Slashdot Mirror


User: Chris+Mattern

Chris+Mattern's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
7,102
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 7,102

  1. Re:Here we go again on Limiting the Teaching of the Scientific Process In Ohio · · Score: 1

    How many times have you seen scientists starting wars over theories and results?

    ;
    Hoo, boy. I take it you have never worked with the faculty of a university. Granted, they don't use guns and bombs, but probably only because they don't have access to them.

  2. Re:And this is how we get to the more concrete har on Limiting the Teaching of the Scientific Process In Ohio · · Score: 1

    Oh, what laws did they have? Please tell me about egyptian law under the nomarchs?

    Were you aware that the *word* "nomarch" comes from the Ancient Greek, nomos, meaning law?

  3. Re:And this is how we get to the more concrete har on Limiting the Teaching of the Scientific Process In Ohio · · Score: 1

    Nope, they don't underlie the scientific method. They are merely tools of the scientific method. Immeasurably useful tools, but it is the scientific method at the base, not mathematics, logic or philosophy. When experiment shows that mathematical models can successfully predict observed phenomena, those mathematical models are used. When experiment fails to show that such models do so, they are tossed out. They may still be of interest to mathematicians, but scientists have no further use for them.

  4. Re:Agreed on Statistics Losing Ground To CS, Losing Image Among Students · · Score: 4, Funny

    But what about Q?

    We'll have to ask M.

  5. Re:At least on TechCentral Scams Call Center Scammers · · Score: 1

    you aren't getting contacted by a Nigerian 411 scammer with some dead relative or something or other and trying to deposit a magical sum of money in your account.

    And then he offers to look up phone numbers for you! Perhaps you meant 419.

  6. Re:Bad Planning on $75K Prosthetic Arm Is Bricked When Paired iPod Is Stolen · · Score: 2

    Case in point right here in my home state of Virginia: The state's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control stores (commonly called "ABC stores"). As part of the state's alcohol laws, licensed stores can sell wine and beer, and licensed bars and restaurants can sell booze by the glass. If you want hard liquor by the bottle, you have to buy it at an ABC store, which are state-owned. They turn a profit, and that profit goes into the state's coffers.

  7. Re:Waaah. on New EU Rules Will Limit Vacuum Cleaners To 1600W · · Score: 1

    It must take longer to boil water in the US then. In Aus a standard electric kettle has a 2.4kW resistive heating element.

    You don't see many kettles with built-in heating elements here. People heat their kettles on the stove, which will either be gas, or if it's electric, will be on a special high-capacity circuit.

  8. Re:Wow on Scientists Developing Remote-Control Cyborg Moths · · Score: 1

    I can see it now, a comic book super villain and his swarm of programmable insects.

    You mean, like this guy?

  9. Re:Welcome to the Information Age! on It's Easy To Hack Traffic Lights · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And who will be blamed? Why, the researchers who discovered this incredible negligence, of course! "If you hadn't shown the hackers how to do it, we never would have this problem!"

  10. Re:Step #1 Find a Geek on Professor Steve Ballmer Will Teach At Two Universities This Year · · Score: 2

    Silly man, everybody knows, "Step #3: Profit!"

  11. Re:Working from home on Calif. Court Rules Businesses Must Reimburse Cell Phone Bills · · Score: 1

    My company does this. You're entitled to reimbursement of your Internet connection charges (not the whole cable bill, of course) up to $50/mo. This actually doesn't cover my whole ISP bill (thanks, Comcast!), but hey, every little bit helps.

  12. Re:No problem on Study: Seals Infected Early Americans With Tuberculosis · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Looks like you've blown a seal." "Just fix it and leave my personal life out of this."

  13. Re:Logged in to email? on 51% of Computer Users Share Passwords · · Score: 1

    You can't.

    This isn't necessarily universal, as it's not required like 911 access, but you can certainly do it on my phone. Go into "People", select "In case of emergency" (it's big and bold at top) and you can select contacts from your contact list to be emergency contacts. These can then be called from the lock screen with the "Emergency contacts" button.

  14. Re:Logged in to email? on 51% of Computer Users Share Passwords · · Score: 1

    My Android 4.1.2 on a Verizon DROID 4 certainly has it. It's required to be there. Look at the bottom of your lock screen (It *is* a lock screen, right? Requiring a code to unlock the phone? It's not there if your phone's not locked and you can just swipe to select the function you want).

  15. Re:Logged in to email? on 51% of Computer Users Share Passwords · · Score: 2

    It would really surprise me if your Android phone *doesn't* have this feature, because it *is* required by law. Mine certainly has it.

  16. Re:I definitely share password with family on 51% of Computer Users Share Passwords · · Score: 2

    The *right* way to cover the "hit-by-a-bus" scenario is to put all your passwords into an encrypted repository, and only give your wife the password to the repository. Ideally, the repository should then be placed in a safety deposit box that can't be accessed outside of the hit-by-a-bus scenario, but that would admittedly be an extra expense and arguably overkill.

  17. Re:5e: Best D&D, MHO on Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook Released · · Score: 1

    In 3e, the monk got to add their wisdom modifier to AC when unarmored, and mage armor gave a +4 armor bonus

    Okay, I'm confused. How can a bonus you only get when unarmored stack with a bonus that comes from armor?

  18. Re:UX? Meh. I have enough experiences in life on Ask Slashdot: Should You Invest In Documentation, Or UX? · · Score: 1

    Why can't we go back to calling it what it is: user interface?

    Because "Are you interfaced? Have you ever been interfaced?" doesn't sound nearly as sexy.

  19. Re: You're doing it wrong. on Ask Slashdot: Should You Invest In Documentation, Or UX? · · Score: 1

    .My question relates only to the user documentation. For developers and designers, we more or less freeze the api/interfaces.

    Wow. So your excuse is that you're only dropping this massive rewrite on the audience least able or inclined to absorb it. Way to go.

  20. Re:Shades of the 1960's CIA "Acoustic kitty" on Connected Collar Lets Your Cat Do the War-Driving · · Score: 1

    For more info, you can watch this documentary.

  21. Take a good look at the figures: on Microsoft Surface Drowning? · · Score: 2

    Over $2 billion for FY 2014. $409 million for the last quarter of 2014, which translates to a yearly pace of $409 million time four, or slightly over $1.6 billion. In other words, sales are falling.

  22. Re:Punishes fans? on NFL Fights To Save TV Blackout Rule Despite $9 Billion Revenue · · Score: 1

    shouldn't the organizer of the event -any event- get to choose if it can be broadcast or not, since aren't they in control of the copyright of the recording????

    Well, yes, they do. They are. The NFL is the organizer of the event, and controls the copyright of the recording. It's their rule that the game can't be broadcast locally if it isn't sold out, nobody else's. Who else did you think it might be?

  23. Re:Most Users on Inside the Facebook Algorithm Most Users Don't Even Know Exists · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...and that's exactly how Facebook likes it.

  24. Re:Oh it's not the only possibility /mathematicall on The Man Who Invented the 26th Dimension · · Score: 1

    Thus we have three-dimensional space-time,

    If you're nominating time as a dimension, space-time would be four dimensions. Three dimensions would be just space.

  25. Re:Nuke it from orbit, then restore from backups. on Synolocker 0-Day Ransomware Puts NAS Files At Risk · · Score: 2

    Synology now insists that this in fact reflective of their move to quantum computing technology, and that the parrot is both alive and dead.