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Comment Re:Wrong conclusion: not "unintended consequences" (Score 1) 118

I am not convinced of any altruism, and that the Salmon were necessarily for commercial fishing jobs (though that was stated as the Fed's intention and a well-known Pacific industry), but for Sport Fishing of larger fish, what, already being rediscovered in the 50s and 60s. It also appears that US fish canneries were well in decline by then. Already an outdoorsman haven and large tourist industry, the very notion of of the extreme profits to be made turning Northern Michigan even further into a Sports Fisherman's paradise could not have been far from their mind. You only have to drive the area to understand what was at stake; everywhere thousands of mom and pop motels, cabins, restaurants, barely surviving through the off seasons with the potential for millions.. The Lake Trout were already excellent fish but long growing and non-fighters if taken from the deep (can confirm - used to take Lake Trout from >120ft depths, by hand easily). And, I experienced the alewhive infestations of the 60s - not pretty.

Comment Right of Way, outdoor enclosures? (Score 1) 338

Can anyone comment on the type of enclosures they are using in the public right of ways, from an aesthetic point of view? Are they large? I recall that other communities have been up in arms about their size and placement. If you are the unlucky one where they plop it down right in front of your house is there any recourse?

Comment Re:Dumbed down musums (Score 1) 53

Agreed about the radio, electronics display; on my last trip to the Henry Ford, I was sorely disappointed it was largely gone. I prefer museums that are mostly conservationists, vs. the educational focus; they apparently pay the bills by turning the museum into a field trip destination for schoolchildren. Compared to many, many years ago at the Henry Ford where they had much of their vast collection on display, from steam tractors, dynamos the size of a house, old vacuum cleaners, to electron tubes, much of that have either been sold off or returned to storage apparently to make more room for this education component. It was so frustrating I wrote Henry Ford museum to that effect, and it is simply not worth going back except for the rare must-see thing*. There are already plenty of places to gain an overview about the topics (libraries, classrooms, books, magazines), but not enough places you can actually immerse yourself in the myriad of the actual, detailed, technology of an age, like you could there. *The autos and transportation is still outstanding!

Comment Re:So how do they know if they actually wrote it (Score 1) 148

As I understand, if you can accurately write such a smaller magnetic domain with a laser vs. the relatively large area under a write head, you obviously increase the data density. And since higher and more focused energy to flip the domains can now be applied, lessening the problem of flipping their neighbors, this probably means smaller particle and higher coercivity media can be used or developed. This also implies that the tracks get smaller and reduces or eliminates guard areas and tracks. All of which increases the data density. And as a bonus the data rate on read back would also be much faster, even without increasing rotational speed, since the data density has been increased.

Comment First time northern lights viewer here.... (Score 2) 80

I live in a rural area with little light pollution and where I can clearly see the milky way - and it was quite a sight. All I'll say is that when you see it the first time, unprepared as I was, it can be disconcerting and even alarming. You know something powerfully primitive is occurring, not normal; I imagine like an animal responding to a forest fire.

Comment Re:This is scientifically impossible (Score 1) 479

Because copper has more protons than Nickel; I understand that the electrical repulsion begins to increase while the nuclear force begins to decrease. Is this why the E-Cat device has lead shielding, but no long term radioactivity, because it is an alpha emitter?

I for one look forward to my hard-drawn, ultra-pure copper, steam-driven Porsche. And blowing up helium balloons in my spare time.

Comment Re:refillable ink reservoirs (Score 1) 310

The issue has never been engineering; it is that printers are corporate cash cows. Check EBay for an Epson refillable ink systems w/auto reset. They -do-display the ink amounts and reset themselves when pulled (though I never really payed attention to their accuracy). Quite nice system, using bulk ink, easy to fill. Ink does need refilling fairly quick, but I would prefer that to dried, clogging ink; and there are systems with large reservoirs for larger print jobs. I have had two kids printing on a new/refurbished $39 Epson CX7400 printer/scanner combo. It has never plugged(!); though it needed head cleaning operation when it was paused for a couple of months. Total equipment costs a year or so ago (including ink system) - roughly $65 dollars, and still going very strong today with great print.

Comment Re:Unconventional? (Score 1) 318

understand; I did my early work on Sharps as well. I became quite adept and fond of it and still keep a couple battery-ed up. Even though using an HP48 later, it still is not my favorite - maybe you never forget your first. Calculator expense was very real. As was the pain to begin using RPN.

Comment Overloaded, overweight vehicles (Score 1) 932

There is sooo many issues with overweight vehicles that there are no single way to ascertain their costs and contribution to the problem; a tax on static weight won't work. And we have to massively over-engineer bridges and roadbeds based upon the possibility. And, even if enforced, the penalties do not dissuade. Google coal trucks overweight vehicles damage for more.

Comment Re:problem is, Unity is a disaster (Score 1) 511

Unity sounds like Gnome 3.0. I am anticipating a move away from Fedora 15 simply because of it. I understand that 3.0 appears to not be a successor to 2.0, but is a different thing all together. Or that it is like maybe like an android or a tablet GUI instead of a traditional desktop metaphor, even gimmicky. What I have seen using a dev Live version I have to agree. There is a hard-core that vociferously and argumentatively claims it *the* way forward, or, basically, hit the road. They claim that there is a fallback but then say it can only be temporary as Gnome 2.x will not be further developed. But I will wait until the final version + 1 week acclimation + listen to all the screaming before final judgment.
* I may choose XFCE or similar on Fedora instead.
Be sure to look at the Fedora test and user lists.

Comment Re:Missing the point (Score 1) 85

Exactly. And streaming is wide open for abuse from adding commercials, pop-ups, and junk on the bottom. While admittedly a bit paranoid*, it creeps me out when DirecTv collects viewing stats from my receiver, which is why I now keep it disconnected from the telecom and net. This surely prevents using Directv streaming. At least Netflix doesn't use viewing statistics to target me commercially. Yet.
*If their data collection was used to provide us a better viewing experience, I would participate. But if it was being used that way, they would have already marginalized the scads of ridiculous ad channels that I already don't watch, automatically. Kicking them to the curb. But all they seem to do is add more as revenue streams. i.e., they aren't doing me any favors.

Comment Re:Well with the stupid rules in place (Score 1) 341

Yes, and I could build Ferraris by hand, every day, buying parts from disparate and disinterested vendors and justify the entire accounting at the end of the day.

The fact is everything you mention is done every day, continuously, en-masse mostly without deviation from procedure.

From food service to laboratory their workloads are often like a factory. Unlike a factory, they never reach those efficiencies* by their design.

  *except when it affects *their* bottom-line.

Role Playing (Games)

Why BioWare's Star Wars MMO May Already Be Too Late 328

Since the announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic, many gamers have been hopeful that its high budget, respected development team and rich universe will be enough to provide a real challenge to the WoW juggernaut. An opinion piece at 1Up makes the case that BioWare's opportunity to do so may have already passed. Quoting: "While EA and BioWare Austin have the horsepower needed to at least draw even with World of Warcraft though, what we've seen so far has been worryingly conventional — even generic — given the millions being poured into development. Take the opening areas around Tython, which Mike Nelson describes in his most recent preview as being 'rudimentary,' owing to their somewhat generic, grind-driven quest design. Running around killing a set number of 'Flesh Raiders' in a relatively quiet village doesn't seem particularly epic, but that's the route BioWare Austin seems to be taking with the opening areas for the Jedi — what will surely be the most popular classes when The Old Republic is released. ... the real concern, though, is not so much in the quest design as in BioWare Austin's apparent willingness to play follow the leader. Whenever something becomes a big hit — be it a movie, game or book — there's always a mad scramble to replicate the formula; in World of Warcraft's case, that mad scramble has been going for six years now. "
Image

German Kindergartens Ordered To Pay Copyright For Songs Screenshot-sm 291

BBird writes "Deutsche Welle reports: 'Up until this year, preschools could teach and produce any kind of song they wanted. But now they have to pay for a license if they want children to sing certain songs. A tightening of copyright rules means kindergartens now have to pay fees to Germany's music licensing agency, GEMA, to use songs that they reproduce and perform. The organization has begun notifying creches and other daycare facilities that if they reproduce music to be sung or performed, they must pay for a license.'"

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