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User: The+Grim+Reefer

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  1. Re: on How Civilizations Can Spread Across a Galaxy · · Score: 1

    I can't say I've really given it much thought, but is there even enough material in the entire solar system to build a Dyson sphere in the habitable zone? Not to mention enough suitable material. It's going to take more than a planet, or a few moons, I would think.

  2. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders on US Slaps Sanctions On North Korea After Sony Cyberattack · · Score: 5, Funny

    "You can't believe everything you read on the internet"

    -Abraham Lincoln

  3. Re:Can't DRM or Root Kit Vinyl on Vinyl's Revival Is Now a Phenomenon On Both Sides of the Atlantic · · Score: 1

    If you were to copy your Vinyl you will need to use the Analog copy method, which you can do with every other form of digital music.

    I can take music off my phone, plug in the headphone jack to a Tape Recorder or to one of many digitial recorders. Then you can copy your music from one media to an other.

    However being analog every copy will be degraded, so each copy of a copy will have limited sharing resource. Vinyl being all Analog makes it the perfect DRM.

    Um, no. You aren't going to copy it from one vinyl record to another vinyl record. Nor are you going to copy it from cassette tape to cassette tape, like the old days. It will go from vinyl to digital . There will be no further degradation from one digital copy to another after that, unless more compression is used.

    If you have new record, a decent turntable and stylus, feeding a good AD converter and something like Cool Edit. You're going to get a pretty good sounding digital file. Certainly no worse than 128 bit MP3's

  4. Re:One fiber to rule them... on Google Fiber's Latest FCC Filing: Comcast's Nightmare Come To Life · · Score: 2

    What city do you live in where its acceptable to go 2 months without city provided services?

    I hear that's the average 911 response time in some areas of Detroit these days.

  5. Re:Speaking of Board games... on Designing the Best Board Game · · Score: 1

    It was called The Landlord's Game and was invented by Elizabeth Magie.

  6. Re:Speaking of Board games... on Designing the Best Board Game · · Score: 1

    Do you know this history of Monopoly? No, it wasn't invented by Charles Darrow.

    It was a woman. Whose credit for the game is still widely ignored. What was her name? Apparently nobody cares!

    It was also originally much more complicated than what was released as Monopoly.

  7. Re:Those backwards Ruskies on War Tech the US, Russia, China and India All Want: Hypersonic Weapons · · Score: 2

    There is zero chance that we'll take out even a significant fraction of the enemy boats right away. I have more respect for the Russians than that.

    Agreed. Though I still reminisce about the times prior to John Walker when we had an attack sub trailing almost every Soviet sub.

  8. Re:Those backwards Ruskies on War Tech the US, Russia, China and India All Want: Hypersonic Weapons · · Score: 1

    Very true. But I would guess that if the US gets into a shooting war with Russia P-8's will be dropping active sonobuoys all over the place.

    Unless the Sea Wolf and Virginia class attack subs manage to take out every Russian sub right away. Or happen to be in the area and are already tracking them.

  9. Re:"increased productivity" on Pew Survey: Tech Increases Productivity, But Also Time Spent Working · · Score: 2

    It kind of reminds me of this PSA

  10. Re:Those backwards Ruskies on War Tech the US, Russia, China and India All Want: Hypersonic Weapons · · Score: 2

    By using active sonar you tell the enemy where you are. A dumb decision. Necessary maybe but incredibly dumb.

    That depends. The P-3 Orion, P-8 Poseidon use active sonar buoys. And when the MQ-4C Triton goes into service, the P-8 will focus more on sub hunting.

  11. Re:yeah not really on Peter Diamandis: Technology Is Dissolving National Borders · · Score: 1

    i have more in common with some random dudes on the internet, than with some of my neighbours .

    I've found that to be the case most of my life. Well, at least after the internet came along. But then I live in the US. It tends to work that way here. We're a nation of immigrants, except for the extremely small fraction of a percentage of the indigenous population that our ancestors and/or predecessors didn't kill.

    I am amazed at how different this is in most other countries though. If you go to the EU there are all these little countries that do a great job of maintaining their national identity. In the US we tend to assimilate just about everything.

  12. Re:*sigh* on NSA Says They Have VPNs In a 'Vulcan Death Grip' · · Score: 1

    At some point, we will all just disconnect and call it a day.. Then what will they do?

    Send an MQ-9 Reaper to "deliver" a Hellfire missile to your residence. Obviously if you are offline you have something to hide. And if you have something to hide, you must be a terrorist.

  13. Re:Kind of disappointed in him. on Neil DeGrasse Tyson Explains His Christmas Tweet · · Score: 2

    Why make up new words when there are perfectly good ones that better describe what you're saying anyway?

    It embiggens the English vocabulary. Do you have any idea how many words William Shakespeare made up? Language evolves. If you don't like it, then start speaking Latin.

  14. Nobel? on The Interview Bombs In US, Kills In China, Threatens N. Korea · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "It is powerful because it depicts Kim Jong-un as a vain, buffoonish despot, alternating between threats and weeping that he's been misunderstood. The people around him have all the signs of fear you might expect with a despot â" they second-guess his likes and dislikes. Maybe he â" and they â" were right to fear the film. North Korean defectors sometimes smuggle USB sticks with films and soaps into the closed-off country, and there is a view in the south that these are a particularly powerful means of undermining the regime in Pyongyang. If that's so, The Interview might be a good candidate for inclusion."

    If nothing else, it's rather sad that Seth Rogen and James Franco are able to have a bigger impact on North Korea than sanctions and every diplomat and US president since the end of the Korean War.

    This sounds like Nobel Peace Prize buzz to me. ;-)

  15. How low do you think their typical operational ceiling will be? These aren't bi-planes flying during WWI. While the F-35 is supposed to be able to take over for the A-10 in close air support, it's not even remotely designed for it, and will never be effective at it. The F-35 is not as robust, cannot fly as slow, nor loiter nearly as long. In the end it either won't be used in that role, or will be discontinued in that role as it will be a miserable failure at close air support. In it's typical operational altitude, smoke will not be and issue.

  16. Re:The Navy sucks at negotiating on US Navy Sells 'Top Gun' Aircraft Carrier For One Penny · · Score: 1

    I know. I was being facetious.

  17. Re:The Navy sucks at negotiating on US Navy Sells 'Top Gun' Aircraft Carrier For One Penny · · Score: 1

    Hell, one Ohio class submarine has more destructive capacity than the entire Navy from 1945.

    Which means absolutely nothing because you can't actually use any of that firepower in any conflict short of "Civilization as we know it is coming to an end." That's not to dispute the rest of your points, which are mostly valid, but let us leave the SSBN out of the calculation of modern naval firepower. They have a specific mission: deterrence. The day they are called upon to loft their birds is the day that mission has failed.

    Yes, by today's standards. But you made a comparison to a time when the US actually was willing to, and did use atomic bombs in anger. Do you think the US would have shown the same restraint in January of 1945 if they had an Ohio class sub? My guess is that all 24 Trident II SLBMs would have been MIRVed and every one would have had 8 physics packages. They would have been willing to launch every single one at that point in time. Just as they nuked Nagasaki three days after Hiroshima because the Japanese asked for four conditions to surrender rather than unconditionally.

  18. Re:The Navy sucks at negotiating on US Navy Sells 'Top Gun' Aircraft Carrier For One Penny · · Score: 5, Insightful

    On August 14 1945, the Navy had in active service 23 battleships, 28 fleet carriers, 71 escort carriers, 72 cruisers, 377 destroyers, 361 frigates, and 232 subs: a total of 6786 ships, including auxiliaries. The total personnel strength was 3.4 million.

    Imagine that, we had a shitload of active warships and manpower in the US Navy fourteen days prior to the surrender of Japan during WWII. That was almost 4 years after Pearl Harbor. What was the US Navy looking like in 1939? Nowhere near what it was at the end of the Pacific campaign.

    On September 30 2006, the Navy had 0 battleships, 12 carriers, 27 cruisers, 54 destroyers, 35 frigates, and 74 subs: a total of 318 ships including auxiliaries. The total personnel strength was 0.35 million.

    And what was the destructive capacity of the Navy in 2006 compared to August 1945? Hell, one Ohio class submarine has more destructive capacity than the entire Navy from 1945. As cool as battleships are, they are a relic and have no real function in the current military. A single carrier group from the current Nimitz class could obliterate all 28 fleet carriers and support ships before they even knew what had happened. Technology has made the requirement for massive amounts of ships meaningless. The amount of manpower is also significantly reduced. You also can't compare the necessary number of ships during a massive multi-year war to post cold war times. Iraq, Afghanistan, etc are regional conflicts at best and not even against the country itself. Massive amounts of firepower are generally not wise when fighting insurgents. You don't carpet bomb an entire village when there are only 4 hostiles in it. .

    The size has shrunk considerably since 2006. This despite having twice the national population to draw upon. The Navy can barely man its ships, let alone sparing "manpower" for non-essential tasks. And just like the merchant marine, knowledge, specialties, and capabilities have been cut way back. There are no more hundreds of sailors manning the engine rooms in large ships. The engines are automated.

    The cold war is over and the US is not at war with any large governments any longer. Why would you want more men when the ships have become more efficient and have so much more firepower? Look at the number of men in the Iraqi military compared to the US. How did those superior numbers work out for them? In the case of carriers they are also nuclear. You don't need men to shovel coal into boilers any longer either.

  19. Re:Communist "loyalty" exam... on North Korean Defector Spills Details On the Country's Elite Hacking Force · · Score: 2

    Sure they do. But leaving the country and leaving life are often the same in this case. I'm not sure many people would choose to leave. It's my understanding that those people in this group are treated extremely well. Especially compared to the average citizens of North Korea. Plus I'm sure if you have and love your family you're not going to screw it up for them either.

  20. Re:more NOS and less lense flare on "Star Trek 3" To Be Helmed By "Fast & Furious" Franchise Director Justin Lin · · Score: 1

    Has to be better than Star Trek 2

    I don't know. I thought when Benedict Cumberbatch introduced himself to Kirk and Spock was freaking hilarious. "My... Name... is,,, Khaaa-na!" Not "Khan Noonien Singh". Just "Khaaa-na"

    I so wanted to see Kirk reply. "Nice to meet you Khaaa Nah. I'm Ka-eeeeerk"

    Apparently no one else was named Khan in the past 300 years since his disappearance. It would be like Jack the Ripper showing up and introducing himself to someone today at "Jaaa-ck" and expecting them to know who is was.

    Who introduces them self that way? I think I'll try that during my next job interview.

  21. Re:Us, not them on Argentine Court Rules Orangutan Is a "Non-Human Person" · · Score: 1

    Please don't misunderstand me.I was one of those kids who brought home every wounded or orphaned animal I found as a kid and raised or nursed them back to health. I haven't changed much and have kept animals most of my life and feel they should be treated well. But to claim they have a sense of "humanity" is a little strange to me and anthropomorphizes most (if not all) beyond reason.

    Did the dog in the example you mentioned not take the flavorless treat because it thought it was "unfair" or because it simply didn't find the treat appealing? Even if it was due to it being unfair, that's hardly a human only trait. My daughter had a pet rat who would turn down treats it liked if it thought you had something else that it liked even better.

    Dogs have been domesticated for a very long time. Longer than recorded history. When I was young I read that dogs wagging their tails when they are happy was not something that they naturally did. I never really believed it. But I had a wolf hybrid, when I was in my late teens, who didn't wag his tail. I also found a stray German Shepherd who was on his own for most of the first two years of his life. He never wagged his tail either. I currently have a two year old Doberman who was given virtually no human or animal contact for the first 9 months of her life and was in a shelter for over a year after that. I've had her for close to a year now and she has just recently started wagging her tail(nub) as she's seen our other two dogs doing it.

    Dogs are pack animals and have a very strict hierarchy. They protect the pack and, in most cases, their humans are the alphas.

  22. Re:At a guess . . . on Study: Light-Emitting Screens Before Bedtime Disrupt Sleep · · Score: 1

    There have been numerous studies that show the color of the light also has a surprising impact on sleep too. Blue light is more disruptive than red or yellow prior to going to sleep.

  23. Re:About time Amazon cracked down on this on Amazon "Suppresses" Book With Too Many Hyphens · · Score: 1

    Well he did say they used an algorithm to make this determination. Apparently it's not a very good one.

  24. Re:Us, not them on Argentine Court Rules Orangutan Is a "Non-Human Person" · · Score: 2

    How we treat animals, children, and people "weaker" than ourselves says a lot more about *our* humanity than theirs.Â

    Please do enlighten us about the humanity of animals.

  25. Re:About time Amazon cracked down on this on Amazon "Suppresses" Book With Too Many Hyphens · · Score: 3

    Which notes did you have in mind?