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User: LightJockey

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  1. Cost comparison... Hmmm.... on SpaceShipOne Flight Completed Successfully · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The X15 project was said to have cost an estimated $300 Million in 1969 dollars... Rutan and Scaled have done the same thing for probably a LOT less than that... at least 20 million (of Allen's money) for sure, but thats still a long way off from the corrected '69 price. Chalk one up for advances in technology and private efficiency!

  2. Re:Someone Fix wikipedia! on Remembering Pioneer 10 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, at that time, it passed both, so they're both right. Some people may not know that pluto's orbit is not centred around the sun, but offset, so that it occaisionally crosses inside neptune's orbit.

  3. Re:Prior art: NASA on Kodak Sues Sony Over Digital Camera Patents · · Score: 1

    Its like a previous article posted about the Spirit rover's cameras, in the fact that the CCDs are fairly low resolution (maybe just over 1 megapixel) and monochrome to boot, but the lenses that are in front of them cost about a million bucks each (IIRC)

  4. Re:Reliability? on 4GB HD in Under an Inch · · Score: 0, Troll

    Soooo.. what... you're saying a midget can't punch as hard as a full sized person? HA HA I kill me....

  5. Re:Please report to your local re-education camp.. on Sun Announces New AMD-Based Product Line · · Score: 1

    If your AC power supply is bad, it doesn't matter what processor you're using!

  6. Re:Inside or outside? on Writing in Space with a Cheap Ballpoint Pen · · Score: 1

    Probably inside, the pen wouldn't last long without some kind of insulation on it (really hot in the sunlight, extremely cold when there isn't any sun).. all that extreme heating/cooling would probably crumble it at the slightest touch.

  7. Re:Diamond to replace vacuum tubes?? on NTT Verifies Diamond Semiconductor Operation At 81 GHz · · Score: 1

    >>Please point me to any "scientific" evidence that tubes are superior.

    100 Kilowatt single-device Triode tubes exist and are used regularly in broadcasting.

    When was the last time you saw a 100 kilowatt MOSFET?

  8. My pick for most annoying "feature"... on Worst Linux Annoyances? · · Score: 1

    ... are MAN pages which describe the functions and programming methodology of which the command was written...

    But has no actual reference as to how to use the command properly, and has a "See Man pages for ****". And the Man pages for **** tell you to read the pages you were just reading.

    The only case where RTFM causes an infinite loop!

  9. Re:Please help a Linux Newbie on Nat Demos Dashboard · · Score: 1

    Somebody must have nothing better to do... I think I've seen this exact flame maybe 10 or 15 times, attached to completely different posts, in the last 2 weeks!

  10. Re:Next generation cards on GF FX 5900 Ultra vs. ATi Radeon 9800 Pro · · Score: 1

    You're bashing nVidia for using assets and resources of a company that they bought? Thats hardly fair, seeing as the Radeon series has a lot of technology in it that ATi acquired when they bought ArtX. We all know that nVidia is thoroughly capable of innovation, look at the GeForce256 line when it came out... blew anything and everything out of the water. Now, if nVidia was REALLY going to suck the idea-cow that was 3dfx dry, they'd be releasing SLI/MultiGPU cards like 3dfx did with the Voodoo5 5500 and 6000. I don't know if the NV35 is multiway capable, IIRC I remember seeing something about the newer Radeons being (I think?) 32-way enabled? Don't quote me on that one tho...


    And so long as you guys know, I'm not an nVidia fanboy. My recent progression of vidcards... Rage128 -> GeForce2 MX -> AIW 7500 -> Radeon 9500 Pro. Was just something that stuck with me when I made the switch from the Rage to the GeForce.. the image quality at anything higher than 1024x768 (2D) sucked compared to the ATIs... been with Big Red ever since.


  11. Ummm.... on Apple to Announce new Mac OS X version in June · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Why does this have an AMD image if its about OS X?

  12. Re:did anyone... on Review of First 10K IDE Drive · · Score: 1

    Yeah I thought that was pret...

    crap, hold on, I'm outta swap space.. gotta change the platter! Damn these 10K hard drives...

  13. So what's the big news? on Star Trek Nemesis Preview Online · · Score: 1

    This trailer has been available for at least a month on startrek.com and apple.com

    You guys gotta get on the ball man!

  14. Canada's actually ahead of the curve... on Why You Don't Have a Broadband Connection · · Score: 1

    I remember reading somewhere that broadband adoption was something at like 30% of connected users.. but don't quote me on that!

    In Toronto, for example, we have only 1 cable internet provider (Rogers) BUT, on the same note, we have anywhere from 5 to 10 DSL providers in addition to the local TelCo (Bell CA).. I'm not sure about wireless (Look Communications offered 3mbps wireless access, don't know if its still around).

    You can get 1.0/128 for as low as $25 a month here (Canadian.. which equates to.. about $13 US) and my cable (3.0/320) runs me just over $40 a month.

  15. No effect on professionals on Sony Kills Betamax · · Score: 1

    Sony has killed the BetaMAX line, not the BetaCAM line. BetaCam was the professional version of the Beta format, incredible video quality but the tapes aren't compatible with each other, because the BetaCam tapes (which come in 2 sizes, 90 minute and 30 minute, and they are physically different sizes, yet can be played by the same machine, by putting it in the same slot) have a much higher lead content, and need a more powerful motor to push them by the heads. Betamax players can't give it the umph, and the playback speed on Betacam is much higher.

    I worked for a pro A/V house for 3 years maintaining over a hundred of these decks, and about half as many U-Matic (3/4" broadcast tape) decks.

  16. Re:Suck. on VisionTek Folds · · Score: 1

    My Rig: Athlon XP 1800
    My VidCard: ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 7500

    My Performance with the new Catalyst Drivers: Flawless :)

    Had ATI first (Rage 128 SGRAM), then went to nVidia (GF2MX 32MB), and went back to ATI, and got a big "Welcome Home"

    When the Radeon 9700 AIW comes out, I'll be the first in line!

  17. Re:Odds on MIT vs. Las Vegas · · Score: 1

    I'll agree with you there. Baccarat has no strategy. The next action is determined strictly by your current card count (i.e. More than 9, you stand, less than 9, you get a card) I remember doing a statistics report on baccarat and the odds are surprisingly good for the player.

  18. Final Scratch is actually... on Digital DJ Turntable · · Score: 3, Informative

    ... based entirely in Linux, because as it says on Stanton's website, Windows is "not a stable enough environment"

    I've played with Final Scratch, Ritchie Hawtin had a hand in it, and it is, without a word of a doubt, incredible. But if you really want to go pure digital, check out the Pioneer CDJ-1000, allows you to save wave data off a CD, store it to an SD card, scratch, cue, add effects, everything. Check it out here

  19. Hmm, where's Linda? on Review: Men In Black II · · Score: 1

    Wasn't Linda Fiorentino supposedly understood as being Jay's "new partner" at the end of the last movie? I wonder how many times she got zapped after that :)

  20. One Word: CAJUN on Sony Hard Drive Recorder for Cars · · Score: 1

    Go buy a $150 P-100 laptop with 32 megs of RAM, a $99 Matrix orbial 4x80 LCD screen, a $10 4x4 keypad, about $40 in various parts and a $29 power inverter.

    Step 1. Install Linux on said Laptop
    Step 2. Install XAudio on said laptop
    Step 3. Install CAJUN on said laptop
    Step 4. Wire it.
    Step 5. Load music on laptop's HD or burn to CDROM
    Step 6. Push "PLAY", and laugh at all the poor schmucks who just paid $1400 for something that you constructed (more elegantly and probably cooler).

  21. Re:Why your dad says that... on AOpen Debuts The Funniest Motherboard Ever · · Score: 1

    I beleive your assumptions are correct... looks remarkably like the 12AX7s I have in my Tubeworks guitar preamp. But one thing I love about tubes is that different tubes from different manufacturers have a slightly different "sound" (i.e. Different operating characteristics) so I wonder if they've socketed the tube, or hardwired it... hopefully they've got it in a nice ceramic socket to isolate it from the board.

    I wonder if we can change out the stock tube (if it is a 12AX7) to maybe.. an old coke bottle sylvania or a squeeky clean russion SovTek tube :)

  22. Re:Oh that's what I need... on AOpen Debuts The Funniest Motherboard Ever · · Score: 1

    Yup, and I've seen 'em... they need about as much water as a large laser to cool, but DAMN, its an impressive sight.

    Besides, how ELSE do you keep a 200-kilowatt triode at its optimum temperature, seeing as how it has no thermally-conductive surfaces to attach a heatsink or some kind of TEC device? But its basically a thermos though, no air inside. If you think a normal tube gets hot on the OUTSIDE, imagine what the components INSIDE are going through, taking into account that a vaccuum will slow down the transfer of heat via radiation...

  23. Re:Ummm.. you want music? on KaZaA Collapses · · Score: 1

    True, but you can learn how to search for the song you want even if it is flagged "X" in its pure form.. searching for an artist PLUS a song title will almost always return you values that are "Xed" out, but just one or the other might snag you the same, but also point you to others who have played with the naming.. like putting an underscore in the title instead of a space, etc...

    Since the RIAA can't prove copyright of songs that aren't the exactly title they've registered (could you imagine copyrighting all the different permutations of a song title? God its mind boggling) those songs are technically in a legal "grey" area that nobody has addressed yet...

  24. Ummm.. you want music? on KaZaA Collapses · · Score: 3, Informative

    Hasn't anyone here heard of AudioGalaxy? If I want pr0n or movies, then I'd have used Kazaa, but for music I always use AG Satellite... surprisingly their music dBase is a LOT bigger, plus they actually host indie artists whose music you are free to download without ANY copyright (ok, I might not be using the right term here so no post-whippings! :) )

    Put it this way... if you want commercial stuff, look on Kazaa. If you want that, plus lesser-known, indie, underground, or even oldies, go AG.

    You can always go old school too, since AG has a "backup plan" in case somebody goes after them for their sharing. They've been offering an FTP search database as well. I still remember that back in the day when it was called the Borg Music Search.

  25. Re:Parallelism on The End Of The Innovation Road for CMOS · · Score: 1

    A multi-die Hammer proc would be such a sweet wonder to behold... BUT.. if they put out as much heat as current Athlons do, can you imagine the size of the heatsink that an EIGHT PROCESSOR module would need?? I don't even know if normal forced air cooling would be sufficient, peltier/waterblock might be the way to go, unless those "CoolChip" thingies get off the ground.

    But another issue on "speed" of processors, scaling the number of bits a processor can push would also theoretically increase its "power". Look at a P3 versus an Alpha/MIPS/UltraSPARC on some number crunching. The 64 bitters might not be clocked nearly as high as the P3/P4, but they can process HUGE amounts of data at a time, so their Intel-approved speed rating (i.e. Mhz) goes down the proverbial shitter.