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User: BranMan

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Comments · 551

  1. Come here on Ask Slashdot: Exploiting 'Engineering And ...' On a Resume? · · Score: 5, Informative

    I work at BAE - if you're looking in the Boston area, this could be just the place for you.

    We work on stuff for UAVs, planning systems, EW, etc.

    If you're interested, get me a resume and I can float it around. We're not doing a lot of hiring right now, but we have a bunch of ex-military folks who are real happy here.

    No joke - let me know.

  2. Re:Why not quoting in energy units on New All-Solid Sulfur Based Battery Outperforms Lithium Ion · · Score: 1

    Now THATS a useful comment. Hats of to you sir, hiding behind something back there. Not sure why.

  3. Re:Why not quoting in energy units on New All-Solid Sulfur Based Battery Outperforms Lithium Ion · · Score: 1

    Because everything is rated in current draw - this phone uses 15 mA of current. With a battery that has 1500 mAh, that will run for 100 hours (nominally). WTF can you tell from a battery that has 33000 joules? You'd need to know the voltage again! And still have to do math!

    People use mAh because it's useful for what people want to know.

  4. Re:Isn't science wonderful? on Lowest Mass Exoplanet Ever Directly Imaged. Probably. · · Score: 1

    What could possibly go wrong?

  5. Re:Why a hot gas planet? on Lowest Mass Exoplanet Ever Directly Imaged. Probably. · · Score: 1

    He's dead? I didn't even know he was sick!

      (sorry, couldn't resist)

  6. Re:All hail on DOJ Fights To Bury Court Ruling On Government Surveillance · · Score: 2

    So the Police/FBI are kind of like opportunity - they only knock once

                BAM!

  7. Re:That's not the question either on How That 'Extra .9%' Could Ward Off a Zombie Apocalypse · · Score: 1

    The benefit of using zombies in a training scenario is that they are NOT part of any cultural group. Think political correctness - who can be ticked off about a training scenario with zombies? No one. Who can be ticked off by anything else you mentioned ? That's right - someone will.

  8. Re:And by Renewable Power Sources on Apple: 75% of Our World Wide Power Needs Now Come From Renewable Power Sources · · Score: 1

    A little spray paint will fix that.

  9. Re:This Is Ridiculous on IQ 'a Myth,' Study Says · · Score: 1

    So.... does this IQ make me look fat?

  10. Re:few comments on this design on NASA Engineers Building Mockup of Deep Space Station · · Score: 1

    I'm wondering if the water can do even more shielding - on Mythbusters they demonstrate that you can hide from gunfire under water - 3 to 4 feet of water and you are safe from everything up to a .50 cal sniper rifle bullet. Can 2 meters of water disrupt / absorb the energy of meteorites as well? As long as the water tanks can self-seal (military aircraft fuel tanks do) after punctures... I don't see why not.

  11. Re:20 million gallons I know... on US Is Finally Cleaning Up Agent Orange In Vietnam · · Score: 1

    So, it's basically the same as 10,000 people watering their lawn for a couple hours. Doesn't seem so bad.

  12. Re:Wrong... on Bad Software Runs the World · · Score: 1

    "A Mooses once bit my sister."

      - Sorry, couldn't resist.

  13. Re:Thomas Covenant on Ask Slashdot: What's the Most Depressing Sci-fi You've Ever Read? · · Score: 1

    The book starting that series is "The mirror of her dreams" - "A man rides through" is the 2nd book IIRC

  14. Re:Hey, just market bugs as on Meat the Food of the Future · · Score: 1

    Normally, raw food costs in a restaurant are on the order of 25-30% IIRC. That would mean it would be around $7, maybe up to $10 as the restaurants get bulk discounts we don't.

  15. Re:A fool and his money... on Delaware To Permit In-state Online Gambling · · Score: 1

    For poker, at least, I know you can ask for the cards to be counted, can ask the decks be changed, etc. Blackjack is a little more... uncertain. You may be able to ask for that as well, but since they use 7-10 decks (not sure about the exact numbers, but it is a bunch) in one shoe, it would be harder to detect something amiss anyway.

    In poker, specifically texas hold'em, several of the particular ways they hand is dealt are there to minimize the effects of marked cards, for instance. So keeping it honest is VERY important to everyone.

    Online, you could do a statistical analysis of the hands dealt - after 10-20K hands you'd be able to tell if anything funny was going on - i.e. deviating too much from random.

    So, yes, it can be done, for Poker at least. Anything else ? - maybe roulette as well with enough wheel spins.

  16. Re:Tenants, eh? on US Consumer Bureau Opens Online Credit Card Complaint DB · · Score: 1

    A tenant of the free market is just one of it's founding principals, or better yet, an assumption needed for it to work. Transparency in this case means the customers for the credit cards, in order for the Free Market to ensure they get a good deal through competition, have to know about the cards, companies, terms, rates, etc. in general.

    With informed customers, they make good choices, and the Free Market (i.e. competition) will make sure the terms and rates are fair, and don't gouge anyone. If a company gets out of line, customers will dump them, and they go out of business or get back in line with everyone else.

    This helps make everything more open, more transparent, so everyone can see who is gouging their customers. Make sense now?

  17. The square wheels almost worked too - how fun is that!

  18. Re:What could possibly go wrong? on Planetary Resources Confirms Plan To Mine Asteroids · · Score: 1

    And let's keep in mind that the asteroid that exploded with a 3.8KT air-burst was the size of a minivan. Anything worth mining will be, what - 1000 times larger? 100,000 times larger? Nothing to mess around with - and by no means safe. A 100 megaton blast, and a ground impact to boot, will do more that blow peoples hair back.

  19. Re:You must have had a non-DC battlestation on USS Enterprise Takes Its Final Voyage · · Score: 1

    No, water did not set everything on fire. Jet fuel was on fire, oil and water do NOT mix, and the water SPREAD the burning jet fuel to every area of the building, to set all the contents on fire, along with the fuel.

    Instead, you actually think it was deliberate, with paint. How many thousands of gallons of paint do you think they applied up there? 'Cause they know how many thousands of gallons of jet fuel there were in the planes.

  20. Re:What About ... on Patent Attorneys Sued For Copyright Infringement · · Score: 1

    The "purpose and character of the use" is supporting documentation to a patent application. Which is intended to make money, therefor the use of the copyrighted material is commercial in nature. That's what I would assume to be the 'traction' as you call it. IANAL however, so that's just my own guess.

  21. Re:Stay Classy Microsoft on Microsoft's Anti-Google Video Campaign · · Score: 1

    People donate money for charity work to be done - some in very large amounts. That gets used ONCE, for one 'round' of benefits for the charitable purpose.

    If, instead, the people who understand business and how they work had the option to 'invest' in a charitable purposed company - why wouldn't they? Their gift can contribute basically forever, instead of once.

    Sounds like a win-win to me. The incentive is there - I used 'invest' with quotes as the donors are not expecting a return - not a tangible one at least.

  22. Re:Please be satire on Eternal Copyright: a Modest Proposal · · Score: 1

    There are similar priced schools in my area. My wife and I took on a ton of debt to put our daughter through private high school (a really good one - we are really pleased with how she did there) - basically bringing her into the discussion and laying it out:
          We can pay for school now, or college later, but we CANNOT do both - just isn't possible. So we all decided to pay for school now. So far she's been paying for college herself (landed an ROTC scholarship, and really likes the ROTC program - but if not that, then she'd have had a ton of loans) - and so far is working out really well.
          Not saying it's something you should do, but it's an option, and has worked for us.

          Good luck!

  23. Re:Adobe complaining about bloat? on A Rant Against Splash Screens · · Score: 1

    "This will just add further bloat.You want applications to start instantly, but you want them to load even more information at startup and save even more at every shutdown. Just ask the user if they want to continue later, or remind them that they need to save. Should my media player really need to automatically remember that I closed every episode of my favorite tv show just before the credits began?"

          Actually, yes. It isn't that hard - my TiVo does it automatically. And is smart enough that if I stop it during the last 5% or less of an episode, it will start it again from the beginning. Single piece of meta-data - What was I doing when shut down? Single piece of meta-data per item - Where did I leave off when last asked to show this / play this?

  24. Re:Purpose according to the book of Job on Boiling Down the Meaning of Life · · Score: 1

    So..... it's like the bet at the beginning of "Trading Places"? So there is a spiritual $1 bill riding on the eternal struggle of Good vs. Evil?

  25. Re:Magnetic field + conductor = Electricity? on 'Electric Earth' Could Explain Planet's Rotation · · Score: 1

    Simple - the idea being that if you use both your hands you may complete an electrical circuit *between* your two hands. Hands are attached to arms, arms to chest, and in between your two arms. in your chest, is your heart. Run a sizable (or even not very sizable) current through there and you may stop your heart. Just like a defibrillator does (TV notwithstanding). So using one hand only you will likely complete a circuit through one of your legs instead - and the current would pass by your heart and not through it.