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User: LWATCDR

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Comments · 15,647

  1. Why? on Municipal Wi-Fi Networks In Trouble · · Score: 2, Informative

    Simple question is why have wi-fi everywhere in a city? What problem does it solve?
    Do people constantly use their computers in parks? On the sidewalk?
    Most people use the Internet in their home. A few will use it at a coffee shop or restaurant.
    If you want to provide Internet access then a community DSL or fiber network is the place to start. Then selective hot-spots. like at schools, libraries, community centers, and maybe some parks.
    Why would I pay for access to a metropolitan wifi network when I have a WAP at home, internet at my office, free wifi and a couple of restaurants I go to, and a browser on my phone?
    metropolitan wifi networks are a solution seeking a problem.
    Now Monorails are cool. Actually they do tend to be cheaper than subways and a lot more attractive than elevated trains. I think they are a good solution to mass transit. Too bad buses and light rail are cheaper still.

  2. Re:WiFi is microwaves on How Bad Can Wi-fi Be? · · Score: 1

    Heres a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation

    Most people hear radiation and think of the kind that causes your hair to fall out and causes cancer. Also the kind that makes other stuff radioactive.
    AKA Nuclear radiation.
    Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and neutron radiation are all nuclear radiation because they come from some kind of nuclear decay. The other kinds of radiation come from the electron moving from one energy state to another. They are very different nature.
    That is why I corrected your statement.

    "RF radiation is nothing like nuclear radiation" This is correct.

    "Except, you know...the nuclear radiation that is RF radiation...which is all of it." This is false.

    RF radiation is radiation in the radio spectrum which is very different from all forms of nuclear radiation. It is vastly lower in frequency and is created in a vastly different way.
    Nuclear radiation is caused by nuclear decay.

  3. Re:Where do you draw the line? on Site Claims to Reveal 'Tattle-tales' · · Score: 1

    Got to say I know two poor white folks that are looking at some time for being moderately stupid. Of course different places have different issues.

  4. Re:Where do you draw the line? on Site Claims to Reveal 'Tattle-tales' · · Score: 1

    Actually the right to vote is often restored after a conviction. I don't think our justice system is disproportionally unfair to black people. It is disproportionally unfair to poor people.

  5. Re:May It Rest in Agony! on The Palm OS Ends With a Whimper · · Score: 1

    Everything has tradeoffs. PalmOS was designed to save memory.
    The lack of long jumps saves you at least two bytes per pointer. Also the programs could execute in place. With Linux the code sits in a flash "drive" and then executes in ram. When they made the Palm a megabyte was a lot of memory so these trade offs where a good exchange. Things change and Ram is now cheap.

  6. Re:Where do you draw the line? on Site Claims to Reveal 'Tattle-tales' · · Score: 1

    So do the cops patrol the residence of people that are Jewish, Black, or Hispanic?
    They too have been attacked in the past and often for nothing that they have done.
    I believe that there are over 100 convicted sex offenders in my town. I know of none that have been attacked because they where sex offenders. I have heard of it happening but in those cases it was someone that had personal knowledge of their offense and not someone that looked it up in the public record.

  7. Re:Where do you draw the line? on Site Claims to Reveal 'Tattle-tales' · · Score: 1

    No more so than anyone else.
    It is just as illegal to kill a convicted sex offender as to kill a man because he is Jewish, Black, or Brown. Of if the happen to have a nice car or just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
    They get the same legal protection from violence as anybody else. If you have a way to stop all injustice I am all ears.

  8. Re:WiFi is microwaves on How Bad Can Wi-fi Be? · · Score: 1

    "Except, you know...the nuclear radiation that is RF radiation...which is all of it."
    No.
    Alpha radiation is composed of free helium nucleus.
    Beta radiation is an electron.
    Neutron radiation is a free neutron. Not a very common form of radiation it is one of the most dangerous.
    And then Gamma radiation. This in a photon radiation just like microwaves but it is a different color.

    "What about UV? That causes mutations too. Does that have as much energy as gamma (the answer: not if the amplitude is the same)? This is just crap. Any kind of radiation can have three effects on cells:"
    Waves have two properties frequency and amplitude they both have in important role in how dangerous your exposure is.

    Gamma, UV, light, and microwaves are all the same thing. They are just different frequencies of light. In the visible spectrum we call that color. That is why I said Gamma and microwaves where the same but just different colors.
    In simple terms the higher the frequency the more dangerous the radiation.
    Here is a short list of some common "colors" from high to low.
    Gamma
    X-Rays
    UV
    visible light
    infrared
    microwaves
    UHF TV
    VHF TV and FM radio
    AM radio.

    As you can see microwaves are below light and even infrared light in frequency.
    The next quality is amplitude. That is the power carried.
    Your average WAP is in the milliwatts. All of them are under one watts I believe.
    An average light bulb is more than 80 Watts. The radiation you are getting from that light bulb is at a much higher power and frequency than from your WAP.
    Yes you can cook food in a microwave but they are many many times more powerful than a WAP and the cavity you cook in concentrates the microwaves. And yes you can do the exact same thing with a light bulb. Ever see an Easybake oven?

    I would say you are in far more danger from an average light bulb than a WAP.
    Plus you can always use just wear a tinfoil hat.

  9. Re:Where do you draw the line? on Site Claims to Reveal 'Tattle-tales' · · Score: 1

    Harassment no, discriminate against yes. Being convicted of felony carries life time penalties.
    Your right to own a gun is terminated.
    Your right to vote is terminated.
    There are jobs you may not hold.
    That is the law. As to if it is right or wrong is up to debate.

  10. Re:Where do you draw the line? on Site Claims to Reveal 'Tattle-tales' · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There is a slight difference between sex offenders and undercover agents.
    Sex offenders are convicted felons.
    People bing falsely accused is a valid problem.

  11. Re:M$ doesn't *need* to sue... on Microsoft Will Not Sue Over Linux Patents · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The threat of a law suit from a convicted monopoly is enough for a new round of anti-trust investigation.
    Let's see.
    Microsoft says.
    1. Open Source projects are violating our patents.
    2. We will not sue over these patents.
    3. We will not tell you what patents they are violating.
    4. You should give us money so we will continue to not sue you.

  12. FOUR MILLION!!! on Spy Drones Take to the Sky in the UK · · Score: 1

    There are FOUR MILLION plus of them in the UK. Holy cow. How long do they keep the data? Hey I am not considered by most people liberal but that just creeps me out. I guess I feel that people have a right to feel free and being under constant surveillance doesn't make me feel free. The very idea that the government could track every movement I make just seems wrong. I would have to work hard to get people to vote to stop it if I lived in the UK.

  13. Re:Microsoft could have a say.... on Who Owns The Linux Trademark? · · Score: 1

    Linux was developed on Minix and I am sure Linus looked at and learned from the Minix source code.
    Minix was a teaching tool so it was used exactly how it was intended. I think saying that Linux was inspired by Minix is fair. Just so the record is straight the author of Minix states that Linux isn't based on Minix and who should know better.
    I would like to think that Minix has a nice safe "family" relationship with Linux :)
    Sort of my atempt to bury the Tanebaum vs Linus flame war of the early days :)
    BTW Minix 3 looks very interesting.

  14. Re:I'd still boycott it to set a sign. on German Linux Community Boycotting LinuxTag · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't it be better to show up and protest him there? Ask him uncomfortable questions and such?
    Frankly the people coming from other nations probably don't know anything about him and this would be a good way to educate him and get it into the world press.
    Guest from outside Germany will most likely think that the FOSS community in Germany is shrinking.

  15. Re:descendants of OS/2 .. ? on 20 Years of Bill Gates Predictions · · Score: 1

    OS/2 Ver3 became NT. They just ported the Windows API to it. Some of the things that IBM and Microsoft had a falling out over with where.
    1. IBM wanted support for the 286. Microsoft thought that the 386 was the wave of the future.
    2. Microsoft wanted to use the Windows API to make migration from Windows to OS/2 simple. IBM wanted to distance OS/2 from Microsoft's "failure" called Windows. Not only that but the Windows API was a mess. When OS/2 started almost no one used Windows. 2.11 was the first usable version of Windows and frankly it still sucked.
    What is funny is that IBM wanted to support 286 for marketing reasons and Microsoft wanted to drop 286 for very sound technical reasons. Microsoft wanted to support the Windows API for marketing reasons and IBM wanted to drop it for sound technical reasons. They both made bad technical choices but Microsoft made the better marketing choice.
    I hate marketing.

  16. Re:Speech, Schmeech... It's a Business on XM Satellite Radio Backlash · · Score: 1

    I went and found the show and found it just so demeaning not just to woman but to the "person" that was their "guest". There are things that effect different people. My wife can not watch anything about animal or child abuse without crying. I on the other hand just get mad about it. It is okay to disagree as long as people respect each others rights to disagree. As I said I can understand your viewpoint it isn't the same as mine.

  17. Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot. on Penguin Car Earns Indy500 Spot · · Score: 1

    Actually it will be pretty close. Indy is held on a holiday weekend while the Super Bowel isn't. I don't know the official title it holds but it is a major event and is watched world wide by racing fans.
    I have heard that is the largest single day sporting event. World Cup, World Series of Baseball, Wimbledon, and the Olympic Games are all multi-day events. I have also heard that it is the most people attending of any sporting event. You can pack a LOT of people in there counting the in field. How ever it is still one of the largest sporting events in the world and yes globally relevant. It is known world wide and is watched all over the world. The World Cup does have a world wide viewership but almost totally misses the US and Canadian markets.
    The real point is that it is a HUGE event that is watched by teens of millions of people and Linux managed to partially sponsor a car in the race and has gotten a lot of publicity because of it.

    BTW that news story kind of proves you wrong. It states that the Indy 500 will be televised to 350 million homes in 200 hundred countries. If each home averages 3 people that works out to over one billion potential viewers. Seems like a world wide reach to me.

  18. Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot. on Penguin Car Earns Indy500 Spot · · Score: 0, Redundant

    "The Indianapolis is the biggest annual sporting event."
    "I simply do not believe this. For example, the world cup and the Olympics are both watched world wide. The Indy is a local USA thing."
    Do I really need to point out your error?
    You said "Myopia is a wonderful thing..." I suggest you get fitted for your own glasses.
    Indy cars also run on road tracks now. I am also a big F1 fan but ovals races are much more enjoyable to go and see since it is a rare road track that allows you to see the entire race from your seats.
    In car cameras almost make watching on TV more fun than going to a road race.
    F1 has a very small viewing audience in the US but I am one of them.

  19. Re:Speech, Schmeech... It's a Business on XM Satellite Radio Backlash · · Score: 1

    I am sorry if you felt it was a cheap shot. It was not intended as such and I honestly figured that you also didn't feel it was funny but thought that the rest of the show had value greater than your dislike of that one joke.
    I actually feel that you have a reasonable position in this issue that is just different than mine. If I offended I am sorry it wasn't intended.

    And yes the Black Knight is very funny.

  20. Re:DRM is the way of artificial shortage on Windows Media Center Restricts Cable TV · · Score: 1

    No cost does have some roll to play. Profit=price-cost. It is a simple equation. If price is = cost then the item doesn't get produced.
    So I ask again how can a content provider make a reasonable profit when the content can be copied buy people that don't have the prodcution costs to recover? I don't think DRM is the answer.

  21. Re:Speech, Schmeech... It's a Business on XM Satellite Radio Backlash · · Score: 1

    If there is a channel that you truly find offensive or an action that XM takes that you find offensive then yes you should complain.
    I will not got with AT&T for my cell phone because of the actions they took after Hurricane Katrina. I will not go with Verizon because of them crippling their phones so that you have to buy services from them. I then wrote letters to both companies explaining why I didn't go with them. To me blocking isn't enough because I feel that they went too far. Rape just isn't funny but I also don't know if they should be fired for it and didn't ask for that. So yes you have the same right to complain about any actions on any channel that you find extremely offensive. If enough people agree with you then that show may be removed. You also have the right if not obligation to support that show if you feel that it is worth your support. What I don't like is this being framed as a free speech issue. I consider this a consumer taste issue. You have the right to disagree with my opinion as too what is funny and as I said I find rape to not be funny.

  22. Re:DRM is the way of artificial shortage on Windows Media Center Restricts Cable TV · · Score: 1

    There is a difference.
    The cost of reproduction is very low. The cost of production is still very high. Now as to how inflated that is by things like overpriced actors, directors, producers and such is another discussion. How does one recover those costs? I don't like DRM but content isn't as low cost as people would like to believe. I know people that are members of NetFlix that just get the DVDs rip them and then order more DVDs.
    I don't know why they do this to be honest. I have asked them how many unwatched DVDs do they have and the answer is most of them.
    I hate DRM and the restrictions that it brings but there is still the problem of how the content is to paid for. A pay per show system has some merit but I wonder if we would be willing to pay the price that advertisers are willing to pay?
    Then what about things like local news and breaking news? Should you have to pay to find out that a tornado is coming?
    The idea that content is "too cheap to meter" isn't entirely true. Content is cheap to duplicate but expensive to create. A Spiderman 3 DVD costs around $.20 to duplicate but the original costs many millions of dollars to produce. Same thing with Windows Vista and Halo 3.
    The reason that you can buy a movie on DVD for only $14 is because many millions of people buy that $14 DVD and many millions of people went to the theaters to see it.

    The simple question is how do content producers make a reasonable profit on the content they produce without DRM?

    And before I get flamed I break DRM all the time to play the content I have paid for on my Linux box. DRM is a failure but I am asking what is the solution?

  23. Re:Speech, Schmeech... It's a Business on XM Satellite Radio Backlash · · Score: 1

    The problem is I am still paying for that channel. It isn't like over the air I am a subscriber so in effect I am paying for that show. Life is full of choices and the choices you make make a difference. My choice of XM was because at the time while they did have adult channels they didn't have Stern. If you pay for a service and don't like something the service is doing you are allowed to complain. What I don't get is what "right" do people that don't subscribe to XM have with complain about their actions.
    The XM subscribers that are up in arms both ways have a right to be heard.

  24. Re:Did Apple make a mistake? on 4.7GHz IBM Power6 Spotted · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Unfortunately true. The new Power series could work in a desktop or workstation but it will be expensive. I am sure that with enough money IBM could make a Power6 that was better than the Core 2... Except they wouldn't make a profit on it. As much as I hate loosing yet another better then the X86 ISA from the desktop Apple did the right thing.

  25. Re:Speech, Schmeech... It's a Business on XM Satellite Radio Backlash · · Score: 1, Troll

    Funny but I was on the other side. I went with XM because they didn't have Howard Stern. I don't like "shock" jocks I don't think they are funny. I wrote into XM saying simply that I didn't want to have anything as like that again. No request that they fire or cancel the show just enforce some standards. Honestly you might be supprised how many subscribers did complain about the show. This isn't a freedom of speech issue it is consumer choice. If more people want that than don't then I guess we will see more of that kind show if not then we will see less.