Games · · Score: 1

    I'm not saying it works, I'm just saying the only thing I could potentially see it used for, besides preventing unlicensed reuse, is some form of benign data collection on its users. On the other hand, a limit of three hardware profiles effectively terminates the used game market. If the only way to play the used game is to crack it, most people won't bother and will just pirate it instead. They've made physical product non-transferable.

  19. Re:Not Windows style DRM on Ubisoft Has Windows-Style Hardware-Based DRM For Games · · Score: 1

    No. I have no misguided belief that Windows Activation does much of anything to stop piracy. At best, it makes it more of a hassle to keep illegal copies fully patched. What I was saying was that Windows Activation is largely painless and unobtrusive to the paying customer, and the only ulterior motive I could see for it is some sort of data collection on how often users upgrade. On the other hand, Ubisoft's DRM seems more like a thinly veiled mechanism to eliminate the used games market.

  20. Re:Not Windows style DRM on Ubisoft Has Windows-Style Hardware-Based DRM For Games · · Score: 1

    Was that a retail copy of Windows, or something that came pre-installed by Dell? They may give you more trouble with OEM copies.

  21. Not Windows style DRM on Ubisoft Has Windows-Style Hardware-Based DRM For Games · · Score: 4, Informative

    Rant and rave about Windows DRM all you want, but the way Windows activation was designed, it actually appears intended to stop piracy. You activate once, and store that hardware key on their validation servers. It doesn't repeatedly poll the server to ensure validation, it only gets used during updates, and it will only block a new update until you re-activate. If you change hardware after a certain amount of time, it will allow you to validate a new install, invalidating and blocking updates on the old install. If you do so before that certain amount of time, all you have to do is call a number, claim you replaced hardware, and replace the existing validation. They're not going to care unless you start doing that multiple times each month.

    This, you get three times, period. There is no expiry period. There is no way to call and flush out an old install. Three times, and then the product is dead. This sounds more like a mechanism to prevent resale of games, rather than a way to prevent piracy. How dare someone else get to play the game without paying them additional money! Just wait until they start requiring a webcam, so they can perform facial recognition and ensure you are the only one playing the game.

  22. Re:10% Ethanol on Is E85 Dead Now? · · Score: 1

    Ethanol has a higher octane rating than normal gasoline. It gets blended into normal gas as a mechanism to increase octane rating, replacing lead for the same task. If you remove ethanol, you either need to increase the octane rating through some other additive, or switch to a high pressure direct injection system like in a diesel.

  23. Re:10% Ethanol on Is E85 Dead Now? · · Score: 1

    No, not negative, but far lower than other forms of biofuels already available, and not even in the same ballpark as projected estimates for cellulosic ethanol. When better, cheaper alternatives are available, corn ethanol only exists due to government subsidies.

  24. Re:This won't work on New Cable Designed To Deter Copper Thieves · · Score: 1

    I don't care how desperate you are. Causing $10,000 in damage to get $10 in copper wire is inexcusable. I'd rather see you hold up a gas station for the $200 they had in the register at the time, or mug someone on the street and steal their wallet. They are causing rampant and wanton destruction, for a pittance of a reward.

  25. Re:This won't work on New Cable Designed To Deter Copper Thieves · · Score: 1

    The only way to stop this is through stronger laws and law enforcement targeting the scrap-metal dealers.

    While I agree with this sentiment at the level of the problem that this article states, I'd like to add that it is sad that few of us realize the reality of the situation. Bankers have corrupted our system, leaving it in such a state that citizens need to steal parts of our infrastructure (causing orders of magnitude more damage than they benefit financially) in order to survive.

    Oh, that's complete bullshit. Copper prices started rising in 2003, and aside from a fallout between 2008 and 2009, the price for copper has been around 4-5 times what it was in the late 90s. Copper is worth a lot of money. Copper is laying there right out in the open, easy to get your hands on, and easy to sell. The rise in copper theft coincided exactly with the rise in prices, and had nothing to do with a poor economy or high unemployment.

    There is a segment of the population that wants money and doesn't want to do honest work for it. That segment has always existed, and there is no indication that segment will ever go away. If they don't steal copper, they will steal cars. If they don't steal cars, they will break into stores and homes to steal electronics. They will always steal something. The only reason copper theft is such a big issue is the loss of worth it causes. If you steal a car, you might be able to sell it at half price, or you might even be able to chop it and get more than blue book off the parts. If you steal copper, you're usually looking at repair and replacement costs two to three orders of magnitude more than what you sell it for. It's a massive drain on the total wealth of the society, rather than the minor nuisance that theft typically causes.