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User: Teunis

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  1. Ah finally improvement. on Amazon To Take On UPS, FedEx Via 'Shipping With Amazon' (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    UPS can't deliver to correct addresses on a regular basis.
    Fedex doesn't deliver at all here.

    Amazon gets it right every time.
    *shrug*

  2. I'm there now.
    And as a bonus, my daughter is growing up with me quite near and accessible, and is surprisingly good company when working. (she's 3 now, and I've been home for 2 of those years)

    Every now and again I miss the social - but I could just start getting out to social gatherings again to handle that.

    And yeah, my coworkers are everywhere on the planet. It's pretty awesome sharing weather stories, for instance. The only real downside though is sometimes I'll forget to stop working and work into timezones on the other side of the planet.
    I probably put in more hours now than when I commuted, and have a higher quality of work output.
    but my home life is happier, my social life's pretty ok and I'm all in all a lot happier.

    So yeah, I'm there. No regrets.

  3. C and family = optimal on Facebook Has a New Private Mobile Photo-Sharing App, and They Built It In C++ · · Score: 1

    If you want fast applications, write them in C or one of the C family (C++, Objective C). If you want fast to write code, don't then,
    There's yet to be a single language that can compete with that language group for speed, capability and power of the resulting code (providing it's relatively bug-free) It's a higher cost of production for a better quality result.

    While occasionally a really well-tuned script language can match it for capability (perl succeeded there) - usually they cannot.

    And anyone who calls these "Venerable" has to realize they're being arrogant in a way they can't back up, because they're linguistically implying obsolescence.

  4. Full screen "new?" on Microsoft's Skype Drops Modern App In Favour of Old-Fashioned Win32 App · · Score: 2

    I don't miss DOS. in DOS, everything was full screen and there was no multitasking.

    Forcing full screen on all apps is going back to DOS days, not forward to a multi-use multi-tasking computer capable of supporting a user in multiple ways instead of just a single-task ... game machine.
    because that was pretty close to all DOS was good for.

    Anyone who wants skype to be a full screen app needs their brain examined, and then needs to find a job where only skype is the tool they use, and never ever write a single document of any kind. ever.
    PS: we use skype at my office quite heavily. Usually passing around document references .... while adding "giffy" support would make some people insanely happy and drive others insane - NO ONE uses the full screen crap.

  5. I went linux in 92 on Why Was Linux the Kernel That Succeeded? · · Score: 1

    I picked it because it had operational sound, and FreeBSD (the only alternative available to a programmer in the middle of nowhere) did not.

    However, I think the picking of linux by NASA folks to develop beowulf clustering was the real prize - they turned the networking layers (and many other points of performance) into an absolute dream. The experimentation levels with optimization didn't hurt either - when Linus Torvalds was going for his PhD particularly.

    COW pages were particularly a breakthrough, oddly enough, as was the whimsical clone() call and threading built on that.

  6. Good. Aspartame=migraines (for me) on Pepsi To Stop Using Aspartame · · Score: 1

    Aspartame has caused me migraines most of my life. (ditto sucralose actually)
    No I don't know why

    But having been hospitalized for it going back to when I'm 12 ... all I can say is - for me anyway, the stuff isn't harmless.

  7. mathematics .... and more on Ask Slashdot: Terminally Ill - What Wisdom Should I Pass On To My Geek Daughter? · · Score: 1

    I didn't see my dad after I was 8.
    however he taught me how to use a soldering iron, some basics of wiring and ... ... from there I got algebra in grade 4, simple electronics physics (eg: what's taught in grade 12 usually) and some more (by asking for an engineer's help through my school) ... and everything with computer science has been relatively obvious.
    (and what drove me was making music and radios with electronics...)

    Really if you've had a good relationship so far, they're going to have everything else possible - but that's one of the advantages that can enable all kinds of later geekery, if pursued.

    Anything that makes doors easier to open in the future helps, really. Good self esteem, good self image, awareness of possibilities and knowledge all do that.

  8. Not usable.... on Is the Tablet Market In Outright Collapse? Data Suggests Yes · · Score: 1

    They're essentially devices for consumption, not (largely) for production. Shortage of many common applications that exist on PCs.
    Also their artificially lowered touch resolution (no pen input??? arrggh) kind of keeps arts apps off of them.

  9. Re:didn't go didn't download, don't care on Crowds (and Pirates) Flock To 'The Interview' · · Score: 1

    I didn't go see it, I won't download it. I don't care about the movie.

    I find the whole business with it, the hack & blaming North Korea to be a stupid fucking incident and I'm not rewarding Sony for being a cunt.



    What you said! Ditto. And associating being a flaming rude asshole with "being american" is just dumb.
  10. User-oriented, not service-oriented on NetworkManager 1.0 Released After Ten Years Development · · Score: 1

    This is a piece of software which is very user-oriented instead of service oriented. The short implication of that is, if a computer is dedicated to a single user, it's a rather useful toolkit (most of the time). (it causes havoc if one's trying to do something outside of "normal desktop behaviour")

    This software is actively hostile in a service-oriented environment - aggressively so. It's possible if one controls all of the network resource allocation systems (dhcp et al), that one can minimize the harm caused by this software, but the best solution is still to purge it if it exists on a server.

    Until it can be installed and run with a default state of "unengaged" when there's no GUI present, it'll remain unsafe. At least they're addressing - finally - the issue that it is essentially hostile if there's no GUI (eg X) present.

  11. C is not a memory-safe language (rubbish) on Docker Image Insecurity · · Score: 1

    "C is not a memory-safe language" - for that comment alone, the entire review becomes untrusted.

    One fallacy means that the entire work might just be a continuous set of fallacies.
    (C is only memory-unsafe if not used safely - which, given that there's very few barriers to a programmer from shooting themselves in the foot - is always a risk)

  12. Definitely not universal on It's Not Developers Slowing Things Down, It's the Process · · Score: 1

    I work at a company that tends to be ahead of schedule and so we get time to improve things, and improve things steadily. We're not typically stressed and usually pretty confident about stuff.

    This just reminds me even more how much I love my job.

  13. Leif Ericson on Maps Suggest Marco Polo May Have "Discovered" America · · Score: 1

    Leif Ericson out of Europe for "first discoveries" (although it was another man who actually told him about it). Since the Baffin Island camps at least lasted until the 17th century ... a MUCH more solid claim than any of the southerners.
    for folks coming from the East, the date keeps getting pushed back, however long before the Sphinx existed at this point of knowledge although rather later than when Australia was settled.

  14. Fiction on Study: Ad-Free Internet Would Cost Everyone $230-a-Year · · Score: 1

    It's a complete fiction.

    For ad revenue to count towards cost of internet infrastructure, it would be having to go into funding within the infrastructure, not to "outside interests" who are - in their own ways - increasing costs by pulling "eyes".

    TAANSTAFL maybe, but I think a lot of these "services" are overvaluing their "product".

  15. I don't know any... on The Daily Harassment of Women In the Game Industry · · Score: 1

    I don't know any women for whom threats like this have not become real at some point. (whatever stats say, assume that probably only 1 case in 20 is actually reported and that's a fair rate)

    That's one of the key differences. For most men, these threats are just "noise".

    Google "missing women" if you want a clue about how real it can get.

    This is why I'll continue to argue for women's rights. In a world where a woman can walk down a street at night without risk of assault, so can anyone.

    PS: this applies for LBTQ-type folks too.

  16. Unnecessary micromanagement. on Linux Needs Resource Management For Complex Workloads · · Score: 1

    I think this person is still mad that linux doesn't feed out accurate memory usage ever since COW pages were introduced, let alone multiple efficiency steps since then.

    Not going to say that task management over a greater picture's a bad idea, but have to make it more coarse (per server, approximations) rather than fine if one is to still be able to effectively use many of Linux' performance improvements above IBM mainframe approaches. Mind, I've built a couple of systems like that for proprietary infrastructure.

  17. MUT from Vancouver on John Hawley and His Dr. Who-Inspired Robot K-9 (Video) · · Score: 1

    I prefer this one : https://www.facebook.com/MUTmechpup

    Sure the videos there aren't as clean, but the K9 in question has a lot that works ...

  18. Music on Ask Slashdot: What Inspired You To Start Hacking? · · Score: 1

    Music. I love to play music, and I wanted to explore writing it on computer where I could listen to how multiple instruments sounded. This was in Apple II days (I found the Commodore PET a little too boring an the Vic-20 was handy but not as interesting as it could have been had I been able to afford storage)

    Playing multi-voice music on an Apple II required learning hex-code "assembler" (much later on I wrote an assembler to make my life easier). Going to IBM PC resulted in better CPU and performance, but harder to make music play.

    Also, I really do love communicating with people and for anyone else who saw the internet before WWW, as well as the old Fido days ... well, these were not low-skill entry points.

  19. too heavy, too unreliable... at least for my uses on C++ and the STL 12 Years Later: What Do You Think Now? · · Score: 1

    The few experiments I've tried with STL have been a bit too heavy and slow - at least with my uses which are frequently not single threaded.
    My last test ran faster in python.

    so I'll stick with C. Good old efficient, manageable and predictable C.

    However I hear the STL is great for many people.

  20. Re:Are you kidding on Study Finds US Is an Oligarchy, Not a Democracy · · Score: 1

    I'm pro-choice because I'm anti-murder. Banning abortion murders women.

  21. I miss when gnome listened on The GNOME Foundation Is Running Out of Money · · Score: 1

    There was a time when they were open to criticism, to help, and even to patches.
    this was before Gnome 3 was released.

    since then they've been as hard to interact with as Microsoft - arbitrary nonsensical designs foisted on the public with no way to work with older, functional systems and little or no support for state management, and little or no support beyond some simple cosmetic levels for hardware newer than 1990s era desktops.

  22. better testing plus maybe dietary and lack of sun on Continued Rise In Autism Diagnoses Puzzles Researchers, Galvanizes Advocates · · Score: 1

    while the rising ability to test is probably a good part of this, found out about this study fairly recently:

    Research by CHORI Scientists Indicates Causal Link between Vitamin D, Serotonin Synthesis and Autism: Dietary Interventions Will Have Relevance for Prevention and possibly for Treatment of Autism
    http://www.childrenshospitaloakland.org/main/news/research-by-chori-scientists-indicates-causal-link-230.aspx

    (and possibly related : http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416 - Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases -- but only maybe)

  23. Re:directfb-lite and other webkit ports on Google To Replace GTK+ With Its Own Aura In Chrome · · Score: 1

    Oh that explains a lot!
    Thank you :)

  24. posting from windows 8 on Ars Technica Reviews Leaked Windows 8.1 Update · · Score: 3, Interesting

    observations:
    - install a start menu replacement to get application menus back. Application menus are handy when one has a number of applications with similar names.
    - disable search and system speed jumps. Don't use it anyway, and it's pointless for a programmer like me.
    - constant delays in performing tasks
    - chrome can open 1/10 the tabs of linux on same hardware. That's perhaps a bad sign.

    I've actually found my ability to work effectively on this platform has degraded to the point I just don't anymore.
    I now use windows as a game platform and occasional (and frustrating) web browsing.
    With Steam (etc), the issue with not being able to find my applications anymore stopped being relevant - I stopped using them under windows at all.

    so when I want to do real browsing, real programming, or pretty much anything other than playing games, it's back to Mint for me. (because I similarly find unity and other "tablet" interfaces - interfaces less useful and intuitive than either IOS or Android - pointless)

  25. Microsoft... on "Microsoft Killed My Pappy" · · Score: 1

    Microsoft has hurt the tech industry, repeatedly and badly
    And much of their tech has been in place to prevent innovation, invention and change.
    Their arrogance and low esteem of computer users seems to keep growing
    particularly given how incredibly -bad- the interface is for windows 8. If it corrupted data slowly, it'd be comparable to ME + Bob.