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User: FuzzyDaddy

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  1. Re:Many mobile browsers do this. on Nokia Redirecting Traffic On Some of Its Phones, Including HTTPS · · Score: 1

    This is an important point. While I think what Nokia is doing is wrong, I have so little trust in the security of my phone that I would never dream of doing online banking or anything that sensitive on it. Especially with the various apps I've put on the phone.

  2. Re:What do I do with one? on A Least Half a Million Raspberry Pis Sold · · Score: 2

    I got one, hooked it up to a USB webcam, and set up a cron job to do time lapse photography. There's a utility to stitch together a bunch of stills into video, which you can actually run on the Pi itself.

  3. First thing to do on Ask Slashdot: How Can I Explain To a Coworker That He Writes Bad Code? · · Score: 1

    Talk to this guy

  4. This is great on Casio Paying Microsoft To Use Linux · · Score: 1

    Seriously, think about it - all we need is some non-microsoft company to sue casio for patent infringement, and Microsoft would argue that those patents were invalid, and get them invalidated. Then we just have to get someone else to indemnify linux a set of Linux users to work to invalid any claimed patents of Microsoft...

  5. Re:so much for e-ink... on Hands-On Account of Amazon's Upcoming Color Kindle · · Score: 1

    I got a kindle some months ago, and what makes it great for me is the e-ink display - both the sunlight readability, and the low power consumption which means I don't have to bring a charger on week long vacations. I looked at the color nook in the store, and thought "oh look, a crappy iPad".

  6. Re:That's some mighty fine print you got there... on New Research Cracks AES Keys 3-5x Faster · · Score: 1

    It could weaken it if you do each round of encryption with the same key. Clearly if you use a different key for each round, it can't weaken it per your logic.

  7. Re:That's some mighty fine print you got there... on New Research Cracks AES Keys 3-5x Faster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Or "New attack reduces 256 bit key strength by two bits"

  8. Re:Software engineer vs. computer programmer? on Study Says Software Engineers Have the Best US Jobs · · Score: 1

    For years my job title used to contain the word "engineer", now I'm a "systems architect". So I tell people I used to not drive trains, but now I don't design buildings.

  9. Re:This is a classic case of... on Whitehouse Emails Were Lost Due to "Upgrade" · · Score: 1

    (Such amazing IQ swings we see. Genius! Moronic! Brilliant! Ape-like! Bing-bam-boom! Sometimes several flip-flops in one day! One would almost wonder if the problem lies in the observers, rather than the observed.)
    Perhaps the problem is your imagining that everyone who disagrees with you is part of a coherent group. That would certainly make "them" seem like a contradictory, hypocritical, and just plain silly group of people, instead of people with different views on how this administration is bad.
  10. This is a classic case of... on Whitehouse Emails Were Lost Due to "Upgrade" · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Strategic Incompetence"

  11. Re:well.. on Disillusioned With IT? · · Score: 1
    I don't know if you are in the US or elsewhere, but going back to school is an expensive proposition in the US.

    My wife is currently going through a graduate program in Psychology (after six years at home with the kids, and a totally unrelated field before then.) It's well worth it - she's going to be a terrific therapist, and she loves it. We're able to manage it by taking out loans for her (>$100K for her), living off of my income (which we've been doing for six years now), and because we are lucky enough to have very reasonable housing payments.

    It's well worth it in our case (she loves it and will have a well paid career eventually), but it certainly makes things tight. You need to really have a passion for what you're doing and a reasonable financial plan to get there.

    Did your wife earn an income when you were in school?

  12. Tough one on Disillusioned With IT? · · Score: 3, Insightful
    As someone who is also the sole support of a wife and kids, I sympathize with your position.

    What I'd suggest is to keep your current job for the time being, and spend some time looking around for what you do enjoy doing. This may or may not be work related. Start and abandon some hobbies, take up martial arts, take some college classes either inside your field or far away from it. But your goal is just to find something you find meaningful.

    Supporting a family and loving your work is a tough balance - it would be much easier if your focus was one way or the other, and you will make little compromises on either side. If you make too big a compromise either way, for too long, you will end up regretting it.

    So my balanced suggestion is - look around for something that excites you. Give yourself some time to find it. Meantime, don't quit the day job.

  13. Re:Island of Stability on First Superheavy Element Found In Nature · · Score: 1

    But ye see them Islets of Langerhans, ye know yer way off course...

  14. A conversation with my children on Spam Is 30 Years Old · · Score: 3, Funny
    Q: Daddy, how old are you?

    A: Older than spam, kiddo.

    Q: ooooooooh

  15. Re:For those of you that are going to ask on eBay Sues Craigslist · · Score: 1

    Meanwhile, newspapers are going out of business because Craigslist has stolen all their classified advertisers.
    I've bought, sold, and given away stuff on Craigslist. I wouldn't have done any of it through the classifieds - the hassle would have been too big. So while I don't doubt they are pulling business away from the classified ads, they are also providing a service which didn't otherwise exist.
  16. Re:Isnt fake meat called... on PETA Offers X-Prize for Artificial Meat · · Score: 1

    I agree. I don't eat a ton of meat, but I do like a piece of steak with some fat on it. Especially the little fatty piece hanging of the end that gets just a little crispy on the outside when you barbeque it. mmmmmmmmm.

  17. Re:It's cool, but NOT because of superconductivity on Nanoclusters Break Superconductivity Record · · Score: 1

    Perhaps you could have a bunch of cluster that were separated enough to be weakly coupled so you could maintain the superconducting state, but allow current flow. But there's a whole lot of "ifs" between here and there.

    Bulk material of these clusters would conduct thanks to the Josephson effect
    Here's where I mention the possibility of a a bulk material. Tunneling of cooper pairs could be done if you can (1) somehow figure out how to put together a bulk material of clusters of ~20 Al atoms with enough space (insulation?) between them so it's not just a block of aluminum, but (2) close enough to allow enough tunneling to allow a supercurrent. If the coupling is too weak, you will get no supercurrent, if it's too strong, you perturb the initial state enough so that it's no longer superconducting. (As you bring the clusters closer together, at some point it will look like bulk aluminum.) Is there a coupling which is strong enough to allow a current but not enough to perturb the state? How will the fact that the cluster is so small affect the tunneling, given that you no longer have an unlimited supply of cooper pairs? Can such a material, with the right amount of coupling, actually be constructed? Would the perturbation of the weak coupling lower the transition temperature to an unimpressive level? These are some of the many "ifs" that would need to be answered to see if you could make a bulk superconductor this way. They're all interesting research questions, and well worth exploring (IMHO). But that's the long distance between this result and bulk superconductivity.

    And modding is imperfect at sorting out truth from falsehood. Don't sweat it so much. The discussion's the thing.

  18. Re:I hope AMD uses this technology on IBM Demonstrates High-k/Metal Gate Chips · · Score: 1

    Say all you want about theoretical limits, at the end of the day the client cares about two things:
    What if they are buying it in the morning?
  19. Re:Yeah... on IBM Demonstrates High-k/Metal Gate Chips · · Score: 1
    Gallium is widely used in Gallium Arsenide, and we don't seem to be in any danger of running out. The GaAs business is huge and growing, particularly for wireless applications.

    The amount used is very small - GaAs chips are typically thinned down to 0.004" (100 microns), so the volume of GaAs is tiny. It's sometimes hard to conceive how little material there actually is in an IC. With Si, most of unused material goes down the drain (dicing kerf and wafer thinning being the culprits) - but if there was a valuable element, it wouldn't be hard to recover it.

  20. Re:Monster cable has been taking advantage... on Monster Cables Pushes Around the Wrong Small Company · · Score: 1

    What's more ridiculous is that they want $260,700 for a 50 m cable.

  21. Author of the popular work,,, on Physicist John A. Wheeler is Dead at 96 · · Score: 1
    I have a copy of his book Gravitation which is a technical book about General Relativity. The cool thing is, it's really big and heavy. I wish I could understand it, though.

    I think it's a turning point in every physicist's life when you realize you will never understand general relativity.

  22. It's cool, but NOT because of superconductivity on Nanoclusters Break Superconductivity Record · · Score: 4, Insightful
    This looks like a great piece of work, particularly on the theoretical side.

    However, it's really unclear if it's possible to make a BULK superconductor out of this. The effect depends on a nanocluster having the correct number of atoms. Once you put two together you have - a nanocluster with the wrong number of atoms. Which is to say, a little piece of aluminum. Perhaps you could have a bunch of cluster that were separated enough to be weakly coupled so you could maintain the superconducting state, but allow current flow. But there's a whole lot of "ifs" between here and there.

    What I find exciting about this is the ability to theoretically predict the properties of nanoclusters (to say nothing of fabricating and measuring them.) Understanding nanoclusters is a step in the direction of engineering bulk materials from first principles with the characteristics you need. You know how much time and effort went into discovering Halfnium as a component for a dielectric in transistor fabrication? Imagine if that could have been discovered by running a supercomputer for a while until it found the compound with the desired properties. THAT is where this will ultimately go.

  23. Re:What's the problem? on Many Scientists Using Performance Enhancing Drugs · · Score: 1

    Are you gonna take away his funding for that, too? One way to lose funding
  24. Re:Worst analogy EVAR! on IBM Ships Fastest CPU on Earth · · Score: 1

    I am, apparently, easily confused.

  25. Re:Worst analogy EVAR! on IBM Ships Fastest CPU on Earth · · Score: 1

    Intel withdrew their analogy in embarrassment, when it was revealed their spokeperson was referring to this