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User: maxwells_deamon

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Comments · 436

  1. What about old analog tvs on Power Grid Change May Disrupt Clocks · · Score: 1

    I believe Older TVs use the 60 hz signal to sync. Some of this was changed and messed with when color came about. It would not surprise me to see some issues with some older analog TV''s

  2. Re:Looks awful big and clumsy on Students Invent Revolutionary Solar Sterilizer · · Score: 1

    Unless you need to autoclave something large, a solar funnel cooker will do the trick. http://www.outdoorcook.com/article1051.php This will melt HDPE (375 F melting point) plastic to the metal jar top if it touches it.

    Or use a Cookit solar cooker and an oven themometer. Put your stuff in a cast iron skillet and come back in an hour and check the temperature. Use pot holders unless you want 2nd degree burns.

    Both of these cookers can be carried in a back pack. It is fun to watch the face of someone when you pour water on parts of these solar cookers and the water boils off with a loud noise. The solar cooker they make in highschool are toys and take a lot more work and skill than these.

  3. Re:to echo a commenter on TFA.... on Chandrayaan-1 Spots Giant Underground Chamber On the Moon · · Score: 2

    Heat engines would do the trick easily. Large temperature differences exist between the surface (hot/cold) and the bottom of the cave. You would need to change the direction of the piping twice a month.

  4. bats cave on Chandrayaan-1 Spots Giant Underground Chamber On the Moon · · Score: 1

    I want one that is still closed:

    http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1876

  5. Re:This is not new... on SSDs Cause Crisis For Digital Forensics · · Score: 1

    I think the following is true:

    I can securely delete things that I am not required to keep just like I can shred old paper documents as long as I do not suspect they may be needed for evidence. I can have a policy that all drives being transfered from one building to another must be securely wiped. In general I can do this type of wipe everyday.

    However, if I am sued or known as being investigated I generally need to stop destroying any records that might be needed for the investigation.

    If I am sued about the XYZ accident, I will go to jail (ideally) if I then wipe all the computers/files of anyone who worked on XYZ.

    This is why companies have deletion policies.

  6. Unintended choices on Talking To Computers? · · Score: 1

    I dictated some technical documentation using Vista Voice Recognition. It works OK if you are trying to tell a story like "The Three Little Pigs" but when you try to do something technical it will loose its mind. It was almost impossible to dictate in Word. I would be speaking and say a word that had a possible command meaning and off to the races we would go.

    For example I would say something "be careful of the formatting here.." and the formatting function in Word would come up. If you ever need to use this function, try using Notepad rather than Word. Also when running, it seemed to spend so much time trying to figure out what command you wanted that it was slow in Word. God help you if you were writing a book to describe how to use Word.

    They need a feature to turn the command interpretation off. Not sure if this is an issue on the Mac as I had not yet tried it on that machine.

  7. Re:Don't have an account on Employer Demands Facebook Login From Job Applicants · · Score: 1

    Don't friend people at work with your existing account

  8. Re:context sensitive ads on Employer Demands Facebook Login From Job Applicants · · Score: 1

    this is very easy to test as long as you do not worry about your employer seeing your posts. I think advertisers also look at your cookies as well.

    Do some searches for rare but sane stuff you are not interested in. Say Coin Collecting or Sewing. In a couple of weeks you will generally start seeing lots of strange ads for those things. They also do demographics. I see ads based on what they think my age is.

  9. Re:Milking it on Apple eBook Rules Changing For Sellers · · Score: 1

    I can go to the Amazon.com web site from my computer and purchase a book. It shows up in a couple of minutes

    The search tools are better (i can look for only free books, using the kindle interface I have to look at each book's price one at a time)

    I can also use gift certificates and subscribe to newspapers. Many things can not be easily done on the kindle.

     

  10. When will you be able to buy kits on Think Geek on Low Budget Air Space Photography · · Score: 1

    Probably will not happen for liability/littering reasons

  11. Re:swinging and spinning on Low Budget Air Space Photography · · Score: 1

    I also suspect the swinging parts of the video were more interesting. The camera would not show as much when it was not moving around.

  12. Totally unreadable under IE 9 on Slashdot Launches Re-Design · · Score: 1

    I know that IE is not popular here. And that IE 9 is in beta. But you can NOT read the site using IE 9. Can not even tell what articles are on the front page.

    Under Chrome, IE 8 the site looks like early alpha software. Letters are truncated. Input boxes are off the edges. All sorts of ugly.

    OK under firefox only.

    Why does this page have 689 comments or 50 comments?

  13. Objects do not fly in a parabola in real life. on Angry Birds and Parabolic Instinct In Humans · · Score: 1

    They lied to you in high school physics. The sad thing is that they usually have the correct answer on the test: an ellipse. Things flying when we ignore air resitance, tides and such are in orbit for a very short time.

  14. warning this article contains information... on Stars Remain In Their Usual Places; People Panic · · Score: 1

    known to the state of California to cause cancer

  15. happened in 1893 on US Revamps NIST's Standard-Setting Efforts · · Score: 1

    we do not mandate any system. But the inch and such have been based on the metric system since then

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_States

  16. creepy creepy creepy... on Microsoft Patents Looks-Are-Everything Dating · · Score: 2

    Probably more patentable than most software patents if you actualy patent the means of doing it and not the idea.

    You need another patent on how to get sane people to sign up for this. I can see a first date meeting at a restarant.

    "No you can't be my date, you don't look like my mom"

  17. More of a problem here in Phoenix on Ford To Offer Fuel-Saving 'Start-Stop' System · · Score: 1

    You have to understand how batteries fail down here in the high heat.

    I used to live in the midwest. There they failed when trying to start a cold engine. It would crank really slow and then maybe not start. Once the engine was warm they would start agin as it was less work to start with a warm engine and battery.

    Here in the heat, the battery just goes away. You can start the car with no problems and then drive for 30 miles. Stop for gas. When you try to start it, you don't even get a click.

    If we had cars shutting down like this, they would have them stopped on the freeway and in the drive through lane. Not a big deal with a hybrid as you have multiple batteries, but not good for conventional cars.

  18. Premptive search on Google Seeking "Search Without Search" · · Score: 1

    you are about to die. Here is a list of low cost lawyers who can help you fill out your will.

  19. Yes, he is lying or just not thinking clearly on Single-Player Game Model 'Finished,' Says EA Exec · · Score: 1

    I guess if you define "major" in an unusual way.

    there will always be a market for simple games.

    Games like solitare will last longer than any current single release they currently offer.

    Games like Angry Birds are still fun and share nothing with what EA lets the devs make.

    Maybe he will keep everyone at EA from using imagination, but if he does they will stagnate and the company will die.

    Yes, they will own some of the market, but that market will die if you don't allow it to change fundmentally from time to time.

    People will get tired of EA and they will not even see it coming.

  20. Re:Guilty much? on Graduate Students Being Warned Away From Leaked Cables · · Score: 1

    So if somebody breaks security in facebook and posts a bunch of random links to students pages on facebook, the three letter agencys will have to hire H1-Bs.

    Good think Facebook is secure!

  21. Re:General purpose hotline? on Schneier Recommends Nuclear-Style Cyberwar Hotlines, Treaties · · Score: 1

    VOIP phones between the responce centers ;-)

    The actual hot line was originally a teletype machine. It was a red phone only in the movies and on TV. Probably upgraded by now.

  22. Re:Use Thunderbird on Web Bugs the New Norm For Businesses? · · Score: 1

    Outlook skips loading them by default as well if you are even close to current.

  23. Re:Marketing Gone Wrong on Being Too Clean Can Make People Sick · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Can it be shown that this level of fecal matter makes you sick?

    Please realize that fecal matter is a large component of the soil. Dust from soil gets into the air during wind storms. You take it into your lungs and also collect it in the mucus in your nose.

    Large amounts I would expect to be harmful, but trace amounts?

  24. Re:I've suspected this for years. on Being Too Clean Can Make People Sick · · Score: 3, Informative

    Antibacterial soap does not contain antibiotics. It contains simpler chemicals (alcohol, etc) which kill cells on contact. Antibiotics are more specific

  25. Not as uneventful as 1582/10/12 or 1752/9/13 on Cambridge Computer IDs World's Most Boring Day · · Score: 1

    Nobody at all was born or died on those days in some parts of the world!