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User: aikido_kit

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Comments · 26

  1. Interesting choice of articles... on U.S. Forces In Iraq Ban GPS Phones · · Score: 1

    Guess you can't use this phone...

  2. Two words on Advice You Would Give to Your 12 Year-Old Self? · · Score: 1

    Buy Microsoft. ;-) You might as well mark this as flamebait!

  3. Just what we need on Check Traffic Congestion Online · · Score: 1

    Another device to play with while driving a car. I hope this is being touted as a way of checking traffic before you leave the house, not something to do while approaching a traffic jam. Nothing like surfing the web on your phone while driving at lethal speeds. Being an emergency medical technician, I've seen enough of those to never answer a phone while driving.

  4. Any different than... on Dealing with Employers Who Perform Credit Checks? · · Score: 1

    A drug check? A references/background check? A criminal check? What is the price you will pay for employment? When I worked at UPS, they insisted on a criminal check to weed out package stealers. So a criminal could never work there. Neither can a reformed citizen. Also, with the economy the way it is, would you turn down a job for a moral stand? I know I couldn't. Remember that employment is voluntary on both fronts; you choose to work for them and they choose to keep you around.

    If I go to Amsterdam or Algeria, do the local drugs *which are legal there*, and return home to a drug test, have I broken a law? Whose?

  5. Two words on Atari 2600 Game Development · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Supercalifragulisticespialidocious.

    Twice.

  6. Capitalism in Education on Grade Inflation in Higher Education · · Score: 2, Informative

    I remember when I was taking grad classes as an undergrad to get credits. The undergrad classes were harsh, but the grad classes in the same subject, and sometimes as a "codeshare" with an undergrad class were much easier. While an grader would deduct points for style and format from an u/g, they wouldn't for a grad student. *Even on the same TEST*. Here's why:

    Remember that private universities are corporations, and they want revenue. Most grad students were there at the cost of their companies. Typically, as long as they get a B or above, the corporation pays. Otherwise the student pays. Take a class or two, and if the grades are not up to par, its not financially worth taking the class. So to make sure the university gets a steady revenue stream from the local corps, they make sure that the students pass with an A or B.

    At least thats how it was when I was there. Did I mention I'm never going back?

  7. Drop Tests on UnitedLinux Pushes Into Telecom Market · · Score: 1

    I remember doing some testing with IBM, and I remember the drop tests for computers was off a 30 inch desktop. Just slide it off the desk.

    Now I know some former AT&T engineers who used the third floor window as their drop test level. Now thats rugged!

  8. So? on Hard Drives Down To A Dollar A Gigabyte · · Score: 1
    "I just can't wait for the days when things are $1/TB."

    But by then, the operating system will take 100 TB.

  9. NASA Says: Take a Chance on Actual Costs for the Space Station · · Score: 2, Interesting
    At my college graduation, the keynote speech was given by the head of NASA at the time. I don't remember his name now, but I remember the gist of his speech. When he started with NASA, there was a lot of experimental work going on. They had an Edisonian philosophy; your experiment didn't fail, you just eliminated one more possibility. They had pretty sever losses (explosions, lost astronauts, etc), but in a short time made up a lot of ground and got to the moon (No pun intended).

    Since those times, people have gotten more cautious. People/businesses won't take a chance unless there is almost assured success. Unless you take an educated chance, you won't know whats possible. If a company's R&D won't research a possible solution that has a chance of failing, the scope of solutions is limited.

    His final words were something along the lines of "Don't take the safe route everytime, you'll never see anything new". Unfortunately, CEOs and PR people will vehemently object to the possibility of failure, so we won't see that kind of thinking.

  10. Motivation on Fewer Employees + Same Work = Higher Productivity · · Score: 1

    So if you're layoff survivor, wouldn't you work harder to make sure you survive the next cut? Its like the old joke about two people being chased by a tiger. You don't have to outrun the tiger, you have to outrun the other guy.

  11. Another reason for Corporate IM on AOL Selling AIM Gateway/Listener To Employers · · Score: 1

    Another reason that Enterprise IM is becoming a necessity is that it is intra-business communication, equivalent to memos and emails. You'll also want message logging/recording and other stuff required for compliance with HIPPA or the SEC. The intent is to make messages loggable and available as proof of communication, as evidence. Imagine if Arthur Andersen sent an IM instead of a memo telling people to shred documents.

  12. EULA on First Worm with a EULA? · · Score: 1
    By reading this post, you hereby authorize the author, Slashdot.org, or any party contracted by the author or Slashdot.org, referred to from here on as "us" to inspect your internet browsing device, referred to from here on as "your machine". You also grant us persmission to, at our discretion, update, remove, or modify components of your machine as we deem necessary. You may refuse these permissions by unreading this post.

    So now is this enforcible?

  13. Re:The down side... on Burn A Song For 99 Cents · · Score: 1

    The question no one's asked yet is: How do you know what songs you want till you've heard them? And how would you hear them? Did you say download them?

  14. Dangerous Server Room I've been in on The Most Dangerous Server Rooms · · Score: 1
    While working for a large multinational company, I had a short stint in the server room. I kid you not, it was about 2 acres. Indoors. With one door on the far end. And a Halon system that allowed you exactly 5 seconds to get to the door before it sealed shut. I had to sign a waiver that my family wouldn't sue if I died in there. Of course, the union people were allowed to prop open the door with a toolbox. No one else was.

    Yeah, I worked there a long time. Not!

  15. Fishing on Land? on Humans Use 83 Percent of Earth's Surface · · Score: 2, Funny

    Fishing for LANDSHARK!!!

  16. Don't recycle, Reuse! on Discarded Cell Phones · · Score: 1
    Go to any womens shelter and give them your old phone. Even though a phone may have no service provider, the phone is still required to allow 911 calls. So womens shelters give them to women who need a phone to dial 911.

    Please don't throw away, and worse yet pollute, with something that can be used in such a positive way.

  17. Re:Speak for yourself on Testing Products for Web Applications? · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Let me guess...Hooked on Fonix Werked fer yew? "military intellitgence"

  18. Speak for yourself on Testing Products for Web Applications? · · Score: -1, Troll
    I am not too lazy to test my own code. If you can't unit test your own code, you're not doing your job. Any code monkey can sling enough code till it compiles, or seems to run. It takes a real programmer or a real engineer to do the job right.

    You're supposed to test what you write, otherwise how do you know you've not written garbage? Or maybe that's how you write?

  19. Re:Who need a plot... on Star Trek: Pick A Plot · · Score: 3, Funny
    I remember being at scifi convention years ago, soon after Next Generation started. Gene Roddenberry was there, doing a Q&A session. At one point, a 4 year old boy sitting on his dad's shoulders raises his hand. Gene smiles, and calls on the boy. The kid asks..."Does Wesley have to save the ship every week?"

    Gene coughed and said they were working on it.

  20. Re:Volcano question - Leydenhaus (sp?) Effect on Alton Brown Answers, At Last · · Score: 1
    In physics, there is something known as the Leydenhaus (sp?) Effect. This is where a fluid contacts a superhot surface and the first paricles of that fluid vaporize. The vaporized fluid is now a gas, and acts as an insulator.

    Example 1: Heat a skillet, and put some water on it. The water will sizzle, and evaporate. Keep heating the skillet for a while, preferably a cast iron one. Pour a little water again, and watch how it seems to stay around longer than it did before. And it will look shinier, like a mirror. Thats the reflection of steam under the water.

    Example 2: Ever see Jearl Walker spit liquid nitrogen from his mouth? He takes a sip of liquid nitrogen, and holds it in his mouth for a few seconds before spitting out. The liquid nitrogen goes from liquid to gas wherever it touches him.

  21. It's Hindi!!! on Managing a Global Programming Team? · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Hindu is a religion. Hindi is the language.

    Hint: Use the right word

  22. Is this related to the article on strangelets... on 5.2 Earthquake Shakes Up SF Bay Area · · Score: 1

    Since a quake just hit Taiwan, about 24 hours later, measuring 6.2? Go figure, two slashdot articles tied together...

  23. There IS a precedent on Alternatives to the CBDTPA? · · Score: 1

    Remember when VCRs came out, and the broadcast and movie industries had a cow? They were worried about piracy, and bootleg shops, where VCRs could be strung together to make many copies at once. Many law-abiding people were afraid to tape their favorite shows, since the broadcasters said people would be violating copyrights.

    Then they created Macrovision. All of a sudden, you could go to the rental place, and pick up a movie and watch it. You could watch it on your Panasonic, Sony, Zenith, Sharp, or xxx brand VCR (see, platform independent). But you couldn't copy it without buying one of those Macrovision decoders (which work so-so). And the broadcasters stopped caring if people videotaped their shows, because they may have realized that a videotaped show is better than an unwatched show.

    Combine this with the fact that movies can be had for a few bucks (remember when they cost $89.95?), and the movie industry had a new market to sell in. How quickly they forget!

    I feel the main complaint is that I have the right to watch a movie or listen to a CD in whatever device I own or want.

    Remember also that Macrovision didn't care who you were, what device you were playing back on, and wouldn't report you to someone if you tried to circumvent it.

    My two cents, for what it's worth...

  24. Can anyone say... on How to Build a Computerized Android Robot Head · · Score: 1

    (damn postercomment compression filter)
    And she spoke
    three words
    pure and true

    Or however it went at the end of Neuromancer

  25. Re:Advert as content? on Dog Bites Website · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Not only is this an advertisement, but on my preferences, I have it set to not show articles by Jon Katz. But I see it anyway. Wonder if this is a bug, or an article that I can't filter out.

    Looks like Jon wanted to make sure everyone saw this.