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User: pubwvj

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  1. Horror Story on Genetically Modifying an Entire Ecosystem · · Score: 1

    This is the stuff of horror stories. Humans are not intelligent or smart enough to know how to do this. The consequences are immense and terrible.

    Read No Blade of Grass / The Death of Grass for a not so fun treaties on this topic.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N...

  2. No Advertising does not power the Internet. on Dealing With 'Advertising Pollution' · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No Advertising does not power the Internet. Bogus assertion to begin the article. The internet ran fine before the ads. It would run fine without them. Advertising is one aspect of the internet. It does not power the internet in any way, shape or form.

  3. Check Mate on New Digital Currency Bases Value On Reputation · · Score: 0

    In other words you're writing a check. Nothing new here. Move along. This is not the news you want to see.

  4. Interstate Commerce Clause on New York State Proposes Sweeping Bitcoin Regulations · · Score: 4, Insightful

    NY State may run afoul of the Interstate Commerce Clause which bans them from interfering with the Universe outside their borders.

  5. Eliminate the subsidies... on Rand Paul and Silicon Valley's Shifting Political Climate · · Score: 1

    I doubt he'll be willing.

  6. PC BS FKiT on Marvel's New Thor Will Be a Woman · · Score: 1

    Politically Correct Bull.

  7. Re:Great Idea - Escalation on Bot Tweets Anonymous Wikipedia Edits From Capitol Hill · · Score: 1

    Because they're not actually doing this - according to them. They were asked and said they didn't. They clearly want to. They probably are. But not legally, not publicly.

  8. Hand Held Model on How a Supercomputer Beat the Scrap Heap and Lived On To Retire In Africa · · Score: 1

    In other news the new iPhone beat the heck out of the Ranger Super Computer while only using 1 Watt of power.

    Seriously though, the shipping alone, the energy cost alone, of this beast is enormous and for either of those you could build a massive super computer out of off the shelf personal computers even pocket computers that will be more powerful and have greater flexibility and repairability by simply swapping or adding core units (e.g., iPodTouches).

    I'm all for keeping useful old hardware going but the cost of doing so needs to be considered.

  9. Great Idea - Escalation on Bot Tweets Anonymous Wikipedia Edits From Capitol Hill · · Score: 1

    Great idea. What the politicians will now do is use remote IPs to hide their anonymous behavior however that can then be tracked by watching the aggregate behavior, the meta data of Wiki. This will in turn reveal the lying scumbags. NSA will drool at this tool.

  10. Banks Love It - They tax you on Predicting a Future Free of Dollar Bills · · Score: 3, Informative

    Banks love you using plastic. They tax every transaction. Paying with plastic costs you at least 2.5% and as much as 5% extra because the merchants must build that into the price to pay the banks for the credit card transactions. This is a hidden inflation. A hidden tax.

    Banks also like it because they can collect data on your behavior and that is a salable product which makes them more money.

  11. Re:apply this technology where it counts. on A Brain Implant For Synthetic Memory · · Score: 1

    Pigs have neither morality nor ethics although they will espouse both during an election.

  12. What the future will NOT look like. on Blueprints For Taming the Climate Crisis · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Now that "Experts" have predicted this future you can now reliably bet it won't happen. The history of future predicting is that "Experts" get it wrong. They all have their biases and conflicts of interest that cause them to predict what they want the future to be like but the future is never the way they predict it.

    So... If you want a safe bet, bet against this report.

  13. Wrong Attitude on Normal Humans Effectively Excluded From Developing Software · · Score: 1

    He's exhibiting exactly the wrong attitude.

    Everyone's excluded from something.
    Different people have different inherent talents.

    Some people, like me, are never going to go into politics - I'm excluded from it because I don't empathize with you and I'm not going to lie about it and try and make you feel good. Politicians are very good at that. That's their thing.

    Some people are excluded from higher order math but they may have empathy. They may make good politicians or social workers. I won't but I am very, very good at things mathematical, engineering, programming, etc.

    The trick is to know your talents and then hone them. That is how you become very good. I'm very, very good at what I do. But I don't bother doing things I inherently am not good at. It's not interesting or pleasurable. That is the natural order of things.

    We don't all need to be equal. My wife and I are different. She has empathy. I have math. We each have some other talents too and some overlap plus common core beliefs and goals. Together we're a great team. That's how it works.

    Celebrate the individual differences that let the group be greater than the sum of the parts.

  14. Re:End ALL subsidies on Study: Global Warming Solvable If Fossil Fuel Subsidies Given To Clean Energy · · Score: 1

    And I disagree, which I have the right to do.

    A flat tax with a threshold below which no tax is done is more fair than the existing system and it is more efficient making it easier to understand an implement to collect the necessary dollars to run government. It also connects people with the spending more strongly. Lots of little details but it works.

    Some people fall below the threshold and pay no taxes and will even get government benefits.

    Some people will fall below the threshold and pay no taxes but are too high to get the government benefits.

    Some people will fall above the threshold and they'll pay X percent of their earnings above the threshold. They get to keep all their earnings up to that threshold. This is fair for them because they can live on that threshold income. The extra left over after taxation of their bonus income is a living bonus which they can save or spend as they like. Simple system.

    Everyone has the opportunity to move up and down the socio/economic class ladder.

    Predictability helps greatly with making economic and social
      systems work.

  15. End ALL subsidies on Study: Global Warming Solvable If Fossil Fuel Subsidies Given To Clean Energy · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The problem is not that fossil fuels gets subsidies. The problem is that there are subsidies. Don't shift the subsidies and give them to someone else. It is time to end all subsidies.

    No fossil fuel subsidies -> gasoline will rise to it's natural price of about $16/gallon, electric prices will rise and there will be more interest in renewables and efficiency.

    No farm subsidies -> food prices will rise for the worst foods but less so for better foods and more local foods.

    No mortgage deduction (a subsidy) -> cost of loans will go up but home prices will actually drop.

    While we're at it, pay politicians only minimum wage and change taxation to a simple flat income tax over the poverty x 150% and institute a national sales tax of 7%, local real estate taxes only on buildings (not land) and virtually all other taxes should be eliminated. Then keep it that way for the next 100 years. Make things predictable.

  16. Don't Worry - We keep "dangerous" pets on By 2045 'The Top Species Will No Longer Be Humans,' and That Could Be a Problem · · Score: 1

    Don't worry. We keep "dangerous" pets. Take cats for example. Highly unpredictable, armed with razor sharp claws and needle sharp teeth as well as a will to use them for maiming and even killing. Yet, we keep cats as pets. We enjoy them. We also keep dogs. Not your little ankle biter but big dogs that can take your arm off with a single bite. And boars. And even worse, sows who will start chewing you up at your finger tips and continue right up your arms. And bulls. Don't speak of the dreaded horses who kill and maim thousands a year. Yet, we keep all of these as pets and as livestock. Just because a species is 'dangerous' and 'unpredictable' to you does not mean we'll wipe it out. We'll even keep around Humans - although possibly in smaller numbers.

  17. Re: Not Voluntarily on Following EU Ruling, BBC Article Excluded From Google Searches · · Score: 1

    "Not that I am a fan of Google"

    I am a fan of Google. Not so much the company but the tool. It is incredibly useful. I remember back in the dark ages when we had to use libraries and carve our notes into clay tablets. Pisser that was nasty.

    I object to the European Union trying to censor the world. They have no business burning our books, trashing our libraries, destroying our data. It's history. It's real. They have no natural order right to be forgotten. They have no right to impose their absurdity on those of us in other countries. If the EU wants to subjugate their population to stupidity by censoring that is bad enough but leave the rest of the world alone.

    So, we all have an obligation to remember. Keep lists of those who demand to be forgotten. Discuss it. Blog it. Tweet it. Facebook it. Each request to be forgotten should be documented. Google could do this easily enough by posting all requests. That would quickly quell this dumb demand with a Striesand effect.

    Link it:
    http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2014/0...

  18. Stan O'Neil - Never heard of him, before. on Following EU Ruling, BBC Article Excluded From Google Searches · · Score: 4, Funny

    Crimmany. Before this demand to be forgotten I had never heard of Stan O'Neil. Now, knowing this I'll be sure not to hire him, etc, etc.

  19. Vanishing Problems on Hierarchical Membrane For Cleaning Up Oil Spills · · Score: 1

    Left alone these problems have been vanishing according to recent reports. Nature is eating it up. I'm not suggesting spilling more oil, far from it, but rather to not panic quite so much.

  20. Fast Lights a Related Problem on Unintended Consequences For Traffic Safety Feature · · Score: 1

    Another related issue is they've switched to fast light changes. This lets just a few cars through at a time. That is in turn causing more accidents and wasting more fuel with more stops and starts.

  21. Too complex, too expensive on Nathan Myhrvold's Recipe For a Better Oven · · Score: 2

    Because building it would be so complex it would be overly expensive and break down a lot more. My oven has been running for over a decade. It may well last several more decades. That's a lot longer than the expected life cycle for 'smart' products. I'll take a dumb oven and be a smart cook any day of the week. A ring of stones and a cook fire is better than too much technology.

  22. He's lucky they didn't kill him. on Baton Bob Strikes Back Against Police That Coerced Facebook Post From Him · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He's lucky they didn't kill him.
    In our state the cops have killed people with their batons, tasers, pistols and assault rifles for less than this. Of course, every time this happens the cops get off scott free without even a reprimand and with full paid leave during the "investigation" into the "incident". Cops are killing citizens left and right. These are not isolated incidenses but a problem with police mentality. Kill first, ask questions later.

  23. Fish also eat sand on Ninety-Nine Percent of the Ocean's Plastic Is Missing · · Score: 1

    Fish also eat sand and lots of other things. It passes through them. You are the same way. Not everything you eat is nutritious or digested. You poop, right!?!

    Or perhaps it settles to the bottom of the sea and future scientists will call it the plastacine boundary which occurred just at the time of the great extinction number nine, number nine, number nine...

  24. Tech Garden...Empty Wallet on The Internet of Things Comes To Your Garden · · Score: 1

    They've figured out one more gadget mobile way to extract unnecessary money from your wallet. You'll feel lighter, slimmer and faster without all that money clogging up your bank account!

  25. Re:Weather is NOT climate on Swedish Farmers Have Doubts About Climatologists and Climate Change · · Score: 1

    Or you could think twice about making posts that make you look arrogant. We both agree warming is happening. We disagree on whether it is a good thing or not.