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User: bidule

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  1. Re:Er.... still artificial. on Pitch Perception Skewed By Modern Tuning · · Score: 1
    You totally missed the point. The base natural harmonic frequency has no impact on the GP.

    p' = 2.9966 * 440 Hz

    which is slightly flatter than the natural harmonic 3 * 440 Hz.
    So, as you say it isn't 440 Hz but some random 445.6 Hz, well then:

    p' = 2.9966 * 445.6 Hz

    which is slightly flatter than the natural harmonic 3 * 445.6 Hz.
    Oh what a surprise!

    BTW, our time unit the second doesn't have any magic property that makes it behave differently than the Magrathean's or the Golgafrincham's time unit. Nor does measuring your weight in newton rather than pounds make you fall faster. Thank God Galileo used the same balance for both cannonballs otherwise who knows what would have happened!

    I am sure this is a case of submitting before thinking, but let's make sure everyone screw their head straight after that long weekend.
  2. The real source of corruption is... on Wikileaks Breaks $3 Billion Corruption Story · · Score: 0

    You guys don't get it at all. This fraud is happening because the kenyan government is using Windows, and we all know that everything goes corrupt with Windows. If only they'd chosen Linux!

    So don't start the fight of capitalism vs communism, it is only a red herring to hide the truth. Just to prove how wrong you are, just think about that...

    What OS does the Shrub use in the White House?
    Windows.

    Do you see now where the truth lies? Governing with capitalism, socialism or communism wont make a difference as long as you use the wrong leaders, people who welcome corruption like Windows. So next time, vote for suspenders and beard, not Armani suits.

  3. Re:Not invincible on Shaolin Monks May Sue Over Tale of Defeat by Ninja · · Score: 1

    Miyagi-sensei, is that you?

  4. Insurance on System Admin's Unit of Production? · · Score: 1

    How does one rate the value of insurance?

    You do maintenance, prevention and handle emergencies. Maybe you should look at how health-related work is rated and convert human health into network health. The mapping may not be obvious, but at least they have already fought for recognition and won.

  5. Re:Western Hemisphere? on Lunar Eclipse Next Tuesday Morning · · Score: 2, Informative


    Technically, western hemisphere includes Ireland, Portugal, Senegal, Liberia, etc. In fact, anything west of the Greenwich meridian. Practically, it is the Americas.

  6. Re:Give the on Can Open Source Give Comfort To the Enemy? · · Score: 1

    Call me cynical, but "The only way peace will be accomplished in the Middle East is if" Jerusalem was turned into a pile of molten slag. That would piss off all local religions and deny comfort to the enemy, nevermind allies. And then again, people would still be looking for blame rather than solutions. Even with a 5 year preemptive warning, a modern day Solomon would find lots of babies cut in two.

    Now, to get back on topic, I thought "enemy" here refered to Microsoft... reading the summary dashed my hopes of yet-another anti-M$ paranoid rant.

  7. Re:The unfortunate thing about databases on Learning High-Availability Server-Side Development? · · Score: 1

    Is that most of them have poor native APIs when it comes to scalability. Some of them have something like

    handle = query("SELECT..."); /*do something*/
    result = wait(handle);
    But that is far from optimal. When will they be smart and release an async API that notifies you via callback when complete? This would be very useful for apps that need maximum scalability.
    I don't understand what is wrong with that.

    Are you unhappy about the /*do something*/ part, because you'd want the handle released early to minimize this process impact?

    Are you unhappy about the wait() call, because you don't want to code and manage your own threads to handle the call asynchronously?
  8. Ah, the old vertical D2! on D2 Updates, Text Message Notifcation · · Score: 1

    Well, I reverted to D1 when you changed the thumb from vertical to horizontal. It took some time fiddling around until I realilzed what had happened.

  9. Re:So, Mr. NewYorkCountryLawyer, on Class Action Initiated Against RIAA · · Score: 1

    $10 says the lawyers are the only winners.
    So, what's wrong with that? All I want is that Atlantic loses badly, the rest I don't care.
  10. Safest is abstinence? on US School Curriculum to Include Online Safety? · · Score: 1


    With the current administration, I am sure the proposed mechanism will be "No internet is safe internet".

    Well, someone had to say it.

  11. Re:Whose Responsibility? on Fair Use for YouTube & MySpace Users · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You are perfectly right, but I think you are conflating the container with the content. OTOH, I am conflating mixes with bland copies. But it is extremely difficult to map YouTube into real-world examples where the law and ethics are well explored.

    When a store owner buys back a used CD, he will just look at the container - jewel box and disc. He will not play the content to validate it. If a child porn ring uses fake CDs of obscure band as exchange material, the store owner will not realize he has illegal material in his hands. Yeah, a pretty contrived example, I know. But you get my drift.

    In a similar manner, YouTube could validate the title and refuse to post material that seems infringing. But we know how well web filtering software works, there would be too many false positives for this to work. As a further refinement, YouTube could demand formal declaration by the poster that this material is not infringing. This would make it an easy day in court for the copyright owner.

    But they don't have my sympathy, nor will they gain it. They traded the right to ask for such protection in exchange of making decryption tools illegal. They got what they deserved for trying to kill fair use. Using DMCA to fight DMCA is the nicest form of civil disobedience there is. Have a nice day.

    Now, let them renounce DRM, revoke DMCA, and maybe I'll let myself be bought to forget it all and allow them . My price will be reducing copyright duration to something reasonable, though. They get the protection they deserve, we get the public domain we deserve.

    As a side note, I wouldn't mind copyright extension beyond reasonable. But that extension should cost an exponentially unreasonable fee.

  12. Re:Whose Responsibility? on Fair Use for YouTube & MySpace Users · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Google/YouTube hides under the fact that US copyright law puts the responsibility of reporting violation on the copyright holders.
    How is that different from the non-eWorld? How does YouTube videos compare to fake Gucci bags or CDs?

    If a second-hand CD store sells illegal copies, is it the store owner's fault? Same thing for stolen goods. If he bought them in good faith, you can't really put the blame on him.

    An even closer example: should a flea market owner verify that every stall rented contains only genuine goods? Or should it be the copyright owner's job to pay someone to make the rounds.

    You cannot ask for stricter controls because it is the Internet.
  13. Re:Disarming the patent trolls on Software Patent Debate Over in Europe For Now? · · Score: 1


    What if they gave a war, and nobody came?

    Your proposal really comes down to that, no?

  14. Re:Whatever happened to voting with your feet? on Woz on Open Source, DRM · · Score: 1

    Sorry, I know Woz is a geek god and all that, but I still don't see why he should be let off this one. If you don't think DRM "makes sense", why on earth have you bought so much DRM-d content and so little DRM-free content? Well, women don't "make sense" too, but I am not so anti-women that I won't deal with them. I feel that I gain more than I suffer.

    There are ways to oppose something without being rabid fanatics. This being /. I should add that you will learn that if you ever leave your parents' basement, but I don't know if you'd tolerate the joke. Not that I really care ;oP
  15. Re:Provable ID problem on Is RIAA's Linares Affidavit Technically Valid? · · Score: 1

    His declaration under penalty of purgery under the laws of the United States that the foregoing are true and correct should have had peer review so they would indeed be true and correct. They are not and is easly proven so.


    So, who will be giving the enema if he is full of shit?
  16. Re:I'm Canadian on House To Vote On Paper Trail and OSS Voting Bill · · Score: 1


    Yes, you're right. I remember last municipal election there was a mayor and a councillor on the same ballot. But I don't think this ever happened for provincial or federal elections. The only way I see us breaking that is if we ever get an elected senate.

  17. Re:Regardless of political affiliation... on House To Vote On Paper Trail and OSS Voting Bill · · Score: 1

    Nah, just having them sign an affidavit if they don't bring a picture ID.

    And there are many ways to cheat even with picture IDs. You can refuse to register certain voters. You can make some booth hard to reach (for handicapped, ppl w/o cars, etc.). You can also vote at polling station where your vote will make a difference, etc.

  18. Re:I'm Canadian on House To Vote On Paper Trail and OSS Voting Bill · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yeah, the only problem is that we have a vote to cast. Easy to split in stacks. They have 3-4 things to vote in one go. It would be fixable by handling each item separately, I guess.

  19. Re:Given up, have you? on USPTO Increases Scope Of Amazon's 1-Click Patent · · Score: 1

    Ah! Thank you for clearing my memory.

  20. Re:Given up, have you? on USPTO Increases Scope Of Amazon's 1-Click Patent · · Score: 1

    Erm, maybe I don't remember correctly, but isn't that patent on using that gene to detect a predisposition to that kind of cancer? I don't think it extends to curing it. It's already diryt enough as it is, no need to go sensational.

  21. Re:Predictions on How Big Will the iPhone Become? · · Score: 1

    Thank you, but I got this prononciation from Jean-Louis Gassée. He's the real genius here.

  22. Re:Predictions on How Big Will the iPhone Become? · · Score: 1


    You don't understand the anal.yst business plan.

    1. Make wild predictions
    2. ???
    3. Profit

  23. A new step in /. evolution on How Big Will the iPhone Become? · · Score: 5, Funny


    Now that slashdotters never RTFA, we're ready for the next step: only read the title. You, sir, not only deserve a +5 Funny, you truly deserve a +5 Insightful for this discovery.

  24. Re:Conspiracy... on Jobs and Gates Chat Amicably · · Score: 1

    Am I making sense, or is this just pure flamebait?


    No.

    Jobs != Apple
    Gates != Microsoft
    I think those 2 are adult enough to not conflate companies and individuals.
  25. Re:Ok, maybe a little extreme.... on Bookstore Owner Burns Books · · Score: 1


    And another example of self-righteous drivel getting modded up. Anyone who RTFA knows this is just plain wrong.