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User: jo7hs2

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  1. Unneeded worry in submitter's summary... on Ford System Will Warn, Correct Lane-Drifting Drivers · · Score: 1

    The submitter injected unneeded worry. According to Ford via USAToday: "The driver can overcome assistance and vibration at any time by turning the steering wheel, accelerating or braking" The article also uses the word "nudge" in reference to the control input, so I read all this to mean the system won't be fighting drivers. See: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/12/ford-says-fusion-sedan-will-get-lane-departure-system/1

  2. Re:Never used in combat? Good. on Fatal Problems Continue To Plague F-22 Raptor · · Score: 1

    Possibly. But would you rather send pilots into a scenario where their planes are merely adequate, or where their planes will totally dominate the enemy. I'm a lot more comfortable having at least a few F-22s available.

  3. Re:Never used in combat? Good. on Fatal Problems Continue To Plague F-22 Raptor · · Score: 1

    BS. There were two major conflicts during the Cold War that involved major air to air combat on a daily basis, Korea and Vietnam, and neither went nuclear. Your assumption is that no conflict with China or Russia could remain non-nuclear, but in both cases American air power was forced to fight Chinese and Russian planes and pilots in a proxy context. Further, your assumption is also that major powers have a death wish and couldn't carry out a conflict that was limited to a specific theater. Spurious assumptions.

  4. Never used in combat? Good. on Fatal Problems Continue To Plague F-22 Raptor · · Score: 3

    Opponents of the F-22 keep screaming about how it has never been used in combat, despite three conflicts having occurred since they entered active service. Problem is, neither Iraq nor Libya had a functional air force that actually tried to fight AND posed a serious threat to our aircraft. The Taliban doesn't have an air force, and at the start of the war in Afganistan (prior to the F-22 achieving active status) Afganistan's air force was basically rusting hulks. This is an air superiority fighter. It isn't meant to bomb things. It is a predator, built to hunt and kill fighter aircraft, nothing more. That role justifies a lower overall number of aircraft, but the aircraft still needs to exist. In a conflict with a country with a formidable air force, such as China or Russia, or at least a functional one like North Korea or Iran, this aircraft would be invaluable. It could mean the difference between victory and defeat. I for one am glad it hasn't seen combat yet. That said, it looks like they need to fix the emergency O2 system. Might not be a bad idea to find a way to provide a graceful failure of the primary system, too, or automatically activate the backup. Either way...fix the damned thing.

  5. Glad to hear it! on Philippines Call Centers Overtake India · · Score: 1

    Nothing against Indian call center workers, but I'm glad for this shift. My experiences with call centers in the Philippines have been dramatically better than my call centers in India. The accent, if present, is easier for an American to understand. I suspect that has to be with respective colonial relationships. The call center employees don't bullshit me by claiming to be Todd in Texas, they give me their real name and don't try to tell me they're local. They also don't get defensive when I'm pissed off. I suspect the companies there must be training their employees differently. Indian call centers seem far more aggressive...clearly run by MBAs. Plus, it is an economic break for a country that needs one.

  6. Re:Weird Curved Concrete...Antenna? on China Building Gigantic Structures In the Desert · · Score: 1

    Actually... I think it is a checkpoint. Road goes in, road comes out.

  7. Weird Curved Concrete...Antenna? on China Building Gigantic Structures In the Desert · · Score: 1

    I'm most interested in this double curve structure... 40.510163,93.236783 It is associated with a modest solar array. If you follow the roads, there is a very remote structure several miles in a nearby in line straight with, but offset from the concave structure. Antenna?

  8. ElectronicsKits? on Ask Slashdot: Best EEPROM Programmer For a Hobbyists? · · Score: 1

    For pic programming, I was very pleased with this USB kit. http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/prog/ck1708.htm It looks like they sell similar assembled units now. http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/prog/ck1710.htm

  9. Re:"Post Tech or GTFO!" on Australia's Biggest Airline Grounds Its Entire Fleet · · Score: 1

    Hear hear! I come here for tech news and discussion. The more general news material, especially political material, finds its way onto Slashdot, the less I feel compelled to bother with a visit. Knock it off.

  10. Re:Crappy Redesign on Netflix Loses 800,000 Subscribers After Qwikster Gaffe · · Score: 1

    Excellent point. The instant video site redesign was the first element of the customer service fail trifecta at Netflix. First, they pissed off their instant customers with a redesign that, at best made it hard to use their site, and at best appeared to be a veiled attempt at controlling what we watch by hiding a considerable portion of the content. Next, they pissed off their entire customer base, especially DVD users, by raising prices suddenly, excessively, and with a snide explanation that further inflamed emotions. Finally, they pissed off the joint DVD instant customers with the incontinence of Quickster. Then they made everyone think they were idiots by backpedalling. None of these factors individually led me to cancel my account, but taken together I felt alienated enough to pull the plug and try out Amazon Prime* for a while instead. If Netflix cleans up their act I might come back after six months, but somehow I don't expect they to clean up their act. *Not that I don't have beef with Amazon, I do over their Kindle update policies, they just piss me off a lot less right now. Here's hoping for an Apple streaming monthly plan. I never thought I'd say it but they piss me off the least lately.

  11. Fast at home, mind numbingly slow at work. on The Death of Booting Up · · Score: 1

    My home PC boots Windows 7 faster than the POST/SATA boot sequence, with an SSD and ample memory. My work computer takes about two minutes to get from login to Vista desktop, another two to five minutes to clear scripts, security logins, A/V start, two different alert systems (one phased ut but active) and about a half dozen utility loads to the task bar. Plus, all our storage and apps are on the network, and we used a jury-rigged Word template system, so loading Word takes another minutes or two. Generally speaking, the first 10 minutes of my day are wasted waiting for my computer to login, and another two to three at the end of the day to verify it restarted, otherwise I'll get a nastygram from IT.

  12. Re:this is a hack? on Installing Linux On a 386 Laptop · · Score: 1

    Meh. I ran Windows 95 on a i386sx notebook for several years, with 10 megs of ram and a compressed hard disk, so I'm not really impressed. The floppy install took most of the day, and the boot time was almost a full battery charge towards the end of my run with the computer, but once it was running it was surprisingly functional, despite the 5/10/20mhz variable frequency processor setting.

  13. Centrist? on Internet-Based Political Party Opens Doors · · Score: 3, Informative

    Let me get this straight...a party where mostly liberals are signing up so far is centrist...because they say so? And they are viable...because TFA says so? Anybody else see the problem here?

  14. Re:Higher taxes? on Roundabout Revolution Sweeping US · · Score: 1

    I can see two scenarios where they might increase taxes. First, many communities are suggesting that roundabouts *replace* existing intersections. In other words, they want to take a serviceable, but perhaps somewhat more dangerous, intersection and replace it, which obviously entails spending money you otherwise might not have spent. Second, I strongly suspect the initial installation costs on a roundabout are higher than just a standard four-way stop. There is more pavement, more complicated grading (you don't see many slanted roundabouts), and a slightly larger footprint (meaning more land to acquire, especially relevant in populated areas) compared to a four-way stop. I'm generally opposed to replacing busy lighted intersections with roundabouts, especially ones with multiple lanes of traffic on each road, as has occurred in some populated areas, like in Towson, Maryland. However, a simple intersection of two two-lane roads in a quiet area is an excellent spot for a roundabout, particular near highway off-ramps. I've seen these well-executed in many areas, including in Maryland. I'd argue that replacing a serviceable interchange for no reason other than to add a roundabout would be a waste of money, with the offset of improvements in car safety technology we've had over the last few decades, but that it might make good financial and safety sense if the road already requires work.

  15. Cell phones? on RadioShack Trying To Return To Its DIY Roots · · Score: 1

    I doubt I'll ever be able to forgive them for over a decade of "You've got questions? We've got cellphones!" treatment, and I'm not sure I need to, since all of the major mail order component companies sell online and are probably faster than finding the time to drag my butt to RadioShack. I suppose the only reason I've EVER needed them is when I was short something simple in a project and needed it yesterday, and most of the time when that has happened they didn't have it anyway. What really killed it for me wasn't that they stopped adequately stocking DIY parts, most at least carry some, but was instead the awful customer service. They never knew where anything was, and even checking out something simple meant waiting for the completion of the cell phone contract in front of you, so buying a pack of resisters for a few bucks took a half hour.

  16. Re:Changing TV channels on The Insidious Creep of Latency Hell · · Score: 1

    Well, at least for those of us stuck with Comcast, I suppose the advertising crammed into the guide might play a role.

  17. Dell Axim X5 on The Insidious Creep of Latency Hell · · Score: 1

    One key example I can come up with was the external folding keyboard for the Dell Axim X5 I bought as an "upgrade" from a Handspring Visor I was using for note taking in undergrad. The input delay was so bad that you could type several paragraphs before they would appear in the device. Totally destroyed the device for me, and I ended up going back to paper, as the Handspring was no longer in my possession. Not to focus on Dell, but my Inspiron 8000 had a similar problem, too. I got it as a desktop replacement when I started college, it had one of those early GeForce 2 GO chipsets, so it was capable of playing a game or two. Sadly, there was an odd latency to the internal keyboard that evaporated with an external, just bad enough to make FPS games essentially unplayable.

  18. Re:Poor detection on The Significant Decline of Spam · · Score: 1

    I've been getting significantly MORE spam in the last month. I would assume that they base their metrics on how much spam was caught and identified. Since apparently more is getting through to me now, the article should really be titled "Significant Decline of Spam DETECTION".

    Me too. Almost all of it is "enhancement" related. Started about two months ago, steady rate, similar message. Every year or so this seems to happen. The last group to get through en masse were the random letter and misspelling ones. I'm somewhat surprised these are getting through, since they are not well disguised.

  19. Re:Lego on Thought-Provoking Gifts For Young Kids? · · Score: 5, Funny

    However, standard convention when buying toys for children of siblings is to buy something as obnoxiously loud and repetitive as possible. In which case, Tickle-me-Elmo and firecrackers would be appropriate. ;)

  20. Re:Lego on Thought-Provoking Gifts For Young Kids? · · Score: 4, Funny

    Absolutely! As long as you don't step on one, they are the best toys in the world.

  21. Dangers to rare speciesand historical sites on The Hidden Security Risk of Geotags · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Potential security issues aside, geotags have always concerned me with the potential for unintended consequences. As someone with a passion for both native orchids and other rare life forms, along with history, I'm always concerned how an innocent snapshot by someone using geotagging might provide detailed location data to a poacher or pothunter. I've already seen a few plant populations decimated by a mere Flickr post, and I know I've seen geotags for the same species at other locations. I think it is a feature that should be disabled by default and used only with caution.

  22. Re:Automatic transmissions fail before engines, no on Inventor Demonstrates Infinitely Variable Transmission · · Score: 1

    Good point. Well, your numbers are a little off.

    My car as 110,000 miles on it. I've raced my car a good bit (legal track racing, of course).

    The first clutch (stock) I destroyed was by adding a 150hp NOS system on. The second clutch (performance) was destroyed by my ex-wife driving it uphill and she slipped the clutch the whole way (like 5 miles). She obviously wasn't very good with a stick. The third clutch (performance) was actually from old age.

    My friend has a comparable car. It's the same engine, transmission, body style and weight. She drives more normally than I do (no racing, just city/highway driving). She had her clutch changed at 100k miles. Labor to replace the clutch is about $350 to $500. Parts are about $150. This car happens to be a bastard to work on, which is why the labor is high. So, $500 to $650 for the job.

    This is about the age that an automatic transmission would need to be rebuilt. For this car equipped with an automatic, removal, rebuild, and replace costs about $3,500.

    So, with my car, I've improved the efficiency by helping the airflow out (one minor exhaust fix, and a some intake fixing). I enjoy cruising at highway speeds with low RPM's (6 speed). The same car with an automatic would be cruising at a much higher RPM (4 speed), and suffering from losses related to the automatic transmission.

    I rarely need to check my transmission fluid (i.e., gear oil). If my gear oil runs low, it could increase wear. A car with an automatic has to have their transmission filter and fluid changed. If their fluid runs low, it can be catastrophic.

    There's about a 300 pound difference between the manual 6 speed and the automatic 4 speed.

    So, lighter, better fuel economy, and less repair costs. I really don't see why people wouldn't want to drive a stick. The excuse "I don't know how" isn't a valid excuse, except they're too lazy to learn.

    I can drive pretty much anything with wheels, and I've proven it. I'm licensed for motorcycles and cars. I've also driven everything including a big truck with a 10 speed air shifter. a neighbor bought a motorcycle, but didn't really know how to drive it. They told me it wasn't driving right, so I grabbed my helmet from the garage (I don't have a bike right now, but I still have the helmet), and took it for a spin. It worked fine. It was operator failure.

    While I agree with much of what you have said, I call shenanigans on your assertion that 100k is about when an auto would need a rebuild. Other than in horribly abused vehicles, an automatic should last longer than that without needing service. While I hate car-related anecdotal evidence, I've personally driven two Ford AOD derivatives well over 100k without so much as a hiccup. The first, with an actual AOD, never had a transmission fluid change. The second, with the ever so unreliable AX4S, hit 155k before it was passed on to another driver. It still has not required a rebuilt several years later.

  23. Re:Doesn't matter if issue is electronic or mechan on Toyota Pedal Issue Highlights Move To Electronics · · Score: 1

    I mean a software crash... not a vehicular one. ;)

  24. Doesn't matter if issue is electronic or mechanic on Toyota Pedal Issue Highlights Move To Electronics · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It doesn't matter to me if the issue is electronic or mechanical, I want a mechanical peddle pair and a mechanical key switch. I want to be able to kill the machine if I have to, and not rely on the electronics to behave appropriately when malfunctioning. How many press down to turn off power systems have you encountered that failed to turn off after a crash? I've certainly encountered my share of them.

  25. Re:What happened to the Indian chief? on B&W TV Generation Has Monochrome Dreams · · Score: 1

    "How about the public service announcement that came on at 10pm that said: 'Parents, it's now 10 o'clock. Do you know where your children are?'" That one you can still hear. At least one station out of NYC still airs it daily.