Slashdot Mirror


User: thebigmacd

thebigmacd's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
516
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 516

  1. Re:First to file. on Amazon Patents the Milkman · · Score: 1

    First-to-file only applies when two or more people apply for the same patent within the application period. Prior art is still relevant. The rest of the world with less-broken patent offices have always been first-to-file.

  2. Re:I'm pretty sure it doesn't work on China's Radical New Space Drive · · Score: 1

    I didn't say American-made, I said American-market. Intended for sale in the USA.

    Canadian-market electrical fittings and boxes are designed and manufactured in Canada by Iberville/Thomas&Betts, and they all have Robertson/flat combo screwheads. So no, not *everything* is made in China these days, generally the junk destined for the US market is.

  3. Re:Could be the best thing... on Dell Going Private In $24.4 Billion Agreement · · Score: 1

    Nardelli then went to Cerberus where he sucked the rest of the life (whatever was left after Daimler had its turn) out of Chrysler.

  4. Re:I'm pretty sure it doesn't work on China's Radical New Space Drive · · Score: 1

    As other commenters have said, the issue was with Robertson not coming to an agreement with Ford. I have heard that Robertson would never let Americans license his design (he was a good ol Canuck, and not a big fan of Americans).

    As well, there was an advantage in production that Phillips heads had over Robertson, in that the driver bit pops out of the screw head when the screw tightens up. In old production environments before the advent of accurate torque-limiting drivers for all stations, it was a handy way to determine proper screw torque.

    As a Canadian it drives me nuts when we get obvious American-market electrical fittings that only have a slotted head. Seriously? And square-drive is bad too; screws fall off the driver bit, etc. You need that slight taper. I get annoyed with Phillips head too when I go to loosen an old corroded terminal screw and the bit just keeps popping out.

  5. Re:Chinese product... on WindowsAndroid Lets You Run Android 4.0 Natively On Your PC · · Score: 1

    ...which is not the China everyone is suspicious of.

  6. Re:Chinese product... on WindowsAndroid Lets You Run Android 4.0 Natively On Your PC · · Score: 1

    Taiwan

  7. Re:Under duress? on Student Expelled From Montreal College For Finding "Sloppy Coding" · · Score: 1

    Don't blame Quebec, blame the Fathers of Confederation that said "we need you to join our country, we'll let you have your own French-based laws if that's what it takes."

  8. Re:One of the execs on Former Nortel Execs Await Corporate Fraud Ruling · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Canada has a prime minister, last time I checked.

    The individual campaign contribution limit in Canada is $1000. Corporate and union campaign contributions are illegal, and all lobbyists must be registered as such. Transfers from trust funds etc are illegal.

    Our Federal election campaigns are 6 weeks long and politicians go into debt to finance them. Campaign spending is limited by law. If you spend more than the limit, you could have your seat taken from you and a by-election called.

  9. Re:What exploding middle class? The one in China a on Anti-GMO Activist Recants · · Score: 1, Informative

    Income and standard of living are orthogonal metrics: standard of living can increase while income decreases, and vice-versa.

    And in the western world, standard of living has increased more than income has decreased.

  10. Re:Not legal here. on Baltimore Issued Speed Camera Ticket To Motionless Car · · Score: 2

    *whoosh*

    What does a double shift have to do with an 80 hour DAY?

  11. Re:I detect spin... on Nokia Engineer Shows How To Pirate Windows 8 Metro Apps, Bypass In-app Purchases · · Score: 2

    We use *Imperial* gallons in our fuel efficiency ratings. The numbers cannot be compared directly to US gallons, as there are ~4.5 liters per Imperial gallon, and 3.785 liters per US gallon.

  12. Re:I detect spin... on Nokia Engineer Shows How To Pirate Windows 8 Metro Apps, Bypass In-app Purchases · · Score: 1

    Canada. We advertise fuel economy in both L/100km and mpg (Imperial)

  13. Re:timeframes reveal anything? on Air Force Sends Mystery Mini-Shuttle Back To Space · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The space shuttle was largely a new craft at every launch too: the fuel tank was new, the engines were rebuilt, tiles were replaced, boosters were remanufactured (and completely new every few flights)

    I think it was the shuttle (might have been the Saturn V) that had around 4000 parts fail every flight.

  14. Re:DRM on Linux 3.7 Released · · Score: 0

    The fiscal cliff is an artificial construct, in that the location of the cliff is completely arbitrary, and set by politicians. If they decide to remove the fiscal cliff by agreeing to more debt, it goes away. It's not a tangible limit.

    The fiscal cliff has nothing to do with whether the US can actually afford to service its debts, but the media plays it out that way.

    Granted, I completely agree that more debt is ridiculous.

  15. Re:where is the random? on High-Frequency Traders Use 50-Year-Old Wireless Tech · · Score: 1

    I'm sure the parent poster is familiar with stop losses: they fall directly into the category of *deciding to sell without regard for cause*. Regardless of when the stop loss was set up, it was a decision that was made by a person to sell depending on conditions that do not consider cause.

  16. Re:wine on Darling: Run Apple OS X Binaries On Linux · · Score: 3

    You sure about this? You can run even the latest and greatest Windows versions of Steam games via playonlinux, which is basically a wrapper for WINE. Things have improved greatly in the last year or two.

  17. Re:Socialism and Unions on Stay Home When You're Sick! · · Score: 1

    Benefits: short term disability, then long term disability. Many full time employees have this, even in the non-unionized private sector.

    And if you are the principal breadwinner you buy $50,000 or more in private critical illness insurance for when you have a heart attack, get cancer, etc and survive for more than 30 days. (Many Canadians don't know this insurance even exists).

  18. Re:Fuck those greedy bastards. on Tesla Motors Sued By Car Dealers · · Score: 1

    I was replying to "Manufacturer-only dealers would probably be similar to those, complete with branded-only parts (incredibly marked up), changing interfaces, and closed, proprietary systems they tried their damndest to have sole access to."

    Which is not true. Because of right-to-repair. Which means the franchise-only laws are not needed in the states where they exist.

  19. Re:Thanks, Toshiba (crosses off purchase list) on Toshiba Pursues Copyright Claim Against Laptop Manual Site · · Score: 1

    They got them from someone who works at an authorized Toshiba services provider...duhhh...is my sarcasm detector broken?

  20. Re:Fuck those greedy bastards. on Tesla Motors Sued By Car Dealers · · Score: 1

    Except that one of the very states that this lawsuit applies to (Mass) just passed a strong law that forces manufacturers to provide their diagnostic tools and information at a reasonable price to anyone who wishes to purchase them. And most if not all states have laws that do not allow voiding of a warranty because you got an independent to fix your vehicle. So no, it wouldn't be the same as Apple.

  21. Re:no need for internet connectivity on Industrial Control Software Easily Hackable · · Score: 1

    They want to be able to change setpoints to make people happy...without going in to work. I agree, data diode is a great idea...when you don't need to interact with the system.

  22. Re:Why does this matter? on Fisker Hybrids Get Bad Karma From Superstorm Sandy · · Score: 1

    There is no automated method of shutting off power at the local level. All disconnects and reconnects are done manually at the pole. Sad, but true. If they shut down the whole power system beforehand, everyone would run out of generator fuel before the disaster even happened. It's cheaper and easier to leave everything live and fix stuff that breaks. They are going to have to go out to site to fix the wires anyway, why waste time going around ahead of time? Also, if you shut everything off, how do you know where the problems are? You can't just turn the whole grid on and off either, the generating stations would go bonkers, especially nuclear. It takes days to shut them down and turn them on again.

  23. Re:Er... lots are normally plowed on Canadian Researchers Create Wireless Charger For Electric Cars · · Score: 1

    Snow plow blades on road lows are kept off the surface by wear blocks, so they don't dig in to the surface.

  24. Re:no need for internet connectivity on Industrial Control Software Easily Hackable · · Score: 2

    This is very common in the HVAC industry. Customers want to be able to check on their building on their smart phone at home over the weekend. Even without that requirement, the systems get put on the local intranet with everything else because the customer will not provide a separate network nor allow us to add our own. Very few of our customers put HVAC controls on separate VLANs with no access to the Internet.

  25. Re:fact checking on Third 2012 US Presidential Debate Tonight: Discuss Here · · Score: 1