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User: Xolotl

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Comments · 291

  1. Re:Any orbit, any time... on Paul Allen's Stratolaunch Finally Flies The World's Biggest Plane (geekwire.com) · · Score: 1

    And on the other side there is the Virgin Orbital 747-based launcher, which will be cheaper and more flexible for the smaller boosters because of the ubiquity of the 747 platform. Stratolaunch missed the window for success.

  2. Re:Silly question about the seismometer. on Mars Lander Seismometer Gets Protective Shield (theguardian.com) · · Score: 2

    These are reference points for assesing the position and orientation of the seismometer and the shield as they are put in place by the robot arm. They're like the smilar little bow-tie symbols on crash test dummies etc.

  3. Re:Pre-installed garbage on Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Unlocked Smartphone? (slashdot.org) · · Score: 1

    Removeable battery: = No

    While I like the idea of a removable battery in principle, in practice I've found that (with modern batteries and charging technology) by the time the battery dies enough to be replaced, replacements are unavailable at all or are dubious 3rd-party clones which don't necessarily fit or work properly (looking at you LG ...). Which effectively means your removable battery isn't replaceable anyway.

    So unless the use case is carrying around spare batteries rather than a powerbank or just charging as needed, then it seems to be a moot point. YMMV of course.

    What would be nice is a standard form factor removable battery across manufacturers, but good luck with that ...

  4. Re:Pre-installed garbage on Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Unlocked Smartphone? (slashdot.org) · · Score: 1

    One of the things i loathe on modern smart phones is the manufacturer's custom UI and the pre-Insalled garbage on them.

    This is, why I usually recommend Android One phones (all current Nokia or Xiaomi Mi), or phones with an experience as close to AOSP as possible, like Motorola or Oneplus

    Sony builds nice handsets, with a horrible UI, but they offer their Open Devices program with detailed instructions on how to build AOSP and how to install it

    This. The Xiaomi Mi A1 is very good, about $200, stock Android, only thing it doesn't do is NFC. Very pleased with it.

  5. Russia is the successor state to the Soviet Union, and the ship being a naval vessel rather than a private merchant ship continues to belong to them even after it is sunk. These are both well-established concepts in international law (and also the basis for the Spanish case relating to that galleon).

  6. Re:Why on unused stamps? Isn't this Getty's proble on Post Office Owes $3.5 Million For Using Wrong Statue of Liberty On a Stamp (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    The unused stamps were sold but have not (yet) been used, they are 'forever' stamps which do not lose their value so could be used at any time in the future. Getty's terms of use explicitly state that licensing responsibility lies with the user (which is IMHO rather shady, but they do state it up front).

  7. Re:Derivative work [Re: Countersue!] on Post Office Owes $3.5 Million For Using Wrong Statue of Liberty On a Stamp (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    Queen Elizabeth is not a politician, and her image is on the stamps in the same way and for the same reasons as it appears on coins and banknotes, as a symbol of the State. for the same reason decorative UK stamps do not have the country name (unlike stamps from other countries) just a small profile of the Queen.

  8. Re:In Europe... on 'Plugspreading' is an Abomination (cnet.com) · · Score: 1

    Not if the plug has an earth pin its not (the French type, used in many other European countries).

    Also there are varying standards for multiple adjacent sockets - a lot of wall sockets put two sockets one above the other, pins aligned hoizontally, which works for some wall warts but is crap for the 90-degree angled plugs, wheareas a lot of power strips angle the sockets at 45 degress, which in turn is crap for wall warts which come in two alignment types 90-degrees apart.

    The only system which seems to have been designed with some consistency and attention to clearance is the British 3-pin.

  9. Re:Great business decision.... on Warner Bros Is Cracking Down On Harry Potter Festivals (apnews.com) · · Score: 1

    They could also "defend" it by offering an inexpensive licensing deal for small festivals.

  10. Re: Keeping another campaign promise on President Trump Directs Pentagon To Create New 'Space Force' Military Branch (defensenews.com) · · Score: 1

    Marines were originally created to serve on ships back in the days of sail and needed to be trained and able to handle the conditions on a sailing ship, including climbing (and shooting from) the rigging, helping man the guns, carrying out boarding actions and so on. This at a time when ordinary ground infantry just had to march and fight in long lines. This is why the Marines in any country with a major military developed a mentality and role as an elite force capable of fighting on land and sea which carried through to today.

    In a large operation like D-Day in 1944 the Navy indeed just delivered large numbers of Army soldiers.

  11. Re:Consolidating what is already going on ... on President Trump Directs Pentagon To Create New 'Space Force' Military Branch (defensenews.com) · · Score: 1

    The biggest maintenance problem for the A-10 is that the wings are coming up on their fatigue life and need replacing.

  12. Re:1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual. on Prosecution of UK News Photographer Collapses After Recording Disproves Police Testimony (wordpress.com) · · Score: 1

    They can appeal to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

  13. Re:The issue remains - what to do with people on Finland Is Killing Its Basic Income Experiment (businessinsider.com) · · Score: 2

    Who is designing that self-driving truck that can pick up trash cans automatically?

    Several cities already have trucks with just one driver which automatically pick up trash. Here are a few off the top of Google: Albuquerque.Calgary. Minot. Salem.

    Meaniwhile Tesla, Uber and others are designing self-driving trucks and are already testing them on the roads. It's obvious that putting the two together is just a matter of time.

  14. Re:The issue remains - what to do with people on Finland Is Killing Its Basic Income Experiment (businessinsider.com) · · Score: 4, Informative

    How many % of the population are actually waiters and lawyers and doctors and trash collectors?

    Sales cashiers are being automated away through self-checkout. McDonalds staff are being automated away through ordering booths and robotic burger flippers. Drivers are forseeably going to be automated away through self-drvinf vehicles. Call centers have voice-recognition AI, web pages have customer query chat bots, trash collection can be easily roboticised once self driving vehicles happen. Factories are already automated. The numbers of available jobs in industries which require either manual labor or scriptable interations is falling and will continue to do so.

  15. Re:Good (not for the reason you expect) on Finland Is Killing Its Basic Income Experiment (businessinsider.com) · · Score: 1

    But the Parliament stopped the experiment half-way through without respecting the outcome ....

  16. Re:Random on Finland Is Killing Its Basic Income Experiment (businessinsider.com) · · Score: 1

    Because you have to start somewhere and the easiest place is people who would already be getting unemployment benefits anyway. The point was to gradually expand the trial, but it got nixed (likely for political reasons).,

  17. Re:Random on Finland Is Killing Its Basic Income Experiment (businessinsider.com) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Because most people want to have more than just the basic necessities of life: a nicer car, a nicer house, holidays, gadgets, whatever. That requires money and so requires finding a job.

    Reducing stress while looking for that job makes it easier, it means that you can look for a better job or get training without worrying where the next meal is coming from.

  18. Even at $1 per core 100 cores is $100, in a $10,000 (at least) car.

    The flexibilty is the key, like BSD vs GPL licences.

  19. Re:_Minimum_ Times? on Software Glitch Robs Formula 1 World Champ of Season's First Win (theregister.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    The VSC sets a shortest allowed time for transiting a sectorl, which in effect sets a maximum speed on the car. The car is capable of going much faster, but under the VSC is not allowed to. The problem with just being required to slow down is that that can be interpreted differently by different drivers (which has been a problem in the past where a driver did slow down but there was debate as to whether it was enough) and it doesn't take into account the fact that the cars will naturally travel at different speeds on different parts of the track.

  20. Re:there should be an referee or judge can that ca on Software Glitch Robs Formula 1 World Champ of Season's First Win (theregister.co.uk) · · Score: 2

    There are Race Stewards, but there was no question of anything wrong here.

  21. Re:Not a glitch, just a bad assumption on Software Glitch Robs Formula 1 World Champ of Season's First Win (theregister.co.uk) · · Score: 3, Informative

    In F1 they don't fill up, they always change all 4 tires and the pit stop takes about 2s regardless. 11-15s is the time through the pit lane including the stop. By the time Vettel was in the pit lane it was way too late to tell Hamilton to catch up, particularly as with the VSC he can't go arbitrarily fast.

  22. Re:$1220 fine? on Man Fined For Implanting NFC Train Ticket In Hand (cnet.com) · · Score: 1

    Exactly, that seems fair.

  23. Yeah, I ddin't think Norway had a water problem :) Thanks for the answer!

  24. Typo, meant 73% of course.

  25. 75% is extremely high, these are some numbers for various EU countries:

    from this study. The data are a little old, but only two counties in that list haave over 40% and most have far less.

    is water metered in Norway?