Slashdot Mirror


User: rmdingler

rmdingler's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
4,492
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 4,492

  1. Re:Bad headline on Radio Waves Can Be Used To Hijack Androids and iPhones Via Siri and Google Now · · Score: 2
    FTA: "First off, it only works only when the headphones are plugged into the device, and the headphones have a microphone integrated, and aren't just simple music-listening earbuds."

    So. Nay, varlet.

  2. Re:Modern life is different on Maybe You Don't Need 8 Hours of Sleep After All (theatlantic.com) · · Score: 1

    We get less exercise, we eat completely different foods, many jobs are primarily mental. And we hold more rigid daily schedules. I think that MAYBE could require more sleep.

    Much of the sleep we do get in civilized society is restless and even nonproductive.

    The hunter gatherers are exercising significantly more, on average, than their sequestered, western counterpart.

    Sedentary lifestyles compromise generations of physically active predecessors' lifestyles.

  3. Dumbing down of Humans on Naval Academy Reinstates Teaching of Celestial Navigation · · Score: 2

    But is there really any point in knowing how to navigate by the stars in a world of GPS? "In the event that we had to go into a national emergency...

    National emergency?

    Just my 2 cents, but you should have to train a dog to mind you before you have a child, and you should be able to navigate by the stars prior to being allowed to use the GPS.

  4. Re:A truly rare find on Jefferson-Designed Chemistry Lab Discovered In UVA Rotunda (virginia.edu) · · Score: 4, Insightful
    To be fair, a gentleman of our generation judging another gent's behavior a century and a half ago is a bit presumptive.

    You could still purchase another man then.

    Like it or not, it's statistically likely you had to be a tiny bit pro-slave back then to make ends meet as a southern farmer.

  5. Re:Disruptive? on The Most Disruptive Technology of the Last 100 Years Isn't What You Think · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Smoking = carcinogens Pickling = excessive salt Canning = Preservatives Refrigeration = lower temperature I choose refrigeration .

    Of course, if there exists the luxury of such a choice.

    An even easier conundrum? Carcinogens, salt, and preservatives or starvation...

  6. Well, frack you Oklahoma on New Concerns Over Earthquakes In Oklahoma Near Vast Oil-Storage Facility (nytimes.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful
    To be fair, the storage vessels are largely above ground tanks with floating tops and earthen dams around them, unlike the salt dome reservoirs used for the national petroleum reserve.

    It seems unlikely there would be a major ecological disaster from tank rupture, and pipeline ruptures could be contained rather quickly.

    Unfortunately, some spillage is an accepted part of the energy trade-off provided by crude oil.

  7. Well looky there... I have dumbass all over my face.

  8. ... decrease of fervent interest in any particular topic during the more pacific years under Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

    I am trying to envision the turn of events that rendered during periods of political stability into this typo for the ages.

  9. Re:Will be boring once we find out. on Mysteriously Variable Star Causes Speculation About Dyson Sphere (slate.com) · · Score: 1

    Very, very clever.

  10. Re:Alcoholics Anonymous on If You're Not Paranoid About Your Privacy, You're Crazy (theatlantic.com) · · Score: 1

    I also wouldn't be surprised if he's taken some artistic license here and there to enhance his narrative.

    Of course. The best stories always seem to do just that. I suspect there's wisdom in both cautious acceptance and jaded disbelief.

    But. Prior to the Snowden revelations, many an extroverted anti-establishment activist was referred to in educated company as a tin-hatter.

  11. Re:History has taught us on Volkswagen Seeks To Repair Its Image By Focusing On Electric (wired.com) · · Score: 1
    Good thoughts. Many folks are unaware of the role that Japanese competition had on American automobile quality.

    To be fair, the competition was coming from somewhere (eventually), but the Japanese got there first.

    Ironic, that the real threat to American automotive manufacturing domination came from Japan and West Germany, nations on the other side of WW2.

  12. Re:Drunks don't make the best decisions on Live-Streaming Florida Woman Charged With Drunken Driving · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have no rebuttal. You're spot on.

  13. Re:Drunks don't make the best decisions on Live-Streaming Florida Woman Charged With Drunken Driving · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Taking the optional Field Sobriety Test (FST) is never a good idea. Not doing the Breathalyzer test after being arrested in Florida is also not a good idea as it results in the automatic suspension of your license and your refusal to take the test can be used against you in court. In addition, it doesn't prevent the police from obtaining a warrant to draw your blood and determine your BAC.

    Take neither test.

    If you're in doubt about what to do, please remember the police are not administering these exams to help prove your innocence.

  14. History has taught us on Volkswagen Seeks To Repair Its Image By Focusing On Electric (wired.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Given the Chevrolet side saddle gas tanks imbroglio, the Ford Pinto, and the Toyota floor mat malfunction,

    I'd say Volkswagon can count on the short term memory of the buying public.

    Like a bad breakup, time will heal this, too.

  15. The membership to 7 digit user id club is particularly valuable as credntials.

    Jackpot! I had a hunch laying about here for tens of weeks would finally pay off!

  16. A fairly diverse set of holdings:Vitamin D in milk, warfarin (see what they did there?), and stem cell patents...

    oh yes, and that chip thing.

  17. Re:Don't trust the gov to use good technical solut on Clinton Home Servers Had Ports Open (ap.org) · · Score: 1

    Is there anyone who cares about this issue that didn't already hate Hillary for other reasons?

    Do such people actually exist, or was your question rhetorical?

    Of course. She's smart, certainly well qualified, and constantly shooting herself in the foot.

    With credentials like that, the list of folks who dislike her is long enough to be confused with a LOTR script.

    Except for a Socialist from the Green Mountain State, no competition for the Dem nod has yet materialized. Maybe tonight.

  18. Re:Don't trust the gov to use good technical solut on Clinton Home Servers Had Ports Open (ap.org) · · Score: 2
    You have to wonder what ailes Fox as even they wouldn't renew her contract.

    I know its not exactly the same thing, but for the relatively smart people in both Parties, she is rather equal in embarrassment quotient to Trump.

  19. The first domino has tipped on German Publisher Axel Springer Bans Adblocking Users From Bild Website (axelspringer.de) · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I've been seeing more requests than ever recently to "please turn off Adblocker" while browsing.

    If a site is important enough to me, I'll pay a nominal fee rather than slow loading times with what is often intrusive hogwash.

    If it's not, the information I seek is probably available elsewhere.

  20. Re:abysmal human rights records on NASA Chief Says Ban On Chinese Partnerships Is Temporary · · Score: 2

    Clearly. It works much better if only one of the collaborating nations is ridden with corruption.

  21. There is a vast difference between what I would pay for a competent surveillance service and the tab a governmental organization would run up.

    Cheese and rice... 70 pounds an hour? Good for you! ($107 or €94)

  22. Add in the teams for real time facial recognition, license plate readers and other technical surveillance (internet, wifi, cell, sat) of the site or anyone walking near the site. Expert support 24/7 with its overtime is expensive beyond just officers outside.

    Quite. I suspect no expense was spared; no technology denied this Assange hunt.

    Interestingly, three of the four charges against him expired last month vis-a-vis stautes of limitations. If he remains on sovereign Ecuadorian ground until 2020, the last charge is reported to be null and void.

  23. Right. Donuts, hookers, and cocaine.

    To stay awake, of course.

    Was there not a single employee at the Ecuadorian embassy willing to leave a door unlocked for less than 18 million?

  24. maths seem off on British Police Stop 24/7 Monitoring of Julian Assange At Ecuadorian Embassy (ibtimes.co.uk) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is estimated the cost of deploying the officers outside the Embassy in London all day for the past three years has cost the British taxpayer more than $18m.

    So dollars, then? Six million a year for 24 hour surveillance. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

    $684.93 per hour. Thank you Wolfram Alpha. This has the smell of one of those 1000 kilo drug busts that calculates the value of the seizure by multiplying by the gram price.

  25. Re:Spoils of War on The Top Secret Chinese Military Project That Led To a Nobel Prize · · Score: 1

    5-7-5... check.