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User: molafson

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Comments · 144

  1. Re:Not Nuclear on Obama To Decide On New Weapons · · Score: 1

    Not really. I just wanted to put the fine point on it. Since a lot of commentators seem to be hysterically adverse to the nuclear option.

  2. Not Nuclear on Obama To Decide On New Weapons · · Score: 2, Informative
    From the article:

    In theory, the weapon will hurl a conventional warhead of enormous weight at high speed and with pinpoint accuracy, generating the localized destructive power of a nuclear warhead.

  3. Re:Current Slashdot Poll on "Supertaskers" Can Safely Use Mobile Phones While Driving · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

    "People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it."

    http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121

     

  4. Re:That's not unusual. on How the TSA Plans On Inspecting Your Monkey · · Score: 1

    Living with cats can cause problems. http://www.damninteresting.com/parasites-on-the-brain

  5. Re:Software engineering is not a new concept. on Does the 'Hacker Ethic' Harm Today's Developers? · · Score: 1

    Interesting. You can look at it as analogous to the creation of TV cartoons, i.e. the creators are artists who design the story and the key cells. The workers are the ones who ink the cells as per the artists' design (by hand or by computer imaging). The workers are also artists in their own way, but not to the same degree.

  6. Re:Malware? on AV-Test Deems Windows Security Essentials "Very Good" · · Score: 5, Informative

    "AV-Test also examined the program's anti-rootkit skills and its ability to scrub a system of malware it finds with a limited number of samples and "found no reasons to complain," Marx said. "[Security Essentials] is able to remove found malware very well, but further tests against larger sets of samples are required before we can come to a final conclusion."

  7. Slackware on A Trip Down Distro Memory Lane · · Score: 1

    In 1994 I had Slackware running on my inherited 386 and I managed to install Doom (although I am not sure how) and it ran beautifully.

  8. Re:I just hope they fix the controllers on Atari To Release Old Games and New Console System · · Score: 1

    I remember the Colecovision controllers to have been adequate if not good. The fire buttons were kind of weird, with their "springy" action (as opposed to the "clicky" fire buttons on the Atari controller). I liked the Coleco's round directional stick... The number pad was pretty much useless though.

  9. Re:Why? on New Disposable Digital Cameras with LCDs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    N.B. The cameras aren't "disposable" in the sense that you throw them away. The company refurbishes them 5-8 times and puts them back on the market.

  10. Re:Biometrics on Passwords - 64 Characters, Changed Daily? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you use biometric data for your passwords then you can never change your passwords. The first time you use a cracked login terminal you've lost security forever, unless you have surgery.

    That is why it is better to use both: a good pass-phrase that you change from time to time, which is hashed together with your retinal scan, finger print, etc.

  11. Re:So how about releasing the code? on Lawsuits Force 321 Studios Out Of Business · · Score: 1

    You're way off. IIRC, the reason LAME is distributed as source code is so they don't have to pay royalties to Fraunhofer (owners of MP3 patents). Notice that CD-rippers and MP3 codecs contain no operations to circumvent DRM: that is because CDs contain no DRM! A DVD ripper, on the other hand is subject to DMCA regulation, as it does circumvent a DVD's copyright protection. In this case, it makes not one iota of difference whether your app is distributed as source code or binary.

  12. Re:A few thoughts on Apple Not Too Harmonious with Real · · Score: 1

    Feeling royally screwed because you bought an iPod capable of having a 12 hour battery life that only lasts 8 hours? Well now that Apple needs a way to get us to upgrade to their new software to break Real, guess what is probably going to happen.

    How will a firmware update magically increase the battery life by 50%?

  13. Re:Question for you iPodians on Birth of the iPod · · Score: 1

    So, if I understand correctly, I could rip my stuff to generic AAC - which is about as proprietary as MP3 - and use it on an iPod, and with other devices that support AAC. But I won't be able to do much with iTunes stuff.

    Anything you rip to AAC using the iTunes application will be DRM free. The DRMed AACs are the ones you buy from the iTunes Store.

    But I thought it was an uncompressed format like .WAV?

    WAV and AIFF are basically the same thing. The file formats are slightly different.

  14. Re:Question for you iPodians on Birth of the iPod · · Score: 1

    Still I don't see a reason to use the Apple format unless you have to - .MP3 is universal and will stay that way for the future. And CDex ripping MP3s will sound approximately the same (but slightly better) than an .m4a at the same bitrate.

    Very wrong. AAC is understood to be a higher performing codec, achieving better fidelity at lower bitrates than MP3.

  15. Re:Tee Hee on Birth of the iPod · · Score: 1

    Sony is addressing some of the long-standing complaints about minidisc. Apparently the new Hi-MD units can transfer recorded content from the player to your computer over USB.

  16. Re:Something for Mr Allison to think about. on When Videogames Publishers Go 'Street' · · Score: 1

    But in five to ten years time we will be in control of the market's purse-strings. Don't ignore us.

    And should that be the case, you'll want to maximize your return on investment, which you'll notice means attracting a decent market share, which is what Steve Allison is talking about.

  17. Re:Video Games and Teen Thugs on When Videogames Publishers Go 'Street' · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Video game designers realize there is a pile of money to be made on criminals, too, because one of their favourite hobbies are console games. I'd wager that most criminals dislike computer games

    This is a joke, right?

  18. Re:A walkmanMD is also easy to use.. on Sony, Walkmans And The iPod · · Score: 1

    Now this of course wouldn't be the case if I only had a MAC to hook to it.. ( would have to use VirtualPC in that case )

    No, the USB support (or something) in Virtual PC is so screwy that you can't use your NetMD with Virtual PC at all. I think I might have got it working under OS 9 + Virtual PC + Windows 2000 once... but the transfer rate was less than 1X (slower than real time).

  19. Minidisc on Sony, Walkmans And The iPod · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This device has more in common with a minidisc player than an iPod, it seems. Right now I use a two-year-old md player, and it's okay. It's no iPod, but it only cost about $100 back when I bought it.

    Pros: Excellent battery life (up to 40 hours); separation of device and media (the discs); uses one standard AA battery; cheap.

    Cons: Everything else... the sound quality of ATRAC doesn't really matter to me, but the process of converting CDs and MP3s is bullshit. Sony's loader programs suck. And it doesn't help that they won't support Mac OS X.

    Now, consider this new Sony Walkman thing; it appears to have lost 3/4 of the pros of the md player (as above). So there's no way in hell that I would buy it. I think I'll wait until Sony's new "Hi-MD" players come down in price. These are md players that can record 45 hours of music or 1 GB of data on one disc.

  20. Re:Why diss Linux? on Review of the Roku HD1000 Media Player · · Score: 1

    Recall McLuhan's "The medium is the message" in reference to TV. The computer corollary is "the interface is the operating system".

    I don't understand what you're trying to say. Maybe you're misinterpreting McLuhan's famous aphorism. It happens a lot. McLuhan was a technological determinist. He believed that media technology itself affects society in fundamental ways, much more so than media content. Hence, "the medium is the message."

  21. Phones on WiFi Lifeline For Nepal's Farmers · · Score: 1

    Why don't they just set them up with mobile phones? Cheaper, easier to use, etc. Of course, not as flashy and newsworthy as Internet.

  22. Re:Yes...it does work on The DDR Workout - It's Official · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm not sure how it could NOT work.

    If you still drink 6 bottles of Coke, and eat a bucket of chicken for lunch -- that's how.

  23. Re:Dehydration... on 13 Energy Drinks In 3 Sessions · · Score: 2, Informative

    There is a condition called hyponatraemia that can affect elite endurance athletes. I believe it occurs when someone sweats profusely (losing essential minerals through the sweat like sodium and potassium), and then drinks plain water, which further dilutes the serum level of these minerals.

  24. Re:Whatever on 13 Energy Drinks In 3 Sessions · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Smoking crystal meth has the quickest effect, within 7 to 10 seconds, as the vapors enter the lungs, and are absorbed rapidly through the blood vessels lining the lungs, and then get pumped throughout the body and brain."

  25. Whatever on 13 Energy Drinks In 3 Sessions · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I felt myself staring holes through my computer screen, typing at five times my normal rate and thinking far too creatively about life questions like how many AA batteries I needed to buy when I went to the drug store.

    Whatever! You'd think the guy was smoking crystal meth or something. Anyway, if you want to feel healthy and alert, try:
    (a) Eating nutritiously and sparingly,
    (b) Exercising every day, and
    (c) Sleeping regularly (same time every day) for 8 hours.