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User: mcswell

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  1. Re:Still objects more dangerous than moving object on NASA Wants Your Help Hunting For Asteroids · · Score: 1

    Nothing like condemning someone for what you assume they must think.

    On the chance that you're interested in facts--as opposed to your opinions--here's an article at a skeptic's website about the danger from asteroids: http://wattsupwiththat.com/201.... You'll notice that the author (and most of the respondents) take the asteroid threat seriously, e.g. "I really do think there is more of a threat from space, than there is from CO2." You can search for "asteroid" at the website and come up with more articles about the threat.

  2. Re: That's no mere galaxy; that's GALACTUS on Astronomers Find an Old-Looking Galaxy In the Early Universe · · Score: 1

    "This will happen." And you know this how?

  3. Re:If it smells like a duck... on Astronomers Find an Old-Looking Galaxy In the Early Universe · · Score: 1

    Nothing like an ad hominem argument to drive home your point.

  4. Re:Boring on An Evidence-Based Approach To Online Dating · · Score: 1

    But Dilbert had a girlfriend! (http://branders.name/dilbert-the-perfect-girlfriend/695)

    All seriousness aside, you might try #5: meet them at church. I believe the single women in church outnumber the single men. Of course, if you're not a Christian, that might not be to your taste.

  5. Re:visibility doesnt matter. on Al-Shabaab Video Threat Means Heightened Security at Mall of America · · Score: 1

    I suppose that's why the DHS later said there was no credible threat (http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/22/us-usa-security-mall-idUSKBN0LQ0IY20150222). Granted, that contradicts what they said the day before. But if the government really wanted to instill terror, they wouldn't turn around and say not to worry.

  6. Re:Where are all the "moderate" Muslims? on Al-Shabaab Video Threat Means Heightened Security at Mall of America · · Score: 1

    No, but if I remember my history, the abolitionist movement stared among the Christians in the North. They weren't Menonites or Catholics, but I'm not sure what that has to do with your point.

  7. Re: It looks like on Al-Shabaab Video Threat Means Heightened Security at Mall of America · · Score: 1

    "the people who say all this stuff can't ever stop a real terrorist attack"

    And you know this how?

  8. There is lots of work going on to "save" these languages, in various ways: recording oral and/or written texts, writing grammars and dictionaries, teaching children the languages in the classroom, translating learning materials into them, promoting literacy in these languages. Some efforts are more successful than others. Do a web search for "documenting endangered languages", or for the individual languages.

    And if you want to look for other languages--many of them endangered--a good starting place is the Ethnologue (ethnologue.com).

  9. Re:Ba'ax ka wa'alik? on Microsoft Translator Now Supports Yucatec Maya and Querétaro Otomi Language · · Score: 1

    Max ka'i atohol.

  10. 833,000 people would disagree with you.

    Ok, if you meant in the future...yes, you have a point. The real way to preserve a language is to preserve genuine human-written or -spoken texts, and preferably a grammar and a lexicon as well. Even better if the grammar is computer-processable. (Disclaimer: that's my job, albeit not for endangered languages.)

  11. Re:Ben oui c'est ça on Microsoft Translator Now Supports Yucatec Maya and Querétaro Otomi Language · · Score: 1

    Kush awo'tan, wen lek te k'op Yucatec.

  12. Re:The Poles did it first on The Imitation Game Fails Test of Inspiring the Next Turings · · Score: 1

    An early version of Enigma was broken that way; the one used by the German military during the war, and particularly the one used by the German Navy, was considerably more sophisticated. But more importantly, the real genius of Turing was realizing that not only could this problem could be mechanized--many other things which were considered to be pure thought, and therefore not mechanizable, were in fact mechanizable as well.

    As for Rejewski, yes, it would be nice to have a movie of his life. If and when someone does that, we can debate whether your last statement--that his life would make the better movie--is true.

  13. He was an Uncommon man on The Imitation Game Fails Test of Inspiring the Next Turings · · Score: 1

    "The message of the movie is that the uncommon man can do amazing things, but the message we need is that the common man, woman, anybody can and should tinker with the technology that manages our whole world." We could debate whether we need that message, but I don't see how you could get it from Turing's life without destroying the truth. He was an uncommon man, and he did amazing things. And he was not a tinkerer.

  14. 47% on What To Do After Robots Take Your Job · · Score: 1

    47%, not 46% or 48%. I smell fish. If they'd said 50% (or better, half), I might have believed them.

  15. Re:Business problem != technology problem on Ask Slashdot: Version Control For Non-Developers? · · Score: 2

    No, the last stable release was a couple months ago (Dec 2014). You must be looking at Sharepoint Workspace, which is a discontinued product.

  16. Re:SharePoint not so great. on Ask Slashdot: Version Control For Non-Developers? · · Score: 1

    It doesn't protect against multiple check-outs? I'm pretty sure it does, in fact I couldn't check out a document on SP this last weekend because someone else had forgotten to check it back in. And because it prevents multiple check-outs, there is no possibility of collisions. (I'm not sure if there's mechanism on SP for breaking a lock, like there is on svn. I suppose there must be, I just don't know how it works.)

  17. Re:Good Scotsman Fallacy on What Does It Mean To Be a Data Scientist? · · Score: 1

    I generally agree with you, but I think it goes both ways. One starts with some data, formulates a theory to explain that data. But often the original data is not sufficient to test the theory, so you (or other scientists) go looking for more data. Darwin did continue looking at data, and certainly physicists do that: the various colliders that have been built over the last several decades were built not just to collect data so someone could come up with a new theory, but--IIUC--to test specific theories that had already been proposed.

  18. Re:How about drones? on Will Submarines Soon Become As Obsolete As the Battleship? · · Score: 1

    If I'm not mistaken, most aircraft drones are piloted by someone a long ways away, using radio. Radio doesn't work underwater (extremely low frequency does to a certain depth, but the bit rate is miniscule); the only effective way to communicate underwater is sound (like sonar). And since drone control needs to be bidirectional, that immediately gives away the position of both the controller and the drone. So I don't think remote control drones are practical underwater.

    Of course there have been non-remote control underwater drones for a century. They're called torpedoes.

  19. Re:Nope on Will Submarines Soon Become As Obsolete As the Battleship? · · Score: 2

    Your comment reminds me of the joke from the early 2000s (IIRC) about what we should do if the North Koreans tested an atomic bomb: tell them to test the other one.

  20. Or the closest we've gotten to it yet (I hope).

    BTW, whatever happened to that series? Afaict, it stopped after the first season.

  21. Re:Lost socks on The Search For Neutrons That Leak Into Our World From Other Universes · · Score: 1

    She's telling you in her way to get rid of those bell bottoms you wore back in the 60s, when they were cool.

  22. I wasn't aware that socks had parity, but you might have a point. I have a bunch of socks that are missing their mates. If socks do have parity, and if adjacent branes have a statistical preference for different parity, that would explain my problem.

  23. Then I must be in one universe, and you're in the other. I'll trade you 100 paper clips for your 100 coat hangers, if we can figure out how to control our leaks.

  24. Re:Strong Thunderbird? on Firefox Succeeded In Its Goal -- But What's Next? · · Score: 1

    I wish it had a better indexer. On the fortunately rare occasions when I want to look for an email and can't remember what folder I put it in, it takes forever. (I don't know of any better ones, though.)

  25. What game? on The NFL Wants You To Think These Things Are Illegal · · Score: 1

    What game?