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User: SJester

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  1. Re:Full of BS on OCZ May Be On Its Last Legs · · Score: 3, Informative

    I can back this up. I had seven OCZ drives in various customer computers during their firmware debacle. One bricked after two weeks. OCZ claimed there was nothing wrong with their drives. Then they released 2.11 firmware to fix the imaginary issue. The forums filled with complaints that it had INCREASED the number of BSODs. OCZ said they can't reproduce what we were all seeing and experiencing, but released version 2.15 IIRC which did fix the issue. However... The CS was exceptionally rude through the entire time. The firmware update could not be applied in a Windows environment, even though other vendors do manage to do this. The drive needed to be pulled and connected to a different PC as a non-boot drive and updated from there. And when I tried to do this using my old workhorse computer, the update failed. OCZ support told me that my motherboard and chipset were not compatible. (MSI P35-Neo2 FR, not an uncommon board.) The issue was rare but not rare enough, and if it bricked you lost everything, no recourse. Backups of course, but the drive was toast. So was my time. I returned all drives to Microcenter and ordered fresh stock from Newegg. OCZ can burn in hell.

  2. was careful enough to notice that that on The Linux Backdoor Attempt of 2003 · · Score: 1

    "the Linux team was careful enough to notice that that this code was in the CVS repository" Do I win a prize for being careful enough to notice that that?

  3. Re:Big Oil is Dancing on Tesla Model S Catches Fire: Is This Tesla's 'Toyota' Moment? · · Score: 1

    The problem here isn't the fire. The problem is that this new technology needs people to believe in it and buy it in order for it to develop and become more practical. This fire will provide FUD and can stifle development. I don't think the typical 'merican is going to reason through it like you did. Also, fwiw a lithium fire is much harder to extinguish. You need a Class D extinguisher. Ever even seen a Class D?

  4. I'd like my two minutes back on Queen's WWIII Speech Revealed · · Score: 5, Informative

    This was a waste of time, OP. RTFA - the speech was not written for the Queen, it was never intended to be read by the Queen under any circumstances. It was scripted for a wargame scenario, a fictional engagement. You might as well post the inspiring speech written for the US President in the film "Independence Day."

  5. Re:Compare this to Germany on US Academy President Caught Embellishing Resume, Will Resign · · Score: 2

    As a counterexample, my own Ph.D. thesis, the one of my boss and one of a fiend are easy to find.

    You search for demonic doctorates? I have enough trouble finding the research I need for my job. Are you using Google Scholar?

  6. Re:The quality conrol problems... on Upside-Down Sensors Caused Proton-M Rocket Crash · · Score: 1

    No, it will be a lump of Polonium 210.

  7. Re:Good to know on In Germany, Offensive Autocomplete Is No Laughing Matter · · Score: 1

    More to the point, the lawyer wasn't offended. Who gets offended by a computer? But he was screwed. How could you attract clients if searching for your name (to find a phone number, for example, or a review) instead strongly implied that you frighten sheep and small children?

  8. Re:He's right on Terrible Advice From a Great Scientist · · Score: 1

    That's a straw man and I hope you meant it for entertainment and not as an ill-conceived attack on my credentials. I never said I don't understand statistics. Stats is much of what I do. I just stopped maths in college before taking linear algebra and I feel a mathematician's input for mathematical modeling is more reliable than mine. Similarly, the mathematician on that grant felt she knew too little about neuroscience before tackling that grant, so she took a PhD-level neuroscience review course with me. None of this - EO Wilson's statements or the discussion around the article - says that biologists don't need mathematics. The consensus here though is that maths alone should not hold you back from contributing so long as you are aware of what you are missing and strive to fill the gap.

  9. Re:He's right on Terrible Advice From a Great Scientist · · Score: 1

    MATLAB is inappropriate for any field.

    Ok, I'll bit. Why?

  10. Re:He's right on Terrible Advice From a Great Scientist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm a scientist (well, almost) and it does work like that with a few caveats. As a biologist I'm not called upon to build intricate mathematical models entirely by myself - but I sure as hell need to understand them before I set to work so I can gather data intelligently, and I need to understand math well during and after so I can communicate with collaborators and contribute to the final papers. I need enough math (and programming, in my branch of the family tree) to at least converse intelligently with team members. A grant application went out recently from our facility. It had a biochemist, a neuroscientist, a mathematician, and a computer scientist on it and the goal is to build a giant computational model of some neural signal cascade. Sounds like the setup for a joke but you can see the spectrum we typically span. Those colors need to blend at the edges.

  11. Not the first time on Botched Security Update Cripples Thousands of Computers · · Score: 2

    My first and only story on /. was about when this happened before. Last time around, Malwarebytes removed atapi.sys from affected computers, leaving them unable to boot.

  12. Re: Great time to be a blind tadpole on Scientists Transplant Functional Eyes On the Tails of Tadpoles · · Score: 1

    Hi there. As a neuroscience doctoral student, I needed to chime in. We're still hammering out the details for how neurons from the retina organize and head to the brain, then map themselves out appropriately. Sperry's frog eye experiments helped a ton ( thanks Dr. Sperry! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemoaffinity_hypothesis) but we've been stuck with a bunch of problems and we're not ready for beta testing in humans yet, let alone a gold release. Among a bajillion other issues, amphibians are much better at reconnecting their nervous system than us fancy mammals. Sorry about looking like we're going in circles, we really should release more updates. Actually, we do release updates in journals. So maybe you should read more before opining. Thanks!

  13. Re:color blindness on Glasses That Hack Around Colorblindness · · Score: 1

    Just backing him up here - he's right. More at 11.

  14. Re:no surprise there on Can a New GPU Rejuvenate a 5 Year Old Gaming PC? · · Score: 1

    Gaming notwithstanding, the single most effective upgrade you can make to an older system is an SSD. It's a game-changer. You may be limited to SATA 2 but it really makes the machine feel different. I've done it for two older systems already, and of course a stack of new computers too. It's gotten to where, when I sit down to a brand-new computer with a spinning hard drive I get the feeling that something is wrong because it's moving so slowly. And unlike a GPU replacement which phases out your old card, an SSD can be added alongside your spinner so you don't lose your sunk costs. Just migrate your OS and programs, leave the spinner for storage.

  15. Re:no surprise there on Can a New GPU Rejuvenate a 5 Year Old Gaming PC? · · Score: 2

    I'm also from the Q6600 /8800 GTS crowd. I built my work computers around an IB i7 and cutting edge GPUs, but my home computer still uses the venerable C2 Quad with no problem. I think the upshot is that recent computing power is and has been cheap and plentiful. A machine from six years ago is not challenged by everyday computing, only the most demanding eye candy at optional settings in some games. The hardware capabilities have outstripped software requirements.

  16. Re:Seeing how most companies won't migrate... on Microsoft Has Been Watching, and It Says You're Getting Used To Windows 8 · · Score: 1

    Second this. I went through the same process, being forced to use a damn finger-painting interface on my big dual screens and suffering Metro telling me how my apps should look. It's like being held hostage by a hostile interior decorator. I grabbed Start8 and can honestly say that it saved my laptop.

  17. Their impact sites were named after Sally Ride on Twin Probes Crash Into the Moon · · Score: 1

    Why didn't they name the two impact sites after Columbia and Challenger?

  18. Re:How is AI on the list? on Cambridge University To Open "Terminator Center" To Study Threat From AI · · Score: 1

    I laughed at first, but it really should be on the list. The other three things are more clear and present threats while AI might be a distant possibility, true. But those other three things are not driven by a fast-thinking computer that can act faster than we can react. An AI threat might start later but it would sure catch up fast. Put differently, the learning curve for us vs. AI might be really steep. We'd better start climbing that curve before they pass us.

  19. Zebra Steel Pens on Ask Slashdot: The Search For the Ultimate Engineer's Pen · · Score: 1

    Only pens I use. I even etch my name into the barrel so it comes back. The thinner ones write very smoothly with minimal blobbing. (F-301) The heavier knurled grip F-701 writes nearly as smooth but it's heavy so I hope you have manly hands. It also looks much more expensive than it really is, so it makes me look like I can stretch my grad student's salary much further than it really goes.

  20. Re:Rosetta Stone on Gold Artifact To Orbit Earth In Hope of Alien Retrieval · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not true. Jabba the Hutt spoke Subtitle.

  21. Could be worse on Sophos Anti-Virus Update Identifies Sophos Code As Malware · · Score: 1

    I once had Malwarebytes identify ATAPI.SYS as malware and remove it. That update also lasted a few hours but left lots of angry customers with expensive bricks to repair.

  22. Re:William Gibson on Ask Slashdot: Most Underappreciated Sci-Fi Writer? · · Score: 1

    Because he ain't overlooked. He's a rock star of sci-fi. Well, maybe the bass player behind Neil Gaiman.

  23. Re:Connie Willis on Ask Slashdot: Most Underappreciated Sci-Fi Writer? · · Score: 1

    She's great but hardly overlooked. Maybe by Trek Wars fans. Just finished Doomsday and it was excellent. She has a real grasp on personalities.

  24. Re:Subjectivity on Ask Slashdot: Most Underappreciated Sci-Fi Writer? · · Score: 1

    Ellison purportedly wrote an I, Robot script. That's something I'd like to see. The lowbrow action flick was terrible. Two brains? The robot has a secret f***ing brain? That's the plot twist?!

  25. Re:Philip Dick on Ask Slashdot: Most Underappreciated Sci-Fi Writer? · · Score: 1

    Good stuff but uneven quality. VALIS? Also, nuts. Still, Androids, Scanner, Policeman, and Second Variety are enough to be proud of and retire on that alone.