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  1. Re:Recycling on Data Mining Used Hard Drives · · Score: 1

    I do this too! Fridge magnets and coasters!

    A great way to change the look of these a bit is to hit them with some heat. Propane torches are great, alternatly a gas range will do. They change the color depending how hot you get them, if you do it right it looks very much like the spectrum you see of oil on wet pavemnent.

    The platters also sound really cool when you strike them, a clear slightly tinny brassy sound. I made one into wind chimes in fact. YOu can also vary the resonant frequenccy by bending the platters. I've always wanted to make a marimba/vibes type instrument out of drive platters.

  2. Re:Well on Windows XP Media Center Edition Review · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Interesting. I think it was modded as redundant (though it was the first post) because it says what everyone was already expecting it to say. I mean, of course the first post on a microsoft media story is going to be anti-MS with reference to any one of the most hated MS practices (insert your favorite: DRM, closed source, monopoly behaviour, Pallidium, clubbing baby seals, etc.)

    This says something interesing about the Slashdot mindset: anti-MS statements are considered redundant whether they've already been stated or not. (well Duh!)

  3. Re:HOLY CRAP! LAME LAME LAME LAME LAME! on Discovering New Music? · · Score: 2

    you are missing the point I think, the nice thing about the site is that you didn't have to know about the band previously to download their music, the website handled at least some of the promotion. They also helped with cross links etc. Now you'll have to know about sites for your favorite artist instead of just browsing by style on mp3.com (for example)

  4. Re:College Radio! on Discovering New Music? · · Score: 2

    Non-commercial (in the traditional sense) radio is a great place to hear new music.

    If I may make a recommendation try www.kexp.org from Seattle. They have a webcast, webcast archives, variety programing (all archived), great music, plus real-time playlists. And they are about the coolest radio station EVER. And they are part of the Experince Music Project, which is a fantastic museum/musicians resource. Listen for a while, or even just look over the playlists and I guarentee you will find great stuff. And I don't mean backstreet boys pop stuff.

  5. Re:dvorak with wine and ease of switching on Keyboarding Love Or Keyboarding Pain · · Score: 2

    "The most significant benefit, I think, is that I got to re-learn how to type and get rid of some bad habbits I could never shake"

    but it is a shame it could not improve your spelling....

    :-)

  6. Re:Until then.. on Motorcyclists To Get Wearable Airbags · · Score: 2

    This could have been avoided were you to wear eye protection. It is ALWAYS a good idea (and law here in Washington State) to wear eye protection (even just clear glasses should be OK). It is not just cigarette butts, but bird droppings, bugs, small (and large) rocks, etc. that can be a major hazard to unprotected eyes, but trivial with proper glasses of some sort.

  7. Re:Try mead too on Do You Homebrew? · · Score: 2

    WHOA!!!! I think you might have hit the post button too fast! 17 gallons of honey is an outragous amount! I think you might have meant 17 pounds (even that is quite a lot for a 5 gallon batch) That being said, brewing mead is a great hobby, and having brewed beer for 5 years, I think I'm qualified to comment. Mead is easy to brew, often easier than beer. The original poster is basically correct. The steps are basically that simple 1. carefully sterilize your equipment 2. boil (7-15 lbs.) of honey and any fruits-spices you wish to add. 3. Ferment in primary fermeter for around 2 weeks. 4 Siphon to secondary fermenter, leaving spent yeast behind. 5. Wait (paitence is a virute, mead often takes up to a year to finish, unlike beer) 6. Bottle and enjoy while not worring! When brewed right, mead is a wonderfully refreshing beverage. I prefer mine dryer as apposed to sweeter, it tastes more like an alcoholic ginger ale than anything else. I just sampled my version of Barkshark Gingermead yesterday to test it's progress. I can hardly wait until it is done, it was fantastic!!!

  8. Re:Microsoft ... on Backup Your Life on a DVD · · Score: 2

    Not only does the article not mention "how are you supposed to get the information in there" but it also does not address how you get it out.

    I don't know why this comment has not been mentioned before in this discussion, imagine 20 (or 200) years from now when we (or our relatives) want to access the data; will files saved as .jpg, .doc, xls, bmp, mp3, etc. still be readable on some system? What do you think? (punchcards anyone??)

    Personally, I think the idea is cool, and have saved literally every e-mail or document of intrest I've ever recieved since about 1996, but I don't know if we'll ever find the proper formats to access it down the road. I ran into the same problem with my digital diary I wrote with software from a (now) defunct company.

  9. Re:The Moon Landing was a Fake... on Slashback: GameBand, Nexia, Lunarocks · · Score: 2

    You know, I heard about this too, and couldn't get the picture out of my mind of a grizzled old Clint Eastwood punching that guy out. I hope it was as great in person as it is in my imagination. If Buzz Aldrin was not a hero before, he definatly is now!

    Three cheers for crusty old guys!

  10. I'm not trolling on Newton Won't Die · · Score: 5, Interesting

    but seriously, if there is "news" that is remotely Apple related, Wired, is all over it. They love to report Apple news and culture, it tends to be of this type: Gee, Apple stopped doing X long ago, but look, these hip trendy, user groups are doing it themselves!!!! Yay Apple!

    Don't believe me? Try this story or this story or this story

    Or maybe I'm just missing something? Is there really a well dresses, over educated, hip Apple underground that I have never seen? Wired just tends to report these user groups and people as trendy, San Fran artist types. They have swallowed more than just a bite of Apple's marketing message. (bad pun, I know)

    Kind of like Slashdot reports on Linux types... Think about it, it is easy to come up with stereotypes of Wired readers. And slashdot readers for that matter.

    but I digress, I do think the Newtons are cool.

  11. Re:Please make it stop... on Net Traffic Shocks Mimic Earthquakes · · Score: 2

    "We should commission a study, but then, somebody probably already has and I'll read about it on slashdot next week."

    ....and then 3 days later, and then the next week, and then 2 months later and.....



    Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week...

  12. Re:It doesn't matter anymore on Electric Armor · · Score: 2

    I actually saw an interior tank armor breach once. You wouldn't believe what is in there! Due to the NDA I signed, I can't tell you straight out what it was that I saw, but I can hint at it, the material used is actually quite common.


    Here is another hint: this car is completly impervious to attack using the same armor.

  13. Re:Interesting trivia about this on Fax-Spammers fax.com Sued For 2.2 Trillion · · Score: 1

    Hmmm... that is interesting, but I don't think it is true in Washington state. I've recieved calls from machines before.

    The most annoying ones are calls that start "Hello, I'm sorry I missed you today, but I was just calling to let you know about..." They thougth I was a machine!

    In this day and age we have machines calling to talk to other machines! What kind of zany world are we living in???

  14. Re:It's not the pirates... on Napster Not To Blame · · Score: 1

    You know, I'm not sure I buy your arguement. The "crappier cookie-cutting kind of music that's being rewarmed over and over and over" is not the fault of the record companies. If you don't like Britney Spears, for gods sake, vote with your wallet. Go out and buy an alblum from someone you heard on your local college station.

    Let me make something perfectly clear: No matter what your definition of good music is, currently more exists now than ever did before.

    Let that sink in before you flame me back. I'll clarify: technlolgy has made creating music more accessable to 'the people' now than ever before, and more people are making better music. Additionally, because recording media now lasts longer we have a catalog of music to choose from exponentally bigger than our parents did. Exponentally bigger than last year even.

    Heck, I have 30,000 MP3 on my machine at home alone! Do you really think that all of that is cookie cutter music? If you really don't like what the record companies are trying to ram down your throat, close your farking mouth!! Drop off their radar and don't support them! Don't blame slumping sales on the music. Blaming the marketing is fine, but please, not the music.

  15. Re:Everyone's Desk on Apple iPhone Rumors Resurface · · Score: 1

    As a matter of fact, it won't. Interestedly, I have a Gateway XTV (their old 27" monitor-TV combo) which also won't support anything more current than Win 98 (not even 2nd addition!!) so it is a non-issue for me.

    I wish they still made the phone and supported it. It would be way better now than it was several years ago. Oh well

  16. Re:Everyone's Desk on Apple iPhone Rumors Resurface · · Score: 1

    I actually have and use this phone everyday, and for as much as you might hate MS, it is a great phone.

    It screens your incoming calls and announces the caller's name and number over your computer's speakers and a loudspeaker on the handset, which is cool because you don't have to look at the caller ID, just listen to the phone, even if you are not by the computer.

    It also uses your harddrive to record messages, and it can do the multiple messages for different callers, plus lots of voice box options.

    It organizes all your callers with your contact lists on your computer (outlook etc.)

    Speed dial using Microsoft Voice, plus you can use the handset as a microphone to control your computers functions. Cool, though a little hard to use...

    good sound quality and range, good battery life.

    Call history, showing all outgoing and incoming calls, their length, number, etc. Useful if you want to see who called and didn't leave a message, or want a reference when you called someone.

    All in all, it is a great phone. The software takes up a few too many system resources, but is very reliable. You can say what you want about MS, but this phone works well and interfaces great with Outlook, which is a huge benefit as far as I am concerned. It is great to be able to push one button and automatically call anyone in your Outlook contacts list.

    Don't bash me for liking a MS product, I have yet to see one from anybody else that works as well.

  17. Re:Insanity on The Day The Music Died: Windows Media and DRM · · Score: 2, Informative

    or even better, give KEXP a listen. It used to be the radio of University of Washington, now it is a partnership with the Experience Music Project in Seattle. It has a VERY wide variety of music, and 95% of it is "good" in my opinion. I would bet you have only heard about 3% of the songs they play ever before.

    The best thing about it though is that it is streamed in 3 or 4 different formats, plus their website has a realtime playlist so you can tell what you've heard. Oh, and did I mention no advertisments? You must listen!

    KEXP

  18. NPR has the interview on Is 8 Glasses of Water Per Day Overkill? · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yup. NPR had a story with the author of this study this morning, quite interesting too...

    Guest host Renee Montagne talks with Dr. Heinz Valtin, doctor of physiology and professor emeritus at Dartmouth College, about a new study saying that people may NOT need to drink eight cups of water a day to stay healthy.

    story on npr.org

    Lets hope they got over the deep linking craop.

  19. Re:Do they top them off with ice there too on The Golden Age of Cup Manufacturing · · Score: 1

    That is normal actually, seeing both the water and the syrup coming out. it is actually mixed right at the fountain head, about a quarter of an inch inside the nozzle. In fact, to set the ratio of syrup-water, you just remove the nozzle and let the product run into a special cup with a devider down the middle. You then compair the syrup output and the water output ratio, and adjust accordingly. To respond to previous posters, most restruants don't unnecessaily water down their soft drinks, because customers will complain. Likely if you got a watered down drink, the syrup is almost out and the box needs to be changed. Tell the manager, I would bet that 95% of the time they will make it right for you. Not everything is a conspirancy against the little guy!

  20. Re:Supersizing doesn't matter... on The Golden Age of Cup Manufacturing · · Score: 1

    I think you are taking this too seriously. Lower the cost to $1.00, is that a better threshold for you? .75? $3.00? No one ever said Coke was there to give it away!

    Its your choice, you don't like the price? Drink water! As for that other stuff (CD's, MS software) I can't speak for that. You are not comparing apples to apples, soft drinks are much differnt product types.

    And a crappy CD? buyer beware, you should have listened to it first on Amazon or CDnow.

  21. Re:Do they top them off with ice there too on The Golden Age of Cup Manufacturing · · Score: 1

    you are right, it is useless to anyone outside of the soft drink industry. If you were a McDonalds owner however, this "useless" information would save you several hundred dollars per year.

    But point taken, I'm a cola geek. Sorry.

  22. Re:Do they top them off with ice there too on The Golden Age of Cup Manufacturing · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You know, it is funny you think that. Actually, straight from the fountain you will get a "stronger" drink than you will out of a can or bottle. It is optimized for ice, and with melting, therefore a little stronger.

    In fact, Coca-Cola optimizes their machines depending on the TYPE of ice used! Ice Cubes have a different "Brix ratio" than crushed or pellets. (Brix being the ration of syrup to carbonated water)

    I would know, I used to work at Coke...

  23. Re:Supersizing doesn't matter... on The Golden Age of Cup Manufacturing · · Score: 1

    I would agree with this, having also worked for big cola for about 5 years. I heard somewhere that "Everyone who touches Coca-Cola should become rich," and we definatly worked within that philosophy. I firmly believe that the pricing is fair however, Coke does not try to screw people out of their money, or use heavy-handed sales tactics like some people allege.

    Anyway, here is some sample math for you:

    One 5 gallon post-mix BIB (Bag-in-the-box) [this is what the above poster meant, not pre-mix, which comes in 5 gallon stainless steel containers] sells for roughly $40 to a restraunt ($32 or so if you are a QSR-Quick Service Restuant...)

    This 5 Gal. box will make 50 gallons of product (Diet drinks make 55 gallons).

    Figure your cup/lid/straw/CO2/ice cost at around 12 cents per cup. With different sizes the price is different, but an insignificant number in volume.

    Assuming you have 5 oz per drink of ice, and use only 20 oz cups your profit is as follows:

    50 gallons X 128 oz per gal = 64000 Oz total product

    64000 oz / 15 oz = 427 drinks per BIB

    427 X price (1.50 per drink) = 640.50 gross profit

    640.50 gross profit - $40 BIB cost - 51.24 cup/ice/CO2/etc cost= 589.26 net profit PER BIB

    Admittedly $1.50 for a 20 oz drink is a little high, and there is a HUGE profit margin.

    Your typical McDonalds will go through about 40-60 Bag-in-Box's per week, so you are looking at $30,000 PER WEEK net profit. Convienece stores dont' do quite this well, but close. Same with your local restraunt, assuming they do proper merchandising of the product.

    Anyway, my point is that there is a LOT of money to be made in the soft drink industry, without screwing the consumer. Drink at your own health risk....

  24. I like the concept on Privacy Arms Race Takes Another Step · · Score: 2, Informative

    But this has some problems. I just tried it, and my favorite site to surf from work is blocked! I can't get to monster.com !!! You have to pay for the unrestricted version to get access to "the web's most popular sites." What crap! Also annoying, because popular sites must come out of their cache, Slashdot.org (my second favorite site to surf from work!) does not have the most current stories. It is going to be hard to post an anoymous First Post with this servce! I like the idea, but I consider this slashdot story to be a clever advertisment of a new product, and has the 2 best geek buzzwords: pivacy and security

  25. doing my part... on SEC Institutes Proceedings Against Rodona Garst · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought I would do what I considered my duty, so I called one of the listed contact numbers for Rodona to let her know how I felt about her activities. To my suprise I got an answering machine. Thinking I would see what happened I pushed a coulple of random buttons on my phone's keypad, and suddenly I was granted access to the voicemail! She currently has two messages, one from who is apparently her husband ("Hi honey, you there?") and someone named Tonya. I tried it twice, and it worked both times!

    Do your duty as a fellow slashdotter and call this spammer and leave her a message, or listen to her messages!

    I'm not kidding, this really works! (or at least it does until 10000 slashdotters call her phone...) I hope it is still her number, "Tonya" left a message for "Robin" not "Radona" so the number may have changed.

    Anyway, it is this number: +1 (931) 431-6711 Rodona Garst 1226 Cobblestone Ln Clarksville TN 37042-5890