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User: ToTheStars

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  1. Re: Steam vapor cleaner for ISS on The ISS Is a Cesspool of Bacteria and Fungi, Study Finds (gizmodo.com) · · Score: 1

    That's the maximum power capacity of the solar panels in direct sunlight; take into account that the station can spend up to 40% of its orbit in eclipse, and the power budget is more like 70 kW at best. Still not impossible to accommodate 1.5 kW for a steam-cleaner, but it's something that should only be used as needed.

  2. Re:How to deal with telemarketers on New Apps Fight Robo-Calls By Pretending To Be Humans (nola.com) · · Score: 1

    I'd rather send the phone spiders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  3. My officemate used his answering machine... on New Apps Fight Robo-Calls By Pretending To Be Humans (nola.com) · · Score: 1

    He set his answering machine message to play the "not in service" tones, and the telemarketer calls dropped pretty quickly after that.

  4. It's not the code that's the problem, it's access on Goldman Sachs Will Open-Source Some Of Its Trading Software (wsj.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even if they open-sourced their entire codebase, there's no way I could connect to the markets or wield influence the way that they do.

  5. Re:Did anyone... on Flood of 4K James Bond Leaks Further Point To iTunes Breach (torrentfreak.com) · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, Mr. Bond, I expected you to pay!

  6. A buck twenty? That's what we're worth to Zuck? on Facebook Sues Over 'Data-Grabbing' Quizzes (bbc.com) · · Score: 2

    I'd have said my data was worth a solid fiver, but what do I know?

  7. This might be a neat idea for copyright limits... on Microsoft To Start Selling Windows 7 Add-On Support April 1st (computerworld.com) · · Score: 2

    Why don't we do this for copyright? Instead of letting companies keep a copyright for 120 years or whatever it is by now, charge a registration fee that escalates geometrically. Choose the constant and ratio so that it's cheap for the first couple of decades, or maybe even waive the fee for the first decade, so that small authors don't get pinched out, and then by the time you get to fifty years or so, the fees are in the millions of dollars per work per year, so that only the biggest ongoing blockbusters are kept out of the public domain for that long (which seems reasonable -- if a company is willing to spend millions of dollars to retain a copyright, presumably they are being good stewards and getting a return on that investment). We should also tie software copyright to liability -- if Microsoft is charging people to get support for their software, then they should be on the hook when things break, EULAs be damned, and if they don't want to deal with that, well, all they have to do is release the software and its source code into the public domain.

  8. April Fool's Dupe! ;) on Microsoft To Start Selling Windows 7 Add-On Support April 1st (computerworld.com) · · Score: 1

    Come on, we just had an article about how bad customer service is profitable, we don't need another one: https://slashdot.org/story/19/...

  9. Our study will show they occur during all times of the day.

    [S]houldn’t they wait until after the study is completed before telling us what it showed?

    The CDC might not be done with all of their statistical analysis and writing and such, but I think we can trust that they've had enough time and data to have confirmed that scooter injuries occur during the day as well as at night...

  10. Re:Save the Clock Tower! on Democrats Introduce 'Save the Internet Act' To Restore Net Neutrality (cnet.com) · · Score: 1

    Well, they know that. It's the same as when the Republicans put bills on Obama's desk to repeal the ACA. They knew he'd veto it and that they wouldn't be able to override it. It's about signalling to the voters "this is what we'll be able to do if you put us in charge." It's not a new phenomenon.

    And then the GOP won the House, Senate, and White House and...didn't repeal ACA. (Okay, they're working on it...sort of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...)

  11. My own internet! Without blackjack or hookers! on Vladimir Putin Wants His Own Internet (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    N/T

  12. Getting into the defense contracting business, eh? on Tim Cook To Investors: Apple is Working on Future Products That Will 'Blow You Away' (macrumors.com) · · Score: 1

    Or perhaps iHVAC? "Our air conditioners really blow!"

  13. They need to step up their naming game! on Gab Wants To Add a Comments Section To Everything On the Internet (cnet.com) · · Score: 4, Funny

    Come on, using an actual word? Real tech start-ups make creative (and trademarkable) misspellings by dropping vowels and stuff...I would take them much more seriously if they called it "Dissentr".

  14. Ugh, linking to the Verge? on Microsoft CEO Defends Pentagon Contract Following Employee Outcry (theverge.com) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How about a source that doesn't abuse YouTube's copyright system to cover their incompetence? Here's one: https://www.engadget.com/2019/...

    For context: https://hardware.slashdot.org/...

    (I guess I don't know that Engadget hasn't ever misbehaved, but Vox and The Verge are pretty regularly obnoxious.)

  15. Must be nice to live in a bubble... on Microsoft Workers' Letter Demands Company Drop $479 Million HoloLens Military Contract (theverge.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Quoth George Orwell: "Those who “abjure” violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf."

  16. Unicode support when? on Queensland, Australia Drivers Set To Get Emoji Number Plates (news.com.au) · · Score: 1

    I wanna get a custom license plate with an RLM in it...backwards letters for everyone!

  17. Get thee behind me, Amazon! on Amazon Wants Alexa To Read Blog Posts and Broadcast Church Sermons (cnet.com) · · Score: 1

    n/t

  18. For the real '90s, check out the Space Jam site! on '90s-Style 'Captain Marvel' Website Will Have You Nostalgic for Dial-Up (movieweb.com) · · Score: 5, Informative

    Others have remarked on the use of Javascript, YouTube videos, and other technology that didn't exist or wasn't widely used until after then '90s, but the original Space Jam movie website is still up in its 1996 glory: https://www.warnerbros.com/arc...

  19. Sounds like a James Bond gadget to me... on Scientists Are Working On Ways To Swap the Needle For a Pill (npr.org) · · Score: 1

    I can hear Q's narration in my head: "Now pay attention, 007. This pill contains a magnesium micro-rocket that ignites on contact with stomach acid. The blue pill delivers a needle with a fast-acting poison, and the red pill implants a tracking device that will remain embedded in the intestinal lining for up to two weeks. If you should use one...please, do us both a favor and don't recover it!"

  20. The singular of "cats" is "cat", and so the singular form of "thieves" must be "thieve"! I don't see any trouble here.
    Now if you'll excuse me, I've just rearranged my boxen, so I need to update the indice of the coordinates of their vertices...

  21. Re:important clarification from TFA on Lenovo And Dell Seeing PC Growth in US, But CPU Shortage Takes A Toll On Overall Market (crn.com) · · Score: 1

    Many of Dell's laptops are using AMD Ryzen processors, and they're also using Threadripper processors in some high-end Alienware desktops.

  22. Automated upscaling of art with neural networks on Japan Researchers Develop Automated Technique For Anime Colorization Using Deep Learning (brightsurf.com) · · Score: 1

    In related news, there's a program called "waifu2x" that uses deep learning and neural networks (and CUDA, if you have an NVIDIA graphics card...highly recommended, there's a ~4x speed boost on my machine) to automatically scale up ("super-resolution") and de-noise anime art: https://github.com/nagadomi/wa...

    For Windows users, use this version: https://github.com/lltcggie/wa...

  23. Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 on Ask Slashdot: What Kind of Keyboard Do You Use With Your Computer and Why? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    My wrists yellowline pretty quickly when I have to type on a rectangular keyboard. The split keyboard works like a charm!

  24. Never skimp on anything between you and the ground on Gates Foundation Spent $200 Million Funding Toilet Research (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I was once advised by a mentor to 'never skimp on anything that gets between you and the ground'. He was talking about tires, shoes, and beds, but toilets certainly qualify. Every human poops, and many of the worst diseases still extant (cholera and friends) thrive in conditions of poor sanitation. So don't make fun of this research -- respect the throne! Invest in it!

  25. Jeffery Berns is no Midas Mulligan or John Galt... on A Cryptocurrency Millionaire Wants to Build a Utopia in Nevada (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    In Atlas Shrugged (which I presume is the inspiration for this exercise), Midas Mulligan's valley (later known as Galt's Gulch) was located near Oured, Colorado. It had local hot springs for water, wheat farms and fruit tree orchards, and also a perpetual motion machine to make electricity and a hologram projector to keep it hidden from outsiders. I suppose solar power is available in the desert, but man cannot live by blockchain alone.