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User: peter303

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  1. "Shaka-ri has been found!" on Heart of the Milky Way Photos From NASA · · Score: 0

    Sybok in Star Trek V.

  2. WAY INCORRECT - congress can do public option on Landmark Health Insurance Bill Passes House · · Score: 1

    The bill has a special cluase allowing them to sign up for the public option- section 330. The oridnary public cannot sign up unless they are not covered by employer insurnce for at least six months.

  3. I am a figment of the GooglePlex imagination on Dashboard Reveals What Google Knows About You · · Score: 1

    I dont not really exist, save as an extension of the GooglePlex.
    And I will never die, living forever in the GooglePlex.

  4. imagine sentence for leaving light on overnight on Murderer With "Aggression Genes" Gets Reduced Sentence · · Score: 1

    And adding a couple extra pounds of carbon to the air. Probably worse than this if you believe all the climate hysteria on the other side of the ocean.

  5. ditto NM, AZ and NV in USA on Giant Rift In Africa Will Create a New Ocean · · Score: 1

    The "basin and range" area in the USA is a slow tectonic spreading ridge. It has nearly doubled in width in the past 50 million years, resulting in down-dropped valleys and significant volcanism. Sometimes these spreading regions eventually stop as the tectonic plates alter configuration. Or they progress into full-fledged oceans.

  6. GUIs, games, compilers used to be called AI on IT Snake Oil — Six Tech Cure-Alls That Went Bunk · · Score: 1

    It just when some aspect of symbolic computing is successful, its not really considered AI anymore and the goal changes. Or it was any computing technology to emerge from an AI laboratory was considered AI'ish.

    Some researchers divided this into "soft" and "hard" AI. The later would be someone conversational humna-like mentality. The former is any software technology along the way.

  7. newspapers commit suicide with poor pricing on Paywalls To Drive Journalists Away In Addition To Consumers? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd support up to a dollar per week, 20% discount for year-paid, for a couple of may favorite online news sites. But not $250 a year. Printing and distribution costs are nearly negligible then. All the money would go to paying reportors and editors. It sounds like the print media did not learn the "Goldilocks" online music tale: CDs too much, napster too little and iTunes about right. When you get it right you'll have paying customers.

  8. I prefer edited media - print these days on Journalists Looking For Government Money · · Score: 1

    I prefer articles that have been edited for accuracy and English usage. This could be either print or electronic. However most electronc sources- called blogs- are not edited for either. They are often a waste of time then.

  9. this is a staple in numerical analysis courses on Why Computers Suck At Math · · Score: 1

    Error analysis is important part of your basic graduate level numerical analysis course. This occurs in the floating point approximations used in most computers. Also large matrix calculations which can multiply and sum numbers a huge amount of times.

  10. worry about buying Gulf of Mexico oil leases on Chinese To Supply 600 MW Wind Farm In Texas · · Score: 1

    There are are not restrictions on who drills in Gulf. British, Dutch and France companies have been doing so for decades. They then usually distribute production in the US which reduces transport costs and makes more profit. But their shareholders keep the profits. Its not clear whether China would ship their oil to back home to statisfy the worlds 2nd largest oil market.

    Some of the best virgin prospects are just south of the border in Cuban territory. Everyone execpt US companies are drilling there now.

  11. "One Second After" book - no electricity on What If They Turned Off the Internet? · · Score: 1

    The premise is all electricity stops working in the USA (maybe rest of the world) probably due to a mssive EMP pulse. Its suggested this comes from a set of nukes. Or it could have come from a massive solar storm like that of 1859.

  12. googles success rate is pretty low on Google To Take On iTunes? · · Score: 1

    Only a fraction of google's software offerings beat the competition. And even smaller fraction of that make any money. Most dies a slow death fallingoff the edge to the google toolbar.

  13. Steve Jobs input? on Disney Close To Unveiling New "DVD Killer" · · Score: 1

    He is on the board of directors. And I believe he may be the largest individual shareholder. Both of these as a result of the Pixar sale.

  14. moved 122 degrees, 19 minutes west on 125 Years of Longitude 0 0' 00" At Greenwich · · Score: -1, Troll

    Prime Meridian now goes through Redmond Washington on all MSFT maps.

  15. doesnt convincing rule out weather effects on Cosmic Radiation Makes Trees Grow Faster · · Score: 1

    And weather could be affected by solar cycles. The correlation is there, but not a clear causal link. Solar minimums tend to be cooler periods, e.g. 2008 & 2009.

  16. two possible innovations on Sony Demo'ing 360 Degree 3-D Tabletop Display · · Score: 1

    1) Removal of flicker. In spinning mirror either mechanics or electronics couldnt really update the outer voxels fast enough, so you'd see flicker.

    2) Implementation of the color "black". You can get a void with a spinning mirror, but no absence of light, e.g. black. The picture in the article appears to have lots of black in it.

  17. tuition increase due to government subsidies on Student Loan Interest Rankles College Grads · · Score: 1

    If college education was an open market, they'd run out of students who could afford to pay.
    I cringe whn I hear of some new government program or subsidy. Because it will be throwing more fuel on the price fire.

  18. these are like "smashing Moore;s Law" articles on VASIMR Ion Engine Could Cut Mars Trip To 39 Days · · Score: 1

    Only a tiny percent of them are commercially viable.
    But enough to keep the trend going.

  19. if/when Apple enters the fray ... on Google Takes On Amazon With Own E-Book Store · · Score: 1

    In the same way Apple clarified the emusic market with the iTune store, it might be able to clean up the conflicted ebook market too. Before iTune priracy was the norm and content was scattered with uneven qaulity.

    Wired had an article today that Apple was changing it online store models to facilitate the sale of content on iPod/iTouch devices. And its ebook hardware may be a giant iTouch/iTablet in the near future.

  20. gesture recognition (Minority report) on 10/GUI — an Interface For Multi-Touch Input · · Score: 1

    Why settle for just 10 finger tips? Go for the whole hand, arm or body like in deaf-language. There are people working on this.

  21. "slash-slash" blog site on Tim Berners-Lee Is Sorry About the Slashes · · Score: 1

    A nice name for a new blog site. Maybe I'll create it.

  22. lawyer si a fancy name for clerk on Blogger Loses Unemployment Check Because of Ads · · Score: 1

    The majority or lawyers do not come from big name law schools or on the partner-track in a big-name firm. They grind out contracts for businesses at very modest wages. thats when they can find a position.

  23. when can I order the Marge Simpson fembot? on Marge Simpson Poses For Playboy · · Score: 1

    A fembot is a "physiologically correct" female robot. I heard this term in Speilberg's A.I. movie.

  24. any bio-passenger would turn into jelly on Hyperdrive Propulsion Could Be Tested At the LHC · · Score: 0

    At those accerelations.
    Perhaps useful for robotic exploration.

  25. is the world ready for another Star Trek series? on Stargate Universe · · Score: 1

    One based on Academy life, like in the most recent movie. Roddenberry had proposed such, but never implmented it.