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User: The_mad_linguist

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Comments · 1,108

  1. Not gmail either on Google Docs Vs. Microsoft Word: an Even Matchup? · · Score: 1

    Gmail's constant interface revisions are making it worse.

    Not as bad as google groups, though, which (on my monitor) reduces the space you can actually read posts in to about an inch vertically, thanks to all the useless static unscrollable stuff.

  2. Re:I don't understand the version control complain on Google Docs Vs. Microsoft Word: an Even Matchup? · · Score: 1

    That's actually something google docs doesn't do well.

    Let's say you have a spreadsheet with a bunch of pages and cells. Google docs says who edited when, but it doesn't tell you what or where the edits are - and you can't jump to them, which means you have to manually look at each cell until you find the highlighted one.

  3. Re:Suggestion: Stop linking to Medical Daily. on Spinal Fluid Chemical Levels Linked To Suicidal Behavior · · Score: 5, Funny

    glutamate, an amino acid felt to be a neurotransmitter

    Felt to be a neurotransmitter in the same way that hemoglobin is felt to be important to your circulatory system.

  4. Re:Something just didn't sit right with me... on White House Must Answer Petition To 'Build Death Star' · · Score: 1

    Marshall: Well, it's called the Death Star, baby. They knew what they were getting into.

  5. Re:Cheese on Humans Have Been Eating Cheese For At Least 7,500 Years · · Score: 1
  6. Re:Why not both? on ITU To Choose Emergency Line For Mobiles: 911, or 112? · · Score: 1

    That's actually implemented in a lot of places in the EU.

    There are a lot of European idiots who dial 911 because they saw it in a Hollywood movie.

  7. Re:Skynet on Gov't Report Predicts Cyborgs, Rise of China for 2030 · · Score: 1

    Anyone with an air conditioner is already using 'cybernetics'.

  8. Blogspam on Nobel Prize Winner Got Free House and Free (as In Beer) Beer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So the blog cites as a source, another blog. If you look in the comments for that blog, the author says you should google it, and links to a reddit page. That, in turn, links to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okJnQIjELY4#t=2m55s

    It's a nice story, but I'd like to actually hear it from someone who can actually supply details. Bohr's got a lot of cool stuff - like how his lab was used to hide smuggled Nobel medals from the Nazis (by dissolving them: http://www.archive.org/stream/adventuresinradi01heve#page/27/mode/1up ).

    I'm sure there's more to the story than just 'he had free beer on tap'.

  9. Re:Do we have any credible on Scientific American's Fred Guterl Explores the Threats Posed By Technology · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Which is why you should pay me for unicorn insurance.

    Just because you haven't heard of any attacks, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. With their pointy, pointy horns.

  10. Re:Educators aren't missing the punchline... on Why Kids Should Be Building Rockets Instead of Taking Tests · · Score: 1

    Also education degrees are trash, thanks to the courses being easy As (average GPA is 3.8) and certification being a joke.

  11. Re:It was on a boat on Space Shuttle Collides With Bridge In New York · · Score: 1

    It's not like it'd be flying. It's been retired.

  12. Re:What tools? on The Science of Handedness · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Single bevel axes are 'handed'.

    I imagine optimizing the grip would also cause some handedness as well.

  13. How should he have answered? on Ellison Doesn't Know If Java Is Free · · Score: 1

    I suppose the most accurate way to answer is "it depends what you mean by 'Java' and what you mean by 'free'", but that makes it sound like you're being a weasel.

  14. Nice job on the https link on Mozilla Releases HTML5 MMO BrowserQuest · · Score: 1

    Nice job linking with https to hacks.mozilla.org.

    Firefox immediately starts whining about it.

  15. Re:Duh on MIT Solar Towers Beat Solar Panels By Up To 20x · · Score: 2

    No, they are using *significantly* more cells. Read the article. They're going by the ground footprint.

    That is, the area of the earth that is being used by their solar cell array.

    Let's say you have a tower ten feet high, covered in solar cells. Which is essentially what they have here. That tower is *obviously* going to have more surface area than just the amount of earth covered up by the base of the tower, since you're coating the sides as well as the top.

  16. Duh on MIT Solar Towers Beat Solar Panels By Up To 20x · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Use 50 times as many solar cells, and OF COURSE you'll get more power out.

  17. Re:Cheapskates! on Science Reveals Why Airplane Food Tastes So Bad · · Score: 1

    Yeah. I buy stuff at the airport, and eat it on the plane. It tastes fine.

  18. Re:And flying cars and moon bases too, yeah, yeah on MIT Prof Predicts the End of Disabilities In Next 50 Years · · Score: 1

    Much improved versions? Of the fraction that use prosthetic arms, the majority use a design cooked up by the US military almost 60 years ago.

    There's too much market fragmentation - the powered prosthetic limbs available are basically all first-generation prototypes. We need to stop reinventing the wheel for these things before there can be any improvements

  19. Re:A thousand words on Elementary School Kids Explore the Moon At Close Range · · Score: 1

    It's a hotlinking thing. Go to http://www.dreslough.com/main/bandw first, then click the proper image link from that list.

  20. Re:Valve has a long way to go. on Valve Reportedly Working On 'Steam Box' Gaming Console · · Score: 1

    First, Valve has not delivered the Steam Big Picture mode which it promised a year ago (!).

    Oh, wow. Valve missing their release date. I don't think I've ever heard of that happening before.

  21. Re:Too many missing pieces on Optimizing Your Caffeine Intake With an App · · Score: 1

    The plural of 'anecdote' is not data.

    Please direct me to any controlled studies that back up your point.

  22. Re:Maybe... on Is Hypertext Literature Dead? · · Score: 1

    For a popular nonlinear work: Homestuck.

    The entire (albeit vaguely defined) genre it belongs to is almost exclusively nonlinear as well.

  23. Re:Too many missing pieces on Optimizing Your Caffeine Intake With an App · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2747/does-giving-sweets-to-kids-produce-a-sugar-rush

    There are a couple of other tests they don't mention, but it's pretty well established that sugar doesn't make kids hyper. The excitement from having something sweet and tasty might do that, but even that seem to be pretty psychosomatic on the parents' part.

  24. Re:change of heart? on FCC Cracks Down on Robocalls · · Score: 1

    Collection calls are NOT covered by the national DNC list.

    Only if it's a collection call for the person you're actually calling.

    I routinely get collection calls that are directed at other people.

  25. Re:Wau...wait a tick... on A Paper Alloy To Replace Plastic Cases · · Score: 1

    The ecology of the Americas before European settlement was heavily dependent upon human intervention.

    A good introductory text on the subject (albeit for a limited geographical area) is Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology of New England by William Cronon.