Peter Simpson - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Coprolites? (Score 1) 56

by Peter Simpson on Saturday March 01, 2014 @03:11PM (#46377015) Attached to: Belgian Barrels Reveal History of Human Gut Microbes

I suspect they shoveled the shit (from wherever it was accumulating -- the road?) into the barrels for removal. Why they decided to do this instead of shoveling it into wagons and dumping it outside the town somewhere, I can't tell you. I also have no idea why expensive barrels would be used to store shit (though it's obvious that they wouldn't ever be used for anything else) or why they chose to bury them under the town square. Maybe it was a message to the politicians of the day?

I *can* tell you that shit-shoveler was probably not a job high in prestige.

Comment Re:Change (Score 1) 742

by Peter Simpson on Monday February 24, 2014 @09:23AM (#46322389) Attached to: "Microsoft Killed My Pappy"

People can't get past MS's sins because MS never really changed. They still bend the rules until they're warped and often just snap. They are still they same company in many ways.

Just one current example of Microsoft's "support" for open standards: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2...

SSDD

Comment Re:Dilbert (Score 1) 312

by Peter Simpson on Friday February 14, 2014 @06:42AM (#46244089) Attached to: Good Engineering Managers Just "Don't Exist"

No.

That's actually one of the things he doesn't cover: good/better specialists end up doing the work, while the mediocre/lesser specialists have lots of spare time to act in a manager-like manner. Former for their achievements get more work. Later - get promoted.

Yeah. Now if you could just go ahead and make sure that your T.P.S. report has a cover sheet on it this week, that'd be greeeat.

Comment Re:How is presenting all theories a problem? (Score 1) 665

by Peter Simpson on Tuesday February 11, 2014 @07:56PM (#46223997) Attached to: South Carolina Education Committee Removes Evolution From Standards

You miss my point entirely. Evolution is a scientific (hypothesis based on observations and testable) theory. Creationism is not based on observations, it's based on a book (or books) and a very few observations which are made which "fit" the story written in the book(s). Creationism is not open to debate or revision (God said it, I believe it and that's that). That's not science, it's religion. If you can't see the difference, it's not important.

Comment Re:How is presenting all theories a problem? (Score 1) 665

by Peter Simpson on Tuesday February 11, 2014 @03:19PM (#46220465) Attached to: South Carolina Education Committee Removes Evolution From Standards

I honestly don't see the issue with presenting all sides of an issue. I think going all evolution and excluding creationism is as bad as forcing only creationism to the exclusion of evolution. That said, I can only hope they use the Darwin Awards as the best proof we have of natural selection.

I'll assume you're not a troll, and I'll also assume you understand the concept of the "scientific method": observations -> hypothesis -> new observations -> modified hypothesis, etc.

One (evolution/natural selection) is a theory based on multiple observations by many scientists in different fields over many years. It's the "best" explanation that fits all the observed data.

Creationism is based on what's written in a single book (which some consider "the word of God" and others consider a fairy tale), as "interpreted" by those who can't even agree among themselves. It also conflicts (young earth) with geologic observations.

If your object is to teach science in schools, creationism has no place, ecept, perhaps, as an example of "what's not science" and why.

Comment What's the background here? (Score 1) 398

by Peter Simpson on Monday February 03, 2014 @08:27AM (#46139525) Attached to: Press Used To Print Millions of US Banknotes Seized In Quebec

I thought it was the North Koreans who were printing perfect copies of $20 bills? Now we find out it's being done in Canada? These presses aren't cheap, so who was behind this scheme? Inquiring minds want to know.

In God We Trust, eh?

Comment Re:Pirate Bay monthly subscription fee is now $19. (Score 1) 160

by Peter Simpson on Friday January 24, 2014 @03:02PM (#46059219) Attached to: Online Streaming As Profitable As TV, Disc Sales By Charging Just a $15 Flat Fee

Yeah, sorry, I got carried away with what *could* be. Seriously, though, what's wrong with this? Share all you want for $20/month. No prosecutions, because all the studios/publishers/artists get their cut from the subscription fee.

Pirate Bay manages the site, keeps the books and distributes the shares to the various companies on the basis of the proportion their properties make up out of the total downloads. The companies give up the hassle of distributing DVDs and/or running a subscription service, but get fairly compensated. Pirate Bay operators collect a bit to support the operation.

Comment Pirate Bay monthly subscription fee is now $19.99 (Score 1, Interesting) 160

by Peter Simpson on Friday January 24, 2014 @01:42PM (#46058153) Attached to: Online Streaming As Profitable As TV, Disc Sales By Charging Just a $15 Flat Fee

$5 for the owners of Pirate Bay, $15 for the media companies to split.

My check for this month's in the mail. Now, go away, **AA, and leave me alone.

Comment Re:Wrong approach (Score 1) 263

by Peter Simpson on Thursday January 23, 2014 @02:45PM (#46048339) Attached to: Cameron's IP Advisor: Throw Persistent Copyright Infringers In Jail

I'd happily pay $1.98 for each and every torrent I download from Pirate Bay. Upload anything you like, the download fees are split amongst the media companies on the basis of what percentage of the downloads are "theirs". Set it up a an open exchange, everyone wins.

Just do *something*, please, to give people what they want. For some reason, media companies think that witholding content is to their benefit. Look, if someone wants to pay you for something, shouldn't you just let them have it and take their money? I pay for Netflix, but every time I search for a movie, it's not available. So, I head for Pirate Bay. I'd rather not do this, and I'd rather pay for the movie, but I just can't. I don't want to buy a DVD, I just want to watch the movie...once, and right now, without going to a bunch of subscription-only apps to find it.

Example: Sherlock, season 4: shown last month on BBC, already available on Pirate Bay. Not available on Netflix. Why the delay?

Comment I work in an open office (Score 1) 314

by Peter Simpson on Thursday January 23, 2014 @12:47PM (#46047107) Attached to: Office Space: TV Documentary Looks At the Dreadful Open Office

It's not bad, as long as you can manage to claim a spot on the periphery (as I have). If I had to work in the middle of the floor, I think I'd have a problem. I've done this, but as soon as I was offered an opportunity to move, I chose a place out of the mainstream. I'm an electrical engineer, I do circuit, firmware and programmable logic design. When I'm head-down, the office plan makes no difference at all. When I'm less busy, it's not really any more distracting than a cube farm. I am glad, however, for the carpeted floor and acoustic tile ceiling. Downstairs, it's a bare metal high-bay type ceiling and the noise reflected off it is so bad I couldn't stand it (I spent a short time desk-hopping as an experiment).

Comment Wrong approach (Score 4, Insightful) 263

by Peter Simpson on Thursday January 23, 2014 @11:38AM (#46046313) Attached to: Cameron's IP Advisor: Throw Persistent Copyright Infringers In Jail

The only way to fight personal, noncommercial "sharing", is to provide a one-stop download center with reasonable prices. It has worked for Amazon and Apple, but the media companies stubbornly refuse to cooperate and make their complete catalogs available in one place...so Pirate Bay does it for them.

The market is speaking as loudly as it can, but the media companies refuse to listen.

Comment Re:Interview ending question (Score 1) 692

by Peter Simpson on Monday January 20, 2014 @11:28AM (#46013667) Attached to: Blowing Up a Pointless Job Interview

"What is there about you that you would rather I didn't know?"

"I'd be pretty stupid to tell you, wouldn't I?"

Comment Re:Maybe they were replaced by Software Engineers? (Score 1) 397

by Peter Simpson on Friday January 17, 2014 @09:58AM (#45985207) Attached to: Electrical Engineering Lost 35,000 Jobs Last Year In the US

With rare exceptions, you can't connect sensors or actuators directly to embedded processors. Someone needs to design those interface circuits. Designs with multiple constraints (low power, small, low cost) willonly be successful if they're carefully designed.
I'll grant you that circuits are used less frequently to do the actual calculations, but there's still a spot for EEs. In the past few decades, though, lots of the computer and networking jobs have gone away. That probably accounts for a big chunk of the missing engineers.

Comment Re:concept not engineered device (Score 1) 375

by Peter Simpson on Thursday January 16, 2014 @09:47AM (#45975269) Attached to: Revolutionary Scuba Mask Creates Breathable Oxygen Underwater On Its Own

just in case you were wondering, this is not a real device. Interesting concept but this would need to be considerably more bulky to drive enough water through the filters. About 200litres of water needs to be flowed through the device per minute. For a working prototype for comparison see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D23HLDZvX2w which works with a compressor. The poster should make it clear that the device mentioned is not an actual device, nor likely to be feasible without a relatively large pump and power supply.

From the active minds of Yanko Design. Creators of impractical renderings for years.

Comment Re:WW2 machiny and WW2 units of measurement (Score 1) 150

by Peter Simpson on Thursday January 16, 2014 @09:45AM (#45975249) Attached to: How To Make 96,000lbs of WWII Machinery Into High-Tech Research Platform

In the late 70s, there was a push to get the US to go metric. Protests from the auto industry that the costs would force them out of business, IIRC, squashed the effort. I don't really understand why we haven't gone metric -- $DEITY knows we all have metric tools to work on our Toyotas, Nissans and Hondas. And the industries (those that are left) have retooled several times since the 70s. It's frustrating being the last holdout, and for no good reason.

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