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User: Nivag353

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Comments · 49

  1. Re:this only hurts their descendents on European Libraries Counter Google Digitisation · · Score: 1

    To the best of my knowledge the parliament with the longest history is the one in the Isle-of-Man (between England and Ireland). It over a thosand years since it started, about 10 yrears ago one of my uncles went to the thousandth year celebration.

    for more info see http://www.tynwald.org.im/

    Tynwald is the Manx language name for their parliament.


    -Nivag

  2. shew is an obscure alternative spelling of show on Remote-Controlled Flies · · Score: 1

    As a child in England, I found that shew was an alternative spelling of show in a dictionary; but the only place I can remember seeing it used, was on a sign at the entrance to the Mersey Tunnel. Possibly shoo was intended?

  3. Re:Not true, also accounts for probablities on Blink · · Score: 1

    Using a standard Linux command...
    $ factor 4294967297
    4294967297: 641 6700417
    $

  4. Re:Optical SETI on Should SETI Be Looking For Lasers Instead? · · Score: 1

    The UK still uses Pounds.
    Ireland used to use Irish Pounds, but now use Euro.


    -Nivag

  5. Re:Optical SETI on Should SETI Be Looking For Lasers Instead? · · Score: 1

    To be more precise:

    If we were to go back to New Zealand from Ireland, and
    planned to spend a few days in China, then now
    we should get Euro rather than US$.

    Prior to 2002 the Irish currency was the Irish Pound, often
    referred to as a "Punt".

    Even if we had been living in England, we would still be
    getting Euro, rather than carrying Pound Stirling (aka UK
    Pounds).


    -Nivag

  6. Re:Optical SETI on Should SETI Be Looking For Lasers Instead? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Probably better to support ISO-8859-15 which includes the Euro
    currency symbol.

    The Euro currency is already officially in use in 12 countries and
    over the next few years more countries in Europe will adopt it as
    their official currency. It is also used unofficially in several
    other countries.

    The Euro is increasingly the preferred currency for
    international travellors. For example coming to Ireland via
    China in 2001 we converted money into US$, but now we are
    advised to carry Euro.



    -Nivag

  7. Re:Oh well it was nice while it lasted on FCC Rules VoIP Must Be Tappable · · Score: 1

    Hmm...

    Spam is most probably used by intelligence agencies to send out coded information without "enemies" knowing who the intended recipients are.

    Looking at the spam I am getting (filtered out by Mozilla), some of it could easily be encoded for secret content.

    In the WWII a radio station in New Zealand broadcast details of laundry lists. However, some of the "laundry lists" were actually coded messages - no way for the Japanese to know which "laundry lists" were real and which were secret messages...

    So I don't think that the US government will act too effectively to halt spam.

    -Nivag

  8. Re:What the Finnish Army does on Net Addiction Gets Finnish Soldiers Out Of Army · · Score: 1

    Curious:

    (1) Were you punished for dereliction of duty?

    (2) Would soldiers in snow be easy to detect
    using infra-red scanners?

    To be honest, I probably would have been looking at the commet...

    However, war exercises are serious - better to learn then,
    than make mistakes during a real war. Yes, mistakes in
    wartime happen, but practice increases your ability to
    achieve "your" objectives.



    -Nivag

  9. Re:Explanation on NASA Set To Launch Probe To Mercury · · Score: 1

    Hmm...

    Mercury is closer to the Sun than the Earth, therefore it is in a faster orbit!

    However, since Mercury is lower in the Sun's gravitational well, a rocket decending from Earth's orbit to Mercury's, will convert the difference in potential energy into kinetic energy. As kinetic energy is proportional to the square of the speed of the rocket, increasing the kinetic energy means it will go faster - too much faster. Hence the need to slow it down.

    The parent post is very accurate, apart from the relative speed of Mercury, and the fact that the theory of relativity is not relevant to the discussion.


    -Nivag

  10. Re:Another one for the EFF to bust. on Microsoft Patents Grouped Taskbar Buttons · · Score: 1

    I have my task bar at the bottom and it auto hides, at the top left hand side I have a permanent panel with a cpu usage display and the work spaces switcher.

    So I have the best of both worlds. I may have a 19 inch monitor, but screen real estate is still precious!


    I use gnome, but presumably KDE can do somerthing similar.

    I am not sure if it is possible with any of the Microsoft offerings...


    -Nivag

  11. Re:I wrote a thesis on HHGttG... on New HHGTTG Radio Show Gets Douglas Adams' Voice · · Score: 1

    Did you pass???? What was your teacher's reaction to your work?

  12. gnumeric has an excellent reputation for accuracy on Microsoft Is Planning To Renew IE Development · · Score: 1

    Hi,

    A few months ago I saw an in depth report comparing Gnumeric 1.1.x with Excel. The comparison was done function by function. comparing results from processing their test data. Some bugs had been in Excel for several versions, some had been 'fixed' in a half hearted way.

    Gnumeric, came out with substantially better mathematical accuracy, especially in statistical functions, and was generally more reliable with far fewer bugs. Gnumeric also had more mathematical functions.

    Now Gnumeric is up to version 1.2.12 - I suggest you look at it, Which is best, depends on how you are using a spreadsheet - obvious, I know!

    Note also that OpenOffice.org 1.1.2 was released on Friday.


    -Nivag

  13. Gnome 2.4.2 had a working spatial metaphore on Why Users Blame Spatial Nautilus · · Score: 1

    In 2.4.2 you had the spatial metaphore, and browsing capability at the same time!

    It remembered the size and postion of each directory.

    It gave the option of leaving the parent directory displayed, or to close it, when you clicked on a sub directory.

    You could press f9 to get the side panel, and press f9 again to hide it.

    You could select an image in a directory, and open the image in a new view, resize it. You could then open the same image later and it would retain its previously altered sahap.

    The current implementation is definitely a backward step,m and less useful, not to mention intensely irritating! IMnsHO

    Basically, it gave people the choice of using the best options for them!




    -Nivag

  14. Re:Easy to make C/C++ application fast? WOW! on EIOffice 2004 vs. MS Office 2003 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have 2 very extreme examples of the importance of correct design for speed.

    First Example
    A colleague wrote a COBOL program that took about 4 hours to run, I changed one "word" defining the access type ACCESS-IS-RANDOM to ACCESS-IS-SEQUENTIAL AFAICR (As Far As I Can Remember). That reduced the run time to about 70 seconds.

    Second Example
    One would expect an assembly/C program written for a 16 bit processor would be much faster than something written in interpreted BASIC for a 6502 8 bit processor.

    However, I wrote a colour printer driver in Acorn's BASIC for a BBC model B (dual processor), that took 11 minutes to print out a colour picture. I was told that an application on an IBM PC took 2 hours!!! to do the same thing.

    I did 0 to 4 passes for each line depending on the colour of the pixels, I bet the other application changed ribbon each time the colour changed - maybe even changing the ribbon 3 times for the same pixel. I don't know for sure, but it took a second or two to position the ribbon for a different colour.


    -Nivag

  15. Re:Bits about Bytes on Worst Explanation From Tech Support? · · Score: 1
    Curious!

    I have a 56K modem, and my maximum transfer rate according the the /var/log/messages file is 49333 bits per second (I got this rate 9 times out of the last 441 connects - I wrote a Java analysis program to check my log).

    For examplle:
    May 12 09:43:58 jupiter wvdial[11458]: CONNECT 49333/V42BIS

    I am assuming the start and stop bits you mention are between my modem and the other end, so that the bits per second mentioned in my log, is the actual data transmiddion rate.

    I suspect that there is some kind of compression being used between the modems, so that I am actually getting a higher rate of data transmitted end to end than between the modems.

    I wrote the analysis program, because I have only 150 hours per month connection, before I get charged at an exorbitant rate per minute. It also gives statistics on errors, trnsmission speeds, and call durations. It is geared to check Fedora Core Linux (but it was developed under Red Hat 9) message files using a Java 1.4 run time. If anyone is interested in the program, let me know.



    -Nivag
  16. Re:Proliferation of stupid *ware invented words on Utah Sees First Spyware Case · · Score: 1

    Hmm...

    You seem to have a few problems....

    isnt should be spelt isn't

    otherwise your sentence is perfect, no one should quible over not starting a sentence with a capital, grammatically inconsistencies, or spellling

    What have you done with my dried frog pills?????

    You're using my IP without permission, I'm going to sue, Sue, SUE!!!!!!!!


    -Nivag

  17. max points limit - was: Re:Wrong on Jeremy White's Wine Answers · · Score: 1

    I would like to see the maximum score increased to 7 (or even 9, but certainly no higher) - for all articles.

    Because, I tend to increae my threshold until the number of comments is 50 or less. At 5, sometimes there are still over a 100 comments!


    - Nivag

  18. Re:So the service tax begins on Illinois Considers Taxing Custom Software · · Score: 1

    I think the zero rated (0%) and vat-exempt (0%) cases may seem strange, but in the first case the Government has the option to easily changing the rate to be positive, while I suspect in the latter case this would be more difficult.

    However, even having two rates leads to demarcation problems. Say books might have one rate and computers have another. Fine no problems... Oops, what about a printed paper book with a built in computer? It is a bit of both. Either you classify it in one of the two categories, or you try and determine the proportionate value for each category. (This was inspired by a customs duty problem involving a clock radio - clocks and radios were taxed at different rates, what was the importer meant to do??? They had to come up with some proportional estimate that would satisfy the Customs Dept..)


    -Nivag

  19. Re:So the service tax begins on Illinois Considers Taxing Custom Software · · Score: 1

    GST: Goods and Services Tax.

    I was the analyst in charge of leading the application of GST to most of the (then) New Zealand General Post Office computer systems.

    Try amending a "tempory" system intended to be replaced within 2 years, 11 years after it went into production... - fortunately, I had only to come up with a strategy, juniors had to actually implement it

    I wish I had kept the 3 telegrams I had recieved from one user area telling me that GST was not to be charged in advance... (there was genuine concern, as there was a question about the aplicabillity of GST being collected for a service period that started before the intoduction and extended for some months aftwards).

    Well at least GST is better than VAT, one rate for everything, not the 4 different rates as for VAT in the UK!



    -Nivag

  20. Newton Baker, Secretary of War... on Anti-Missile Laser Weapon Successfully Tested · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Newton Baker Served as U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of War from March 1916.

    Google is your friend!


    -Nivag

  21. Linux has no center of gravity - what about OSDL on Microsoft's Strategy Memos · · Score: 1

    Ballmer: "...the reality is there is no 'center of
    gravity,' or central body, investing in the health and
    growth of noncommercial software or innovating in critical
    areas like engineering, manageability, compatibility and
    security."


    Contrast the above with the OSDL Mission Statement:

    To be the recognized center of gravity for Linux; the
    central body dedicated to accelerating the use of Linux for
    enterprise computing through:

    * Enterprise-class testing and other technical support
    for the Linux development community.
    * Marshalling of Linux-industry resources to focus
    investment on areas of greatest need thereby eliminating
    inhibitors to growth.
    * Practical guidance to our members - vendors and end
    users alike - on working effectively with the Linux
    development community.
    ...




    -Nivag

  22. Re:Politics - 3 monkeys on UK Releases Global Warming Report · · Score: 1

    Remember the 3 monkeys carving?
    one sees no evil
    one hears no evil
    one speaks no evil


    Bush's effort should be called the 2 monkeys approach:
    one sees no evil
    one hears no evil


    -Nivag



    What has Osama Bin Laden got in common with Bill Gates?

    They both want the American miltary to use Microsoft Operating Systems...

  23. Re:For Java haters, here're the benchmarks you nee on Can You Spare A Few Trillion Cycles? · · Score: 1

    Hmm... not every machine is an Intel box running a Microsoft O/S

    Using Java has advantages:
    (1) Can run on multiple O/S's including Linux
    (2) Can run on alpha and other non-Intel hardware
    (3) Has well defined mathematical results regardless of O/S and hardware
    (4) Java Applets are sandboxed by default, thus giving more peace of mind than using other languages

    Also, with the standard JIT compilers, performance is similar to C; sometimes faster, but mostly a little slower.

    For numerically intensive Java applications I use the -server optimisation flag. I gained about a 10% performance improvement over the -client (default) optimisation.

    -Nivag

  24. Re:Deciding how important the Net is to your busin on A Need for Greater Cybersecurity · · Score: 1

    IPv6 has more than ample IP addresses for everybody. So in practice, IP addresses need not be limited.

    But every network should have a firewall between it and the rest of the World. Also Some networks should have internal firwalls between sub networks, especially for computers handling more sensitive data.


    -Nivag

  25. The difference between a massacre and a war... on Insider's Look at High-Tech High-Speed Navy Vessel · · Score: 1

    ...is the willingness and ability of the attacked side to defend itself.

    Ask people from Bosnia.

    The trouble is that the US is often perceived as a bully, even though this is not always fair, it is the truth. And perceptions are what people react to, not "reality".

    What have Bill Gates and Ben Laden have in common? They both want the US Military to use Micosoft operating systems...