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User: Jeff1946

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  1. Father of GPS? on 'Father of GPS' Receives the IEEE Medal of Honor (eetimes.com) · · Score: 5, Informative

    Roger Easton is a better candidate see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
    As I recall both the Navy and the Air Force had different ideas for a GPS system. Eventually the Navy version was selected and the Air Force was chosen to manage it. The Air Force system as I recall involved a mix of low orbiting satelites and geo-syncronous ones.

  2. Apple's US taxes on Paradise Papers Leak Reveals Apple's Secret Tax Bolthole (bbc.com) · · Score: 1

    With all the discussion of taxes lately, I looked up Apple's US income taxes, see http://investor.apple.com/fina...

    Bottom line: on income of about $64 billion, Apple paid about $16 billion in taxes. So even a company as rich as Apple is not paying the 35% rate that keeps being quoted by Congress, yet we need to lower the rate to 20%.

  3. HIgh intake not exhaust on Tesla Model S Floats Well Enough To Act As a Boat, According To Elon Musk · · Score: 2

    Off roaders use high intakes mainly to reduce the amount of dust sucked in which will eventually clog the air filter. Obviously it would help going through water. Usually water is flowing and as soon as the car reaches a depth where is will float you are going to go "down the creek without a paddle."

  4. MIcrowave oven on DARPA Wants Ideas On Weaponizing Off-the-Shelf Tech (ieee.org) · · Score: 1

    Override safety switches on a microwave oven and run it with the door open. Could cause havoc with a lot of nearby electronics. Would be interesting to see how far away GPS would be overwhelmed. Before you try the experiment, I am sure it is illegal to operate a transmitter this powerful without a license.

  5. Like Columbus on Getting Lost In the Scientific Woods Is Good For You · · Score: 1

    Often in science discoveries are made different from the original goal. Much like Columbus looking for a shorter route to India and "discovering" the Americas. With Einstein as mentioned in the article, it was more like asking the right question such as, "What if the speed of light is independent of the observer?"

  6. Honesty on Google Wants Patent On Splitting Restaurant Bills · · Score: 1

    Often at business meetings we would go out to dinner. Usually when the bill came we would have everyone chip in including tip the amount of money they felt they owed. Some folks had drinks, wine with dinner, and desert. Others may have had only a salad. It was a good judge of character to see who was honest about it. Since this is Slashdot I should mention that we were scientists and engineers so we could do the math. Most the time we would end up with a few extra dollars which would just go for a bigger tip. Occasionally we would be short, and someone would have to fess up about not putting enough in. Good way to see who is trustworthy.

  7. minor payments -- give to the govt on Uber Tip-Skimming Allegations Could Spark National Class Action · · Score: 1

    For small payments to many people, split the money between the law firm and the govt. in a reasonable manner. Saves a lot of admin costs and we all as tax payers benefit.

  8. Federal Funding on How Engineers and Scientists Cluster In the U.S. · · Score: 2

    Federal R&D funding agencies often have to justify why certain states get a disproportional amount of their funding. Information like this can be used to show why some states get a lot more federal funding than others. About 20 years ago I looked at DOD basic research funding per capita. As I recall Mass. got about $50 per person vs. 50 cents for Maine. NSF has a program called EPSCOR to set aside funding just for the have not states.

  9. Zero G kills sense of taste on Four Month Mars Food Study Wraps Up · · Score: 1

    Astronauts have told me that foods have much less taste in space due to fluids increasing in your head. Therefore they like to put lots of hot sauce on things. One worry of course was that a drop of hot sauce would float away and get inhaled. They do particularly like sweets. Thus taste testing on Earth is not too relevant to space.

  10. Re:one other place on Why Iron Dome Might Only Work For Israel · · Score: 1

    each rocket costs about $50k, not so good for antiartillery

  11. Must be prior art on Surfcast Sues Microsoft Over Tile Patent · · Score: 1

    Just reading the prior patents cited by this patent, I can't understand why this isn't prior art or so obvious from prior art that it doesn't warrant patenting. It seems like the patent examiners aren't will to reject stuff like this instead of letting it get fought in the courts. If our leaders truly want to help small business then they need to end crap like this and make patent examiners do their job.

  12. Look in the Swiss patent office on How Do You Spot a Genius? · · Score: 0

    Or Silicon Valley

  13. Better than a dog? on Explosive Detecting Devices Face Off With Bomb Dogs · · Score: 1

    A few years ago I went to a talk by an expert on explosives detection. He said, "if someone tells you they can detect explosive better than a dog, don't believe them, because we don't really know how well dogs can detect explosives."

  14. Amazing Progress on DNA Analysis Suggests Humans Interbred With Denisovans · · Score: 1

    To think the discovery of the structure of DNA is only 60 years old. I believe James Watson is still alive. Sort of like the first moon landing was only 66 years after the first manned powered flight. Or the progress from the first transistor to the modern laptop that has five plus billion of them. Anyone care to give some other examples?

  15. Africa's population less the India's on Promising New Drug May Cure Malaria · · Score: 1

    If you are concerned about population consider India, more people than Africa and 1/15 the area.

  16. Depends on your perspective on Record Setting 500 Trillion-Watt Laser Shot Achieved · · Score: 2

    This is impressive, of course another way to state it would be: it delivers the energy of one laptop battery in one pulse. One must keep in mind the difference between energy and power.

  17. Same mechanism does on Chicken Vaccines Combine To Produce Deadly Virus · · Score: 1

    It is the close proximity of pigs, ducks, and people on Chinese farms that is a major source of flu virus mutations.

  18. Bad news unless you are in North Carolina on Sea Level Rise Can't Be Stopped · · Score: 5, Funny

    It will be ok in North Carolina since their legislature said you can only use linear extrapolations of sea level rise to plan building in coastal areas. Guess they didn't get beyond simple algebra in school (no quadratic equations etc).

  19. This works if shares go up after IPO on Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Gives Up U.S. Citizenship Before IPO · · Score: 3, Informative

    I looked up Singapore individual tax rates. Max out at 20% and 0% on capital gains. Looks like a good deal for him. I assume Calif will get some tax out of him too before he leaves. I assume he must have another citizenship already. Notice Singpore requires two years residency before you can be a citizen. Of course maybe there is a billonaire's exception.

  20. Wonderful understatement on Double-Helix Model of DNA Paper Published 59 Years Ago · · Score: 2

    Near the end of the paper is this wonderful understatement: "It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material."

  21. Frost poem on Particle-Wave Duality Demonstrated With Largest Molecules Yet · · Score: 1

    The dual slit experiment reminds me of Frost's poem, "The Road not Taken." Even though you take a fork in the road you will know you could have taken the other road and wonder what would have happened if I took the other road. If the path was blocked then you wouldn't wonder about it.

  22. Re:Engineering shortage? on Reversing the Loss of Science and Engineering Careers · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    As a Phd chemist, I believe the hardest major is chemical engineering. Not only do you need to study chemistry but also master subjects like heat and mass transfer.

  23. Switch to LED light bulbs on Aging Eyes Blamed For Seniors' Health Woes · · Score: 2

    White leds are actually blue leds with a phosphor to down convert some of the blue to yellow and red. If you look at the spectrum of white leds (go the Cree web site) you will see there is a peak in the blue part of the spectrum, particularly with the "cooler white" versions which should be helpful as a daytime light for folks who have a problem with their circadian rhythms.

  24. Don't need app, just spreadsheet on Optimizing Your Caffeine Intake With an App · · Score: 1

    I looked up info on caffeine. Takes about one hour to go into your system and it has about a 5 hour half life. I put this into spreadsheet and found that a simple rule is drink x amount of coffee to start the day then 1/2 x in three hours and another 1/2 x in three more hours. This will keep your caffeine level pretty constant and it will decay to about 15% of x by the time you go to sleep. There is quite a bit of variation with different people so this is only a starting point.

  25. Apples to Oranges on President By Day, High-Tech Headhunter By Night · · Score: 1

    What job has a salary range of 60,000 to 150,000? Look at the Federal Govt pay scale for the DFW area, http://www.opm.gov/oca/12tables/pdf/DFW.pdf Note, you would see that a entry level engineer (no adv degree) is a GS-9 about 55,000 whereas a senior level manager, GS-15, pay tops out at about 150,000. Personally I doubt that a senior level manager could do the tasks assigned to the entry level engineer any better than the new hire, except of course design powerpoint slides. In really, the important senior level skills are cost, time and personnel management Not the same job at all.