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User: NerveGas

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  1. Here's the real reason... on Why the US Consumer Doesn't Deserve A Decent Robot · · Score: 3, Insightful


      Most of them can't figure out how to hide the expense of a Real Doll from their spouses anyway, so a *robotic* version, being even more expensive, would be out of the question!

  2. Re:The Times They Are A-Changin' ... on Causes of Death Linked To Weight · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you look at the graphs, being overweight reduced your chances... but being obese looked like it greatly INCREASED your chances of dying.

  3. Re:Body Mass Index Not a Measure of Obesity on Causes of Death Linked To Weight · · Score: 1

    When I was more serious about lifting, my height/weight ratio had be as borderline obese, despite being 6 feet tall and wearing 31" pants... :-)

    Now I'm still borderline obese, but it's slightly more deserved. Not entirely, but definitely more so than before. :-(

  4. Re:Which is worth more... on Qmail At 10 Years — Reflections On Security · · Score: 1

    Cool. Thankyaverymuch.

  5. Re:I just love qmail on Qmail At 10 Years — Reflections On Security · · Score: 1

    So.... don't use daemontools. You can start qmail from a regular init.d script just fine...

  6. Re:Which is worth more... on Qmail At 10 Years — Reflections On Security · · Score: 1

    Interesting. Where does it say so? I saw no mention of it, other than a note stating that the paper itself was in the public domain. In case I missed something, I searched for "domain" and "license", and found nothing.

  7. Re:Qmail and the patchset of doom on Qmail At 10 Years — Reflections On Security · · Score: 1

    As far as scaling, in an instance on old P3s with a regular IDE disk, by turning off fsync and logging, it blazes through mail without any patches at all. Tens of thousands per minute, the limits are the network and DNS. Fast enough that undergoing multiple crazy-rate dictionary spam attacks at once, it would take as long as a few seconds to a quarter minute for an email to go through, but not worse.

    Now, you might say that turning off logging and fsync are cheating - in fact, they're just eliminating bottlenecks external to qmail (namely, disk latency and syslog overhead). Yes, you run the risk of losing the email in progress if you crash, but a 20-50x speedup is quite a bonus for taking that risk.

    In fact, many years ago, with a Celeron 450, 128 megs, a SLOW ide drive, and just a DSL line, it took around 45 seconds to deliver a thousand emails, and that was with logging and fsync turned on, if I recall.

    In summary, my point is that once you eliminate bottlenecks outside of qmail, it's really quite fast. It can certainly be made faster with patches, but it's not exactly a slouch by itself.

  8. Re:Call me back when you have some imagination on Ultracapacitors Soon to Replace Many Batteries? · · Score: 1

    fast-recharging is one thing, but *most* applications still need "long-lasting".

    The other downside that folks have missed is that ultracaps are only 2.5 volts *max*, which means that you should run them at less than 2.5 if you want to avoid destroying them. And putting capacitors in series does not work out like putting batteries in series.

    In other words, folks talking about how they want to use them in cordless drills shouldn't hold their breath. They're terrific for things like keeping a 1.8v, 100 uA microcontroller running for quite some time (especially since you can charge it via a solar cell without a dedicated charging circuit), but they're still just not ready for 99% of consumer stuff.

  9. Probably not much. on Is CentOS Hurting Red Hat? · · Score: 1

    Folks who use CentOS are mostly the folks who wouldn't pay RedHat anyway. And folks who want to pay RedHat are the kind who want just the sort of hand-holding that RedHat offers. They're targeting two different market segments.

  10. I don't get it.... on Cell Phone Jamming on the Rise · · Score: 4, Funny

    How is the inconsiderate person talking loudly on a cell phone worse than the inconsiderate person talking loudly to their friends? Maybe we don't need cell-phone jammers, just gags.

  11. Re:To evade whitelists on DIY CPU Demo'd Running Minix · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Talk to me when that happens. In the mean time, I'm sure you'll be quite busy keeping those gubmint jack-boots from coming around your compound.

  12. Wow. on DIY CPU Demo'd Running Minix · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    All that to get a fraction of the performance of, say, a $10 embedded CPU that can already run Linux. Nice.

  13. They won't? on Genetic Modification Produces Mighty Mouse · · Score: 1

    "athletes won't be modifying their genes any time soon to get it, because it apparently makes the mice more aggressive."

    How is that different from Roid Rage, which hasn't stopped many athletes?

  14. Re:as long as you've got power and net on Running the Numbers on a US Pandemic · · Score: 1

    My power and net are underground, and I have cell-based internet as well. And power isn't bad, I can charge my two laptop batteries off of generator or inverter, and have 8-10 hours of compute time ahead of me.

    As far as trees taking out the Internet connection, they don't have to do that here. Comcast does a good enough job of taking out the service. Good thing I have mobile broadband as a backup. :D

  15. Storage and self-sufficiency... on Running the Numbers on a US Pandemic · · Score: 1

    ... Sure do make a lot of sense. Whether it's a global pandemic, natural disaster, or just getting laid off... if you have at least some food, water, fuel, medications, etc. stored up, then things are a lot easier to handle.

      I'm in a position where, thankfully, all of my job functions *could* be handled from home. In the case of a pandemic, I can call my office, tell them "Sorry, I'll work from home for the next month or two", put up a sign reading "We're not going to answer the door", and wait it out.

      That is under the assumption, of course, that my various Internet connections don't all go down. That's a weak link in the idea. There very well may be more. I may not have a month's worth of toilet paper... hmmm.

  16. Yeah... on Famous Criminal Opines that Technology Breeds Crime · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... because before the Internet, folks just sat around thinking "I wish I could go steal some money, but I just can't figure out how."

  17. My goodness... on Meet the 5-Watt, Tiny, fit–PC · · Score: 1

    ... that's pretty paltry for the money.

    You can pick up a Via C3-based cpu, board, and chassis for a little under $80. Another $100 will get you a gig of RAM and a 25-gig hard drive. In other words, twice the CPU power, four times the RAM, and six times the drive space, and all for $100 less.

    Yeah, I know - that would use more than 5 watts. But considering that everything in the machine except the CPU is nearly free, I wouldn't have expected it to have that sort of price tag. Ah, well. I guess they have to make up for low quantities.

    Now, if they just had a usable display with a similar power draw, THAT would be nice.

  18. Hmm... on Trans-Atlantic Robots · · Score: 1

    First, a full-sized computer? Power issues come to mind. But maybe you're allowed to refuel or recharge, I dunno.

    As for the interface between sensors and your computer, microcontrollers are the bomb. Cheap, easy, fast, low-power, and designed for just that sort of thing. One $8 microcontroller, a $4 USB->serial chip, and a few passive components later, you've got something that can not only take readings (serial or analog) from a good number of sensors and pass them back to your computer, it's got enough power that you very well might find yourself passing more duties off to it as well.

  19. Re:How it worked in 1960's Mexico on Banked Blood May Not Be As Effective As Hoped · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    And what if someone isn't around with the right blood type?

    I have a fairly rare blood type, I used to get called regularly asking me to donate more. Well, until they gave me a false positive for HIV. Despite the fact that I flat-out don't have HIV (and all subsequent tests backed that up), I'm still not allowed to donate again, ever.

    One of the rules about blood donation that seems odd is that if you have received a blood transfusion, you wait for a full year before you can give blood again. Since it doesn't take anywhere near that long for your body to "fill up" again, that seems like they're saying "Hey, we don't really have a lot of confidence in our own system."

  20. Yeah, it's definitely not very effective. on Banked Blood May Not Be As Effective As Hoped · · Score: 1

    When my wife lost 2/3 of the blood in her body, those extra pints they put in her didn't do anything at all. Well, other than keep her alive. Sheesh, to think that's *all* it did. Crappy, old blood.

  21. Re:Penguins on A New Map of the Internet · · Score: 1

    But, the Internet doesn't follow population, it follows prosperity. There are still a lot of people in the lower half, but for the most part, they're poor. Poor people (truly poor, not what we call "poor" in the US) care less about the Internet than about survival.

    Interestingly enough, while I think that the Internet in general doesn't benefit poor (or uneducated) as much as a lot of people do, there are specific ways in which it (and cell phones) have allowed people in remote areas to conduct their business (usually farming) much more profitably, and I'm all for anything that helps people out of poverty.

  22. Not so shocking... on A New Map of the Internet · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "beyond Australia, New Zealand, and parts of South-East Asia, the southern hemisphere has only a peppering of connectivity."

    That's because beyond those countries, the Southern hemisphere only has a peppering of prosperity. If you want to know why, read "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations".

  23. Re:Reminds me ... on The World's Languages Are Fast Becoming Extinct · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, that joke is pretty funny. But it's not entirely true... a while back, we were holding interviews in our company, and an applicant listed poliglotism as one of his hobbies. One of the other interviewers remarked "That's really interesting. All of us (speaking of those of us conducting the interview) speak at least one other language - let's see, Portugese, Spanish, Spanish, Korean, Japanese. Which languages do you speak?"

    The poor guy just sunk down into his chair, and mumbled "Well... none, really." I felt bad for the guy. :-)

  24. Re:mere NOC/tech/helpdesk position gets 74k?? on Annual IT Salary Survey Finds Dissatisfaction · · Score: 1

    Easy. Move somewhere where you can't even afford housing with $74k per year.

    Years ago, I saw jobs just like mine in Silicon Valley and NY making nearly three times my salary. When I looked into the actual cost of living, my standard of living would have gone down to move and take those jobs.

  25. Oh, absolutely! on Soviet Union TLD Owners Snub ICANN · · Score: 1

    Because the useless bureaucracy called the UN is sooooo much better and more efficient. You're talking about countries who can't even agree on which of them are allowed to water their grapes for winemaking.