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User: CausticPuppy

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  1. Tarantella, roughly defined on SCO Change Their Name to Tarantella · · Score: 2

    "Agilent" is a completely made up word that is supposed to connote "agile."
    I put it right alongside other meaningless words, like "Sapient," "Integra," and many other recent names of corporations or cars.

    However, a "Tarantella" has nothing to do with spiders like others have said... It's a type of dance. A Spanish or Mexican dance I believe, in an energetic fast-3 feel (more like a fast 6/8 that's counted in two).
    It would be like naming your company "Waltz" or "Tango." Or Lambada if that's your thing.

    But "Tarantella" is obscure enough to leave many people scratching their heads... and thinking of arachnids!

  2. Re:Other uses for the free barcode scanner... on Free Barcode Reader From Radio Shack · · Score: 1

    Having supported barcoding systems in my previous job, I got to have a fancy Symbol $3000 barcode gun next to my computer. These were the guns used in our warehouses for tracking.

    However, he only real use I found for it was to be able to read all the obscene messages I had in barcode form around my cube.

  3. Re:They could not hit themselves on Kursk Destroyed By Cavitation Missles? · · Score: 1

    Unless, of course, it armed prematurely and detonated at launch (in the tube) thus triggering every other torpedo in the immediate vicinity (the torpedo room) to explode, like a room full of extremely potent fireworks. Even still, the torpedo tube is very sturdy, and would direct most of the blast out front into the water through the opening... I wonder what the probability is that the thing detonated before even being inserted into the tube.

  4. Re:USA propaganda on Water On The North Pole · · Score: 3

    Where are you getting this absurd "desert wasteland" idea? You do understand that Earth has a very solid self-regulating atmospheric system, don't you?
    Why do you think global warming would turn the planet into a desert? If anything it'll make many areas wetter-- warmer air leads to more ocean evaporation, and more clouds + rain. Plus, the increased cloud cover would reflect more sunlight back into space, thus cooling the atmosphere. Remarkable machine, this earth is. Hell it seemed to be unfazed by global catastrophies in the past (compare 1 degree of global warming with, say, a meteor impact that wipes out 98% of all life, which has happened on a few occasions).

    This is nothing. It's not worth reverting back to the stone age to prevent any pollution, whether or not it's our fault.

    Look at it this way-- it's just as likely that mankind caused the bizarre weather over the past few years, as it is likely that the Mt Pinatubo eruption caused it. A hiccup in the balance of nature. Familiar with chaos theory? The eruption could've upset the cycles a bit, causing the propogation of the disturbance to increase down the road (like a feedback loop) long after the eruption.
    But we will probably never know. Whatever happens, we'll be OK. And Earth certainly will be, because it's already been through much worse.
    All I know is these activist groups keep wanting money.

  5. I know what you mean on Tiny, Tiny Sony Digicam · · Score: 4

    ...and so does this company.
    Looks like it's made for specific camera bodies though. Also, it's been vaporware for some time now :(

  6. Probably not a comfortable ride on Faster Than Supersonic Travel - Underwater · · Score: 1

    Like the article said, who wants to be shot out from a cannon? The article didn't mention stopping though-- as soon as you slow down to a critical speed and the bubble collapses, all the drag kicks in and you may as well be hitting a wall of rock. Ouch!!
    So, how about we don't slow down under water. Assuming the steering thing is figured out, we could just pitch up, fly out of the water, and then use parachutes. Of course the parachutes would tear apart at that speed, so maybe it should deploy wings instead. Plus, it would be the first vehicle that travels underwater and flies.

  7. Re:Internal Atomic Forces on Gravity Diluted By Multiple Dimensions? · · Score: 1

    It was Win2K combined with the "it's not even 8am yet" factor!

  8. Re:Batteries on First Look At The New Palms · · Score: 2

    Or better yet, Lithium Ion batteries.
    My sony camera (DSC-30) gets over 2 hours of runtime on a full charge with the LCD screen on. Those infolithium batteries rule!
    Using flash will reduce it, but otherwise it doesn't really matter how many pix you take during that time. On one outing I took 48 shots and still had about 80% of the battery life remaining.
    I imagine that in a Palm you'd get similar benefits-- however, Alkalines will last a looong time in a Palm anyway (without backlight at least) because like you said, they're low draw.
    But with lithium batteries and a charging cradle, it would probably never run out of juice. NiMH works almost as well, but less expensively.

    FWIW, I still am using my original US Robotics Pilot 100, upgraded from 128 to 512k! I replace the batteries about every 3 months, though it doesn't get used a whole lot-- just name and number lookups.

  9. Re:Gravity is weak on Gravity Diluted By Multiple Dimensions? · · Score: 2

    I often used what's known as Cp, or the CausticPuppy constant, which is unitless.

    It's not a universal constant, since its value changes from problem to problem, but it is a constant within the scope of any one problem.

    Cp is the value by which you multiply your answer in order to equal the answer given in the back of the book (or the "expected result.")

    It's best used if you bury it somewhere in the middle of the math, because hopefully the TA who's grading the papers won't follow too closely.

  10. Re:Internal Atomic Forces on Gravity Diluted By Multiple Dimensions? · · Score: 2

    That is the strong force, carried by the 'gluons', which have been around for quite some time now, cant exactly remember how long though.

    Gluons have most certainly existed since the beginning of the universe. Sorry, I couldn't resist... :-)

    Normally, the photons are repelled from each other due to electromagnetism, since like charges repell. But at small distances (like you mentioned) the strong, attractive nuclear force between the particles overpowers the electromagnetic repulsion. So, if you slam two protons into each other at high energies, they tend to stick. In fact, they release energy in the process by losing the potential energy inherent in their separation (similar to a brick losing potential energy when it falls). That's a rough way of putting it but you get the idea.
    The process I just described is two hydrogen ions (aka protons) fusing into one helium ion (2-proton nucleus), which releases the energy of nuclear fusion-- it takes a lot of energy to cause it but you get more energy out than what you put in. That's why if you use a fission bomb as the detonator for a hydrogen (fusion) bomb, it can release 100X the energy of the fission bomb by itself.
    Hopefully that wasn't more background information than you needed...
    Disclaimer: any inaccuracies in my description of the physics are due to me typing this in Windows2K.

  11. Re:Cyclops' Ocular Bursts on Slashdot Meets X-Men · · Score: 1

    If you're wearing red glasses, they filter everything BUT red. IE, only the red light gets through (which is why they look red).
    If Cyclops is shooting red beams from his eyes, then it would be much more effective if he was wearing blue-green goggles.

    Still, I gotta wonder-- how come his ocular energy bursts can tear the roof off of a building, but his goggles aren't affected?
    When he's releasing the beams, he's opening a shutter in the goggles to allow the energy out.
    So if the shutter's closed... the goggles are constantly absorbing all that energy...

    Answers! I want answers!!

  12. whoops on It's Official: Deckard Was A Replicant · · Score: 1

    Silly me, I should've mentioned that there's no oxygen there to be absorbed into the brain in the first place!

  13. Re:that's not cool.... on It's Official: Deckard Was A Replicant · · Score: 1

    Last I heard it was an earth sized planet with a full atmosphere--just not breathable for earth life.

    I think you heard wrong.
    Mars has about half the diameter of Earth and 1/10 the mass.
    The atmosphere is very thin. Not a vacuum, but you'd be unconscious in a matter of seconds (maximum!), since the atmospheric pressure is too low to facilitate absobtion of oxygen into the brain. You probably wouldn't explode but you'd go into immediate hypoxia.

  14. Re:Bach must be rolling over in his grave on The MIDI-fied Large Hot Pipe Organ · · Score: 2

    What Bach did create was equal temperament - admittedly a great innovation, at least for instrumentists

    Actually Bach's tuning system was based on Andreas Werckmeister's, who came up with a mathematical well-tempered (although not true even-tempered) scale in the year that Bach was born.
    Bach didn't write for an even-tempered tonal system.
    Bach's tonal system was designed to keep the 3rds in 5ths in near perfect intonation in the tonic and closely related keys. Even temperament means every key is equally out of tune-- and the 3rds and 5ths are just a little bit flat, something Bach would have shuddered at.
    Today we've all gotten used to hearing slightly flat "perfect" intervals though.

  15. Re:Why a broadsword? on Project Dragonslayer: Forging Old Tech With New · · Score: 1

    One advantage the foil has, due to its flexibility, is the ability to to a quick "whip" around and nail your opponent in the back.
    A valid hit under normal circumstances, but not so effective with electric foils!

    For even more off-topic... my favorite move was la fleche. I had a tendency to combine it with lots of wild screaming and flailing. Most of the time it didn't work, but I had fun doing it, and I did occasionally catch an opponent totally off guard if he'd never fought me before :)

  16. Re:Why ACK? on Project Dragonslayer: Forging Old Tech With New · · Score: 1

    The AFC seemed like a little hole in the wall joint in a run-down section of midtown, which is why I don't really plan on joining. Right now I live in that "orphaned" region of highway 9 between Sandy Springs and Roswell.

    I can't remember the name of my fencing instructor at Emory though! A short guy who couldn't move his head. Of course he could pretty much just waste anybody in the class without really trying-- kinda like Neo's fight scene in the Matrix after he comes back to life.

  17. Re:Number of frequencies available... on How Many Frequency Bands Are There? · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but audible sound isn't electromagnetism, so they're not in the same frequency spectrum.

  18. Re:Endless? on How Many Frequency Bands Are There? · · Score: 2

    There are practical limits.
    We can transmit at very low freqs, like ELF, which takes awhile (submarines use ELF) but can go through lots of water.
    As the frequency increases, so does the power requirement to transmit it.
    Also, once you move into infrared and visible light, the atmosphere really sucks. Lasers are good for short-to-medium range (like between buildings) but the air scatters the light. So you need fiber optics for long ranges.

    Now, you could theoretically transmit a LOT of data on, say, an X-ray or gamma ray signal. Of course, in order to have a good signal over long distances, you'd need to keep the transmitter cooled in liquid helium to prevent melting and you'd probably give everybody in town a brain tumor from the radiation. And a gamma ray generator is a little hard to get.

    Then you get into the various ways to transmit data-- amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, pulse-width modulation... I'll defer those to the experts to define the [dis]advantages of each.

  19. Re:Why a broadsword? on Project Dragonslayer: Forging Old Tech With New · · Score: 1

    Epee was my favorite, but also the one I had the least amount of exposure to.
    Adding the lower half of the body as a valid target made for some very interesting matches, as well as a few welts on my ankles!
    I never got really used to electric fencing. Mainly because the equipment we had was a bit finnicky-- sometimes it missed a valid hit.
    (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

  20. Why ACK? on Project Dragonslayer: Forging Old Tech With New · · Score: 1

    I took a 2 years of fencing in college, and I've done foil, sabre, and epee, including a little bit at the atlanta fencing club and a demo session for ACOG (Atlanta's olympic games committee in '96). In fact it's the only sport I've done that I really enjoyed.

    Unfortunately I haven't done much since graduating (nearly 4 years ago) but I'd take it up again if there was a fencing club close by.

  21. Re:Why a broadsword? on Project Dragonslayer: Forging Old Tech With New · · Score: 1

    Did you assume that I was talking about a rapier?

  22. Re:Golf Clubs! on Project Dragonslayer: Forging Old Tech With New · · Score: 1

    Just take out both of the dragon's eyes with a couple of well-placed Titleists....

  23. Re:Why a broadsword? on Project Dragonslayer: Forging Old Tech With New · · Score: 2

    I'd like to add that nothing strikes fear in the hearts of your enemies quite like a foil with a little ball of rubber on the end.

    Now, some of us will probably never have the opportunity to be in a pitched battle with a sword, so the beauty/elegance of the piece will outweigh (pun!) its real usefulness.

    As for real swordplay, er fencing, I'm pretty sure I could take out-- or at least really annoy-- a Komodo Dragon with a mere sabre.

  24. Re:Search Engines are just inaccurate on AOL Class-Action Suit Over Pop-Up Ads · · Score: 1

    Heh. A lot of those sound like random word-pair passwords on those AOL CD's.

  25. Re:Explanation of harmonics and "fundamental" on Kenwood Tries To Improve MP3 Sound · · Score: 2

    I wouldn't say the fundamental the only note you hear though.
    Many instruments have very pronounced harmonics. If you primarily heard the fundamental it would just be a sine wave.
    In fact, percussion instruments like marimba and xylophone have to have their harmonics tuned. This means the bars are cut and shaved not only to bring the fundamental into tune, but the pronounced 4th harmonic as well. If the fundamental is in tune and the 4th harmonic is out, it sounds like crap.
    Other instruments (like strings) are closer to an ideal physical system, so the harmonics will be in tune with the fundamental no matter what (assuming the string is uniform thickness and density, and not played too loudly).
    Then you have something like a harpsichord, in which the harmonics are actually louder than the fundamental.