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Comment I got a job from /. posting... (Score 4, Interesting) 554

My name is shared with a very famous (dead) person so I'm hard to google. But of course he had my email address. From that he found my geocaching account, liked that I made puzzles (he was looking for a game developer) from that found my /. postings, liked what he saw.

Yeah, I got the job and it was fun, but it creeped me out. I hardly ever post anywhere anymore.

Except, of course, for this...

Comment You clearly are willing to pay... (Score 3, Funny) 359

You are clearly willing to pay a little bit for this, since you don't mention any extra fees. So this sounds like a service opportunity to me.

For only $3.99/month I'll deliver your csv records to you. Just send me you account and password information. Might as well give me your social, mother's maiden name, and favorite color.

No problemo...

Comment Re:CMU Sphinx (Score 3, Insightful) 221

Both options are just back-ends, you'll have to write a front-end. However, it shouldn't be too hard to do that

Actually, it can be rather hard to do that. I was one of the founders of MacSpeech and there is a surprisingly large set of details you have to deal with, punctuation, capitalization, etc... Of course since you wouldn't be making a commercial product much of the gloss need not be coded but once you have the engine, the part that takes the audio source and converts it to text, you still have a large amount of work left over.

Comment Re:Two Stupid People (Score 1) 291

I just use password strength answer and I keep a file of them. I had a great conversation with an online bank. Security had detected a pattern that was unusual and called me. They asked me what high school I went to. I told them UMc9vdX0QLOH (not really, but you get the idea.)

The guy was flabbergasted.

I told him that although I appreciated their security, I didn't trust them, say, to not sell a used laptop on ebay.

He thought it was a great idea.

Of course if I loose my file, I'm screwed, but that's what backups are for.

Comment Re:I lived in Truro and was at the election (Score 1) 449

Opps, my bad. I just RTFA. I had thought the bad vote was on the seasonal use of the cottages. It was on the condo conversion laws. The selection have put up the ballot question on seasonal use. I don't know if the condo conversion is going to be discussed at Town Meeting. I no longer live in Truro.

Comment I lived in Truro and was at the election (Score 1) 449

You need to understand how the election works. This is not hidden paper ballot election. Rather, like in many small New England towns, you simply raise your hand.

The issue was a contentious one, an issue that has divided the town for a long time. Heated arguments were made for awhile and then the vote occurred. After the winning side was announced many people left the meeting. A voting irregularity was pointed out (and procedurally, it was done incorrectly, and a second ballot was (incorrectly) called for.) Now mind, many people on both sides of the issue had left. The moderator ran the vote again and the answer was unchanged. Note how error prone the entire process is.

Curiously, based on the verbal arguments, the issue could have passed with some fairly minor wording changes. (I was opposed to its passing so obviously I didn't point this out.) The same issue is not on a town warrant for this year. Rather, the selectman will be asking the townspeople if they want a paper ballot election to look into the issue. I'm a little surprised that the proponents didn't resubmit the question and just make sure they had their supports show up.

I'll post this now and get into the issue next.

Paul

Canada

Dead Pigs Used To Investigate Ocean's "Dead Zones" 106

timothy writes "As places to study what happens to corpses, the Atlantic Ocean is both much larger and much more specialized than the famous 'body farm' in Knoxville, TN. But for all kinds of good reasons, sending human bodies into Davy Jones' locker just to see where they float and how they bloat is unpopular. Pigs don't pay taxes, and more importantly, they don't vote. So Canadian scientists have taken to using them as human-body proxies, to study what happens when creatures of similar size and hairlessness (aka, us) end up 86ed and in the drink."
Science

Antarctic's First Plane, Found In Ice 110

Arvisp writes "In 1912 Australian explorer Douglas Mawson planned to fly over the southern pole. His lost plane has now been found. The plane – the first off the Vickers production line in Britain – was built in 1911, only eight years after the Wright brothers executed the first powered flight. For the past three years, a team of Australian explorers has been engaged in a fruitless search for the aircraft, last seen in 1975. Then on Friday, a carpenter with the team, Mark Farrell, struck gold: wandering along the icy shore near the team's camp, he noticed large fragments of metal sitting among the rocks, just a few inches beneath the water."
Games

EVE Online Battle Breaks Records (And Servers) 308

captainktainer writes "In one of the largest tests of EVE Online's new player sovereignty system in the Dominion expansion pack, a fleet of ships attempting to retake a lost star system was effectively annihilated amidst controversy. Defenders IT Alliance, a coalition succeeding the infamous Band of Brothers alliance (whose disbanding was covered in a previous story), effectively annihilated the enemy fleet, destroying thousands of dollars' worth of in-game assets. A representative of the alliance claimed to have destroyed a minimum of four, possibly five or more of the game's most expensive and powerful ship class, known as Titans. Both official and unofficial forums are filled with debate about whether the one-sided battle was due to difference in player skill or the well-known network failures after the release of the expansion. One of the attackers, a member of the GoonSwarm alliance, claims that because of bad coding, 'Only 5% of [the attackers] loaded,' meaning that lag prevented the attackers from using their ships, even as the defenders were able to destroy those ships unopposed. Even members of the victorious IT Alliance expressed disappointment at the outcome of the battle. CCP, EVE Online's publisher, has recently acknowledged poor network performance, especially in the advertised 'large fleet battles' that Dominion was supposed to encourage, and has asked players to help them stress test their code on Tuesday. Despite the admitted network failure, leaders of the attacking force do not expect CCP to replace lost ships, claiming that it was their own fault for not accounting for server failures. The incident raises questions about CCP's ability to cope with the increased network use associated with their rapid growth in subscriptions."

Comment I'm using K&R (Score 1) 799

I've signed up as a mentor to teach programming to an interested High School senior, so it isn't a 12 year old. I chose C because, frankly, it is what I know best. Java might be appropriate also but for starting out I think C is a better bet than Java. (I can't address Python since I've barely coded in it.)

The teacher had a copy of K&R, 2nd edition on the shelf. I had them order a second copy for me. We'll start in Februray. Meeting about once a week for the rest of the term but staying in email and Skype video contact.

Wish us luck!

Virtual Visits To Doctors Spreading 215

tresho writes to tell us that virtual doctors visits seem to be on the rise. A new service, most recently deployed in Texas, from "NowClinic" is allowing doctors to make virtual house calls and prescribe anything short of controlled substances. "For $45, anyone in Texas can use NowClinic, whether or not they are insured, by visiting NowClinic.com. Doctors hold 10-minute appointments and can file prescriptions, except for controlled substances. Eventually they will be able to view patients’ medical histories if they are available. The introduction of NowClinic will be the first time that online care has been available nationwide, regardless of insurance coverage."

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