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User: Sahib!

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  1. Re:What the hell? on Human Species May Split In Two · · Score: 1

    "Incidentally as life spans increase the speed of evolution generally decreases."

    O RLY? I would've thought it would have more to do with the details of reproductive cycle. You know, gestation period, average age of child bearers, average number of offspring, etc., which don't have huge effects on lifespan (ignoring infant mortality and death during childbirth.) Once an individual has stopped reproducing, they shouldn't really have any effect on the evolutionary path, no matter how long they live, unless resources are excessively scarce.

  2. Re:$5/gal gas on The Hybrid Scooter · · Score: 1

    Well, in the UK, a large portion of that 97p / litre is due to taxes and tariffs, which can be used to research alternative fuels, benefiting the entire community. In the US, on the other hand, that $5 / gallon goes largely into the pockets of the big oil companies.

  3. Re:I just want to say this on Darwin Evolving Into A Tricky Exhibit · · Score: 1

    Those are good points. Consider my previous post in the frame of reference of "God" loosely defined as an entity possessing supernatural abilty.

    On the other hand, "God" as defined in terms of "first cause," doesn't really match up well with contemporary ideas of God, in that there is still no proof of wilfullness or awareness, nor does it proove that God continued to exist after the first cause. However, as the aforelinked Wikipedia mentions, the cosmological argument hinges upon a concept of time as we perceive it. How can it be proven that the past exists? I think I must begin with the assumption that it does not.

    Furthermore, what caused the first cause?

    There are also some interesting and some not-so-interesting reply in this Ask MetaFilter post: Can God change the past?

  4. Re:I just want to say this on Darwin Evolving Into A Tricky Exhibit · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "You cannot prove or disprove God's existence. Of course, if one pays attention in Philosophy 101 nothing can be proved or disproved."

    Perhaps, but logically it only makes sense to begin with the assumption that God doesn't exist. Going from there, the challenge is to find evidence which supports God's existence.

    see also.

  5. Re:What makes a journalist on Bloggers Not Eligible for Shield Law? · · Score: 1

    An interesting question would be: If the National Enquirer (with no real credibility) were to leak government secrets- would they qualify as journalists to get the protection for themselves and their sources?

    What a horrible question. For one, The National Enquirer is not as incredible as you make it out to be: "Details of the Monica Lewinsky affair would normally have been untouched by the mainstream press, had the details not been already made public knowledge by the Enquirer." For another, I think you're misconstruing the scope of the First Amendment; the dissemination of government secrets doesn't qualify for its protections.

  6. Re:jargon too difficult? on Computer Jargon Too Difficult for Office Workers · · Score: 1

    I think it's simply that computers are too difficult for many people. And no, I don't think that dumbing any of it down will ever make it better. I really think it's just that some people out there are too dense to begin to understand anything remotely technical.

    No, the real problem is that the lay-person has been led to believe that the realm of technology is too difficult, therefore they don't even bother to try to learn. Tech professionals should learn to be patient and lucid when explaining technical matters. Excessive use of jargon exacerbates the problem. Very few people are too stupid to learn how to use a computer.

  7. Re:Biofeedback on A Useful Grammar Checker? · · Score: 1

    some philosophers have claimed that "we" really are language, and the "homo sapiens" part is just a vehicle for us

    sounds like an interesting read. Other than something like Snow Crash, got any references?

  8. Re:Biofeedback on A Useful Grammar Checker? · · Score: 1

    A better grammar checker might work "from the outside in": compose imagery or relationships between recorded objects as represented in the written words, and show implications to the writer, to match against their expectations.

    Sounds like the little bit I understood from Quine's Word and Object on the theories of how humans learn a language.

  9. Re:Make it for Latin on A Useful Grammar Checker? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Precisely. GPP said 140 different forms as if that would be a large number for a computer.

  10. Re:Clusty on Google Techs, Webmasters Mingle · · Score: 1

    Mods, why is the parent post at -1? This is very interesting and informative to me. I've never seen the G clustering results.

    > Coincidentally, I just discovered this. I queried Google for 'Sarkar' (which is an Indian name and also the name of an Indian movie) and I got clustered results.

    > http://www.google.com/search?q=sarkar

  11. Re:That's Easy To Say on Gates Says No to Implants · · Score: 1, Informative

    Look, dude, your comments are Insightful, Funny and Interesting, but stop link-spamming with that link to your blog in your fake "sig."

  12. Re:Why 9600 series cards? why not 9800s or X800s? on Apple Updates Power Mac Line · · Score: 1

    "Now they only have PCI, so I will have to pay for 2.3GHz which doesnt look like such a good deal. Or look for an old refurb."

    Don't look far. The Apple Store's "Special Deals" section currently has stock of refurbed previous-models in dual 2.5GHz configurations at 24% off ($2299). That makes them cheaper than the new dual 2.3GHz machines. The main differences between the two are 8X single-layer vs. 16X dual-layer SuperDrive and 160GB vs. 250GB hard disks. Not much in after-market costs. I believe the RAM and video are identical (can anyone verify?) and the bus speed is actually slightly faster (1.25GHz vs 1.15GHz) in the older model!

  13. There's hope... on Asteroid 2004 MN4 May Hit Earth After All · · Score: 1
  14. Re:More baseless FoxNews bashing from liberals on Linus Defends Proprietary File Formats [Updated] · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yes, using a biased "watchdog" group to prove the other bias is a worthwhile argument.

    Careful with those quotation marks, your bias is showing. As I write this, the front page of Media Matters has articles about MSNBC, ABC & CBS. However, I can find no mention of Fox News on your MRC link. Is the FNC exempt from this "liberal media" moniker?

    Also, it's worth noting that at least part of your examples come from editorial opinion-type shows. Holding Fox as a whole responsible for bias in an opinion show is silly.

    Do you believe that the average television news viewer makes that distinction? Does the O'Reilly Factor carry a disclaimer that says, "The views expressed in this program are not necessarily those of the Fox News Channel?"

    Look, now the bias horserace is neck-and-neck!

    This sentence must be what got you the +1 Insightful mod. As long as news media is produced by humans, bias will be inherent. The only news media outlet I know of without notable bias is C-SPAN, and that's because they just show a video feed of the House & Senate floors with no commentary. That's not journalism, it's just reporting.

    In fact, I would argue that bias in journalism is important and desirable. Without it, the news regresses to a faux balance of "he said, she said" bullshit. My point was that the FNC has bias, not that the other media outlets do not.

  15. Re:More baseless FoxNews bashing from liberals on Linus Defends Proprietary File Formats [Updated] · · Score: 3, Interesting
  16. Re:Real world stories on Mac OS X Server Panther · · Score: 1

    scarolan (644274) writes:


    I wish OSX would support GUI sessions for concurrent users, either via VNC or something similar to XDMCP. I would replace our Linux LTSP server with OSX in a heartbeat if we could do it the thin-client way, but alas, I don't think Apple would ever do that. Not good for the bottom line, I"m afraid.



    Have you not heard of the fast user switching feature? It works great on OS X, but be forewarned about OS X Server: it isn't compatible with networked $HOME directories (via OpenDirectory), and when you try it, you get a very unhelpful error message: "Logging in to the account failed because an error occured." I expect that the next revision of OS X Server, due in a few months, will fix this.
  17. Re:Patriot Act on California Wants GPS Tracking Device in Every Car · · Score: 1
    As an aside: gawd, I hate their use of "patriot" that way, does anybody know the etymology of the word "patriot" with respect to this legislation?


    It's actually an acronym, "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001."

  18. Re:"Boxen" on EFF's Logfinder · · Score: 1

    What is the plural of virus?



    In case you actually know any Latin, there is some dispute over whether virus is a second-declension noun, like amicus, "friend," plural amici, or a fourth-declension, like status, plural statuses. Personally, I believe it was fourth-declension, but it was rarely used in Latin at all, anyway.

  19. Re:Only one first page... on Climbing up the Search Ladder · · Score: 1
  20. Re:Book to movie? on Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Screening Reviews · · Score: 1
  21. Re:No on Does Redskins Loss Presage A Kerry Win? · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I wish I had mod points, if only for that .sig!



    rectal rebuilding, ... and of course, moose bumbs.

  22. Re:Yes but not because of this superstitious crap. on Does Redskins Loss Presage A Kerry Win? · · Score: 4, Informative

    Now I can't find a link, but I'd swear I read an article this morning saying that Gallup (or some other big poller) just did an SMS survey and found that Kerry was way ahead with that group...



    Here is a link to a Daily Kos story from today. The polling was done by Zogby in partnership with Rock the Vote and Motorola. Here's Zogby's article. The Rock the Vote Mobile site is not responding for me at the moment.

  23. Re:Presentations... on New Apple iPod with Photo Capabilities · · Score: 1
    Use the included AV cable to connect iPod Photo to a projector or TV
    My digital camera has this ability too. I've used it once.. just to see if it worked. This feature is fairly useless. Anyone with a digital camera can already do this.
    Your digital camera won't play a multimedia slideshow -- with music.
  24. Re:A Rant on McDonald's and Sony Offer Music Downloads · · Score: 1

    Watch out for their french fries. They use beef flavoring (my emphasis):

    Potatoes, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural flavor ( beef source), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (to preserve natural color). Cooked in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (may contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated corn oil and/or partially hydrogenated canola oil and/or cottonseed oil and/or sunflower oil and/or corn oil).
  25. Re:PM is an acronym on The Future of Cars According to Toyota · · Score: 2, Informative