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User: Smallpond

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Comments · 1,709

  1. Re:Lots of VOIP phones in 1 house on PC Magazine's In-Depth VoIP Review · · Score: 1

    On average one person is killed by lightning while talking on the phone each year.

    200 mA is enough to kill you. Lightning apparently doesn't subscribe to the NEC standards on minimum allowed wire gauge.

  2. Re:Lots of VOIP phones in 1 house on PC Magazine's In-Depth VoIP Review · · Score: 1

    Ringing is about 70 VAC but can be higher. Most likely won't kill you, but it would sting a bit. Always have a phone off-hook to drop the loop when you work on phone wiring to prevent getting zapped.

    Lightning has been known to induce high-voltage spikes on phone lines. You don't want to be on the wrong side of the lightning arrester when that happens.

    Electricians know this stuff.

  3. Re:Interesting Idea on PC Magazine's In-Depth VoIP Review · · Score: 2, Informative

    A friend who has Vonage told me that he registered with a 911 database, so he can make 911 calls on his VOIP phone. He lives in New Hampshire.

  4. Re:How to end Spam... on Texas Goes After Student Spammer · · Score: 1

    I got pre-approved by Citibank for a $15,000 card and applied for the card but refused to give them my SSN, claiming they hadn't specified that it was required. They offered me a card with a $500 limit. So much for pre-approved.

    That wouldn't be high enough for my dog, though. He blew through $1200 one year on vet bills (broken leg). He's fine now. Has a stainless steel plate, so I probably can't fly coach with him.

  5. Sex? on FTC Tries to Can Sex Spam · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What is it with this administration and sex? Janet Jackson -- huge fine for small tits. Sex spam -- have to stop that right now.

    Why not go after the 419 spammers who are stealing people's life savings? Or how about the fake pills and illegal drugs? Just business, I guess.

  6. Are nanotube monitors in my future on Are Nanotube Monitors In Your Future? · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes. Right after stem cells cure all diseases, and Longhorn fixes all security holes in my PC.

  7. VHDL on Recommend Reading for FPGAs and VHDL? · · Score: 3, Informative

    I used "VHDL" by Douglas Perry, McGraw Hill, 2nd edition. I see its now in 4th edition, so it seems to have some staying power. Its not tied to a particular development environment, which is bad when you are trying to get over the hump as a beginner, but good as a general tool to learn VHDL.

  8. Re:Sinclair ZX81 / Timex-Sinclair 1000 on Introducing Children to Computers? · · Score: 1

    I remember those. They took many seconds to compute trig functions. I assume they computed them from a series.

    I first programmed in focal on a PDP-8. It was about similar capability to Sinclair basic, but no ROM. Had to key in the bootstrap from the front panel switches and load the system from paper tape, which was also what one used for program storage.

  9. Re:Question on Revising the GPL · · Score: 1

    I usually delete the "or later" from the license clause on free software that I write because I don't think vague licensing terms will stand up in court. I just include 2.0 and say that's it.

    I'm not sure I can afford to upgrade to 3.0 anyway, what are they charging?

  10. Re:Burn Heretic!! on What is a Good Open Source Code Analysis Tool? · · Score: 1

    They need a language that starts very simple so they can wrap ther heads around programming and start spitting out a few programs

    And you want to give them perl? What's wrong with scheme?

    Day 1: "Hello, World" in perl
    Day 2: Regular expressions
    Day 3: Where did everyone go?

  11. Re:What about a larger company on Australian TCO Study: Linux Wins Again · · Score: 1

    Timezones - I can buy 1 license for use of Word on one machine. Half the day its in use on one machine in India, the other half on one machine in Colorado. Just cut my TCO in half.

  12. Re:There is a difference... on Cell Phones In The Air? · · Score: 1

    The usual half of a conversation isn't that good:

    "where you at?"

    "No. I'm at the movie watching Hero"

    "No. It sucks. I thought it was all fighting,"

    "Wanna go get beer later?"

    "yeah. I'll be over"

  13. Re:WTF? on Google Revises Usenet Search · · Score: 1

    Oops. The article link is to the old (working) groups. For some strange reason I assumed it would link to the page it was talking about. My mistake.

  14. Re:WTF? on Google Revises Usenet Search · · Score: 0

    This story is bullshit. If you RTFA it says:

    here are some of the new features:

    - A new directory structure to find all Usenet groups
    - Advanced search
    - Sort by date in search results
    - Email address masking
    - New user interface

  15. Re:Off-Hours Plumbing on What Do People in the IT Field Do for Side Jobs? · · Score: 1

    EULA

    By calling this plumber you agree to the terms of this agreement. Repairs by this plumber are not guaranteed against flooding, explosions, or asphyxiation. Your sole remedy will be to return your plumbing in its original packaging along with a dated receipt and be refunded for the original purchase price. Note that this plumbing may become obsolete when Plumbing 2.0 is released. The plumber is not responsible for the cost of upgrading to the new version. This plumbing may only be used by the original owner of the house, and is not transferrable if the house is sold.

  16. Re:Isn't it obvious on What Do People in the IT Field Do for Side Jobs? · · Score: 1

    Current friend rates

    Family: I'm busy right now, how about tomorrow?

    Brother-in-law: $75/hr

    Guy friend: $25/hr

    GF: free

  17. Re:How did they choose? on Amazon's Best Computer Books of 2004 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Customer reviews should only be allowed for people who bought the book. They should call the reviews on Amazon: Reviews by people who have an interest in selling more of this book since some of them are clearly marketing fluff. You can tell because the positive comments are spellchecked.

  18. Re:Patents should be denied to convicted monopolis on Microsoft Patents 'IsNot', Enlists WTO · · Score: 2, Informative

    You're right, its a completely level playing field. Anyone can have a patent.

    Basic filing fee - Utility $790.00
    Utility issue fee 1,370.00
    Due at 3.5 years 940.00
    Due at 7.5 years 2,150.00
    Due at 11.5 years 3,320.00

  19. Re:lets patent else too! on Microsoft Patents 'IsNot', Enlists WTO · · Score: 1

    Lisp EQ is similar to BASIC IS. ISNOT does not have a clear equivalent in lisp, although it seems to be pretty similar to <> in Pascal.

  20. Re:One night on Slashdot on RF Connector Chess Set · · Score: 1

    awesome

    Never be the first to believe, never be the last to deceive.

  21. Re:Writing the nes itself? on Google Keyhole, Google Scholar · · Score: 1

    As long as you you mean Otto Mencken and Shania Twain.

  22. Re:Why the arbitrary distinction? on UK Group Wants Mandatory Flash For Phone Cams · · Score: 1

    So what do you do when you see someone with a camera in their hand taking your picture? Call the police? Straighten your tie? Punch them in the nose? Issue mental alerts?

  23. Re:Shrug on UK Group Wants Mandatory Flash For Phone Cams · · Score: 1

    That's it! The Maxwell Smart shoe camera phone! Perfect for those upskirt pictures. Now to comply with the law, add those LEDs that blink when you walk.

  24. Re:Is this going to help? on Yahoo! Mail Now Using Domain Keys To Fight Spam · · Score: 1

    What happens with Domain Keys if you don't include a header? Does the receiver reject the message? If not, spammers just don't include the header. If yes, then every email sender has to switch to use DK before it becomes useful.

    SPF doesn't require a change to the mail message, only an added TXT record in DNS. If the TXT record is present, I make the check at the receiver. If it isn't, I don't. I added a TXT record to protect my domain from being spoofed, and I don't care whether you add one or not. Spammers are now using spf records more often than legitimate senders because they understand the potential.

    Your forwarding objection is incorrect. The envelope From address is checked by SPF, not the From header in the message. Why would it not match its SPF record?

  25. Re:Evolve, Sir. on Ex-Britannica Editor Reviews Wikipedia · · Score: 1

    So is there a way to force edits to a higher standard? That would guarantee that articles improve instead of "regressing to the mean". Perhaps requiring a source for the data being added or changed? That would also make it easier to find and remove plagiarized articles.