Slashdot Mirror


User: EmagGeek

EmagGeek's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
4,809
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 4,809

  1. I think some auditors are about to disappear. on Auditors Question TSA's Tech Spending, Security Solutions · · Score: 0, Troll

    Considering what happens to people who question this administration...

  2. Re:Alternative solution on North Magnetic Pole Racing Toward Siberia · · Score: 1

    That might be an attractive solution on paper, but doing so might create a highly-localized distortion in the space-time continuum. Even if one were to create a unilateral phase detractor with enough force to avoid the sinusoidal deplanaration that results from the superposition of two incongruent magnetic fields, there would be sufficient side-fumbling in the sperving bearings to cause a breakdown in the magneto-reluctance in the up-end of the artificial magnet's cardinal gram-meters.

  3. Re:It's about manufacturing yield... on AMD Radeon HD 6950 Can Be Unlocked To HD 6970 · · Score: 1

    That's entirely possible, but one must consider that they may run into stability issues in unlocking the masked processors. They don't create a cheaper card because they want to. They create it because it allows them to make money selling "defective" product as a simply lesser-capable product.

  4. Re:is it worth it? on Once-Darling Ethanol Losing Friends In High Places · · Score: 1

    Use hard math? Have you looked at the oxidation equations for gasoline and ethanol and compared the CO2 output for the same energy released? If you did, you'd see that it's not that different, and that ethanol doesn't significantly reduce CO2 output for a given energy release.

    Butanol is hygroscopic, by the way. It does absorb water and can cause the same contamination effects as ethanol-mixed fuel. It's just a little less prone to separation.

    Your post is full of politics and emotion, too...

  5. Re:Improper source. on Once-Darling Ethanol Losing Friends In High Places · · Score: 1

    Corn doesn't give ANY return on investment. Neither does sugar cane. Were it not for gigantic government subsidies, neither fuel would exist.

    In Brasil, food has to be subsidized not because it is used to make biofuel, but because land that would normally be used to grow food is used to grow cane. Then again, almost everything is subsidized in Brasil because of the poverty rampant there.

  6. Re:About. Damn. Time! on Once-Darling Ethanol Losing Friends In High Places · · Score: 1

    Don't forget that Ethanol cannot be piped, because it absorbs too much water along the way. So, it has to be trucked by diesel-powered tractor trailers.

    Ethanol also destroys boat fuel tanks and aircraft engines.

  7. It's about manufacturing yield... on AMD Radeon HD 6950 Can Be Unlocked To HD 6970 · · Score: 4, Informative

    So if I am a graphics chip manufacturer, I know that the fewer unique designs I have, the cheaper it will be to manufacture my product line. If I make both chips and boards, the same economy of scale applies to both the chips themselves and the assembled boards.

    If I can determine both my chip and board yield at in-circuit test, and configure each manufactured device to its maximum possible stable capability, then my manufacturing product yield is maximized.

    This type of yield binning is nothing new.

  8. Ethanol is a terrible solution on Once-Darling Ethanol Losing Friends In High Places · · Score: 1

    The production of ethanol requires more energy than is provided by the fuel itself, creates more pollution, the combustion of ethanol in vehicles causes more smog.

    Vehicles also consume more fuel because Ethanol has a lower energy content per mass and volume than gasoline.

    My car gets 3MPG better on non-Ethanol fuel - so thank god there's a gas station near me that sells UL87 mogas that does not have ethanol in it.

    Hopefully the Obama administration will deliver some of that "hope and change" and ban ethanol as a motor fuel..

  9. Weaponizing social media? on The Wrong Way To Weaponize Social Media · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What are we going to do, make fun of the Taliban until they all go emo and commit suicide?

  10. Am I the only one? on Problems With Truncation On the Common Application · · Score: 2

    Am I the only one who is really bothered by the scope of information requested on the "Common Application?"

    Much more than half of the information requested is either woefully subjective, completely irrelevant, or none of the school's damn business.

  11. Re:Whats the difference on Recording the Police · · Score: 1

    The Law doesn't apply to cops, remember?

    In any case, nobody in a public place has an expectation of privacy. I don't see how it could be illegal to record someone in a public place.

  12. Re:The problem with air travel is TSA on 'Pocket Airports' Would Link Neighborhoods By Air · · Score: 1

    The TSA only applies to Part 121 scheduled commercial service. There are no requirements to have TSA at small, general aviation airports handling Part 91 private operations or Part 135 on-demand operations.

  13. $799 price tag? on SatPhones — Why Can't They Make It Work? · · Score: 2

    Ever try to buy an iPhone or Android phone off-contract?

  14. Re:The Land Before CPUs on All-Analog DIY Segway Project · · Score: 1

    No kidding. It's not as if a PID controller is hard to do in analog circuitry.

  15. So which was it, "Devs" or "Leadership?" on Top Final Fantasy XIV Devs Replaced, PS3 Version Delayed · · Score: 1

    So, the title says the developers were replaced, but the summary says the leadership was replaced.

    TFA would seem to indicate that two people were taken out of leadership roles and replaced with a third guy.

  16. Re:Degenerate case on Medical Researcher Rediscovers Integration · · Score: 1

    A rectangle is a parallelogram, but not a trapezoid (depending on who you ask).

    I have always thought a trapezoid was a quadrilateral with exactly one pair of parallel sides, but not two. If it has two pairs, then it's a parallelogram (or a rectangle if the angle between adjacent sides just happens to be 90 degrees). Believe it or not, however, there seem to be those tho think a trapezoid should be allowed to have two pairs of parallel sides (thereby making it a parallelogram).

    Math people are weird.

  17. Re:It's official on Denver Bomb Squad Takes Out Toy Robot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's not so much that terrorists have won, but much more that police departments get paid more for envisioning ever more over-reactionary and retarded ways to respond to things.

    By convincing town boards that it is necessary to respond to a toy robot with a SWAT team, bomb squad, and a 200-strong terror response force, they can generate a ton of revenue from the town coffers that they get to spend on tacticool gear, weapons, and stuff.

  18. Skipping ads is pretty trivial already? on YouTube Launches Ads You Can Skip · · Score: 1

    Just hit the refresh button and more often than not, you get the video without the ad.

  19. WTF? What's the threat to national security? on DHS Seizes 75+ Domain Names · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously, kids downloading music poses what threat, exactly, to national security?

    One more piece of evidence that our government is just a puppet of deep-pocketed corporations and special interest groups.

    I'm starting to think N. Korea is spot on...

  20. It was always useless on Homeland Security Drops Color-Coded Terror Alerts · · Score: 1

    The "alert level" was Orange August 2006 until now. It was just an excuse to implement far-reaching "security" measures to strip people of their freedom in exchange for the illusion of security.

    The odds of dying from cancer caused by the X-ray backscatter systems are higher than the odds of being killed by a terrorist on a flight. I'd rather take my chances with the terrorists.

  21. Re:50/20 isn't the fastest on Verizon Speeds Up FiOS To 150Mbps · · Score: 1

    I believe my bundle price is $57.99. I actually get more like 40-42Mbit down as well. When I reupped my contract in July they offered me the 50/50 for $89.99. This was, of course, one month before they eliminated the "premium" for no-contract service. Grumble...

  22. 50/20 isn't the fastest on Verizon Speeds Up FiOS To 150Mbps · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've had 35/35 for a while, and I could have 50/50 if I wanted to pay another $30/mo for it.

  23. Re:You must be new at math. on AT&T Wireless Data Still Growing At 1000% · · Score: 1

    Wow, you don't read so well, do you?

    Here's my quote: "A growth rate of 1000% per year would mean going up 1000 times over three years, not 30 times."

    Let's dissect:

    "A growth rate of 1000% per year" means it grows 10 times every year.

    "would mean going up 1000 times over three years" means that, after three years, growing at 10 times per year, the original number would increase by a factor of 1000.

    Let's say the initial value is 5.

    After 1 year, it goes up 1000%, so 5 becomes 50.
    In the second year, the value starts at 50 and goes up another 1000%, so 50 becomes 500.
    In the third year, the value starts at 500 and goes up yet another amazing 1000%, so 500 becomes 5000.

    5000 divided by 5 is 1000. So, over three years, the initial value has grown... sit down... get ready... 1000 times!

    Do you understand it yet, or do I need to break it down into even simpler terms? I can use smaller numbers if you wish, and possibly even explain how you can compute this using only the fingers you already have.

  24. Must be that new math. on AT&T Wireless Data Still Growing At 1000% · · Score: 0, Troll

    A growth rate of 1000% per year would mean going up 1000 times over three years, not 30 times.

    Increasing 30 times over three years is a growth rate of about 311% per annum.

  25. Re:Love my Cherokee 180 on EPIC Files Lawsuit To Suspend Airport Body Scanner Use · · Score: 1

    Yeah kids can put a stop to flying for sure. I guess it's a matter of priorities. My wife and I have ZERO desire for kids, so I get to have an airplane and my wife can have horses instead. It doesn't mean we're "rich." It just means we have different priorities.

    My point was, though, that it's not as expensive as everyone thinks, and you certainly don't have to be "rich" to do it.