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User: billyswong

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Comments · 128

  1. Re:Is it the same as in Chinese? on New Unicode Bug Discovered For Common Japanese Character "No" · · Score: 1

    Then what about just stripe unicode for comment subject, and leave the comment content intact?

  2. Re:Mandarin dependency and homophone confusion on New Unicode Bug Discovered For Common Japanese Character "No" · · Score: 1

    No. Kyoto is literally capital-city, or capital-cpaital (slashdot chopped all Han characters :( )

  3. in theory they separate but.... on Calling Out a GAO Report That Says In-Flight Wi-Fi Lets Hackers Access Avionics · · Score: 1

    But the engineers checking airplane safety aren't computer netwrok security experts. I really worry that the systems interconnected somewhere or shared some components they assumed safe. Automobiles got them mingled already.

  4. Re:Shogi on A Data-Driven Exploration of the Evolution of Chess · · Score: 1

    Letting the opponent captures a piece without any tradeoff is a huge mistake, not small mistake. So I would say for top-notch players, it's rare for one side to have majority of pieces that easily.

    The unit promotion mechanism also makes no pieces really "weak". Unlike internatioal chess, pawns don't need to reach the bottom to upgrade. Walking 2/3 of the board will do.

  5. Re:Shogi on A Data-Driven Exploration of the Evolution of Chess · · Score: 1

    I always liked the Shogi variant of chess. Other than a slightly larger board (9x9), and a few more pieces (20), you also have unit promotions, and deployment of captured pieces. The deployment of captured pieces especially keeps the late game from becoming simplified.

    This just turns a draw game into an endless game. Since captured pieces are redeployed, there will be no "true" late game if both players are skilled enough and make no big mistakes.

  6. Against it! on Ask Slashdot: Where Do You Stand on Daylight Saving Time? · · Score: 1

    Change the government office hours, don't change the clock moron!

    Lucky that my home Hong Kong has abolished that since long ago.

  7. Confirmed on China Smartphone Maker Xiaomi Apologizes For Unauthorized Data Access · · Score: 1

    It's already found that the official "update" only fixes a tiny part of concern. They are still sending things to China

  8. You advocate a ________ approach to calendar refor on Terran Computational Calendar Introduces Minimonths, Year Bases, and Datemods · · Score: 2
    http://qntm.org/calendar

    You advocate a

    ( ) overly simplistic

    approach to calendar reform. Your idea will not work. Here is why:

    ( ) having months of different lengths is irritating
    ( ) having one or two days per year which are part of no month is stupid

    Specifically, your plan fails to account for:

    ( ) humans
    ( ) rational hatred for arbitrary change
    ( ) unpopularity of weird new month and day names

    and the following philosophical objections may also apply:

    ( ) nobody is about to renumber every event in history
    ( ) good luck trying to move the Fourth of July
    (x) the history of calendar reform is horrifically complicated and no amount of further calendar reform can make it simpler

    Furthermore, this is what I think about you:

    ( ) sorry, but I don't think it would work
    ( ) this is a stupid idea, and you're a stupid person for suggesting it

  9. Lucky that it's immune to Chinese on Is Germany Raising a Generation of Illiterates? · · Score: 1

    Hong Kong has its own language education problems but Chinese learning won't be infected by this sort of silly stuff - Chinese writings are mostly pronunciation-neutral.

  10. Cochlear implants don't work for everyone on How Cochlear Implants Are Being Blamed For Killing Deaf Culture · · Score: 1

    Not everyone's issue can be saved by cochlear implants. So deaf culture won't go extinct that easily.

    On the other hand, cochlear implants are not perfect. People wearing it don't hear human-speaking as well as normal people. This is a more pressing issue - deaves are stuck in a bad expectations.

  11. Rockets won't be loved at on Report: Space Elevators Are Feasible · · Score: 1

    How else are you to land and/or launch from a new planet/moon? We still need rockets. Unless stargate

  12. Re:Ya that is near as big a problem on EA Caves: SimCity Offline Mode Coming · · Score: 1

    You don't know what's path finding, period. We are talking about the route a car is taking or planning to take. It should be calculated only once per road-change/serious-traffic-jam for each driver.

  13. Re:citation quotient on Physicist Peter Higgs: No University Would Employ Me Today · · Score: 1

    1. Supposingly peer review should block such kind of "trivial paper".

    2. The formula can be adjusted to (a+1)/(b+1) or something similar. Then the initial score will be (0+1)/(3+1)=1/4, while the traded score will be 11/14

    Or maybe even harsher, weigh others' cites against how many citations are there. if a paper cites me, but also cite 49 other papers, then that cite only gives me 1/50 score.

  14. citation quotient on Physicist Peter Higgs: No University Would Employ Me Today · · Score: 1

    How about this:

    A paper cites others. Others cite the paper.The number of a paper being cited will be divided by the number of cites in the paper. The quotient will be what counts.

    Now no points in cite trading.

  15. Approachable download for the way! on How To Turn Your Pile of Code Into an Open Source Project · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Create a proper tarball (.tar.gz) that is easily downloadable by anyone.

    Finally someone mentioned that. Git repositories asks users install extra software before even trying your code. Hate it a lot.

  16. Incompatibilities across ver. of the same distro on Gnome Founder Miguel de Icaza Moves To Mac · · Score: 1

    So true. Seeing Gnome and Ubuntu sink is very depressing. If you want to break compatibilities for the sake of change, fork it. Don't mess up the original.

  17. Re:Fit in my pocket on Smartphone Screen Real Estate: How Big Is Big Enough? · · Score: 1

    So true.

  18. Phone is for talking on Smartphone Screen Real Estate: How Big Is Big Enough? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The number ONE question should have been:

    Can you comfortably phone someone or receive phone call without resorting to earplug?

  19. Re:The wrong way around on Open Source ExFAT File System Reaches 1.0 Status · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How about when you are not admin? Installing software, especially drivers, are not always appropriate or even possible.

  20. Re:but on Intel Demos Optical Data Transfer For Servers · · Score: 1

    Pushing bits in a more packing way is of course important, but latency matters too. Optical circuits are more responsive.

  21. Nothing to do in the middle of trip? on Astronauts Could Get Lazier As Mars Mission Progresses · · Score: 1

    Give them meaningful works that could only be done on space. Else boredom kills.

  22. Re:Uhhhh on What 'Negative Temperature' Really Means · · Score: 1

    You don't expect non-Physicists know what is "Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution", do you?

  23. Temperature on USMA: Going the Extra Kilometer For Metrication · · Score: 1

    Personally I found degree F annoying. Change that first!

    For length and weight measurement, at least I can multiply it a fixed ratio to convert, which is within the capacity of mental calculation/estimation when done often. However, degree F conversion to degree C is a nightmare. 32F for water melting point? 212F for water boiling point? This is crazy! In all other places on Earth, we have 0C for water melting point and 100C for water boiling point. Simple :)

  24. Re:This is no Space Shuttle, its better. on SpaceX's Grasshopper VTVL Finally Jumps Its Own Height · · Score: 2

    SpaceX does provide 'some' cargo return capability. http://www.spacex.com/crs1.php

    Of course it is nothing compared to space shuttle, but when is the last time that a space shuttle bring back anything huge? Or, has it ever done so?

  25. No Electronic Gadgets for below 3 on Ask Slashdot: Android Apps For Kids Under 12 Months? · · Score: 1

    There should be nothing, nothing with screen given to children below 3 years old. They are harmful to one's attention span and concentration ability. If you let any baby/toddlers access them, you've just brain damaged the children.