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User: colfer

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Comments · 409

  1. Re:Frequency Questions on FCC Dealt Setback In BPL Push · · Score: 1

    Don't think it's tunable. They try to "notch out" the ham and other frequencies so as not to interfere. Not clear if it's working. The whole electric line becomes an antenna.

    I live in one the three "deploying" areas on this map: http://www.bpl.coop/deploymentmap.php and I can tell you the thing is so many years behind schedule that the local power company (co-op actually) has removed all updates from its website. Previously it said it was deployed at one substation so far, which would mean a few hundred homes out here at most.

    We are far enough out that our power service is still partially subsidized by a federal agency, successor to the 1930s Rural Electrification Administration. That's how they got the grant for this, apparent, train wreck.

  2. Re:Note to self on Huge Traffic On Wikipedia's Non-Profit Budget · · Score: 1

    FutureQuest is a highly rated web host with its data center in Orlando, FL. It has never gone down, even in hurricanes. Very occasionally the network connects or upstreams fritz, but not due to storms (usually it's BGP, etc.).

    If you recall there was some heroic blogging out of New Orleans after Katrina. Some guys at an ISP in a tall building downtown kept themselves wired, and described hard core telecom types patrolling the streets. Surreal.

  3. Re:Physical confirmation on ICANN Asked To Shut Down "Worst" Chinese Registrar · · Score: 1

    I mean SMTP on the receiving side, of course. D'oh!

  4. Re:Physical confirmation on ICANN Asked To Shut Down "Worst" Chinese Registrar · · Score: 1

    I don't think SMTP usually involves DNS. But spam-listing all the registrar's domains would be possible. Almost every spam email contains links. That is the key.

  5. Re:My prediction: Internet segmentation on ICANN Asked To Shut Down "Worst" Chinese Registrar · · Score: 1

    Block traffic from all domains registered through this registrar.

  6. Re:Contact info is better found on the web site. on ICANN Asked To Shut Down "Worst" Chinese Registrar · · Score: 1

    GoDaddy requires you confirm your whois info about once a year. I have read they will cut you off if they find it is inaccurate.

  7. Re:Thermal Cycling on Shuttle Launch Pad Damaged During Discovery's Launch · · Score: 1

    I met someone who made refractory bricks in his kitchen oven and sold them to the automotive industry. Low tech is the best tech, sometimes. They knew him and just kept buying from him. I think he had been an art student.

  8. Re:Thermal Cycling on Shuttle Launch Pad Damaged During Discovery's Launch · · Score: 1

    Concrete and marble are similar, and they used it as a substitute in buildings and other structures, not just roads. During the dark ages Romans burned their marble statues to make lime (which is in concrete, or something like it).

  9. Re:Considering the pounding the pads take on Shuttle Launch Pad Damaged During Discovery's Launch · · Score: 1

    So a miled rule of thumb got converted to meters? Is that a "country" 1650m, or can they see for exactly 1609m's and 1609m's?

  10. Re:So, in other words... on Shuttle Launch Pad Damaged During Discovery's Launch · · Score: 1

    Yes, won't be the only time this mission is about shitting bricks.

  11. Re:Two responsibilities on Is 'Corporate Citizen' an Oxymoron? · · Score: 1

    A corporation has a responsibility to follow its charter, which usually includes maximizing profits but can include other goals as well. That's how I understand it.

  12. Re:BPL is deploying in the U.S. on Unique Broadband Over Powerline Project Planned For Mosques · · Score: 1

    Internet over barbed wire: http://slashdot.org/articles/02/01/03/2039218.shtml

    Correction, the price here for BPL is $30/month.

  13. BPL is deploying in the U.S. on Unique Broadband Over Powerline Project Planned For Mosques · · Score: 3, Informative

    I live in the deplyment area in Virginia. Here is the U.S. map: http://www.bpl.coop/deploymentmap.php It is funded partly by the old Rural Electrificatio Agency of the 1930's! Its successor agency actually, in the Ag Dept. The problem of interfering with radio, especially ham readio, was supposedly fixed by "notching of" certain frequencies.

    But... deployment here is three years behind schedule. Customers of two substations have it, but I don't know how well it is working. The company claims some equipment problem.
    Rural users are really looking forward to this, if it works, or any alternative to satellite. The electrical co-op (non-profit utility, like a credit union compared to a bank, established in the 1930's) said the price would be $25/month. Satellite is $40 with terrible contracts and equipment costs. Not to mention gamers cannot live with the 0.7+ second lag.

    There is no alternative in rural areas, where our cell service is marginal. Dialup with images off has been fun! More important than images off is selectively blocking Flash.

    Deployment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_line_communication#Deployments But see the next section, "Concluded Deployments" with a long list of place where BPL has been dismantled.

    As for the tech. aspects, note you can run internet over a fence wire. :) I'll try to find the link.

  14. Monster Group, the largest blahblah group in math on What's Your Favorite Monster? · · Score: 1

    Known in German as the Friendly Monster.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_group

  15. Re:Cookie Monster on What's Your Favorite Monster? · · Score: 1

    And he ate an IBM computer in 1967. His pics have been vilely removed from Wikipedia, but are on the Street wiki: http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Cookie_Monster

  16. Re:one person is a retarded idea on Will Mars be a One-way Trip? · · Score: 1

    Yeah I tagged this "autism" but I regret the insult to autistics. This would drive anybody insane in about three weeks. Anybody.

  17. Re:Lindbergh on Will Mars be a One-way Trip? · · Score: 1

    That "moderator pool sucks" thing looks like a joke. The topic was "jury nullification" so the poster asserted a right to moderation guideline nullification. I doubt the poster was even a moderator in that thread. But the person that modded the poster "flamebait", missed the point. So you are right, the pool sucks. Offtopic!

  18. Re:I don't care about IE at all on IE8 Will Be Standards-Compliant By Default · · Score: 1

    Firefox 3 is in beta, and FF 2 has been feature-frozen for a long time, so it's an unfair comparison. Generally FF is overrated methinks, but pretty good for being so popular. Like the cute chick that will even date you.

  19. Re:Math Forfront on Mathematician Solves a Big One After 140 Years · · Score: 1

    Cool thing about math for g.r. is the most bizarre dimension is 4, by a long shot.

  20. Re:Math Forfront on Mathematician Solves a Big One After 140 Years · · Score: 1

    Coding theory, crypto, general relativity... there are tons of examples where the math(s) anticipated the physics by decades or more. But solid applications keep math healthy too.

    We used to have this saying in the pure math dept.: hey does this have any applications? Yes, it has applications to number theory!

  21. Re:Math Forfront on Mathematician Solves a Big One After 140 Years · · Score: 1

    ...and really really big frocking machines.

  22. Re:Blaspheme doubtful on Pakistan YouTube Block Breaks the World · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You got it right, politics is too harsh for people to believe, so they key on superficial cultural stuff.

  23. John Gilmore on Pakistan YouTube Block Breaks the World · · Score: 1

    Pakistan interprets politics as porn and routes itself.

    Original by Gilmore: "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."

  24. Re:At this point, it's not about that. on Fidel Castro Resigns · · Score: 1

    Bush and Gore tied, so you must be wrong. Ah, Elian Gonzales, for you a kingdom was lost.

    In case you forgot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elian_Gonzales

  25. Re:sftp and ASCII mode transfers on Multi-Threaded SSH/SCP · · Score: 1

    WinSCP implements SFTP with ASCII/text transfer. WinSCP uses SFTP by default, and falls back to SCP if SFTP is not available. But even in SFTP-only mode, it does the line ending change for ASCII transfers. Some SFTP clients, such as the version of Filezilla I tried a few years ago, do not support ASCII transfer, do not change the line endings.