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User: Trecares

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  1. Re:I've yet to encounter an automatic with no neut on Driver Trapped In Speeding Car At 125 Mph · · Score: 1

    The reason is the pump in transmissions that circulates oil is on the mainshaft - the shaft that is coupled with the engine. In Neutral, only the countershaft turns, not the mainshaft. Without lubrication, stuff will get damaged.

  2. Re:state-owned = private sector???" on The Cyber Threat To the Global Oil Supply · · Score: 1

    In Soviet Russia, state-owned = private sector.

  3. Kickstarter on Parallella: an Open Multi-Core CPU Architecture · · Score: 3, Informative

    I checked their front page and they have a kickstarter going to fund further development.

    Might want to check it out and chip in if you're interested.

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adapteva/parallella-a-supercomputer-for-everyone

  4. Re:Street Legal?? on A Honda Civic With no Gas Tank (Video) · · Score: 1

    If this was some regular Joe, you may have a point. This guy is a ENGINEER. We take safety issues and extreme scenarios seriously. However it is frequently the managers and accountants that forces compromises. This gentleman is fettered by neither.

  5. Re:Serious question: on ADA May Force Netflix To Provide Closed Captioning On Content · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Because just like broadcast television, they are sufficiently large enough to cover the costs associated with captioning the content. Netflix does have some content that is captioned on their streaming service, but frankly it's mostly a joke.

    I am not sure what their process involves in acquiring the visual content that they stream. Netflix seem to have no difficulty in acquiring the audio tracks to stream along with the visual content. If Netflix is getting the content from the DVD's or whatever, it should be trivial enough to rip the subtitle / closed captioning tracks already present, sync it up and stream it as well. The physical DVD is captioned, yet the stream isn't. Netflix, along with a number of other content providers are basically saying, "Meh it's not worth our time to deal with it, so tough luck." Technically it should be trivial enough to do this but they are not. That's when the government usually has to step in. It's not so much a matter of preserving their profit, but doing the right thing and providing accessibility. Otherwise it's essentially tyranny of the majority.

    The main reason why this lawsuit is necessary is because many online streaming services are essentially doing nothing or a very poor job of providing captioned content. Hulu for example, has a limited selection of captioned content within their catalog. This would not be so bad if they were more conscientious about monitoring their content. Sometimes they do not caption a given episode out of a captioned series. Apparently they have to "receive" it from the content provider. They do not check to ensure that the file has been received each time and that it plays properly. I've had missing captioning, captioning that was out of sync, content that indicated it was captioned, but no captioning, content that does not indicate captioning, but had captioning. If this had been happening with a broadcast television station, they would have been hit with a bunch of fines. That's why broadcast stations have someone monitoring it to ensure quality and delivery of captioned content.

    Back to the point, streaming services are becoming more widespread, their catalog is expanding. They need to develop a scheme that simplifies handling and streaming of content such that captioning is automatically included and present from the content provider. That would ease the burden on Netflix, Hulu, and others. Netflix is the ideal target because they have one of the largest catalog of streaming content, and most of them were already captioned previously. In doing so, Netflix would have to sit down with the content providers and figure out a solution.

    Clearly not all content would feasibly be captioned. No reasonable court would enforce captioning on "private" or indie content unless aired over broadcast/cable. The burden on captioning needs to be shifted to the content creators. There are already standards that determines what content must be captioned and anything below that is at their discretion. It won't be easy I admit, but this needs to happen, and the sooner, the better.

  6. Re:Good luck with that fair trial thing on Zimmerman Charged With 2nd-Degree Murder · · Score: 1

    Generally people should follow the instructions of the dispatcher. When the dispatcher said "we", the dispatcher was clearly referring to the police themselves, along with the message to stop following him, implying that they would handle it.

    If you were in the dispatcher's shoes, would you trust some individual without the proper training to essentially pursue a suspect or would you want a real LEO to do it instead?

    So, yes, it is an established fact that the dispatcher told him to back off and let them handle it.

    Zimmerman, being part of the neighborhood watch had instructions to contact the police if he sees anything suspicious and to ALLOW them to handle it. That is his role. Trayvon on the other hand had no requirement to do so. Most men in general do not pull out their phones and call the cops whenever they think someone is following them. Such behavior makes them appear weak, and the typical masculine reaction is to confront their stalker or alternatively, running away to avoid trouble. Trayvon was on the phone with his girlfriend at the time also btw.

  7. Re:What is up with all these bad summaries lately? on Should Snatching an iPhone Be a Felony? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Shouldn't consideration be given to the "replacement" cost? I mean, Apple or any other cellphone maker/seller isn't going to replace a phone damaged by another person's mischief. Insurance, if applicable probably does not cover such cases directly.

    On top of that, the prosecutor usually goes for the maximum applicable charge. That way they don't look soft on crime, and it gives them the option of a plea agreement. It's all about intimidation. 60 days of jail plus a fine or whatever sounds a hell lot better than 10 years or whatever it comes out to; as opposed to them offering you 60 days at the onset.

  8. Re:This leads me to an interesting question... on Space Shuttles Discovery and Atlantis Meet One Last Time · · Score: 1

    No, but a sister shuttle was always kept on ready as a backup to be sent up if the other shuttle needed to be rescued.

  9. Re:Are you telling me? on FBI Tries To Force Google To Unlock User's Android Phone · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well the police does hold a PhD.....

  10. Re:I'm terrified. on Pharmacy On-a-chip Dispenses Drugs Automatically · · Score: 2

    That depends on the bioavailability of the drug in question.

    See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioavailability

    Most of the drugs you get are mostly filler / carrier mediums. Internally, you can just have the pure drug itself, reducing the required dosage.

    What I don't see is a easy way to package multiple drugs on a single implant without custom making each implant which I think is cost prohibitive. Standardized cocktails would be a different story.

    I'm surprised they didn't go with some sort of tiny metering system such as with a plunger and miniature stepper motor. That way it could be refillable (syringe) without having to cut the patient open every so often to replace the unit.

  11. Re:sounds like.. on A Paper Alloy To Replace Plastic Cases · · Score: 1

    It's all about matching the product to it's expected life cycle. Why over-engineer a product if it's expected to only last x number of (years, cycles, uses, etc) Anything more is a waste of raw materials.

    Older products had to be over-engineered because we didn't have computers and software sophisticated enough to run simulations to predict stresses within their structure. It was easier to just make it thick enough and leave it at that. Plus there's advances in chemistry and production processes. Injection molded plastics are also affected by their cooling rates, with faster cooling resulting in more brittle parts.

    If you don't like what's happening, you can always demand a better quality product which may or may not be available.

  12. Re:HIPAA uber-violation on Recycled Medical Records Used As Scrap Paper At Elementary School · · Score: 1

    That's the zoom-out feature. They're working on getting it to zoom-in.

  13. Re:Homeland Security? on Homeland Security Running NBC-Owned PSAs · · Score: 1

    If I had points, I'd mod you down for being a troll. I can't believe you'd be that oblivious about the role of the Department of Justice. Let me give you a hint. They run the FBI. Guess whose logo has been emblazoned on countless movies? That's right. The FBI.

    I think the only reason why the DHS is involved right now is so the DHS won't seem like it's only responsible for security theater and other FUD scenarios. So they seem somehow more vital to the operation of this country rather than an expendable line item.

  14. Re:NASCAR? Not likely this century on Lasers To Replace Sparkplugs In Engines? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Believe it or not, carburetors are better at atomizing the fuel mixture at full throttle conditions compared to injectors.

    Since airflow through a engine at wide open throttle is fairly well known, and easy to meter for, the carb can be adjusted to precisely match that and get the desired air-fuel ratios.

    Injectors can have trouble delivering large quantities of fuel at wide open throttle. When the duty cycle of the injector exceeds about 85-90%, it starts to have problems metering fuel correctly, and the coil starts to overheat. So the typical solution is to drop in larger injectors so a shorter duty cycle can be used.

    The other part of the issue with injectors is the short amount of time they have to deliver and atomize the fuel. The fuel is sprayed against the closed intake valves moments before the intake valves opens. The heat from the valves helps to vaporize the fuel. Since there's only so much heat, and only so much air in the intake port, not all of the fuel may be completely vaporized. The incoming air then has only a bit of time to attempt and vaporize what is left before the valves closes and combustion occurs.

    So why do we use fuel injectors? Because they excel at the thing carbs suck at, part throttle atomization. Injectors can easily meter out a precise amount of fuel determined by the amount of air entering the engine according to it's sensors. A carb has to deal with what it sees across the venturi which isn't as sensitive at part throttle conditions. Toss in the complicated dynamics of the air inside the plenum and it's hard for carbs to precisely meter out fuel.

  15. Re:I'll believe it when I see it. on Researchers Develop Biofuel Alternative To Ethanol · · Score: 1

    Yep. Commercial yeasts for brewing and winemaking are essentially self limiting. Commercial yeasts have figures which indicates the amount of alcohol they can tolerate before they start killing themselves. They don't go back and metabolize the alcohol. You can either allow them to poison themselves, or introduce an agent that kills the yeast if you want to reach a target residual sugar or alcohol %, or to ensure that it is dead and not just dormant.

  16. Re:right to not incriminate yourself? on British Teen Jailed Over Encryption Password · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So... what would it cost to break, say a 4096 bit RSA key? Oh, they can bill my grandkid's estate.

  17. Funding sources on Los Angeles Unveils $578 Million Public School · · Score: 1

    You need to look and see where they are getting their funding from. They may be paying for it through bonds, grants, etc that can only be used for very specific purposes, and not for the teacher's salaries, etc.

    Trecares

  18. Re:It's their business model... not the cost of in on HP Explains Why Printer Ink Is So Expensive · · Score: 1

    2K pages is nothing really. We have a HP 4200 that has several hundred thousand pages printed and it's only needed the scheduled maintenance to replace the fuser and other stuff once. It still prints the same as it did the day we got it. We get about 15-20K pages before the toner needs to be replaced.

    2K pages on the other hand might be something for a inkjet printer. That printer you have is rated to handle 12K pages a month. Coincidentally, it does have a microchip. I don't know if it's to prevent third party units or just to track page usage.

  19. Re:Surely they can't... on Symantec To Buy VeriSign's Authentication Business · · Score: 1

    Homer Simpson: NOOOOOO my secrets!

  20. Re:Questions on MIT Designs Aircraft That Uses 70% Less Fuel Than Conventional Planes · · Score: 1

    The fuel will be somewhere in the fuselage, possibly in the seat cushions (oh don't roll your eyes like that would make flying any more dangerous)

    No no, I rolled my eyes because the seat would be comfortable at the start of the flight, but at the end, I'd be sitting on the frame :( Passengers who weight more will generate greater pressure on the seat and thus deplete their fuel first. An incentive to lose weight?

  21. Re:Brilliant. Go Steve! on Inventor Demonstrates Infinitely Variable Transmission · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, the most efficient point is at peak torque. That's where the engine is able to produce the most energy for a given amount of gas. The horsepower peak is where the engine is producing the most power (energy/time). It is not necessarily it's most efficient point unless they coincide which is rare.

  22. Re:Ok, wait... on Avatars Used For Australian Online Sex Appeal Study · · Score: 1
  23. Re:Huh on John Carmack To Cut Space Tourism Prices 50% · · Score: 1

    I don't think that's a 7 nines uptime.

  24. Re:What the article fails to address on Ball Lightning Caused By Magnetic Hallucinations · · Score: 1

    Are you insane or a double agent? Cash has all kinds of markers on it, including RFID! The government has been tracking your subversive activities! I only accept payment in un-minted gold!

  25. Re:not funded yet on Biggest Detector To Look For Gravitational Waves · · Score: 1

    But wouldn't that mean the cube's trajectory lead into the sun? The cubes would be drawn to the sun, and since the cube moves, the satellite has to move inwards, falling into the sun? Kind of reminds me of that Stargate episode where they had to tinker with the space mine heh.