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User: RNLockwood

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  1. Never too old on Ask Slashdot: Am I Too Old To Learn New Programming Languages? · · Score: 1

    Programming is not the major item on my position description but I do a lot of it, usually in spurts separated by programming inactivity. Last year my boss wanted me to learn Java since our contract engineer knew Java but not C/C++ so I've been sporadically attempting to learn it, and Eclipse, and ...

    I've done pretty well at teaching it to my self using a couple of books, Google searches, and attempting small programs related to what I'm going to need to do when I get more proficient. It's harder than it was 20 years ago when I was 50.

    I can't advise you that you should attempt the learning for your work, though, that's beyond me, but continual learning appears to keep the mind active longer. I can't remember where I read that.

  2. Should the ban apply to fingerprints as well on California DNA Collection Law Struck Down · · Score: 1

    What's the difference between making a person give up fingerprints and giving up DNA without a warrant? Either may be used to search databases, that is, for fishing for possible links to crimes. I think that the two are very much analogous.

  3. What else? on Sony Develops Technology To Hack Your Hand · · Score: 1

    Goodbye Viagra!

  4. But the're incapable of folding my fitted sheets.. on Kilobots — Cheap Swarm Robots Out of Harvard · · Score: 1

    and I think they won't do so well on my carpets. But how about swarm wars? THAT'S cool!

  5. Created by Marine Biologist? on Idle: New Species Named For SpongeBob SquarePants · · Score: 1

    Wow, I had no idea that the Marines even had biologists. Whatever for?

  6. Sales weinies are better paid than engineers? on Ask Slashdot: Compensating Technical People For Contributing to Sales? · · Score: 1

    At least senior engineers? And they have less education and get free lunches, drinks, and travel, too? I'm aghast! The world turned upside down!

  7. Re:Use a headset on World Health Organization Says Mobile Phones May Cause Cancer · · Score: 1

    What about the radiation from the bluetooth headset? It will be next to your skull far longer than a cell phone?

  8. Re:Because They Sell Better and the FDA Allows It on World Health Organization Says Mobile Phones May Cause Cancer · · Score: 1

    I don't eat the rind anyway, so why should I care that the skins of oranges may be dyed? Should I worry about the microorganisms in my compost pile?

  9. How should the results of the study be interpreted on Apple Causes Religious Reaction In Brains of Fans · · Score: 1

    1. That part of the brain is involved with irrational faith?
    2. That part of the brain is involved with rationality? or
    3 That part of the brain evolved over time to prefer sleek objects?

    Hard to tell, IMHO.

  10. Buy software, not hardware. on Ask Slashdot: How Do You Choose a Windows Laptop? · · Score: 0

    Install Parallels or one of the other virtual machine and put your Windows OS on that. Don't waste the hardware.

  11. Re:Just use the hardware you have on Ask Slashdot: How Do You Choose a Windows Laptop? · · Score: 0

    You beat me!

  12. Re:Have to punch it in at the gas stations now on Court Says California Stores Can't Ask Customers For ZIP Codes · · Score: 1

    The credit card combined with the zip code and the license plate number that is extracted from the photo taken while the gas is pumped might give a hint to your identity.

  13. Re:Errors on Robot Jet Fighter Takes First Flight · · Score: 1

    "the F-117 Stealth Fighter was not a fighter"

    Of course it was (is). It was clearly designed to take out strategic bombers by stealthily flying above them and dropping Walleye bombs on them. If not the Air Force would have corrected the designation by now.

  14. Re:The obvious power source for a chair is... on Designers Create Meat Eating Furniture · · Score: 1

    Farts. I'm charging mine right now.

    Better hope it doesn't go proactive when hungry!

  15. Insectivorous furniture on Designers Create Meat Eating Furniture · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Hey, see my new high tech chair? It gets its energy from eating cockroaches. (Wonder what it does with the energy?) Hmm, in order to stay alive it will need a continual supply of cockroaches so I'll need to make sure that my dwelling stays infested; but if it gets them all perhaps I can buy crickets at the pet store. This should bump up my value as a prospective mate a lot and help to get me laid. At the very least it will be great to sit in and watch Fox News."

  16. I'm shocked! on Geek Culture Will Never Die...or Be Popular · · Score: 1

    I'm shocked, shocked, to hear that reality and Hollywood's depiction of it may not be congruent. Be still my heart.

  17. Really impressive on A Lego Replica of the Antikythera Mechanism · · Score: 1

    It's really an accomplishment to have been able to piece out the internal structure of the badly corroded artifact and deduce its function and how it worked. It's also remarkable to have built one out of Legos. What a coincidence that the dimensions of the Lego parts were very close to the same dimensions of the parts in the artifact; if not the Lego machine would be a working model, not a replica.

  18. Restricting classification? on US Government Strategy To Prevent Leaks Is Leaked · · Score: 1

    Nothing in there about being parsimonious when thinking about classifying documents or reviewing the classifications every year or so.

  19. Re:I Wouldn't Worry on US Government Strategy To Prevent Leaks Is Leaked · · Score: 1, Funny

    "I'm sure that if anyone were falsely accused of being a leaker, they would no doubt have swift access to just recourse."

    Just as a person who has the same name as someone on the Do-Not-Fly list can immediately get the problem corrected and from then on the fly without being hassled?

    Sure.

  20. Well Said! on Doctor Marries Doctor's Daughter, TARDIS Explodes · · Score: 1

    What more can be said, we shall see.

  21. Requires a Chrome beta on Mac 10.6 on Browsing the Body · · Score: 1

    And it won't install because I don't have the requisite privileges. Most installers ask for my administrator's password.

  22. Cool on Android Phones Get Virtualization · · Score: 1

    In the early 70s I bought phones for my group that could have two numbers. As soon as we went to Brazil I opened accounts and the phones worked there on the second number. This was much, much less expensive and less complicated than renting phones and we could receive calls from the US.

  23. Re:Printable version - All on one page on Programming Mistakes To Avoid · · Score: 1

    Thanks. It's Ironic that the code visible in the text version does not display on my browser!

  24. Just a thought on Which Language To Learn? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Have you thought about one of the languages spoken on the Indian sub-continent?

  25. This is an Android App Security Story on Major Security Holes Found In Mobile Bank Apps · · Score: 1

    I read this story immediately since I use one of the listed apps but it wasn't until the end that I saw that it was only the apps running on Android. Should have had the modifier "Android" in the title.

    Are Apple's policies or requirements for their app store responsible for this not being an iPhone problem?