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User: techmage

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  1. Re:It better get named vulcan :P on Scientists Find 'Super-Earth' In Star System From 'Star Trek' (vice.com) · · Score: 2

    That would be perfect except the IAU already had a planet named Vulcan. It was thought to orbit inside of Mercury. Turns out Mercury just had a very elliptical orbit. Since they used it once, they typically wont use it again. Bummer.

  2. Overworked and Underpaid on Ask Slashdot: Why Did You Quit Your Last Job? · · Score: 2

    I left my last job because of the workload. I was hired as a programmer and ended up doing all the programming during the day and all the systems administration at night. Nothing was ever done fast enough (go figure) and there was never any money to get the tools or help needed. It was leave the job or leave this life. I like living.

    My new job is only some part time programming with a lot of field work. Almost zero stress and I get to travel eight states.

  3. The World is NOT a Computer on The Whole World is Now a Computer, Says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (zdnet.com) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The world may have a massive collection of computers. Huge sums of those machines are in cloud computing. But they are all separate. When all of them are connected and act as one, having access to everything all at once, then we will have a world computer. That moment is not now.

  4. Walking across the street is a risk. on Could SpaceX Rocket Technology Put Lives At Risk? (chicagotribune.com) · · Score: 2

    Everything is a risk. Rockets extremely so. Why is it that thousands can die in car accidents every year and that is considered acceptable but oh, change the way we do things on a rocket and that extra risk keeps the flight grounded? I understand the risks is rocketry. Things can go south real fast. You need to mitigate the risks, not try to eliminate or ignore them. Every time you launch, you risk losing the payload or the crew. What that percentage is you only find out after you fly a number of times (the more you fly the more you know). SpaceX has launched over 20 times with densified fuel. The SLS has flown zero times. I think SpaceX is in the lead on this risk situation.

  5. Why did the movie "Real Genius" just flash through my head?

  6. One Day on Slashdot Asks: It's Been a Year Since Apple Watch Release, What's Your Thought On It? · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Apple Watch looks good and one day I hope to have one. Waiting for gen 2 or 3 before I commit.

    Still rocking my original iPad though.

  7. Re:The elephant in the room on Students' Experiments To Fly By Glider To the Edge of Space · · Score: 1

    Well, we ran it only as a science inquiry project. The judges were only given the grade of the students and their research application. All other identifying data was removed. Ten groups made the cut based on the strength of their work and nothing else. While it seemed the best approach, maybe things would have been better if we first pre-selected the winners based on socially acceptable moors and then worried about the science. Thanks for pointing out the error of my ways. :)

  8. Re:Why stick to backwardian? on Students' Experiments To Fly By Glider To the Edge of Space · · Score: 1

    All the science is done in metric. The experimental frame is a 10cm cube. The final mass is under 1 kg. All altitude and temperature data is metric. 90,000 feet is something the public can relate to.

  9. Re:Saftey & Planning on Students' Experiments To Fly By Glider To the Edge of Space · · Score: 1

    You are correct at the relative strength of the winds at that altitude. It was such a problem that airflow to the biological experiments had to be adjusted so we could get enough of a sample rate. That altitude is a good analog for Mars.

  10. Re:The elephant in the room on Students' Experiments To Fly By Glider To the Edge of Space · · Score: 3, Informative

    The teams selected were not chosen with any race or gender elements in mind, only the science. But we have two teams predominately African American, one Latino team and the other teams are made up of blended groups. Some groups as you have correctly pointed out, have little to no minority presence (we are working on that). For the record, not all groups have posted photos, not were all the photos posted suitable for media use.

    There are an almost even number of girls to boys with the girls edging out the boys. We have one team exclusively made up of young ladies. Three student leads and five teachers are women. The teams range from college to kindergarten.

  11. Re:Saftey & Planning on Students' Experiments To Fly By Glider To the Edge of Space · · Score: 2

    I understand the concern and yes, the experiments could fly on a balloon - as has been done many times. The advantage of the glider is level stable flight. You cannot effectively steer a balloon, it mus be carried by the winds. The glider gives us the advantage (to a better degree) of picking the direction to fly in. If an experiment picks up something interesting on its instruments, the glider can fly back. The balloon cannot.

    The Perlan II was designed with the payload capability in mind. It is also why the glider and payloads are being tested in Minden Nevada before the actual 90k attempt.

  12. Old Mac laptop humming along on Can Your Hardware Top 18 Years and Ten Months? (theregister.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    I have a Macbook 165c with 8Mb of RAM and 40 Mb HDD still clocking away. Using it for conversion of Quicktake camera images and a few games I worked on back in the day. Battery is shot but she still boots fine.

  13. Pay Out of Whack on Are Bankers Paid Too Much? Are Technology CEOs? · · Score: 2

    As with all things, once you know you have access to the cookie jar, you can get what you want. The CEOs all get these great payouts because the board of directors agrees to it. Why? Because then the CEO can give them nice big Director fee checks. So the CEO gets the cookies and shares them with his friends. As long as the stock goes up, the stockholders will look the other way too. "It is all the cost of doing business," they will say. Everyone but the workers and customers win.

  14. Change is good on Slashdot Tries Something New; Audience Responds! · · Score: 1

    While I have not extensively tested all the features, the beta shows promise. It could be better, could be worse. With some continued work, it will be a good thing.

  15. Re:Talk the Talk on Getting Company Owners To Follow Their Own Rules? · · Score: 1

    I like this. Must try it.

  16. Re:What nobody is saying here is... on Getting Company Owners To Follow Their Own Rules? · · Score: 1

    I can see that if it was one of the owners computers. Heaven knows what they keep on there. In this case though, it was a sales computer going to a new (non-sales) employee.

  17. Re:Reassess your place in the universe, techmage. on Getting Company Owners To Follow Their Own Rules? · · Score: 2, Informative

    In this instance, it is not an owner's computer. They took a sales machine with client data and just gave it to a new hire. No log in changes, no information scouring, etc. When we backup the owners machines, it is done to external drive and they are given the drive. However, we don't get the opportunity to those backups very much.

  18. Re:Just remind them on Getting Company Owners To Follow Their Own Rules? · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately no such backup schedule exists. I'm planning on setting up automated backups when the computers attach to the network. Now I just need to get them to pay for the drive space.

  19. Re:You've already failed. on Getting Company Owners To Follow Their Own Rules? · · Score: 1

    The sad thing is, they were involved. After the first data loss there was a big meeting (with the consumption of many caffeinated beverages) to go over how to prevent it from happening again. A series of policies they crafted were put into place. Just back at square one I guess.

  20. Re:I don't get it... on Getting Company Owners To Follow Their Own Rules? · · Score: 1

    When a person leaves the company, we set a policy to back up all data from their laptop before it is given to a new employee. We had to do this due to a laptop being 'recycled' in this manner and losing a lot of data. We don't want profiles or other data left on that machine so we format it and start with a clean install for security reasons (nothing like finding accounting data on the 'new' salespersons computer.

  21. The Space Show on Best Science News Podcasts? · · Score: 2, Informative

    With a focus primarily on Space and the people making it happen today, 'The Space Show' is one of my favorites. It is available as a live feed on Tuesdays and Sundays and as a podcast.

  22. Re:Privatize the Space Program on H.R. 3057: To the Asteroids, Moon and Mars · · Score: 1

    Because it is not financed by taxpayer dollars. Profitable enterprises create wealth and spur the creation of new processes and products that make money and create revenue. Anything that does not interest the public is not profitable and therefore will either never be built or will die a very quick death in the marketplace.

    Government programs take your money and put it where they want it to go, building what they deem important to the public.

    Private enterprise provides good and services that are desired and used by the general public. Shareholders are in it for the investment and building of wealth. If the company is successful then the products are liked and wealth is realized by the shareholders.

    Can you name any business that is modeled on a government program? The answer is dead ones.

  23. Re:Privatize the Space Program on H.R. 3057: To the Asteroids, Moon and Mars · · Score: 1

    It is not blind faith, it is a matter of fact. In the first 40 years of aviation we saw strides that if they had been allowed in the space program, we would have colonies on the Moon.

    Monopolies be they government or private stifle innovation and cause slow development. Look at the options available for phone service? Do you really thing you could by wireless phones or even cellular phones if AT&T were still the only game in town?

    If space is opened to the private sector then new products will emerge that no one had thought of before. If space is profitable, it will succeed on it's own merits and we will as consumers be better off for it.

  24. Privatize the Space Program on H.R. 3057: To the Asteroids, Moon and Mars · · Score: 1

    This mandate should include the provision the NASA must purchase the launch capabilities from private sector companies and NOT build any craft of their own. NASA should also be given enough money to achieve these goals or else there is not point to going any further.

  25. Re:Music in the background on Renegade Reverse Engineering - John Woo Style · · Score: 1

    Actually the trailer music includes bits from Judge Dredd. It was also used in the Lost is Space trailer.

    I need to get out more...