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User: gr8_phk

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  1. Yves Couder on Collapse of Quantum Wavefunction Captured In Slow Motion · · Score: 1

    Are you familiar with the work of Yves Couder? Macroscopic Newtonian systems exhibiting features of quantum behavior. All this voodoo is probably just a lack of understanding.

  2. Mistake on Collapse of Quantum Wavefunction Captured In Slow Motion · · Score: 1

    You can not tell the difference between particles that are in a superposition of states and those that have "collapsed". If such a difference could be discerned then entangled pairs could be used for faster-than-light communication by modulating their "collapsedness". These guys are not dealing with particles but a somewhat larger system. Is it an example of macroscopic system exhibiting quantum behavior? If so, does it offer a non-magical explanation of the phenomena?

  3. Goto on What Are the Genuinely Useful Ideas In Programming? · · Score: 1

    IMHO BASIC was a great first language because of the goto statement. Let me explain why. Lots of people are familiar with or can easily understand a flowchart. By numbering the lines in a purely imperative language, people could easily get a machine to do something by laying the instructions out in order. Goto allows that linear list of instructions to be branched in exactly the same way a flowchart does (check condition, go here). Only after learning very simplistic imperative programming should one say "goto is evil, use structured programming". It's helpful - if unfortunate - to see the downside of goto in order to appreciate better code structure. But I remember there is more forethought required to use structured constructs to write some kinds of code. In the beginning I think it's important NOT to introduce abstract concepts (structured programming, OOP, complex data structures, etc) until the student has groked the fundamentals of getting the machine to do what you want. If all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, but then you will also have an appreciation and immediate understanding of the usefulness of power tools.

    So I'm only slightly joking when I say "goto", but the point is that every abstraction looks like wierd arbitrary stuff you have to learn until you know enough to appreciate it's usefulness, at which point it's easy to learn because it does something you perceive as useful. Abstractions raise the height of the learning curve, but should not increase its slope or it shall look like a wall.

    I'm still trying to understand why the latest craze is functional programming. From where I sit it's a bunch of intellectual self gratification. Programs manipulate data - why shun mutable state? Jumping through hoops (apparently something called monads) to have mutable data is absurd - that's what computers DO. Or as XKCD put it...

  4. Yes, but... on Leaked Manual Reveals Details On Google's Nexus 5 · · Score: 1

    Does it support VP9 and/or HEVC in hardware?
    Does it receive ATSC television signals?
    Useable voice recognition?

    Yawn, tell me when a device gets new capabilities rather than just larger numbers in front of "GB", "pixels", "inches", or "mAh".

  5. Interact on Finding a Tech Museum For Your Beloved Retired Computer(s) · · Score: 1

    I still have my Interact (produced in AnnArbor MI) and about 30 tapes - including Microsoft Basic for it. It also has an extra ROM written by a W. Hendrikson (sp?) and I just might be able to locate a binder with nearly all issues of "Interaction" which was a newsletter put out by IIRC Steve Cook. I had considered donating this, but the computer history museum already has one.

    Later in life I also worked directly under the guy who wrote most of the original ROM code for this machine. I believe he'd want to get his hands on it for a bit prior to donation. We're connected on Linked-In.

    There were only a few thousand of these things built, so I suspect few remain and doubt all the listed places would have one.

    On another note, even back then MS disabled the Peek and Poke commands in basic. I suspect this was at the request of the computer company. Poke in particular does not give a SN (syntax error) but rather actually executes the command and then gives a different error. "Poke XXXXX,YY" will permanently disable the error. More poking can disable some bounds checks on the Peek command - the ROM range was protected and the BASIC interpreter area was also protected. It's all a bit fuzzy but I still remember the values of XXXXX and YY to enable poking. The others were all documented in said newsletter.

    Last I checked it still worked and a MESS developer down the street from me dumped the ROM.

  6. Active Guided Rockets? on Bypassing US GPS Limits For Active Guided Rockets · · Score: 1

    The actual use shown is with a balloon, so they got the altitude limit raise or removed. It's not clear about the speed limit. Also I don't know about other countries, but I asked some high power rocketry guys in the US about adding active stabilization and was informed that anything along those lines is considered a missile and would not be legal (in the US). Never mind what slashdot chose for a headline then.

  7. Bling on Why iOS 7 Is Making Some Users Feel 'Sick' · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Those "features" are nothing more than visual bling. This suggests Apple is running out of great ideas and resorting to fancy instead of functional? I can name a whole list of UI features that would be awesome and seem innovative, while actually doing useful stuff easier.

    Parallax? That's so Angry Biirds.

  8. On Legality on Declassified NSA Docs Shed Light On Cold War (And Modern) Operations · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Someone once suggested to me that so long as these activities remain illegal, they are less likely to be abused. Think about that. If it's illegal you're going to think about every line you cross and try to justify it against your goals. Abuse would not only be a problem, it would be a problem caused by illegal activity. Once you legalize these activities I think they are more likely to be abused.

  9. Um what TF? on Upper Limit On Emissions Likely To Be Exceeded Within Decades · · Score: 2, Insightful

    only about 1 trillion tons of carbon can be burned and the resulting gas spewed into the atmosphere. Just over half that amount has already been emitted since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and at current rates of energy consumption, the trillionth ton will be released around 2040

    Do they honestly believe there is some total quantity of emissions that can be tolerated? I mean as opposed to a rate of emissions - like annually. We know that the system recycles carbon taking it out of the atmosphere, and we know that the rate it's removed increases as the concentration increases. So if we assume there is a limit, it should be on the rate of carbon emissions and not the total emitted over time.

    These guys are looking dumber all the time.

  10. Re:Hough-Transformation on "Synthetic Tracking" Makes It Possible to Find Millions of Near Earth Asteroids · · Score: 1

    Yes, but I was thinking "edge detection" which is something different. Conceptually I meant Hough Transform.

  11. How does this compare to using regular edge detection to find faint streaks in a time lapse image? How about after detecting bright spots and deleting them followed by edge detection?

  12. No but on Without Plutonium, Deep-Space Probe Missions May Sputter Out · · Score: 1

    But we're keeping tons of spent nuclear fuel in swimming pools and occasionally encasing it in giant blocks of cement and arguing about where to put it. Instead we could just put all that "waste" in a different kind of reactor and use it as fuel while also creating a chain of material that can have some plutonium pulled out for the occasional space probe or whatever. Problem is people are too scared of the "whatever" part to even allow this to happen - they'd rather pretend the spent fuel isn't an even bigger problem.

  13. Vidicated on Dialing Back the Alarm On Climate Change · · Score: 1

    It is significant because it points to the very real possibility that, over the next several generations, the overall effect of climate change will be positive for humankind and the planet.

    My stance on this issue has been vindicated - for today and until some other poor research indicates something different. May be a month, perhaps a year, but they will eventually change their mind again. That's the one thing for certain in "climate science".

  14. Still detectable on Stealthy Dopant-Level Hardware Trojans · · Score: 1

    This should still be detectable. It just requires more time. One could also reduce the time by looking at the combined output of an entire batch of chips. If they all have the same mask, they will all produce the same reduced set of random numbers. So one additional meta-test of data from a lot could show they have been compromised.

  15. Re:Germany vs Italy on Ferrari's New Car Tech Idea: Make Car Go Really Fast · · Score: 1

    I work with guys who did yaw-stability-control calibration. Apparently it's quite satisfying to get it dialled-in just right. It's also not so much a high-end feature any more.

  16. Re:201 mph on Ferrari's New Car Tech Idea: Make Car Go Really Fast · · Score: 1

    That takes money and balls, two (three?) things you obviously lack.

    Ouch. Living up to the stereotype I see!

  17. And was on slashdot in 2007 as well on Are the NIST Standard Elliptic Curves Back-doored? · · Score: 3

    http://it.slashdot.org/story/07/11/15/184204/new-nsa-approved-encryption-standard-may-contain-backdoor I remember at the time it seemed to be confirmed that there IS a backdoor. The question of weather anyone knew the magic numbers to open that door seemed obvious at the time as well - the NSA chose the numbers. It would go against everything they stand for NOT to have the keys.

    Side note: Contrary to what some folks claim, this does not make the system weak against any foreign enemy, criminals, or hackers. It makes it weak only to the NSA so long as no one else discovers the master key. Not that this makes it ok, just not as bad as some claim.

  18. Re: Hand over your fingerprint! on Apple Unveils iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S · · Score: 1

    You're silly if you think the government doesn't already have your fingerprint.

    How so? I know there have been efforts to fingerprint children with some lame claims about being useful to "save the children" but it's not mandatory. Or do they print them at birth these days?

  19. Who is that? on Final Mars One Numbers Are In, Over 200,000 People Applied · · Score: 2

    Others may have a successful life already but they don't think in terms of "me" and "my" but in terms of humanity and its long-term goals over several generations.

    While I agree with some of your statements, this one seems false. If someone was truly concerned about the long-term prospects of humanity I doubt they would conclude the best thing for them to do is die in one of the first colonies on mars. Realizing their rarity, I should thing they'd wait until a functional colony is established and only THEN try to have some kind of influence on its development.

  20. You mean contradictory on Google Speeding Up New Encryption Project After Latest Snowden Leaks · · Score: 2

    Unless Google is going to devise a crypto system they don't have any access to the keys, this is meaningless. Because when those government agencies can walk in the door with a secret warrant and demand the keys, there is nothing Google can do. The US lawmakers have essentially made crypto in America irrelevant when any party knows the keys.

    You mean "any third party". For peoples communication to be "secure" they need to keep a private key and others need to use their public key to send data. This of course blocks Google from reading it as well. This is a problem for Google because they like to have the machines read your email to build a profile for targeted advertising. Using secure crypto not only blocks governments, it blocks Google. Unless their plan is as you suggest where Google has the keys, in which case you are correct that it does nothing to prevent spying.

  21. Apathy is a risk itself on Nokia Insider On Why It Failed and Why Apple Could Be Next · · Score: 1

    he former chief designer of Nokia explains how the company's success and its corporate culture stopped it from taking risks and left it open to being beaten by Apple.

    Not aiming high and taking risks is equivalent to staying the course, and is itself a risk that is often misunderstood.

  22. Not going to work on Ask Slashdot: Can Creating New Online Accounts Reduce Privacy Risks? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It has been observed that some very basic data can uniquely identify people in the US. IIRC this can be as simple as: Your zipcode, gender, and birthdate. Never mind your browser, IP, list of contacts, common words you use. Just those 3 things are enough to uniquely identify most people.

  23. Re:More important then the fact they're pointing.. on Mystery Alignment of Planetary Nebulae Discovered · · Score: 1

    They're all pointing at Hoags object.

  24. We're fucked on Snowden Spoofed Top Officials' Identity To Mine NSA Secrets · · Score: 1

    Every day, they are learning how brilliant [Snowden] was,' said a former U.S. official with knowledge of the case. 'This is why you don't hire brilliant people for jobs like this. You hire smart people. Brilliant people get you in trouble.

    This official is dumb as a fucking rock if he didn't realize that a system administrator can bypass the very security measures he administers. And then on top of the ignorance, they attribute this breach to brilliance. OMG these people are looking incompetent. OTOH the general public may believe them and think snowden has super powers and this isn't someone elses fault.

  25. It shouldn't be possible on USPTO Publishes Suggestions For Intellectual Property Enforcement · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It shouldn't be possible to violate a patent on the internet. Transmitting data should not be patent infringement. If so, then hosting patent documents on the net would be infringement. Software source code is the ultimate description of HOW to implement something, so it should be immune (IANAL) even for software patents. I suppose an executable would constitute infringement where software patents are allowed. But WTF does RIAA and MPAA have to say about patents anyway? They're all about copyright. Right?