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User: toygeek

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  1. Left Hand vs Right Hand on Missing Files Blamed For Deadly A400M Crash · · Score: 2

    Engineer 1: "Hey, I know, I'll build in a function that wipes the entire control system when it starts a firmware update so that no old software gets left behind after the update."
    Engineer 2: "It'll save a ton of time on this firmware update if I leave out the engine control functions, since those aren't being updated. My bosses will love me!"

  2. One of my favorite tools for storing knowledge on Ask Slashdot: How To Turn an Email Stash Into Knowledge For My Successor? · · Score: 1

    http://zim-wiki.org/

    Personal desktop wiki that stores everything in flat text files, which can be stored somewhere like dropbox. My full review here: http://www.tidbitsfortechs.com...

  3. Re:I would spend as much money as I could on Ask Slashdot: If You Were Building a New Home, What Cool New Tech Would You Put In? · · Score: 1

    Come to Washington state, you'll fit right in.

  4. Re:Why not hydrofoils boats? on Examining Costs and Prices For California's High-Speed Rail Project · · Score: 1

    Okay, 100mph is not fast enough. How about massive ground effect vehicles? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...

  5. Why not hydrofoils boats? on Examining Costs and Prices For California's High-Speed Rail Project · · Score: 2

    Why not just high speed boats? A hydrofoil can go very fast, around 100mph, without infringing on anyone's precious real estate.

  6. Turtles on Shape of the Universe Determined To Be Really, Really Flat · · Score: 0

    All the way down...

  7. So on Scientists Locate Sunken, Radioactive Aircraft Carrier Off California Coast · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "It's just one of those things that humans rather stupidly did in the past that we can't retroactively fix."

    You mean just like the dumb things we do now but won't realize how dumb they are until later?

  8. Re:Why not use WIMAX? on Comcast's Incompetence, Lack of Broadband May Force Developer To Sell Home · · Score: 1

    I'd say that's because Clear are at least as incompetent and every bit of a liar as Comcast is. Clear will say anything to get a customer and very little else. WIMAX? Please. He'd get less latency and better reliability with TCP over Carrier Pigeon.

  9. Forget you're a geek- it doesn't matter. At all. on Ask Slashdot: Terminally Ill - What Wisdom Should I Pass On To My Geek Daughter? · · Score: 1

    Tell her you love her. Tell her that there is a hope for her to see you again. Tell her that no matter what, nothing was her fault. Kids blame themselves for bad things because they don't understand how things work- so the only explanation in their mind is that it is *their* fault.

    Whether you are religious or not, talking about death with her NOW is important. This can help:
    http://www.jw.org/en/publicati...

    If you don't go to that link, then adapt these practical points from it:

    IMPORTANT POINTS TO CONVEY
    If a loved one has died, you can help your child overcome inordinate fears about death by making sure he understands the following:

    She is not going to die. (this is geared toward very young ones who may fear death is contagious)
    If something happens to you, she will not be abandoned; relatives will look after her.
    Once dead, a person is no longer suffering.
    The deceased person will not be forgotten. You might say, “You cannot see Grandma anymore, but you can keep memories of her in your heart.”
    Remember, saying nothing to your child will not reduce his anxiety. On the contrary, it may only serve to give his imagination free rein.

    Please put geekdom aside. She will always remember how awesome of a geek you were, but she'll especially appreciate that you were an amazing father *first* and that you loved her.

  10. Re:Web of Trust on Ask Slashdot: Most Useful Browser Extensions? · · Score: 1

    I do the same thing. Every clients computer gets AdBlockPlus and WOT. HUGE helper.

  11. Canon Powershot + CHDK + RPi on Ask Slashdot: Is There a Modern IP Webcam That Lets the User Control the Output? · · Score: 1

    CHDK loaded on a cheap used canon powershot camera, connected to a RPi via USB. CHDK script to take a picture hourly at your desired resolution, ptp it to the rpi, which you write a small cron job to sftp/rsync/ftp to the server with the correct filename. $200, heck, $100 if you shop around (Saw a Canon A530 on ebay for $15!) and some time doing the setup. Non-trivial time, mind you- but it'll do exactly what you want with a fantastic picture quality.

  12. Re:Save to PDF on Ask Slashdot: Has the Time Passed For Coding Website from Scratch? · · Score: 1

    No man, just create it in MS Word and save as index.html in the html format (that part is important I heard) and then upload it with frontpage. Solved!

  13. Re:SF Economic Plausibility on Why We're Not Going To See Sub-orbital Airliners · · Score: 1, Funny

    What would have pulled me out of reality for that was realizing I was reading a book aimed at 15 year old girls.

  14. I call hoax! on Chinese Government Moves To Crack Down On Puns · · Score: 2

    I saw this article recently on ThePunion.com, I'm sure of it.

  15. Wiggly Waxworms Will Woo Wayward Waste on Pantry Pests Harbor Plastic-Chomping Bacteria · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wiggly Woodworms Want Wayward Waste, While We Wonder Why Woodless Worms Won't.

  16. Re:I'd be happy if 4:3 came back! on Eizo Debuts Monitor With 1:1 Aspect Ratio · · Score: 1

    Indeed, re-capping the power supply is cheap and easy.

  17. Re:One Must Fall: 2097 on Robot SmackDowns Wants To Bring Robot Death Matches To an Arena Near You · · Score: 1

    Played this game a LOT when I was a teenager. Hopefully someone doesn't actually brain dump themselves into a bot!

  18. I would MUCH rather see a new Junkyard Wars on Robot SmackDowns Wants To Bring Robot Death Matches To an Arena Near You · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It was very entertaining, and fun to see people come up with brilliant (and not so brilliant) solutions.

  19. Re:Alternative headline on BitHammer, the BitTorrent Banhammer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This, a thousand times owner. I rely on 'net connectivity for a living. If my internet drops, I'm packing my bags and going to one of my backup locations. One of those is a McDonalds, another is a local gas station that has wifi (?) and a friends house. The friends house is my first pick of course and usually the one I get. But if I have to go to McDonalds or the gas station and somebody is making it impossible for me to make a living and feed my family because someone is torrenting, I will feel every bit justified in using bithammer. Why?

    Because I have every right to use the network as the guy making it impossible for me to use it.

  20. Write protect switch. on Hacking USB Firmware · · Score: 0

    I have a 8GB USB flash drive that does have a write protect switch, and I use it for transferring files to known-infected machines. Love that thing...

  21. And I thought I was cool... on Reformatting a Machine 125 Million Miles Away · · Score: 1

    When I reboot machines in Asia or UK/EU using IPMI from the US.

  22. Another nail in the coffin on HP Recalls 6 Million Power Cables Over Fire Hazard · · Score: 1

    HP = Horrible Product

  23. Perhaps this won't be a popular view... on "MythBusters" Drops Kari Byron, Grant Imahara, Tory Belleci · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But I think it's a good move. I always thought they were trying to do too much in one episode. And really, who can argue with focusing on two really awesome dudes who love to blow stuff up?

    More isn't always better, sometimes its just more.

  24. Re:ASUS RT-N16 on Ask Slashdot: Life Beyond the WRT54G Series? · · Score: 1

    Another vote. Have had mine for almost 2 years and it is rock solid. I'm using TomatoUSB (Toastman's, need to update it, but it Just Works)

  25. Assuming they are your personally: on Ask Slashdot: What Would You Do With Half a Rack of Server Space? · · Score: 1

    Since you're asking this question, I'll assume that you have the freedom to do whatever you want with them. We'll assume they're your servers, personally. In that case, keeping them at the ready in case your cloud solution turns into a hurricane is a great idea that was mentioned previously.

    Otherwise, a couple of things come to mind:
    1) Start a web hosting company, using Linux and cPanel
    2) Start a Private VPN service
    3) Beowulf Cluster! (this is slashdot, after all...) or the modern version: OpenStack
    4) Profit!