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User: MichaelSmith

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Comments · 11,670

  1. Re:Solution? on Biometric Face Recognition At Your Local Mall · · Score: 1

    Swine flu will be with us for years.

  2. Re:It's private property people ... on Biometric Face Recognition At Your Local Mall · · Score: 2, Insightful

    IANAAL (I am not an Australian Lawyer) but I believe shopping centres and other retail premises are designated as public places. Because of this people can not be excluded for arbitrary reasons. If this was not the case it would be possible to throw people out for any reason at all (possibly in contravention of anti-discrimination laws) and say it was because we thought they looked like a criminal.

    I think the best Westfield can do in this case is follow the suspects around either physically or on CCTV and wait for them to put a foot wrong. Either that or get a court order to keep them out but that would be short term and fairly expensive to obtain.

  3. Re:Penrith isn't in Sydney... on Biometric Face Recognition At Your Local Mall · · Score: 1

    Well its in the metro area. Bit like Dandenong here. That has a few scumbags too.

  4. Re:Solution? on Biometric Face Recognition At Your Local Mall · · Score: 2, Interesting
    • Walk past the camera backwards.
    • Give the camera the finger (looking through the fingers)
    • Close one eye
    • Next time close the other eye
    • Wear a hat
    • Wear a jacket with a hood
    • Turn your head

    etc.

  5. Re:Severe Crash? on NASA Tests Flying Airbag · · Score: 1

    Hmmm. Interesting.

    Several factors affect the rate of descent in autorotation; density altitude, gross weight, rotor rpm, and airspeed. The pilot's primary control of the rate of descent is airspeed. Higher or lower airspeeds are obtained with the cyclic pitch control just as in normal flight. Rate of descent is high at zero airspeed and decreases to a minimum at approximately 50 to 60 knots, depending upon the particular helicopter and the factors previously mentioned. As the airspeed increases beyond that which gives minimum rate of descent, the rate of descent increases again.

    ...I expected the best sink rate to be at zero forward speed, which would make vertical landings easy. But if the rate of descent increases at low forward speed you might have to touch down with forward velocity, which doesn't sound good in a helo.

  6. Re:Time Machine on AT&T Moves Closer To Usage-Based Fees For Data · · Score: 1

    Yeah so its a problem with not enough competition, not the way they charge for their services.

  7. Re:Time Machine on AT&T Moves Closer To Usage-Based Fees For Data · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Say I build a house and rent it out. Once the house is built it doesn't really cost me anything from month to month So the rent must be almost zero right?. Of course I had to borrow to pay for the house (the infrastructure) and I need to make monthly payments on top of the small costs involved with repairs, council fees, etc.

  8. Re:Severe Crash? on NASA Tests Flying Airbag · · Score: 1

    Yeah one killer is their very crap lift/drag ratio. In a fixed wing aircraft you can trade speed for altitude and look for a spot to land. In a helicopter you are going straight down into that junk yard or river, whatever is right below you.

    Makes me wonder if a backup engine of sorts could be used to stretch autorotation. Possibly just something to give the rotors more momentum so you can better pull up in ground effect.

    There are three helipads on the Yarra river close to where I work. A couple of years ago two people drowned when an engine failed while lifting from one of those pads. If airbags are to be used then you would need to look into ways of either keeping the aircraft afloat or making it easier to egress after a landing on water.

  9. Re:Time Machine on AT&T Moves Closer To Usage-Based Fees For Data · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I suppose that would be possible if every part of the network could carry the maximum traffic of all the lines it feeds. But in practice that is not the case. For service delivery (lets say power) we pay a mixture of fixed costs for infrastructure and volume charges for the resource we use. I think that is the best way to go economically and it is fairer on all users as well.

  10. Re:Lithium limited? on Silicon As the New Lithium · · Score: 1

    To say that the supply of lithium is limited, is like going back 150 years ago and saying that the supply of oil is limited.

    So when can we expect Peak Lithium?

  11. Re:Coming soon to Android.... on Dev Booted From App Store For Inflated Reviews · · Score: 1

    I believe you can write in C or C++ on the iphone as well, though the UI APIs will no doubt be totally different.

  12. A Brazilian on US No Longer Leading the World In Spam · · Score: 4, Funny

    The new world leader is Brazil at 7.7 trillion messages.

    From now on, 7.7 trillion will be known as one Brazilian.

  13. Re:Dumbfounded on Microsoft To Get Malware Bailout In Germany · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. Is this just a government make work project or something?

    My income is based on government make work projects you insensitive clod!

  14. Re:I would love to see Figure J on TSA's Sloppy Redacting Reveals All · · Score: 1

    I know someone who used to fly for an airline. They had passengers who were authorized for diplomatic reasons to carry guns, but the guns had to be unloaded and locked in a box. The Captain had the key but the purser had to check that the gun was unloaded. So this gun goes in the box. Pursor signs on the dotted line that the weapon is unloaded. Captain for some reason doesn't believe him. Maybe the weight of the box or some other reason. Captain says okay lets give it a test. Checks for clearance overhead, points the weapon skywards and pulls the trigger. The gun fires of course and the captain is in a bit of strife. But his responsibility ultimately goes beyond what the law required in this instance.

  15. Re:TSA? on TSA's Sloppy Redacting Reveals All · · Score: 1

    I won't get to use those machines until 2015. For me its a bit like the automated checkouts at Big-W and Ikea. They place a high reliance on honesty. My son has the new RFID passport. Maybe I will send him though alone the next time we travel. He is 7. That should be old enough.

  16. Re:Idiots on TSA's Sloppy Redacting Reveals All · · Score: 1

    Which leaves me with strings.

  17. Re:TSA? on TSA's Sloppy Redacting Reveals All · · Score: 1

    The TSA has long been a source of hilarity around here.

    (I am an Australian BTW).

  18. Re:Idiots on TSA's Sloppy Redacting Reveals All · · Score: 3, Funny

    You would need to find a way to stop people printing the PDF on to black paper.

  19. Re:Select All on TSA's Sloppy Redacting Reveals All · · Score: 4, Funny

    Whats the penalty for subverting a copy prevention measure?

  20. Re:What about the disabled? on Subverting Fingerprinting · · Score: 1

    I am not sure Japan is actively trying to keep Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker out of the country.

    But as to your point: yes I suppose so. Techniques like this which work on 99% of the population free up resources to manually check the remaining 1%.

  21. Re:Why would she do that? on Subverting Fingerprinting · · Score: 1

    Well okay but you could spend all century talking about Bad Shit in China which the people there want to get away from.

  22. Re:Watching 'Bladerunner' too many times? on Subverting Fingerprinting · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Or how about just carving a custom print into the finger. Maybe something like the laser surgery they do on corneas or tattoos.

  23. Re:Weird looking tails on Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Wings are designed to be stressed. Think about the engines on a B777 pushing the body of the aircraft through the air. But in this case you can think of WK2 as being two airplanes joined at the wing. Rudder inputs could be used to counteract the tendency for the two noses to twist inwards.

  24. Re:Whodathunk on Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It costs $20 million dollars to fly to orbit right now. With new technology from companies like Space-X the price could come down, but will this happen before the supply of millionaires dries up? There is more demand at the $200 000 price point. Demand is needed to drive research.

  25. Re:Settlement is probably inevitable... on Palm Sued Over Palm Pre GPL Violation · · Score: 1

    Depends on how it is linked. Say the PDF viewer is muPDF, invoked by a shell on the palm.