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Comment: Re:Sensation! (Score 1) 144

by spaceyhackerlady (#45716011) Attached to: First Hard Evidence for the Process of Cat Domestication

A few years ago I moved to a new place and needed to line up a new home for a very sweet stray cat who had turned up on my doorstep. So he went to live with my Mom in the country.

At first he was puzzled by his new surroundings, but eventually he figured things out. It took him about six weeks to go from playing with mice the other cat brought in, to catching his own and playing with them, to discovering they were edible. And much tastier than cat food. Crunch crunch crunch.


Comment: YouTube playback issues (Score 1) 71

by spaceyhackerlady (#45680757) Attached to: YouTube Expands Live Streaming To All Channels

Indeed. That will, eventually, kill YouTube far more effectively than intrusive ads or changes in terms of service.

I first noticed playback issues earlier this year. Everybody is complaining about it. The support forums are full of platitudes about updating plugins and flushing one's cache. None of which makes any difference: YouTube is broken. And if it doesn't actually work, i.e. deliver content, the advertising is going to be irrelevant.

My preferred browser is Chrome, BTW. If YouTube doesn't work properly with Google's own browser, we're in big trouble.


Comment: My own Mandela story (Score 4, Interesting) 311

by spaceyhackerlady (#45613893) Attached to: Nelson Mandela Dead At 95

When Nelson Mandela turned 70 there was quite a bit of coverage in the news here. He was still in jail, so I called Cape Town information, got the number, phoned the jail and left a message ("Happy Birthday!") for him.

The man who answered the phone sounded like he'd been on the phone a lot that day. He was also very careful to take down my name and where I was calling from. I suspect that until the government changed there would have been little point in trying to get a visa to visit South Africa...


Comment: Been there, done that (Score 1) 378

The technology to autonomously deliver payloads with high accuracy has been around for a long time. I remember years ago people staring wide-eyed when I pointed out that the same technology that delivers bombs could be adapted to deliver more useful things like food and medical supplies. And now goodies from Amazon & Co.

As a pilot I wonder about the aeronautical issues. The authorities are clearly up in the air on the subject (pun intended... :-) as well. I hope they can find some good answers.


Comment: Re:Sounds familiar (Score 1) 214

by spaceyhackerlady (#45589067) Attached to: Tesla Faces Off Against Car Dealers In Another State: Ohio

A question that comes up a lot is if Delicas do so well in Canada, why didn't Mitsubishi sell them here at the time?

My answer: all Mitsubishi products in Canada at the time were captive imports, sold as Dodge products (e.g. Dodge Colt). Would you still want one if it said "Dodge" on it?

Mitsubishi sold a 2 wheel drive gas-engine L300 in the U.S.A. as the Mitsubishi Vanwagon. They were largely ignored at the time, and are pretty well extinct now.


Comment: Sounds familiar (Score 4, Interesting) 214

by spaceyhackerlady (#45585879) Attached to: Tesla Faces Off Against Car Dealers In Another State: Ohio

Here in B.C. we had a stink a few years ago over privately imported vehicles from Japan. Under Canadian law you can privately import anything you like if it's over 15 years old, and in the mid-noughties a lot of interesting vehicles started to turn 15. Since they are essentially worthless in Japan, but well looked-after, they're a bargain for anybody who wants a used car. Japan has made a major industry of exporting their used cars. Unlike many other jurisdictions, cars with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side are road-legal here.

The car dealers threw a fit. They claimed that right-hand drive vehicles were the enemy of all that is free and right and holy, but were never to adequately explain why. I wondered why they were concerned about their ability to compete with 15 year old used cars. Again, they were never able to adequately explain why.

It's died down. For now. But you never know what they're going to try next.

I bought a 1992 Mitsubishi L300 Delica in 2007. I love it. A touch expensive to run, but ridiculously practical and it will go anywhere with shift-on-the-fly 4WD. It also has a delightfully quirky style.


Comment: Passwords short and long (Score 1) 299

by spaceyhackerlady (#45576043) Attached to: Why People Are So Bad At Picking Passwords

My bank card PIN is four digits. It's not the year I was born, nor is it any other year (or other four-digit number, for that matter) that you will find in my personal information.

For computer passwords I like the "first letter of a phrase" algorithm, producing passwords like TbontbTitQ and MRwiTDtESSahtuwws. Or pick a phrase, l33t it up a bit, and come up with something like W1nd0ze1sTehSux0r3. Long passwords are good.

The worst public web site I've encountered for silly password requirements is U.S. Customs eAPIS, which you use to send your information if you're going to fly privately to the U.S.A. Not only does it enforce silly password requirements, it doesn't tell you about them until after you have typed in your new password and it tells you why your password sucks. Yes, I end up writing them down.


Comment: Batteries! (Score 1) 495

by spaceyhackerlady (#45556805) Attached to: I wish my cell phone was...

Without decent battery life a portable gadget is useless. My cellphone (Samsung) is starting to show its age in this department.

Some years ago I bought a Palm Tungsten to play with. I thought I might be able to come up with some interesting programs for it with the open-source development toolchain, and I did. Except that its battery life was pathetic. I tossed it when I cleaned house last year...


Comment: Nowhere to plug one in (Score 5, Insightful) 810

by spaceyhackerlady (#45498011) Attached to: Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, So Why Are Sales Still Low?

It's as simple as that.

I live in an apartment building. I've discussed the matter with the building management but we haven't come up with an answer. While new buildings must have electrical hookups for electric cars, there is no incentive to retrofit old buildings.


Comment: It's a job... (Score 2) 388

by spaceyhackerlady (#45371927) Attached to: The NSA Is Looking For a Few Good Geeks

Working for the NSA or any of their ilk is probably like any other job: day-to-day routine stuff and some really cool shit. With, of course, the proviso that you can never breathe a word of it to anybody, and they'd rather you not discuss the fact that you even work there.

The MI5 recruiting web site discusses some of this. If you want the approval of others on what a neat job you have, think again. This certainly limits the pool of available candidates. I wonder what it means for the intelligence community in general.

Hang on a sec...there's somebody at the door. GIDYW*(YW*DHNDW


Comment: Re:Personal ID policy (Score 1) 437

Canadian pilots licenses have pictures on them. The stickers you get for your ratings and stuff have a watermark derived from your picture. They are government-issued photo ID, and I have used mine to check in for flights many times.

When Transport Canada started talking about upping security on licenses, the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association successfully lobbied the Powers That Be that security was their problem, not the pilot's problem, therefore pilots shouldn't have to pay for it.

