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User: vekrander

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  1. Re:Is this "it" ? on NASA's Orion Moon Craft Unveiled · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately, no. Lockheed-Martin is a publicly held corporation. Going through with this would not be approved by their board of directors, vice presidents or stock holders unless it could be shown to be profitable in the long run. This capsule will be paid for, that is if it isn't paid for already. I would assume it's all been taken care of, courtesy of tax payers. I'd bet you everything I have against this being a charitable donation to the government in the name of science.

  2. Re:Doomed on Michael Moore Posts Julian Assange's Bail · · Score: 1

    Maybe he's remembering this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOVXh4xM-Ww. It was Jim Kramer on CNBC. Not CNN but he really rages after about 2 minutes into the video. All of this happened a bit before the market went to hell.

  3. Re:tough choice on How To Deflect an Asteroid With Today's Technology · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    The middle east, if possible, obviously.

  4. Early Detection on How To Deflect an Asteroid With Today's Technology · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The most beneficial thing we could do is build a system to detect such asteroids as early as possible. Once located, it's easy to deflect an asteroid that's far away. A small nudge or impact from a probe or the like would push it out of an intercept course while it's still far away. The closer it gets, the more force is required to push it off at an angle that will keep it out of our way. It may take a few newtons of force to deflect an astroid coming in from as far away as saturn, but much more to deflect an asteroid that's already close to mars.

    I guess in simpler terms, if we had a really awesome early detection system, all we need is a small rocket launched from the ISS to impact it, wheras with a crappy system, we need Bruce Willis.

  5. Re:And those who onlyTHINK they would be superhero on Study Finds Most Would Become Supervillians If Given Powers · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Have you ever read a comic book before, let alone a movie? Almost every issue you've raised is addressed in some story or another from Superman rejecting his power (the world is promptly asked to kneel before Zod). The first thing Peter Parker does is act for self gain and he sees that his family is promptly met with demise. In the watchman, Dr. Manhattan quickly becomes indifferent, while Ozymandias quickly decides that the ends justify the means. Honestly, I think we already know all of the possibilities if we look at all of the alternate universes humanity has scribed that contain such people. In the end it really comes down to the personality of the person wielding the power.

    It's really not so much different from becoming a public official. Do you vote to ban cable competitors from your district in return for Comcast financing your re-election? Well, you believe that the health care initiative you're trying to pass is for the greater good so you have to be there to get it through. So you take the money, but then they ask you to sign ACTA. But think of the children without health care. Some people will stick to their virtues and others will fall into corruption. If my both the study and my analogy are correct, then yes, the slide into corruption is slippery indeed.

  6. Re:Hooray for freedom on HDCP Master Key Revealed · · Score: 1

    And it's never been a crime to quote Shakespeare or Stephen King, but it's much more difficult to show your friends a clip from a movie that you don't own.

  7. Re:I'll probably be dead by then, right? on 1-in-1,000 Chance of Asteroid Impact In ... 2182? · · Score: 1

    Wait this is Slashdot... Napoleon: Total War

  8. House did it... on Man Wants to Donate His Heart Before He Dies · · Score: 1

    There's an episode where House shows a guy how to do the deed and do the least damage to his organs so he can donate them to his son. I forget why there was a sense of urgency. In any case, I forget if and how it all worked out as well. Certainly not something to be replicated in this situation. There's no TV magic to make it all work out IRL.

  9. Re:What about men? on Good SAT Scores Lead To Higher Egg Donor Prices · · Score: 1

    There actually are places out there where you can get paid a premium on your donation if you fulfill certain characteristics. While SAT scores don't typically fetch higher prices, a man's profession can fetch them higher values particularly if they are a doctor or lawyer. Racial or ethnic background can add to the value as the price paid for the specimen depends on what has a high demand at the bank.

  10. Re:Fuck exceptions for religion on Jobcentre Apologizes For Anti-Jedi Discrimination · · Score: 1

    although to be honest, in that case your violation doesn't harm anyone else

    While you would think not, it depends on the circumstances. In the states, or specifically in my state, Virginia, insurance is required (mostly) and seat belts are required. The reasoning being that despite the fact that while I don't care so much if a person kicks the bucket because they swerved into a tree while not wearing a seat belt, the fact is you are a lot more likely to sustain serious injuries while not wearing a seat belt. Whether it is inflicted by the non-seat-belt-wearer or by someone that hits that person, an insurance company is going to have to pay a large bill. Then when they run the numbers to see how much they should charge everyone, the premiums go up because the company will certainly not carry the risk caused by non-seat-belt wearers. So in the end, someone elses decision to not wear a helmet or seat belt may harm your wallet. In any case, that's how it was explained to me that people should wear seat belts or helmets (by law) even though the first thought is that it will only harm themselves.

  11. Re:USAA has been doing this for years on Deposit Checks To Your Bank By Taking a Photo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The only reason for mailing here is that USAA doesn't have physical branches in every state but is still available there. Of course to remedy that you can deposit@home with a scanner as I have for two years without any issues. Also, they credit your account instantly as well. Then when you need to go to an ATM and you get charged fees for using one that isn't in your banks network, they pay fee on your behalf. Overall, I would rate them very successful as far as doing everything I used to do at my physical bank, except the convenience is better. Now why would someone use a bank that they can't physically go to? Personally, I do it for the customer service. I'm not sure exactly how their banking branch is, but their insurance branch is owned by the policy holders, which I also am a member of and the service there is what convinced me to use them as my financial institution. Either way, they've proved to me that there are many less reasons to need a physical bank now.

  12. This is quite unfortunate... on Disposable Toilet To Change the World · · Score: 5, Funny

    Too bad for Nintendo as I hear Peepoo was supposed to be the name of their next gen console. It actually works with their current naming scheme too. Wii (We) Peepoo (People).

  13. Why use classical? on Using Classical Music As a Form of Social Control · · Score: 1

    There are a lot of sounds out there that would deter youths. There's the high frequency range that's audible to only younger people that is supposed to work great. Just blaring some Nickelback be would have been enough to keep me from going anywhere near a place.

  14. I never realized on Passage of Time Solves PS3 Glitch · · Score: 1

    that the PS3 was powered by the Zune...

  15. the goatsenet on Passive-Aggressive Wi-Fi Hotspots · · Score: 1

    If I'm feeling like a real jerk, I'll name my SSID to goatsenet and forward google.com to goatse, msn to lemonparty and so on. If enough people do this, in the future, simply naming your network goatsenet will be deterrent enough.

  16. What about the other robot... on Lego Robot Solves Any Rubik's Cube In 12 Seconds · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure what's more impressive, the one that solves the cube or the one that does sudoku. While solving the sudoku is trivial, the OCR it performs appears interesting, and to say the least, programming it to write with a pencil must have been incredibly tough.

  17. Re:What a doorknob on Google Considered Too Big To Fail · · Score: 1

    I think his reasoning was that having a competitor that raises the average cost of labor and price of cars isn't so beneficial for consumers. Allowing them to fail would show the others that efficiency and competitiveness is required in addition to being able to make cars. Also, allowing them to fail would force the other companies to make more cars to meet demand, which also increases efficiency as it spreads R&D costs of a single car variant to more buyers. Interesting indeed.

  18. Re:Moron on Ballmer Hits 10th Anniversary As Microsoft CEO · · Score: 1

    While Bush made it through all 8, it's easier to please Joe American Public and keep your job, especially when the other contenders for it are equally moronic. Steve Ballmer who has stockholders to answer to. It's always tougher when there's money involved.

  19. Re:IBM has an excellant defense strategy . . . on BetaNet Sues Everyone For Remote SW Activation · · Score: 0

    "unless a business method patent for patent trolling has been granted by the USPTO"

    It's a shame that there's prior art for:

    Step 1: Patent every idea you have, however minuscule and unprepared you are to implement it

    Step 2: ???

    Step 3: Profit.

  20. Classics on Science Gifts For Kids? · · Score: 1

    Oh boy, reminds me of when I was young. Legos are great. If they have any sort of video gaming system the game of tetris is sure to enhance their visual/spacial recognition as well. I went straight down this path when I was younger:

    Year By Year Starting at age 7:
    Tetris
    Legos
    Microscope
    Telescope
    Crystal Growing Set
    Rock/Geology Set
    Chemestry Set
    Lego Mindstorms (Legos + mechanics + rudimentary system of programming = awesome!)
    Model Rockets/Model Airplanes
    .
    .
    .

    Age 21:
    GPS

    22:
    New Suit because I need to go get a job (in Engineering)

    As far as places to go, my parents had to get those things at toy stores/hobby shops because they were not as well acquainted with the series of tubes. Nowadays there's thinkgeek, newegg, buy.com, amazon.com the latter ones being more generic. For the budding teenage computer engineer heavy into microelectronics, try sparkfun. Best of luck!

  21. Tweak the OS on Are There Affordable Low-DPI Large-Screen LCD Monitors? · · Score: 1

    If you're on a Windows box, you can achieve the same overall effect by increasing the size of your icons and fonts. A quick tip for most internet browsers is that you can change the size of things on a web page by holding control and then using the scroll wheel on your mouse. This works for almost everything in Microsoft office as well. There are a lot of useability options rolled in there, believe it or not so I'd say take the 20 minutes to learn to tweak your OS and you can save the hundreds of $ you'd spend on a new monitor.

  22. Re:Because I Said So, That's Why! on NASA's LCROSS Mission Proves Lunar Ice Suspicions · · Score: 1

    It's possible that, for the sake of the earth impact moon creation theory, that the object contained water. On the other hand, it's very likely that the earth already had some, if not most of the water that it has in it's current state. Water is not hard to come by in our solar system by any means (see: Mars, Europa, Charon). Being that there is little we can conclude about the formation of the moon, I believe there's little reason to think that the Earth's present amount of water came from outside sources. Occam's razor would suggest that Earth's water formed from the large amount of hydrogen and oxygen present during the early stages of its formation.

  23. Re:Geneva Conventions on MPAA Shuts Down Town's Municipal WiFi Over 1 Download · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So the MPAA is clearly then allowed to treat civilians worse than people being occupied in wartime by any country that has signed the Geneva Convention?

  24. Re:Entitlement on Cable Exec Suggests Changing Consumer Behavior, Not Business Model · · Score: 1

    Remember that out there exists a person who wants telemundo who has to pay for ESPN, G4, Discovery, or whatever you're interested in so they can watch their channel. I'm all for cheaper options but if you google a la cart cable, you'll find a lot of arguments against it that have studies showing you may end up paying more depending on what you want. While you are subsidizing other peoples channels, other people are subsidizing yours. Unfortunately this system results in the communistic, channel overloaded, profit driven system we have today, but if we didn't have this then some channels might be tossed out by the wayside.

    I'll admit some of these studies are probably payed for by cable companies and I wouldn't cry if MTV2 were to disappear forever. Of course there would be a lot of teens crying because they're missing out on "Yo, dawg, I heard you like cars..."

  25. I guess there's no tag for on FCC Considers Opening Up US Broadband Access · · Score: 4, Funny

    a-compelling-study-on-a-slow-moving-possible-future-outbreak-of-common-sense