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User: Azarael

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Comments · 356

  1. Re:I'm sitting this one out on 'Cellphone Effect' Could Skew Polling Predictions · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but you should have more than two choices for your vote. Sure voting independent has it's pitfalls, but choosing not to vote will not change anything.

  2. Re:And then the umpire probably calls you out on Rounding the Bases Faster, With Math · · Score: 4, Informative

    I thought that too, but wikipedia and other online sources say that this only applies when a defensive player is attempting to make a play on the runner. At that point the runner must proceed on the most direct path to the base, without deviating by more than 3ft, otherwise the runner is called out.

    Online references aside, this makes a lot of sense thinking of the baseball that I've played and watched on tv.

  3. Re:It's made of magic on Terry Pratchett's Self-Made Meteorite Sword · · Score: 2, Informative

    It looks like a gladius to me http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladius

  4. And then what? on Better Development Through Competition? · · Score: 1

    And who is to decide which programmers work is better? Hey wait..

    Next you'll have to have another competition between two managerial candidates to see who does a better job of judging the programmers' work.

    Gimmickry is not going to solve the issues that we have in software development. You can probably only count on two hands the number of true 'one size fits all' solutions and this isn't one of them.

  5. And What Recourse Do Players Have? on Malfunction Costs Couple $11 Million Slot Machine Jackpot · · Score: 4, Informative

    Seriously, how often is it the case that machines pay out *LESS* than they are meant to. We'll never know and I don't anyone in the industry is looking very hard to find out. Code and electronics aren't perfect, but that isn't the player's fault. Perhaps players cannot be paid out in full in all cases, but the awarded prize shouldn't be miniscule.

  6. Re:The fun is in the simplicity on All the Best Games May Be NP-Hard · · Score: 1

    Yes, that was the point that I was attempting to make.

  7. Re:The fun is in the simplicity on All the Best Games May Be NP-Hard · · Score: 1

    I'd like to point out though, that just because a game has simple rules, doesn't mean it isn't very complicated to play. Look at how long it too for someone to completely 'solve' the game of checkers (using a computer).

  8. Re:Might be particularly applicable to Java on Memory Management Technique Speeds Apps By 20% · · Score: 1

    And how does this situation differ other than the fact that the alloc/free operations are done local to the JVM instead of making system calls? The fact that the JVM is doing the work doesn't magically make memory management easier.

    The other thing that I'm skeptical about is that the article seems to be contradicted by a more recent paper by the author that they are referencing (see Zorn http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=582419.582421). In the newer paper, Zorn et al. say that custom allocators are less efficient than a modern general purpose allocator.

  9. Re:Different from Canada? on AU Mobile Operator Optus Blocking Paid Android Apps · · Score: 1

    I think that Rogers just had HTC remove the paid app functionality from the phone, and surprise surprise, Rogers has their own paid market instead (which is useless). I'm considering reinstalling the OS to turn my Dream into a regular Google phone.

  10. Thermite + Water Vapor = BOOM on New Aluminum-Ice Rocket Propellant Tested · · Score: 4, Informative

    For a neat visual presentation of the physics they're relying on, Mythbusters did an experiment on the explosive power of thermite powder and water vapor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnHR4cMXiyM.

  11. Re:So, the question is... on Mark Cuban's Plan To Kill Google · · Score: 1

    I don't think that's accurate, the info online indicates that cuban wasn't the sole owner of Broadcast.com (which was a company making money), and the transaction was for Yahoo stock rather than cash see http://news.cnet.com/Yahoo-completes-Broadcast.com-acquisition/2100-1023_3-228762.html/. If he's still got $2bn after the dotbomb, then that's not bad. Call the guy an idiot mouth piece, but his financial skill isn't that bad.

  12. Next Up.. on Synthetic Sebum Makes Slippery Sailboats · · Score: 2, Funny

    Genetically engineered whales with a built in cargo hold. You just have to train them well, and take advantage of their natural migration patterns..

  13. Re:Best Photos on Hitler's Stealth Fighter · · Score: 2, Informative

    But one German tank could shoot down ten Russian ones. So the count alone is not the point.

    Don't see the Russians short. Their tanks may not have been as technically advanced as the Germans' were, but they were designed for the terrain where the battles were taking place (snow, cold, mud pits) and they were easier to repair and manufacture. I think that if we looked at what happened in these battles, you wouldn't see the lopsided a result you're claiming.

  14. Re:From the horse's mouth on Intel Receives Record Fine By the EU · · Score: 1

    Certainly true, but in this case practically *Every* business is the exclusive supplier.

  15. Re:what? on Managing Humans · · Score: 2, Informative

    For those of you who find the wording of the review slimy, keep in mind that almost all of the material in the book is on rand's website. Also, the book is over a year old by now, so it seems odd that it would be advertised now. Anyway, the book is a decent read if books are your thing.

  16. No on Is the Relational Database Doomed? · · Score: 1

    It isn't up for debate that tupple stores are a very useful tool. That being said, they aren't a silver bullet for *ALL* data storage situations. For types of data that are inherently tabular, I really doubt that 40 years of RDBMS development will be trumped by a tuple store. When you move to hierarchical data though, things are reversed.

  17. Re:7 or 9 inch iPhones on Larger iPod Touch In Apple's Future? · · Score: 2, Informative

    They already do through iTunes, there just aren't a ton of them yet.

  18. Re:Mod parent down on Avoiding Wasted Time With Prince of Persia · · Score: 1

    Not true, I watched a review online and read the critique on Wired.

  19. Re:If you can't fail, why bother playing? on Avoiding Wasted Time With Prince of Persia · · Score: 1

    So were the original X-Wing and Tie Fighter games. Either way, you can make a great game but at the end of the day there has to be a hook to keep you engaged. You can do this with a really compelling story or just fun game play. I just think that making it so it's harder to die doesn't really tackle the real problem i.e. hitting the sweet-spot difficulty wise, or coming up with something new or fun.

  20. If you can't fail, why bother playing? on Avoiding Wasted Time With Prince of Persia · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I haven't played the game, but that said, how much of the heart of great games was the thrill of just squeaking by? If you know that there isn't any way to loose, what you're left with is a empty shell. Nice to look at, and shows you some neat tricks, but nothing else later. Putting training wheels on a game isn't the future, it's just a gimmick to try and make a bland game that offends no one, and doesn't really try to solve the problem of playability. My 2c.

  21. Re:They built a tuple store. on Scaling Facebook To 140 Million Users · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I believe that there's some clever tricks you can use when generating tuple keys to make things fuzzier. Not easy, but if you customize your approach and know enough about the data, it should be possible

    You're right about the key space splits, there's an addon to memcached called libketama that uses consistent hashing to do exactly that.

  22. Re:Killjoy on Digital Photos Give Away a Camera's Make and Model · · Score: 1

    I don't disagree, the point that I was trying to get at was that the OP's conclusion didn't jive with the site. I've never owned an SLR and I'm pretty sure the majority of the photo quality problems I've had are the fault of the person holding the camera.

  23. Re:Killjoy on Digital Photos Give Away a Camera's Make and Model · · Score: 1

    That isn't the conclusion that the author came to. If you compare http://www.luminous-landscape.com/images-85/h2.jpg and http://www.luminous-landscape.com/images-85/g10-comp.jpg there is definitely a different between the yellows and the depth of focus on the expensive camera is far better (compare the red leaves on the upper left).

  24. Re:Like to see this replicated on German Doctor Cures an HIV Patient With a Bone Marrow Transplant · · Score: 1

    The risk of cancer and the strain on your body from going through radiation is a pretty big downside. Unless there is a way to more selectively kill bone marrow, I don't know how many people would want to go for this.

  25. Re:That's because.. on PHP Gets Namespace Separators, With a Twist · · Score: 1

    I'd say that it's more of an architectural problem than anything. You can add and multiply strings with the the same operators in Python which also has weak typing.