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User: Anonymous+Freak

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Comments · 1,178

  1. I'm more curious about *why*... on How Did Volkswagen Cheat Emissions Tests, and Who Authorized It? · · Score: 1

    What gain did they achieve by doing this? None of the vehicles in question are "performance" vehicles, so it's not like they were doing it so that the vehicles had "great performance" when not being tested, yet still passed.

  2. Re:wait, what? on $340 Audiophile Ethernet Cable Tested · · Score: 1

    They tested the $340 one because they weren't willing to pay for the $1000 "Ethernet audio" cable...

    Audiophools are dumb.

  3. Re:Stop calling it "NASA's" on German Scientists Confirm NASA's Controversial EM Drive · · Score: 1

    If I had mod points, I'd mod you up. I'm tired of seeing headlines calling it "NASA's"... That would be like calling something "Slashdot's" just because someone posted it to /.

  4. Re:More than PR on What Was the Effect of Rand Paul's 10-Hour "Filibuster"? · · Score: 1

    Would he have done it? Yes. And I am thankful to him for that.

    But he would have done it when the actual bill were being debated, not at a random time that was convenient for press coverage...

  5. Thank you - just PR for his presidential run. on What Was the Effect of Rand Paul's 10-Hour "Filibuster"? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    While I applaud Paul, Wyden, and the other Senators who have pledged to do everything in their power to block the spying-allowed version of this renewal; Sen. Paul's "filibuster" was pure PR stunt for his presidential campaign. It was during the discussion of a completely unrelated bill, and wasn't even an official filibuster.

  6. Oh, so Apple is sending a dozen computers?

  7. No, it doesn't. on Ebola Does Not Require an "Ebola Czar," Nor Calling Up the National Guard · · Score: 1

    But irrational people insist on it.

  8. Re:"Roadable aircraft" on A Production-Ready Flying Car Is Coming This Month · · Score: 1

    Yup, for a while, it has been my retirement dream to buy a couple "touring motorcycles", and a 6-place, twin-engine airplane modded with a cargo door/ramp (Cessna 421 Golden Eagle or the like,) and tour the world.

    It would be great if the Terrefugia TF-X is ready by the time I'm ready to retire. (And, of course, to have the money for either option...)

  9. "Roadable aircraft" on A Production-Ready Flying Car Is Coming This Month · · Score: 1

    This isn't a "flying car", it's a "roadable airplane", just like the Terrefugia Transition: http://www.terrafugia.com/airc...

    It is licensed as an airplane, with many, MANY exceptions when licensed as a ground vehicle. The idea is that you drive it a short distance to an airport, then take off and fly as an airplane. Then drive a short distance to somewhere at the other end. It's not meant to be driven even as much as a high-end sports car on the ground. It's mean as "get to airport, fly, get to destination."

    As for "production-ready", Terrefugia claims theirs is "production-ready," too...

  10. Re:"Contrary to what we were sometimes taught" on Antarctic Ice Loss Big Enough To Cause Measurable Shift In Earth's Gravity · · Score: 1

    Agreed. I learned about the Gravitational constant and the variability of gravity in high school physics in the US.

    One of my proudest moments in high school physics was running a "measure gravity" experiment 3 times, getting to within 0.005 m/s^2 of the right answer all 3 times - for where I was! I thought for sure I was doing it wrong, until the teacher said "and if some of you are getting a number other than a simple 9.8, it's because the local gravity here is actually ." Mine averaged to 0.002 off.

  11. Re:dumb question on Sierra Nevada Corp. Files Legal Challenge Against NASA Commercial Contracts · · Score: 1

    Okay, give me your mailing address, and I will print out the relevant Wikipedia articles and mail them to you on a postcard.

  12. Interesting comment... on Sierra Nevada Corp. Files Legal Challenge Against NASA Commercial Contracts · · Score: 1

    "...the highest ranked and lowest ranked offerors were separated by a minor amount of total points and other factors were equally comparable."

    AKA: "We were bottom, but dammit, not by that much!"

  13. Re: No good for older iPhones on iOS 8 Review · · Score: 1

    Yup, and I have alternate ROMs for my original iPhone that adds essentially all the features of iOS 7 (obviously excepting things that are missing in hardware, of course.)

  14. Re:No good for older iPhones on iOS 8 Review · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Find me an Android from 2010 that can run KitKat.

    Find me more than two Android devices that got KitKat on launch day.

    Yes, Apple ruthless abandons old devices. But you KNOW it's happening. The iPad 1 was the only "surprise! We discontinued support earlier than you thought!" device, but even then, you knew when iOS 6 was first announced that it was going to happen. And if you get support, you get it on day 1. Today, the iPhone 4S and newer, iPad 2 and newer, and iPod touch 5 all get iOS 8.

    Android devices are a complete mixed bag. You may get good support for 2-3 years, you might get screwed with zero updates ever. You might get the update on day 1, you might get it 6 months later.

    Android has many ways it is far superior to iOS, but release reliability and long-term device support are *NOT* among them.

  15. Re:Nerd fight on iOS 8 Review · · Score: 1

    I like that he has a six-digit ID... New Here is older than the vast majority of /.ers.

  16. Re:Nerd fight on iOS 8 Review · · Score: 1

    HAHAHAHAHHAHAA!!!!

    The negativity of all the quotes bits should have clued you off.

  17. Re:Just use screens on iOS 8 Review · · Score: 1

    That's exactly what I do. Main screen is for "use it every day" with no folders at all, second screen is for "use very often, divided by theme" such as "financial", "media" (which means media consumption for me, so Netflix, Hulu, etc,) "Photo", "science", "sports". Third screen is games, subdivided by category. Fourth screen is "I almost never use these, but space is cheap, so I'll just stuff them here" - mostly store apps that I only have so that Passbook works right with them, apps that Siri integrates with so that I can tap results and have them launch properly (Yelp, etc,) and other things that when I really want to use them, I end up launching them another way. (Google Doc, Sheet, Slide; which I launch via Drive almost exclusively.)

  18. Re:I worked for Dell back then on Is "Scorpion" Really a Genius? · · Score: 1

    But the Humpty-Dumpty sense is the best sense!

    And, of course, you are completely correct. I should have used i.e., not AKA.

    It was a dumb Americansism-abused-grammar mistake. I shall claim "it was written half past midnight in a sleepy stupor" as my excuse. :-P I am normally a spelling/grammar pedant; this just shows that even OCD grammarians screw up once in a while. (In general, if my spelling or grammar is incorrect, it's on purpose for humorous effect.)

  19. Re:Not the first, just the most egotistical. on Barry Shein Founded the First Dialup ISP (Video) · · Score: 1

    agora was. I know because I had it. I know because a friend and I convinced Alan Batie (the owner/operator) to install a SLIP daemon in 1987.

    Many years later, I worked at Intel, and looked up Alan. I had to introduce myself to the man that, to me, "gave me the Internet." He remembered me. (Or my user name, anyway.) I was more flattered by that at the time than if a sports star or president had told me they remembered me.

  20. Re:I worked for Dell back then on Is "Scorpion" Really a Genius? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you read, he supplied more computers than Dell and Gateway combined....... Before 1993.

    While both Dell and Gateway existed since the '80s, neither were international powerhouses until the mid-90s. I'm sure both HP and IBM were blowing this guy out of the water in Ireland.

    I mean, I sold more cell phones worldwide in 2006 than Apple and Google combined, for crying out loud! (AKA: I sold one.)

  21. Not the first, just the most egotistical. on Barry Shein Founded the First Dialup ISP (Video) · · Score: 1

    Portland had "agora" in 1985. PDxs and Teleport joined in 1987.

  22. Re:more like 1987 on Barry Shein Founded the First Dialup ISP (Video) · · Score: 1

    Yeah, not the first. There were multiple public ISPs in Portland in 1989. PDxs, agora, Teleport...

    One is still around, nearly 30 years later - Raindrop Laboratories http://www.rdrop.com/ still has its "vintage" mid '90s web page, too. (It has been around since 1985.)

  23. Won't go away, just stay niche. on Can Thunderbolt Survive USB SuperSpeed+? · · Score: 4, Informative

    USB is the "mainstream, use for anything" connector. USB SS+ with type-C and 100 W power delivery makes it even moreso.

    Thunderbolt is external PCI Express. Over long distances with optical cabling. Yes, there are few places in which TB is better than USB SS+, but in those places, USB SS+ can't compete - at all.

    Need a 20 Gb/s connection to your storage array in the next room over? USB SS+ can't do that. Need an effectively-zero-latency connection to an external sound/video editing rig? Yeah, PCIe is your format, over Thunderbolt.

    And don't expect Thunderbolt to sit still, either. While USB has plans to increase speed, so does TB. TB has PCIe3 coming up, and other improvements.

    No, I never expect Thunderbolt to become even as mainstream as FireWire was, but it most certainly won't just go away, either.

  24. It's not "Han shoots FIRST"! on Why Disney Can't Give Us High-Def Star Wars Where Han Shoots First · · Score: 5, Informative

    First implies an order.

    An order implies there is more than one.

    Han doesn't shoot *FIRST*, Han shoots.

    There is no "first," because there is no "second."

    There is no "second" because Greedo doesn't shoot at all.

    Stop with "Han shoots first" - start with "Greedo never shoots".

  25. Re:Easier or harder to steal a car? on Did the Ignition Key Just Die? · · Score: 1

    Hell, one of the reasons the Prius is more reliable is its replacement of ultra-complex electronic transmission with an ultra-simple mechanical planetary transmission!