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User: janek78

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Comments · 81

  1. Re:Not Good on Japan Reluctant To Disclose Drone Footage of Fukushima Plant · · Score: 1

    the radiation level is 3usv (sic!) above normal background.

    I know I'm nitpicking here, but saying that the "level is 3 uSv above normal background" does not make sense. 3 uSv is a dose (a tiny one) and background is measured in dose/time. So 3 uSv above background/second would be very significant, whereas 3 uSv above background/year would be totally negligible.

  2. Re:Voice recognition has been around since years! on Talking To Computers? · · Score: 1

    Why would you have to vocalise "every" command you make? It seems to me most of the objections here are based on the strange notion that there would suddenly be no other way to control things. I would not mind having the option to use voice commands when appropriate and effective. That does not mean I'd throw out my keyboard and mouse. Things are not black and white, you know.

  3. Re:Characterizations on CRIA Files Massive Canadian Suit Against IsoHunt · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't know about Canada, but here (EU, Czech Republic) we pay the levy for hard drives, USB flash disks, copiers,... Except for blank paper, I believe they have it covered. So it's hard to feel quilty when your new hard drive comes "pre-paid".

  4. Re:Nofollow? on No Press Is Bad Press Even Online · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or maybe not use hyperlinks? I mean, if I want to warn people about www.crazyscammer.com, why would I need to make it into a clickable link? I don't. Now he gets linked from NYTimes. Well done.

  5. Re:Not a cure (for blindness) on Chip Allows Blind People To See · · Score: 3, Informative

    Could you supply a source on the "[...]image processing centre which is a common form of blindness"? As far as I know, and yes IAAMD, eye-related conditions are by far the most common cause of blindness, whereas cortical blindness represents only a small fraction of the total blind population (significant, no doubt).

  6. 'will essentially give memory some brains' on One Step Closer To Speedier, Bootless Computers · · Score: 4, Funny

    Close, but not what I need - I need something to give my brain some memory!

  7. Re:Maybe something everybody can use? on No iPhone Apps, Please — We're British · · Score: 3, Insightful

    While I'm all for the governments embracing modern tools and technology, developing an app for a selected brand of phones to help motorcyclists - that's just ridiculous.

    TFA makes a point that "It's very likely that not all of the government's iPhone apps were well-conceived -- but neither are all of the private sector apps in the App Store". But the private ones are not funded with our tax money! It's alarming that the author does not see the difference. Let private parties make ridiculously absurd applications that only two people in the world have use for. Let them make apps that NO-ONE needs or wants. But the government does not have this liberty, the government does not have any of its own money or resources.

    If there is demand for an app that acts as a warning light for motorists, let someone make and sell it, let people compete for whose is the best.

    Dear government, you are (almost) always ineffective and always expensive. Please remember that and stick with doing your real job.

  8. Re:These devices are not robots. on The State of Robotic Surgery · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While I see you point, I have to disagree. In your extreme logic noone can ever be forced to do anything. Because when it comes to it, you can always refuse (and die).

    My friend is a very skilled surgeon - which may be one of the reasons why he feels that hands-on would be better in many cases. And he's not "doing nothing". He's an out-spoken critic and opponent of overuse of the technology and he's actually trying fairly hard to overturn the hospital's decision. Admittedly, not to the point of losig his job.

    I applaud your life if you really have the clear consciousness to call people who make compromises cowards.

  9. Re:These devices are not robots. on The State of Robotic Surgery · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That's a valid point. Also, every technology - and medicine is no different in this - has it's phase of enthusiastic adoption, eventual disappointment when it's found out it's not as good as previously hoped, and then a phase of rational use in indications where it makes sense. I remember the time when surgeons would do 6-hour laparoscopies because it was IN. Later they realized that a 2-hour open surgery is actually better for the patient and laparoscopies were limited to cases where they make sense.

    I am a doctor in a university hospital and I recently went out to have beer with a friend of mine from the urology department. He's the chief "robot operator" for our hospital and he hates the machine with a vengence. No only are the operations several times more expensive (and longer), but to get the money they paid for the machine back, the hospital forces him to use the robot even on cases that would be much better done hands-on. Patients with more complications and longer hospital stay are no exceptions. To me this still seems like a technology we are yet to learn to use properly. Use it for remote operations where the surgeon is not physically available, use it in indications where it makes sense, but don't believe in all-saving robotic future of surgery. It's not here yet. The adoption cycle of many older technologies should serve as a warning.

  10. Re:I'm sceptical on 50% Efficiency Boost From New Fuel Injection System · · Score: 1

    This only works provided that you know how much gallon is (I don't), you use miles (I don't) and you drive about 12,220 miles a year (I certainly don't). :)

    Using 100 km is actually quite nice when you need to calculate the cost of driving somewhere, since it's easy to express the journey in some kind of multiple/fraction of 100 km, multiply by fuel consumption (which is a small number; in the case of my car it is conveniently 5 l/100km) and the price/l. So the math is really easy and when I go somewhere with my friends who insist on chipping in for the fuel, I can do the math in my head while parking. :)

  11. Re:I'm sceptical on 50% Efficiency Boost From New Fuel Injection System · · Score: 1

    Point taken, but you see, the counter does not really update only every 100 km. I bet you don't have to burn a whole gallon to get your reading either, and you don't have to drive for an hour to find out your mph.

  12. Re:I'm sceptical on 50% Efficiency Boost From New Fuel Injection System · · Score: 1

    Actually, volume/distance is better than distance/volume. When measuring in l/100km, I can get zero (the fuel line is closed) and I can never go to infinity. When measuring in mpg, the value approaches infinity as the consuption approches zero and I can never get zero mpg.

    And by the way, 100 km is may be non-standard, but at least we're still talking SI units. :-p

  13. Don't need to move to be cold on Antarctica Needs a Network Engineer · · Score: 1

    I live in the middle of Europe and we had -30 C (-22 F) last night. Thank you, I'll pass. (Also, I'm not a network engineer.)

  14. Telemarketer solution on The DIY $10 Prepaid Cellphone Remote Car Starter · · Score: 3, Informative

    On many phones you can group contacts and assign different ringing profiles. You could just program in allowed numbers and set all other calls to "silent".

    I personally leave my car in gear (with the reverse locked in if I leave it for extended periods of time), so this would not be very practical. :)

  15. Re:Actually not that bad of a suggestion. on France Tells Its Citizens To Abandon IE, Others Disagree · · Score: 1

    Minor correction: it is spelled "per se" (by itself).

  16. Re:Bing on an Apple product? on Google Phone Could Drive Apple Into Allegiance With Microsoft · · Score: 1

    If by Microsoft product you mean Firefox under WinXP, then yes.

    I don't have time to reboot to linux to test it now, but see the comment by Art3x above:
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1513822&cid=30800384

  17. Re:Bing on an Apple product? on Google Phone Could Drive Apple Into Allegiance With Microsoft · · Score: 1

    Try clicking "copy link" (Firefox) and then mouse-over the link again. Your clipboard will contain the long redirected version, which will now also appear on mouse over.

    Blocking javascript removes this behavior and leaves you with normal links.

  18. Re:Bing on an Apple product? on Google Phone Could Drive Apple Into Allegiance With Microsoft · · Score: 4, Informative

    It does do that. For example googling for "Slashdot" returns a link that on mouse over show as "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot" in the status bar, but in fact is http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=3&ved=0CBkQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSlashdot&rct=j&q=slashdot&ei=-FJTS6eACaKmnQOhmKCTCg&usg=AFQjCNEZ2izp-RcQ2rEPNchi1qS-mPpnRA

    It does this both logged in and logged out.

  19. Is it really that surprising? on Organ Damage In Rats From Monsanto GMO Corn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We knew that insecticides are harmful. Now we have a GM crop that instead of being sprayed with them actually makes them. Is it a surprise that it's harmful? If you make a crop that produces cyanide, it's going to be poisonous.

    This is not really related to GM technology (although TFA does not rule out mutagenic properties of the GM transformation process), rather content of toxic substances.

  20. Re:Operation Flashpoint on Graphic Novelist Calls For Better Game Violence · · Score: 1

    Codemasters did not make the first one either. They published it. It was made by BIS, who now made ARMA and ARMA2. I loved Operation Flashpoint, the suspense and fear (and eventual reward) was unlike any other game. ARMA2 seems to be more of the same, but plagued with bugs that make it too annoying to play. Shame.

  21. Re:Well, at least the rest don't do this. on TSA's Sloppy Redacting Reveals All · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And yet, their budged is several times more than the FDA. Given how many people drugs (and their improper use) kill every year, you'd think that if the US government really wanted to save lives....

  22. Re:Not Astronauts! on First Private Manned Orbital Flight Announced · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nebojsa is a perfect name for someone attempting a feat like this - it translates as "Fear not".

  23. Delaying sounds like a good strategy on Ubisoft Working On a New Anti-Piracy Tool · · Score: 4, Funny

    If they keep delaying their titles that will surely teach the pirates a lesson. Look at Duke Nukem Forever, no-one has cracked that one yet!

  24. Re:+1 on Danger Mouse Releases Blank CD-R To Spite EMI · · Score: 1

    Why is the parent moderated funny? It's not funny, it's insightful and explains that the whole stunt it's not aimed against the fans. Selling a blank CD is quite different from selling a blank CD-R.

  25. Forget copying, I want to play my BR under Linux on Doom9 Researchers Break BD+ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't really care if I can copy my BluRay disks or not (I'm too lazy to back up my movies - if I break a disk and I like the film, I get a new one).

    But I would love to be able to play my legally bought films under Linux without having to reboot (or having to go to jail for that matter). Maybe one day. :)