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User: meerling

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Comments · 2,572

  1. Re:Reasons why I don't like Musk's hyper loop on SpaceX Is Building a Hyperloop Test Track · · Score: 1

    The test tube is 4' diameter, not the plans for a real one. Think of it as a working scale model, where the real one isn't so tiny.

  2. Re:Reasons why I don't like Musk's hyper loop on SpaceX Is Building a Hyperloop Test Track · · Score: 1

    Of course you can, but due to the volume of the tube that has to be filled, it's going to take a lot of time, unless you want a hollywood style idiot caused disaster.
    Now if you can seal off discrete sections of the tube, you can reduce that volume, but those kinds of emergency seals will be expensive mechanisms to install, so don't expect there to be very many of them, so you are probably still dealing with a LOT of volume, just not an absurd volume.
    Now it would probably be a lot safer and faster to use frequent emergency access ports that can lock onto a pod and airlock open just like at the stations, but that assumes you can get the pod to such a point rapidly.

    All in all, it's a neat idea, just like it was when they published it way back in the 40s. (I forget whether it was popular mechanics, or popular science.) But it still has plenty of issues, and dealing with emergency situations isn't even the first in line. (Like how do you make a full sized track at a length of a hundred miles or more that is torn apart or otherwise caused to leak unacceptably due to geological movement, not just from quakes, but also from thermal expansion and even the sun tide. Half a meter every day in some places isn't something for an engineer to sneeze at, especially when they want to try and maintain a near vacuum in a giant metal noodle in those conditions. )

  3. Re:Huh? on Why Apple and Google Made Their Own Programming Languages · · Score: 1

    Only in the aspect that you have a whole lot LESS applicants to interview.
    On the other hand, there are a LOT of far more capable programmers out there that are excluded because they haven't wasted time learning your internal language that's pretty much only applicable if you already work for them.

    In other news, NASA has developed a new language this year to make communicating with Martians easier. If you'd like to submit an application, please be aware that they require fluency in their new language along with 6 years usage with actual Martians. :P

  4. This guy has unrealistic expectations on Chinese Doctor Performs Head Transplants On Mice · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Some of the mice have lived as long as a day after the operations according to Ren and he hopes to have similar success with primates."
    Really? He'd better get survival rates down to something close to normal lifespans before he moves up to primates or he's an idiot.
    I wonder if he's even bothered to look at the old Soviet attempts at this. With that short "survival" duration, I highly doubt it.

  5. Don't forget on Why Is It a Crime For Dennis Hastert To Evade Government Scrutiny? · · Score: 1

    There was a particular well known mobster that they could only nail for tax evasion. When they want to get you, they often find a way.
    The big question is if the charges they are trying to prosecute on are prosecutable charges. If so, that's what they are trying to convict him of, even if they'd love to be able to add the other charges that they haven't added because they don't meet the requirements to charge him for.

    I've heard there are places where it is illegal to pay blackmail. It's a kind of disincentive to get people to not cooperate with blackmailers. When the criminals know their money making crimes will most likely not make them anything, they are far more reticent in doing those crimes. On the other hand, you pay those low lifes, they'll often just keep doing it over and over. Just look at Mexicos revolving door kidnapping economy. It's so common, companies have funds set aside to pay for it.

  6. Re:I'm afraid! Please send hugs! on Patriot Act Spy Powers To Expire As Rand Paul Blocks USA Freedom Act Vote · · Score: 1

    Yes, something awful will happen, some unnamed person from a three letter agency won't be able to peruse your porn while he's at work. :P

  7. Re: Tomorrowland is excellent on Tron 3 Is Cancelled · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Don't forget that Avengers:Age of Ultron is still in theaters, and Mad Max opened the same time. Too much known competition for an unknown property unless it's something that will totally blow peoples minds, which are exceedingly rare.

  8. Re:just a though on Ground Crew Back In Touch With LightSail Solar Spacecraft · · Score: 1

    "Jet" can be, and has been, applied to a lot of technologies, but there's no way that NASA could even try to develop it on their budget. So far we haven't even gotten a manned mission to Mars, so one to Alpha Centauri, or any other star system, is pretty much a moot point.
    For now it's just science fiction until somebody will lay apply the necessary resources.

  9. Re:just a though on Ground Crew Back In Touch With LightSail Solar Spacecraft · · Score: 3, Informative

    Wrong Ramjet
    Try checking out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet

  10. Re:have lot's of crowbars on hand on Prospects and Limits For the LHC's Capabilities To Test String Theory · · Score: 1

    He was making a game reference you racist troll.

  11. Re:Graffiti on Creationists Manipulating Search Results · · Score: 1

    You can also get arrested for doing that to private property you know.

  12. Re:Why not just kill them all? on Sex-Switched Mosquitoes May Help In Fight Against Diseases · · Score: 1

    Wow I really messed up the grammar in that one. :P

  13. Re:Why not just kill them all? on Sex-Switched Mosquitoes May Help In Fight Against Diseases · · Score: 2

    Yes, because you will unable to be able to get them all, so there will still be a breeding population, but hopefully much smaller and mostly consisting of non-infectious males.

  14. Re:Ingredients for this thread ... on Greece Is Running Out of Money, Cannot Make June IMF Repayment · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anything that's likely to take down the entire EU if not handled just right will seriously impact the livelyhood of a large number of us.
    Maybe it's just to piss of people who keep asking why various articles are on Slashdot.
    If you aren't interested in the subject, don't bother clicking on the link.

  15. Re:Funny, that spin... on What AI Experts Think About the Existential Risk of AI · · Score: 1

    Nope, not a GPU. Sure you can use one of those, which is really just a CPU specialized for Graphics, but really all you need is any kind of Processing Unit that can run the program you write. It's just that GPUs are commonly used for math intensive stuff since they've got a lot of optimizations for that kind of thing, and are often an easy upgrade to older hardware.

  16. Re:Smart on India Ends Russian Space Partnership and Will Land On the Moon Alone · · Score: 1

    India has plenty of their own infrastructure and political issues.
    Well, I guess that's not such a bad idea, that way they only have to deal with their own as opposed to that plus Russian issues.

  17. Re:Why is the GoldenEye transmitter pictured? on Universe's Dark Ages May Not Be Invisible After All · · Score: 1

    So, do you think the Golden Gate bridge is also a prop and fictional?
    After all, it too has been in a James Bond movie.
    Here's something to help you out, just look up Aricebo Observatory. It's probably the single most famous radio telescope/observatory in all of science. They've even done documentaries on it. Just look through the catalog of old NOVA episodes. Heck, there's even been research done on the positive impact it's had on the local wildlife by creating a rather interesting location where other human activity is banned.

    Just because Hollywood makes up a lot of B.S., it doesn't mean that everything, even if it's cool, is fictional.

  18. Re:older generation is totally clueless about tech on NSA-Reform Bill Fails In US Senate · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Right, and all 12 year olds are uber-hackers supreme.
    You can pretty much bet that the cool new cutting edge tech your young technophile or fresh college graduate is playing with was invented and designed by somebody you call an "older generation".

  19. Re:Oh, don't get all panicky and stuff on NSA-Reform Bill Fails In US Senate · · Score: 2

    I like how you italicized "well deserved".
    Is that well they deserve deep, wet, and dark? :P

  20. Re:Drowning in microbeads on California Votes To Ban Microbeads · · Score: 2

    Let's see, people are talking about beads under 0.2mm diameter. They aren't cubes, so they won't fully fill that space, but we'll calculate it as though they do.
    471,000,000 beads a day.
    To turn that into a volume we find the cube root, which in this case rounds to 778.
    Now those beads spoken of here are again only 0.2mm, so that means we have to divide that 778 beads length on a side by 5 to find out it's 155.6mm.

    If we convert that to inches, that means the entire 471 million beads we are talking about would equal a cube about 6.1259 inches across on each side.
    That's smaller than a football, which if you didn't know, is 11 inches long.

    Of course, if you remember earlier I said we'd calculate those beads as cubes because the math is easier. If we guess that they are spherical, or close enough to that volume ratio, and then we compress the resulting cube of beads down so there is not residual space (look at a jar of marbles, there's a lot of empty space in there that isn't marbles) then the cube we end up with is a bit more than half the size pre-optimization.
    Of course I doubt those beads are all that uniform in shape, but it's handy to know how much you are dealing with in a form you can visualize.

  21. Re:toxic microbeads? on California Votes To Ban Microbeads · · Score: 0

    Cali, the state rapidly becoming known worldwide for promoting ignorance and fear based legislature.
    Very unfortunate as I have some friends from there.

  22. Re:toxic microbeads? on California Votes To Ban Microbeads · · Score: 1

    To a chemist, everything is toxic to some extent, even water.

  23. Re:www.absdecorators.co.uk on California Votes To Ban Microbeads · · Score: 1

    So you make a habit of eating the intestinal/digestive tract of these aquatic creatures?
    Disgusting.

  24. Re:Poisoning fish? on California Votes To Ban Microbeads · · Score: 1

    (smarts ass reply pre-emption: Yeah, I can go googling around and try to find out....but maybe I got other things to google tonight.)
    Do you mean that you don't have a sufficiently vested interest to do the research that the articles author should have fucking done in the first place?

  25. Re:Sudafed on Genetically Engineered Yeast Makes It Possible To Brew Morphine · · Score: 4, Insightful

    True, but for a large scale operation you are going to want to have a bioreactor for both efficiency and scale, not to mention reducing the dead giveaway large quantity of people to tend the more manual methods.
    Further complication include issues with production of the new substance possibly interfering with the lifecycle of the host itself. (That's the yeast if anyone didn't get that.) And let's not forget the separation and purification of the desired product.
    You do know that they use microbes to make a number of different things, such as human insulin and interferon? Just look up some of the history of those developments, and you'll get a hint of some possible difficulties. Besides, there was a market for large quantities of cheap human insulin & interferon, while the previous methods of production were horribly inefficient and could never even come close to the demand.
    I'm going to hazard a guess that the criminal cartels would be opposed to this technology because it would be more expensive to the them to set up, would require workers of a higher skill & training, would cut out entire chunks of their existing structure, and would be easily capable of flooding the market and suppressing prices.
    Besides, other than banning the opiate producing strain, which only takes one leak to effectively neutralize that ban, what are you going to do? Ban genetically altered strains of microbes, and tobacco? Sorry, but I'd rather shoot the asshole that tries to do that, my life depends on one of those products, and so do a LOT of other peoples. Maybe you just want to ban the research into making illegal products. That would be a little better, but still futile. Eventually it will be easy enough to do that a talented high school student will someday succeed. Additionally, if it's not banned worldwide, someone will eventually do it someplace it's not illegal, and then there is the distinct possibility that it will get loose.
    Of course, there is still something people are not looking at, their strain produces morphine, a controlled, but legal, substance. Yeah, it can be turned into heroin, but so can all the legal morphine which is usually made from FLOWERS that people grow! It's used in medicine. I was once in a hospital ward and I was the only patient not receiving morphine. (The reason for that doesn't matter.) So there IS a legal trade in the product produced by that yeast, but because it can be used to make an illegal one, some people want to ban it. You know, that's not a wise path to tread upon. If something can be banned because something illegal can be made from/with it, how long until everything is banned? You know politicians, give them an inch, and they'll run you over with your own vehicle and drag you a mile down the road.