Slashdot Mirror


User: dfsmith

dfsmith's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
363
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 363

  1. Re:For the rest of the world on SpaceShipTwo Sets a New Altitude Record · · Score: 1

    ...and is what everyone around me uses.

    Which is why feet get used here in the US. (From another person who was brought up in England.)

  2. Re: Same trauma, more drama on British Spies To Be Allowed To Break Speed Limit · · Score: 1

    As a physicist, I assumed "fast" was 0.90c, and the lack of a decimal point was a typo. (c=1. B-)

  3. Re:$50...if your time is worth nothing on How One Photographer Is Hacking the Concept of Time · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Therapy can run many tens of dollars an hour. Maybe he considers coding to be theraputic, in which case it saved him money. Your time is worth what it's worth to you.

  4. Re:Took them long enough... on Federal Judge Rules Chicago's Ban On Licensed Gun Dealers Unconstitutional · · Score: 1

    That's genius! Make all guns pink with flowers and sequins on, and make open-carry mandatory.

  5. Re:If it was a religion? on If UNIX Were a Religion · · Score: 1

    That is why the pipe symbol is the shape of "one".

  6. Re:Not cans on Coca-Cola Reserves a Massive Range of MAC Addresses · · Score: 1

    The mint also charged more to ship them to the banks. Did they not forsee a problem with this?

  7. Re:Seems like expensive space on Sears To Convert Old Auto Centers Into National Chain of Data Centers · · Score: 1

    The Auto Centers are probably too polluted with oil and fluids to turn into retail or dining, so it may make sense.

  8. My cat can easily produce 5000V of "energy", so this is only 0.14% of stroking a cat. Hmm.

  9. With most sound chips attached directly to the PCI(e) bus, it's not out of the question to initiate a DMA into memory before the bootloader can start. Gives you a very nice pre-BIOS vector.

  10. Re:morse code? on Juno Needs Radio Amateurs! · · Score: 1

    There's an interesting challenge posed here: how to slow down text messaging to a signalling baud rate of 0.0016Hz. (Low rate needed because of spacecraft spin, and limitations in the broadband receiver used.)

  11. Re:"Begs The Question" on Ask Slashdot: Time To Regulate Domestic Drones? · · Score: 1

    I especially liked the web site's reasoning that "beg does not mean 'beg' and question does not mean 'question'" in the original translation. I think the begthequestion.info web site is a dumb terminal; where dumb does not mean 'mute' and terminal does not mean 'point of departure'.

  12. Zurich? The seaport? on Students Build Ship Inspecting Robot · · Score: 1

    Do you have to bring your ocean vessel to Zurich for the inspection? I see a problem there.

  13. Re:wrong two words on Somebody Stole 7 Milliseconds From the Federal Reserve · · Score: 1

    But the news originated in Washington DC, as they perceived 2PM.

    No! It's easy to get this confused: the news originated in DC at 1:45pm; with instructions to journalists not to release the news until 2:00pm by the National Atomic Clock.

  14. Re:wrong two words on Somebody Stole 7 Milliseconds From the Federal Reserve · · Score: 2

    It may have been legit (!). The rules* say "2pm by the National Atomic Clock", which is in Colorado. The distance from CO to Chicago is about 1019 miles, and to DC is 1681 miles. So Chicago can use the news 3.5ms earlier than DC.

    * As gleaned from a handful of secondary articles on the story.

  15. Re: Topology on Obama Asks FCC To Make Carriers Unlock All Mobile Devices · · Score: 1

    IMHO, when the SHTF, HSDPA will be AWOL; no matter which MVNO.

  16. Re:Correlation is not causation... on Gut Bacteria In Slim People Extract More Nutrients · · Score: 2

    Here's a clue: [rant deleted]: you eat too much and never exercise.

    To quote the article:

    Mice with the obese twin's bacteria became heavier and put on more fat than mice given bacteria from a lean twin - and it was not down to the amount of food being eaten.

    Next please....

  17. Re:And how do you cultivate good bacteria? on Gut Bacteria In Slim People Extract More Nutrients · · Score: 1

    Get a transpoosion.

  18. Re:There are two problems with documentation... on Writing Documentation: Teach, Don't Tell · · Score: 1

    TL;DR

  19. Re:Driver's Manual on Writing Documentation: Teach, Don't Tell · · Score: 1

    My mathematics textbook is 600 pages but there is only 1 page with the information that I need to solve a problem. Doesn't mean the book has only 1 page of useful information.

    Wow! Did your textbook contain 599 pages of "this equation is not designed to be used in the rain" type of legaleze? B-)

    About the only thing worse than car owner manuals is car baby seat installation manuals. These are almost impossible to read because the disclaimers are so thick one can't even find the instructions supposedly within them. There are more red-circle-prohibitions than how-to diagrams!

  20. Re:Driver's Manual on Writing Documentation: Teach, Don't Tell · · Score: 1

    My last owner's manual was about 400 pages; but contained only about 10 pages of useful information.

  21. Docs vs tutorial on Writing Documentation: Teach, Don't Tell · · Score: 2

    There's a difference between a tutorial and documentation? Who'd have thunk!

  22. Re:ok, and this means what? on Open-Source Python Code Shows Lowest Defect Density · · Score: 2

    It means that the Python developers fixed the warnings.

  23. Re:Is it me or does the place look *lovely*? on Mexican Village Creates Its Own Mobile Phone Service · · Score: 1

    Headline: Mexican village disguises itself as Powell & Hyde in San Francisco.

    Subheadline: We discover where Rasputin gets discount CDs from.

  24. IRS+USPS on X.Org Foundation Loses 501(c)3 Non-Profit Status · · Score: 2

    I was treasurer of a small non-profit ($200k/yr) and our Form 990 filing ran about 60 pages. That's tedious, but was normally straightforward. The interesting part came when filing for the automatic 3-month extension* (Form 8460?) in the mail. The USPS seems to tuck these forms behind the counter, and wait till the deadline passes. Then the IRS would take a month to tell us that the extension was received 3 days late, and we owed them a fine of $1000/day for 40 days. Then we'd appeal, say we were sorry and it won't happen again and "procedures have been put in place". That would normally appease them. The "procedure" is to use registered mail, or file for the extension immediately at the close of the financial year.

    Anyway, my point is that the filing was not trivial. There were many things that could go wrong.

    Also, donations over $5000 must be tracked and reported individually. You'll get a big smile from your 501(c)3 accountant if you donate $4999.

    * We always filed the extension because, by and large, our books were not stable until well after the regular filing deadline---mostly people "forgot" to cash checks we wrote, so we had to let the checks expire, which took 6 months.

  25. Musical tone on NASA Data Suggests Solar Magnetic Field About To Flip · · Score: 1

    It appears the sun's magnetic field is playing a G at 37 octaves below middle C. *

    * Based on 22.2 year mean cycle time. It appears to vary a bit, and it's playing a bit sharp.