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  1. Re:Huh? on One-a-Day-Compiles: Good Enough For Government Work In 1983 · · Score: 2

    In 1979 I worked at a Fortune 200 company with a couple of IBM 370s. In our computer programming department, about 20 programmers shared 2 3270 terminals. You could hand-write coding sheets to have it keypunched, but turn-around was a day or two. Dumps & snapsdumps were common debugging tools.

  2. Re:If you're Knuth, you fart a complete OS in ASM on 50 Years of BASIC, the Language That Made Computers Personal · · Score: 1

    Maybe so, but even for him a 7 volume set on computer programming takes a very long time indeed.

  3. Re:There is also no such thing as a non-radioactiv on Setback For Small Nuclear Reactors: B&W Cuts mPower Funding · · Score: 2

    Sure radioactive means dangerous, but dangerous != harmful. There is always risk. Gasoline is dangerous, you handle it carelessly and you can get a big explosion. Refineries are dangerous. Coal mines are dangerous, etc. The question is not "is it dangerous", but how dangerous is it? How can we mitigate risk? Is it worth the risk?

  4. Re:KickStarter? on Setback For Small Nuclear Reactors: B&W Cuts mPower Funding · · Score: 2

    Wouldn't it be more accurate to say the Large reactors make more sense in some situations?

    If all you need is 50 MW, building a 1 GW plant makes no sense. If you have a projected growth of 25MW per year, and you are bumping against capacity, you have the choice of building out a 50 MW mini-nuke every 2 years or a 1 GW plant every 40 years, the time-value of money on a big plant will kill you for production costs in the short term.

    Maybe the modular plant will actually be cheaper once your start producing them in volume, given a streamlined licensing path the the SMR.

    The question is whether the natural market for SMRs is sufficiently large that they can ever become competitive, or at least large enough to justify the R&D, etc. needed to produce them in the first place to justify them as an independent market. Some people are betting they can make this work. Under a capitalist economy they are generally free to make the attempt with limits.

    mPower may have reached the point that their attempt is going to fail. This does not directly affect the others making the attempt unless investors as a class lose interest in SMRs because of examples like mPower.

    If I had an extra 10 billion USD, I would invest heavily in SMRs -- mPower, not a dime. I would bet on LFTR and maybe other fission techs. For example, this reactor design looks like a nice candidate for an intermediate complexity solution -- still a big downside in term of fuel burnup, but might be worth the investment too.

    Nothing for fusion though, I don't expect to live long enough to see it pay it. I see SMR as a natural outcome of better tech, not a tweak of a pressurized light water reactor.

    I would agree that mPower will never really result in cheap nuke option. The complications necessary to make LWR reactor "safe" fight against scaling down to smaller plant designs.

  5. Re:Intuitive on Siphons Work Due To Gravity, Not Atmospheric Pressure: Now With Peer Review · · Score: 1

    And wrong. 2 things are needed. Gravity, cohesion in the working fluid. See working siphon in a vacuum -- Their explanations are actuall pretty good.

  6. Re:Actually it's both. on Siphons Work Due To Gravity, Not Atmospheric Pressure: Now With Peer Review · · Score: 1

    Air pressure does not push the fluid up the tube ever. The liquids cohesiveness is pulling it up the tube. This video is actually running a siphon in a vacuum with good explanations of how a siphon really works.

    The only time atmospheric pressure enter the picture as a driving force is the case when you suck the liquid throw the siphon tube initially.

    You can't run a siphon of water over a height greater than atmospheric pressure is that water does not have sufficient cohesiveness to pull it over this height.

  7. Re:Doesn't solve fundamental problem on Algorithm Challenge: Burning Man Vehicle Exodus · · Score: 2

    As is often the case, the real answer is the monetize the solution. Charge for parking access / egress priority rights. Those in first class pay more, but get to exit first. The money problem solves how you get the resource for parking attendants, etc. needed to enforce the rules.

    Now, you may even collect enough funds to make it worthwhile to improves the access to the local highways to increase flow rates significantly via additional lanes, etc.

    A bunch of hippies won't like this solution, but they are probably used to it by now.

  8. Re:or just use c++ in the first place on .NET Native Compilation Preview Released · · Score: 1

    Used to do a lot of C++ coding, one man and teams. When doing C++, would have problem apps that the c++ expert (often me) had to debug because of crashes, memory leaks, etc. When doing similar things in c#, these problems largely go away. C# is hardly unique in this aspect (Java, etc.)

    Though I love me some c/c++, I also know that most programmers will find C# and other higher languages less troublesome in the real world. Deny it if you want, but it my experience there is no contest.

    IMO C# is really of nice language, too bad it is effectively MS only -- Mono is not really mainstream, and appears unlikely to ever get this unless a miracle occurs.

  9. Re:Terrible summary on Scientists Solve the Mystery of Why Zebras Have Stripes · · Score: 1

    Hello ... stripes are thinning. First you get a few females with stripes, guys prefer them -- breeding takes over stripes everywhere.

    Lest you think this is jest. Consider the standard evolutionary advantage explanation of peacock plumage as sexual preference based on the appearance. In fact, the literature abounds with appearance based sexual preferences as explanatory.

    The real question is why did Zebras evolve "fashion sense"

    Flies avoiding stripes, just happened to be a side benefit.

  10. Or they could just hire some kids to load Linux on London Council Dumping Windows For Chromebooks To Save £400,000 · · Score: 0

    Or they could just hire some kids to load Linux -- I could load Linux on a lot of old computers with a locked down linux and browser. The Chromebooks will be $200 per.

  11. Re:Digital Assistant software on Microsoft: Start Menu Returns, Windows Free For Small Device OEMs, Cortana Beta · · Score: 2

    Actually, this is the one thing I actually care about. A little competition in the digital assistant marketplace can only be a good this. The number of deep pockets able to compete here must be pretty limited, and the state of the art can definitely use some improvement. Matters not if MS version is better or not as long as it is decent it will be some additional competition.

  12. Re:April Fools was yesterday on Microsoft: Start Menu Returns, Windows Free For Small Device OEMs, Cortana Beta · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I thought it more laughable the parent suggested that MS listened to slashdotters

  13. Re:Microsoft Promises Not To Snoop Through Email on Microsoft Promises Not To Snoop Through Email · · Score: 1

    Microsoft not evil -- I feel like my head is going to exploaaqft

  14. Re:Interesting effort on Introducing a Calendar System For the Information Age · · Score: 1

    Due to tidal drag the Earth's day is lengthening around 2 ms/day per century. Morlocks are about 8000 centuries in the future. Changing the mean solar day from 86400 seconds to 86416 will not dramatically affect the design of a calendar -- you just tweak how often leap years occur.

    As a troglodytic race Morlocks really don't have to do anything about calendars or clocks.

  15. Re:Interesting effort on Introducing a Calendar System For the Information Age · · Score: 1

    And I predict the US will cease to exist, and be long forgotten before this new calendar is adopted.

    The Morlocks might be early adopters of the this new-fangled calendar system.

  16. Re:Banks are responsible too on Target and Trustwave Sued Over Credit Card Breach · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately, the way the credit card companies work, most of the damage is externalized onto the merchants (via reversed charges) and ultimately the consumers -- via higher prices & fees. Of course, this is hardly accidental. Target is certainly guilty of lots of stupidity, but the real players won't change their ways until they really feel the pain -- the whole system is far too easy for the black players to game. Some much business is depending on CC transactions, most businesses have little choice but to play the game.

    This pain could be regulatory, financial losses, etc. But, no pain, no improvement.

  17. Re:So, they're sending like, 6 multimeters? on Fluke Donates Multimeters To SparkFun As Goodwill Gesture · · Score: 2

    Unless you are getting multi-meters that "fell off the back of the truck" I don't think anyone is going to confuse a $3000 MM with a cheap knockoff. It's not like buying a fake Rolex, people don't drop 3 large for a MM unless they have very specific requirements, like drop-proof, water-proof, dust-proof, etc. for use in a heavy industrial environment. Most of Fluke's MM's can be purchased for a few hundred USD (depending on your definition of few).

    I checked Fluke-Direct.com and there are 2 models over 1000 USD, an industrial strength RED one for $1500, and a bench model for 1065 USD. They had dozens of models less than 500 USD. Lowest price 130 USD.

  18. Re:There real reason ... on It Was the Worst Industrial Disaster In US History, and We Learned Nothing · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've read a number of different estimates for deaths related to coal pollution, 10-15K annually in the US, 150-300K globally. Even if those estimates are 10 time actual, it is hard to beat coal pollution as the top killer for industrial activity. Disasters like collapses of mines, dams, coal ash pond get a lot more attention.

    Turning off every coal plant today would be a much bigger disaster -- people freezing, starving, diseases, etc. would be far worse, but hey, I am all for replacing coal with safer nukes, etc. All major systems will results in accidents and deaths, it is kind of the way it is. Even today, $/kwh from coal is generally cheaper than the viable alternatives. Arguably, a new generation of nuclear power could be cheaper than coal (fuel costs on the order of 15-25% of coal), but this is certainly not guaranteed.

    You still need transportation fuels (hard to replace jet planes with battery operated or nuclear).,

  19. Re:God did it on Diamond Suggests Presence of Water Deep Within Earth · · Score: 1

    Bad plan, everyone knows I won't care about watering my lawn post-rapture. Not that there is ever going to be a rapture, or is even mentioned in the Bible rapturists claim to follow.

  20. Re:This should be amusing. on Diamond Suggests Presence of Water Deep Within Earth · · Score: 1

    The predominant theory among creationists is that the water of the flood is mostly most in the oceans -- The elevations of the continental masses where raised, allowing the water to flow to the oceans. This is kind of the same as the scientific opinion except for the timeframe of months vs. millions of years. Well, that and the scientific opinion that there was no world-wide flood/

  21. Re:30 years later. This isn't that hard. on Top E-commerce Sites Fail To Protect Users From Stupid Passwords · · Score: 1

    While an admirable attempt, the password "nicht schiessen" reports a crack time of centuries, yet it is a simple phrase seen in many movies -- It is german, meaning Don't shoot (using ss for the ß character). Using ß is reported as having more entropy, even though logically it would be a simply dictionany pair.

    "don't shoot me now" claims 4 years to crack

    I use a similar approach on websites I control, but there is really not a simple algorithm that prevents all human stupidity in terms of password selection. My point is not "don't try to test for entropy" but rather know that your test will no be perfect.

  22. Re:Why single out Whole Foods? on Whole Foods: America's Temple of Pseudoscience · · Score: 1

    The special taste in sea salt is the trace fish poop. What else could it be?

  23. Re:God on Whole Foods: America's Temple of Pseudoscience · · Score: 1

    Well, not really. Ex 20 is the delivery of the 10 command, literally a few weeks later at most, we have the Israelites making a golden calf to worship while Moses is back on the mountain communing with God.

    The thing is, they still believe in Jehovah (Yahweh) as God. They just wanted something a little more concrete. You see this throughout Jewish history up until the time of Babylonian captivity. They just love their idols too. It is really surprising to the modern reader, but even many of the great reformers praised for their god-fearing ways do not really give up the idols completely, they allow them to co-exist.

    They were not very good monotheists. Jehovah took a dim view of this of course.

    Archaeologists digging up Palestine find idols everywhere until the time of Babylonian captivity and then they stop very suddenly

  24. Re:What?? on Your Next Car's Electronics Will Likely Be Connected By Ethernet · · Score: 1

    I suppose, from a quantum mechanics viewpoint, cars cans be considered very large packets indeed. But quantum mechanics will still screw you over and fix your broken framitz if they think they can get away with it.

  25. Re:Huh? on Your Next Car's Electronics Will Likely Be Connected By Ethernet · · Score: 2

    Phhtt, the packet to turn off Justin Bieber should have the highest priority, forget the collision avoid avoidance system, the Bieber avoidance system is more important. You do not want to have to explain to God that, yeah, in my dying moment I was listening to Bieber.