Slashdot Mirror


User: Ian+Peon

Ian+Peon's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
164
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 164

  1. Re:Exit Polls are Inaccurate on Who won? · · Score: 1

    You clearly have not voted on a voting machine or voted on one that has a paper trail. I have. The voting machine allows for MUCH more accurate voting. When has a paper ballot said "Here is your list of choices, please review before pressing the VOTE button"? It doesn't. The UI in these things is EASIER to use than a paper ballot and it works hard to be easy to read. With the paper trail, after the "review" screen, it presents an option to print your vote - which it does on receipt paper behind glass. It is less a review than what is presented on screen. The UI is very clear. It's the back end I don't trust.

  2. Re:Exit Polls are Inaccurate on Who won? · · Score: 1
    Probably because people clam up and act like morons when presented with a new electronic device for the first time.
    But somehow, those that used electronic voting machines with a paper trail were less moronic than those without a paper trail. Methinks your logic is flawed. Read the book.
  3. Re:Who are these people? on Traveler Detained for Anti-TSA Message · · Score: 1
    I would like to say that a number of these people are actually very nice and endowed with a decent sense of humour. And you know what - they get the job done just as well.


    Last month, I flew to Denver and my wife packed up some oranges for me. At the screening, I hear "bag check" as my bag with the oranges goes through. It's very a.m. and a tired looking screener politely asks if it's my bag, looks through it, and pulls out the oranges. He says, "yeah, you can't take these. You could squeeze them and you'd have juice, and you're not allowed to take juice on the plane." I gasp, "You're kidding!" "Yeah, actually, I am, here ya go. Have a good flight."

    I pick up my bags, and hear him turn to the guy at the x-ray and say, "They're just oranges! Oranges!"
  4. Re:Hard Drive Massage on Computer Voodoo? · · Score: 1

    Something apropos to this that I learned today: drives are rated for density altitude. They need a certain amount of air molecules under their heads to function. If the air pressure goes up (lower altitude) there's more air. If the temperature drops, the air becomes more dense and it has the same effect.

    My guess is if the head has some small damage and sticking it in the freezer let's it float a bit higher than it otherwise would, avoiding the damage (until it heats back up again).

  5. Re:My High School psychology class Experiment... on Virtual Worlds and ESP · · Score: 3, Informative
    I don't believe there is any subtle cue a person gives off when they look at a wavy line as apposed to a square.

    I disagree. There is a strong connection between your mind and body, and I've sat through several experiments where a person can mimic the very subtle body language of a subject and can start to have the same thoughts as the subject. It's uncanny, and you can do this yourself. Sit down with a friend and concentrate about any one thing (easier if you are emotional about it) and have your friend mimic you exactly - including breathing, then have them describe their thoughts. Most of the time they'll tell you what you're thinking, sometimes even including images.

    Do that from across the room, and you've got one explanation for ESP.
  6. Re:The most workable solution? on RFID Passports Raise Safety Concerns · · Score: 2, Informative
    That's exactly what they're doing.

    http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/08/rfid _passport_s_1.html


    The new design also includes a thin radio shield in the cover, protecting the chip when the passport is closed.
  7. Re:Narcissism on MySpace #1 US Destination Last Week · · Score: 1
    The vast majority elect to ... engage in endless back and forth with other users about nothing in particular.


    You must be new here.

    Oh wait, were you talking about Myspace...? Sorry.
  8. Re:A few thoughts.... on U.S. Army Robots Break Asimov's First Law · · Score: 2, Informative
    wasn't Asimov's first law broken decades ago, perhaps even by the V1 which was strictly speaking a remote operated vehicle?
    I was thinking more about the CIWS system (being an ex-Navy type). It has it's own computer system to detect a target, track, decide to engage, fire, kill assessment - it even looks like a ship-mounted robot, I usually describe it to people as looking like R2D2 with a gatling gun. Its targets are not limited to inbound missles, it will also take down aircraft.

    Or, how about an AEGIS ship itself? AEGIS ships can do about the same thing autonomously - automatically firing missles at targets that it is programmed to consider threatening.

    Mind you, these systems are (well, were) almost never put into fully automatic mode - that's usually reserved for times when the fecis is hittin the fan and the operator may not have time to react.

    ...or were we limiting the discussion to wheeled robots?

  9. Re:HD in the US is about new revenue streams on HD DVD to Screw Early HDTV Adopters · · Score: 1

    Your post implies that the folks that make movies have an interest in seeing the home theater market succeed. If no one sells any new TVs, and you need a new TV to see the latest movie, where are you then going to go to see the latest movie? Hmmm? $20 + popcorn per _viewing_?

  10. Re:Success on Officer's Group Calls for Ban On 25 To Life · · Score: 1

    25 to Life for, I guess, the link challenged.

  11. Re:Protesting killing? on Officer's Group Calls for Ban On 25 To Life · · Score: 1
    ...came to work, and so far have had a very productive day...
    ...on Slashdot.
  12. Success on Officer's Group Calls for Ban On 25 To Life · · Score: 2, Insightful
    A good friend of mine has been working on this game for some time. 25 to life (for the Google challenged) clearly isn't designed to appeal to parents and police officers, but more to the people who would like to rebel against them. Therefore, I think this bodes well for the success of this game.

    No, I won't let my kids play it - at 3 and 5 yo, they're still working through the "Clifford the Big Red Dog" games. When they're closer to 18, I'm sure we'll discuss the VR headsets to augment the latest round of violent video games, but for now, nope.

    I used to play Lazer Tag with my friends at night around our high school. It was fun and sometimes a huge adrenaline rush. It made it very clear to me that I never want to be in a firefight - I lost way too often, which in RL is defined as "more than once".

  13. Re:Foxnews suspects terrorist on Explosion on Moon Spreads Moondust · · Score: 1

    "The children are our future! The time is now! We will blow up the moon!"

  14. Re:Star Wreck... on Star Trek Spoof Top Finnish Movie · · Score: 1

    So all of you who don't own a DVD-player which can play PAL DVDs...
    ...AND either a display that can show PAL or a transcoder that can turn it into NTSC...

    PAL has more data fed at a different refresh rate than NTSC. It's not just a matter of the player - which will spit out a PAL signal - the display also has to be able to handle it.
  15. Re:The facts please on Zero-Day IE Exploit Takes Control of PCs · · Score: 1

    Fact: A critical security flaw has been found in IE, and the SANS ISC is recommending that people use one of the "other browsers".

    Howzat?


    Well, according to your sig, it's just coincidental:


    The opinion above is fiction. Any similarity to real opinions, including facts and logic, is purely coincidental.
  16. Best EULA on End User License Gems · · Score: 1

    AMX (makers of high-end touch panel control systems) makes and distributes their own software. To download it, you've got to click through their EULA. Well, a few years back, after a site update they left the EULA text field editable. So, I guess that meant that they DID want me to make a counter-offer! I replaced the entire text with "AMX will pay me one million dollars every time I use their software", took a screenshot, and clicked "I agree" and what do you know, I was able to download the software! I sent their support department the screenshot and they "fixed" it the next day - but I haven't billed them yet.

    I've recently dealt with another company whose EULA states that I will remove thier software if I fail to renew my annual license. Well, it was a free download, so I suppose that next year I'll have to re-download it.

  17. Torpedos? on Sonic Torpedo Defense · · Score: 1

    No mention of range. I wonder if this could be used against a sub - if so, I'm sure I'm not the first to think of it. The wave would probably not have as much force in air, so it would likely affect any submerged system with little to no air gap. I wonder if it's powerful enough to knock out a sub's (sensative) receive transducer? That would certainly remove a sub's effectiveness - blinding it.

    Though, as mentioned already on this page, torpedos and subs aren't our #1 threat - it's the single suicidal person, perhaps a diver with a bomb. Sonar can be deadly to a diver, I assume the Navy would love to augment this effect. Also I'd bet that if this were fired at a mini-sub, life would not be comfy for the occupants.

  18. Re:This year in the movies on Serenity Opens Today · · Score: 2, Insightful

    > we'll be able to point to this year as the year things changed

    Yeah, I said the same thing the year both Clerks and Waterworld came out.

    sigh...

  19. Re:Origin of Swears... on Cursing as Peephole Into Brain Architecture · · Score: 1

    This is a perspective that I share. Therefore, I find it interesting that in effect, Congress is legislating special protection for these words. If anyone could utter these words in any medium, they would lose their power and people would stop using them.

  20. Re:One for the "This is an outrage!" crowd... on Communications Infrastructure No Match for Katrina · · Score: 1

    I was amazed this morning when my wife was able to reach her father via landline (he lives down the end of Church Street, and stocked up on ammo instead of evacuating - sigh). Power was out, so none of his wireless phones worked, so he plugged in an old rotery phone, and it worked!

    He lost his roof and chimney, but has no flooding.

  21. Re:ahem... on Is This the Holodeck? · · Score: 1

    Yeah, well I didn't think I'd see "Cyberspace" in my lifetime.

    Just let reporters redefine the term and we can have anything!

  22. Re:The RIAA/MPAA win the battle... on Supreme Court Rules against Grokster · · Score: 1

    It's refreshing when someone correctly uses the term "ironic."

    Thank you.

  23. Re:I for one on Many Scientists Admit Unethical Practices · · Score: 1

    yeah, only 15%.

    I've got a gut feeling that it's actually much higher.

  24. Re:ugh on Are Video Game Patents Next? · · Score: 2, Funny

    Q: Why don't sharks bite lawyers?

    A: Professional courtesy!

    ------

    Q: What's the difference between a sucker fish and a lawyer?

    A: One's a scum sucking bottom dweller, and the other's a fish!

  25. Re:How does it compare to Google's desktop search? on Microsoft Finalizes Its Desktop Search Software · · Score: 1

    If you want both 1 & 2, here's a plug-in for Windows Explorer that replaces the old Windows File Search with Google Desktop Search:

    Google Desktop Search Enhancements

    Also on that page is a plug-in that makes GDS easily accessible in Outlook.