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User: peter303

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  1. "One laptop" program may be what you want on Ask Slashdot: Teaching Typing With Limited Electricity, Computers? · · Score: -1, Redundant

    An MIT professor designed low cost, self-powered lap top computers here .

  2. I compute a factor of 30. on Are SSDs Finally Worth the Money? · · Score: 1

    $740 for terabyte of solid state disk; $23 for a terabyte of magnetic disk. Perhaps it should have been $0.023 per gig.

  3. top-end or broad-middle jobs? on Why America's School "Lag" Has Never Mattered · · Score: 2

    I agree between the high end college graduates and immigration we probably have a near enough engineers and scientists in the US (despite spot shortages of programming fad of the year). However, we may not have enough of the broad middle-trained technicians to operate computerized machinery for manufacturing and clerical work. This is a niche where vocational schools, now rebranded and work-training community colleges could be expanded. However, during economic turmoil these have been under-funded.

  4. the demo on 60 Minutes looked convincing on 50 Years of Research and Still No Microwave Weapons · · Score: 1

    But I think it was "hell Mary" attempt by the contracted to get the military or police to buy one. The device requires a significant size truck mountable antenna. I think in real life the enemy could knock it out before it was deployed. There were rumors the Denver police were going to have one for the 2008 Democratic Convention, but they never materialized.

  5. divine an I-Ching hexagram on Ask Slashdot: How Much Is a Fun Job Worth? · · Score: 1

    One way is six coin flips for a broken or whole line. Then you look the commentary and read something very ambiguous. Sometimes it seems meaningful.

  6. tax audit bait on Ask Slashdot: When Is It a Good Idea To Incorporate? · · Score: 1

    Probably not going to pass an audit if you are going to tell the IRS that IT employees make $38K a year. Try documenting that with some professional society survey and the like. The IRS will use their own numbers for salaries if you cant give convincing documentation.

  7. even penny tax per share would halt most of this on More Warnings About High-Frequency Trading · · Score: 2

    Some firms post a million buy-sell orders a day, but only execute a few of them.

  8. preserved regions likely not junk on Function of 80% of the Human Genome Charted · · Score: 1

    It is being selected for to last for some function or another. The truly junk portions probably mutate rapidly within and across species. The so-called "10,000 human genome" database will help elucidate this.

  9. a book downloaded into DNA on Function of 80% of the Human Genome Charted · · Score: 1

    Four codons map define an ascii char (98 bits). Some stunt earlier this summer had a book encoded into DNA. The storage potential is vast. But the encoding and decoding is as currently rather slow.

  10. today was "round number" birthday: 35 years on 35 Years Later, Voyager 1 Is Heading For the Stars · · Score: 1

    The approximate age a slashdotter leaves his parents basement for an apartment :-)

  11. link for spaceprobe speeds on 35 Years Later, Voyager 1 Is Heading For the Stars · · Score: 1

    New Horizons had fastest Earth escape velocity. But it didnt have the gravitational slingslots of some of the other probes. Here is a list of velocities.

  12. "military mindset" in those days on What The Apollo 11 Crew Did For Life Insurance · · Score: 1

    Most of the astronauts were soldiers, or recent soldiers. NASA contractors followed the model of militiary contractors, on hog-heaven since winning WWII. Soldiers cant get significant life insurance because of the relatively high probability of their death.

    Ironically, Armstrong was from the nascent "civilian" side of NASA. That grew into dominance by the Shuttle age.

  13. clever idea! on Funky Flying Wing Rotates 90 Degrees To Go Supersonic · · Score: 1

    Minimal moving parts, save for the plane itself.

  14. Black holes heat up with time on NASA Uncovers Millions of New Black Holes · · Score: 1

    They evaporate over vast expanses of time (googol years). They get hotter as the become smaller. But the time an event horizon is around atomic size, they can reach trillions of degrees.

  15. Stellar+ black holes coldest thing in universe on NASA Uncovers Millions of New Black Holes · · Score: 1

    Temperatures measured in pico-kelvins

  16. first US sat 55 years discovered space radiation on NASA Launches Twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Suspected by van Allen, but took a satellite to prove it.
    We still dont fully understand how space weather works, nor how it interacts with the climate and human technology.

  17. not a single gasoline car gets that now on White House Finalizes 54.5 MPG Fuel Efficiency Standard · · Score: 1

    I dont see how they'll achieve this by 2025 unless they average in alot of this 99-mpg electrics. A Republican administrationin the meantime will moderate this regulation.

  18. you've heard of Christian Hell? on How Long Do You Want To Live? · · Score: 1

    Pain for eternity maybe based on a naughty few hours of life.

    Or a more existential Hell: a brief glimpse of God at Judgment. Then living only with yourself for the rest of eternity knowing what you missed.

  19. Budget $2000 / month for insurance in your 60s on Ask Slashdot: IT Contractors, How's Your Health Insurance? · · Score: 1

    Or more. There are two components tot he increase. First is medical inflation, doubling premiums every 7-10 years. Second is age increases, doubling every 10-15 years. Toss in a few doubling cycles until you are in late pre-Medicare years (60s), and its easily going to be triple figure monthly premiums, if not already.

  20. I hope insurance-reform part of ObamaCare survives on Ask Slashdot: IT Contractors, How's Your Health Insurance? · · Score: 1

    That is pretty much implemented already, with all pre-existing-conditions and purchase-exchanges left for 2014. The other part of Obamacare- the expansion of insurance to half of those who lack it now, also starts in 2014. Expansion includes the mandate, looser medicaid requirements, and insurance grants for the less well off. This second part has invoked big politcal controversy we dont need to talk about here.

  21. the courts will regulate this on Should Medical Apps Be Regulated? · · Score: 1

    If the app causes harm to somebody and there appears to be obvious negligence, e.g. advised the incorrect drug. All professionals need to worry about this whether in person or in an app.

  22. enough for about three more generators on Rover Fuel Came From Russian Nuke Factory, But Supplies Running Low · · Score: 1

    About 40 pounds left and ten required for a decent generator. Cant easily go past Mars without a generator. However the recently launched Jupiter Juno mission has massive solar panels - about the limit of this power source.

  23. NASA has a hundred execllent mission plans on Next Mars Mission Selected For Funding · · Score: 1

    It just looks like they'll be able to fund only two new ones the rest of the decade rather than the half dozen they hoped for. Both political parties want to cut NASA further, for different reasons.

  24. NASA got two spare Keyhole mirrors on Mirrors Finished For James Webb Space Telescope · · Score: 1

    This could be the seed of future Hubble telescope. It would still cost a lot to build a telescope around them and launch them.

  25. only space shuttle can maintain Hubble on Mirrors Finished For James Webb Space Telescope · · Score: 2

    And there are no more. Fortunately they squeezed in one last servicing mission among the Columbia disaster protocols and ISS completion. That may keep Hubble going until 2020. Probably will still be a gap until Webb is operational. Gyro failures are the most likely cause of Hubble end.