Slashdot Mirror


User: GrantRobertson

GrantRobertson's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
500
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 500

  1. Re: Hmmm, fishy. on Transparent Paper Produces Power With Just a Touch · · Score: 1

    Ever heard of alternating current or diode bridge rectifiers?

  2. Re: Become a contractor on Ask Slashdot: How Do You Find Jobs That Offer Working From Home? · · Score: 1

    How does one "find an agent"?

  3. Re: Multiple multi-million dollar satellites. on Ask Slashdot: How Much Did Your Biggest Tech Mistake Cost? · · Score: 2

    Wow. Just, wow.

  4. Resale value on Why Electric Vehicles Aren't More Popular · · Score: 1

    Let's say I buy an electric car and drive it for five years. By then, it will be about time to replace the batteries. Buying a new set of batteries would cost about as much as I could get for a five year old car. So, I would get almost nothing on the resale. Or I could try to sell it with the old batteries for almost nothing and the new owner would have to get a new set installed.

    Unless the car comes with a voucher for a brand new set of batteries and installation, that I can redeem before I sell the thing, it just looks like a pose-lose proposition for me.

  5. Multiple multi-million dollar satellites. on Ask Slashdot: How Much Did Your Biggest Tech Mistake Cost? · · Score: 1

    I had a friend who's job it was to find a way to break satellites. She said she was quite often successful.

    (Hey, the OP didn't say it had to be an accident.)

  6. Re: Shooter Kills Random Woman. on Common Medications Sway Moral Judgment · · Score: 1

    That doesn't mean the MJ caused him to be violent. He may have been trying to mellow out but couldn't get enough to do the job.

  7. Technical Writing on Ask Slashdot: Getting My Wife Back Into Programming After Long Maternity Leave? · · Score: 1

    If she is a decent writer, she could parlay her programming experience into a technical writing position. Many require programming experience. The hours and work environment are more like a regular job.

  8. Re: Learn to preperly spec hardware on Ask Slashdot: Are Post-Install Windows Slowdowns Inevitable? · · Score: 1

    So, I should specify hardware with a sweater hanging around its neck? Or should I wear the sweater while specifying the hardware?

    Sorry. Couldn't resist.

  9. Re: Yes on Ask Slashdot: Are Post-Install Windows Slowdowns Inevitable? · · Score: 1

    I take disk images (OS and major apps) after every fresh install. Then I can periodically reapply the image, install latest patches, and install any additional apps I have decided are keepers. Over the decades I have become an expert at uninstalling bloatware and configuring Windows for maximum efficiency. However, I have STILL noticed a rapid increase in down-slowing as new versions approach.

  10. Re: Tinfoil hat on on Ask Slashdot: Are Post-Install Windows Slowdowns Inevitable? · · Score: 4, Informative

    That tinfoil must make you see the past better. Back in the DOS days I would regularly see articles about how yet another researcher had decompiled DOS to uncover yet another instance of code in DOS that could only have been put there to slow down a competitor's product. In the early internet days, researchers would find instance after instance where Win95 was sending your personal data back to MS. They would deny it until it became undeniable, then say it was a bug (you know, a bug that accidentally searched for and collected your data, then accidentally waited till you were on-line, then accidentally opened a connection with MS owned servers, then accidentally transmitted your data, then accidentally covered it's tracks) and say they would issue a patch, which would then take forever.

    It was common knowledge on Usenet that the mantra at MS before DOS 3.3 was released was "DOS isn't done till Lotus won't run."

    Until recently, I used NetWare protocols over my home network but a Windows update (unrelated to networking) turned that off for no darn good reason.

    So, I don't put ANYTHING past Microsoft. Of course, I wouldn't put anything past ANY of the big tech companies.

    I have supported a LOT of PCs from DOS 6.2 up and I have noticed the same thing you speculated about. In addition to the slow, progressive slowdown that occurs over time, I have seen the "down-slowing" ramp up just as the next version is coming out. AND just after upgrades. Now this could just be all the cruft reaching critical mass, thus indicating the need for an upgrade. But I think there are plenty of valid reasons to be suspicious.

  11. Re: Who buys them? on Is the End of Government Acceptance of Homeopathy In Sight? · · Score: 1

    It's called a neti pot.

    I had a girlfriend who used one all the time.

  12. Yet another reason... on Taylor Swift: Apple's Disdain For Royalties Is 'Shocking, Disappointing' · · Score: 1

    I will never buy from Apple and will never develop for Apple platforms.

  13. Re: Riiiight on Microsoft Funds First US-Based Chinese Research University Degree Program · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Of course that only works if the other party is actually trustworthy.

  14. Re: Khaaaaaan! on Editing DNA For Fame and Fortune · · Score: 1

    I knew somebody would beat me to it.

    Just like the real meaning to the Cylon Prayer, "All this has happened before and will happen again." Certain things are inevitable. There are countries and scientists who will have no problem with the the thousands of "failed experiments" necessary to perfect these techniques. The only question is whether we will die in eugenics wars, or at the hands of super-AI, or from runaway global warming.

  15. Re: Misleading on EPA Says No Evidence That Fracking Has "Widespread" Impact On Drinking Water · · Score: 1

    Oh, I don't doubt that. I was just challenging the "just a hydrocarbon" fallacious generalization of that fact.

    A lot more hydrocarbons are getting into water than just methane and natural gas.

  16. Re:Misleading on EPA Says No Evidence That Fracking Has "Widespread" Impact On Drinking Water · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yeah, gasoline is "just a hydrocarbon." Drink up, buddy!

    I bet you earned all of two cents for that post. Hope it was worth it.

  17. "Now"???

  18. Re: Adaptive, requiring 'training' & 'stabilit on 100kb of Unusual Code Protecting Nuclear, ATC and United Nations Systems · · Score: 2

    "Then maintain a pointer in some so-called 'phase space' and burn data into a sparse array to create a virtual landscape with erosion. In 'run' mode it is almost always hitting (or near) areas that have been populated. If the pointer strays from from the populated region we have an alarm."

    Could you please post a link to more information about these technologies and algorithms? I am very interested in graph analysis, including geolocation of information against a real or metaphorical landscape. I tried Googling but all I got was how to simulate erosion in a 3D image of a landscape.

    Thanks

  19. Re: Share your "encryption network" with Suckerber on Facebook Now Supports PGP To Send You Encrypted Emails · · Score: 1

    Using JavaScript, FB can tell if someone selects your public key that is posted on your profile. (Yes, IF you choose to post it as well as just let FB use it. However most people are very likely to do so.) Have you ever clicked in a field that said "Search," or whatnot, only to have those words disappear as soon as you clicked there? That is JavaScript doing that. It is just as easy to have said JavaScript save the current user and the page's user and store them in a database. FB can then use this database to build a directed graph of who is copying who's public key. Sure, it is an incomplete graph, but all social data is incomplete and useful information is still drawn from it. Sure, the NSA could do a deep packet scan of everyone's e-mail and dig out the same, or better, information. However, that is far, FAR more resource intensive and expensive than adding a field to FB's database and some more JavaScript to the profile page.

    So, once FB has built their, admittedly incomplete, graph, the NSA can look for the clusters of interconnectedness in said graph and focus their deep packet scanning efforts and resources there. Thus making the NSAs efforts far more effective.

    I guess, if you want to save the taxpayers some money, go ahead and post your public key to FB. If you really want to promote encryption, include your public key and links to free software and incredibly easy to follow instructions in all your emails to your non-techie friends and family. If said relatives are conservative nutjobs then you could also include a comment about how the socialist, terrorist-loving, Nigerian, Muslim, presidential imposter (read: black guy) is reading all their personal e-mails and building a list of where to send the black helicopters. I have many such relatives. Believe me, they still believe that crap.

  20. If what you say is true, and I believe it is, then even having a patent does you no good if you aren't heavily financed.

  21. Legally, you don't have to file a patent to prevent others from patenting things and then suing you. All you have to do is write up a description of your invention, as thorough as a patent, and publish it in any number of ways where the date of publication is verifiable. There are even services that will publish your article expressly for the purpose of establishing prior art. Remember, prior art does not need to be a patent. Dick Tracy's wrist TV was used as prior art at least once. Almost any public use of an invention is also enough to establish prior art. That is the main reason why inventors have to be careful not to let their invention be seen in public before filing. Your own invention can be considered prior art to invalidate the patent on that same invention.

    Though, I do have to admit, in the current environment, having a patent goes a long way toward scaring off those trolls.

    No, I am not a patent lawyer, but I have read a ton of patent law books over the years.

  22. Re: Share your "encryption network" with Suckerber on Facebook Now Supports PGP To Send You Encrypted Emails · · Score: 1

    If only you had read between the lines of said summary, based on FB's past behavior. If you share your public key on your profile, I guarantee you that FB WILL keep track of everyone who downloads it.

    The safest way to share your public key is to share it ubiquitously on your web page, in your e-mail signature, etcetera. Then no one can find out who is actually using it and who is ignoring it. (OK, other than deep scans of your traffic.)

  23. Share your "encryption network" with Suckerberg! on Facebook Now Supports PGP To Send You Encrypted Emails · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Right, that's exactly what you want to be doing if you are interested in encrypted communication... Share the list of other people who want communicate with you via encryption. That way the most intentionally invasive service in the world can build a giant graph of everyone who communicates via encryption. Then the NSA will know who to focus their efforts on just by who has had the most people download their public key or who is at the center of the largest clusters of connectivity.

    This could possibly be countered by having everyone download lots of random people's keys. But only if FB doesn't require you to be "friends" before you can exchange keys.

    The best way to counter it is to let all the sheeple use it, to give the NSA something to play with, while the astute "encryptionistas" ignore it.

  24. Work remotely on Ask Slashdot: What Do You Wish You'd Known Starting Your First "Real" Job? · · Score: 1

    Develop a skill set and the self discipline to work 100% remotely. Then you can work for a company in an expensive city while living anywhere you want.

    Sure, not all companies will hire 100% remote employees, but it opens up your job search to the entire world instead of just the companies within driving distance of your house. It also allows you to work on multiple contracts at the same time.

  25. If you say a range, they start at the end of the range they like best and negotiate from there.

    Never give a range.