Slashdot Mirror


User: smoothnorman

smoothnorman's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
251
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 251

  1. Re:I still use old XMMS that is like Winamp. on Music Player Amarok 2.5 Released · · Score: 3, Interesting
    no indeed. http://xmms2.org/wiki/Main_Page and/or

    git clone git://git.xmms.se/xmms2/xmms2-devel.git

    compiles easily. and it's only heard not seen. it does exactly what a music player ought to do and no more.

    blessings upon the maintainers.

  2. Re:just to be a wearisome twit... on Music Player Amarok 2.5 Released · · Score: 1

    thankee. i'm not sure what it "accomplishes" either (answering the next reply). but it is interesting ...to me.

  3. just to be a wearisome twit... on Music Player Amarok 2.5 Released · · Score: 3, Interesting
    could someone post the result of running

    grep -ir "amazon" * | wc -l

    in the amarok 2.5 source tree?

  4. indexed by your Internet address on Site Offers History of Torrent Downloads By IP · · Score: 5, Funny

    But my Internet address is not here. It's in Joe's house, that's right next to mine. And in the Kennedy house, and Mrs. Makelin's house, and a hundred others.

  5. Linux Journal Readers Choice?? that settles that on GNOME 3 Wins Linux Journal's Readers' Choice Award · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Can there be a more experienced and deeply wise plebiscite? of course not! The matter is therefore once and for all time resolved - erledigt. Gnome tre has won the Linux Journal Readers' Choice award! which awards exactly what you ask? hah! if you must ask that then you know nothing *nothing*. Gnome III thereby takes it over all comers in all categories for all time, better than OS/X Lion, better than Meryl Streep, better than sliced bread -- selah. now we can get on with our sad little lives concerning ourselves over lesser matters.

  6. Often it's because they're proxy slave-drivers on Why Everyone Hates the IT Department · · Score: 1
    Fat cat CEO/boss/owner wants to maximize the profit margin; and doesn't want anyone to be doing anything that might be less than utterly devoted to that goal.
    Fat cat CEO doesn't want to be troubled with the technical side of that goal, so established a proxy slave-driver: the IT department
    Folks don't like proxy slave-driver.
    surprise! ...?

    next-up: Fat cat CEO doesn't like bothering to fire or hire people. why-oh-why do people fear/hate the HR department?

  7. plasma or plasma on Plasma-Filled Bags Could Replace the Petri Dish · · Score: 5, Informative
    Perhaps someone else wondered (given that this is an article about microbiology) if the "plasmas" in the summary is of the 'blood plasma' sort or rather the ionized gas sort. You may save yourself a click: it's the latter; and its function is mostly to sterilize to sample space. Now as to the ease of subsequent sterile access to the bag, versus a dish with a lid, i leave that to the imagination of the gloved and harried lab tech.

    (http://www.etymonline.com/ plasma 1712, "form, shape" (earlier plasm, 1620), from L.L. plasma, from Gk. plasma "something molded or created," from plassein "to mold," originally "to spread thin," from PIE *plath-yein, from base *pele- "flat, to spread" (see plane (1)). Sense of "liquid part of blood" is from 1845; that of "ionized gas" is 1928)

  8. The Straight Dope ...did it on Why Fingernails On a Chalkboard Sound Painful · · Score: 5, Informative
  9. obligatory trek reference on Military Labs Develop Caffeinated Jerky and "Zapplesauce" · · Score: 1
    PICARD: But even when we wore costumes like that we'd already started to make rapid progress.

    Q: Oh yeah? You want to review your rapid progress?

    Q: Rapid progress, to where humans learned to control their military with drugs.

  10. first such equation which measures? on We Finally Know Why Oil and Water Don't Mix · · Score: 1

    a team of chemical engineers at the University of California, Santa Barbara have defined an equation that measures a compound's hydrophobic character. It's the first such equation of its kind.

    Perhaps there's an escape via language lawyerism via "of its kind" but for decades there has been software to estimate the hydrophobicity of small molecules and (relying on even more approximations) proteins. Underlying that software are scores of "equations" that use tables of atomic and molecular fragment parameters of electronegativity and polarizability to calculate 'not bad' estimates of molecular hydrophobicity.

    And while i'll quibble about "the first such equation"; i really think most folks should quibble over "defined an equation that measures", people armed with instruments "measure", equations 'calculate an estimate'. ok, now: hey you kids get off my lawn!

  11. Universities aren't/didn't-used-to-be Corporations on Ask Slashdot: Successful Software From Academia? · · Score: 1

    The critical part of "see the light outside" is marketing. Universities were never supposed to be corporations with a marketing department. now, i'm sadly aware, that many universities are changing in that regard ("office of technology transfer" by any other name) but historically there's your explanation. That being mumbled, if you were to start with every major software package "outside" and faithfully trace it back to its origins, i'd say you'd nearly always discover yourself in a university setting. ("why that's mere sophistry, sir! because computers themselves can all be tied back to university professors and the like!" ...yep)

  12. Seattle is a horrible rainy scary place - go 'way! on Startup Flees To Seattle Amid Amazon's Tax Fight · · Score: 4, Funny

    No no no... stay away from Seattle. nothing to see here. it rains all the time!. this is not the city you seek. you want...Portland, yeah! Portland is much more friendly and bike-centric and mellow. Seattlites are all hyper-liberal coffee-drinking zombies... save yourself! stay away! ....aaaaieeeee..... [end of transmission]

  13. "Incandescent"?! on Intel Experimental Processor Runs On Solar Power · · Score: 1

    (incandescent) so... we've finally found a reason not to use CFLs? ;)

  14. 1334 votes on Has Cleverbot Passed the Turing Test? · · Score: 1

    "1334 votes" eh? no chance this was a hacked-up result...? nah that's just crazy talk, that is.

  15. Statistical Map? on World Population Expected To Hit 7 Billion In Late October · · Score: 1

    though made mention of in the article; i think it would be generally instructive to visualize where on the planet are the populations rising significantly. it's overly optimistic, i'm sure, but it might help to drive some international efforts to promote basic birth control measures.

  16. ln -sf browser operating_system on Python Fiddle, an IDE That Runs In Your Browser · · Score: 3, Insightful

    and in the end, (which, of course, is a "new beginning") what was the browser will want to be able to run a new and shiny alternative browser...

  17. Re:nope, didn't get any of that. on Symbolic Violence Beats Lava Lamps All To Pieces · · Score: 1, Redundant

    If i had moderation points, you would get them, Thank you for the highly cogent, and link-less, summary ((s'funny, i used to have moderation points too where did they go?))

  18. Re:nope, didn't get any of that. on Symbolic Violence Beats Lava Lamps All To Pieces · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    I've now read it 3.7 times and it still makes no sense. I think the key to understanding would be either to doggedly follow the links (which somehow i feel it's a fail if i have to follow the links to begin to understand a posting of "News") or if i was in on the necessary "darmok/his arms wide" patois. Anyway, i'm not the target customer, apparently. So... nothing to see here move along...

  19. nope, didn't get any of that. on Symbolic Violence Beats Lava Lamps All To Pieces · · Score: 1

    Is this posting a sign that Slashdot has been hacked? Or perhaps it is sending apparently random information to sleeper cells? Letsee... if i try every third word... nope. hmh.

  20. Re:"Hardware virtualization"? on Linus Thinks Virtualization Is 'Evil' · · Score: 1

    So far you have got the closest to make some sense of this for me (and, mind-ya, i blames myself) but "hardware which is essentially written"? software is 'written'. So (trying to interpret this) you're saying that in Hardware virtualization the virtual hardware is actually software, yes? So how may we distinguish between virtual hardware and virtual anything else if it remains a software construct? It seems that *all* virtualization is is just a fib to an operating system that here is something that appears to be a familiar service and is actually an emulation of that service. Note that it's ...probably... the terminology that i'm having difficulty with; not what may be done with some dell cluster hardware. thankee.

  21. "Hardware virtualization"? on Linus Thinks Virtualization Is 'Evil' · · Score: 1

    Isn't Hardware _realization_? and/or if the hardware is virtualized then isn't it done with software? not "real hardware"? ...ok, i admit it, i'm lost. someone smarter than me, -you there-, some examples please. (which need not necessarily involve automobiles)

  22. non-"Standard" relationships would've been nice on Book Review: The Python Standard Library By Example · · Score: 2

    I realize at 1300 pages that it's already swollen and that they're not part of The Standard Library, but -some- mention of often used, substantial, and useful packages like Twisted or BeautifulSoup, and their relation to The Standard Library would've been nice to see.

  23. Zeppelin vs Pterodactyls - dammit! on Review: Cowboys & Aliens · · Score: 3, Interesting
    This is the one and only most critical RandomA-vs-RandomB film that cries out to be made!: http://boingboing.net/2007/07/31/zeppelin-vs-pterodac.html

    Jürgen Prochnow as the prussian sabre scarred Zeppelin captain with a vast history and one last battle to prove! ...and i dunno...uh, John Malkovich as the psionically mentally linked Pterodactyl master - who, unlikely enough, has a past that overlaps Prochnow's ...yeah.

  24. gui-y it up gui-y it down on 'The Code Has Already Been Written' · · Score: 1

    In all the (big-pharma) shops i worked at, i'd write and test the command-line number cruncher inside (until my boss could get a paper or two out of it) then hand it to "two guys" that would slap on a stunningly restrictive (in terms of functionality) GUI (itself a third party tool set based on Qt) and it'd sell just fine ...no sweat [shrug]

  25. But wait, what is this OS i'm using now? on Linux 3.0 Release Delayed · · Score: 1

    uname -ar > Linux trampel 3.0.0-rc7 ... but how is this possible? for i'm just a normal geek..?