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User: kLaNk

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Comments · 128

  1. Re: Heavy news! on The Proton Is Lighter Than We Thought (sciencemag.org) · · Score: 1

    Protons are positively charged. When positively charged particles move they generate an EM field. Photons are the force carriers/quanta of EM fields.

    Shedding light is quite accurate even in the context of a proton.

  2. Re:Sugar is not only toxic but it's addictive. on Is Sugar Toxic? · · Score: 4, Informative

    There is research to indicate that sugar induced hyperactivity doesn't exist. You most likely get a "sugar high" because you think you'll get a "sugar high" or perhaps an allergy to lemons.

    http://www.ccmr.cornell.edu/education/ask/index.html?quid=241

  3. Re:Just pay the tax on Ballmer, Bezos Fund Effort To Undermine Bill Gates · · Score: 1

    >>>"contributed $100,000 each"

    It would be cheaper for them to just pay the tax.

    Last time I looked WA didn't have a state income tax. 9% off the top would be huge for folks at Ballmer's income level. 100k to fight it is probably a sound investment and I'd imagine they would be willing to donate more to that end.

    Especially since 9% would only be the start. Once a tax exists people will always find ways to increase it.

  4. Re:Cap on Another Gulf Oil Rig Explodes · · Score: 1

    I don't know (and don't really care) where the arbitrary line is that defines "deep water", but this rig is supposedly in 2500 feet of water.

    Should be able to free dive that with only a single flipper and a pocket full of rocks.

  5. Re:Bottom 5% with Cable and Airlines on Facebook User Satisfaction Is 'Abysmal' · · Score: 1

    On /., everyone is a pedantic asshole.

  6. Re:So? on Ban On Photographing Near Gulf Oil Booms · · Score: 1

    From a physics standpoint you are right, a heavy lens should be easier to hold still. However, if you tried holding a pound or two very still in front of your face you'd find it is easier from a strength perspective to hold a lighter weight still.

    So the weight is part of the issue, but really it comes down to the nature of what you tend to use the longer lenses for. Typically you are using them to achieve a certain level of "zoom". So you are probably wanting to see something a bit further away than a shorter/wider lens.

    Think of it like holding a short stick at something versus a long stick (you can even think of both sticks as being weightless so as to not get hung up on the physical aspect of it). If you hold a 5' long stick your angular changes at your hand to the end of the stick aren't magnified like they are if you are holding a 65' or longer stick.

  7. Re:Was Not Impressed at All on Lost Ends · · Score: 2

    Never watched it. Should I care? Do they have a solution to the oil slick in the Gulf? Do I have MY priorities straight?

    Why is Mr. High-And-Mighty bothering to post on /. with such important world matters such as the oil in the Gulf, world hunger, nuclear proliferation and North/South Korean relationships escalating?

    You must live a very busy life.

  8. Re:Dirty Unix Joke on Creating a Better Facebook · · Score: 1

    Did the NYT edit the photo? I don't see it there anymore (I remember seeing it earlier this morning though).

  9. misquote on Arrington Responds To the JooJoo, Files Suit · · Score: 5, Informative

    The quote in the summary about not wanting press to link to the pre-sale site is a bit out of context. The full quote makes slightly more sense:

    Fusion Garage’s financial situation is a mess, and it is inappropriate for press to recommend to people to pre-buy a CrunchPad. The company has not yet hired an attorney to respond to our lawsuit. We believe they do not have the cash flow to do so. When the device goes on pre sales today, linked to from scores of gadget and press sites, they will suddenly have cash flow to defend themselves. What they won’t have is cash flow to build the devices. We believe it is irresponsible for press to link to the pre-sale site without disclosing this to readers.

  10. Re:Blame the Sound Engineers on Not All iPods — Vinyl and Turntables Gain Sales · · Score: 1

    This entire post sounds like something from a company that sells a CD demagnatizer

    That is so 1999. Quantum dot technology is where it is at these days: http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina64.htm

  11. Re:Blame the Sound Engineers on Not All iPods — Vinyl and Turntables Gain Sales · · Score: 1

    Don't want to believe me? Fine, I can be ok with that.

    I guess that means you should go off and argue with all the folks on wikipedia though: "a Nyquist frequency just larger than the signal bandwidth is sufficient to allow perfect reconstruction of the signal from the samples". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist_frequency#The_aliasing_problem

    Using a filter below the nyquist limit does indeed solve the "anything higher than Nyquist is garbage", but it doesn't solve the aliasing,

    Please, anti-aliasing filters are often nothing more than a low-pass filter with the transition band ending at the nyquist frequency. I wonder why?

  12. Re:Blame the Sound Engineers on Not All iPods — Vinyl and Turntables Gain Sales · · Score: 1

    I know I'm nit picking here but there is too much damn pseudo science that gets thrown around by people talking about audio that it is a pet peeve of mine.

    It sounds like you know just enough sound theory to use the right buzz words in the right places without having a full understanding of what they actually mean.

    Aliasing isn't an issue as you approach the nyquist frequency, it is an issue when you pass it.

    Using a low pass filter just below the nyquist frequency wouldn't "affect the harmonics" it would remove harmonics above the cut-off frequency. The fundamental and lower harmonics would be just fine.

    Whether those high frequency harmonics would actually affect the timbre of the sound in an audible way is an entirely different question...one which I can find conflicting studies on. Either way your speakers aren't going to be able to reproduce those high frequency harmonics anyway so the whole issue is moot.

  13. Re:Pfft... on Not All iPods — Vinyl and Turntables Gain Sales · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the interesting read for somebody who's "mastering" experience is limited to leveling my own mix for my crappy speakers for the shit that I make myself (read: never leaves my room).

  14. Re:My first question would be... on Microsoft Open Sources .NET Micro Framework · · Score: 1

    Since you mentioned it, in case you didn't know, 99% of MS doesn't dogfood TFS internally either. The defacto source control mechanism is a system called source depot which shares a lineage with perforce.

  15. Re:I read the article. So sue me. on X11 Chrome Reportedly Outperforms Windows and Mac Versions · · Score: 1

    ...I'm a little skeptical that a malicious process would go rooting around its uninitialized space "just in case" it was handed a process with something it would recognize as sensitive data from a previous task...

    Why are you skeptical? That is exactly what a malicious process would do in that case.

  16. Re:Did the submitter even RTFA? on Dell Rugged Laptops Not Quite Tough Enough · · Score: 1

    Er, what? This Slashdot summary does not jive with the article at all. The laptop was perfectly functional after all of their tests.

    I had the exact same thought.

    I believe a quote from the video was even something to the extent of "this is a good option to the Toughbook for people who needed the extra processing power".

  17. Re:A few problems and some solutions on 10/GUI — an Interface For Multi-Touch Input · · Score: 1

    I should add, I'm not trying to disagree with you if you say you wouldn't be able to use something like this. Obviously you would know best.

    I just mean to put forth that something need not be a perfect ideal solution for 100% of the population in order to be a "good thing". Having used a FingerWorks TouchStream for a while (which had very similar controls) it was awesome and I really hope something similar can become more mainstream/heavily adopted.

  18. Re:A few problems and some solutions on 10/GUI — an Interface For Multi-Touch Input · · Score: 1

    I do not think you grasp how physically straining the whole pinky thing really is to someone who doesn't have the same hand muscles as you.

    If your pinky is weak you can always stick out your index finger instead.

    Almost anyone can type, and even if they cannot type fast is does not hurt.

    That isn't true actually. There are many people suffering from RSI where typing is a particularly painful experience.

  19. Re:A few problems and some solutions on 10/GUI — an Interface For Multi-Touch Input · · Score: 1

    I personally don't find holding my pinky up very tough. No idea how it would feel after doing it all day long though...

    If you are going to totally redefine user input, you have to take into account something a large number of people cannot do.

    There was a time in our history where people couldn't type either. That didn't stop typewriters and the keyboard from taking off though.

  20. Re:Keyboard should do this on 10/GUI — an Interface For Multi-Touch Input · · Score: 1

    I've had the same experiences. I went from netbeans/visual studio to vim with a few appropriate plugins because it was faster and easier to manage large sets of open documents.

    I realize that this isn't an exact comparison though. The whole point of being in netbeans/visual studio/vim is to type so being able to keep your hands on the keyboard 100% of the time is a huge win which makes up for me having to look up various commands to type on the keyboard.

  21. Re:A few problems and some solutions on 10/GUI — an Interface For Multi-Touch Input · · Score: 1

    2) Try pinching with four fingers. It's not very comfortable, at all (the only practical way is to lift up the pinky). The solution is to make that a five-finger pinch (to enlarge or shrink the bar).

    I think the four finger pinch would involve your thumb, which isn't that bad.

  22. Re:Not quite.... on 10/GUI — an Interface For Multi-Touch Input · · Score: 1

    little behind these guys:

    http://www.perceptivepixel.com/

    Doncha think?

    Their multi-touch wall and multi-touch workstation are in exactly the configurations that the 10/GUI video puts forth as being unusable.

  23. Re:going in circles on 10/GUI — an Interface For Multi-Touch Input · · Score: 2, Informative

    FingerWorks' primary product was just like what 10/GUI describes: a multitouch surface that could either replace they keyboard or the mouse(pad). It largely failed in the market.

    Personally, I feel that it largely failed because it attempted to replace a keyboard with a device that had no tactile feedback. Despite my best efforts I could never get anywhere close in typing speed (and my error rate went WAY up).

    However, the actual multi-touch navigation improvements were awesome. Part of the reason I tried so damn hard to learn to type well on it (and I never could) was because of all the other benefits it offered.

  24. Re:Differences between versions on Wolfenstein Being Recalled In Germany · · Score: 1

    Regardless about what you might think about the right to fly either flag, you can't seriously be comparing the nazi flag to a confederate one. The confederate flag doesn't begin to compare in terms of the evil perpetrated by those that used to march under it.

    No, that wasn't the manner I was thinking about when I was comparing the two. I was comparing the two only in the vein of "the 'loser' flag which participated in a bloody conflict still being flown today".

  25. Re:Differences between versions on Wolfenstein Being Recalled In Germany · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Obviously, someone shouldn't be allowed to fly the flag of Nazi Germany outside their house

    When you start that sentence out with "obviously" I fear you've already missed the mark.

    In the US south confederate flags are flown often. In other parts of the world swastikas are common decoration, even decorating holy temples.

    Taking a stance like yours only empowers those icons and enables them to continue to be a hot topic decades later. If, after the civil war, nigger had been legally banned and the government moved to great lengths to eradicate its usage, I'd argue that it would hold *significantly* more power than it does today.