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User: cammoblammo

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Comments · 519

  1. Re: I mean I got this article through RSS on Slashdot Asks: Do You Still Use RSS? · · Score: 1

    You don't need to be big time to have an RSS feed. If you're using a blogging platform you'll have an RSS feed automatically. Even if you roll your own site an RSS feed is only going to be an extra line or two of whatever language you're using.

    My blog isn't big --- I'm lucky to post once in six months, and average two hits a day, and those are usually bots --- yet I have an RSS feed.

  2. Well, damn! My inner nine-year-old is rather pleased and doing his 'I told you so!' dance in my current self's direction.

  3. It's been a long time since I studied any paleontology. Has the status of the brontosaurus gone from 'Whoops, never existed!' to 'Double whoops! Turns out it did!'?

  4. Re:It's south Australia... That says everything on South Australia Refuses To Stop Using An Expired, MS-DOS-Based Health Software (abc.net.au) · · Score: 1

    South Australia is not a town. Just sayin'.

  5. Re:You are the government on South Australia Refuses To Stop Using An Expired, MS-DOS-Based Health Software (abc.net.au) · · Score: 1

    The NBN has been cocked up by the (Liberal) federal government. This is a (Labor) state government matter.

    You're partly right though---copyright law is a federal matter and the SA government couldn't pass this law if they wanted to.

  6. Re: Erh... I don't get it on What Northern Hemisphere Astronomers Are Missing From the Southern Hemisphere · · Score: 2

    If he was trying to observe the transit of Venus at night I doubt clouds were the problem. He might have had more success if he stayed on his own side of the planet.

  7. Re: Huh? What? on The Greatest Keyboard Shortcut Ever · · Score: 1

    Doesn't sound very private to me. I kinda like to think that when I kill a single-use tab it stays dead.

  8. Re:this is not a dead end? on Aussie Telco Telstra Agreed To Spy For America · · Score: 1

    The preferred phrase, which has been used by at least two of our Prime Ministers, is 'arse end of the world.' It wasn't a specific reference to the internet, but it's nice to see our national epithet is so flexible.

  9. Re:Farts in their general direction. on Dropbox Wants To Replace Your Hard Disk · · Score: 3

    Dropbox can only store files locally if you have local storage.

  10. Re: Downs Syndrome is no joke, but you are. on What's Actually Wrong With DRM In HTML5? · · Score: 1

    True. For an adult worker the minimum wage is $15.96 ($US16.45) per hour. At casual rates (no sick leave or paid holidays) that works out to just over $19 ($US19.60) p/h.

    Teenagers get a bit less. My 15yo daughter gets $10.50 p/h in her weekend job.

  11. Re:Oh you and your sentimentality. on Futurama Cancelled (Again) · · Score: 1

    When we bought the DVD set I watched Jurassic Bark once and swore never again. No show has ever reduced me to a blubbering mess that quickly (although the opening scene of Pixar's 'UP' is a pretty close second.)

    In fact, a small, brown unloved mongrel who looked just like Seymour owes his life to my family seeing that episode.

  12. And if I remember rightly, that change didn't go down too well in Australia.

  13. Re:Get a friend to help on Ask Slashdot: How Can a Blind Singer 'See' the Choirmaster's Baton? · · Score: 1

    Tracking the baton movement could be fairly difficult though. Even squeezing out a beat while concentrating on singing might be more difficult than it appears. I mean, just following the conductor rather than the musicians around you can be a challenge even for experienced musicians. I've done a fair bit of conducting, and I know how hard it can be to get a band to realise you actually want them to go a bit faster! Getting someone to do that and communicate it in two dimensions in real time while actually singing properly... that would be a special singer indeed!

    Actually, that could be a rather interesting exercise. Getting members of the choir to track the conductor's movement on someone else's hand (who then have to concentrate on the hand signals rather than what other people are singing) could be a good way to reinforce the importance of paying attention to the dude/dudette with the stick!

  14. Re:motion tracking video on Ask Slashdot: How Can a Blind Singer 'See' the Choirmaster's Baton? · · Score: 1

    I've been sitting at my desk for the last couple of minutes studying my own conducting style. I've always tried to maintain a very clear beat (a lot of my conducting over the years has involved beginner bands, so communicating where the beat is is far more important than it might be in more professional outfits.)

    Anyway, I've noticed that my style is very three dimensional. My upbeat, for example, starts near my sternum, goes out from my body and follows a roughly circular path back to near my forehead. The other beats seem to do similar things. Now that I'm looking at it, that back-and-forward axis is quite pronounced, and may explain why my tuba players (who sit on my immediate right) never complain that they can't read my conducting.

    Which goes to your original point---depending on the conductor, a side mounted camera might actually work, so long as it can still read two directions.

    The problem I have now is that I'm going to be very, VERY conscious of my style come Thursday night!

  15. Re:motion tracking video on Ask Slashdot: How Can a Blind Singer 'See' the Choirmaster's Baton? · · Score: 1

    The reason (I'm spitballing here) that I think the beat come at the point of highest acceleration is that that is the point when the conductor applies the most force to his or her arm. It's been years since I studied physics (or physiology) but I imagine that would be very close to the point of highest acceleration.

    All that said, I've had conductors that seem to anticipate their own beat. For them, the beat actually comes just after they hit the bottom. In fact, it probably come at the moment of highest acceleration of the little 'bounce' that follows the beat (which is probably the curve upwards you mention).

    You're certainly right about the other cues. They're probably not so important though, so long as the song goes more or less as it does in rehearsal. A blind person will have some idea of what is about to happen (although I'll grant that it's not ideal.) Guessing the exact moment when the first note is meant to be sung to within a very small fraction of a second isn't something I'd enjoy.

  16. Re:Count on Ask Slashdot: How Can a Blind Singer 'See' the Choirmaster's Baton? · · Score: 1

    Dunno about kittenman, but we still call them that in Australia. I do speak (and prefer) the 1/(power of two) system though. If my daughter's education is anything to go by, it seems the systems are used interchangeably in schools.

  17. Re:Get a friend to help on Ask Slashdot: How Can a Blind Singer 'See' the Choirmaster's Baton? · · Score: 1

    No more delayed than your own singing will be. If you can't squeeze in time to the conductor, I doubt you can sing in time.

  18. Re:motion tracking video on Ask Slashdot: How Can a Blind Singer 'See' the Choirmaster's Baton? · · Score: 1

    I suspect that the 'beat' is probably at the point of quickest acceleration, rather than the end point of the motion.

    There are also other cues that come in handy---for example, if the conductor's also singing the same rhythm as you, you automatically follow that instead.

  19. Re:motion tracking video on Ask Slashdot: How Can a Blind Singer 'See' the Choirmaster's Baton? · · Score: 1

    Motion tracking may or may not be a good idea, but if you're to try it, don't do it from the side. The side-to-side movement is just as important to a musician as the up and down, especially at the start of a piece. (For example, if a conductor wants to bring the group in on a fourth beat anacrusis by beating beats two and three, the important movement will only be sideways, or away-from/towards the sensor.)

    This is a big problem for me---I play to the conductor's side in a band I'm in and it's very easy to confuse florid sideways movement with up- and downbeats.

  20. Re:No way to see! on Ask Slashdot: How Can a Blind Singer 'See' the Choirmaster's Baton? · · Score: 2

    Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever sung in a choir in which the conductor uses a baton. It's standard in bands, but it doesn't seem to be so much in choral work, at least in my circles.

    Now that I think about it more, the few times I've conducted choirs I don't think I've used a stick, even when one was available. It seems wrong putting an instrument in my hand when the musicians don't have one.

  21. Re:Rounded... on Canada To Stop Producing Pennies In 2013 · · Score: 1

    The University of Melbourne has crunched the numbers, and you're right, the world probably isn't about to end:

    http://www.scc.ms.unimelb.edu.au/whatisstatistics/coins.html

  22. Re:Ask a stupid question... on Canada To Stop Producing Pennies In 2013 · · Score: 1

    No. With cash transactions the common practice in Australia is to round to the nearest 5 cent increment, whether up or down. It's not that difficult to do though because the rounding's done by the cash register anyway.

  23. Re:Not the Bible. on Ask Slashdot: What Books Have Had a Significant Impact On Your Life? · · Score: 1

    This.

    In summary, "Don't be dick, and if you do, don't blame God for your dickishness."

    So applicable for so many people I know.

  24. Re:Sorry folks... on Chemical That Affects Biological Clock Offers New Diabetes Treatment · · Score: 0

    Just commenting to undo a bad mod. Pity about the good mods, but dems da breaks.

    Your post clearly indicates you are unaware of this and are attempting to moderate based on a novel concept known as 'merit'. I hope they mod you into oblivion, you community-destroying monster! You corrupt everything /. moderation is about. It's a debasement of our esteemed institution of knee-jerk moderation. :)

    P.S. Thanks.

    No, it was a knee jerk downmod of some thoughtful idiot who was making sense in a rational, logical yet fair manner. My knee jerked so badly I accidentally clicked an upmod. It was purely unintentional, I promise.

  25. Sorry folks... on Chemical That Affects Biological Clock Offers New Diabetes Treatment · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Just commenting to undo a bad mod. Pity about the good mods, but dems da breaks.