Slashdot Mirror


User: minorproblem

minorproblem's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
137
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 137

  1. Re:Electric grid primitive? Compared to what? on Marking 125 Years Since the Great Gauge Change · · Score: 1
  2. Re:Part of a general pattern on Marking 125 Years Since the Great Gauge Change · · Score: 1

    While you say that all these feats are impossible, just wait till you see the technology that is being developed to support this new infrastructure. The division of the company i work for is involved in new HVDC designs. We already have working prototypes and are preparing for large scale production of the next generation of HVDC converters which are much more compact and can easily fit on a small offshore platform and transmit 500MW+. Also the next generation of offshore wind turbines we are producing are rated at 5MW per unit. Also we are the number one provider in energy market prediction and sale software. The next 50 years is going to be wind, solar, gas, nuclear and anyone who has the technology to adapt the gird to support all of this infrastructure interconnected is going to make a fortune.

  3. Re:Just think of the possibilities! on New Rechargeable Battery Uses Water · · Score: 1

    I think its easier to have acres and acres of solar collectors than it is to build a structure over the top of that.

  4. Re:Potentially game-changer? on Robo-Gunsight System Makes Sniper's Life Easier · · Score: 1

    Couldn't you setup multiple computer fired weapons at the same time and have a few of them aimed near the target but at something harmless (maybe a few metres above the target) by tracking the trajectory of the first few bullets you could predict wind conditions for your kill shot?

  5. Re:Lunchbreaks on The Importance of Lunch · · Score: 1

    Agreed i love when my company sends me to work in France, as the co-workers i work with will invite me out to a long lunch where we just relax and talk about nothing much then we come back and pump out an afternoon of work,. But i find the people i work with are extremly pleasant and easy to get along with and communicate with. Once my French is as good as my German i plan to move ASAP =D

  6. Re:Building Industry on Why Does the US Cling To Imperial Measurements? · · Score: 1

    Meanwhile in the rest of the world everything related to construction is specified in millimetres or metres. There is no confusion about it. I have never met a builder or construction worker in Europe or Australia who takes in Centimetres, everything is specified in millimetres. Thought i am working on designs for industrial scale projects which could be why.

  7. Re:User != Customer on If Search Is Google's Castle, Android Is the Moat · · Score: 1

    Funnily enough Google does quite a good job of linking potential customers up with the correct advertisement. I find myself when in searching for a particular product to buy switching off my ad-block and browsing around at all the different things on offer. And google does such a dam good job i haven't been disappointed with the choices it shows me. Quite often people have money sitting ready to be spent and are just waiting to find the right product. And out of all the advertising companies i can think of Google seems to do a dam good job of linking the two together.

  8. Re:OK. on Australia Creates Cyberwarfare Unit · · Score: 1

    Their main role will be to have sockpuppets on all the major news and social networking sites. When a big Rugby\Cricket match is coming up between Australia and England, Australia and New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, Australia and Wales...... they can spam the sites talking us up.

  9. Re:yet on Budget Triple-Screen Gaming · · Score: 1

    I know it's been mentioned below but I figured I might as well repeat. There is nothing wrong with a base model Hyundai for what it is designed for which is basically a commuter car. If you took a tricked out Hyundai and your standard sports car around a race track you would know the difference. The Hyundai would feel like it was made of rubber bands because its chassis, suspension, tyres & centre of gravity etc is not designed to handle those kind of forces.

    Anyway coming back to your reply, when someone uses the metaphor "you can't polish a turd" they don't literally mean turd, what they mean is to stop 'polishing' the bastard =p

  10. Re:yet on Budget Triple-Screen Gaming · · Score: 1

    I don't think he was paying out the engineering quality of the Hyundais, mechanically they are good cars. I think he was saying "you can't polish a turd".

  11. Re:It might cause an alarm clock fiasco on UK Government Wants to Spring Ahead Two Hours · · Score: 1

    I was thinking this gives a nice overlap with Australia and Asia. In the winter in the UK it is terrible to try and organise meetings with Australia, as they go on DST and become 11 hours different.

  12. Re:Way too many cheap quality phones on Why Nokia Is Toast · · Score: 1

    Nokia has a great brand name. If they came out with a high quality android phone it would sell well. I think their dilemma is that it would kill off their other product lines. But in the long term would probably be one of the best choices for the company for that segment of the market.

  13. Re:Texas asked for it in the beginning on Amazon Pulling Out of Texas Over $269 Million Tax Bill · · Score: 1

    1000 people working for a big business means a lot of extra money is being spent by those workers in the local economy.

  14. Re:Even Moto can't get costs down on Motorola's XOOM Tablet To Cost $799; Wi-Fi Requires 3G Activation? · · Score: 1

    This is suppose to be news for nerds. Have you seen what the technology differences are between an iPad and most of the new tegra 2 devices...

  15. Re:Original headline 'Us Tries To Fire Up.. on US To Fire Up Big Offshore Wind Energy Projects · · Score: 1

    Exactly and this technology is already being commercialised over her in Europe. The three big challenges are:

    * Built low cost offshore platforms. This involves taking a lot of technology from the oil industry and coming up with designs that don't require huge foundations and can be floated into place.

    * VSC - Voltage Source Conversion, this is much smaller (Thought slightly less efficient) than normal LCC HVDC schemes, this technology allows you to squeeze a HVDC scheme into an offshore platform.

    * Offshore wind turbines. This technology is basically solved already.

    I work in these areas of technology and there has been a massive amount of progress over the last 5 years.

  16. Re:Narrow and naive point of view on News Corp's The Daily Is Doomed · · Score: 1

    Agreed, I currently pay for subscriptions to several newspapers and magazines (hard and soft copies). The only reason I do so is that the writing is consistently good quality. And the writers that are biased are at least biased in a consistent way (like you mentioned e.g. finance articles). I also like that they have access to high quality interesting photographs related to the stories, and most of the comments on the articles tend to be fairly well written, as having to pay seems to instantly filter out all the youtube quality comments.

  17. Re:Resting on past laurels on The Microsoft High-Profile Exodus Continues · · Score: 1

    Xbox & entertainment accounts for something like 20% of their revenue. I don't know many people who would call 20% of 20 Billion chump change. The biggest strategic threat to Microsoft at the moment is the cloud, it has the potential to steal away small business customers, and this is an area where there is a lot of profit.

  18. Re:Won't someone think of the Vegitarians!? on Scientists Work To Grow Meat In a Lab · · Score: 1

    Or those who are vegetarian for health reasons..

  19. Re:"Sport" mode on Volkswagen Unveils 313 MPG XL1, Slates Production For 2013 · · Score: 1

    In Australia they don't even both to call it that on the button, my falcon (4.0L V6) has a picture of a wheel doing a burnout for the traction control disable button!

  20. The point.. on Third of Content On Popular BT Portals Are Fake · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One of the biggest benefits of torrents is that the fake crap gets weeded out quickly and the real torrents rise to the top with a high number of seeders. So it doesn't matter if its fake because it dies off quicker, than normal as people stop uploading it.

  21. Re:Nationalism or capitalism. Pick one. on America Losing Its Edge In Innovation · · Score: 1

    Engineering is not a low paying profession. It is only low paying if you are not good at your job and never advance in your career. There are quite a few people i see who go into engineering with no passion and hence pay little attention to details (which is the key to a good engineer). They fail to garner respect from their peers and hence don't make any career progression, and get stuck in their decent paying (but not mind blowing) job.

    Really what most of these articles are about is that there is a decline in manufacturing in the US. What i have noticed specifically to the sector that i work in (High Voltage DC Power). Most power authorities request a certain percentage of the project be manufactured in country (e.g. we manufacture thyristors, and transformers in Brazil for the local market) So jobs are not being lost so much as redistributed across the globe.

    I get it regularly at my work, some old bloke will complain as if these markets are stealing "our" jobs. What he is failing to see is that this is just the next development. Its not a race to the bottom, its a race to equalise, and people have only realised in the last 15 years that the US won't be top dog forever and has to accept that it has equals.

  22. Re:After a lifetime of experiences ... on How Do You Store Your Personal Photos? · · Score: 1

    The upside i have found these days is that i will attend an event with my mates and everyone takes maybe 10-15 shots. Then me and my mates will swap our photos at the end. So for the 10-15 minutes we spent taking photos during the night we all get an entire collection of photos of the event lived at different angles. Its quite nice to then invite everyone around for Sunday breakfast a few months later and go through all the photos from all the events we attended together.

    In the end gadgets are just tools, and it is nice to have the best tools for the job. I do understand what you are implying but i think most people actually use gadgets simply as a tool not as a hobby in itself.

  23. Re:Youtube on Catholic Bishops Support Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    Exactly, i have some cousins that run a farm outside a small country town. They all attend church every Sunday which is basically 1 hour of singing followed by 2 hours of cakes and coffee and catching up on all the gossip. I imagine well into the past that it would have been pretty much the only major social activity for the week, especially during the winter months in most northern hemisphere climates. I've never attended church, but I can certainly appreciate why it can appeal to people.

  24. Re:Is that a challenge? on Motorola Sticks To Guns On Locking Down Android · · Score: 1

    I would say we are quite good for customer referrals though.

  25. Re:Lack of communications on IT Management Always Blames the Worker Bees · · Score: 1

    Agreed, the biggest problem i see in most workplaces is lack of communication.