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User: Steve+Franklin

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  1. Re:RETAIL spying... on Justice Dept. Asked For Broad Swath of IndyMedia's Visitor Records · · Score: 1

    Rumor has it these guys are working on a method of accessing alternate realities so they can spy on their communications as well. After all, we wouldn't want somebody walking around loose who was thinking of committing a terrorist act in an alternate reality, would we?

  2. Re:LyX on How To Enter Equations Quickly In Class? · · Score: 1

    It's only a misuse if you can show that it was used *originally* in a different manner. This is the argument used against "oxymoron." Supposedly "smart moron" was originally used to mean something completely different. Can this guy demonstrate that "steep learning curve" was ever used to mean easy and not hard? Looking at Webster's New Collegiate, the last and presumably most recent entry for steep is 4: "difficult to accept, meet, or perform." Clearly, this was the original meaning of the term. Why does this guy think it's wrong?

  3. Re:LyX on How To Enter Equations Quickly In Class? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes, indeed. Actually, it makes perfect sense. "Steep" is a metaphor based on climbing a hill, where the steeper it is the harder it is to get to the top. Does this really escape some folks?

  4. Re:Advertising on Amazon Patents Changing Authors' Words · · Score: 4, Funny

    Scientists point out problems. Engineers use them to kill people overseas.

  5. Re:Assuming... on "2012" a Miscalculation; Actual Calendar Ends 2220 · · Score: 1

    Just to put another spin on this: There is a long-term cometary-meteoric cycle whose current period is somewhere around 105 years, the last two events of which were the fall of 3000 meteorites at L'Aigle in Normandy on April 26, 1803, and the event at Tunguska, Siberia, on June 30, 1908. That would put the next event toward late August, 2013. End of the world? Probably not. Big surprise if a piece of it lands on New York City? Definitely. Did the Mayans have this particular cycle in mind when they drew up their calendar? Your guess is as good as mine. For all the data, see here: http://neros.lordbalto.com/ChapterEight.htm

  6. Re:96 pixels wide by 128 pixels tall on Sony Demo'ing 360 Degree 3-D Tabletop Display · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I'm still trying to figure what it actually looks like, too. The description was obviously written by the same guy who used to write the Sony user's manuals that talked about the "equipments."

  7. Re:"Papers Please" on Kaspersky CEO Wants End To Online Anonymity · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I point out the most blatant inconsistency in the entire 9-11 cover story and I become "an idiot" in the eyes of those who confuse advanced degrees with real science. Whether or not you think, or believe, or doubt, or reject outright that WTC7 was demolished, it was necessary on a purely scientific level to look for explosives. That would have been the scientific thing to do. SCIENCE DOES NOT ASSUME ITS CONCLUSIONS. If knowing that makes me an "idiot," then we need a few more "idiots" in this world and a few less smart guys like you, sir.

  8. Re:"Papers Please" on Kaspersky CEO Wants End To Online Anonymity · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Let's see, WTC 7 comes down in a manner that looks for all the world like a controlled demolition and the "scientists" investigating the event don't bother to look for explosives? And I'm supposed to accept the official government line that 19 Arabs, some of whom are still alive and flying for Saudi Airlines, really did it? At this point, how many years into the Iraq Oil War, anybody who takes any of this nonsense seriously just isn't paying attention. So what are these characters at NIST? Are they idiots? Incompetents? Accomplices after the fact? Just scared shitless that they're going to be murdered if they do a real investigation? This whole case stinks so bad, I would have to see some hard evidence that anyone on any of those four airplanes had ever even looked a photograph of Saudi Arabia. If there was any hard evidence, they would have tripped over themselves to show it to us already. There is none.

  9. Re:Hypotheticals to muse upon on Fossil Primate Ardipithecus Ramidus Described (Finally) · · Score: 1

    Explanation for this gap? Do you not understand that not every dead body is fossilized? That not one body in a hundred is fossilized? That not one body in 1,000,000 is fossilized? It's a crap shoot really. Sometimes you get lucky. I'd say that for a random occurrence this latest discovery is extraordinarily lucky and you should be thankful for the light it sheds on your origins. When's the last time you saw a fossil of the intermediary step between wild corn and modern corn? Do you not, therefore, believe in corn on the cob?

  10. Re:Hypotheticals to muse upon on Fossil Primate Ardipithecus Ramidus Described (Finally) · · Score: 1

    As someone who actually does possess all knowledge, I would just like to point out that 1) most evolutionary jumps have resulted from astronomical factors, directly or indirectly, and 2) your fly is open.

  11. Re:Hypotheticals to muse upon on Fossil Primate Ardipithecus Ramidus Described (Finally) · · Score: 1

    How many genes are you modifying? 8, 10, a 1000, all multiple 10s of thousands? And assuming this modified creature looked like a human, I'd have to assume it's mostly human and has human ancestry.

  12. Re:Creation Theory on Fossil Primate Ardipithecus Ramidus Described (Finally) · · Score: 1

    Did he use his froggy magic twanger or did he just invent evolution and let statistics do the work for him?

  13. Re:Science on Fossil Primate Ardipithecus Ramidus Described (Finally) · · Score: 0

    Actually, assuming the apes are descended from monkeys, we ARE descended from monkeys, just farther back.

  14. Re:Science on Fossil Primate Ardipithecus Ramidus Described (Finally) · · Score: 1

    Keep in mind that this common ancestor most likely didn't walk on two legs, wasn't hairless, and probably couldn't control its breathing, making it impossible to either talk or swim. So, yes, chimps certainly must have evolved somewhat, but not as much as humans and not in anything resembling the same direction. Therefore, this common ancestor was an ape (not a "monkey" as some insist on suggesting), though not a "modern" ape.

    Also, no one seems to have pointed out, this creature bears a strong resemblance to modern yeti/sasquatch/bigfoot sightings.

  15. Re:Science on Fossil Primate Ardipithecus Ramidus Described (Finally) · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I am reminded of the Star Trek TNG episode where these guys who looked like a cross between a lizard and a human refused to admit the obvious fact that they were descended from dinosaurs.

  16. Re:Holy shit? on Heart Monitors In Middle School Gym Class? · · Score: 1

    God, a doctor who understands that everybody isn't exactly the same! How the hell did you slip through medical school?

  17. Re:But... on Nissan Gives Electric Cars Blade Runner Audio Effect · · Score: 1

    You guys have obviously never lived next to a busy street. Quiet is GOOD! Noise is BAD! This sounds an awful lot like a "red flag law [see Wikipedia]."

  18. Re:very pretty on First Look At Wild New "Level 10" Concept PC Case · · Score: 1

    I think he meant "weigh." I just got finished building a new computer inside of a Lian Li PC-P50 black anodized aluminum case. 14.5 lbs. $180. Nice looking but not artsy. Certainly won't end up in the MOMA. Well ventilated, easy to add parts, mostly thumb screws. And lots of room for oversize video cards and the like. Why anyone would pay $700 for steel is beyond me. Guess it will make a good boat anchor when it reaches the end of its useful life.

  19. Re:What a great fiction! on Facebook Will Shut Down Beacon To Settle Lawsuit · · Score: 2, Funny

    "You seem upset."

    Not having a clue will do that to you....

  20. Re:But... on Nissan Gives Electric Cars Blade Runner Audio Effect · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I used to drive a Mazda RX2, which was much quieter than the average car, and it was funny to drive up behind pedestrians walking down the middle of a side street or someone on a bicycle before they realized there was a car behind them. So, why didn't someone have this bright idea then? Could it be because these new quieter cars are electric?

  21. Re:Holy shit? on Heart Monitors In Middle School Gym Class? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Clearly the school is afraid of being sued when some kid keels over from too much exertion.

  22. Re:Does not disappoint? on Panasonic 3D TV Does Not Disappoint · · Score: 1

    Why are we so hung up on making a 2D display look 3-dimensional? Why not just create a 3D display? (I realize "just" was a bit disingenuous.)

  23. Re:does this mean war? on Treasured "Moon Rock" Is Petrified Wood · · Score: 1

    Off topic? Huh? Who gives these characters mod points? Let's see how persistent the CIA's minions here are.

  24. Re:On the bright side... on Thieves Clear Out NJ Apple Store In 31 Seconds · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm still trying to figure out the proper method to get the Apple salesman to tear himself away from the young blond long enough to talk to me. Guess I'll have to stick with my new home-built AMD X4 machine.

  25. Re:does this mean war? on Treasured "Moon Rock" Is Petrified Wood · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    If only they had had these kinds of defenses at the Pentagon on 9/11. Oh, wait...