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Comment What about comets? (Score 1) 311

I realize asteroids are much more numerous in the inner solar system, but we're getting better at tracking them so we would ideally have a longer lead time to deal with any threat. Comets, on the other hand, tend to come out of nowhere, so the short notice scenario is much more likely.

Comment Encoding length (Score 1) 594

A C string can be as long as you want and never requires more than length+1 bytes of storage. A length+data scheme would need unlimited lengths to be as flexible with preferably a 1-byte overhead for short strings at least. I guess you could do something UTF-8-ish and add extra length bytes as needed for longer strings, but then you'd need a formula to figure out how much storage the string would require. Sounds a little messy to me.

Comment OS X security features (Score 1) 312

FTA: By comparison, Mac OS X has limited application-dependent sandboxing and no code signing, and it only partially implements ASLR.

I was under the impression OS X has had code signing since Leopard, though it's voluntary and not heavily adopted by third parties so far from the looks of it. Also, I noticed a slide in the WWDC 2011 keynote where application sandboxing was listed as a feature of Lion.

Comment Re:5.5? Feh! (Score 1) 560

What a bunch of wimps.

Here in southern California, a mere 5.5 would hardly even arouse anyone's interest. Probably make page 1 of the local section unless the Padres made a big trade; then it would be relegated to page 2.

I was in Kingston, Ont. (about 2 hours drive from the epicentre) eating my lunch on a picnic bench outside when people came rushing out of the office wide-eyed yelling, "Earthquake!" I didn't feel a thing. Honestly. If that was an earthquake, I've had bigger rumblings coming out of my stomach. Then again, I lived in Japan for a time. They know how to do earthquakes over there.

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