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User: Tony+Shepps

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  1. Re:Not consistent? on Arctic Ice Extent Understated Because of "Sensor Drift" · · Score: 1

    Ah well the parent post was hidden and there was somebody talking about kooks. My error, sorry.

  2. Re:Not consistent? on Arctic Ice Extent Understated Because of "Sensor Drift" · · Score: 1

    Without measurements, I can say with certainty anything I want.

    With measurements, I can only say with certainty what the measurements prove.

    An Inconvenient Truth pointed out that warming can lead to cooling in some areas, as ocean currents change. Skeptics point out that urban density leads to localized warming. So whatever you've felt or noticed in your tiny area of the globe doesn't prove anything at all.

    Also, that poster didn't refer to kooks or frauds at all. It was a statement of scientific skepticism. Skepticism is required for good science. What's bad for science is emotional people who are scared because they've used their ninth-grade notion of "science" to convince themselves of a conclusion that becomes "obvious" to them... even though they actually know jack shit.

    As for me, I *know* I know jack shit and so I will wait for more data points.

  3. Re:But can I afford them yet? on Intel Confirms It Will Ship 160GB Flash Drives · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think the technologies have advanced enough that the modern hard drive should not be called a "winchester drive". The name actually referenced a specific model of IBM hard drive manufactured in 1973... with a capacity of 35 MB.

  4. Re:Watermarks are hogwash. on Nielsen To Offer Web Copyright Protection System · · Score: 1

    Watermarking audio would be an easily defeated form of DRM, but they did try it at one point.

    Audio watermarks are used all the time. The company I work for uses them to assist in identifying ad plays on broadcast radio. (The company I work for also identifies audio without watermarking. You don't need watermarking, it just makes things easier.)

  5. In the era of managed shutdown... on The Top Ten Off Switches · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...we will forget the off switch. I understand the need for managed shutdown, but there was always something satisfying about activating a solid on/off switch to cut all power to the system. The switch always did the same thing. It was dependable. Sometimes, if it was spring-loaded, it even had a satisfying "chunk" noise to tell you with extreme prejudice, this machine is OFF. Industrial!

    At one time, before the widespread adoption of journaling file systems, people said that the requirement of managed shutdown would make Unix/Linux unacceptable for most people. Ha! Nowadays when people hit the START button to get to the SHUTDOWN, Windows will sit there, "saving your settings" for a good minute or more.

  6. Taking the sting out? on Taking the Sting Out of PHP 5 Programming · · Score: 1

    I know PHP has matured as a technology when people feel it's painful to use.

    I realize that programming languages are supposed to be painful, but for me, PHP 3 made programming fun again. As a sysadmin sort it was remarkable to be coding and enjoying it. This seemed to be true no matter whether it was a 10-line hack to get something done on a website, or a top-down structured project.

    And you know when then turnaround happened? When PHP stopped being fun? I have an opinion. I think it coincided with the discovery that global variables were found to be harmful. Suddenly this thing which had so much instinctive power, required the use a system array with a specific syntax.

  7. Re:This is so much worse that MS Office on Google & Sun Planning Web Office · · Score: 1
    Think of it THIS way. Corporations can afford to pay $1000/seat per year to "standardize" on whatever they like. But have you ever seen a three or four person office in a struggling small business try to manage their IT?

    Remote data is bad - I suppose, maybe if you can personally guarantee that your operation will always have the personnel who can manage a database. But have you SEEN how small businesses operate their computers?

    I saw one last month that put all of its most important data on an external USB drive with no backup, because they wanted to be able to get the data if there was a fire or emergency. Whoa smart! Way to think ahead!

    If you're a struggling small business, access to your data is much more likely to be hurt by not being able to get The Consultant on the phone. Because The Consultant on vacation, or at another client, or got a new cell phone number, or gave up and got a "real" job. And he's the only one who knows the root password on the system.

    You know, the system the entire business runs on? It's the one he set up with, oh we can't remember, "Something Sequel Server" three years ago, in the back closet? The one he forgot to put on automatic updates, and which now has a 1/4" layer of dust on its motherboard, and is rebooting every 15 minutes while everyone tries to get their work done?

    That's the story at struggling small businesses, which make up a majority of the work force in the US than big corporations. And 99% of the work force around the world. How many of them are going to standardize on Gmail? All of them, if they're smart; it's the only way they'll be able to get their email from anywhere without thinking about it.

    But it's OK; when the rest of the world has standardized on using the network this way, you'll still be able to operate your way, by downloading OO and running the "local" version and hosting your own data. You'll still be able to talk to the rest of the world. And the additional productivity bonus to the world will keep you in business.

  8. Re:From a WSJ reader. on WSJ's Online Subscriptions Outperform Print · · Score: 1

    You're not kidding. I subscribed to the print version for 6 months in 1990, while I was taking Economics. Since then I have been relentlessly snail-spammed with "please re-subscribe" letters on a monthly basis.

    They followed me through a move.

  9. Well that's fine for Europe on Power Supply Torture Test · · Score: 1

    Anyone have a PSU review summary that includes equipment available in the US?

  10. Re:Is this viewed as progress? UPDATE on Presidential Candidates Arrested at Debates · · Score: 1

    UPDATE! I'm informed that I was wrong about the numbers, and that the number of votes for one of the candidates that I advised did in fact increase.

    The percentage Ken Krawchuk received rose after a great deal of debate inclusion. He went from 1.11% in 1998 to 1.14% in 2002. I credit my increased lack of involvement in his campaigns for the increase, but perhaps it was the media bump.

    Thanks for all my sharp-eyed correspondents for pointing this out, and, may I say, onward Libertarian soldiers.

  11. Re:Is this viewed as progress? on Presidential Candidates Arrested at Debates · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have worked extensively with LP candidates who WERE included in debates, at local and state levels. I have been an advisor to four different campaigns included in state-level debates over a period of a decade. And I can tell you that actually being included the debate has almost no effect in vote totals whatsoever. In the last case I saw, a repeat statewide candidate was included in MANY debates (the D saw it as being to his advantage, so he negotiated it)... and saw his vote total actually go down. Not some doof... a polished speaker with a legitimate "look" who was even a possible candidate for LP veep at one point.

    Sorry to disappoint you but it is important to understand that being in the debate is nowhere close to being a "breakthrough event". Just like all the other pet theories of possible breakthroughs. They've been tried. The problem is more difficult and less conspiracy-oriented than you think.

  12. Re:A libertarian over 18 is a social misfit on Libertarian Presidential Candidate Michael Badnarik Answers · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is not just an offhand remark you've made, but a specific blind spot of the L Party. Where an easy answer doesn't work, they get stuck. And foreign policy is one place where there's often no easy answer.

    Free trade amongst nations makes everyone richer, I'm sure Badnarik would agree. But a global economy requires global security; for example, the US protects the straits between Indonesia and Malaysia from terrorists and/or pirates who would otherwise mess with oil shipments there. I'm sure this is really good for the economy of all the nations that depend on that oil, and it's something the US military can do with its eyes closed. (For training an exercise in real-world non-drills that make the US Navy stronger!) With the first result that a few Asian economies are dependent on the interests of the US.

    Maybe those countries would buy the services for security. Maybe they do buy them in other ways I don't know about. I'm not an expert but I do know, there are many places where the US couldn't just walk away without massive and serious repercussions.

    The Badnarik deus-ex-machina is that he knows he is unelectable, and can admit so freely, and thus doesn't have to really think hard about such matters. Hey, I don't really have to do any of those things because I didn't really get elected. Well guess what, that's just not good enough. If you're gonna play with the big boys, you better not start by advocating policies that could cause global depression. I know they aren't Americans but some of them do buy stuff from us, and it's actually cheaper to fill those outgoing container shipments with *something*.

  13. SETI for telescopes? on 4-inch Telescope Finds New Planet · · Score: 1

    This story makes me think. What if all the 4" telescopes around the world were networked, computer-operated, and all captured sections of sky at all times when the users weren't using them? Then what if the images were combined at some central place and location and errors corrected for and whatnot?

  14. PSU reviews ARE interesting on X-Connect 500W Modular PSU · · Score: 1

    The power supply is the weak point on most modern PCs. They are under-reviewed and most reviews just parrot what the marketing specs say. This is not useful information. This review goes a step further and measures the output with a multimeter. Good on them.

    We need more information than this, though. I'd love to see some reviews that actually go a step further and actually measures the maximum output of the PSU to prove it's actually capable of the stats on the side of the damn box without melting down. I'd like to learn what their overload protection is and such.

  15. Re:60GB... but anything else? on 60GB iPod Coming? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This marks the very first time on /. that DRM has been presented as a desireable feature.

  16. Re:Not Funny on Microsoft WiX Code Released to SourceForge.Net · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but one of the most popular TV shows in the US is called "JAG".

    JAG being a military unit of some sort, the officers are then called "JAG Officers".

    First time I heard that I thought it must be an insult.

  17. The big picture on Gates: Hardware, Not Software, Will Be Free · · Score: 1
    The big picture here is that Gates, with his superiority complex, fashions himself as a technology soothsayer and regularly issues pronouncements on what He believes is the future of the world.

    The Road Ahead, he at first failed to anticipate the importance of the internet WHATSOEVER (in the mid-90s!). An addition had to be quickly written and pasted on so he wouldn't be so embarrassed.

    (And a TCP/IP stack "borrowed" and a decent browser "weasel-stolen" to bang into Windows damn quick without having to bother anyone at Redmond to actually write code or, you know, innovate.)

  18. Re:Another stick on Why Personal Websites Matter · · Score: 1

    Because you want to work for a boss who desperately hates your hobbies, faith and/or habits?

    Because people with reprehensible hobbies, faiths, and/or habits should be protected?

    Because it's so much easier to get a job when all you have to do is lie about certain keywords?

    Because over the last ten years, political correctness has actually produced the tolerant, giving, non-racist society we all want to live in?

  19. Shopping by price for net access on Cheap Dial-Up ISPs Gain Ground · · Score: 2

    This is the result of customer confusion about how ISPs operate and what to expect from them. The same thing is going on in the hosting realm; people shop by price because they really don't understand the criteria by which they *should* be shopping.

    And that's not always good. Imagine if you applied that same approach to, say hamburgers. Anyone could buy the crappiest rolls, the worst meat, add 50% filler with no condiments or cheese... you'd have a higher chance to get food poisoning, but hey! the burgers are only $0.25 each!

  20. Re:solution to national debt on Down and Out in White-Collar America · · Score: 0, Troll

    Whilst penning this ode to your favorite socialist paradise you forgot to mention that Sweden's standard of living is below that of the lowest standard of living of any US state.

    HTH

  21. Re:$200 George W Bush Bill on Counterfeiting With High Resolution Inkjets · · Score: 1
    Cellar Image of the Day had these way back in the day. Good cashier help is hard to find if they can be faked by these.

    Front of faked $200

    Back of faked $200

  22. Re:How to get a rebate on time EVERY time on Are Rebates Scandalous? · · Score: 1

    If those Sweeties got crushed to a fine, white powder, the rebate processor's mail room might have found another good reason to manage your letter promptly and accurately.

  23. Re:Good! on Professional-Grade Audio Recording With A PDA · · Score: 1

    Although, to be fair, there may have been a few other factors involved in the Dead's awesome tour numbers. If you can convince a good chunk of your fans to follow you to every single venue, or at least two week's worth, ...

  24. Re:Difference between wrong and slow on Run For Cover; It's Mozilla 1.4 Alpha · · Score: 1

    IE, hell; I haven't found an implementation I like in the 20 years since I first saw it on an original DEC VT100.

    I find that my eyes and brain are set to jump-scroll no matter what. Try as I might, I can't slowly pan over a set of items. My eyes focus on one point, then jump and re-focus on another point.

    But I'll try smooth when it comes out, if as you say a faster smooth is still possibly better.

  25. Re:Smooth scrolling not on by default? on Run For Cover; It's Mozilla 1.4 Alpha · · Score: 1

    It's all up to the individual eye, it would seem. With smooth scrolling I find that by the time my eye has located the next thing to look at, it's still *moving* because the scroll is so slow.