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User: Hexact

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Comments · 31

  1. Re:Black Mamba on Ask Slashdot: Anti-Theft Devices For Luggage? · · Score: 1

    Ok, tell me I'm not the only one who gets the obvious Kill Bill reference here?

  2. What Amazon? on Urbanization Has Left the Amazon Burning · · Score: 1

    I couldn't understand the title...until I read the first two lines of the blurb. It's THE Amazon NOT Amazon dot com!

  3. Re:Paging Neal Stephenson? on TIME DotCom and Facebook Invest In Massive Undersea Internet Cable Project · · Score: 1

    Cable laying is part of the plot in Cryptonomicon, but besides that Stephenson wrote a (very) long article in Wired 4.12 back in 1996:

    http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass_pr.html

    "The hacker tourist ventures forth across the wide and wondrous meatspace of three continents, chronicling the laying of the longest wire on Earth."

    Entertaining and full of info, a must read if you are at all curious about cable laying.

  4. Re:How about some metric figures? on New Estimates Say Earth's Oceans Smaller Than Once Believed · · Score: 1

    I believe the true metric for a volume of water is the Olympic size pool. Also, the true metric for an area is the football field.

  5. Re:Nothing wrong with models. on The Formula That Killed Wall Street · · Score: 1

    Woooe there!

    "As of Sept. 30 (2007), the two wars have cost $604 billion, the CBO says"

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2007-10-23-wacosts_N.htm

    As of this year, the cost is probably closer to $800 if not more.

    Which render your post null and void.

  6. Great name on NFL's IT Chief Gears Up For His 25th Super Bowl · · Score: 1

    Although the reference is nerdy, he has a great name for a guy in charge of networking.

  7. Re:He probably shouldn't have said that. on Rob Malda Answers Your Questions · · Score: 1

    I know it's completely OT but I have to respond.

    FYI, in general atheists don't hate religion, they just don't care about it. But just like in any other group, there is a small sub-group of activists that do hate religion. Just like there is a sub-group of religious people that hate atheists. One thing is for sure, most religious people don't and can't understand atheists and atheism.

  8. Jon Katz on A Brief History of Slashdot Part 2, Explosions · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It`s nice to go back in time and see the perspective from the inside like that.

    Now, what about when Jon Katz was the most hated contributor on /.? Specially the controversy about his book.

  9. Pirates? on $500M Piracy Ring Busted In China · · Score: 1

    How quaint, aren't pirates called terrorists now?

  10. Drive Makers on Hard Drive Memory Lane · · Score: 1

    Any history, even a brief one should include these long lost drive makers:

    Priam
    Rodime
    Conner
    Micropolis
    Wang
    Data General
    Miniscribe...

    Clem.

  11. Re:Here on the Ring of Fire... on Australia Pushes Geothermal Energy · · Score: 1

    The page you point to talks about NZ energy consumption in petajoules (PJ). Do you people buy lightbulbs rated in joules?

  12. Re:Great, but not the first distribution to do so on Taking Linux On The Road With Ubuntu · · Score: 1

    Humm, I don't see it, where does it say that it's the first one?

  13. Re:Never attribute to malice on EU Sleuths Think Microsoft Sabotaged Windows · · Score: 1

    Wrong man.

    Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

    -- Napoleon Bonaparte 1769-1821

    http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/napoleo nbo130787.html

  14. Re:Richard Dawkins goes in depth in his book on The Eye: Evolution versus Creationism · · Score: 1

    Nice interview, really.

    Here is the funny part:

    "Also, the big news is that The Hitch Hikers Guide is being made into a movie by Disney with a planned release date of mid-2000."

    He was off by *only* five years but it's nothing when you consider that it will be released 23 years after it was first optioned.

    Clem.

  15. Footfall on Nuclear Rockets Moving Along · · Score: 1
    Larry Niven and specially Jerry Pournelle will be happy to see that.

    Here's a design of the spacecraft based on their Footfall novel

    I always thought Pournelle to be a bit loony to push for such a technology. I guess I was wrong.

    Clem.

  16. Virtual DOS on FBI Investigates Open Records Request · · Score: 1

    So the FBI and other agencies are willing to waste time on frivolous FOIA requests. Wouldn't the terrorists be able to organize a virtual law enforcement Denial of Service just by asking lots of people all over the country that are supporter of their cause to do the same?

    These people would probably never plant bombs themselves but they could be willing to run interference.

    The level of organization needed to implement such a plan is probably not within the reach of an organization formed mainly by decentralized cells but it's still interesting to ponder about what could happen.

  17. Re:From the Jargon File on BASIC Computer Language Turns 40 · · Score: 1

    Yes it was. Great BIOS. Almost as feature rich as the modern ones (at least that's how I remember it).

    Nerver heard of Sopwith.

  18. Re:From the Jargon File on BASIC Computer Language Turns 40 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I used GWBasic to write an organization chart program back in 85. By the end, I had to strip a line of comment for each line of programming I was adding.

    All that to make it fit into 64k.

    Very painful indeed.

    BTW. it was on a Zenith Heath clone. I think it ran at 6Mhz. A real speed deamon compared to the original PC which ran at 4.77Mhz.

    Clem.

  19. Re:Why wouldn't math be known across the universe? on The Golden Ratio · · Score: 1

    When something appears to good to be true, I always try to find some kind of opposite view. Here is one:
    http://www.geocities.com/indianfascism/fasci sm/ved ic_mathematics.htm

    "Despite its absurd claims and transparently bogus status, Jagadguru Swami's book became the focus of a National Workshop on Vedic Mathematics held at Jaipur in March 1988 by the Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan"[...]" Several of the articles indeed are, to put it charitably, nonsense from any scientific viewpoint."

    So, is the book a "major works of genius of science" (parent post) or " mathematics of the middle and high school level" (link)?

    Clem.

  20. Re:Golden globes are a joke on Return of the King Wins Four Golden Globes · · Score: 1

    Please +5 the parent post!

    The CBC ran a documentary about the Hollywood Foreign Press and the Golden Globes lately. The conclusion: they are a farce, a joke.

    Nobody should take them seriously.

    Clem.

  21. Canadian IP on RIAA Files 532 Lawsuits · · Score: 2, Interesting

    At least 1 IP is Canadian: 205.205.143.254. What do they hope to accomplish? They certainly won't be able to get an extradition on that fact alone so they won't be able to prosecute.

    I guess they're probably going for shock value. A big number of IPs makes for better headlines.

    Clem.

  22. Re:Ben Hur on LOTR: Two Towers Extended Edition Reviewed · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    1. it's entracte not entr'acte
    2. it means intermission

    Clem.

  23. Re:We should all generate power on Power Grid Insecurities Examined · · Score: 1
    The only problem with the current electrical grid is storage... electricity cannot be stored (duh) so peak demand has to = supply or brownouts...

    Electricity can be stored as potential energy: pump water up to a dam during non-peak hours and generate hydro-electricity during peak hours.

  24. New box set on Tales From The Perilous Realm · · Score: 4, Informative
    Amazon.ca gives me also "Hobbit/Roverandom/Tales from Perilous Realm Box Set" when I search for the Tales. It should be available soon. Amazon.com does not have it.

    Tolkien.co.uk gives Feb/03 as the publication date.

    Clem.

  25. Re:Insane on HomeSec In the News · · Score: 1

    There's democracy and there's democracy.

    There's US democracy which is in fact a pure capitalist democracy: elections are very openly bought by the candidate with the biggest election chest and so are the elected officials that are very openly bought by the richest companies.

    There's Irak democracy which is just another name for crazy despotism. It has the merit of providing elected officals with 99.99% approval rate.

    And there's democracy anywhere in between.

    Clem.