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User: bgspence

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Comments · 320

  1. Too much information... on The Twitter Book · · Score: 1

    This book is way too complicated.

    I Just couldn't get through it.

    I preferred 'Ping for Dummies."

  2. The real speed test... on Opera Unite Web Server Benchmarked · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How long does it take someone unfamiliar with a each web server take to download the required software and serve the first page?

    I bet Opera Unite beats the other solutions by a mile.

  3. Enough already on Statistical Suspicions In Iran's Election · · Score: 1

    Given the state of instability, it is time to stick with the counts they have.

    There's not enough time for a recount or even a count of the millions of hand written ballots.

    At least thats what we said via our Supreme Court/Leader in our 2000 election.

  4. Mojo/Dojo on Palm's webOS Root Image Leaks Out · · Score: 1

    Mojo is just Palm's mobile version of Dojo. If you want to see more of the foundation of the Javascript programming environment just checkout http://dojocampus.org/

    It's not Palm's Mojo, but it will give you a good start on how you will do Mojo development.

    Mojo will sure be an iPhone killer, nothing like the limited SDK on the iPhone. How can you compare Cocoa programming to HTML5 and Dojo Javascript. :)

    Looks like what Apple offered first on the iPhone, write Web 2.0 apps and profit. But, they don't seem to have plan B. Its Web 2.0 all the way.

  5. Who is the leach? on Should Enterprise IT Give Back To Open Source? · · Score: 1

    So you put out a bit of code thats close to what I need. You say it is freely given with a few conditions. I need something similar, so I clean it up, make it usable for my needs and fix some bugs. And, now you say you want to take my work?

    Who is the leach? As long as I comply with your conditions, I have no moral reason to give my work away.

    Don't tell me how to give gifts. You second-handers need buy your own copies of Ayn Rand.

  6. Re:Ok, I was going to let your response slide, but on Minnesota Latest To Try To Block Gambling Sites · · Score: 1

    I was responding to a comment on how stocks represented a share in a company. And, markets those shares was not gambling.

    Puts, calls, insurance, etc. are pure bets on the probability of future events, very, very much like gambling. I have much more control of how my bets in a poker hand will play out than I do with a put or call, unless I'm a big enough hedge fund to tip the market.

  7. Ok, I was going to let your response slide, but on Minnesota Latest To Try To Block Gambling Sites · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So where do sites like the Chicago Board of Trade fit in?

    There you bet on the future price of a stock by buying put and calls, the simplest of derivatives on assets or commodities.

    And insurance, and ...

  8. Lotsa problems on Analyzing (All of) Star Trek With Face Recognition · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Checkout http://facemining.pittpatt.com/S3E75/, Scotty shows up under Kirk twice, and thats with just one try.

    Or, http://facemining.pittpatt.com/S1E12/ actor 0117 has an odd match on my second peek.

    They might want to try shirt matching.

  9. Printing scanned books? on Questions Linger Over Google Book Rights Registry · · Score: 1

    Thats about as good as selling Kramer's videos of movies.

  10. Slap on a sticker saying... on How Do I Make My Netbook More Manly? · · Score: 1

    My Other Computer is a Beowulf Cluster

  11. The theory needs proofreading on Can Fractals Make Sense of the Quantum World? · · Score: 2, Informative

    From the author's abstract at http://arxiv.org/abs/0812.1148

    The Invariant Set Hypothesis: A New Geometric Framework for the Foundations of Quantum Theory and the Role Played by Gravity

    T.N.Palmer

    "Combining these, an entirely analysis is given of the standard "mysteries" of quantum theory: superposition, nonlocality, measurement, emergence of classicality, the ontology of uncertainty and so on."

  12. Not much better from where I sit on Look Out, Firefox 3 — IE8 Is Back On Top For Now · · Score: 1

    I can't see any improvement over IE 5.2.3 on my Mac

  13. An even better way to go... on Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional 2nd Ed · · Score: 1

    Drawing with a mouse is like drawing with a brick. You need a graphics tablet.

    Just get something like this http://www.amazon.com/Bamboo-Small-Tablet-Graphics-Software/dp/B000V9NU2A/ref=pd_bbs_sr_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1237396057&sr=8-6 for less than $100 and you get Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Win/4.0 Mac, Corel Painter Essentials 4.0, and Nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 GE included for free.

    It's not CS4, but much cleaner than the Gimp.

    Get the Gimp if you want to program, get some graphics software and a tablet if you need to draw.

  14. In a related story... on Is Flash Really On 99% of Net Devices? · · Score: 1

    A recent survey found that 99.998% of all automobile drivers say they have hit potholes in the road.

    Most were unsure whether they found potholes in the road or Flash web pages more annoying.

  15. :N-dimensions +1 on Apple's 3D Desktop Patent Filing Examined · · Score: 1

    And, it's most efficient to work with a set of data in 1 more dimension than you display it in.

    Why?
    Because.

  16. Re:And Apple is near thier peak of marketshare on Windows Drops Below 90% Market Share · · Score: 1

    Apple is smart enough to never license their OS. Look at history. At one time IBM was the dominant PC maker. Then the bios was cloned in a clean room. IBM didn't free the OS, it escaped. Once IBM lost control to the clones its marketshare began to drop. How many IBM PCs are there now? How big is IBM in the notebook market? Why would Apple want to emulate IBM's success?

  17. Re:Do they run vista? on Ethical Killing Machines · · Score: 1

    Never, never, never.

    MWindows Mobile.

  18. Not a problem on How to Deal With an Aging Brain? · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can't remember the last time I forgot something.

  19. Re:Broken premise on Microsoft Feared Mac Vs. Vista In '05 · · Score: 1

    Not true, customers have been upgrading from Vista to XP in droves.

  20. The worst thing on Why Developers Are Switching To Macs · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's not the swapping that gets me.

    YOU CAN'T SKIN XCODE !!!!!

    Who uses development tools you cant skin?

    Sad, so so sad...

  21. Free ain't free on Stallman Unsure Whether Firefox Is Truly Free · · Score: 1

    I don't use his 'free' source code because of it's restrictive license.

    I do use open source code with less restrictive licensing.

    And, I do use proprietary and 'free' binary applications, but don't modify the source.

  22. Re:Know Your Targets & Draft the Requirements on How Do I Get Open Source Programs Written For Me? · · Score: 1

    Reducing your target development community substantially is often a good thing. A small team of top quality programmers working in a top quality environment you have specified is a much better choice than lots of people offering a mishmash of solutions.

    The Macintosh mixes well with other open source projects as well as Microsoft's and Adobe's software suites.

    It is critical that you can communicate clearly what are the functional requirements of your software. Translating your vision into a realistic software development plan is the key to success. Given a clear vision and plan, good tools and solid software foundations can deliver quality solutions.

  23. From Wikipedia on Math Prof Uncovers Secret Chord · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Opening chord

    "A Hard Day's Night" is immediately identifiable before the vocals even begin, thanks to George Harrison's unmistakable Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string guitar's "mighty opening chord".[12] According to George Martin, "We knew it would open both the film and the soundtrack LP, so we wanted a particularly strong and effective beginning. The strident guitar chord was the perfect launch"[8] having what Ian MacDonald calls "'a significance in Beatles lore matched only by the concluding E major of "A Day in the Life", the two opening and closing the group's middle period of peak creativity'".[13] "That sound you just associate with those early 1960s Beatles records".[14]
    Listen to the opening chord (helpinfo)
    Analysis of the chord varies, with it being described as G7add9sus4,[13] G7sus4,[15][16] or G11sus4[12] and others below.
    The exact chord is an Fadd9 confirmed by Harrison during an online chat on 15 February 2001:[17]
    Q: Mr Harrison, what is the opening chord you used for "A Hard Day's Night"?
    A: It is F with a G on top, but you'll have to ask Paul about the bass note to get the proper story.
    According to Walter Everett, the opening chord has an introductory dominant function because McCartney plays D in the bass; Harrison and Martin play F A C G in twelve-string guitar and piano, over the bass D, giving the chord a mixture-coloured neighbor, F; two diatonic neighbors, A and C; plus an anticipation of the tonic, G -- the major subtonic as played on guitar being a borrowed chord commonly used by the Beatles, first in "P.S. I Love You" (see mode mixture), and later in "Every Little Thing", "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Got to Get You into My Life" (in the latter two against a tonic pedal).[18]
    Film of the Beatles performing "A Hard Day's Night", shows both John and George gripping a Gm11 in 3rd position, not an Fadd9. The Fadd9 is used during the chorus and is the chord form used for the outro fade out.[citation needed]
    In contrast, Alan W. Pollack interprets the chord as a surrogate dominant (surrogate V, the dominant preparing or leading to the tonic chord), in G major the dominant being D, with the G being an anticipation that resolves in the G major chord that opens the verse. He also suggests it is a mixture of d minor, F major, and G major (missing the B).[19] Tony Bacon calls it a Dm7sus4 (D F G A C), which is the dominant seventh (plus the fourth, G).[20] (For more information regarding chord functions see diatonic function.)
    Everett points out that the chord relates to the Beatles' interest in pandiatonic harmony.[21]
    Dominic Pedler has also provided an interpretation of the famous chord, with the Beatles and George Martin playing the following:
    George Harrison: Fadd9 in 1st position on Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string electric guitar
    John Lennon: Fadd9 in 1st position on a Gibson J-160E 6-string acoustic guitar
    Paul McCartney: high D played on the D-string, 12th fret on Hofner 500/1 electric bass
    George Martin: D2-G2-D3 played on a Steinway Grand Piano
    Ringo Starr: Subtle snare drum and ride cymbal
    This gives the notes: G-B-D-F-A-C (the B is a harmonic). One of the interesting things about this chord (as described by Pedler) is how McCartney's high bass note reverberates inside the soundbox of Lennon's acoustic guitar and begins to be picked up on Lennon's microphone or pick-up during the sounding of the chord. This gives the chord its special "wavy" and unstable quality. Pedler describes the effect as a "virtual pull-off".[22]
    Jason Brown, Professor for the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, whose research interests include graph theory, combinatorics, and combinatorial algorithms, announced in October 2004 that after six months of research he succeeded in analysing the opening chord by "de-composing the sound into original frequencies, using a combination of computer software and old-fashioned chalkboard." According to Brown, the Rickenbacker guitar wasn't the only instrument used. "It wasn't jus

  24. It has a 100%s share... on Google's Chrome Declining In Popularity · · Score: 1

    of the Android market.
    And, Safari has 100% share of the iPhone market.
    It's Google's web platform for their mobile OS.
    And, you can even run it on your PC.

  25. What features like this need... on Firefox Add-On To Track Your Location Via Wi-Fi · · Score: 1

    'With Geode, when a website requests your location a notification bar will ask how much information you want to give that site: your exact location, your neighbourhood, your city, or nothing at all,' the Mozilla Labs blog claims."

    I would like to later ask Geode for the lists of web sites I've set to my exact location, neighbourhood, city, or nothing at all.

    I create these settings and forget them. The cloud should not only remember what I set for the Web sites, but for me whenever I want to check,