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Comment: Re:Expert systems (Score 2) 204

Or we could cease the pissing contest of getting people to Mars first, ASAP, and continue with our low Earth orbiting ISS investment, and do our long-range exploration and tests using cheaper rocket engines and instruments, which are working very well, especially over time. Hopefully with less financial and environmental costs over time. I'm not anti-science, but can't these questions wait to be resolved, until like 100 years from now at least? Technology always gets cheaper and we have other priorities for the budget.

I mean really, Putin has single handedly-topped his Sochi Olympics with Cold War II. And I'm sorry to invoke a Godwin on a science budget thread, but those Islamic State monsters are on at least the level of Nazis.

Instruments seem better suited for deep space exploration and performing actual science than humans, and they can certainly do it up there longer and dare I say for less money. Doesn't the ISS do a lot of grade-school experiments for kids to keep them interested in studying science in school? We can do better with our science budget.

Comment: Re:"pioneer inventor of new technology" ??? (Score 1) 183

by SpzToid (#48683667) Attached to: Bill Gates Sponsoring Palladium-Based LENR Technology

Maybe I'm missing something about Hugin, but it seems like quite a manual and thus rather tedious process to actually do. Please correct me if I am wrong, because I spent a limited time only, reading the documentation.

The Microsoft tool is fully automatic. Just drop a bunch of images in a window, or a video, and it does the math by itself and it spits out the panorama in seconds. And the result is amazing. This is one reason why I have virtual machines with Windows installed, (I get my Windows VMs as a result of the Microsoft Tax during new notebook purchases).

Comment: Re:Doesn't matter for its primary mission. (Score 1) 262

by SpzToid (#48679823) Attached to: Newest Stealth Fighter's Ground Attack Sensors 10 Years Behind Older Jets'

Apparently alcohol played a critical part in the mission's scientific success. If only our space budget could be done on such a shoestring. No doubt our alcohol-fueled marketing lobby efforts are no where near as efficient as using alcohol for actual science.

Comment: Re:Why the 1st model starts at -800? (Score 1) 63

by SpzToid (#48679579) Attached to: First Airbus A350 XWB Delivered, Will Start Service in January

You're not kidding about Etihad! You get three %$#@! floors! There's like a living room/entry, a private en-suite bath/shower, and finally a double-bed.

Still, that's a bargain compared to Justin Bieber's new 60 million dollar Gulfstream 6, with at least $3000 an hour operating costs, not counting the pilot.

Hey, I'll bet you can pick up a cheap used Gulfstream 5 from Bill Cosby soon for the right price.

Comment: Re:Configuring VPN DNS in NetworkManager (Score 1) 164

by SpzToid (#48658699) Attached to: NetworkManager 1.0 Released After Ten Years Development



The network-manager-pptp plugin is installed by default.

On GNOME, you also need to install the -gnome packages for the VPN plugin you choose:


Your OpenVPN configuration interests me, and I hope you'll document it further for me to better understand.

Comment: Maybe more Linux & less Windows? (Score 1) 236

Seriously. The FBI said that, '90% of US companies would have been hit by this attack'. SONY got hit by a Zero-Day Windows bug, right? Don't about 90% of US companies rely on things like Windows Server, SMB shares, Active Directory, etc.? Besides the security that Linux offers, reduced vectors and all that, rogue nation-states would have to re-focus on new attack vectors, which will consume a few of their resources and take some time. Seriously Fortune 500's, etc., take security seriously, like proper risk management, okay? Why should the POTUS be required to take retaliatory action because of your own bad decisions, based mainly on costs and ignorance?

Keep your boss's boss off your boss's back.