Posts by ThatOne

Re: Super duper encrpytion device brought down by simple mistake

> the Germans would have noticed that Allied detections went down for a period of time just as the 4-rotor machines were introduced

AFAIK the Allies did introduce a lot of voluntary misses here and there, to leave the Germans in the dark, because if the Germans had known for sure their code was broken, they would obviously had changed it ASAP and the Allies would have been back to square one.

Yes, that meant some convoys were sacrificed, but it was "for the greater good".

Re: FX-workstation-as-a-service would be more fitting I guess

> I disagree, the software makes a massive difference

Sorry, I missed your point. Software is indeed important, but anybody can buy/rent whatever software included in the Netflix offer. Why rent it through Netflix?

Where that Netflix offer really shines, the thing which would save a company lots of money and hassle, is flexibility, adding/removing temp people for a project's time. Those companies grow and shrink constantly, IT has to follow somehow, and Netflix's offer seems to make this simple and painless.

Re: "you might not notice the fact that it isn't holding as much charge as it used to"

> "cable too thick to supply that many amps"

Well, you can use several cables... It's not like you have to hold them in place, so why not plug several cables simultaneously?

I think the limit will be the capacity of the local grid once electric cars become commonplace and millions of cars try recharging every evening at the same time, off the same grid... Everybody seems to say electricity is the solution, but it's not like we produce enough of it. Brown/blackouts will become commonplace, as will electrocutions and fires caused by tampered-with power lines...

I (mostly) slow charged my old (Samsung Note 2) phone and the battery is still working "well enough" after 8+ years (from 1.5 day at full use to 0.9 day).

Yes, it takes some planning ahead and some discipline (such as not forgetting or postponing things till it's too late), but it's doable for most people.

(Also, I guess there is less chances the battery will blow up in your face because of overheating or rogue chemical reactions.)

> if very light black holes are common, then this is just another approach to looking for them

While I get your point, it still seems like a long shot. If small black holes were indeed that common, we would most likely already have gotten some hint of their existence, wouldn't we. If they aren't common, the chances of one being right here, sitting quietly in our solar system are vanishingly small. Lottery-winningly small. I know we're special and our system is special, but still... :o)

Well, I'm a skeptic. What can I say.

> I also think testing whether it does is completely worthwhile

I agree, my point was about searching an exception inside the limits of another exception, thus dramatically lowering the chances of finding either.

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> (it would collapse and become a planet)

Good point! :-D

Re: Slow scan TV through Internet?

> we are potentially including many more people in the activity

Sure, but SSTV is (AFAIK, IMHO, YMMV) more a byproduct of ham radio, rather than a full-fledged independent activity, isn't it?

I've spent weeks alone in the middle of the ocean with only a SSB shortwave radio to connect me with the rest of the world, so I understand the fascination of being able to speak to somebody on another continent because of some freak ionospheric configuration, and the urge to explore what you can do with that box in front of you, your (only) link to the rest of the world.

On the other hand, in 2020 SSTV technology has lost a lot of the usefulness it had back when it was first invented (Hellschreiber, etc.). Nowadays anyone can send still pictures with email, and mobile phones made it even easier: shoot a picture, send it instantly with MMS.

The big thing in this case is the fascination of receiving something directly from the ISS, making the ISS more real (the same reason people like to watch it fly overhead). But this is diluted if this contact is make through some web site. It loses part of the face-to-face aspect where you get something directly from the ISS.

Of course, as I stressed all through my post, that's just my own 2 cent's worth, anyone else's mileage will vary, and I can understand that other people will be delighted with this opportunity. So keep up the good work, and big thanks to all who spent their time setting this up!

> How are you supposed to pipe the audio output

Well, they do state in the article that the Win10 sound configuration requires a careful RTFM (or "watch video" as it were).

Re: Loaded words replaced by euphemisms

> Why do you think people originally chose those colours to represent good and bad?

Nonsense! The positive connotation of white is because it symbolizes light, and light stands for life, hope, purity, knowledge and wisdom. On the other hand black stands for night and darkness, this frightening situation every child goes through, associated with danger, death, and incapacity to see (thus ignorance).

African toddlers are afraid of the dark just the same, it's an universal human thing which has nothing to do with the African slave trade. My point is that those color connotations would had been the same if inhabitants of Africa had the same skin color as Europeans, or if racism (a real thing) never existed.