Slashdot Mirror


User: rabs

rabs's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
51
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 51

  1. Re:Ironic on Webby Award 2004 Winners Announced · · Score: 1

    > Yea, I can resize the window, but it's BAD DESIGN

    Absolutely. What about people who use tabbed browsing? I like to go left-click-"open in new tab" -- can't do this with javascript popups. And what about people with javascript turned off?

    - rabs

  2. slight clarification on Math And The Computer Science Major · · Score: 1

    ...difference between strings and binary...

    Here I mean the difference between the string representation of a number vs the binary representation of it.

    - rabs

  3. Re:Certain types of programming... on Math And The Computer Science Major · · Score: 1

    The difference between some web-scripting guy, and a guy who knows CS, is like difference between an automechanic and an automotive engineer.

    Yay! Another difference is that the engineer will know about the existence of solutions to thorny problems, as opposed to the 'monkey' who runs out of ideas and will throw his/her hands up.

    I've run into too many 'web-scripters' whose skill sets consist of cut 'n paste, and who have to come to me because they can't (or refuse to) think their way out of a problem. "Please help me with this script!"

    Unfortunately, this group of people also includes .NET programmers who never received a good background in CS. And when you begin to talk about Karnaugh maps or the difference between strings and binary, their eyes glaze over.

    - rabs

  4. Re:Microsoft's "fixes" on Sasser Worm Disruption Growing · · Score: 2, Funny


    Reminds me of a quote I saw on bash.org:

    "The most secure computer in the world is one not connected to the internet. Thats why I recommend Telstra ADSL."

    - rabs

  5. Re:Demonstration on Swedish Pirate Demo · · Score: 1


    Well, one thing to be thankful for is that the headline didn't say "Hacker Demonstration."

    - rabs

  6. I agree: 125K per episode is never enough... on Simpsons Pay Dispute Settled · · Score: 2, Interesting

    To think that these voice actors would consider destroying a brilliant show which they had benefited so much from because they couldn't live on 125 K a week just makes me sick

    I totally agree! Whatever happened to the value of your work being determined by your education, training, and the hours you put in?

    Most doctors deserve to make a whole lot of money because of their schooling and the immense number of hours they put in every week. Programmers should too, because of their knowledge. A lot of managers I know put in insane hours also! After adjusting for cost of living, shouldn't this be how it is?

    I said this in the previous /. article: Unless I hear about 18-hour days, back-breaking labor, or time spent away from family and loved ones, I don't think their pay is justified.

    - rabs

  7. The lens and depth of field / focus on Beyond Megapixels · · Score: 2, Insightful


    I think that in additional to the light gathering capability of a good lens, the most valuable factor in getting a good photo is depth of field. There are certain areas of a photo where I just dont *want* detail to show. Once newcomers understand how depth of field allows you to isolate their subjects, a whole new world opens up.

    - rabs

  8. Re:algebraic notation on HP Releases New RPN Scientific Calculator · · Score: 1


    I'm pretty sure you can assume this to mean infix notation =)

    Either that or it comes with Chessmaster 10k, which uses Nf3 instead of NKB3...

    - rabs

  9. Re:What happened to solar cells? on HP Releases New RPN Scientific Calculator · · Score: 2, Funny


    I'm sure they could've, but then they would have to require that you use it no further away from the sun than Mercury's perigee.

    - rabs

  10. Re:Just don't look directly at the sun. on The Venus Transit 2004 · · Score: 1

    Even just a few seconds can ruin your eyesight so be careful. It's no joke.

    The problem is that too many young-uns are probably undeterred by warnings regarding pointing telescopes at the sun.

    I know that when I was a kid and had a (crappy, educational) telescope that came with the 'unsafe' kind of filter, the warnings actually made me MORE curious. I didn't want to go with any sort of namby-pamby projection... I wanted to see 'cool' images of sunspots -- like the ones on TV.

    Remember -- kids think they're invincible.

    - rabs

  11. Re:PNG on 31 Lawsuits Filed Over Alleged JPEG Patent · · Score: 1

    Blow them up, manipulate them, do whatever you do, yeah, if you just look at them they're indistinguishable, but if you do anything else with them...

    Absolutely. The fastest path to bringing out obnoxious JPEG artifacts is to try to apply a Hue/Saturation change. Then you'll really be sorry that you used JPEG as a master.

    - rabs

  12. Many problems on Finding Yourself With Photo Recognition · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The viability of this has got to be pretty poor:

    1) The database would have to be huge -- Not every meeting or event that I attend takes place in the city center.

    2) Along the same lines, they need to store every face of these buildings.

    3) The image processing better be really good at color correction and noise filtering (weather, blurry photos)

    4) Wouldn't people just go buy a map?

    5) Wouldn't distortions introduced from a cell-phone lens make the system less accurate?

    - rabs

  13. You are wrong on Train Your Own Replacement · · Score: 0

    Actually bad employer references are kind of a thing of the past.

    You are wrong. I've worked at a company where I've had a chance to overhear bad testimonials. In order to skate around direct attacks on former employees, managers will say things like "Read between the lines," or "You can see where this is heading," which are difficult to cite, but send a very clear message.

    - rabs

  14. Re:Train them poorly on Train Your Own Replacement · · Score: 0

    In a few years time, you'll have kept in touch, and can call him up to see if the company he's working at is hiring. He might even be your boss

    Ugh. In matters like this, it's hard to be funny. You're talking about beng valued on who you know, not *what* you know. Are you *trying* to be depressing?

    - rabs

  15. Re:Planning for the future? on Longhorn Skinning A Reality · · Score: 0

    The first thing that they teach students in a graphic arts class is to never use primary colors together

    Are you kidding? Advertisers do this all the time. The use of saturated primaries generally conveys energy and vitality. Same goes for secondaries.

    - rabs

  16. How to calculate the worth of your work on Simpsons Actors on Strike · · Score: 0

    I just don't understand arguments like these:

    "Well, FOX execs are making a lot of money, so the voices should, too."

    "The advertisement revenue is a lot, so the actors should make more."

    "The actors are surrounded by greedy bastards, so the actors should make more."

    The amount that anyone should make should be based on how hard they worked, how much training they needed, and how smart they are, NOT what is in the other guy's pocket.

    I mean, I love The Simpsons and all, but unless I hear about 18-hour days, back-breaking labor, or time spent away from family and loved ones, I'm not going to have a lot of sympathy.

    - rabs

  17. Re:please everybody on The Subtle Tyranny Of Spreadsheets · · Score: 1


    This is funny in that painful sort of way. I work for a web design/devel shop, and we get all manner of improper-format documents from clients:

    - Tabular data as a Word doc
    - Images embedded in a Word doc
    - Images embedded in a PDF (!)
    - People typing up content meant for the web in a document, then printing it out and faxing it
    - Content from some sort of Word doc / Spreadsheet pasted into an email
    - Web pages copied from the browser and pasted into a Word doc, images and all (*groan*)
    - None of these are ever zipped up

    I think I'll go shoot myself now.

    - rabs

  18. Re:Monopolies and software on Verizon's NYC 911 System Shutdown · · Score: 1


    Except that we *haven't* gone this long without a problem. The article says that this is the second time in a year that there has been a *major* outage, and a Google search for 911 failure turns up even more.

    - rabs

  19. Re:Monopolies and software on Verizon's NYC 911 System Shutdown · · Score: 1


    True, I also am not a fan of Big Govt, either; but in this case, 911 seems to be such an integral part of emergency services that perhaps it'd be better to sacrifice some efficiency for consistency?

    - rabs

  20. Re:Monopolies and software on Verizon's NYC 911 System Shutdown · · Score: 1


    In fact, since this is such an essential service, should emergency services be run by the private sector at all?

    - rabs

  21. Re:Yes, it is smaller and better on Mozilla 1.7 Beta Is Faster And Smaller · · Score: 0

    My clients use IE, the visitors use IE

    no kidding. also, my boss uses IE. here is a pretty accurate transcript:

    me: "you know, if you were using Mozilla, you wouldn't have to deal with all those popups."

    boss: "what are you trying to say? have you installed mozilla on a company machine?"

    me, cringing: "ah, no. what i meant was --"

    boss: "i don't care. you're an IE man."

    so, i guess i'm an IE man, and thank you, sir, may i have another.

    - rabs

  22. I really tried this once... on Live Chat Salespeople On Web Sites · · Score: 0


    I tried this once with a Thawte chat person. They completely ignored it, and I felt ashamed of myself =)

    Seriously, I don't like the pushy popup, but I do love the fact that, for simple questions, I can do other work without having to listen to a "Please stay on the line message."

    - rabs

  23. Re:Less vs. More on POVRay Short Code Contest Results In · · Score: 0


    after following a few links from this, I found

    http://www.povray.org/community/hof/view/1/

    holy crap. if there were only a little more blur on the empire state building, i wouldn't have even thought /once/ about whether it was real or not.

    - rabs

  24. SQL Server tools on New SQL Server Release Slips to 2005 · · Score: 0

    ... And I'd also add SQL Profiler as a great tool to verify the actual queries running against your db in real time.

    - rabs

  25. Re:C?? on C Alive and Well Thanks to Portable.NET · · Score: 0


    ...Which would be a great name for a new language.

    "C-ques-ques."

    S'gotta nice ring to it.

    - rabs