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Comment: Re:Did they try... (Score 1) 97

Here's the transcript from the launchpad.

Robot #2: "Uh oh, he froze up again."
Robot #3: "Try control, alt, delete!"
Robot #4: "Jiggle the cord!"
Robot #5: "Turn him off and on!"
Robot #6: "Clean the gunk out of the mouse!"
Fry: "Call technical support!"
Robot #2: "Ok, ok, he's back online."

Comment: Re:check what he's suing over (Score 2) 296

by Loadmaster (#39728287) Attached to: Magician Suing For Copyright Over Magic Trick

Two cases like that actually. First is Midway Manufacturing Co. v. Artic International, Inc. and the second is Williams Electronics, Inc. v. Artic International, Inc., 685 F.2d 870 (3d Cir. 1982). Artic was selling Defender like ROMs with extremely similar code (we're talking pixels here) on them so others could make bootleg copies. Their argument was that the code or presentation was not copyrightable. The visible element or attract screen, Artic said, was not "fixed." The court, in both cases, held that it was fixed because the code was in the chips from which it can be perceived using the other game components.

Those cases, at least Williams, is still taught in law school today.

Comment: Thought it was about VASIMR. (Score 3, Informative) 114

by Loadmaster (#39116275) Attached to: Electric Rockets Set To Transform Space Flight

Turns out I was wrong. I made myself sad. Here's the technology that might actually transform space flight.

http://www.adastrarocket.com/aarc/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_Specific_Impulse_Magnetoplasma_Rocket

The guy who invented it is an ex-Astronaut and VASIMR (or its tech underpinnings) was his PhD thesis at MIT for Applied Plasma Physics. I guess what I'm saying is he isn't a crank.

Comment: Re:Battery (Score 1) 348

by Loadmaster (#38982445) Attached to: US Air Force Buys iPads To Replace Flight Bags

Then I would've had to carry it around with me everywhere. Anything other than your A-3 bags (life support stuff in case you were shot down or went to a different environment) you had to carry with you. There was a chance you wouldn't be coming back to that location so we had to carry all our stuff with us every time we flew. Bringing a microwave sounds like a good idea (as does bringing an inflatable mattress) until you have to drag it around.

Comment: Re:Really? (Score 1) 348

by Loadmaster (#38976193) Attached to: US Air Force Buys iPads To Replace Flight Bags

It wasn't a Toughbook. It was some super expensive one-of-a-kind piece-of-shit whiz bang crappy touch screen. It only had one job, fill in Form F, and was super slow and annoying. Almost as annoying as the thermal printer. Hopefully this iPad stuff works out and they replace that monster with an iPad for the load station.

Comment: Re:Battery (Score 5, Informative) 348

by Loadmaster (#38976133) Attached to: US Air Force Buys iPads To Replace Flight Bags

The C-17 has plenty of standard outlets on-board. There are two at the Load station and outlets every couple of feet above the sidewall seats. Plenty of outlets to be had.

I know, because I was a C-17 Load.

You know what it didn't have? A fucking microwave. Had a convection oven but no microwave.

Comment: Re:10 billion? (Score 1) 119

by Loadmaster (#38012050) Attached to: NASA Successfully Test Fires J-2X Engine.

How can a single rocket, a tube filled with pork, cost $10 billion? Please explain.

FTFY. Now the answer is obvious.

Dr. Spengler: I'm worried, Arlet. It's getting crowded in there and all my data points point to something big on the horizon.

Winston: What do you mean, big?

Dr. Spengler: Well, let's say this hot dog represents the normal amount of pork for NASA. Based on this morning's test, it would be a hot dog. . . thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.

Winston: That's a big hot dog.

"Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago." -- Bernard Berenson

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