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User: bruce_the_loon

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  1. Re:Technology is hard and dangerous on Toyota's Killer Firmware · · Score: 1

    Declutching and dropping to neutral to release the engine from the drive train keeps the brake boosters, power steering and other bits running while you bring the car to a halt. Just killing the engine will leave you with hard steering and even harder braking while trying to get off the road.

    On a bike, not sure if there are brake boosters, but it's a safer maneuver to pull the clutch in, pull off the road and stop completely before removing a hand from the handlebars to reach for the key in the middle of the handlebar column to stop the engine.

  2. Re:Wow. on How Kentucky Built the Country's Best ACA Exchange · · Score: 1

    The other meaning of common as in plain, simple, dull, not the more "common" usage of frequently, often.

  3. Re:So what should the family do? on How an Astronaut Falling Into a Black Hole Would Die Part 2 · · Score: 1

    True, but landing anything on the surface of the Sun has its own problems :p

    Not if you go at night.

  4. Re:Good model on Ed Felten: Why Email Services Should Be Court-Order Resistant · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Um, a warrant is a court order. The investigators explain to the judges what they suspect, why they suspect it and what and where they need to look to get more evidence. The judge then issues the warrant. Legality of the source of the evidence used to obtain the warrant can be challenged in the future case and will affect the chain of admissibility.

    Warrants don't just apply to the defendant directly, and are issued on a one-sided basis to prevent destruction of evidence by the defendant.

  5. Re:Update? on First Evidence Found of a Comet Strike On Earth · · Score: 1

    If you actually bothered to read the article and absorb the information presented, you will see why they ruled out a meteor air-burst. The small stone they recovered from the tektite region did not match stony or iron meteorite material, but cometary material. Therefore they concluded the object that detonated in the air above the tektite region was a comet, not a meteor.

  6. Re:Attack? on Google ToS Change Means Your Photo Could Go In Ads · · Score: 1

    You can go and delete your Google+ account completely and it won't affect the Youtube thing.

    Also, if Google hits you with the real name/ Google+ link demand after logging in, just reload the youtube.com page or reclick the bookmark. I know it's a pain in the arse, but it keeps them from asking.

  7. Re:Didn't know that. on AMD Intentionally Added Artificial Limitations To Their HDMI Adapters · · Score: 1

    The adapter in question allows you to plug a HDMI cable into the DVI connector on the video card. My 4850 card from ASUS had two DVI connectors and no HDMI connector, so I would have to use the adapter to plug it into a TV for example. The card came with one. My later 6850 card has HDMI and DisplayPort and didn't come with one.

    Since the 4850 card has two DVI ports, I wonder if the idea was something as simple and stupid as if there are two DVI to HDMI adapters plugged in, only activate HDMI audio on one, and since we assume the user will always use our adapter first, and then someone else's adapter he bought when he added the 2nd display, let's do a simple program check for our adapter instead of a difficult device capability check to decide where to send the audio.

    Not a good idea, or even a smart shortcut. More like a last minute bright idea.

  8. Re:bbc? on Fusion Reactor Breaks Even · · Score: 1

    What do you mean by ITER having a good head start? ITER is still a giant construction site! Here's what ITER currently looks like. Yes, it's that hole in the ground.

    The Google Maps imagery dates from 28th May 2009. For current construction information, go have a look at http://www.iter.org/construction

    They're not yet complete, but they are way, way further along than the Google images show. There are building complexes under heavy construction now.

  9. Re:Hoisting a car doesn't disturb the wreckage? on Massive New CT Scanner Assesses Car Crash Data · · Score: 1

    Unless you've hauled the scanner to the accident site, the wreck has already being hoisted, dragged, dropped etc by the tow company. Any loose bits would have fallen off already.

    What they are looking for isn't the loose bits, it's how the crumple zones collapsed inside the structure, what you normally cannot see without taking the car apart without cutting and bending bits of it to the point you might not be sure what was bent in the accident and what was caused by disentangling the mangled mess to have a look.

  10. Re: The are mortal after all on Owner of Battery Fire Tesla Vehicle: Car 'Performed Very Well, Will Buy Again' · · Score: 2

    I get your sarcasm clearly, but why does everyone think local and state government has shutdown just because the federals have? City, county and state should still be running in a federal shutdown, unless they've taken the opportunity to grab a vacation and blame it on the feds.

  11. Re:EE question. on Bypassing US GPS Limits For Active Guided Rockets · · Score: 1

    Cool. Didn't even pay attention to the units. Makes more sense now. Since these are designed for short usage during rocket flights, doesn't really matter how long it lasts I guess.

  12. Re:EE question. on Bypassing US GPS Limits For Active Guided Rockets · · Score: 1

    Dunno what they are doing with it in that design, but the item is a BAV99 dual signal diode in a 3 pin SMD pack.

    It looks like it is protecting the VCC line from the voltage divider driving the VBACKUP input, which could be done with a single diode, but it might be easier to handle or more reliable.

  13. Re:You know this makes America ... on U.S. Government: Sorry, We're Closed · · Score: 1

    There's a difference between not being able to form a coalition government (prime minister + cabinet) and shutting down the civil service which is what the Yankees have managed to do.

    I suspect most of the civil service in Belgium quite happily continued working without the interference of the ministers.

  14. Re: Just avoid being stupid on Two Years In Prison For Using Infrared Contact Lenses To Cheat At Poker · · Score: 1

    Depends on the form of the game. In the televised Texas Hold'em games, some of the cards are exposed, others are held covered for the viewers. A decent croupier would have a gut feeling about how the game is going and roughly what hand the players have.

    He did confess, and impressed the judge with it. Given the chap's age and location, he probably was an honourable gentleman who decided once he was caught, not to drag out the obvious, I guess to save his honour.

  15. Re:Weird KVM. on Another British Bank Hit By KVM Crooks · · Score: 1

    You don't need video passthrough if you have a VGA splitter cable. One end to the monitor, one to the KVM over IP unit. http://www.minipc.de/catalog/il/858

    That's if you haven't gone for the unit linked in one of the responses below that has passthrough.

  16. Re:KVM? on Crooks Arrested Over KVM-Based Bank Heist Attempt · · Score: 1

    Update of technology knowledge coming :)

    LCD/keyboard trays now fit into 1U and IBM, among others, have Cat5e-based console managers that daisy-chain different server connection devices using RJ45 connectors. These end devices can have PS/2, USB, VGA, HDMI, DVI and even RS232 options. On the IBM unit we have, the LCM 16, there are two sets of connectors for the LCD tray and 16 RJ45 KVM ports which can cascade to 16 servers each for 256 devices in 1U. And there is network KVM access available for an extra license cost.

  17. Re:He got physical access to the machine! on Crooks Arrested Over KVM-Based Bank Heist Attempt · · Score: 3, Informative

    He was more likely using an IP-connected KVM device, like one of these http://www.raritan.com/products/kvm-over-ip/ and not the heavily cabled ones. Hooked up to a cellular router, they don't even need cables except for a power pack.

    Full access to the workstation might be needed if the bank implements machine-based access control that requires something on the machine itself for authentication besides username and password. The South African Post Office does this and a bunch of crooks nicked money after stealing a machine that had management access to accounts and then broke into the premises of another branch to plug it into the LAN. That was proved an inside job by tellers.

  18. Re:Prior art on Apple Receives Patent For Accessing Sets of Apps With Different Passcodes · · Score: 1

    Nope. This more like a boss-screen, one gesture gets you to one simple layer of apps, a different one gets you deeper into the phone. Unlock one profile for when the cops demand access, another for normality could be one use.

    Innovative it ain't as we've had limited/full/admin access on computers for ages based on passwords, e.g UAC, sudo etc.

  19. Re:good for headless usage? on Tiny $45 Cubic Mini-PC Supports Android and Linux · · Score: 1

    One use case is a top-of-camera video encoder-streamer like the miniCaster or Teradek Cube. Hardware accelerated H.264 or other encoding via the GPU instead of a dedicated chip combined with networking support would be much cheaper than the commercial devices.

  20. Re: There have always been doubters on Neil deGrasse Tyson Says Private Business Will Not Open the Space Frontier · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They did plan it, engineer it, build it and pay for it. Falcon and Dragon was their accomplishment.

    Unless you're talking about the space station, which is then scraping the slimy mud under the bottom of the barrel. That's like saying the first transatlantic flight was not a massive credit to the builders and aviators because the towns were already there and built by other people.

  21. Re:USB sucks on Misinterpretation of Standard Causing USB Disconnects On Resume In Linux · · Score: 1

    I wiped out an HDMI port on my TV doing just that. TV on, USB external drive plugged in, ports were right next to each other, didn't work, realized it was in the HDMI port and moved it. Six months later, discovered the HDMI was dead.

  22. Re:I want a vinegar spray on Why Weather Control Conspiracy Theories Are Scientifically Ludicrous · · Score: 1

    Go to a garden or hardware store, they'll have trigger sprayers for misting plants like this one. http://www.seedandgarden.com/shop/products/40-oz-plant-care-sprayer.html

  23. Re:Sure it's a loopy idea on Transport Expert Insists 'Don't Dismiss Wacky Hyperloop' · · Score: 4, Informative

    Uh. nope. The passenger-only capsule is 15,000kg and the passenger+vehicle is 26,000kg. The only number close to 3,500lbs in the documents is the 3,500kg weight of the capsule external structure.

  24. It isn't enterprise and it is? on VMware CEO: OpenStack Is Not For the Enterprise · · Score: 1

    I sense a wordplay on denial here. If a service provider providing public cloud systems isn't an enterprise level deployment of OpenStack, what is?

    I know, support, blah, blah, scaling, blah, blah. I still think he is admitting it is enterprise scale, but directly denying it so that sales managers can point IT managers to "not enterprise" and have to buy his product.

  25. Re:Runbox.com on Ask Slashdot: Recommendations For Non-US Based Email Providers? · · Score: 1

    Given what I see in a sweep of the mail logs on the servers I manage, TLS is almost guaranteed to not be there.