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User: chmod+a+x+mojo

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  1. Re:Start 'em young ... on The Post-Lecture Classroom · · Score: 1

    Instead of relying on a teacher to teach the material, we'll ask them to learn it on their own.

    Yes, because asking students to think for themselves and ask the professor about points they didn't understand isn't "teaching" them.... obviously.

    Really, what fraction of students are going to watch a video of a lecture (ecch, sounds horrible) outside of school hours?

    The same amount that would do the proper studying outside of class to wreck the curve for all the "it's only an intro course" slackers that can't be bothered to even show up to class. I.E. the ones that actually want to learn the stuff they are paying to learn.

  2. Re:Much better on Is It Time to Replace Your First HDTV? (Video) · · Score: 1

    Uhhh, yeah, it does. The waste heat is a byproduct of watching the TV.
    You are not turning the TV on for the waste heat, you are turning it on to watch TV. This means - since you have the TV on to watch TV - the heat offset in winter is "free" since you won't have to use other energy sources specifically for heating.

    Now if someone turned on the TV just for the heat and ignored the display and sound that would be a different story.

  3. Re:Hardware acceleration? on LGPL H.265 Codec Implementation Available; Encoding To Come Later · · Score: 1

    Actually it's not only anime groups, some BlueRay rip groups are starting release more and more 10bit, I ran across a few rips that are 10bit so couldn't watch them on the netbook or nexus. And I do transcode to either 8bit or as I said xvid. Either that or I have to watch it on a more powerful but less battery efficient ( portable ) machine or a desktop.

  4. Re:Hardware acceleration? on LGPL H.265 Codec Implementation Available; Encoding To Come Later · · Score: 3, Informative

    Let me know when I can slap a desktop class processor in my Nexus10 / netbook / other portable device that doesn't chug down battery like my i5 laptop ( that lasts maybe 5 hours doing light work @ 50% brightness ). And before you say anything about 1366x768 and down-scaling the N10 at least has a higher resolution than 1080P.

    There are tons of devices out there that need to be able to hardware decode anything above 720P H.264. That is the same reason I absolutely hate that more an more video is being released in the 10bit H.264 format, supposedly for smaller file sizes without visual distortions. Especially by the idiots who way over bitrate their encodes, not only can very few devices hardware decode 10bit, but I can transcode to "shitty" xvid with smaller file sizes ( literally shaving off GBs of 1080P encodes) and no visual quality loss.

    If you are going to encode with huge bitrate overages you might as well use 8bit that pretty much anyone and everyone nowadays can easily decode....

  5. Re:How much RAM? on Tiny $45 Cubic Mini-PC Supports Android and Linux · · Score: 1

    I don't know how good of a media server it would make. More people are releasing the retarded 10bit H.264 encodes that can't be decoded in most hardware, even in 1080P resolutions. The only hardware acceleration I know of personally is for 10bit is the tegra3, my nexus7 could decode it. Maybe more SoCs are starting to be able to decode it, but I doubt it.

    Other than that if you are careful about what encodes you get it should work out decently as a media server.

  6. Re:Huh? What? on The Greatest Keyboard Shortcut Ever · · Score: 1

    I can use tabs, I even don't mind them too much on a tablet. But on my PC? No thanks, I'm an ornery old cuss that got used to using multiple windows back in the stone age of browsers and don't work well with tabbed browsers in front of a keyboard and mouse.

    Same reason I use Seamonkey, it's almost a direct clone of the old Mozilla suite / Netscape Navigator... without the crashes.

  7. Re:Lead, don't follow. on Microsoft Needs a Catch-Up Artist · · Score: 1

    If Windows Me didn't convince you that Microsoft is anti-innovation, certainly Windows Vista and Windows 8 should make it clear.

    Um, is there something I'm missing here? All of the MS OS's you listed had major changes, varying from kernel to radical UI changes.

    ME - loss of the ability to boot to DOS without the GUI ( it was something to do with the kernel wasn't it? I only used ME for the time it took me to locate a 2K CD )
    Vista - kernel rewrite, drivers in user-space so dodgy vid / sound drivers usually don't BSOD any more, actually starting to have thoughts of security starting. Aero.
    8 - Metro.... enough said.

    If you had said 95 > 98 > 98SE I would agree, other than USB not all too much changed between them that I can personally remember.

     

  8. Re:Where they fail on Sprint May Have Unlimited Data Plans, But Not Unlimited Customers · · Score: 1

    That is basically what I am saying. You have to buy a phone outright at full cost and activate it on the line without updating your contract, even if your "contract" is over and you are on month to month. I had to do this about a year ago to keep my unlimited data, but my phone recently went south, hence the move since I didn't want to pay another $650-700 for a new phone. Unless you are saying that you can't even do that any more.... I would have left anyways then, but been even more irked at VZW.

    As a side note, there apparently is / was a way to get a subsidized phone and keep unlimited data, but it requires adding a line and a bunch of hoops in activating the phones in just the right order with metered data on the unused line. It seemed like too much of a hassle and would have upped my bill by at least $10 / month.

  9. Re:Where they fail on Sprint May Have Unlimited Data Plans, But Not Unlimited Customers · · Score: 2

    I went to U.S. Cellular, I had had them before switching to Verizon years and years ago ( was the cheaper one at the time). With 4G coming to my area forecast for ~October I will be able to get unlimited data again and save an extra $10 a month from what I have now. Breakdown:

    Verizon - had more minutes that I never used ( 750, used on average 40 minutes during the day when it wasn't free night + weekends / month ) unlimited data - had to root to wifi tether - USB tethering was "free" on Motorola phones but locked on samsung, no equip insurance, 200 texts. Cost ~130 / month. PROS: Customer service was quick to answer whenever I called in.

    USC - less minutes that I will never use up ( 450, but all incoming calls free, rest of family is on USC so calls are free) 5GB data / month WITH tethering, do have equip insurance, unlimited text / MMS. Cost $105 / month. When 4G comes to my area it will SAVE me money getting unlimited data, cost will go down to $95 / month. CONS: Customer service is a bit harder to get a hold of since they seem to be a lot busier than Verizon.

    Surprisingly 3G is equivalent to Verizon in my area and voice is actually better.

    As an added bonus I get unlimited text / multimedia messaging for free. I never used that many texts so only had the 200 pack from Verizon. Not a big deal but it is kind of nice not to be raped for something that basically costs the carrier nothing. So far I have no real complaints.

  10. Re:Where they fail on Sprint May Have Unlimited Data Plans, But Not Unlimited Customers · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Verizon shot themselves in the ass. They had unlimited data, then got rid of it. Eventually if you had unlimited data you got to keep it while new customers didn't have the option. Then they even got rid of that, to keep your unlimited data you had to buy a phone outright ( and this is even after they got rid of the "new every 2" ~$50 bonus when upgrading)... after buying one phone outright on my old contract I contacted customer support to inquire about keeping my unlimited data. Basically was told to fuck off, and pay more for a lot LESS data even though the absolute highest I ever used was 5.5GB one month. Told CS to shove it up their ass since I was a loyal - pretty much perfect, since my bill was paid on time every time- customer for ~10-12 years .

    Ported to another carrier in less than two hours, got enough data with equivalent minutes for ~$20/Month cheaper to not worry, and haven't looked back. If they had worked with me as a loyal customer I would still be with them, and it's stupid... it's much much MUCH more cost effective to keep a good customer than it is to try and get a new one.

  11. Re:I still see a market .... on In Canada, a 3D-Printed Rifle Breaks On First Firing · · Score: 1

    You would have to find a way for the reinforcing fiber to follow the lands and grooves of the rifling. The jacket drag causes visible twisting ( with slow motion cameras ) of lighter steel barrels simply from the bullet having a proper fit while in travel.

    Unless they come up with a plastic that can be printed out easily and then work hardened ( through firing ) to a specific point I don't think they will have much luck with 3D printed rifles.

  12. Re:Excellent on Meet Focal, the New Camera App For CyanogenMod · · Score: 2

    I'm not 100% sure, but I think that was an Android change. My Nexus10 tablet is like that, all you should have to do to get to the gallery is swipe the screen from right > left in the camera application and it should bring up the gallery and last shot. It's not exactly intuitive to find that " feature", I only found it on accident.

  13. Re:Not all new on Google Announces Android 4.3, Netflix, New Nexus 7, and Q Successor Chromecast · · Score: 1

    The S3 can, you have to buy a stupid adapter though since it outputs HDMI through the micro USB port instead of a dedicated micro HDMI port like most other Android phones.

    NOTE: I don't have any actual experience using the adapter since I don't care about putting my phone on my TV so look into what restrictions there are ( if any ).

  14. Re:Honesty? on How Climate Scientists Parallel Early Atomic Scientists · · Score: 1

    Either that or YOU don't understand how science works.

    See they have these things called hypothesis, and depending on further testing and data input these can change and adapt over time. Originally it was noticed that we had been having higher average temperatures in many places so it was thought the whole earth was on average higher. Then a few decades passed with more and more research coming in, and it was found that some places have been inexplicably having either a stable or a cooling trend. More research indicates that SOME places are either not warming or cooling due to the heat masses of the places that are warming changing not only the regional climate patterns but global ones as well. No one is trying to intentionally mislead you, in fact the opposite is true... it is a clarification to what has been observed to be happening.

    Look at it this way; who are you going to trust, the 99 independent guys from multiple nations that are all in at least a broad general agreement or the one guy who works for someone with a vested interest in saying "don't look at that man behind the curtain"?

    P.S.: the overall trend is still warming, we are ~1.5-2 degrees ( figures off the top of my head, it's either what we have recorded or projected for the near future) warmer than average when going into a glacial reduction cycle and we are at some of the highest CO2 levels since before we had the latest rounds of glaciation.

  15. Re:Not good enough on First Looks At Windows 8.1, Complete With 'Start' Button · · Score: 1

    What I don't understand is why they didn't do something like KDE did. I.E. there is a setting for touch / small screen devices that changes the UI from full desktop mode to the mobile type UI.

    That way the USER has the choice of what they want to run, either plain jane pretty close to how it always was ( once you set up activities to desktop icons ) or the mobile type UI, switched with a simple config option in the control panel...

  16. Re:Stop. Hammer time. on WD Explains Its Windows-Only Software-Based SSHD Tech · · Score: 2

    Then you don't want spinning platters in your laptop draining your battery, you want a full on SSD that just barely sips power with no speed loss.

  17. Re:It's obvious on Apple Loses the iPad Mini Trademark · · Score: 2

    Nor have I seen anyone attach i- to anything and not have it be a reference to Apple

    Weren't around in the 1999-2000 era then huh? Compaq had the iPaq running WinCE / WinMobile about the same time as Apple had come out with the iMac, and the HP / Compaq device is a lot closer to what a modern tablet is than the iMac could ever be considered.

    I actually miss my iPaqs, it was nice having a built in stylus + holder - a decent small tipped stylus no less, not like the crap you an get today that is as big as your thumb - and a processor the literally could rival a desktop( my last iPaq was a 633Mhz with enough RAM to truly multitask + SD + CF card expansion with bluetooth, wifi and extra components that used the SD interface, back when desktops usually ran at ~1Ghz unless you dumped a ton of money into a 1.6-2.0Ghz system). Modern tablets had been getting close to the same usefulness again, at least before the Nexus 7/10 didn't ship with expansion....

  18. Re:Reinstall Ubuntu. on Ask Slashdot: New To Linux; Which Distro? · · Score: 1

    I know what stable / testing / unstable means with Debian, I've run mostly testing since Etch went into the testing branch back when Sarge went stable. I'm just saying it would make more sense manpower wise to simply track testing for all of the releases.

    The LTS releases would not be affected since this is how it is done now, and the every 6th month release would require less debugging if they pulled out of testing since the major showstoppers are pretty much all found before packages can migrate from Sid > testing. That would allow them more time to concentrate on the changes / software / default settings that they develop that makes it more "user friendly" OOTB.

    That is the way I would do it anyways, it seems that that way would be the least work pulling in tons of patches from upstream* and being able to concentrate (more, since testing will still need some patches) on the in-house codebase without losing much if any of the "bleeding edge freshness". Except for the freeze right before a new stable release for the most part testing is only at most a few weeks behind upstream releases, and even then if absolutely necessary "backporting" from Sid > testing is usually as simple as installing the newer package and maybe a few depends from Sid.

    *Assuming that your devs are not upstream devs for the the packages and are writing the major patches themselves and then shipping them upstream. While some packages I'm sure are like that the likelyhood of all the devs being like that are pretty low.

  19. Re:SuSE on Ask Slashdot: New To Linux; Which Distro? · · Score: 1

    I did like SuSe10.0 when I ran it on a laptop that had a picky Trident CyberBlade vid card that was a pain to get working on any other distro at the time. Then came 10.1 which ran about as fast as a quadriplegic dog that had died a day before the race...

    That said, the one best thing I liked about SuSe? apt4rpm could be used in place of Yast for installing stuff. Yast was AWESOME for configuring the system ( I still miss that in Debian after all these years), but I found it a pain to use for installing stuff after being used to apt with Debian.

    That said Yast was still light years ahead of RH5's RPM cyclic dependency hell.

  20. Re:Reinstall Ubuntu. on Ask Slashdot: New To Linux; Which Distro? · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's Ubuntu. Don't take my bashing it the wrong way, it is a good thing to have an intro level distro for new users as well as pushing to make Linux more mainstream user friendly, but....

    The way Ubuntu does things is, in my opinion, insane. They track Debian unstable snapshots which is only minimally tested and then introduce their own bugs on top of the existing bugs in unstable, then try to iron out the worst of the bugs before the next point in the 6 month release cycle comes due. This does not lend itself all that well to making a truly stable user experience. You can even see that at work by tracking users reactions to releases, there have been flop releases that pushed users to jump ship to pure Debian ( seem look / feel / package management experience, just less general hand holding) or rolling back to previous releases and refusing to update.

      I know they can't really track stable since Debian has a much longer release cycle, but at the very least they should track testing. Testing generally has the worst of the major bugs worked out ( or the packages wouldn't have been able to move out of unstable ) while still remaining "fresh" enough with updated packages when not in release freeze.

    Secondly, it depends. With bug free code you shouldn't be able to crash an OS beyond repair un-intentionally, unfortunately Ubuntu, like every other piece of software out there, is not bug free. It is also possible to be updating sensitive files when doing something else causes a full blown kernel panic instead of a recoverable oops leaving said sensitive files in an unstable / un-bootable state. Not knowing exactly what the OP was doing at the time means we can't only point and say "it was this".

  21. Re:Depends on the bitrate on Can You Really Hear the Difference Between Lossless, Lossy Audio? · · Score: 1

    It is a mixed bag of all the above plus what you listen to as well. If you listen to stuff that is all in the midranges you won't care if the lows and highs get clipped off since there really are no lows and highs... If you have decent ears + decent equipment + decent surroundings + listen to something with a full range you probably won't want bitrates much lower than 256-392kbps, depending solely on what you personally hear.

    Once you start removing parts of the equation the needed bitrates can drop since you won't be able to hear / reproduce the sounds. Ideally when buying ( for audiophiles anyways ) you would get a very high bitrate lossy file or flac file for your main listening area and a lower ( smaller file sizes ), but still decent, bitrate file for your mobile setup.

  22. Re:NO. on Is Daylight Saving Time Worth Saving? · · Score: 1

    I propose an exchange. We in the U.S. will adopt metric if the Europeans start driving on the right ( as in proper, pun intended ) side of the road.

    That said, it is not only the sciences that would make decent use of the metric system. Any type of precise work can benefit from it, be it anything in the sciences all the way down to machining. I know this for a fact since I was a fabricator for ~11 years, much of the smaller work towards the end was in metric units... and let me tell you it is easier to visualize in your head a length or width of 4mm than 5/32nds or 11/64ths of an inch.

    Plus, once you really start getting down to tight tolerances there isn't a major difference in how you calculate everything. It really doesn't matter if you use hundredths or thousands of an inch or start using smaller and smaller metric units, so why bother using fractions for larger parts when you will go to decimals for the fiddly little super precise parts? It just causes more headaches.

    All that is beside the fact that 9 times out of 10 if you are building something for an international company not based here in the U.S. it will be in metric anyways.

  23. Re:You have a logic problem on Texas School Board Searching For Alternatives To Evolutionary Theory · · Score: 1

    Stop spewing shit you don't know. We have a adequate representation through different geological strata to identify times across the globe to within ~50-100MA. Add in radio isotope dating into the mix and you get a very accurate progressive timeline meaning we can view taxonomical changes in a species throughout it existence even in geological time.

    As for your "proof" drivel rant, you just "prove" even further that you have no comprehension of what science really is. Go take a good science class at a local University and find out. Science does not seek to "prove" "facts" science just attempts to answer a question with our best observations, test and change our ideas until they are well tested and accepted, change our ideas if new data comes to light, and get more questions to answer in the course of our research to answer the question that we researched last.

  24. Re:You have a logic problem on Texas School Board Searching For Alternatives To Evolutionary Theory · · Score: 1

    You are a fucking idiot. Not only do you NOT know what a theory is, you also know absolutely nothing about evolution. Evolution doesn't say an ape got pregnant and popped out a human, so there is no "missing link". Evolution just means that there had been ( beneficial ) mutations in the offspring from a founder species, and the mutated offspring had a better or equal chance to survive to reproduce more offspring with the same mutations. The founder species does not even have to die off, although genetic drift between the species may mean that after time and more inevitable mutations they may not be able to inter-breed anymore. Thus your argument is invalid.

    As for your "science / evolution falls flat on how a dinosaur can evolve into a bird", well you might want to do a little logical research into the relatively recent collagen testing we have done from some of the better preserved fossils. It supports the hypotheses that dinos DID in fact either have a common ancestor to or ARE the common ancestors to our modern birds. Add in the other shared bone structure characteristics and you have a pretty well defined argument for that particular evolution.

    But go ahead, what do I know, I'm only one of those fool scientists that believe in what I have empirically observed rather than blindly believing what I read out of a book written and pieced together out of many many disparate and un-sourced stories, hundreds of years after the main character was supposed to live, by a group that was in ascending power.

  25. Re:The theory of gravity is under review :) on Texas School Board Searching For Alternatives To Evolutionary Theory · · Score: 1

    And you are aware that an ordained CATHOLIC PRIEST* came up with the big bang theory, in a catholic university no less, in the first place? Yeah, the thing that you hear the most trotted out by theists was proposed by one of their own clergy

    * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtre