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User: knapper_tech

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  1. Now That They Built Something... on Random Generator Parodies Vapid Startup Websites · · Score: 1

    ...and shipped it instead of sitting on it in a vacuum, I'd say they are more prepared than ever to start software companies, vapid or otherwise. I won't be surprised if it turns out later that they build some aggressive startups of their own with weird ideas and unclear value propositions, inherent aspects of taking risk, they get traction, raise for growth, and offer up some reflection on the two sides of the coin.

  2. How About Ignoring the PAC on Boo! The House Majority PAC Is Watching You · · Score: 1

    Same as usual. Don't go with the flow. Don't swim against the current. Neither rule is a substitute for making choices.

  3. Journalist Finds Nerve, Keeps Tickling on Outlining Thin Linux · · Score: 1

    It's his job to find some random controversy that gets traffic. Note that this series of articles is all coming from one person and slowly ratcheting up as he finds out how reactive some readers are.

  4. If a Headline is a Question, The Answer is "No." on Is There a Creativity Deficit In Science? · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Non-declarative headlines indicative of lack of factual basis to report objectively known or at least well defensible information. I would say that 352ml of creativity is enough. People haven't considered that as the creativity has moved North, it has contracted, but the methane gas release in the arctic might unleash the creativity stored in our Nation's permafrost. In other words, I'm pointing out that the argument can be made arbitrarily either way as far as science cares.

    I recall a significant amount of people arguing for more verifiable studies, tighter acceptance criteria, and more peer-review. That says anything but "let's research more crazy things." While it's true that some of the most valuable information comes from data points outside the currently sampled range, we have a great capability to model proposed mechanisms these days. How about generating some data using more modelling and simulation to explore proposed mechanisms before jumping into lab research to verify those models? There are plenty of things that can always be done besides arguing that the funding environment is simply too hostile to grants that are off the beaten path; when has someone not argued that this was the case?

  5. Re:No mention of thorium on Hitachi Developing Reactor That Burns Nuclear Waste · · Score: 1

    If the Actinides already exist in abundant quantities, then they don't need fast neutrons?

  6. Re:No mention of thorium on Hitachi Developing Reactor That Burns Nuclear Waste · · Score: 2

    I was confused about the use of water and burning Actinides because I believe it requires fast neutrons to occur at a high rate and water is a moderator. Also, if water getting out of the way lets the reaction rate increase, the void coefficient would be positive? I'm not sure which mechanism they intend to operate to burn the Actinides, but it sounds like they're trying to push derivative technology as being a safer, more reliable road in terms of tooling and design. This explains nothing of how the reactor can burn Actinides, much less how effectively and efficiently.

    Although RBWRs use new core fuel concepts to burn TRUs, they use the same non-core components as current Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs), including safety systems and turbines.

    They could be a little more specific.

  7. First Link is Broken on Hitachi Developing Reactor That Burns Nuclear Waste · · Score: 1

    Rendered for me as with no href. Second one works.

  8. Not journalism on Why Phone Stores Should Stockpile Replacements · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is clearly an opinion piece. A quick scan makes it look even more anecdotal and presumptuous than I had expected. It's not April 1st, and this is terrible.

  9. Re:Layman interpretation (generally) on Scientists Extract RSA Key From GnuPG Using Sound of CPU · · Score: 1

    I was skeptical until I recalled how the encryption will pass through a loop or not at some order of magnitude frequency that can be picked up by the Mic. For any busy server with requests popping in and out at various intervals, there would be more noise from the multiple processes that might be doing encryption work or just varying workload (db's, web apps etc). This is noise on the same order as the encryption work in some cases. The web server or ssh server (using GPG but not encrypting communication?) will also be doing encryption with a different key and creating more noise. Of course both keys can be gotten in the case of key-key noise, but in a server room full of the things, it's just one more layer of variables.

    What I don't get is that GPG's implementation is doing more or less work based the encryption routines being executed. Optimization always leads to saturation unless memory traffic is the culprit (can't optimize memory reads infinitely). Would read the paper, but oh look at the time.

  10. it could also be... on Bitcoin Inventor Satoshi Nakamoto Could Actually Be Group From Europe · · Score: 1

    Santa, Aliens, FSM etc. Film at 11.

  11. Re:NIH on Canonical Moving Away From GNOME Control Center · · Score: 1

    It's appropriate that Ubuntu is focused on the control center. Fuck the rest of open-source. We never got anything from this whole community approach anyway.

  12. Yeah, and Netflix is Next...Right... on Get Ready For a Streaming Music Die-Off · · Score: 1

    The notion that streaming music, which requires much less bandwidth than video, is not going to ever be profitable is obviously nothing more than a fascination of the RIAA that finally a new medium of consumption doesn't require a new business model in order to capture the demand and revenue.

  13. ASUS Zenbooks on Ask Slashdot: Best Laptops For Fans Of Pre-Retina MacBook Pro? · · Score: 1

    Very high quality build, excellent specs, battery life that makes going mobile reasonable. Spend $1700+ and you have one hell of a laptop. Dual SSD, great display, gobs of ram, massive video card... The Linux support used to require some optimus tweaking, but these days it should "just work." There was a bug that cause the light sensor in the camera to generate keystrokes, but you can put a smiley sticker on top.

  14. Re:Multi-line lambdas on Interviews: Q&A With Guido van Rossum · · Score: 1

    Keep in mind that Python uses a stack machine VM and that this makes function call overhead large, as each call requires a new stack frame to be set up. A strong lambda will lead to creep. Then again, why don't we have a register based VM?

  15. Re:Why did Python avoid some common "OO" idioms? on Interviews: Q&A With Guido van Rossum · · Score: 2

    Ultimately, since Python is dynamic down to being able to override the data model of an object on the fly, there would be no point. There is no point in any program really. Underscores do just as good of job as public/private declarations at telling me which parts of the API are for users and which are for the class. I might use private attributes and methods, but I ought to know what I'm doing if I do. Any program's data can be made public, and the more frequently the need arises, the better programmers get at using introspection to uncover the private members, and suddenly there's no point.

    One of the older justifications given for encapsulation and header files was to be able to sell binary objects. If you can't read the source for the library, you can't figure out how all the parts work, so you better use the public API or you might really screw something up. This is totally irrelevant in the world of open source software. Underscores are a totally valid solution to telling other programmers who might modify the encapsulation what the intent was at one point, giving them a strong hint that they need to dig deeper before messing around. If encapsulation is a gentleman's agreement, why does it need a language feature?

  16. Sign of Successful Change of Direction on Sony Entertainment Head Steps Down · · Score: 3, Insightful

    After Howard Stringer, the Sony-BGM DRM stooge got replaced, this is another sign that Sony is continuing to move back to nice electronics and away from the walled-garden approaches (DRM, mini-disc/beta-max?) that made Sony products acquire so much grossness brand-wise.

  17. Seriously, Identity Crisis on OpenGL Becoming a Requirement For the Linux Desktop · · Score: 1

    Ubuntu, Mint etc users: You can add another older window manager using apt-get. XFCE etc are lightweight. Just because your distro pimps one WM over another doesn't mean jack. Come to think of it, why didn't anyone mention Xubuntu or Lubuntu or one of the other Ubuntus? This post is so n00b.

    Your WM is just one software package in your Linux distro. Your Linux distro is just one of many. Pretty much any Linux distro can be re-installed completely from source (and necessary binary blobs) to -BE- another Linux distro.

  18. Re:What they are actually reporting an Issue. on Stubborn Intel Graphics Bug Haunts Ubuntu 12.04 · · Score: 1

    Ubuntu is n00000bix. Eventually someone has to deal with bugs, and not being developer oriented is bad for keeping developers with your distro.

  19. And Save What? More Fantasy? on Wall Street and the Mismanagement of Software · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's already such a waste that so much talent is getting thrown at problems that seek to make money while producing absolutely nothing. HFT is cleverly sanding in the middle of a river in an eddy and dipping your hand in to tap power without getting pushed downstream. What does Wall Street actually produce? What is their product? Why should we care that they periodically lose their minds and shirts? If anything HFT should be taxed into oblivion so that excellent minds aren't recruited to deliver nothing of social value.

  20. The Efficient People Will Build Your Crutches on Has the Command Line Outstayed Its Welcome? · · Score: 2

    The number of developers I'm meeting who are not comfortable on the CLI and opt for more obtuse ( not esoteric and hard to get into, but obtuse when it's time to understand what just broke ) IDE's, I'm obliged to pour fire on anything short of mind-machine interfaces to replace the CLI.

  21. Call Xhibit on Ask Slashdot: How To Add New Tech To Old Van? · · Score: 1

    I was seriously surprised when document text searches for "Xhibit" and "Pimp my Ride" came up short. I would like to read something about the calls for black-hats to go after so-called converted white-hats who work for dubious white-hat companies supposedly trustworthy to handle cyber security.

  22. Sorry for the Alarm on Oklahoma Hit By Its Strongest-Ever Recorded Quake · · Score: 1

    If I had known moving to Tulsa would cause earthquakes I would have just come sooner.

  23. Re:Buncha Apple Fanbois on How Steve Jobs Solved the Innovator's Dilemma · · Score: 0

    I argue that Jobs merely had engineering talent around him and the counterpoint is Woz was a good engineer? Woz left because Jobs was a dick and we still give way too much credit to that dick after death. Good riddance, Steve Jobs, you dick.

  24. Re:easy tiger on How Steve Jobs Solved the Innovator's Dilemma · · Score: 1

    Microsoft won, then lost. I thought this was an obvious interpretation. Microsoft won round 1. Microsoft then laid down and died? That's about how I see it. Anyway, the point I'm attempting to drive home is that Apple's repeated attempts to sell one product to rule them all have failed again. Droid will slowly eat the market to death until Apple is back at square one with manufacturing runs getting smaller and pricing leverage going away as well as developer flight from their walled garden.

  25. Re:easy tiger on How Steve Jobs Solved the Innovator's Dilemma · · Score: 1

    lol way to go fanboi.

    See that iOS market share? Drip drip drip.