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Comment: Possible to time yellows below speed limit reqs? (Score 1) 505

According to TFA, the Federal guidelines recommend times based on the posted speed limit or the 85th percentile of actual speed, whichever is greater. Florida is ignoring/removing the "whichever is greater" clause.

In most cases, one can assume that the 85th percentile is greater than the posted limit, in which case the times are based on the posted limit. The ones at risk of a ticket are speeding drivers. But reading the article literally, there is another possibility. If the 85th percentile of actual speed is *less* than the limit (as in a congested area), FDOT is free to time yellow lights according to the 85th percentile, and *below* what the posted speed limit would require. Such an action would put drivers who are otherwise law-abiding at risk for tickets.

Comment: Re:I'm not surprised. (Score 2) 402

by clem.dickey (#40823419) Attached to: Company Claims 80% of Facebook Ad Clicks Are From Bots

It is not surprising that people don't see the ads. The traditional Facebook page (I have not seen Timeline) has four columns, three of which can be entirely ignored.

I find myself developing a unique "blind spot" for every common page with static ad placement. It's hard for me to find the ads even when I want to browse them.

Comment: It's about "right to sue", not about damages (Score 3, Informative) 462

by clem.dickey (#37634228) Attached to: Ohio Supreme Court Drawn Into Magnetic Homes Case

Slashdot summary does not agree with the original article, which says the Supreme Court will only decide whether the couple has the right to sue (a matter of law). Only later might the question move to whether magnetized joists have caused any trouble, a matter of fact.

Comment: Re:Long time coming... (Score 2) 150

by clem.dickey (#37381882) Attached to: IBM's Watson To Help Diagnose, Treat Cancer
An anecdote from Dr. James C. Cain (former head of section, gastroenterology and internal medicine at Mayo), from about 1981:

A patient came to May Clinic with vague symptoms. One histologist remarked "This guy has weird blood. I've seen it before, but can't remember where." Several days later the histologist came back with the book where he had seen that "weird blood." Leprosy. Mayo didn't get many lepers.

"We were just lucky," said Dr. Cain, "that the histologist remembered the pattern. But imagine what we could do with a computerized search."

Comment: A more sensible chair (Score 5, Funny) 182

by clem.dickey (#36729060) Attached to: UN Names N. Korea Chair of Disarmament Committee

The United States deserves the chairmanship, on a semi-permanent basis.

In terms of volume, the United States is doing more to disarm itself than any other country. We presently have disarmament operations underway over Afghanistan, Libya, and to a lesser extent Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

Comment: Re:DecorMyCell.com (Score 1) 225

by clem.dickey (#34484120) Attached to: Malicious Online Retailer Ordered Held Without Bail

Did you put the name in quotes, to get an exact match? There is a good summary in this InfoWorld article. Note that in his first computer scam he passed as "Col. David W. Winthrop, USAF retired" in a Santa Maria CA computer club. Santa Maria is a stones throw from Vandenberg AFB, and I imagine that a large part of the tech community there worked at Vandenberg. Amazing, I think that he pulled it off. I never met him, but heard that he was a *very* personable fellow.

In those days (1977 or so) it was common for computer start-ups to take money in advance of shipment and use that money to fund development. Hunt used that model, except that he was planning to skip town with the money. He did hire engineering staff and a receptionist to make DataSync (no relation to any current company using that name) look legitimate. I understand that the staff were made corporate officers, which meant they were working for stock options rather than salary.

After Hunt was caught the staff - which had not known that they were working for a con man - tried to make a go of what was left. The receptionist was required to warn customers with a script that went something like this: "I must inform you that the advertisements placed by DataSync were fraudulent, and the person responsible for them is now in jail. Knowing that, would you still like to order quality products from DataSync?" But DataSync finally folded before filling any customer orders.

Comment: Re:DecorMyCell.com (Score 5, Informative) 225

by clem.dickey (#34482780) Attached to: Malicious Online Retailer Ordered Held Without Bail

Modded funny. Okay, but perhaps the moderators have forgotten the case of Norman Henry Hunt. Mr. Hunt was convicted of mail fraud (phony computer parts). He escaped from prison, was caught and convicted again (more mail fraud, plus the escape). After the second conviction, he was found to be running a mail order business out of a P.O. Box at NNCC. His ads represented NNCC as the Northern Nevada Computing Center; it was actually the Northern Nevada *Correctional* Center.

Comment: Re:Pot meet kettle. (Score 1) 384

by clem.dickey (#33539248) Attached to: Foxconn's Founder Opens Up About Making iPhones

In one part of the article it talks about him involved in a libel suit over the suicide reports

Good point.

It wasn't actually over the suicide reports, but over an earlier article on "working conditions." A personal libel suit against the journalists and a court order freezing their assets.

Comment: Re:Bit = Binary Digit (Score 1) 151

by clem.dickey (#33294192) Attached to: Toshiba Claims Bit-Patterned Drive Breakthrough
Everyone knew a byte was 8 bits, so everyone knew base 10 didn't apply in computers, being binary and all.

Parent has history backwards. Disks were invented, and measured in megabytes, back when bytes were not necessarily 8 bits and computers were not necessarily sold as "binary" machines. The typical disk record was 80 bytes long, since it came from a Hollerith card. The IBM 1401 was typically sold with 4K bytes of main memory. Four thousand 6-bit bytes.

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