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User: BobPaul

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  1. Re:Not really... on Do Car Safety Problems Come From Outer Space? · · Score: 1

    Military airplanes commonly use fly-by-wire. Not all air-o-planes are airliners, you know.

  2. Re:The clean and cold fridge. on Rugged Laptop/Tablet Suggestions, 2010 Version? · · Score: 1

    The dew point fluctuates with the temperature and humidity, you know.

    What you're describing sounds like a cold computer in a warm environment, such as a computer that was brought into a warm environment from a cold area, or a cold area blasted with warm, moist air (eg, air conditioned server room with door opened allowing hot, humid air in quickly).

    In a refrigerator, it won't be possible. The laptop case could never get colder than air temperature. If the case can't drop below air temp, it can't lead to condensation. Opening the fridge on a hot, humid day would be a problem, but the whole idea is to avoid opening the door anyway.

  3. Re:out of your box solutions including OS X on Rugged Laptop/Tablet Suggestions, 2010 Version? · · Score: 1

    Really? An entire day? All of your settings are in your home folder, so that's a snap. Most of your software is probably in the repos, so you load up Synaptic or what-have-you and check all the boxes. Then you walk away.

    Or do you just have a slow-ass internet connection at work so it takes that long to download the software? You could copy your local repo cache over from the old computer, I suppose. That would contain a lot of the rpms or debs. Or if you're not upgrading the OS, just rsync the entire contents of the HD.

    The Mac way is probably more streamlined and user friendly, but it really shouldn't take a whole day.

  4. Re:EliteBook on Rugged Laptop/Tablet Suggestions, 2010 Version? · · Score: 1

    It's a European Carry All, you insensitive clod!

  5. Re:The clean and cold fridge. on Rugged Laptop/Tablet Suggestions, 2010 Version? · · Score: 1

    Still, as I originally stated, full fridge really shouldn't be necessary, as the ambient air temp will be lower than the electronics.

    Water condenses on a water cooling block because the block is colder than the air temp. The air near the block cools, lowering it's max humidity and water and moisture precipitates.

    In a non-defrosting fridge, the air is cool (say, 40F) so it can't hold much moisture. The coils, up in the mini-freezer, are extremely cold and cause the condensation mentioned above (and thus frost buildup). The computer, however, is warm. The heatsinks in the laptop are warmer than the ambient air. The air near the heatsinks increases in temperature, increasing its max humidity. No moisture will build up on the computer.

    Condensation is a problem for cold things in a warmer environment, not warmer things in a cold environment.

  6. Re:The clean and cold fridge. on Rugged Laptop/Tablet Suggestions, 2010 Version? · · Score: 1

    Your experience involves waterblock coolers, doesn't it (where the waterblock drops below the dewpoint). That's not applicable in this case. But to be safe, he could always use a real, self-defrosting type refrigerator. These are very good at removing any humidity from the fridge, probably better than a small bar fridge would.

  7. Re:out of your box solutions including OS X on Rugged Laptop/Tablet Suggestions, 2010 Version? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Any linux distro would be good at A & B. Just install your distro, rsync your /home to the new computer, and reboot. Then all you need to do is re-install your software and, presumably, that's all in the repos. Anything not in the repos should be kept in deb/rpm/tgz files in your home folder somewhere.

    Outside of that, about the only thing you might want are backups of configs in /etc that you modified.

  8. Re:EliteBook on Rugged Laptop/Tablet Suggestions, 2010 Version? · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    But I can't walk through the black ghetto part of town without legitimate fear for my own safety even though I am not saying anything or doing anything or provoking anyone

    This is what we call observer bias. I have no problem walking through the "black" part of town without fear for my safety. I posit that your fear is a result of your racism and therefore not legitimate.

  9. Re:Cannonical is just trolling us on Ubuntu Will Switch To Base-10 File Size Units In Future Release · · Score: 1

    Can't it be both?

  10. Re:Cannonical is just trolling us on Ubuntu Will Switch To Base-10 File Size Units In Future Release · · Score: 1

    Yeah.. you're wrong. Telecommunications has always defined KB as 1000 bytes, as have storage manufacturers. In the 80s I had a 9600baud modem that transfered at 9.6KB/s, aka 9.6kbps. I could pull a 9.6KB file in 1.024 seconds.

    Whether KB is 1000 or 1024 has always depended on the industry involved. Most people look at the OS numbers reported, though, and the OS has generally reported 1024 for filesizes and diskspace (leading to confusion as to why that 120GB drive wasn't even 115GB or why that 1.44MB floppy was only 1.37MB.

  11. Re:Crazy on Cooling the Planet With a Bubble Bath · · Score: 1

    Or the sea birds that need to see through the surface to find fish.

  12. Re:somewhere a bunch of Sparc boxes are.... on Oracle/Sun Enforces Pay-For-Security-Updates Plan · · Score: 1

    Well now it logs in. Just in case you have replies from ACs disabled, community supported ports are here: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/9.10/release/

  13. Re:Wifi on How Do You Extend Your Wireless Connection? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Don't have T-Mobile, but when they released it, it was included in all T-Mobile plans and any calls you START on wifi (even if you transition to cellular mid call) are free, while any calls you START on cellular (even if you go home and transition to wifi mid call) count against your minutes.

    So... when you're driving home, hang up and call back, but if you're leaving the house, keep talking.

  14. Re:Wifi on How Do You Extend Your Wireless Connection? · · Score: 1

    If you use the Google Voice app, you make a receive calls over SIP.

    If you aren't using the Google Voice app, you have to call your Google Voice number first, and that means your call goes over POTS.

    I understand how you got you're confused. You probably don't have a smartphone with the Google Voice app.

  15. Re:HFC Its the metabolites you *SHOULD* be concern on High Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Bigger Weight Gain In Rats · · Score: 1

    Now again, tell me that HFCS is the same as sugar?

    Table Sugar is sucrose, which breaks down immediately (any slightly acidic environment) into glucose and fructose. Whether you get the fructose from HFCF or from table sugar, you're still getting the fructose, and as such all of its metabolites. That's the argument that they're they same. Table Sugar is not glucose.

  16. Re:Why not Wii-ware? on Netflix Streaming Arrives For the Wii · · Score: 1

    The exclusive deal with MS for the XBox360. Running from the disc allows Netflix to bypass the wording of the contract, such that's how it runs on PS3 and probably Wii.

  17. Re:You need a disc? on Netflix Streaming Arrives For the Wii · · Score: 1

    PS3 requires a disc, but a Wii can easily be softmodded so that a USB loader (such as USBLoader GX) to launch the service from a thumbdrive/usb HD instead of a DVD.

    It would be best if they made it into a channel, but they haven't even done that on PS3, so that seems unlikely.

  18. Re:HFC on High Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Bigger Weight Gain In Rats · · Score: 3, Informative

    1 Sucrose is broken down to 1 glucose and 1 fructose in any slightly acidic environment. This includes the stomach and upper small intestine. Glucose and fructose freely pass the intestinal walls into the bloodstream where fructose is metabolized by the liver and glucose is metabolized by any body cell.

  19. Re:HFC on High Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Bigger Weight Gain In Rats · · Score: 5, Informative

    HFCF is fructose and sucrose. Fructose is absorbed by the small intestine. Sucrose (table sugar) is broken down in the stomach and small intestine into 1 glucose molecule and 1 fructose molecule, which are then both absorbed by the small intestine. So, either way you get fructose, big deal, right? That's the conventional wisdom.

    But lets look further. If you eat 1 tablespoon of HCFC 55 (equal in sweetness to 1 tablespoon sucrose), you get .55 tablespoons of fructose and .45 tablespoons of sucrose. That sucrose is turned into half fructose and half glucose before entering the bloodstream. So in reality you ate .775 tablespoons of fructose and .225 tablespoons of glucose. This is significantly more fructose than if you had eaten 1 tablespoon of sucrose. And if you're consuming sugar water (as in the study) or lots and lots of soda, you're consuming far more than a tablespoon.

    Of course your claim that it's "absorbed ... in the same way that beer and alcohol is. In the liver" isn't quite correct. They're all absorbed by the small intestine, but it's true they are metabolized by the liver, albeit in completely different ways. What's might be important about the liver, though, is that it's not regulated by insulin. While glucose can be metabolized by any of the bodies cells, insulin regulates blood glucose levels. Fructose is only processed by the liver and is indifferent to insulin levels. So (in a layman's, but more detailed explanation) when you eat that 1 tablespoon of table sugar, you get half a tablespoon of unregulated sugar and half regulated. Eat the HFCF55 and most of the sugar is unregulated.

    As an aside, honey is almost identical in composition to HFCF55, so if you meet any holistics bemoaning HFCF and championing honey, you can tell them to screw off.

  20. Re:somewhere a bunch of Sparc boxes are.... on Oracle/Sun Enforces Pay-For-Security-Updates Plan · · Score: 1

    9.10 is the last release I could find with sparc support. It also happens to be the current release.

    Sparc32, on the other hand...

  21. Re:Was to be exepected on Oracle/Sun Enforces Pay-For-Security-Updates Plan · · Score: 1

    You mean a google?

  22. Use Mic jack on Is the Line-in Jack On the Verge of Extinction? · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've yet to buy a computer with fewer than 3 jacks (out, line in, mic in generally alternatively selectable as out1, out2, out3 for surround). But if you really don't have a line in, use the Mic jack and uncheck the "Microphone Boost" option. The +20dB boost is the difference between mic level and line level.

  23. Re:Old Enough? on Carbon-14 Dating Reveals 5% of Vintage Wines May Be Frauds · · Score: 1

    No, some brief Googling along with the second page of the article confirms hist statements.

  24. Old Enough? on Carbon-14 Dating Reveals 5% of Vintage Wines May Be Frauds · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As I understand it, carbon dating doesn't work well for young items. Are vintage wines old enough for accurate carbon dating?

  25. Re:So... on YouTube Was Evil, and Google Knew It · · Score: 1

    Of course Google knew it was full of piracy when they purchased it. Part of the purchase deal was setting aside a fund to help cover the impending lawsuits. The expectation that Youtube would be sued as soon as someone with deep pockets purchased it was very well written about in the press as Youtube was searching for a buyer... long before Google even became the front runner.

    (That that this contradicts anything you wrote.. just seemed like the proper spot in the conversation for the comment).