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User: camperdave

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Comments · 9,307

  1. Re:enough to power a huge smartphone on Your Body, the Battery: Powering Gadgets From Human "Biofuel" · · Score: 1

    You CANNOT trust unit capitalization. Between typesetters, editors, advertisers and marketting people, and the ignorant masses, unit capitalization is unreliable and potentially misleading.

  2. Re:Probably not better at orbital speed. on Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo's Re-entry Tech: the Feather · · Score: 1

    Ah! So the entire craft is pointless, then.

  3. Re:Mumps? on MUMPS, the Programming Language For Healthcare · · Score: 1

    According to some people, it can be both at the same time.

  4. Re:The Fictional Radioactive Materials on Boeing Patents an Engine Run By Laser-Generated Fusion Explosions · · Score: 1

    As far as Jerome Lemelson and the barcode patent are concerned, all the supporting technology was in place

    That's nice, but what you are endorsing is no different than domain name squatting.

    You didn't read my comment properly, so let me reiterate:

    Patents should be for well defined, actual inventions, not vague notions.

  5. Re:The Fictional Radioactive Materials on Boeing Patents an Engine Run By Laser-Generated Fusion Explosions · · Score: 1

    No. Rather the contrary. Patents should be for well defined, actual inventions, not vague notions.

    As far as Jerome Lemelson and the barcode patent are concerned, all the supporting technology was in place. We had computers. We had devices that read instructions and data from paper tape. We had devices that could sense light levels. Maybe he did put two and two together. I don't know.

    My point, though, is this: Since patents only last 20 years, there's no point in patenting something that is 30 years out. You can't make any money on it. But Boeing is taking out patents. So, the only conclusion is that Boeing has stumbled onto an idea that will make fusion engines a practical reality before the patent runs out.

  6. Re:"those with window seats board first" on Simple Geometry = More Seats In an Airline · · Score: 1

    Since most flights board from the front of the plane, people should board back to front. First Class should be the last people being boarded.

  7. Re:I'm all for it on Simple Geometry = More Seats In an Airline · · Score: 1

    You definitely won't have to share armrests with anybody, because there are no armrests at all.

  8. Re:Three thoughts... on Simple Geometry = More Seats In an Airline · · Score: 1

    Definitely! This way we get debris to the face rather than having it bounce off the backs of our seats.

  9. Re:What about people with legs? on Simple Geometry = More Seats In an Airline · · Score: 1

    So instead of mildly inconveniencing people, they now have to unbuckle, stand up, fold up their seat, and let you pass?

  10. Re:The Fictional Radioactive Materials on Boeing Patents an Engine Run By Laser-Generated Fusion Explosions · · Score: 1

    In the 1950s, we weren't 20 years from practical barcode technology. We had computers running off of punched paper tape. Barcodes werre not much of a stretch. Practical nuclear fusion reactors are well over 20 years away, especially a type light enough to power an airplane.

  11. Re:The Fictional Radioactive Materials on Boeing Patents an Engine Run By Laser-Generated Fusion Explosions · · Score: 1

    Really this is what is wrong with the patent system. Now anyone developing engines using any kind of fusion is going to have a visit from Boeings lawyers over something they have done nothing to make work.

    What's the point of filing now? Won't the patent expire long before we have a working engine?

    ... or maybe Boeing knows something about fusion engines that we don't.

  12. Re:Driving still increasing on Iowa Makes a Bold Admission: We Need Fewer Roads · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So the homeowner isn't trying to drive down them at 70 mph in a sports car, but rather at 20mph in a pickup truck.

    I gather you've never lived in the country. Folk will be driving down them at 70 mph in their pickups.

  13. Re:Idiotic use of statistics on Iowa Makes a Bold Admission: We Need Fewer Roads · · Score: 1

    Except we are getting more urban and less rural. That means busier roads in the cities, and quieter roads in the country.

  14. Re:pardon my french, but "duh" on How Bad User Interfaces Can Ruin Lives · · Score: 1

    Meh, they probably import their toilets from Northern hemisphere manufacturers.

  15. Re:pardon my french, but "duh" on How Bad User Interfaces Can Ruin Lives · · Score: 1

    The rest of us want the gas pedal to stay in the same place in every car on the planet.

    Question, if I may: In left hand drive vehicles in North America, the gas pedal is closest to the center of the vehicle, operated by the right foot. What happens in right hand drive vehicles like those in the UK? Is the gas pedal still operated by the right foot, or are the controls reversed so that the gas pedal is operated by the left foot?

  16. There were two things I liked about the VAX/VMS filesystem that I would port over. The first is version numbering. A file would start as filename.1 and the number would increment with each edit/save cycle.

    The second thing would be logicals and overlayed directories. They worked like a stack of transparencies like the human anatomy entry in an encyclopedia. The base layer would be a read only version of the operating system. Above that would be a writable layer. Above that, for development users, would be test versions of new OS elements. Regular users wouldn't see these layers. Above that would be applications (read only) with a writeable layer above it.

    The purpose of the writeable layer over the read only layer is to trap attempts to overwrite system files.

  17. Re: David Cameron is actually a genuine idiot on Cameron Asserts UK Gov't Will Leave No "Safe Space" For Private Communications · · Score: 2

    what if my choice is not to have an "oppressor"? where does that vote go?

    No such system exists.

  18. Re:UK's porn filter on Cameron Asserts UK Gov't Will Leave No "Safe Space" For Private Communications · · Score: 1

    Perhaps you want "to become" rather than "will be"?

  19. Re:At least he included warrants on Cameron Asserts UK Gov't Will Leave No "Safe Space" For Private Communications · · Score: 1

    Can warrants be challenged in a court of law?

  20. Re:David Cameron is actually a genuine idiot on Cameron Asserts UK Gov't Will Leave No "Safe Space" For Private Communications · · Score: 1

    Democracy allows its citizens to choose who their oppressors will be.

  21. Re:Microsoft is widely misunderstood. on Windows 10 Shares Your Wi-Fi Password With Contacts · · Score: 1

    Evil as a touch-screen app, of course.

    I thought Windows 10 was getting rid of Metro.

  22. Re:yeah yeah on RFC 7568 Deprecates SSLv3 As Insecure · · Score: 1

    Google is removing SSLv3 from Chrome. It's gone from Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Safari won't be far behind. How are you going to connect to your SSLv3 device with no software?

  23. Re:yeah yeah on RFC 7568 Deprecates SSLv3 As Insecure · · Score: 1

    It's not like they're waving a wand and making them all disappear anyway.

    They are... if nothing can speak SSLv3 to them.

  24. Mayday! Mayday! on Airplane Coatings Help Recoup Fuel Efficiency Lost To Bug Splatter · · Score: 1

    I've been binge-watching Mayday (a.k.a. Air Crash Investigations), and I have not seen a single episode where bug splatter on the wings brought down a plane. There was one episode where a spider built a nest in the pitot tube, but nothing with the wings. They would be far better off developing anti-ice coating. Ice brings down planes on a regular basis.

  25. Re:The lameness of Dicedot on Scientists Overcome One of the Biggest Limits In Fiber Optic Networks · · Score: 1

    Adblock, my friend. Use it.