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User: Murphy+Murph

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Comments · 143

  1. Re:Flash MP3 player on USB Flash Drive Life Varies Up To 10 Times · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As a MP3 player the Cowon A3's audio quality blows the iPOD right out of the water

    Do you have objective numbers to back up that claim, like perhaps some RMAA tests? Or are you acting no better than the subjectivist audiophools who spend thousands on power cables?
  2. Re:Imaginary Property on Would You Rent a Song For a Dime? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Creative Labs SoundBlaster Audigy ZS2 "What-U-Hear" Recording controls say differently. i gotz mp3's now bitchez!!!!

    Congratulations, you have successfully saved the .wav output of a low-bitrate MP3. You going to save that to 500Kbps FLAC, or are you going to do a (nasty) low-bitrate lossy to low-bitrate lossy transcode?
  3. Re:Can someone enlightened with engineering.... on Boeing 787 Dreamliner Delayed Again · · Score: 1

    Concorde didn't have the range to do the US to Asia Pacific routes.
    That in and of itself was enough to kill it, not to discount the other factors you mention.

  4. Re:To nitpick the summary (no, did not rtfa) on Asetek LCLC Takes Liquid Cooling Mainstream · · Score: 1

    I'm not an expert on plastics, but PVC seems like a poor choice to me. It's too likely to degrade over a decade or so and become brittle or fragile.

    Like the PVC drainpipes in modern houses?
    Like the insulation on your home's wiring?
  5. Re:Liquid cooling for datacentres? on Asetek LCLC Takes Liquid Cooling Mainstream · · Score: 1

    You could run the hot water for the building through a heat exchanger before you heat it up with a boiler. Cold Water -> Heat Exchanger -> Warm Water -> Boiler -> Hot Water Over all the energy used to go from Cold Water -> Warm Water is saved.

    Unless your datacenter is collocating with a (large) laundromat, there just isn't that much demand for hot water at a datacenter. No laundry, no showers, little to no cooking.

    Someone check my numbers.
    Tap water = 7 degrees C.
    Water heater hot water = 50 C?
    CPU = 65 watt thermal output = 55889 calories / hour.
    56,000 calories can raise one liter of water 56 degrees C in an hour, or raise 1.3 liters of 7 degree water to 50 degree water in an hour.
    So every CPU needs 1.3 liters of water an hour, minimum (assuming we can super-concentrate all the heat and not just slightly heat larger volumes of water.)
    The Google "datacenter in a trailer" rumors were saying 5000 CPUs per trailer.
    That's a 6500 liters of water per hour output.
    LARGE laundromat.
  6. Re:I don't like Richard Dawkins on Richard Dawkins to Appear on Doctor Who · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In fact, as scientist, I find atheism in general to be more and more repulsive to scientific thinking - in that it rejects without proof any possibility of gods, fairies etc rather than just rejecting the theories as unproven - I suppose that makes me an agnostic now. Oh well.

    A theory which has no proof, can not be proven, and describes a reality counter to all observations (see Dawkin's arguments regarding complexity) should be rejected, not as "of yet unproven", but as ridiculous.
    I am not aware of a supernatural creature of faith, be it the god of Moses, a fairy, Eris, or Yemaya, which has any greater scientific claim to legitimacy than the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
  7. Re:Never had a drive *not* fail. on Disk Failure Rates More Myth Than Metric · · Score: 1

    I have very clean power, and use UPSs to boot. I believe I simply use them much longer than average. How many drives have you had running 24x7x365 for seven years?

  8. Re:warranties on Disk Failure Rates More Myth Than Metric · · Score: 1

    The best metric is probably going to be the length of warranty the manufacturer offers. They have financial incentive to find out the REAL mean time until failure in calculating the warranty.

    ASSuming anything approaching a significant of drives which fail during the warranty period are claimed. Otherwise a warranty is nothing more than advertising.
    I strongly suspect this is not the case and you are simply replacing one false metric with another.
  9. Never had a drive *not* fail. on Disk Failure Rates More Myth Than Metric · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've gone through many over the years, replacing them as they became too small - still using some small ones many years old for minor tasks, etc. and he only drive I've ever had partially fail is the one I accidentally launched across a room.

    My anecdotal converse is I have never had a hard drive not fail. I am a bit on the cheap side of the spectrum, I'll admit, but having lost my last 40GB drives this winter I now claim a pair of 120s as my smallest.
    I always seem to have a use for a drive, so I run them until failure.

  10. Re:Bring in the LEDs on Questions Arising On Mercury In Compact Fluorescents · · Score: 1

    A good point, although the LED bulbs should last much longer, so less wasteful even if you're using more bulbs and wattage is the same.

    Really? I'd love to see just your breakdown of the environmental impact of manufacturing LED vs CFL, with details of energy used and heavy metal pollution. It sounds like you have just the cost:benefit analysis I've been long searching for.
  11. Re:Pertinent word... on Unreleased iPhone 2.0 May Already Be Hacked · · Score: 1

    Not at all. Of course the people making the hacks know this; but this also means that when people download these things and install them, it's enough of a hassle that they're aware of what they're getting into.

    I will propose to you, strongly, that there is no such point.
    People will lie to their mother regarding the state of their firmware in order to get support. The user always knows more than the developer, and takes great pride in solving just enough of the problem to convince themselves that the firmware-as-provided is at fault, not their hack or modification.
    With this "knowledge" in hand - they will lie up to (and sometimes beyond) the point they are caught in their deception.

    No, modified firmware in the wild makes non-local support a PITA. Users will even lie about strings from a debug menu if they believe you're attempting to verify the modification status of their firmware.
  12. Re:I'm your neighbor, and I drink your milkshake! on Verizon, Fiber Or Die? · · Score: 1

    For those of you who think this is a Kelis line...
    There Will Be Blood.

  13. Re:Scaling not expensive on Blu-ray In Laptops Could Be Hard On Batteries · · Score: 1

    Many 15.4" Dell laptops are at 1900x1200.

  14. Re:Universities Are Good (Sometimes) on Intel Sued Over Core 2 Duo Patent Infringement · · Score: 1

    Cast iron is quieter, and what is used at Ohio State University for all classrooms, for whatever reason. (Doubt the noise issue comes into play through walls.)
    In fact, I don't think I've worked in a single concrete and steel building which didn't use cast iron drain/vent lines.

    Lead/oakum joints - can't speak to.

  15. Re:Universities Are Good (Sometimes) on Intel Sued Over Core 2 Duo Patent Infringement · · Score: 1

    Wow - just saw the pdf you linked. Perhaps a move to Chicago is in order?

  16. Re:Universities Are Good (Sometimes) on Intel Sued Over Core 2 Duo Patent Infringement · · Score: 1

    I have an engineering degree, which apparently entitles me to such things as straight no time-and-a-half overtime and less wage than any unskilled union laborer.

    In my experience working with union laborer's here in Ohio - an "unskilled" union construction worker would be part of the laborer's union - and starting at around $17 an hour - depending on job. This worker would rarely see overtime, and would be subject to forced travel (without per diem) and likely be called out of the union hall for work less than 1600 hours a year.
    An equipment operator, on the other hand, rarely sits in the hall - 2000 hour years come easily. They still often do not get per diem, but can often stay busy close-to-home. They are not unskilled labor though. They have sacrificed years in training, more years sucking mud as the FNG, and only come to make $20-25 an hour though lots of hard work.
    Your blanket dismissal of these vital workers pisses me off.
  17. Re:Local Gov Perspective on WV Assessor Sues to Keep Tax Maps Off the Internet · · Score: 1

    I'm the IT critter for a town in Mass and I manage the online stuff, including mapping. It's possible that the sales of copies are built into the decision about whether or not to update maps, do additional flyovers, and that sort of thing

    Whoa - this is about Tax Maps - Auditor's schematic record of parcel ownership - the visual index if you will. Aerial mapping is (in the states I have worked in as a surveyor) not a primary mission of the Auditor's office.

    ...when 90% of your requests for GIS maps are from business who would otherwise need to do the survey work themselves, it's a fine line between public access and corporate welfare.

    GIS spatial data is not survey quality and does not carry the legal value a recorded survey does. Are the NGS quad sheets corporate welfare, or are they basic governmental infrastructure?

    Let us save government-funded photogrammetry for another discussion. This is about tax maps. How else is someone to find the ownership info of a parcel of land based on geographic location? Tracking, recording, and assessing real-property is a primary mission of county government. There is no legitimate reason to impede the access to these public records.
  18. Re:Potential for rigging on Mac Hack Contest Redux · · Score: 1

    The problem with the "let's see which OS cracks first" approach is that Microsoft, Apple or maybe even Novell would bribe participants to focus their efforts on their competitor's OS.


    And thus another window into how I don't think like some other people. Sure I guess the idea is possible - but to instantly assume all actors are bad actors shows a fundamental distrust of humans I find frightening.
  19. Re:Cue... on Fourth Undersea Cable Taken Offline In Less Than a Week · · Score: 1

    Ahh - I see you're working on a definition with the AC.
    I'll take even your (what I would consider a) "police action" definition.

  20. Re:Cue... on Fourth Undersea Cable Taken Offline In Less Than a Week · · Score: 1

    I'll take that bet, but define major war.

  21. Re:Free is the new Profit-maker on Pirate Yourself, Become a Best-Seller · · Score: 1

    I helped a few local bands reach national prominence (magazines, MTV2, etc) by giving away their recorded music in exchange for building a fan-base who would buy their not-so-easily-copied dookie at shows. It works.

    Name one.
  22. Re:plus some definition problems on Some People Just Never Learn · · Score: 1

    Post of the week, IMHO.

  23. Re:please explain on DRM-Free Music Spells Trouble? · · Score: 1

    Not my bass boat!

  24. Re:Lawsuits? on Training From America's Army Game Saved a Life · · Score: 1

    And then, for crying out loud, fix your liability legislature. In this case, the proof of burden should
    be reversed, so that the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant was acting against the training
    he or she recieved in basic first aid training.


    Every state has a good samaritan law.
    http://www.cprinstructor.com/legal.htm
    Some are better than others, but most all protect you from liability if you attempt to help at the scene of an accident to the best of your ability and training.
  25. Re:I don't mean to troll but... on MacBook Air's Battery is Actually Easy to Replace · · Score: 1

    Keeping typical exaggeration (let alone Apple(tm) exaggeration)

    Apple claimed 20 hours battery life for the iPod Video 5th gen 60GB. Out of the box I got 22 hours. 18 months of daily usage later my battery still benchmarks out over 20 hours.
    Apple claimed 14 hours for the Nano 1st gen. 18 months of weekly usage later my battery still benchmarks over 14 hours.
    Sansa claimed 20 hours for the E200 1st gen. Out of the box I got 19 hours. Six months later I get 18 hours.

    I do lots of battery benchmarks under controlled conditions while testing for Rockbox. My battery usage patterns are abusive, if anything. There are many reasons I dislike Apple - many things they could do which would be more friendly to us - but, in my experience, they do not exaggerate their battery runtimes.