Slashdot Mirror


User: toddestan

toddestan's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
9,702
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 9,702

  1. Re:Progressive Fix 101 on Cheap Gas Fuels Switch From Electric Cars To SUVs · · Score: 1

    Well, part of the problem is that the manufacturers have taken any gains in mileage and plowed it into higher performance. There's really no reason why a mundane family sedan needs 250+ HP. If they instead went for mileage and spec'd the engine to just be merely adequate, then the fuel efficiency of cars would pull way ahead.

  2. Re:Progressive Fix 101 on Cheap Gas Fuels Switch From Electric Cars To SUVs · · Score: 1

    The reason people "want" and are "buying" them is because they are priced cheaper than they should be because the messed up Cafe rules are distorting the market. Fix Cafe, and the prices of SUVs/CUVs would go up because they now are under the same rules as regular cars. Demand would drop and we'd start seeing vehicles like station wagons and hatchbacks make a comeback. People who still wanted one could still buy one, but they would have to pay the price for buying that gas guzzler over a more efficient car.

  3. Re:They should be doing the opposite on The Great Canadian Copyright Giveaway: Copyright Extension For Sound Recordings · · Score: 1

    I don't think it would be so weird, as it would only affect what they did yeas ago. More recent songs would be copyrighted. Recordings and recent performances of the old songs would still be copyrighted even if the song itself was public domain. If they remix/reworked/recomposed the song then the newer versions would be copyrighted. Any derivative works would also be copyrighted. They would also have protections via trademarks and such. Other artists could perform the old Rolling Stones songs, but they couldn't claim to be the Rolling Stones.

  4. Re:More common that humans are turned into robots on Robot Workers' Real Draw: Reducing Dependence on Human Workers · · Score: 1

    I've also seen automatic drink filling machines that automatically dispense ice and the proper amount of soda into the beverage cups. They only use them on the drive-thru though because in the restaurant the customers fill their own cups.

  5. Re: ipv6 on Why the Journey To IPv6 Is Still the Road Less Traveled · · Score: 1

    No they didn't. Or at least if they did, they never released them. There was a download for IPv6 on WIndows 2000, which they called a "preview" and not officially supported. Windows XP had it built in but you had to install it. It was still not 100% there in XP yet (for example you couldn't do DNS over IPv6... which was kind of a deal breaker). The first version of Windows that really properly supported IPv6 was Vista.

  6. Re:You no longer own a car on Automakers To Gearheads: Stop Repairing Cars · · Score: 1

    That was incentivization, not restrictive action. It's one thing to help someone replace an old car and another to disallow them for daily use...

    Actually, it was both. It would have just been incentivization if it was just a rebate on a new, fuel efficient car. But since it also required that the car that was turned in be destroyed (as opposed to being resold as used) it also removed a bunch of older cars from the road. Now, the first part I didn't mind so much, but in my opinion the government should not be using my taxpayer dollars to buy up perfectly usable vehicles and intentionally destroy them.

  7. Re:Why not? on William Shatner Proposes $30 Billion Water Pipeline To California · · Score: 1

    That's why the GP suggested using solar. It's actually a good use for something like solar and wind, since you can make extra fresh water when you have the power to do so, and store it in a reservoir to be used for when you don't.

  8. Crank? Crystal radio all the way!

    Seriously though, my cheap MP3 player will run the FM radio for more than 24 hours off a fresh alkaline AA.

  9. Re:Makers or Service providers? on Does Lack of FM Support On Phones Increase Your Chances of Dying In a Disaster? · · Score: 1

    The other theory would be that they use FM radio to differentiate their higher model phones by disabling it in the lower end phones. Except that likely few actually care about an FM radio on their phone.

  10. Re:I think one of my locals already has on Norway Will Switch Off FM Radio In 2017 · · Score: 1

    Well, the problem with FM radio now is that they assume you're either listening in a car or with chinzy $5 earbuds, so they compress the shit out of the dynamic range, which makes it sound like crap. I also suspect that many stations are playing MP3 files or some other lossy format too. FM radio technology not be the best, but it's capable of a lot better than what most radio stations seem willing to put into it.

  11. Re: Not Applicable to North America on Norway Will Switch Off FM Radio In 2017 · · Score: 1

    Well, around here, the 8+ hour drive listening to commercial FM radio would suck pretty bad considering that you'd end up listening to about 2 hours of ads by time you're done. I'd bring my own music along, which is what I do. Turning off FM transmissions wouldn't affect me at all (and I don't own a digital radio either).

  12. Re:Decent on Seattle CEO Cuts $1 Million Salary To $70K, Raises Employee Salaries · · Score: 1

    On the other hand, the employee turnover rate should be really low. Employee turnover is one of those things that can really cost a business, yet most businesses don't even attempt to do anything about it.

  13. Re:Landing vs splashdown on Longer Video Shows How Incredibly Close Falcon Stage Came To Successful Landing · · Score: 1

    The quality of the paints and rust-proofing has improved immensely in the past 20 years or so. Back in the 70's in salt country it was common for 2-3 year old cars to have rust, and at 7-10 years cars were commonly scrapped due to major structural issues. Nowadays, it's rare to see any rust on a car less than 10 years old (unless it's a Mazda) and even for 15-20 year old cars the rust is still mostly cosmetic.

  14. Re:No they can't ignore consumer protections on EU To Hit Google With Antitrust Charges · · Score: 1

    I'll say it again. In my mind Google search IS a NATURAL monopoly as there are no real competitors that produce similarly good results.

    No they are not. A natural monopoly is a monopoly where it's most efficient for one company to exist, usually due to large infrastructure costs that would have to be duplicated by any competitors. The classic example is the electric company. Internet search doesn't fit into that, and you clearly don't know what you're talking about.

  15. Re:Wouldn't a re-write be more fruitful? on Linux Getting Extensive x86 Assembly Code Refresh · · Score: 1

    Because it's always cheaper and faster to kludge the next feature on to make the next shipment or put out the current fire than it is to rewrite. If they would take a step back, look at what they want to be in a year or two they'd realize that the time invested would pay for itself over and over. But most places don't have that kind of foresight, or the manpower to do that while also dealing with all/ the short-term crises arising from the current codebase.

  16. Re:Confidence, that's the ticket on Transforming Robot Gets Stuck In Fukushima Nuclear Reactor · · Score: 1

    Where 'easy' is a rural limited-access divided highway in good condition, light traffic, no construction or other complications. mid-day, and clear weather?

  17. Re:Hillary is much worse than Richard Nixon on Hillary Clinton Declares 2016 Democratic Presidential Bid · · Score: 1

    You think the Democrats are swooning over Hilary? The whole reason we have Obama now is because he was the most viable "not Hilary" candidate in 2008. Granted, in hindsight that didn't work out so well. But given Hilary's recent scandals and overall poor performance I don't see her doing much better this time around.

  18. Re:Hell No Hillary on Hillary Clinton Declares 2016 Democratic Presidential Bid · · Score: 1

    Hell, this could be the election where it happens. If it ends up being Bush vs. Clinton, it's possible that enough people will throw their weight behind some of the other candidates out of pure disgust that they start to pick up some momentum, and if that means more people jump on board, it could snowball. That's basically what happened in Minnesota back in the 90's, resulting in Jesse Ventura being elected governor. While we're probably stuck with two parties, there's no reason it has to be the Democrats and Republicans, and it's about time a real alternative takes the Republican spot, turning the Republican party into the lunatic fringe third party it deserves to be.

  19. Re:Hell No Hillary on Hillary Clinton Declares 2016 Democratic Presidential Bid · · Score: 1

    Well, UFOs are real in the sense that unidentified flying objects have been spotted, some of which are not easily explained. However, since there are only 2,320 search results for "real extraterrestrials" suggests that they aren't alien in origin :)

  20. Re:Hits Home on Netflix Algorithm Tells You When Your Best Employee Is About To Leave You · · Score: 1

    Actually, clicking on a link could tell them if, say, you're signed into Facebook or Linkedin and the link has a tracker on it. Places like Linkedin and Monster make money selling that kind of information.

  21. Re:planet/planetoid on Collision With Earth's "Little Sister" Created the Moon · · Score: 1

    The problem is that their definition of a planet is terrible. For example, there is only eight planets in the entire Universe because, by their definition, a planet can only orbit "the Sun". Yes, with that capitalization, thus referring to our Sun. I would have hoped they would have come up with something a bit more generic that could be applied to other solar systems.

  22. Re:Work training on With H-1B Cap Hit, Zuckerberg and Ballmer-Led Groups Press For More Tech Visas · · Score: 1

    The sad thing is that if the employee has been with the company five years, the employer would be a lot better off with investing and training an employee with all that valuable internal knowledge as opposed to starting with someone fresh. It's really odd how companies will place a lot of value on skills that can be learned fairly quickly, but place almost no value on the type of knowledge you're only going to get by working at a specific company for several years.

  23. Re:Lies, bullshit, and more lies ... on With H-1B Cap Hit, Zuckerberg and Ballmer-Led Groups Press For More Tech Visas · · Score: 1

    Yeah, that's something I hate is how you end up becoming hyper-specialized in the eyes of employers if you don't aggressively changed jobs every few years (and that has its own problems). If you don't have the exact skill set they want, they won't even consider you, meanwhile they'll go and whine about how they can't find qualified candidates. It's like if a truck driver drove a Peterbilt truck for five years, and now finds that only companies that run Peterbilt trucks will consider hiring him, and all the companies that run Macks and Internationals won't even consider him. That's absurd, but seems to be the norm for STEM careers.

  24. Re:to succor a distant memory. on Back To the Future: Autonomous Driving In 1995 · · Score: 1

    Well, up north you have the same problem when the parking brake cable eventually rusts through. Better hope that the friction of the engine can hold the weight of the car or it will take a drive on its own too.

  25. Re:don't need to look it up on Back To the Future: Autonomous Driving In 1995 · · Score: 1

    I doubt it. I've played with GPS units from that era. They are slow compared to what you have now, taking several minutes to lock-on, and then you really only get coordinates and an altitude. The units now would blow a 486 away, but back then it's not like you'd be able to put something like a 486 in a handheld unit and expect it to work very long. Even so, the battery life was not terribly good anyway.

    Interestingly, almost all units from then are paperweights now due to an absolute brilliant design decision where they used a 10-bit number to store the number of weeks since 1980, which rolled over sometime in 1999.