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User: eyrieowl

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  1. Re:And yet on Samsung: Apple Stole the iPad's Design From Univ of Missouri Professor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Or business method patents for that matter. To the extent that we allow people to patent "concepts", any prior mention of that concept should qualify as prior art, as it would make any product based on the concept a logical realization of a concept previously conceived.

  2. Re:Into the wild? on Chaos Monkey Released Into the Wild · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There are a lot of things that can go wrong in failover scenarios. Unless and until they are tested in real world situations, you can't be certain the system works. I happen to know of many systems which had failover processes which were "tested", and sounded fine on paper, but when it came to the real world, they had failed to account for this or that unexpected condition which ended up leading to far more downtime that was expected. If chaos monkey is their ONLY way of arriving at a resilient service, than sure, they have a deeper issue. But if they've spent time trying to design a solid system and then they're using Chaos Monkey to make sure it's as bullet-proof as they think it is, then it's good, solid engineering for the real world. I am reminded of the book "Inviting Disaster", on technology failures. All the systems described in the book which failed were well engineered systems. But due to a series of events working in concert, disaster happened. Any one link in the chain of failures wouldn't be enough; and it is not possible to fully engineer that out of your system; and certainly not possible to test for that in controlled testing environments. But if you can start causing failures in the real world (which is a luxury you have with systems that don't actually keep people alive), you have the opportunity to eliminate those sorts of weaknesses from the system. That's what I think is the value to something like this.

  3. Re:Was Jesus riding Nessie? on Fundamentalist Schools Using "Nessie" To Disprove Evolution · · Score: 5, Funny

    Conveniently accounts for walking on water too.

  4. Re:Steve WHO? on World Cup Memo Written By Steve Jobs Going Up For Auction · · Score: 1

    I think this is probably one of better explanations for why "could care less" is generally wrong. In short, all the fancy claims of sarcasm/irony are likely post hoc justifications, what's more important is looking at actual intent. In this case, I don't think tyrione was sarcastically saying anything, he was intending to very directly say Woz didn't give a damn about the aesthetics of the ICs. Also, just for fun, this post has a google ngrams graph for the two phrases showing how couldn't care less looks to have the earlier origin and greater historical weight, current usage notwithstanding.

  5. Re:Steve WHO? on World Cup Memo Written By Steve Jobs Going Up For Auction · · Score: 1

    No, "could care less" is simply wrong

  6. Re:Huge price hike on Google Drive Goes Live · · Score: 2

    Of course you can, but c'mon, it's a vastly different model than simply sharing a link directly to a 5GB file. As a practical matter, you're probably unlikely to want to spend the time chunking up 5GB into 10-20MB attachments and then uploading them individually to separate emails to send out...and your 1000 recipients wouldn't thank you either.

  7. Re:Stopping on it? on Using Non-Newtonian Fluids To Fill Potholes · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I see another problem...what happens if the bag gets knocked out of the hole? Now you have a sizable road hazard which acts a lot like a big rock to all the cars hitting it. You'd have to ensure that the bag is fully anchored into the hole. Worst case, you could have the bag get pulled up by the friction of a tire and thrown back into a car behind...I'd imagine that would not lead to good things.

  8. Re:It's all the customers' fault... on AT&T On Data Throttling: Blame Yourselves · · Score: 2

    They surely have enough data about their customers usage patterns that they can make better plans for upgrading their infrastructure as needed. I don't see anything about, "We're sorry, we were more successful than we expected, this is a short term measure which is necessary to preserve your QOS, we're making upgrades and in the meantime here's some something for your trouble." No, instead they're basically saying, "We've been really super successful, so screw you." There's nothing wrong with having unlimited plans, the abuse is in refusing to do the necessary traffic forecasting and, even more, in refusing to remediate the problem when it comes to light.

  9. Re:Of course it is. on No Pardon For Turing · · Score: 1

    I'm not saying it's the majority of atheists by any means, but to say it doesn't exist is silly. Do a google for: "should outlaw religion" OR "should ban religion" Fortunately, most atheists and even anti-theists would take the more rational position you do, but I was responding to a comment which made the broad categorization that "atheists dont force others to follow their beliefs", which was (like most generalizations) false.

  10. Re:Of course it is. on No Pardon For Turing · · Score: 1

    Really? We label/categorize EVERYTHING. But somehow we would magically not label "belief there is no god"? I believe the proselytizing from the religious might have helped drive a counter-reaction from the atheists, but I highly doubt we'd somehow fail to label every aspect of people's beliefs no matter how personal/quietly held they were.

  11. Re:Of course it is. on No Pardon For Turing · · Score: 1

    No, you're right, I certainly overlooked the state-sanctioned atheism of those regimes. I suppose I tend to forget about the non-economic policies those countries had/have.

  12. Re:Of course it is. on No Pardon For Turing · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Rubbish. How many times have you seen someone write, "We ought to outlaw religion." or something to that effect. "Atheists" aren't and haven't been in a position of power to do such things, but if you think that there aren't *some* atheists who wouldn't try to impose their views on everyone if they had the opportunity, just like some religious folk do, you are sorely mistaken.

  13. Re:Evidence on What Happens To Your Files When a Cloud Service Shuts Down? · · Score: 1

    Well...no, the usual argument is not about files per se, it has to do with the data in the files. In fact, the ability/right to change formats is a frequent aspect of the debate. And I doubt you'd find so very many takers on /. that if you go wipe even the MPAA's computers clear that you haven't committed a crime. "Data file" and "data" are not just different by interpretation, they are two distinct concepts. Likewise, the usual discussion deals with duplication, not deletion. Those are two words which are also not different by interpretation, they're in fact opposites. So trying to draw parallels between this discussion of deletion and discussions about intellectual property rights and duplication are disingenuous. It's not a clever gotcha comparison, it's wrong.

  14. Re:I Like To Name Mine on Police Investigate Offensive Wi-Fi Network Name · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I do something similar, "FBI Van 1337". Geeks will get it, others will wonder what's going on....

  15. Re:I wonder... on Blow-By-Blow Account of the Fukushima Accident · · Score: 2

    Also, did they avert that? It seems like this is, in fact, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Perhaps they averted it being the worst nuclear disaster ever, including Chernobyl, but it would have needed to be a lot less disastrous to not be the worst since. So...unless something worse than this but not as bad as Chernobyl comes along, I suspect we'll keep using it for this event for a long time...but there's a good chance the next disaster will be the "worst nuclear disaster since Fukushima" instead...at least, here's hoping....

  16. Re:Now we know why on Can Relativity Explain Faster Than Light Particles? · · Score: 1

    Thanks. :) *I* was confused for a second when I saw that reply, "Surely there's no way all that science-babble was derived from Futurama episode!?"

  17. Re:I make everyone on my team read... on Ask Slashdot: Good, Relevant Usability Book? · · Score: 1

    Another vote for Design with the Mind in Mind. Well written, relatively up-to-date, practical advice.

  18. Re:Now we know why on Can Relativity Explain Faster Than Light Particles? · · Score: 2

    huh??

    The speed of light is constant across all frames of reference. Frames of reference that are moving relative to each other will perceive light generated by the other frame of reference as having a different "clock" (i.e., frequency), but the speed of the red/blue shifted light will be the same in both frames of reference. The speed of light itself does vary across mediums (say, water vs glass vs air vs vacuum), but that doesn't come into play here. Also, they weren't measuring, directly, the speed of the neutrinos. They were comparing the time of the neutrinos' arrival at different sites and they found a difference that was unexpected. However, that measurement depends very much on the clocks being in sync, and this is what TFA is discussing.

    The bending of light in a refractive medium is completely unrelated to the bending in a gravitational field, and your conclusion that the latter involves the speed of the light being altered is false.

  19. Re:It's not that green... on Coffee-Powered Car Breaks World Record · · Score: 1

    How does thermodynamics come into play? If the earth were a closed system, that would be one thing, but we have this convenient star that periodically gives us some extra energy....

    As far as being "green" as pointed out elsewhere, this would, ideally, be "carbon neutral", although in practice it would at best be merely less carbon intensive than fossil fuels. So, it's "green" as in "not as bad as some alternatives".

    What it really comes down to is using the biomass as a convenient storage and transport mechanism for solar energy. In the end, that's what we want to use, one way or another, for pretty much every energy technology except nuclear fission/fusion. The trick is just finding the way to use solar energy which maximizes convenience and minimizes the bad side-effects.

    I think a more interesting solution for gassification would involve picking the fuel source for maximum efficiency...off the top of my head, it'd be very interesting to see what sort of efficiency could be gotten if they grew algae, say, and created dehydrated pellets from it to use as fuel. Perhaps someone has tried that?

  20. Re:Finally on Windows 8 Desktop 'Just Another App'? · · Score: 1

    Perhaps they are just really, really old...and British.

  21. Re:nonBouncy shoes on Theoretical Shoe Inserts Could Power Your Gadgets · · Score: 1

    Which shoes are those? Shoes usually have lots of foam rubber / air / gel cushions to absorb impact (energy), not propel you skyward. And then there's all the many dress shoes for both men and women which don't do much absorbing or springing.

  22. I'll raise you on Theoretical Shoe Inserts Could Power Your Gadgets · · Score: 1

    theoretical ponies that can crap lightning and power a city.

  23. Thank you on Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot · · Score: 1

    For the site, the community, and infusing both of them with your energy.

  24. Re:Easy on DisplayPort-To-HDMI Cables May Be Recalled Over Licensing · · Score: 1

    I'd bet any mention of HDMI would run afoul of the trademark. However, they could probably say something like "compatible with most HD TVs" and I'd imagine they'd be safe, at least language wise.

  25. Re:But the Best Buy guy said it does on Retailer Calls Rivals' Bluff On "HDMI Scam" · · Score: 1

    It's cost effective to mine our refuse already.