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Comment: Are thieves desperate enough to use those? (Score 1) 282

by Ellis D. Tripp (#43935789) Attached to: It's Time To Start Taking Stolen Phones Seriously

I had a couple iPhone 3GS that I didn't want anymore, so I tried one of those ecoATM things once. They do require a scan of a drivers license as a form of ID, for whatever that is worth. But the big issue is how much they lowball the offered price compared to what you can get almost anywhere else. The machine offered $20 each for the 8GB phones (in near mint shape), so I declined the offer, and sold them myself on eBay for a bit over $100 each.

Even a desperate thief should be able to find a place to fence a stolen phone that gives them more money than those scam machines...

Comment: The cops have better things to do--like pot busts! (Score 2) 282

by Ellis D. Tripp (#43935493) Attached to: It's Time To Start Taking Stolen Phones Seriously

Why would they "spend MANY thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on investigation, arrest, booking, court hearing/trial, and imprisonment for a $500 piece of electronics" when they could spend MANY thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on investigation, arrest, booking, court hearing/trial, and imprisonment for a $10 bag of weed?

Comment: Cernan and Schmitt covered that distance in 22 hrs (Score 3, Interesting) 92

by Ellis D. Tripp (#43751223) Attached to: Opportunity Breaks NASA's 40-Year Roving Record

, spread over 3 separate EVAs in 3 days. All of the unmanned US and Russian rovers took a lot longer to set their distance records.

If the Apollo program was allowed to continue past 17, there were plans for even longer distance surface excursions. There were even preliminary studies done for a small flying vehicle to allow the astronauts to cover even longer distances from their landing site.

+ - SCOTUS: Warrant Needed To Take Blood In DUI Cases ->

Submitted by Ellis D. Tripp
Ellis D. Tripp writes "In a case that could have nationwide implications in the enforcement of marijuana impaired “drugged driving” laws, the United States Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that states can not routinely compel drivers to submit to a blood test in drunk driving cases without consent and without a warrant.

The ruling comes in the case of Missouri v. McNeely, originated by an arrest in October 2010 in the rural county of Cape Girardeau, Missouri."

Link to Original Source

Comment: Slashdot--several weeks behind the curve again.... (Score 1) 117

by Ellis D. Tripp (#43347159) Attached to: The RFP and IT Logistics For Washington's "Pot Czar"

Comment: "Atomic" clocks don't use radioactive decay.... (Score 3, Informative) 84

by Ellis D. Tripp (#43329645) Attached to: First Petaflop Supercomputer To Shut Down

They rely on the resonant frequency of atoms in metal vapors (Cesium or Rubidium), or the output of a hydrogen maser.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_clock

Radioactive decay is a chaotic process. So chaotic that it can be used as the basis for a random number generator. Just what you DON'T want in a precise time/frequency reference.

http://www.fourmilab.ch/hotbits/

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