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User: bigtrike

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  1. You don't need to melt steel to weaken it on 'Super Steel' Sought For Fusion Reactors · · Score: 1

    You do realize that you don't need to come anywhere close to the melting point of a metal in order to weaken it, right? You only need to heat it past its annealing temperature, and it will weaken slowly over time.

  2. Re:Cool Ubuntu (Linux) Story on Best Buy Is Selling Ubuntu · · Score: 1

    Tell him to try connecting and configuring an external monitor while the laptop is powered on or get sound to play through his IEC958 ports.

  3. Tear down that straw man! on Freeze On US Solar Plant Applications Lifted · · Score: 1

    Way to go!

  4. Also, Monthly vs. Yearly Budgets on The Microsoft Office Rental Program · · Score: 1

    In most places I've worked, purchased capital is typically billed against yearly budgets, while leased or rented capital is billed against monthly. These are typically allocated separately, and people will sometimes rent items which would be cheaper to purchase due to poor budget allocation.

  5. Re:Emphysema != Lung Cancer on Cancer Resistance Technique Moves To Human Trials · · Score: 1

    An elderly person may still be able to further protect their genes by taking care of their grandchildren, giving them a higher probability of reproduction.

  6. Why not make the government's job easier on Safeguarding Data From Big Brother Sven? · · Score: 4, Funny

    And CC all of your email to the everyone in charge of this agency. Any good patriot should do this, just be sure the nation is secure even if the email monitoring system goes down.

  7. National City Lines makes "paranoia" valid on Transportation Bill Sets Aside $45 Million For MagLev Train · · Score: 1

    Is it truly paranoia when the auto manufacturers and oil companies have been convicted and fined in the past of forming a cabal which happened to ruin mass transit in many cities?

  8. It's a ride with federal funding on Transportation Bill Sets Aside $45 Million For MagLev Train · · Score: 1

    Not just any ride, but a free ride for Disney. And it's going to be slower than the TGV, which is already proven technology.

  9. Confidentiality agreements make gmail unusable on Large Web Host Urges Customers to Use Gmail · · Score: 1

    We've got contracts with just about every client that states we're not allowed give information to third parties. This means we cannot use gmail, Google analytics, or Google apps because they do not take any measures to protect data or other information which may be disclosed in email.

    I suggest that if you have any sort of confidentiality needs, you talk you company's lawyer before placing your company at risk for a lawsuit.

  10. Why not use mineral oil? on What Web 2.0 Means for Hardware and the Datacenter · · Score: 1

    Why not use mineral oil as a coolant? It has been used in transformers and other electrical applications to years. If it leaks, it won't do a whole lot of damage to the equipment or cause deadly electrical shorts.

  11. Run a string through it as well on Parent-Friendly Wireless Bridge To Span 500 Meters? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    When you're running conduit, it makes sense to run a string through it at the same time. That way you can pull another cable (and another string) through later if needed.

  12. Re:Why PHP does NOT suck on Changes In Store For PHP V6 · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've used PHP for about 7 years now and I've had the entirely opposite experience.

    1. Stability isn't that great. I've run into many glitches over the years and had my share of segmentation faults fixed. Ever run make test on a build? I've never once had PHP pass all of its own unit tests.

    2. PHP is so inefficient with memory that anything but the most simple application can take tens to hundreds of megabytes. This isn't a huge deal though, because gigs of ram are pretty cheap these days.

    3. PHP seems similar to most anything else, as a lot of the code space is taken up by comments. It seems to require more comments than most languages, as a lot of effort has to be taken to deal with quirks in automatic type conversion and the lack of a fixed point data type. (example: when the quoted string '1' is used as an array key, it's automatically converted numeric, but when the quoted string '1000000000' is used, its left as a string rather converted to a float).

    4. This is only true as of PHP 5, because prior to the introduction of PDO there was no portable way to use parameters in queries. PDO creates its own set of headaches however, because it does not properly support many data types such as bool in all supported databases.

    5. This flexibility has a lot of quirks. Certain functions behave differently on different platforms (strtothime handles dates prior to 1970 return different results on a redhat system than they do on a debian system due to different LIBC patch sets, although this may have been fixed in 5.2), some functions are only available.

    6. My experience with cheap web hosts is limited so I can't comment here.

    As far as the suggestion to simply use another language, it's unfortunately not an option.

  13. Exception support only half works in PHP5 on Changes In Store For PHP V6 · · Score: 1

    Hopefully they can fix exception support in PHP 6. Currently it breaks in a lot of weird ways which can be nearly impossible to debug. For example, the following code:
    function a() { new DateTime("2007-02-32"); } register_shutdown_function("a");
    Generates:
    Fatal error: Exception thrown without a stack frame in Unknown on line 0
    Tracking down such an error in PHP 5 can be quite time consuming since current debugging solutions only work in very limited situations.

  14. That's true about everything on Folding@Home 2.0 - An Online Protein Folding Game · · Score: 1

    Your argument is true about nearly every piece of science and technology ever created.

  15. Or if your budget is smaller yet... on Tesla Motors Opens Retail Store · · Score: 1

    Try a bicycle. You're never going to reach a similar efficiency (approx 1000mpg if you could digest raw vegetable oil) when your solution requires a 2000lb vehicle to move a 180lb person. The automobile is simply the wrong solution to the problem of transportation of people.

  16. That's because bicycles don't consume on Consumer Ethanol Appliance Promised By Year's End · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Most of the current "green" momentum is about encouraging more consumption rather than less. The "green" movement these days is mostly driven by corporations looking to sell more products, so any solution which reduces consumer spending will be marginalized.

  17. Motion detection with barking is already available on Is Cheap Video Surveillance Possible? · · Score: 1

    http://www.northwestern1.com/rex-watchdog.htm These things have been available for quite some time

  18. Re:Anyone have any idea... on Computers May Thwart 2010 Census · · Score: 1

    So if a switch breaks, they buy a whole new radio?

  19. Re:what do you think ships use on US Plans "Disposable" Nuclear Batteries · · Score: 1

    Sure there are things that are not seawater involved in cooling, such as heat exchangers and primary cooling loops. But you've still got sea water running through the system to do the cooling at temperatures hot enough to boil water at atmospheric pressure, and you could easily use this for desalination.

  20. what do you think ships use on US Plans "Disposable" Nuclear Batteries · · Score: 3, Informative

    What do you think nuclear powered ships use for cooling? Seawater.

  21. Gas prices? on Democrats Propose Commission To Investigate Spying · · Score: 1

    Personally, I'd prefer they at least try to protect our freedoms. If you want to spend less on gasoline, alter your lifestyle or living situation so you don't need to rely on it as much, if at all.

  22. Not just "many, many" tons on Third Undersea Cable Cut · · Score: 1

    Connected by a very heavy cable or chain to a ship which weighs many, many tons. Ripping apart a communications cable = not a problem.
    To further reinforce your point, a large ship, such as an oil tanker, can weigh over a hundred thousand tons.
  23. Are you sure you understand? on PHP In Action: Objects, Design, Agility · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My problem had nothing to do with destructors. There are other contexts where they can't be used. But of course you knew that, even though they're not really documented.

    function a() { new DateTime('2007-02-32'); }
    function b() { a(); }
    register_shutdown_function('b');

    And even then my complaint isn't that you can't do that, but that there is absolutely no way to track down the source of that error because unlike most other PHP errors, you're told it's on line 0 of Unknown.

  24. Looks like a great book if you're stuck with PHP on PHP In Action: Objects, Design, Agility · · Score: 5, Informative

    This looks like a great book for those of us already stuck with PHP. For the rest, I'd suggest avoiding it entirely. PHP 5's OOP is still pretty awful and still has many caveats which have simply never existed in other languages. For example, the exception handling is pretty useless as it generates "Fatal error: Exception thrown without a stack frame in Unknown on line 0" when used in a number of contexts.

  25. Never accept critical changes from a GET request on Drive-By Pharming In the Wild · · Score: 1

    This is one of the most basic types of attacks, I can't believe people still write code with this vulnerability. NEVER accept a request to change critical information from a GET request. Better yet, never accept any data in a URL which is expected to come from a form POST instead. Check the referrer, if it's present.

    The web interface of this device was obviously written by someone with absolutely no clue.