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User: Goodgerster

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Comments · 88

  1. Harry Potter was not created for film anyway on Homer Simpson Named Greatest TV Character · · Score: 1

    Look, kids --- I have here the amazing piece of technology for which Harry Potter was created. It's like an ebook, but it's made of paper!

  2. Already obsolete on Django 1.1 Testing and Debugging · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Really, did the publishers not notice the months and months of version 1.2 betas/release candidates? It's an impressive trick of scheduling to have a book on 1.1 released on practically the same week as 1.2.

  3. Re:In this being on Details Emerge On Futurama's "Rebirth" (and Return) · · Score: 1

    Oh jeez, I smell another cheap cross-over...

  4. Re:It's madness that this is not the default. on Should I Take Toyota's Software Update? · · Score: 1

    Sorry, when I say "cut power to the engine" I mean cut the power from the engine, i.e., the link between the engine and wheels. Also, to clarify, the instruction was to stamp the brake as a first priority and, having started to apply maximum force, hit the clutch with the other foot. The optimal solution is to hit both together, but this introduces additional thinking time.

  5. It's madness that this is not the default. on Should I Take Toyota's Software Update? · · Score: 1

    When I discovered the existence of automatic transmissions as a child (we Europeans primarily use the more efficient manual transmission), I asked how it stopped the engine from stalling when the brake pedal was applied. My father told me that the brake pedal was also connected to a clutch. This would obviously cut power to the engine when the brake was in use.

    The force from an idling 1580cc turbodiesel, even without a stuck accelerator, extended the emergency stop distance of my learner car by a non-negligible distance, at least a couple of metres. This is why my driving lessons included engaging the clutch after the brake when performing emergency stops.

    Now I have recently learned from Slashdot that, seemingly, in most automatics the brake pedal doesn't even cut the throttle. Given that many automatic cars in the US seem to be connected to 3000cc six-cylinder behemoths, I am sure this worsens the stopping distance for those cars a great deal more than a couple of metres. How many people has this particular design flaw killed over the last fifty-odd years?

  6. Re:Not news on Kernel Contributor Corbet Says Linux Community Is 'Intimidating' · · Score: 1

    A new study says that illiterate people overgeneralise more easily: we'll have the full story and the latest news and weather. Join Fiona Bruce and I with the News at 10.

  7. This man is not studying in London on Man Uses Drake Equation To Explain Girlfriend Woes · · Score: 5, Informative

    He is studying at the University of Warwick, which is near Coventry. It is far away from London. He is "studying in London" in the same sense that all Californians are residents of San Francisco. Has FOX News' target audience never heard of any English city besides London?

  8. Re:You know, these stories don't shock me anymore. on UK Government To Monitor All Internet Use · · Score: 1

    Those "lots of people" don't count, the government counts. Let's not kid ourselves here --- democracy in the UK means choosing between a discredited Thatcherite party (red logo) and an undirected Thatcherite party (blue logo) as our preferred autocratic rulers for the next five years.

  9. Re:1984 on UK Government To Monitor All Internet Use · · Score: 1

    They don't need to do anything to regain power. Gordon Brown is the best thing ever to happen to the Conservative Party.

  10. Re:Sorry, but I have to consider the source on UN Attacks Free Speech · · Score: 1

    one cannot, for instance, easily say, "Sharia law is sexist" without inciting any kind of Muslim action

    There, fixed that for you.

  11. Re:History... on The Global Warming Heretic · · Score: 1

    We've dramatically cleaned up our environment, achieved energy independence, freed ourselves from the political constraints of fossil fuels and massively bolstered our economy with a whole new class of green businesses.

    What planet do you live on? I'll take the next hyper-shuttle there.

  12. Re:American cars.... on Tesla Releases First Official Photos of Model S Sedan · · Score: 1

    It doesn't "start up" like a fossil-powered car. The motor idles at 0 rpm, rotating only to drive the wheels. Further, on similar cars (Volvo S80, etc) the doors will re-lock when you move away from them, and the car won't be driveable for very long without the key inside it either. I imagine the makers of this car, having previously engineered a virtually brand-new powertrain, will be able to properly implement keyless entry.

  13. Watch Apple crush this on Turning an iPod Touch Into an iPhone · · Score: 4, Informative

    "What? It competes with our own services!? Delete it from the Store! Then bring me the developers' ashes on a plate with a glass of red wine..."

  14. Re:profiles vs fast user switching on Google Releases Chrome 2.0 Pre-Beta · · Score: 4, Informative

    I honeslty don't know when exactly Linux added the feature to let you swap desktops easily.

    That would be about 1965, or whenever it was that UNIX was conceived. UNIX has had the capacity to support thousands of users simultaneously since the beginning of time (literally). When X appeared in the late 80s, very little changed in this regard.

    Since Windows 95, Microsoft has been trying very very hard to add sensible multi-user facilities to Windows. The fact that consumer releases prior to XP were unable to prevent users logging in without a password, let alone prevent users from having full write access to each others' files, is perhaps irrelevant considering those users each had permission to delete the Windows kernel as well.

    The NT kernel supplied XP with the capacity to handle multiple users securely and XP introduced fast user switching, but the damage was done --- most of the apps available by that point had to be run as root, and the attempt to bring the system a tiny fraction further along its long journey to UNIX-level user security was one of the more significant nails in Vista's coffin.

    I reckon MS will eventually (too late) do what Apple did (also too late) and replace the entire thing with a bastard UNIX system running the shell from the previous system, and provide a compatibility layer. Indeed, it might be the only way to save it. Meanwhile, Wine continues to make it increasingly obsolete.

  15. Re:doing it right on Google Router Rumors · · Score: 2, Insightful

    for a Google router there's no particular business model other than spying on the owner

    You are aware of the idea of selling routers, right?

  16. This is quite old on Volvo Introduces a Collision-Proof Car · · Score: 1

    I've seen this advertised on TV in the UK for a production car, I think it was the V70; and it's mentioned in the first sentence of the Safety section of the S80's website: http://www.volvocars.com/UK/ALL-CARS-MY09/VOLVO-S80/Pages/default.aspx... they call it Collision Warning with Auto Brake. Really, this is old --- the current model of the S80 is a couple of years old at least.

  17. My Debian box on Anyone Besides Zune Owners With New Year's Crashes? · · Score: 1

    The X window system on my Debian box crashed at 23:59:59 UTC --- when I returned from watching the fireworks on TV, the clock was stuck at this time. As usual it wouldn't kill, so I have just finished repairing my Firefox profile due to the ensuing hard reset.

  18. It's spelt Firefox on Browser Privacy Test · · Score: 0

    When will people stop capitalising the second F in Firefox? Or are we all going to use FireFox in future? Perhaps InterNet Explorer and SaFari could join in.

  19. Re:Looks promising on First Look At Windows 7 Beta 1 · · Score: 1

    Fixed the taskbar?!

  20. Re:I can't support this use of tax dollars on US Corps Want $1B From Gov't For Battery Factory · · Score: 1

    You forgot Volvo. :)

  21. Not easier, merely different (still wrong) on Royal Society of Chemistry Slams UK Exam Standards · · Score: 1

    The exams have not necessarily become easier --- they have simply started assessing the wrong things. Instead of basing the grade on the qualitative understanding of the subject demonstrated by the student by having them write a short essay, the exams are marked by tick-box, where the examiners will look for words and phrases and assign one mark for each phrase that appears on their list. Similarly, every question is formulaic, and the required answers can be reliably predicted by the student looking for key phrases in the question text. There is no point to it all beyond the ability to execute memorised formulae (the bad kind, not the mathematical kind) to score points by tick-box, rather than demonstrating any actual understanding of the subject (as this study indicates).

    I have an IQ of 155, and I got a D-average* on my four A-levels last year, down from my B-average** at GCSE... Let us hope that university will be less appalling.

    *A-E grade scale
    **A*-G grade scale

  22. Re:The main problem... on Royal Society of Chemistry Slams UK Exam Standards · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Generation Y here --- why on earth should young people be paid less than a balding obese baby-boomer for doing the same job just as well, if not better?

  23. Re:I would on Would You Add Easter Eggs To Software Produced At Work? · · Score: 1

    I believe that may have been featured on Rinkworks' Computer Stupidities. (And it was the accuser's copyright notice).

  24. Re:Spell it out for me please on The Importance of Procedural Content Generation In Games · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    You've obviously never read _any_ English literature...

  25. Call me cynical on Very Large Telescope Captures New 27-Megapixel Deep Field · · Score: -1, Redundant

    But won't this resolution be matched by mobile phone cameras in about ten minutes?