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Comment No good if your eyes are bad (Score 1) 457

by dwhitman (#38601510) Attached to: Makers Keep Flogging 3D TV, Viewers Keep Shrugging

I have glaucoma, giving me the classic arc-shaped loss of visual field in each eye. Bottom line is that I really need both eyes at the same time to get a decent 2D view. Persistence of vision notwithstanding, alternately displaying images to each eye just doesn't add up well when each eye is depending on the other to fill in missing data. I can usually perceive the 3D effect, but at the cost of most detail in the middle of the image, and overall dramatic reduction in brightness vs. a 2d display.

I'd rather have a high quality 2D image than a crappy 3D one.

Comment Re:Anyone surprised? (Score 1) 148

by dwhitman (#37208542) Attached to: SEC Hit With Data Destruction Complaint

Where do *you* get your information about the appointment process? As long as the President is willing to take the political heat for it, the appointment process provides (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recess_appointment) a method for Obama to appoint heads to those agencies.

The R's have keep Congress in session via the farce of keeping one clown in DC to gavel in 1 minute sessions each day. No recess = no recess appointments. Thanks for playing.

Comment Re:we could take back control... (Score 1) 292

by dwhitman (#36793860) Attached to: Court Approves TSA Body Scans, But Calls For Public Comment

Airlines would go out of business very rapidly if they weren't running at near capacity and with overbooking. If passenger demand goes down, they attempt to minimize the bleeding by simply scheduling fewer flights or cancelling flights that check in under the magic number that makes them profitable. (Happens routinely if you're flying into/out of an out of the way airport.)

They will still feel the pressure of reduced demand though - idling expensive assets eliminates the fuel cost, but they still need to pay off the airplane capital cost.

Comment Re:That's what you get (Score 2) 166

by dwhitman (#36707344) Attached to: Army's Huge SAP Project 'At High Risk'

There is a saying, I keep hearing: "No-one ever got fired for choosing SAP"....

Not a developer and certainly not a SAP consultant. But I did live through implementation of SAP at a Fortune 500 manufacturing company. For all practical purposes, the CEO bet the company by committing us to implementing SAP. The project cost was something like $3e8 in a company with sales of about $3e9. You spend that kind of cash, you bloody well better recover it in improved profitability.

Politically, with those kinds of stakes, the project is going to succeed. If it isn't a success, reality will be adjusted to make it a success. The only people getting fired in an SAP implementation are those stupid enough to say that it isn't succeeding.
Image

Florida Man Sues WikiLeaks For Scaring Him 340

Posted by samzenpus from the don't-watch-the-news dept.
Stoobalou writes "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been accused of 'treason' by a Florida man seeking damages for distress caused by the site's revelations about the US government. From the article: 'David Pitchford, a Florida trailer park resident, names Assange and WikiLeaks as defendants in a personal injury suit filed with the Florida Southern District Court in Miami. In the complaint filed on 6th January, Pitchford alleges that Assange's negligence has caused "hypertension," "depression" and "living in fear of being stricken by another heart attack and/or stroke" as a result of living "in fear of being on the brink of another nuclear [sic] WAR."' Just for good measure, it also alleges that Assange and WikiLeaks are guilty of 'terorism [sic], espionage and treason.'"
Image

Advent Calendar For Geeks 65

Posted by samzenpus from the geek-christmas dept.
bLanark writes "Well, as children and adults all over the world begin their day with chocolate, with the traditional Advent calendar, I'd like to remind you that there's an alternative for geeks. The Perl Advent calendar will give you a new Perl tip every day right up to Christmas."
Earth

The Story of My As-Yet-Unverified Impact Crater 250

Posted by Soulskill from the dent-in-the-world dept.
tetrahedrassface writes "When I was very young, my dad took me on a trip to his parents' farm. He wanted to show me 'The Crater.' We walked a long way through second generation hardwoods and finally stood on the rim of a hole that has no equal in this area. As I grew up, I became more interested in The Crater, and would always tell friends about it. It is roughly 1,200 feet across and 120 feet deep, and has a strange vibe about it. When you walk up to it, you feel like something really big happened here. Either the mother of all caves is down there, or a large object smashed into this place a long, long time ago. I bought aerial photos when I was twelve and later sent images from GIS to a geologist at a local university. He pretty much laughed me out of his office, saying that it was a sinkhole. He did wish me luck, however. It may be sinkhole. Who knows? Last week I borrowed a metal detector and went poking around, and have found the strangest shrapnel pieces I have ever seen. They are composed of a metal that reacts strongly to acids. The largest piece so far reacted with tap water and dish-washing detergent. My second trip today yielded lots of strange new pieces of metal, and hopefully, one day the truth will be known. Backyard science is so much fun. And who knows; if it is indeed a cave, maybe Cerberus resides there."
Transportation

Heroic Engineer Crashes Own Vehicle To Save a Life 486

Posted by kdawson from the delta-vee dept.
scottbomb sends in this feel-good story of an engineer-hero, calling it "one of the coolest stories I've read in a long time." "A manager of Boeing's F22 fighter-jet program, Innes dodged the truck, then looked back to see that the driver was slumped over the wheel. He knew a busy intersection was just ahead, and he had to act fast. Without consulting the passengers in his minivan — 'there was no time to take a vote' — Innes kicked into engineer mode. 'Basic physics: If I could get in front of him and let him hit me, the delta difference in speed would just be a few miles an hour, and we could slow down together,' Innes explained."
Privacy

Blizzard Rolls Out Real ID Privacy Options 145

Posted by Soulskill from the step-in-the-right-direction dept.
tacarat writes "The last time Blizzard mentioned their new Real ID system, there was a strong backlash from users over privacy issues. Blizzard reconsidered their plans to require real names for forums, and little has been heard about it since. Now, they've announced new privacy settings, allowing users to limit how their name gets shared or to disable the system entirely. Quoting: 'These options provide Real ID users with additional tools for customizing the service based on their preferences, enabling the ability to opt in or out of the Real ID "Friends of Friends" and "Add Facebook Friends" features or to turn off Real ID altogether.'"
Toys

Building the LEGO MMO 116

Posted by Soulskill from the brick-by-brick dept.
Gamasutra has a lengthy interview with NetDevil's Ryan Seabury, creative director for LEGO Universe, which is due to launch next month. He talks about some of the difficulties in graphically optimizing a game with so many discrete, interactive objects, and mentions that they'll be keeping an eye out for inappropriate contructs to avoid problems similar to those that cropped up with Spore. "One thing we can say is when you build models you have your own property, and you can share that if you want to. If you share something publicly, it will be monitored by a human before it's seen by other people." Seabury also explains their desire to keep the game simple, using players' creativity as a driving force, as well as NetDevil's decision to stay away from a micro-transaction business model.
Image

In Case of Emergency, Please Remove Your Bra 123

Posted by samzenpus from the breathing-easy dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Caught in a disaster with harmful airborne particles? You'd better hope you're wearing the Emergency Bra. Simply unsnap the bright red bra, separate the cups, and slip it over your head — one cup for you, and one for your friend. Dr. Elena Bodnar won an Ig Nobel Award for the invention last year, an annual tribute to scientific research that on the surface seems goofy but is often surprisingly practical. And now Bodnar has brought the eBra to the public; purchase one online for just $29.95."
Image

Woman Trademarks Name and Threatens Sites Using It 273

Posted by samzenpus from the keep-my-name-out-of-your-mouth dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Be careful mentioning Dr. Ann De Wees Allen. She's made it clear that she's trademarked her name and using it is 'illegal... without prior written permission.' She even lists out the names of offenders and shows you the cease-and-desist letter she sends them. And, especially don't copy any of the text on her website, because she's using a bit of javascript that will warn you 'Copyright Protect!' if you right click on a link."

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