jemc - Slashdot User

Comment I have used: dd (Score 2, Informative) 252

by jemc on Friday May 28, 2010 @09:39PM (#32385372) Attached to: Low-Level Format For a USB Flash Drive?

First find out the device of the flash disk.

The following fixed a USB disk which was hosed:

dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/sda
or
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda

It's not a format, but fixes corrupt files, which can cause the disk to be unuseable.

Comment Find a local astronomy group and ask them for help (Score 1) 377

by jemc on Wednesday February 10, 2010 @06:01PM (#31091518) Attached to: What Objects To Focus On For School Astronomy?

I am a member of a central NY state astronomy club and we'd do it, if you lived near here. One of our members would go to your school and give an appropriate to age group talk. We'd also bring our equipment. If you need to do it yourself, you might contact a local group for live advice.

Astronomers Discover the Coolest Known Sub-Stellar Body 60

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 30, 2010 @01:46PM from the miles-davis's-home-planet dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Science Daily reports that using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii, astronomers have discovered what may be the coolest sub-stellar body ever found outside our own solar system. Too small to be stars and with insufficient mass to maintain hydrogen-burning nuclear fusion reactions in their cores, 'brown dwarfs' have masses smaller than stars but larger than gas giant planets like Jupiter, with an upper limit in between 75 and 80 Jupiter masses. 'This looks like the fourth time in three years that the UKIRT has made a record breaking discovery of the coolest known brown dwarf, with an estimated temperature not far above 200 degrees Celsius,' says Dr. Philip Lucas at the University of Hertfordshire. Due to their low temperature these objects are very faint in visible light, and are detected by their glow at infrared wavelengths. The object known as SDSS1416+13B is in a wide orbit around a somewhat brighter and warmer brown dwarf, SDSS1416+13A, and the pair is located between 15 and 50 light years from the solar system, which is quite close in astronomical terms."

Comment Shirts as a gift to employees (Score 1) 837

by jemc on Tuesday December 29, 2009 @06:39PM (#30587892) Attached to: Uniforms For the Help Desk?

Ever so often, in my company, one department or another makes a purchase of shirts (or mugs, or other) and "gives" them to the group. They include appropriate logos of the department or the project they are working on. People just wear them because they are good quality, look good, and show that they got the gift at some point. It is more of a reward.

Comment Air Force Buys 300 PlayStation 3 for Research (Score 1) 425

by jemc on Monday March 09, 2009 @10:17AM (#27120829) Attached to: Emulation Explosion On the PS3 Via Linux

Just thought I'd add to this discussion:
http://gizmodo.com/363985/air-force-buys-300-playstation-3-for-research
This came out about a year or so ago.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=air+force+research+laboratory+ps3&aq=0&oq=
They did this because the comparative price was a bargain.
http://militarytimes.com/forums/showthread.php?p=88652
http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2008/03/airforce_playstation_031308/

I have to get back to work now.

Slashdot Top Deals