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  1. Re:"A usually reliable source swears..." on SCO Threatens to Press IP Claims on Linux -$99/cpu · · Score: 2

    I think you mean "My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious."

  2. Re:Good on Low Profile Satellite TV Antennas for Vehicles · · Score: 2

    Motion sickness is caused because you have two conflicting signals. The motion sensors in your ears tell you that you're moving, but your eyes are telling you that you're not. This confuses your brain, and you get sick. It's worse when you read, because if you weren't reading, you'd be looking out the windows, and getting some indications that you're moving.

  3. Re:Perhaps.... on How Would You Improve Today's Debugging Tools? · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Testing and debugging are two seperate activites, and it's important not to try to confuse them.

    Testing is to identify if there is a problem, and hopefully under what conditions they will occur. Debugging is to identify the cause of that problem, and what needs to be done to fix it. One is most definatly not a replacement for the other.

  4. Re:No double jeopardy rules? on 'DVD Jon' Acquitted On All Counts in DeCSS Case · · Score: 3, Informative

    Double jeopardy only applies in criminal trials. In civil trials, the loosing side(s) can appeal.

  5. Re:such accuracy... not on New Estimates for Universe's Age · · Score: 2

    You might have a problem, but there are plenty of people who don't, including this guy, who I belive has some theological training. Summary of his speach

  6. Re:Come on now on New Estimates for Universe's Age · · Score: 2

    Of course, there is no such date in the bible. The 4004BC date was calculated by Bishop Usher and printed in the footnotes of many copies of the KJV, but he had to rely on many non-biblical sources and make many assumptions in doing so.

  7. Re:Screw Tivo on DMCA Loophole For Peer-to-Peer TV Show Sharing? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The BBC shows very little commericals (Only between programs, and commericals for either BBC products or other BBC programs, similar to PBS). However, the BBC is a minority of TV in the UK, 2 out of 5 analog channels, and a similar proportion of cable/digital/satellite channels. The non-BBC channels show commericals just like American channels do, though at a slightly lower percentage of air time.

  8. Re:Why not micropayment from a $10 credit card deb on A Viable System for Micropayments? · · Score: 2
    To the consumer, even $10 is a large fee. Look at adverts for netzero, advertising for internet access for $10 a month, "Half the price of AOL".

    To the business, $10 is too small a fee. A large percentage of this would be eaten up by the credit card processing costs, including dealing with reversals etc, especially if you're allowing refunds.

  9. Re:Flawed reasoning... on A Viable System for Micropayments? · · Score: 2

    Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie have an excellent documentary on exactly this.

  10. Re:Multics on newdocms: Beyond the Hierarchical File System · · Score: 2
  11. Re:My gut reaction: on European Copyrights Expire; RIAA Nervous · · Score: 2

    And most research is to find copycat variations on existing drugs.

  12. Re:Why keep sulking that they lose money? on European Copyrights Expire; RIAA Nervous · · Score: 2

    And there is a big logical hole. Even if it was true that 9/10 sound recordings lose money, would that situation change if they were copyrighted longer? How many authors from 1903 are still popular? 1803? 1703? 1603?

  13. Re:SQL does not cut it on newdocms: Beyond the Hierarchical File System · · Score: 2
    That was done pre-UNIX with PICK. The whole O/S was a database

    The PICK OS was released in 1973. This means it postdates Unix. It did inherit ideas which were originally used in GIRLS, which dates from 1965, but that was a simple application on the IBM/360. If you want to argue that that means PICK dates from 1965, then Unix dates from 1959, with the start of the Multics program.

  14. Re:Wow on European Copyrights Expire; RIAA Nervous · · Score: 2
    But, since there's not much money to be made on tunes with expired copyrights,

    That doesn't make any sense. If I was to record a song which is copyrighted, I sell it and have to give a percentage to the composer. If I was to ecord a song which is PD, I sell it and keep that percentage. In either case, the actual recording is copyrighted, and thus no-one can legally copy my recording. So there is more money to be made on tunes with expired copyrights. For examples, go to the classical section of any music store. Rows and rows of CD's with Bach, Beethoven, Bramms etc, all of who's compositions are still very popular, but PD.

  15. Re:Yes, it's the same. on European Copyrights Expire; RIAA Nervous · · Score: 2

    I'd have to disagree with 'Disney have failed to aggressively defend it.'. Disney is the company that goes after daycare centers with Mickey Mouses.

  16. Re:AOL Prior Art on Amazon Seeks '2-Click' Shopping Cart Patent · · Score: 2

    No, but finger did.

  17. Re:Duh! on When Sysadmins Go Bad · · Score: 2
    This comment has been marked 'funny', but it really should be marked insightful. SysAdmins are not the only people who can cost their companies a lot of money. From throwing a brick through a window all the way up to 1.3 billion dollars in bad trades.

    The answers are the same for all employees. Suitable controls on what they do. Suitable auditing on what they have done. Suitable reactions to what they can do. Making the employees care about the company (Which means don't screw them over).

  18. Re:Sounded cruel at the time. on When Sysadmins Go Bad · · Score: 2

    It's always been standard procedures at every company I've ever worked at to change all privlaged accounts and lock the personal accounts whenever anyone who may have known them left.

  19. Re:They can on Whisper Heard From Pioneer 10 · · Score: 2
    There are lots of short lived isotopes which are found in nature. Obviously they are part of decay sequences. An example would be Radium 226, which has a half life of 1590 years, and is part of the decay chain of Uranium 238. It was discovered by the Curries, by simply purifying large amounts of pitchblende.

    There is a useful term here to identify isotopes which are not found in nature on Earth, and those which are.Artifical/Natural is the usual terminology.

  20. Re:Age on Hudson River Shipwrecks Secretly Mapped · · Score: 2

    In Europe, that wouldn't be considered *old*. Heck, in Oxford we've still got New College, founded in 1379.

  21. Re:They can on Whisper Heard From Pioneer 10 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, plutonium 238 isn't a natural isotope. You don't want a natural isotope in this application, because you want a short halflife so that there is enough decay to make a significant amount of heat, which is converted to electricity through thermoprobes. The 92 year half life is perfect. We're about 1/3 of the way through a half life, so the pile will still be outputing 80% of the heat of the original pile. Unfortunatly the thermocouples have degraded, which has reduced the power output, however it's still much better than if they'd put a reactor onto the probe, which would have failed by now.

  22. Re:Signal strenght? on Whisper Heard From Pioneer 10 · · Score: 2

    You can build a laser at a great range of freqencies. In fact, the first lasers were in the microwave bandwiths.

  23. Re:Signal strenght? on Whisper Heard From Pioneer 10 · · Score: 2

    Pioneer transmits with a signal strength of 4W. A much stronger signal would be easily possible.

  24. Re:Where is it going? on Whisper Heard From Pioneer 10 · · Score: 2

    10 was just Jupiter. 11 was Jupiter and Saturn. The positions on the planets at launch time determined which mission was possible.

  25. Re:OT: Technology history [was: Sturdy Equipment?] on Whisper Heard From Pioneer 10 · · Score: 2
    Here is Intel's page

    It shows that none of them are really suitable for a probe launched in 1972. The 4004 was only introduced in 1971, and the 8008 in 1972. The 8080 came in 1974, and the 8086 and 8088 in 1978.

    is a chart of all the major families, but it doesn't go into so much detail as the Intel link.