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User: parlancex

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  1. Re:The context of the case on Build a Secret Compartment, Go To Jail · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That makes no sense to me. Large amounts of cash seem like a pretty legitimate use for a secret compartment in a car, in many neighborhoods throughout the US. The only way an ordinary citizen could have a large amount of cash is obviously through illegal means? I guess we really were never supposed to win.

  2. Re:Wait to see what you need based on use. on Ask Slashdot: Starting From Scratch After a Burglary? · · Score: 1

    I would add to this that we're also on the cusp of considerably improved TV technology with affordable OLED displays around the corner in the next few years. If you can hold out now you'll be able to get much much nicer TVs than what you can buy today for the money.

  3. Re:Test just for show on North Korea Announces 3rd Nuclear Test, Anti-US Aims · · Score: 1

    Actually, not really. 95% of what you see what you see when you look at a high yield weapon like a modern ICBM is devoted to getting the warhead to the destination, the warhead itself is a tiny fraction of the overall size and weight.

  4. Re:MS's gaming strategy has been weird for years on Will Microsoft Sell Off Its Entertainment Division? · · Score: 1

    They wanted a living-room presence for their software. It doesn't sound like a big deal now, but 10 years ago it was. Someone probably pitched their ability to leverage their existing investment in Direct-X, both as a platform for games development and with the existing investments made into that platform by partners (easy ports).

  5. Re:Nope, ain't happening on Valve's SteamBox Gets a Name and an Early Demo at CES · · Score: 1

    Yeah! Console gaming is way better, instead of wondering whether a game will actually run at 1080p at 60fps you're already guaranteed it won't! You don't even have to think about it!

  6. Re:Really? Why Doesn't the Demo Work in FF Then? on IE Flaw Lets Sites Track Your Mouse Cursor, Even When You Aren't Browsing · · Score: 1

    Interestingly, it doesn't seem to work if you run IE on a 2nd monitor either.

  7. Re:Pixar + ILM on Disney to Acquire Lucasfilm, Star Wars Episode 7 Due In 2015 · · Score: 1

    Until the latter is down-sized.

  8. Re:Ha, you threaten teacher jobs and see what happ on Are Teachers Headed For Obsolescence? · · Score: 1

    Here in Canada teachers can easily make over $100K, in fact my fiance's uncle makes exactly that for teaching physical education.

  9. Re:too specialized on a single protocol? on Increasing Wireless Network Speed By 1000% By Replacing Packets With Algebra · · Score: 1

    TCP packets are probably 90% of the packets transmitted on the Internet in a given day by volume, and probably 99% by actual payload volume.

  10. Re:A terrible mistake. on Windows RT vs. Windows 8 Could Burn Consumers · · Score: 1

    It does, kind of.

    Assuming you can write your application with references to libraries only included in the vanilla .NET framework, the only native libraries your code requires are platform libraries which Microsoft could have an implementation for in the target architecture. You can however (and many application developers do) choose to link your .NET application with as many native unmanaged modules as you'd like, for performance or some functionality not found in framework.

  11. Re:A terrible mistake. on Windows RT vs. Windows 8 Could Burn Consumers · · Score: 2

    I think the logic here is that it would be pointless to port the CLR when the majority of .NET applications have bindings to x86 native DLLs / modules anyway.

  12. Re:Ain't technology great? on Implant Gives Grayscale Vision To the Blind Using Lasers · · Score: 1

    Certain types of laser eye surgery require an incision to be made in order to temporarily fold back the surface of the eye in order to access the applicable layers with the laser. Though it certainly sounds terrifying (especially because you're awake and maintain full motor control of your eyes while this is happening) I had this done a few weeks ago and my vision is almost better than it was with my glasses.

  13. Re:I'm a dumbass- on Quake 3 Source Code Review · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Q3 engine's curved surfaces are actually quadratic bezier spline patches (9 control points per patch). The patches had to be designed with special tools in an editor and were tessellated at runtime to an appropriate detail level based on the computer's graphics settings. The engine did not support any kind of collision detection with these surfaces so they had to be enveloped in invisible brushes to appease the BSP system for collision and culling.

    While they were interesting at the time the reasons nobody really does this anymore are probably:

    • The special tools required to design curved surfaces need to be supported by the artist's tools and entire game toolchain, creating more work for artists and tool programmers
    • Quadratic bezier patches are one of the simplest types of curved surface but can still be difficult to work with. Certain shapes are hard to construct properly with them.
    • Lastly I'd say they've been kind of superseded by smooth / detail surfaces available through subdivision algorithms which can work on conventional geometry and conventional tools, and is supported on modern cards in hardware
  14. Re:Obligatory question on South Korea Surrenders To Creationist Demands On Evolution Textbooks · · Score: 3, Informative

    What I fail to understand is why evolution is constantly misunderstood as a theory that explains the origin of life or the universe. Evolution attempts to explain the origin of species / speciation and nothing more. In the actual context there is a lot less opposition.

  15. Re: Moar on Report Says Schools Need 100Mbps Per 1,000 Users · · Score: 1

    Here in Alberta the government started a project about 10 years ago to create a world class fiber network that spans the entire province, including rural areas. This network would be designed to allow public institutions such as schools, universities and hospitals access to broadband that would not otherwise be afforded to them. While the network is built and maintained by private companies, the government imposes service and pricing contracts and regulates and provides corresponding subsidies for public institutions, however private users (such as smaller ISPs to provide public Internet access) can also buy service.

    What this foresight has meant for us in a K-12 school division in rural Alberta is we can provide even our small schools (less than 500 users) with over 100Mbps of bandwidth and we have direct access to peering exchanges for major networks such as Akamai et al.

    I guess my only point is that I'm thankful someone had the vision and foresight to actually put this in place back when "broadband" was still a new concept to many urban Albertans.

  16. Re:Huuuuge Balls on ITC Judge Calls For US Xbox Import Ban · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think he's saying it's ironic to hear that specific line of argument from a company like Microsoft; that patent infringement should be disregarded as long as the product fosters a competitive market does not have many players. I hopefully shouldn't have to explain why that is both funny and ironic.

  17. Re:The other side of the coin: on Who Is Still Using IE6? the UK Government · · Score: 1

    Governments often do not purchase software licenses from Microsoft through the same retail channels as businesses or home users, instead they usually have negotiated licensing agreement that entitles them to the latest version of certain CALs and common software suites under a specified annual cost. There isn't necessarily a cost for the upgrade, especially for products like Microsoft Office.

    Here in Alberta, our provincial government has a licensing agreement for K-12 education that includes Office. However, even if they didn't, there are probably a lot of reasons that end users aren't aware of that are important.

    Just a few examples:

    • Product support and security updates
    • Enhanced configuration management through more robust GPOs
    • Enhanced security through updated protocols for Exchange that require encryption
    • Compatibility with our also recently upgraded Exchange server which was upgraded to support more robust SPAM and malware filtering, as well as Unified Communications features
  18. Re:A triumph! on Russian Superjet 100 Crashes During Demo Flight, Killing All Aboard · · Score: 0

    I'm not trying to be coy here, but I guess I don't really understand how an aircraft with sufficient safety mechanisms would allow you to execute a controlled flight into terrain.

  19. Re:Lack of standards, quality. on The Wretched State of GPU Transcoding · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hint: Not all GPUs have IEEE FP compliant math. Often they break the standard, or do something else altogether just to improve performance.

    I can't speak for ATI, but actually all FP32 math on Nvidia architectures for many generations now has been IEEE compliant, excluding NAN and -inf +inf and exception handling cases, and except for their hardware sin, cos, log implementations, and except when using the fused multiply add instruction (though the last one you could actually get around by using special compiler intrinsics to avoid the fusing).

  20. Re:are people really this stupid on Syrian Government Uses Skype To Push Malware To Activists · · Score: 1

    It was also kind of stupid that he thought he needed a 3rd party utility to change his system's MAC address, and also kind of stupid that he thought that this would provide any additional anonymity if he was already behind a home router; remote systems beyond your first gateway never see your layer 2 address.

  21. Re:notice the "when overclocked" caveat on Ivy Bridge Running Hotter Than Intel's Last-gen CPU · · Score: 1

    You're painting with some pretty broad strokes there. I overclocked my Sandy Bridge i7-2600K by about 20% to 4.4ghz on air, without increasing any voltages (ergo, durability will be the same as it was at stock) and it actually runs colder than it did on the stock cooler at the stock clock speed (ergo, it is actually MORE stable). I didn't do it so I could brag to anybody about it, I did it because for the $40 more the cooler cost me I got a 20% faster CPU out of it.

  22. Re:Wait, hang on on India Test Fires Long-Range, Nuke-Capable Missile · · Score: 0

    North Korea has been run by leaders not under the control of the US government who have been, at best, more than a little uncooperative. India is the closest thing that region has to a western democracy.

    FTFY.

  23. Re:The fix was in. on VA Court To Review "Official" Email Rules · · Score: 1

    Of course the community was against it, many small communities use their local school as community halls, and associate their school with their Local Smalltown Values Education(tm) that Big Bad City Schools(tm) couldn't possibly provide, that in itself is not a good enough reason to stop the closure.

    The job of a public school board is to balance the needs of all it's constituents, and in many cases that means sacrificing smaller schools in order to provide a better level of funding and quality of education in a larger more consolidated facility.

    I sincerely doubt that this alleged bribery from a developer a factor, and certainly the only factor in this decision

  24. Re:They are making an assumption... on Best Buy Scans Drivers License For Returns — No More Allowed For 90 Days · · Score: 1

    Well I doubt that assumption; 90 days is a pretty short time frame for reset and most people don't buy things at Best Buy constantly so I don't think they would care about being unable to return something using their ID after they help out.

  25. Not really effective on Best Buy Scans Drivers License For Returns — No More Allowed For 90 Days · · Score: 2

    It's not like they scan your driver's license at time of purchase, so would-be abusers I'm sure could easily to find a friend or family member to return their product (still using the same receipt of course).