datakid23 - Slashdot User

A How-To Website For Australian Voters 158

Posted by timothy on Monday August 02, 2010 @12:26AM from the voting-by-esp-was-ruled-out dept.

Twisted64 writes "If you're interested in voting below the line in the upcoming federal election in Australia, but don't want to waste time in the booth individually ranking up to 76 candidates (for the unfortunates in New South Wales), then Cameron McCormack's website may have what you need. The website allows voters to set their preferences beforehand, dragging and dropping Stephen Conroy at the bottom of the barrel and thrusting the Sex Party into pole position (as an utterly random example). Once preferences are set, the site can generate a PDF to be printed and taken to the booth." (More, below.)

Comment Re:Thanks for the info... (Score 1) 133

by datakid23 on Thursday July 22, 2010 @10:56PM (#32999294) Attached to: Open Source OCR That Makes Searchable PDFs

It's true. I teach Translation Studies and one of the main pieces of software that's needed is OCR. I use OOo, Poedit, Lokalize, Jubler and OmegaT in my class, I teach Creative Common's Licensing, I promote sites like http://pootle.locamotion.org/ and http://www.transifex.net/ I *really* *really* wish I could give my students a best of the bunch free OCR link. But the reality is, ABBYY Finereader is the best that's available. And since it's relatively cheap (compared to some of the translation software like Trados) I don't think it's too onerous. But hot diggity, I wish there was a better FLOSS OCR program.

The Tuesday Birthday Problem 981

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @05:09AM from the if-it's-tuesday-it-must-be-a-girl dept.

An anonymous reader sends in a mathematical puzzle introduced at the recent Gathering 4 Gardner, a convention of mathematicians, magicians, and puzzle enthusiasts held biannually in Atlanta. The Tuesday Birthday Problem is simply stated, but tends to mislead both intuitive and mathematically informed guesses. "I have two children, one of whom is a boy born on a Tuesday. What's the probability that my other child is a boy?" The submitter adds, "Believe it or not, the Tuesday thing is relevant. Well, sort of. It's ambiguous."

$1 Trillion In Minerals Found In Afghanistan 688

Posted by timothy on Monday June 14, 2010 @05:11AM from the troops-home-by-christmas dept.

a user writes "American geologists working with the Pentagon have discovered deposits of iron, copper, cobalt, gold, and lithium of incredible bounty, amounting to nearly $1 trillion. In fact, the lithium deposits are so vast, an internal Pentagon memo has stated that Afghanistan could become the 'Saudi Arabia of lithium.' The wealth of the deposits completely flattens the current GDP of Afghanistan, estimated at about $12 billion. Mining would completely transform the economy of Afghanistan, which presently is propped up by the opium trade and foreign aid. However, it could take decades for extraction to reach its full potential due to the war, the lack of heavy industry in the country, and a corrupt national government."

Comment Re:Shotwell is beta (Score 4, Insightful) 361

by datakid23 on Monday June 14, 2010 @12:39AM (#32561240) Attached to: Ubuntu Replaces F-Spot With Shotwell

+1 for digiKam over either F-spot or Shotwell - one of the first things I do on a new machine for the relatives is to install digikam.

Ubuntu Replaces F-Spot With Shotwell 361

Posted by timothy on Sunday June 13, 2010 @09:37PM from the such-pretty-pictures dept.

climenole writes "Finally! The much discussed F-Spot vs. Shotwell battle is over. The new default image organizer app for Ubuntu Maverick 10.10 is going to be Shotwell. This is a much-needed change; F-Spot was simply not enough. Most of the times when I tried F-Spot, it just keeps crashing on me. Shotwell on the other hand feels a lot more solid and is better integrated with the GNOME desktop. Shotwell is also completely devoid of Mono."

Comment Re:A couple of things (Score 1) 117

by datakid23 on Wednesday March 10, 2010 @06:48PM (#31432216) Attached to: Linux Takes Over E-Voting In Australian State

um. Did you try google? http://www.vec.vic.gov.au/

Comment But if you wont be using the ads..? (Score 1) 1051

by datakid23 on Sunday March 07, 2010 @07:53PM (#31395172) Attached to: Ars Technica Inveighs Against Ad Blocking

So what am I meant to do? I'm never going to click on an ad, ever, full stop. I just don't work like that. Don't feel special, internet, I similarly ignore ads in daily newspapers and magazines as well as on television. The truth is, I spend more time on the internet because my filtering system is better. I hear what you are saying Ars, but it presumes that ads are effective on all of your readers. They're not.

Slashdot Top Deals