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User: eastlight_jim

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Comments · 77

  1. Re:No, no premises required on Organs of UK Nuclear Workers Secretly Harvested; Energy Secretary Apologizes · · Score: 1

    As a little off-topic trivia, slavery (as in the ownership of one human by another) only became illegal in the UK on 6th April 2010 (source).

    Slavery was abolished in stages throughout the British Empire in the 19th Century but the status of slave was never acknowledged in the UK so it was never illegal to own one since they didn't exist!

  2. Re:Explanation? on Voting Machines Selecting Default Candidates · · Score: 1

    Maybe I'm being a bit old fashioned about this but surely the best solution is to use pen and paper!

  3. Re:It really depends on the quality of the course on University Offers Class In Zombie Studies · · Score: 1

    This is almost exactly what Jonathan Shorr of the University of Baltimore was quoted as saying by BBC news. The students think they are having an easy course but in fact are "tricked" into learning something. I don't have a problem with this per se but surely not for adults. This is the kind of technique you use with young children who don't want to learn. If people at university don't want to learn (or can't learn without being hoodwinked) then they shouldn't be there.

  4. Re:HDR == High Dinamic Range on HDR Video a Reality · · Score: 1

    Typist losing synchronicity?

  5. Re:Like there's never been a GAS STATION fire on Fire and Explosion At Hydrogen Station Near Rochester Airport · · Score: 1

    Indeed. With any flammable fuel there is always the potential for problems to arise leading to fire or other danger. We think we've got petroleum products fairly well sussed but every now and then something goes wrong. The key is to learn from mistakes and make future use of any given fuel or technology better and more idiot-proof.

  6. Re:Logo on Geek Squad Sends Cease-and-Desist Letter To God Squad · · Score: 1

    No we don't... Geek squad car. It is basically the same, isn't it?

  7. Re:I thought they already solved this problem on Building the Zero-Fatality Car · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't know if you've seen TFA or just making a quick joke but a comparison between the main picture and a google image search for "demolition man car" shows that you're basically spot on!

  8. Re:Bio chemistry question on Gamers Beat Algorithms At Finding Protein Structures · · Score: 1

    As a corollary to the parent, many proteins require chaperones to help fold correctly. The chaperones interact with the protein as it is being translated from the mRNA and help guide it to a folded state. Of course, we don't fully understand any of it.

  9. And why is this in idle? on Artist Photoshops Scenes From WWII Into Present Day · · Score: 1

    There's always someone saying things should or shouldn't be in idle but surely this is one of the cases where it shouldn't be?

    There's been nothing but positive reviews of this guy's work here so far (and one Soviet Russia joke)

  10. Re:Some perspective on X-Ray Burst Temporarily Blinds NASA Satellite · · Score: 1

    Even if this event is spread over only 1/100 of the surface of a sphere, this energy output is equivalent to the entire output of the milky way, assuming high estimates for number of stars in this galaxy (400 billion or so).It's a truly staggering amount of energy that I don't think humans can appreciate. We all like to bandy about numbers like 10^{nn} without having a clue.

    Space is big.

  11. Re:Isn't this illegal? on Scientists' Mouse Fight Club · · Score: 1

    Even the full paper isn't much help. They don't go into details on the fights themselves. An excerpt from the methods says:

    "[T]he female was removed from the home cage; an opaque divider was inserted into the cage and isolated the focal mouse on one side; an opponent was placed in the cage's opposite side; the mice were given 2 min to acclimate; the divider was removed and the mice were given 10 min to freely interact."

    They then go on to talk about "winning experiences" without detail. Presumably they judged winning from the body language of the mice concerned. A winner would presumably dominate a loser with the loser often on their back or trying to stay out the way in a corner or similar.

  12. Re:That depends on How To Build an Open Source House? · · Score: 1

    Thank you. That makes a lot of sense. It rarely gets much more than half a dozen degrees below freezing here except in the worst winters which explains the building habits here.

  13. Re:That depends on How To Build an Open Source House? · · Score: 1

    Just a quick question: what has a basement got to do with water and other service hookups? I ask out of genuine curiosity. I'm sure basements are convenient places but the vast majority of houses here (the UK) don't have them. My electric and gas come straight up out of the ground into my hall way by the front door (there's a little 20cm squared cupboard up the wall) and my water comes into my kitchen under the sink.

  14. Re:he did it because on Grigory Perelman Turns Down $1M Millennium Prize · · Score: 1

    Slightly off topic I know but I've always liked that particular quote. For interest it's on the edge of the British £2 coin with a design on the reverse in concentric circles showing progression from the iron age to the modern time (Picture)

    I often wondered whether people have become smarter "recently" but have come to the conclusion that people have probably been of similar intelligence for many thousands of years but that the prior knowledge wasn't present meaning that progress was slow. If you imagine living in a society based on stones, the development of iron is a truly remarkable thing.

  15. Re:what's next? on Swedish Pirate Party To Run Pirate Bay From Parliament · · Score: 1

    Playing devil's advocate: why not? I'm not advocating paedophilia but the reason that it is illegal in a given jurisdiction is because the inhabitants of that jurisdiction have decided so. If enough people disagree and the society is truly democratic then laws can (and will) be changed. I'm sure that's among the ultimate goals of the Pirate Party here.

  16. Re:Technology outcome on Mozilla Updates Firefox To Appease FarmVille Users · · Score: 5, Informative

    I assume that you've seen the Farmville parody video that's been circulating for a while. Definitely worth checking out if you've got a couple of spare minutes. Had me in stitches.

  17. Where does the iron come from? on How Sperm Whales Offset Their Carbon Footprint · · Score: 1

    What I want to know is where the iron is supposed to have come from. Several sources I have read have neatly ignored this.

    Sperm whales (or any other whales for that matter) do not manufacture iron. They must take it in in their diet. Surely this means that iron is just being circulated around? Perhaps the whale takes iron that would otherwise fall to the ocean floor and circulates it back to the surface?

  18. Re:Red Wave on Traffic-Flow Algorithm Can Reduce Fuel Consumption · · Score: 3, Informative

    This policy was changed in 2009 when the Department for Transport realised the error of its ways. It now encourages more of a 'green wave' approach where possible.

    Source

  19. Re:"Let's hope" on Obama Sends Nuclear Experts To Tackle BP Oil Spill · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've always liked the phrase "In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is". I think it's rather pertinent here!

  20. Re:"Once 4:30 rolls around..." on Wall St. Trading Servers To Power Off-Hour Clouds? · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Believe it or not, trading by computer has now become so quick that companies vie for server space closer and closer to the place where trades are taking place. This article" even goes as far as suggesting that a 1 millisecond advantage in trading applications can be worth $100 million a year to a major brokerage firm with such low-latency trading becoming more common.

    I think the ping to Asia may be a bit more than that!

  21. Re:Why not all electronic? No really, why not? on Deposit Checks To Your Bank By Taking a Photo · · Score: 1

    Because you can pay a credit card bill (one of many examples) instantly from your own PC with no need to send a letter or wait five days for it to clear.

    I make tens of transactions a month this way. It would cost me a small fortune in stamps if I sent a cheque every time.

  22. Re:So the dog go off on any dvd-r on Anti-Piracy Dog Uncovers Huge Cache of Discs · · Score: 1

    I know exactly what you mean. There's a certain smell to burned media after the drive's got warm burning a few disks. It's quite a unique smell and certainly unique enough to train a dog on. I do take the point made by a sibling about the scale of professional piracy and the liklehood of stamped media but in the case of 35,000 disks, this could be done on 10 10-disk duplicators in a month at 5 minutes a disk. Maybe possible...

  23. Re:Efficiency on US Becomes Top Wind Producer; Solar Next · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The startling statistic is that 25GW is enough to power "more than five million homes" or around 5kW per home. A story a couple of days ago from Scotland said that 7.2MW is enough to power 9000 homes. This is only 800 watts per home; the American home is consuming 6.25x as much power as the Scottish one. It would have to be a *lot* more than five million homes from 25GW to come close to the Scottish requirements. I think it is this extragavant electric consumption that is one of the cruicial things to tackle before getting all exited about a few windmills.

  24. Re:A splendid team effort on Black Mesa Nearing Completion, Trailer Released · · Score: 1

    You mean Classic Doom, available at filefront.com. They only completed the first episode with the arguent that this was the only one released as shareware so they weren't going to be causing as much trouble as if they had done the other episodes.

    It's definitely worth a look if you're a fan of the original Doom

  25. Re:10,000 RPM on Samsung Mass Produces Fast 256GB SSDs · · Score: 1

    Your parents haven't even used over 50TB yet? That's appalling!