Slashdot Mirror


User: oxbow+lake

oxbow+lake's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
22
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 22

  1. Re:Exaggerate much? on A Federal Judge's Decision Could End Patent Trolling (computerworld.com) · · Score: 1

    Wtf? Of course it's hyperbolic, intentionally. Possibly for the sake of levity. What, you think he/she sat up trying to think about whether or not this could be accurately described as legitimate proof of the existence of "pure evil?"

    Have a cup of tea or something.

  2. When asked, patients tend to value confidence and empathy over knowledge when it comes to doctors. That should fucking tell you something about people.

  3. Re:They didn't succeed though on NSA Chief: Nation-State Made 'Conscious Effort' To Sway US Presidential Election (aol.com) · · Score: 2

    Employing Bannon is a clear statement of support for white power.

    Even if Trump is not himself racist, he is enabling racism. Impact is as important as intent.

  4. Re:Antibiotic abuse and biodiversity on Antibiotic-Resistant E Coli Reaches The US For The First Time (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    Correct me if I'm wrong. In the U.S., the antibiotic that is given to livestock is monensin, or other ionophore antibiotics which are effective against gram-positive aerobic bacteria and coccidia, and is not used in human medicine. E coli is gram negative, and the concerning antibiotic resistance that this new strain has is to polymixins (specifically colistin). So while I happen to agree that antibiotics for growth promotion is not a good thing, the connection between that and the development of E coli that is resistant to multiple antibiotics used in human therapy is not obvious. If you can, please do clarify it for me.

  5. ...as long as I get a rakunk as well.

  6. Re:If you have nothing to hide.. on Government Spy Truck Is Disguised As A Google Street View Car (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    This is a right to privacy issue, you insensitive clod. Just because the government doesn't have anything to hide doesn't mean they shouldn't have the right to obscure their actions!

  7. I'm not sure I'd hold the AC posting in the comments to the same standard as the Slashdot editor posting on the front page.

  8. ...and come straight to the inane crap here! :-D

  9. Re:Everything looks like a nail on Mars Colonies and Class Warfare (examiner.com) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I asked because the poster made the effort to express on a public forum their opinion that the current class structure is unfairly under attack. This would fit for someone who was a member of a privileged group that benefits from this structure, in which case I would take his +5-insightful comment with a large grain of salt. It has nothing to do with the clueless hack.

  10. Re:Everything looks like a nail on Mars Colonies and Class Warfare (examiner.com) · · Score: 1

    I'm genuinely curious: are you white, male, and is your income above the median?

  11. Re:It's not that happiness that extends your life. on Study: Happiness Won't Extend Your Life After All (latimes.com) · · Score: 1

    From TFA: "Findings were similarly null for related measures such as stress or lack of control."

  12. Re:Why not eat meat? on A Fresh Take On Fake Meat · · Score: 1

    No, standard scientific procedure is to include controls for that kind of thing. So you don't compare young health nuts with the general population; you compare young health nuts who happen to be vegetarian with young health nuts who eat some red meat.

    From a systematic review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2009 (Am J Clin Nutr May 2009 vol. 89 no. 5 1607S-1612S):
    "There is convincing evidence that vegetarians have lower rates of coronary heart disease, largely explained by low LDL cholesterol, probable lower rates of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, and lower prevalence of obesity. Overall, their cancer rates appear to be moderately lower than others living in the same communities, and life expectancy appears to be greater. However, results for specific cancers are much less convincing and require more study. There is evidence that risk of colorectal cancer is lower in vegetarians and in those who eat less meat; however, results from British vegetarians presently disagree, and this needs explanation. It is probable that using the label “vegetarian” as a dietary category is too broad and that our understanding will be served well by dividing vegetarians into more descriptive subtypes. Although vegetarian diets are healthful and are associated with lower risk of several chronic diseases, different types of vegetarians may not experience the same effects on health."

    From the published Position of the American Dietetic Association on vegetarian diets (Journal of the American Dietetic Association [2009, 109(7):1266-1282])
    "It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. [....] Vegetarians also appear to have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians. Furthermore, vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates."

    Is this all screaming that meat is bad for you? Not at all. The point is that the argument has merit, if not proven. So, as I originally stated, for some people it is problematic.

    My searches didn't yield more recent publications discrediting the studies up until 2009, but if you are aware of them by all means I am curious.

  13. Re:Why not eat meat? on A Fresh Take On Fake Meat · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Meat consumption today is problematic for two main reasons:

    1. The current medical literature shows significantly lower incidence of diseases such as cancer and ischemic heart disease in populations eating a vegetarian diet. Beyond personal benefit, increasing public health is beneficial for any society that has any kind of publicly funded healthcare system.

    2. Particularly in the United States, the mainstream agricultural system is unsustainable, environmentally damaging, and increasingly a threat to public health in terms of infectious disease and antibiotic resistance.

    Additionally, as consumers many people find the disconnect between consumption of meat (buying the wrapped piece of meat in the supermarket) and the raising/slaughter of livestock morally disconcerting, even if they don't take fundamental issue with killing animals for food.

    I was going to provide citations, but I'm too lazy and you can probably use PubMed as well as I can. Anyway my point is that eating meat might not actually be entirely good for you, and that the way meat is produced in the US is unfortunate.

  14. Re:Expect a transitional phase... on Nanotech in Microchips by 2015 · · Score: 2, Informative

    There are a lot of issues with carbon nanotube (CNT) technology that your post doesn't take into account. Carbon nanotube transistors already exist in FET form, but there are hurdles to overcome in terms of integrated circuit production.

    The first thing that will need to occur is selective growth of semiconducting or metallic carbon nanotubes. All the current synthesis methods that I'm aware of produce a hodgepodge of both, and separating them is not the easiest thing to do.

    The techniques of which I'm aware for device fabrication using CNTs tend to use some variation of flowing a gas such as methane over an iron-based catalyst at high temperature (~900 deg. C). The result is nanotubes growing in every direction from the chunk of catalyst, and using lithographic techniques you can then attach electrical leads to the islands and hope that they're connected by a single tube. This is quite successful for research purposes, but needs some serious optimization/automation for commercial fabrication.

    I think what I'm trying to say is that your comment that current technologies will be "optimized for nanotube wires" overlooks that fact that conventional technology is not necessary appropriate for such adaptation.

    We're still a long way from integrated CNT transistor circuits.

  15. link to Boyraz and Jalali's paper on Intel Researchers Build Laser on Chip · · Score: 4, Informative
  16. Re:Whats the big deal? on Online Game Event Sparks Player Riot · · Score: 1

    I guess it's similar to saying that killing aliens/demons/etc in a FPS is acceptable, but killing people in a game is not. The thing is, being racist or sexist doesn't carry the societal ramifications that being a murderer does. I might argue that people are much more likely to take gender/ethnic slurs lightly as a result of seeing it in a game than they would killing.

    Quite separately, it seems to me that killing things is a core aspect of FPSes, but if you're going to have sexism designed into a game then it had better be crucial.

  17. Re:Whaaaaa! on Online Game Event Sparks Player Riot · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I think a lot of people might agree that in a fabricated environment intended for enjoyment, it'd be reasonable to sacrifice the less pleasant societal aspects like mysogyny, sexism, etc. at the expense of realism.

    I can't see why anybody would want that unless they themselves were abusive bastards.

  18. Re:Wind Requirement on World's Largest Wind Turbine · · Score: 2, Insightful

    if it were frictionless the mass wouldn't matter. it might move really slowly, but any wind would make it spin.

  19. most famous for... on Happy 50th Cern! · · Score: 1

    ..being in Dan Brown's "angels and demons?" Having spent most of my time at CERN getting around on the No. 9 bus, i always wondered where they kept all the "high-speed civil transports"...

  20. Re:Vacuous Press Release on NVRAM With Disordered Assemblies (Smaller/Cheaper) · · Score: 1

    They've also published here:
    Appl. Phys. Lett. 82, 645 (2003)

    They'll even let you see the abstract.

  21. Re:I couldn't disagree more on Jef Raskin On OS X: "It's UNIX, It's backwards." · · Score: 1
    *envisioning the reality of this situation*:

    I come within 10 feet of my computer, and all of a sudden am deafened by the spastic whirring and grinding of the ancient IDE drive sitting in my now-three-year-old PII. I hit a key to wake the computer up, and find the system completely unusable as everything is swapped out, just so that my mp3s are kept crispy and fresh.

    I tell you, i lose more sleep because my hard drive starts whirring in the middle of the night than any other reason. :)

  22. Music is for the musician. on Ask Metallica About Napster · · Score: 1
    In the infamous chat session, Lars mentioned that "There has to be some [...] guidelines to go by before it [...] sucks the life out of musicians who will stop making music."

    Is the idea here that when being a musician is no longer such a potentially lucrative career, people will stop making music? That the reason for people to make music is to make profit?

    Music will continue even in the absence of high profit recording industries. There is a reason that such labels as Discipline Global Mobile exist.

    I will refrain from stating the impression that one might get concerning Metallica's motives after reading Lars's comments.