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User: gnuman99

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  1. Re:Short answer: no on Fresh Air For Windows? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Microsoft is many, many times more developer friendly than Apple. For example,

    http://trolltech.com/company/newsroom/announcements/press.2007-06-19.6756913411/?searchterm=codebase

    At least the windows API has been stable for a LONG time. You can get code that was running on Windows NT to continue to run, mostly. Or at least have a reasonable way of porting it. Stuff doesn't suddenly disappear in Windows.

    This is good news for developers. For some reason, users think that Apple was is better. I guess people only care about the latest-greatest app instead of having an inhouse or custom made application working for a decade or so, then Apple may look better.

  2. Re:Distributed power station on US Halts Applications For Solar Energy Projects · · Score: 1

    I'm in Manitoba (6c/kWh power here). 2000kWh/month in winter (-20C weather). That's 65kWh/day. And I have a geothermal heat pump (10kW) for heating the place (soon augmented with thermal solar panels :), and electric water heater, and of course all the electronic crap. So, 0% fossil fuel usage. 100% electricity, and I'm still well under that California house even in the middle of winter.

  3. Oppsie for Amazon! on Will Amazon Get a Visit From the Tax Man? · · Score: -1

    Sorry, but that will NOT fly in court!

    IANAL, *but* I know enough that you can't wiggle out of tax situations by simply creating new companies. At least here in Canada, if company A is 100% owned by company B, then they essentially considered to be one entity, at least for tax reasons. If tax(A + B) pay less tax than tax(A) + tax(B), the revenue agency will take a very close look.

    In this case, Amazon *owns* the warehouses by owning the 3rd party. Case closed. Otherwise, people would just set up 50 companies, each one in different state, and sell stuff to each other avoiding all state taxes. Works if you want your ass in jail!

    Since Amazon will probably be liable for the taxes it was suppose to collect, how would that affect their bottom line? How long for such cases to reach conclusion in the US? Years? Decades?

    In Canada, Amazon.ca collects local taxes from almost the start.

  4. Re:QOS should work on Can Any Router Guarantee Bandwidth For VoIP? · · Score: 1

    Ingres is not the problem, 99% of the time. In VoiP, ingres congestion will only cause small problems on your side of the conversation, not your customers. Also, the incoming is >> than outgoing. Incoming data rate is faster, meaning a full link will result in less latency for incoming anyway. Finally, you can limit your incoming bit torrent in the actual torrent application!! I know! Wow!

    If you want to throttle all, add ingress queuing so all TCP connections like BitTorrent are slowed down to 75 or 80% of max bandwidth. If more, just queue or even drop the packets. TCP handles that and your incoming rate will slow down nicely :)

  5. Re:In Beijing at the moment on The World's 10 Dirtiest Cities · · Score: 1

    Come to "clean" places like Manitoba, Canada. I dare you. I dare you go back to China where you like *at any time* and consider it anything buy deadly.

    Heck, Toronto,Canada is bad enough without any advisories. Toronto is smoggy as hell. And I remember when I went through there from eastern europe where I lived for some time, it was like a breath of fresh air.

    It is like getting your first pair of glasses and suddenly you can see well. Suddenly the "normal" sight you think you had is crap.

    Puts things in perspective. Go live in a "clean" area for a year. Then move back to your "normal". Then and only then you'll have a real perspective on how awful "normal" pollution is.

    On another note, I pity the people participating in Olympics simply from air quality reasons.

  6. Re:Hope all you want on The World's 10 Dirtiest Cities · · Score: 1

    1. Tax CO2, like coal
    2. coal more expensive than nuclear
    3. more nuclear power build because cheaper than coal

    get it?? not yet?

    1. more expensive => less demand (ie. people turn off that TV or lights when not needed)
    2. not needed!

    proof: Neighbor had 5 1000W laps on his house. When he got his first bill, they are off now. Tada!

    Still don't get it?

    1. tax CO2
    2. CO2 energy more expensive - people adapt, use less, use other energy (like nuclear, solar heating, wind, whatever)
    3. tax revenue used to fund projects to make non-CO2 energy sources more accessible (ie. cheaper)

    Makes sense now?

    If you keep saying no, the Earth will do it for you anyway, but you will not get revenue from taxing cheap fossil fuels. You'll waste your resources mining the super expensive remnants. Peak Oil is *here*. Oil production may increase a little bit in next few years, but then it *will* drop no matter how much oil will cost.

    Regardless, the earth is already so fsked over it is hard to image. All I have to do is look back short 20 years. Areas with no people, now are teaming with them. Fish stock collapses are now "normal". So sad.... so sad that vast majority has their heads up their arses. I bet if you asked people in top polluted places what are their top concerns they wouldn't even say the environment.

  7. Tragedy of the commons on The World's 10 Dirtiest Cities · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And what do people complain about in these shit places? The environment? No! They complain about lack of money, about laws and other worthless shit.

    Back few months ago, Bombay,India wanted to mandate *some* regulations that would require those shitty rickshaws to stop using kerosine mix crap for fuel. Never passed because of lobbying from the rickshaw drivers. I guess they don't give a shit if they die at 30 from lung cancer, but they do care if they have to pay *anything* to make their own environment cleaner.

    This situation is the the everywhere. Kind of makes you think how shortsighted we think.

  8. Re:Interersing trend... on Higher Oil Prices Are Starting To Bring Jobs Home · · Score: 1

    http://www.uxc.com/review/uxc_Prices.aspx

    Get all Uranium product prices here :)

    SWU price is what you want. The hexafloride is the thing you need in centrifuges, for example.

    Most of the cost of the ship is not the fuel, it is the cost of the reactor, maintenance and reprocessing of waste. I guess that's the "bad" and good thing as same time - nuclear power requires us to deal with all the waste and not just allow it to go up *poof* into the atmosphere (it would hurt us much, much more than wildlife!)

  9. Re:High oil prices will do way more than Kyoto on Higher Oil Prices Are Starting To Bring Jobs Home · · Score: 1

    "But, but, but, I don't wanna another tax! It will hurt our economy!". That's the line you heard over, and over, and over again. "Kyoto just hurts the rich countries". Well, nothing will now hurt more than being that rich country.

    We made the cake we have to eat now.

    I always argued Kyoto was *never* about reducing emissions. It was about developing technologies to move the economy from oil based to hydrogen based. How do you do that? You artificially raise the price of luxuries, like gasoline. You raise the price of other energies based on fossil fuels as well, like gas or heating oil. This causes people to spend money to have more efficient homes. More efficient cars (see Europe vs. US cars and who hurts more at these prices)

    The revenue from the high prices is then spent on R&D and deploying hydrogen capable infrastructure. This creates jobs! Lots and lots of jobs.

    But no, people wanted to delay. Politicians too stupid to see the benefits of Kyoto. Heck, the people talking about Peak Oil were considered nuts since the 80s - the conversion away from oil to hydrogen based (powered by wind/solar/algea/nuclear/whatever) should have started with the *first* oil crisis. That was the warning call, now, we have the *Real Thing*.

    Current prices will NOT go down significantly. $100/barrel oil is here to stay. $200/barrel is coming in few years.

    The current problem is will the countries invest NOW into nuclear/hydrogen or will they ignore this, and just mine dirty oil (oil sands, oil shale, etc.) Someone said there is enough dirty oil to turn Earth into Venus. I wander which course the human race will take next decade or two.

    As an environmentalist, I support high oil prices, though taxes over current supply/demand would be better option. Regardless, high oil prices give us another chance to change the course and the human race seems to only change when there is some crisis. This is it. Now, will we change the track?

  10. Re:It less oil to use rail over ships to move iron on Higher Oil Prices Are Starting To Bring Jobs Home · · Score: 1

    Actually, ships don't go on land and trains don't ride on water so the point is almost moot. And since they tend to be close enough to being same efficiency, it depends on the distance covered.

  11. Re:Value of the Dollar and cost of goods on Higher Oil Prices Are Starting To Bring Jobs Home · · Score: 1

    Prices in the US are still far the cheapest for vast majority of goods. 20-30% cheaper than in Canada, for Pete's sake!

    Here in Canada we used to get bullshit when our dollar went up to par with USD about,

        1. inventories
        2. contracts
        3. it's even out eventually

    Well over 1 year later, people here still getting ripped off. Same thing for Europe where prices can be even higher.

  12. Re:enough sunlight depends on several factors on Lack of Sunlight Could Lead To Early Death · · Score: 1

    UV bounces off of the snow cover. That's why people in the north, like here in Canada, it is possible to get a mild sunburn on your chin (from below) in winter time.

    The problem though is getting enough skin exposed at -30C without getting another type of burn!

  13. Re:Lifespan on Lack of Sunlight Could Lead To Early Death · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You forget one important thing for men - war. Men tended to get sent to wars, which at least evened out the mortality with women and childbirth.

    Similarly, since myopia is a hereditary trait, why do you think it wasn't passed down to all of us yet? People that couldn't see got their head bashed in.

    Hobbes was right: life in the state of nature is "nasty, brutish and short".

    How is that different from today?

  14. Re:Women are allowed a larger waistline in Japan? on Japan Imposes "Fine On Fat" · · Score: 1

    Indeed. I was under the impression that women have *smaller* waist sizes than man! Seems a little backwards to me.

    http://www.gpnotebook.co.uk/simplepage.cfm?ID=x20040816135039112940&linkID=67798&cook=no

    Waist to Hip ratio seems much better predictor.

  15. Re:wow.. seriously? on Japan Imposes "Fine On Fat" · · Score: 1

    You can't get 3-5% body fat and remain healthy for long. That's insanely low.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage

    2-5% is essential fat for men. *ESSENTIAL*. It depends on race too, because black men tend to have the lower number and white men towards the higher value here. But this is *essential* body fat. You are in this category, you are starved, and certainly not an athlete. (Or maybe you are, if you are taking roids or something)

    Women in 12% range? Again, *essential fat*

    You are in into your essential fat, and it is no longer healthy for you to do what you are doing.

  16. Re:Bandwidth versus latency... on Bell Canada Ordered To Justify Traffic-Shaping Practices · · Score: 2, Insightful

    WTF are you talking about? You want 10x redundant infrastructure so you can get access from 10 internet access suppliers? That is *nuts*.

    Government mandated last-mile access for 3rd party ISPs is vitally needed everywhere. This is *exactly* what is happening in Bell's case - 3rd parties have access to the last-mile. Then their customers are throttled as well as Bell's. This is the problem. If Bell only throttled their own customers, CRTC wouldn't even get involved.

    The shit is flying because of government *mandated* access to the Bell's infrastructure, and Bell doesn't want to play ball.

  17. Re:Bandwidth versus latency... on Bell Canada Ordered To Justify Traffic-Shaping Practices · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It is also *VERY* common for people do to the following,

      1. start bittorent of something
      2. notice latency goes through the roof and bandwidth to drop to nothing

    or

      1. start uploading some large file
      2. notice they can't use the Intertubes anymore as latency is superhigh, bandwidth at 5% what it should be

    Then they scream at the ISP for throttling them. The ISP says they do not throttle. Who is right? In many cases, it is the ISP. Customers max out their upload bandwidth then the ACK packets for TCP connections are stuck. This causes TCP to slow down to a crawl. You can easily reduce your 2M/400k connection down to 50k/400k or even worse.

    Or people scream about latency when DNS servers are slow.

    Cable tends to be less of a problem in this respect than DSL. But both can be hammered by user's lack of understanding of this stuff.

    Now, in Bell's case, this is not the issue as they are throttling 3rd party providers over their own lines.

    When you realize that the lack fo competition is due to the stifling of local, state and Federal government regulations, you'll find the true culprit for what ails you: too many regulations preventing competition from bringing to the market what you want at a price you're willing to pay.

    What? Are you on crack or something? Government mandated line sharing is exactly what is needed for competition to occur! If that did not happen, you would have exactly a choice between 2 broadband providers,

        1. Bell
        2. Cable company

    Because of *government mandated* rules, Bell had to sell last mile access at same price as they would sell themselves. This is what allowed competition to flourish.

    Government mandated line sharing, government mandated rules regarding net neutrality is exactly what is needed.

    The rules make sure that competition has a chance.

    A lot of government regulations are vitally needed for Internet and other areas,

      1. to address net neutrality
      2. to address access to last mile
      3. environmental rules for developments of any kind
      4. guess what would happen if there was no airline regulations for maintenance of their planes? or enforced rules of the road?

    If there are no rules, you'd get tiered internet with pocket spying without ability to get a better provider than the 2 you can get locally.

  18. Re:Easiest savings come from free cooling... on Building the Green Data Center · · Score: 1

    No, you are just ignorant like vast majority of people. It is called "RELATIVE HUMIDITY", NOT humidity.

    100% saturated air at 0C is dry when heated to 20C = about 26% @ 20C.

    http://einstein.atmos.colostate.edu/~mcnoldy/Humidity.html

    100% humid air at -30C, raised temperature to 20C gives you humidity of 2% @ 20C. That is DANGEROUSLY TOO LOW for data centers. You want about 30% AFAIK otherwise you risks static charge problems with people zapping servers and servers even zapping themselves.

  19. Re:Northern Climates? on Building the Green Data Center · · Score: 1

    Yeah, like Manitoba Hydro.

    http://hydro.mb.ca/

    Winter gets you cold, cold, cold temperatures. Hydro power here costs you 5c/kWh and much cheaper for larger users. Want it even cheaper, get up north to Thompson - closer to the source.

    Yet, no large data centers here. And in a "town" of 600,000+ people.

  20. Re:Managed power distribution units on Building the Green Data Center · · Score: 1

    Depends on the application. Not everything fits in the LAMP, web server model.

  21. No, no, no on DIY Solar Resources? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    DIY project for wiring your house? Yeah, if you wish to invalidate your insurance and burn down your house. You need to properly wire the stuff. And if you can't figure it out, you can't do it with instructions properly either.

    Want to use solar that maximizes your bang for the dollar? Want a DYI project? Invest in some thermal solar cells, you can even make them yourself. Then you can heat your hot water or even heat your house if you have wanter radiant heating (geothermal heatpump augmented with solar cells - saves oodles of cash). And thermal solar panels are 95%+ efficient, not the 20% or something like that for electrical systems.

  22. Re:translation on Studies Confirm That Bad Boys Get More Girls · · Score: 1

    Maybe the "women language"?

  23. Re:The end of vendor lock-in for Microsoft? on Microsoft Spokesman Says ODF "Clearly Won" Standard War · · Score: 1

    Then there is AbiWord and Gnumeric. They are not exactly crap but work quite well these days.

    But lack of OpenOffice would probably mean some sort of OOXML as the defacto standard.

  24. Re:Call Screening on Spit Will Be Worse Than Spam · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I just set up Asterisk to answer all my calls. Then it says

      "Hello, thank you for calling Blah & Bo. If you want Blah, press 1. If you want Bo, press 2"

    I get about 10-15 calls a day that hang up before even 2 seconds of the automated prompt. And these tend to call the same time each and everyday, until they give up a week or two later.

    I get NO telemarketers, EVER, as they don't really have keypads AFAIK. When once was upgrading the Asterisk machine, it was down for 2 hours. I managed to get 2 telemarketers. I just told them to call back in the evening as I had no time. Guess what? Asterisk was up by then and they never got through! :)

  25. Re:The delusional fighting reality - many preceden on Of Late, Fewer Sunspots Than Usual · · Score: 1

    Man! Part of the post was somehow erased when submitting!! Thank you slashdot for not quoting >

    The part that was erased was regarding Rutherford model of the atom - nucleus with electron cloud. In first half of 1900s, some physics still believed the atom model was not as described by Rutherford's *direct* measurements in his alpha scattering experiments. So, about 1% of physicists did not agree - does that mean there wasn't consensus about the model??

    This is exactly the same with current view of global warming by the denial crowd - and media is even playing into their hands! They take one person from the mainstream and put them in a "debate" against some crackpot from the tiny minority.

    If media wants to be fair about discussions about Holocaust, (for example), and if they want to discuss it why not put some KKK extremist on the other side to debate?? That would rightly be never tolerated! So why is it tolerated with respect to established science?

    The bottom line is people want to distort reality to feed good. That's why there is the denial culture that is prevalent in the mainstream (NOT in science community!).

    http://www.emotionalcompetency.com/distortions.htm