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Comment: Re:Texas leads the way, again (Score 4, Informative) 262

by subreality (#43848109) Attached to: Texas Poised To Pass Unprecedented Email Privacy Bill

Murder is the deliberate killing of another human being

Murder is the crime of unlawfully killing a person [...].

That it's legal has nothing to do with whether it is moral or ethical. You call it an execution, but the only difference between your 'execution' definition and the 'murder' definition is "We made it legal."

Yes, that is exactly the difference between 'execution' and 'murder'. It is not murder because it is legal.

Insisting on using the wrong word makes your argument confusing and deceptive.

Comment: OpenStack (Score 4, Informative) 191

The specific virtualization system you use doesn't really matter. You're looking for ways to manage it.

If you want to run your own cluster, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenStack , specifically the Nova, Quantum, and Keystone components.

If you want to do it efficiently you might also want to consider using it as a service. Other people are already selling OpenStack on a massive scale with levels of efficiency that you'll never touch. Rent what you need, see what works, and then start building your own in-house when (or if) you find things you need to improve.

Comment: IR LEDs and tracking cameras (Score 1) 189

Install an IR LED on the baton. Google "LED throwies" for what you need. Most IR LEDs have a fairly narrow beam so sand down the lens to scatter the light more.

Then get some IR cameras to track them. Any cheap webcam will do. Add an IR filter by having an UNUSED roll of film developed. Install one camera watching from your position, and possibly one to the side, above, or under the conductor if Z-motion is important.

Then get some motion tracking software like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeTrack

Now you have a signal. Use that to drive any output device you want. Three cell phone vibrators for X, Y and Z might work. Audio might work - try making a tone that changes in pitch with the derivative of the baton's velocity. You should get little chirps when the conductor makes sharp motions. Some blind folks can still sense light - they have basically one pixel per eye. It might be possible to give them glasses with LEDs mounted so they can see flashes.

Comment: Mairix (Score 1) 282

by subreality (#43322897) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Best Way To Archive and Access Ancient Emails?

I don't bother sorting or categorizing or anything. I just have procmail send a copy to an archive file which I rotate once a year, and I index it all with mairix: http://www.rpcurnow.force9.co.uk/mairix/ . I can search on date, sender, subject, body, etc, and in a few seconds I have what I need.

Comment: Re:End the boondoggle (Score 1) 419

by subreality (#42869339) Attached to: Corn Shortage Hampers US Ethanol Production

You're mixed up about octane ratings. Pure ethanol is about 100 octane (AKI). The "85" is E85, which means 85% ethanol.

It certainly shouldn't be run in engines which weren't designed for it, but it is not "so corrosive ... it's internals melt out". The fuel system gaskets will harden and crack. That's expensive, but come on. There are plenty of good reasons why we shouldn't use ethanol. You don't have to spew alarmist FUD.

Comment: Re:1st step. (Score 1) 227

by subreality (#42759381) Attached to: Microsoft Embraces Git For Development Tools

Reflogs aren't for history; they're just a convenient undo stack for your own use. Examining project history is pretty similar to most other VCSes. Give it a try:

git clone https://github.com/jquery/jquery.git
cd jquery
git log --stat # answers most of the questions you asked above
git show-branch -a # makes sense of merges
git show 6a82f2a # Shows everything that went into a specific commit
git checkout 6a82f2a # Check out that commit so you can explore the tree
gitk # Start GUI history explorer tool

Hashes are globally unique so if you 'git checkout 6a82f2ae63263ed9deaff9d9dcc775a2c0cde343', you are guaranteed to have the exact same tree as I do; and no matter how many weird rebases you've done, 'git log --oneline --shortstat 6a82f2ae63263ed9deaff9d9dcc775a2c0cde343 -n 5' will show the same history as I have:

6a82f2a Make sure that mousing over XUL elements results in no trigger of a mouseleave. Fixes #6013.
  1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)
dd5c263 Make sure that live focus and blur events also bind to the regular events, to handle triggered events. Fixes #6055.
  2 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
467063a When binding a change directly to a file input just passthrough to the normal bind. A temporary fix for #5997, needs more investigation.
  2 files changed, 13 insertions(+)
c1ac9fd Don't inject style elements using innerHTML as they will go away in IE. Fixes #5977.
  2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
14e1200 Added some tests to test repeated injected of scripts. Was fixed when fixing #5094.
  1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

Comment: Re:1st step. (Score 2) 227

by subreality (#42748219) Attached to: Microsoft Embraces Git For Development Tools

In my opinion git provides better history guarantees than most other VCSes. Everything in a branch's history is completely set in stone by the sha1 sum of that commit. You can rebase your own local work, but once it's pushed to somewhere other people will see your changes, they're nearly permanent - pushing a rebase forces everyone else to rebase onto your new tree; it is not done lightly, and it is not the kind of thing that results in the history of who did what when getting lost without being noticed.

Compare that to Perforce - you can 'p4 obliterate' a file, and its whole history is gone without a trace. Same deal with svn - they don't give you sharp tools, but you can still dump the repo, edit the dump to make some changes, and load it back up. The history disappears completely.

Rebase makes it easier to DO these things, but the sha1 sums guarantee that you can't change history without being noticed. That's a stronger guarantee than most of the centralized systems.

(Note that Mercurial sha1 tracking as well and thus has similar history guarantees; my comments on history integrity aren't a criticism of hg.)

Comment: Re:Protecting your PUBLIC privacy?? (Score 1) 101

by subreality (#42431467) Attached to: Foursquare Will Display Users' Full Names By Default

people who want to shout things to the world, but get all upset when we can tell what sort of things you shouted previously

I'd rather not shout it to the whole world. I frequently talk on mailing lists and forums where I expect there to only be a dozen or a hundred people reading it. Unfortunately the internet never forgets, and if I sign my real name to it, it becomes my legacy. I prefer to not have to think whether every random comment is well-considered and sensible. I just want to share an idea, not make a statement for all posterity.

As for Internet Fuckwards... Well, maybe people will say dumb shit because they're anonymous, but posting anonymously also protects YOU from being harassed by those fuckwads too. Let's say one day you post "Hey, Hitler wasn't entirely bad. He did a good thing with the autobahn!". Without anonymity, you now have some asshole - who may not mind posting under their real name since he's just protecting the world from you - following you for a few years in every forum calling you a nazi sympathizer and linking that quote. Posting anonymously you just make your little point and move on, internet fuckwads averted.

And I'm just some random geek talking about vaguely controversial things. There are far more critical cases like bullying victims who need a place to talk without attracting MORE bullying, or rape victims, or people who just need to talk about their dark fantasies or fucked up dreams. Anonymity protects you - it limits the damage to whatever nasty words someone can send back to your anonymous account. I would rather deal with those assholes than be physically hurt, stalked, and harassed.

Anonymity? I am so done with the concept, or trying to protect it in any way.

Then would you mind telling us your full name?

Comment: Re:Averages with how much deviation? (Score 1) 186

by subreality (#42257641) Attached to: Netflix Ranks ISP Speeds

averages are usually the best metric

Disagree. Medians (the 50th percentile) are usually the best metric. Averages are good when you're interested in how something performs in aggregate (eg, average MPG your car if you want to estimate how much money you'll spend on gas driving cross-country), but you usually want the median when you're interested in a quick snapshot of what your typical person experiences. It's usually a better metric, and it's just as easy to understand on a comparison chart like this.

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