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User: canadacow

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Comments · 49

  1. Re:Space age is old news on American Space Age Reaches Fifty Years · · Score: 1

    I for one welcome back our old killer pebble overlords.

  2. Re:"The innovator's dilemma" on Ford Airstream Electric Concept Car · · Score: 2, Informative

    The EV1 is impractical for a number of reasons, most problematic are the batteries themselves, strangely absolved in the mockumentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" 1) Because of the charge-discharge strain placed on the batteries, they would have required an expensive replacement every 25000 miles. Gradually the car's range would dwindle to uselessness, just like a laptop battery does with age as well. 2) When talking about emissions, the 2004+ Prius actually beats out the EV for emissions according to the EPA's website. 3) Finally, the biggest problem is recharge time. I full charge required anywhere from 12-16 hours, a fact completely left out of the "so-called-documentary" "Who Killed the Electric Car?" In reality, the Prius solved many of the problems encountered by the EV1 by keeping the gasoline engine. Improvements in emissions from the petrol engine improved the exhaust and the keeping a constant charge to the batteries extends the lifespan of the batteries.

  3. Re:Good idea on Ford Airstream Electric Concept Car · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I must be a complete idiot when it comes to car aesthetics--what's really so bad about the look of the Prius? When I think of an ugly car, typically I think of the standard "penis-extension" type vehicles with a rear spoiler that has trouble clearing low bridges, not a Prius.

  4. Re:No, don't let them "debate!" on Global Warming Only a Theory, Says School Board · · Score: 1

    The problem with said statement is that with a stream of "whys", an honest scientist/skeptic will eventually answer "I don't know, but let's try to find out". On the other hand a theologian/fundamentalist will instead say, "God did it." This is dogma on the part of the theologian and clearly separates the two epistemologies.

  5. Re:Technology for technologies sake on The Intelligent Door Handle · · Score: 1

    Locking the doors from the inside via the power locks is possible. However, using the button on the outside of the car to lock the doors is not possible if the RFID key is still inside the car. In other words, you can secure yourself in the car just fine. However, if someone outside the car were to try to lock the doors from the outside, the car would reject the request.

  6. Re:Technology for technologies sake on The Intelligent Door Handle · · Score: 1

    I have a Prius with the RFID key option. It is quite impressive... no need to get anything out to unlock the doors, nor do you have to do anything once your in besides press the "Start" button. The RFID tag will also not allow you to lock your keys in the car either. If any set of keys are inside the car, the Prius will refuse to lock the doors.

  7. Re:Jesus. on RIAA Suit Rejected With Prejudice · · Score: 1

    Its not a bullshit example because it happens all the time. The example the parent poster gave of people ripping CD's in the store and replacing the merchandise, doesn't happen. It is a rhetorical example to show how file sharing (even though no physical product is actually lost) some how still equates with trespassing or theft. However, I gave a real example where people get a full viewing of a movie (or listening of a song) without paying for it, in full sight of the store owners. They don't consider that stealing, and in the opinion of another poster, it can actually be a babysitter while the parents are shopping/haggling/etc.

    The point is, the parent's example is hypothetical and rhetorical, only it misses the point, because a real-life equivalent exists, and no one seems to have a problem with it.

  8. Re:Lose, lose situation for RIAA on RIAA Suit Rejected With Prejudice · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Oh oh! I have a better example. What if a child walked into a store, sat in the home theatre demo section and watched a whole Disney movie they hadn't seen before. Is that OK? Is it theft then too?

  9. Ashes shot into space? on Star Trek's Scotty Dies at 85 · · Score: 1

    So he wanted his ashes shot into space? Personally, I think it would be more fitting if they put them in storage and used them in the first stages of experimentation with human teleportation.

  10. Trademark registered, considered dead by USPTO on Owner of the Word Stealth 'Protecting' Rights · · Score: 1

    According to the USPTO, Leo's stealth trademark #74724050 was considered dead and unenforceable after April, 1999.

  11. Re:China: Smart != Number Doodling on Why Smart People Defend Bad Ideas · · Score: 0, Troll

    And I guess under the totalitarian theocratic regime of the Lama the Tibetian people are going to be any better of?

  12. Re:The survey could be misleading... on People are More Accepting of Spam · · Score: 1

    The do-not-call list prohibits commerical organizations from making cold calls. However, the system still allows for non-profit and research organizations to make calls and conduct surveys. This very distinction was how telemarketers tried fight the law in court. They said that telemarketing was speech and that the do-not-call list unfairly censored speech from one group of individuals.

  13. Re:Smoking Gun on CherryOS Mac Emulator Resurfaces · · Score: 4, Informative
  14. Smoking Gun on CherryOS Mac Emulator Resurfaces · · Score: 3, Informative

    A few minutes of hex searching revealed that Arben was not diligent enough in removing the embedded images from PearPC's code. In CherryOS.exe, at address hex 0xF9140, you'll find a PearPC gif (see attached link) that is the ChangeCD image used in PearPC (in the stable build I have, at address 0xA6330) (see second attached link). Any questions?

    http://66.42.197.91/FromPearPC.gif/

    http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/screenshots/osx_inst all.png/

  15. Re:AdBlock on Firefox Users Bad For Advertisers · · Score: 1

    Forget the filter. A $5 a year subscription to the weatherunderground will also eliminate the ads as well. For Peat's Sake man! That's 1.3 cents a day! That's one 25th it costs to fund one African boy a day! Sheesh!

  16. Re:Text of debunking on CherryOS Not All It's Cracked Up To Be · · Score: 1

    That exposé of Arben and his violation of the GPL is my site. Please don't fault the VeryPDF developers for their use of the English language. I am very greatful that they took the time help me, and I would have done the same for someone else.

  17. Re:Ports on Universal Emulators Return · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Download PearPC and my sound emulation patch on the sourceforge site and eat your heart out. http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/pearpc/

  18. Bender? on Robot Eats Flies to Generate Power · · Score: 3, Funny

    So how long will it be before we have robots that run on beer?

  19. Re:They've updated... on Revolutionary Spam Firewall Developed · · Score: 1

    Another misuse of the word "irony". This is not irony. An irony would be where a drug that inhibited the libido came out to having a SEXtillion different ways to spell it.

  20. Re:The obvious solution on No Noise PC Reviewed · · Score: 1

    I think the secret is to buy a new laptop. Unless my laptop is warm, the fans never turn on. I can type notes in a silent classroom and the only noise made is from the typing on the keyboard.

  21. Re:Baffling contradiction on FTC Bars Popup Backdoor Ads · · Score: 1

    Actually, the responding posters have it all wrong. The issue with copyright is that international law regarding copyright has existed for over a century, with almost all countries signatory with it. That being the case, the US actually played catch up with the rest of the world regarding obsanely long copyright restrictions. The U.S. has not been a leader in defining copyright.

  22. Re:Thank the lord-A vain attack. on Marine Finds Duct Tape on Mars · · Score: 1

    printf("Result: %d ", Flashlight on helmet == target); prints "Result: -1" printf("Result: %d ", Helmet == messes up hero's hair); prints "Result: -1"

  23. Monkey Island and God on Game with God · · Score: 1

    I am almost certain that at least two of the Monkey Island games had scenes inside of a church. In the first game there was the church on Melee Island where the final battle takes place. In the fourth of the series, Escape from Monkey Island, Guybrush visits the First Church of LeChuck.

  24. Re:How times have changed on Gates Predicts DVD Obsolete In 10 Years · · Score: 2, Informative

    The thing about the CD format chosen on the storage capacity required for Beethoven's 9th is probably an urban legend too. Probably an urban legend

  25. Re:How times have changed on Gates Predicts DVD Obsolete In 10 Years · · Score: 2, Informative

    At the time the PC was spec'ed out, just 64K was considered a large amount of RAM in any personal computer. In just 7 years from the release of the 8086, the 32-bit 386 was designed to address 4GB of physical RAM. Again, at the time, such a number was considered an incredibly insane amount of RAM for a personal computer. Almost 20 years from the 386's release in 1985, we're finding that 4GB of address space is too small. It would seem to me that 1MB was more or less satisfactory for almost a decade and 4GB for two decades. Now, did Bill Gates say anything of the sort regarding the 640K barrier. To quote from this page: "QUESTION: I read in a newspaper that in 1981 you said, "640K of memory should be enough for anybody." What did you mean when you said this? ANSWER: I've said some stupid things and some wrong things, but not that. No one involved in computers would ever say that a certain amount of memory is enough for all time." Yeah, sure someone in a design meeting said that 640K should be an upper limit of RAM. Was it a bad choice or a misinformed choice? Hardly, considering what they knew about the future of the PC. Obviously when someone designed the CD they said, "740MB ought to be enough!" That kind of space seems small now.