Slashdot Mirror


User: snspdaarf

snspdaarf's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
1,046
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 1,046

  1. Re:Melanin as a semiconductor on Teenager Invents Cheap Solar Panel From Human Hair · · Score: 1

    Maybe the wool industry should start investing in this?

    Why? Does the world really need another non-standard use for sheep?

  2. Re:Shampoo? on Teenager Invents Cheap Solar Panel From Human Hair · · Score: 1

    That idea has been patented by Shampoo.

  3. Re:Jerky competence is a bit of an oxymoron on Geeks Prefer Competence To Niceness · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but I bet they were an asshole before they got good at the job, too.

  4. Fah. on The Coming Problems For Rolling Out 3D TV · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I would be happier if all the bugs were worked out of the switch to HD first. Like how the picture and sound do not sync up, strange artifacts, the whole thing just cutting out and back in. This was on Cox at a relative's house over the weekend. There were still problems over the air, and this location is less than five miles from the transmitters for all the stations in the area.

  5. Re:Levels of anonymity? on Why Anonymized Data Isn't · · Score: 1

    Right, but not on target. The issue is that if databases include enough data, and seemingly trivial data at that, by selecting good common elements and good databases to generate union result sets, I can show that it really was you at the Game Store that bought Bitchslap III, Nun Terror At The Vatican for PS3 at 7:30 PM last Tuesday, and you were not at the bar watching football like you claim.

  6. Re:Err.. on Why Anonymized Data Isn't · · Score: 1

    English is not my first language, so I probably didn't catch the whole meaning, but...

    The idea was that everyone can be identified with only the birth date, gender and ZIP code? So... err... There is, in fact, not even one ZIP code that has two people living there of the same gender that happen to share a birthday? Sure, to have the year coincide would take a bit more than just the date itself but it's hard for me to imagine that this could be true.

    So... what did I miss?

    It takes more than just these three items. What was meant was that if you take these three items, and run them against a database of known items, you end up knowing more from the combination than from the two separately. In this case, if you have a database with redacted information, and a second, non related, database that happens to have the redacted elements from the first, by selecting a good set of common keys to run a union of the two, you can "un-redact" the missing information. Nothing new here. The point is that confidential information is that way for a reason, and should not be released at any level of sanitization.

  7. Wow... on Scouts No Longer Allowed To Have Knives On Camping Trips · · Score: 1

    Scouts not allowed to carry knives. What next? Pointed sticks? Bananas? Cherries (black and red)? If the UK now bans all knives, what will they do when the street thugs start beating people to death with their fists? Cut off hands? At some point one would think they need address the underlying problem, and not the inanimate objects used to express it.

  8. Re:Every time I do that I wonder... on What the DHS Knows About You · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "No, Ma'am, the [Department of Homeland Security] do not have a sense of humor we are aware of."

  9. Re:I'm a doctor, not an engineer! on New Zealander Invents Segway Alternative · · Score: 1

    It's bike, Jim, but not as we know it.

    Thanks! I knew I could count on someone for this!

  10. Re:Sounds like... on Schooling, Homeschooling, and Now, "Unschooling" · · Score: 1

    Why was this modded "troll"? This is sarcasm. Must be someone unschooled who got mod points.

  11. Re:What would these kids grow up to be? on Schooling, Homeschooling, and Now, "Unschooling" · · Score: 1

    Seldom at work, but all the time at life. One should understand why, when they run everywhere, their uncle refers to them as "Phidippides", or why avocados have that name, or even if you are thinking of a career as a moonshiner why you don't use lead pipe in the still.

  12. Re:More heavy-handed every day on MPAA Pushes Once Again To Close the Analog Hole · · Score: 1

    You didn't read the slashdot post of the set top box with the IR sensor, or camera, or whatever?

  13. Re:That's what you get on Take-Two Faces $20 Million Settlement For "Hot Coffee" Scandal · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I walk around the office on eggshells because there are a couple of people I figure would just go porno if they got upset.

  14. Re:Predictable ending on NASA Robots and Rovers At Play In the Desert · · Score: 1

    And here I thought Martian dog pee could be refined into a motor fuel.
    My mistake.

  15. Re:My plan comes to fruition! on Build Your Own $2.8M Petabyte Disk Array For $117k · · Score: 1

    I wouldn't watch Genital Hospital with a gun to my head! Give me All My Children, or give me Death!

    Well, maybe Tea and Cake instead of Death, but you get the idea.

  16. Re:Are these fires normal or excessive? on Mount Wilson Observatory In Danger From L.A. Fire · · Score: 1

    The area that has been burning has not had a major fire in something like 60 years, so there is lots of fuel. But, what makes this fire unusual is that there is no Santa Ana wind to make it bigger. This fire is doing it all on its own.

  17. Re:Adopt on Making Babies In Space May Not Be Easy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Madona? Is that you?

  18. It's only a cannon on Dad Builds 700 Pound Cannon for Son's Birthday · · Score: 1

    I don't know why some people are all excited about an eleven year old with his own cannon. Kids that age already build some of their own stuff that is at least as dangerous. Spud guns, tennis ball guns, zip guns, tiger traps with punji sticks, pipe bombs, Molotov Cocktails, chlorine gas grenades, stills, the list goes on and on.

  19. Re:Anyone got a video of the Star Blazers cartoon? on Dad Builds 700 Pound Cannon for Son's Birthday · · Score: 1

    Why, yes, Wildstar, I do have a video of that show.

  20. GPF Software on Robotic Mold · · Score: 1

    Fooker, is that you?

  21. Re:Huh? on Swedish Regulators Ban Word "Bank" In Domain Names For Non-Banks · · Score: 1

    As long as I can still donate urine...

  22. Re:Well that sounds reasonable on Homeland Security Changes Laptop Search Policy · · Score: 1

    Some of this is employee theft.

    A lot of it is employee theft. From back when I worked at Wal Mart, not all the bubbles on the ceiling had cameras, not all the cameras were active, but the ones that were on the monitor in the store managers office were all trained on the people at the cash register.

  23. Re:Backwards on Emergency Government Control of the Internet? · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately, the good stuff we create can also be used as bad stuff. We don't need a law to cover every possible event in life.

  24. Boom? on Apple Faces Inquiries In the EU On iPhone Accidents · · Score: 1
    FTA:

    if its start to make noises, raise smoke or shake un normally, itâ(TM)s a sign something is about to happen.

    Are we talking iPhone, or Mt. St. Helens?
    Seriously, I would like to think that there would be some way to overload protect things to prevent this. I know lithium batteries are special, but why can't there be some element that opens up to prevent the phaser on overload scenario?

  25. Re:Alcohol fuel is unsuitable for present engine t on Watermelon Juice Makes Great Biofuel · · Score: 1

    What is this based on? I currently own five cars, all of them have over 100k miles on them. Some bought used, some bought new, and the only problem I have had was with the used cars that came out of a non-gasohol area needing frequent fuel filter changes. I admit that if I forgot to do this it killed the in-tank fuel pump, but that was something I knew would happen, I just forgot about the needed maintenance. I have seen no evidence of "engine destruction." I have not heard about any engine destruction, with the exception of a news story last year where a small engine mechanic said that older engines had trouble with the ethanol fuel mix. Well, if the fuel system has neoprene parts, it will get attacked by the ethanol. None of my yard machines has had a fuel problem, and a friend with a landscape company has not had any fuel issues either.