Posts by Michael H.F. Wilkinson
1891 posts • joined Tuesday 24th April 2007 14:31 GMT
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Posted in KDE 'annoys the hell of' Linus Torvalds
Featurism?
wasn't that creature feep?
Mine is the one with the "dyslexic's dictionary" in the pocket
Re: Contempt of court parts 2 and 3
So in addition to the entry
Recursion: see Recursion
we can now add
Apology: see Apology
to the IT dictionary
Re: And I thought Q-Beam's were usefull...
Absolutely. The BOFH for one would love to wave one around in the boardroom.
Where on earth can you still get a spare 500 MB drive?
If you want one like that, maybe you can also use my 8" floppy disk (128 kB storage!!) with CP/M2.0 on it (official copy).
Re: Sir
"Not much of a black hat if he still hasn't taped up his webcam ffs."
Unless he was wearing a Guy Fawkes mask
Or maybe these are stars surrounded by a fleet of black Haggunenon battle cruisers (the ones with the black instrument panels, with black buttons which are labelled in black on a black background, and whenever you press one of them a little black lamp lights up black to show that you have done it), which blot out the light of the star.
Either that or
Dark Matter = Hactar
I must say I am curious, but the ASUS Transformer series still seems to fit my needs a bit better (that and a fast 13 or 14" notebook with good graphics grunt)
Re: Asked in jest
Astronomers use FITS = Flexible Image Tape System. It typically uses 80 byte records called "card images". That alone shows its age.
We are just adapting our code to handle FITS. I would love to put our parallel code through its paces on this image (biggest we have done so far is 3.9 Gpixel).
Of course the whales were making a racket back then!
So would I if there were strange beings with harpoons chasing me
Mine is the one with "Moby Dick" in the pocket
Re: Tedium
Tedium? Well yes, I suppose. "Inserted into a cow's vagina" might well be the result of near terminal boredom (but not on the part of the cow, I presume)
I am somehow torn between to emotions, i.e.:
1. HOW ON EARTH DID IT GET THERE??!!
2. I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW how it got there
Posted in Apple unsheathes MacBook 13-incher
Games are not the only reason for wanting graphics clout. Physics simulation and 3D visualisation of medical data (MRI and CT scans) require more grunt. For many people the HD 4000 might be OK, but there are those whose work depends on graphics power.
Posted in Apple unsheathes MacBook 13-incher
Re: The only snag...
"Most people use wifi or do not see an issue leaving a small and relatively cheap adapter on their Ethernet cable."
The problem is not that I mind having an adapter on my ethernet cable at home (though it is a potential problem when someone detaches it to use their native port, the adapter can get lost). My problem is when I want to use ethernet elsewhere (visiting other institutes, e.g.). It is just another thing to pack, no deal breaker, but still a bit of a hassle. If the things had a decent graphics card, I could certainly live with an ethernet dongle.
Re: 'kin huge Mach diamonds...
Should that not be macho diamonds?
Sorry, I'll get me coat
A colleague of mine at first logged all (failed) attempts at getting through his router, but gave up full logging because the log file started to grow alarmingly fast. Generally attempts by script kiddies at that point in time, plus some more concerted efforts to break in (usually eastern Europe or Far East). And yes, neither his nor my home router's settings are the factory defaults, only the bare minimum of ports are open to allow internet access. And then there is still no reason for complacency.
Posted in Apple unsheathes MacBook 13-incher
Re: The only snag...
No nVidia = no CUDA = no use to me. I also MUCH prefer ethernet, as I routinely do need bandwidth. Real pity as this machine ticks a lot of boxes for me. It looks really nice, I love the high resolution, and light weight. My current lightweight (13", 1.69kg) really needs replacement, but I need a machine with nVidia graphics and ethernet. Using a dongle is a pain, in my view.
Posted in Big data to be normal by 2020
Re: GiGo
Agreed, Steve, it is! it is fucking obvious
Somehow the fucking obvious escapes many people
Take politicians. How many projects are out there based on the premise that as long as we collect ALL the data we will be in a better position to find terrorists/paedophiles/other undesirables? Lets take fingerprints from everybody entering the country! Hooray!! We have struck a blow in the war on terror!!!
No, you are just showing the general public that you are doing something, by pissing them off big time every time they enter your country.
When will these guys learn that data is not the same as intelligence?
Mine is the one with the shiny new degree from the UFO (sorry, couldn't miss the chance to hijack that acronym for the University of the Fucking Obvious)
:-)
Largest things in the universe?
It depends on what you think is a single "thing," I suppose. Clusters of galaxies are larger than 2 million light years. Super-clusters are bigger still. These are organized in walls and filaments, and these in turn form the cosmic web. Quite a few people say the cosmic web is the largest thing.
Still an impressive jet.
Posted in Big data to be normal by 2020
Re: GiGo
Too true: "Adding hay does not make finding needles easier" is one of my favourite sayings when discussing pattern recognition. The key to successfully finding things is in reducing data by knowing exactly how to obtain all relevant information rather than just flinging more data at the problem.
Posted in Astroboffins out FREAK 'BI' GALAXY
One of the coolest galaxies
just got even cooler! I just downloaded the paper and it is really fascinating. I am surprised to see such a well-defined spiral inside the galaxy.
I spotted this fella with 15x70 bins from down-under. I would love to see it through a bigger scope,
This should be called a "Near Darwin Award Experience"
he didn't happen to be from Darwin originally?
Re: TBottom image
Undoubtedly this was attached to a packet of peanuts
Re: Opal
Unless it is The Luggage, encrusted in opal. Be on the look out for lots of little legs!
I was right to keep my old Tungsten T3
Still works, and my youngest (8) loves playing with it.
See, I knew there was a reason.
Re: There are many ways to skin a cat...
Many astronomers now say the moon is not really a satellite of earth (hence "That is not a moon" ;-) ), because it is not many orders of magnitude lighter than the Earth. The Earth-Moon system is a double planet (much like Pluto and Charon is properly called a double dwarf planet).
Most moons formed in orbit around their planet, as mini solar systems (and can have a strikingly different composition from their parent planet, and even each other, depending on the distance to the planet). Some, like Phobos and Deimos of Mars, were probably captured asteroids.
Re: Pah, nothing but liberal lies, I tell you!
That date is 15 minutes off (Pratchett and Gaiman, 1995).
Re: You used the wrong icon
I expect to hear black choppers in the distance when mocking certain governments
But it's not 'Merkin' justice!!!
As was said, it would be nice (if perhaps unrealistic) if the US showed the courtesy to respect the judicial system in other countries
Doesn't it hurt?
when a giant golden parachute hits you on the head after landing.
One would almost hope so
You forget all the pollution of the air, and the electromagnetic spectrum. We are DOOMED!!
Let me lend you a tinfoil hat
I think I will stick with pdflatex
not to everyone's taste, but sufficient for my needs.
And, yes, I know the acrobat suite can do a great deal more than just generate pdfs.
Re: He almost sounds sensible?
I know what you mean. You must however realize that despite extensive screening, people of real ability, integrity, and intelligence sometimes slip through the meshes of the net and end up holding even cabinet positions. Do not worry unduly, however, at the next cabinet reshuffle these good apples will be removed.
50,000 Elves? Sindar or Noldor?
Mine is the one with the the Silmarillion in the pocket
Straight from a Bond movie
No mister Bond, the dolphin expects you to die!
Neat!!
Absolutely neat!!
Re: Oh how perfectly dreadful
Jake: it is www.theregister.co.uk
Americans do not get to dictate British spelling (yet).
Therefore, and because it's Aussie boffins: maths
Ig Nobel Material
If ever there was!
Throughout history, France has the "better" track record in terms of number of invasions than the Germans do (and not just when Napoleon ruled them).
Still, all of us EU citizens now have 1/503,492,041th of a Nobel Peace Prize. Let's raise a glass to that (not that we need such a flimsy excuse).
Posted in World+Dog hails 50th birthday of the LED
So who is going to blow out the LEDs on the birthday cake?
OK, OK, I'm going
;-)
Re: Pratchett, already!
"Your milk was on time though...."
seven o'clock on the dot!
Re: But wait
Please refrain from feeding the troll
One small step for a kernel, but one giant leap for penguin-kind
Sorry, couldn't resist
I must say what most gets up my nose is that they insist on literal meaning of the bible when it comes to facts, but tend to ignore the more important moral and ethical message it has.
As a kid, I was an atheist at a Catholic (Jesuit) school (in the Netherlands). That school had very sensible ideas about science and religion, and how the two need not be at loggerheads. I was especially invited by a Jesuit priest to join a discussion group on philosophical and religious issues, precisely because I was an atheist. He did not want to convert me, he wanted someone to challenge religious dogma. "I want the pupils to think about religion, not just accept what I say" were his words.
There were, and are many scientist who are devout Christians. Let any one of them take over this idiot's place in the committee.
Re: Earth is 9,000 years old...
Remember Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman have shown that the date and time derived by bishop Usher and his co-worker was inaccurate.
By a quarter of an hour
Posted in LOHAN plugs into some hot LiPo treatment
My only point is that it is unaffected by the low density of the air. It is convective transfer (along with a bit of diffusion) which takes a dive. If the object is in direct sunlight, radiative transfer may cause it to warm up.
May I still enjoy my popcorn?
Carbon neutral, organic, corn, heated with a little bit of polyunsaturated (organic!) oil, of course!!
Posted in Home-grown drone finds ‘missing’ hiker
And at even higher accuracy, you can hit him on the head with it!!
Posted in Home-grown drone finds ‘missing’ hiker
Re: Improved accuracy
I suppose you would like it to have a fixed undercarriage, a curious crook in each wings, and designation JU87
@Kevin Johnston
"I assume by 'reliably tagging' you mean finding a way to stop media companies 'accidentally' stripping out the tagging information supplied by the creator."
Precisely: this is what digital watermarking is about: this inclusion in the actual photograph of a data identifying its origin. A well-designed watermark cannot be stripped accidentally, but requires a concerted effort. Ideally, stripping the watermark should degrade the image enough to make it useless for many purposes. In practice, many attacks on existing watermarks exist, but watermarks are getting better. Digital watermarking is still an active area of research.
Posted in LOHAN plugs into some hot LiPo treatment
At altitude, heat will still radiate away, as radiative heat transfer still works in a vacuum. It is convective transfer which will be much less. However, the very low temperatures may offset that (larger heat gradient).
