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User: billrp

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  1. Aren't climatologists using "Big Data"? on Cutting Through Data Science Hype · · Score: 1

    To predict global warming? Isn't this a form of "Data Science"?

  2. No redundancy? on Nearly 2,000 Chicago Flights Canceled After Worker Sets Fire At Radar Center · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So there's no provision for having the work done at this center be taken up at other centers? The news reports say radar center, but can't the data be routed elsewhere? What it there were a much larger fire that took down the facility for months? Does that mean Chicago becomes a no-fly zone?

  3. Re:Sloppy code on Heartbleed Coder: Bug In OpenSSL Was an Honest Mistake · · Score: 1

    Here's where I see a pointer to an array on the stack getting passed around: In the openssl-1.0.1f release, in ssl/d1_pkt.c in the function dtls1_dispatch_alert(), at line 1731 "buf" is declared as a local array of chars. At line 1758 a call is made to do_dtls1_write() where the third argument is the address of this array is passed. In that function you'll see this pointer being assigned to a field to a heap alloc'd variable. But maybe this is dead code so it's never reached, but there are no comments.

  4. Sloppy code on Heartbleed Coder: Bug In OpenSSL Was an Honest Mistake · · Score: 5, Informative

    I glanced at some of the OpenSSL C code, in particular the new code that introduced this bug. No comments, no asserts, no cross-checks, stupid variable names (like "payload" for the size of the payload, "pl" for a pointer to the payload data), no suggestions for how to test this new feature (such as what if the request has the payload size field that's not the same as the actual payload). In an unrelated function I saw an array declared on the stack, getting filled up, and then a pointer to this array getting assigned to a field of an argument to this function, and then a return...

  5. Re:French government on Blogger Fined €3,000 for 'Publicizing' Files Found Through Google Search · · Score: 1

    But I thought even if you are found innocent in a criminal trial you could then be tried in a civil trial, which is what happened to this guy, and could also happen in the US.

  6. It seems like any user tracking can be a mood on Pending Apple Patent For 'Inferring User Mood' · · Score: 2

    In a quick skim of the patent I didn't see a definition of mood, so can almost any user tracking be considered mood inference? Suppose I bought something yesterday at Amazon, then something similar today, now if Amazon raises the prices for me on similar items tomorrow - is that an infringement because Amazon detected that I'm in the "mood" to buy similar items?

  7. Re:Is there wireless signal above 10,000 feet? on FCC To Consider Cellphone Use On Planes · · Score: 2

    If you look at wireless signal strength maps like this http://www.datasync.com/~rsf1/cell-air.htm you will see there are gaps in vertical coverage - where there's no signal. So I don't see how even any special equipment in planes can work with such low signal levels. (The old airfones used a different communication connection)

  8. Is there wireless signal above 10,000 feet? on FCC To Consider Cellphone Use On Planes · · Score: 1

    I thought there's little or no signal strength at 10,000 feet above ground level, wireless antennas are designed for ground coverage, not reaching anything in the sky.

  9. Glassholes on Google Glass Integration For Cars Is Coming: Neat Idea Or Crazy Town? · · Score: 1

    (yes I saw it somewhere else)

  10. We'll soon see a Stuxnet patent on Stuxnet's Earliest Known Version Discovered and Analyzed · · Score: 1

    "Method and Apparatus for Bringing Down an Industrial Plant thought the Internet"

  11. There's a similar story from May 2012 on Are Plastic Bag Bans Making People Sick? · · Score: 1
  12. Re:in New Jersey? really? on Red Light Cameras Raise Crash Risk, Cost · · Score: 2

    Except if you ask New Jersey drivers, they will all tell you they are the worst.

  13. So instead of WIndows, what's the choice? on The Empire In Decline? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There's really no alternative to Windows for most desktop and laptop usage, and there are "apps" to hide or disable the silly touch UI in Win so that the reasonable Win 7 UI can be used. Trying to use Linux on a laptop or desktop in a real work environment is a deadend, and Macs are a niche - so what's left?

  14. So this would now require drivers to think? on Mind-Controlled Robot Avatars Inch Towards Reality · · Score: 1

    That would be something most people might not be able to do consistently - and when someone begins to daydream?

  15. A crash gate? on Ask Slashdot: Video Monitors For Areas That Are Off the Grid? · · Score: 1

    I thought a gate that can be crashed through by emergency fire vehicles was OK to block a road. The gate has a lock for you, and should be enough to keep out unwanteds, but any firetruck would knock it down without blinking.

  16. I thought it was text with pictures underneath on The Rise of the Junkweb and Why It's So Awesome · · Score: 1

    I didn't know the pictures came first...

  17. Re:The boy that cried wolf. on Losing the Public Debate On Global Warming · · Score: 1
  18. AGW again! on The Blistering Hot Exoplanet Where It Snows · · Score: 4, Funny

    By just observing the weather we've probably already changed it!

  19. Just trying to improve the ASU Party School rank on What Beer Can Teach Us About Emerging Technologies · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    ASU has fallen from #1 party school in the last few years http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_school#Rankings

  20. Nvidia is on its way to exascale on Europe Plans Exascale Funding Above U.S. Levels · · Score: 1

    The is GPU based computing but if your problem fits that paradigm then your're set: http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/11/exascale-an-innovator%E2%80%99s-dilemma (No I don't work for nvidia)

  21. Re:Perhaps that is why there's a new focus... on AT&T On Data Throttling: Blame Yourselves · · Score: 1

    AT&T has the second-best thing: SMS.

    The funny thing is - they used to.

    With iOS5, any iPhone owner who sends an SMS to another iPhone owner actually sends it through Apple, not over SMS! So suddenly the vast numbers of iPhones they are selling mean a dramatic drop in SMS revenue.

    It makes you wonder if that's why the sudden squeeze in other areas, as they need to adjust for making less money from the same customer base.

    That's the initial, default behavior in IOS5, but it's possible to disable that and send messages with normal SMS.

  22. LightSquared will be ready with their WiFi on FCC Bars Lightsquared From Using Airwaves · · Score: 1

    when space gets populated

  23. Bad news for the Tin Foil Hat crowd on Scientists Print Cheap RFID Tags On Paper · · Score: 2

    Or maybe it's good news?

  24. Some help with "Morgen regnet es" in TFA on If You're Fat, Broke, and Smoking, Blame Language · · Score: 1

    The article says "Morgen regnet es" in German translates to "It will rain tomorrow". But translate.google.com says it translates to "Tomorrow it's raining", which does not requre the "will", which seems critical to TFA's thesis. Can a German-speaker please say what is the common sentence to express the possibility of rain tomorrow? Google translates "It will rain tomorrow" to "Es wird morgen regnen".

  25. Why a "Computer Science" degree??? on Ask Slashdot: Transitioning From 'Hacker' To 'Engineer'? · · Score: 1

    If you want to be a Software Engineer??? There's little in common - a Computer Engineering degree would be more appropriate, and if you had "Electrical" in that degree title you'd have an even stronger engineering basis.