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User: musicalmicah

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  1. Re:Delay it one more week, Please! on NASA To Delay Endeavour By 10 Days · · Score: 1

    Do it! I once lived 80 miles south of the Space Center and the launches were still huge events there. Everyone in the neighborhood would wander out to their driveways (but not the lawns, damn fire ants!) to watch that stream of fire streak through the sky.

  2. Re:Fail on Facebook, Zuckerberg Sued For $1 Billion Over Intifada Page · · Score: 1

    The United States was the first country to recognize the state of Israel. Israel has also been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid since the 1970s; most of that aid is military. While US support of Israel wavered a little in the 1950s, I feel that "undying" would still be an accurate term for the overall history of these two nations' relations. The US has been afraid since the get-go of getting involved in this ridiculous ethnic conflict, but the average American's friend-or-foe meter has always been more likely to read "friend" with Israel than with the rest of the Middle East.

  3. Re:Fucking dumb. on Gamification — How Much of It Is Really New? · · Score: 1

    I don't want fucking achievements and "points" or other inane things

    I love the irony that this post is modded up. Slashdot's karma system feels just as much like a game to me as any multiplayer game with achievements and points.

  4. Re:Too Much Imagination Required? on Tron: Legacy — Too Much Imagination Required? · · Score: 1

    Plus, people have developed the world-inside-a-computer theme in fiction so much since those days. Cyrstal Nights by Greg Egan comes to mind as a story that could totally blow people's minds on the big screen.

  5. Re:Who is responsible? on Electric Cars May Be Made Noisier By Law · · Score: 1

    That was just happened to me, and exactly what I did (or rather, DIDN'T do). I still beat myself up for this - by reporting this kind of irresponsibility, we could have made the roads that much safer.

  6. Re:Who is responsible? on Electric Cars May Be Made Noisier By Law · · Score: 1

    You seem to be arguing that automobiles are less agile because they're faster. And I do agree that at slow speeds (less than 5 MPH), it's easier for a pedestrian or bicyclist to turn than a car.

    However, I still feel that even at 5 MPH, it's easier to stop in a car than on a bike. And at what a bicyclist might call "fast" (25 MPH), it's far less risky for a car driver to slam the brakes (possible fender bender, maybe some slight swerving) than it is for a bicyclist to slam the brakes (body separates from bicycle, flies into pavement). Same for quick turns.

    But perhaps more importantly - for this argument, we can't isolate one factor (physics), because the other factor (behavior) IS so important. The road is a dangerous place for both reasons, because it is loaded with 1-ton battering rams that can swerve and kill a bicycle or pedestrian at any moment.

  7. Re:Who is responsible? on Electric Cars May Be Made Noisier By Law · · Score: 1

    At twenty-five MPH, it's very hard to turn or stop. I'm not sure that your anecdote is a measure of this, since the biker went flying. I regularly ride on a 25-mph roads, and I have to slow down to half speed or less to make a 90-degree right turn. Even then, it's still an intense turn, with me having to do some serious banking. If I didn't do that exact turn every day, I would take it much slower.

    When someone on a bike tries to turn or stop immediately while moving at 25MPH, they are risking a life. When someone on a car tries to turn or stop while moving at 25MPH, they are generally just risking repair bills.

    Back to your original point - you aren't ever "only" relying on engine noise, but while on a bike, you do hear quite a bit. Being inside a car masks your ability to hear where noises are coming from (how many times have you sat in your car, heard a weird noise, and thought, "Is that my car or someone else's?"), but when you're on a bike, you hear everything... except that Prius behind you!

    Not that I'm lobbying for this to be a requirement. I think it would be worth studying, however. There may be absolutely no positive effect to adding sounds to hybrids, but I think that should be determined by experts and not forum posts. Also, right now, hybrids are in the minority, which is one of the reasons it's so jarring to have one sneaking up behind you. If the average person is driving a hybrid in ten years, I think we all might simply "get used" to it.

    Alternatively, I think there may also be some use to having an optional "growler" sound -- something less intrusive than a horn but still "engine-like" that the driver can just switch on whenever it's necessary.

  8. Re:Who is responsible? on Electric Cars May Be Made Noisier By Law · · Score: 1

    Again, I don't think I agree. With the exception of kids playing on the sidewalk, the cars in every place I've lived have always seemed more unpredictable to me than the bicyclists and pedestrians. Eye contact is harder, and, as you pointed out, lack of situational awareness is generally a much bigger deal in cars - and unfortunately, ridiculously common.

    You may have that perspective from driving in cars - whenever you see a bicyclist, you probably think "Oh no, what's that person going to do? I don't want to hit him." I understand, because I feel the same way when I'm driving past someone on a bike.

    But try riding a bike to and from work in a mid-size city (or larger) every day, even one with bike lanes. When every car on the road has the potential to end your life with one user error, your perspective changes.

  9. Re:Who is responsible? on Electric Cars May Be Made Noisier By Law · · Score: 3, Informative

    "A biker can turn on a dime, stop on a dime, and swerve in the blink of an eye."

    What? Have you ever ridden a bike?

    I got into a biking accident last month - an oncoming SUV took a left turn in front of me. I slammed on my brakes, turned my front wheel to skid, and still smashed into its side at normal cruising speed. Luckily I just had a couple scrapes and a gash in the inside of my lip, but the reality is, most bicyclists can't stop easily, and usually when they do have to make a hard stop, it's flesh and/or bone against a solid surface.

  10. Re:Noah, etc on A Lost Civilization Beneath the Persian Gulf? · · Score: 1

    The Ice Age ending only around 12,000 years ago seems to be pretty congruent with this idea as well.

  11. Re:But... on A Peek At South Korea's Autonomous Robot Gun Turrets · · Score: 2

    There are usually explosive crates nearby many turrets in both DX1 and DX2. If you are clever and observant enough, you can often sneak around and throw the crate at the turret, thus disabling it without having to waste your precious multitools.

  12. Re:server-side tracking on Microsoft Adds 'Do Not Track' Option For IE9 · · Score: 1

    I highly doubt that this "do not track" option prevents all environment variables from being sent. Browser data is quite often as unique as a thumbprint, even data that has nothing to do with cookies or privacy. Preventing the transmission of this data would break a lot of functionality designed for IE - think of all those messages on "enterprise websites" that say "Your browser does not have [control]. Please go here to download." That data in itself can make you trackable.

  13. Re:One can dream... on One Giant Cargo Ship Pollutes As Much As 50M Cars · · Score: 2, Informative

    Youch. Good point, but you didn't have to get all ad hominem on the commenter.

  14. Re:Yes, it is a very bad thing on Want an IT Job? Add 'Cloud' To Your Buzzword List · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And by the same token, smaller companies don't provide that infrastructure. This is exactly why "cloud computing" services are commonly targeted towards smaller companies. When you have three people in your office and a total budget of $500,000/year, buying and managing any infrastructure--for computing, power, communication, transportation, or water--can be daunting. Outsourcing management of these functions allows you and your employees to focus on your strengths.

    And despite what the business weeklies may pretend, a massive part of our economy flows through small businesses rather than megacorps with on-campus roads and storage ponds.

  15. Re:Just a question on Most Detailed View of Dark Matter Mapped By Hubble · · Score: 1

    That is the most elegant explanation of dark matter that I have ever seen or heard.

  16. Re:This has always been one of my gripes on Introducing Students To the World of Open Source · · Score: 1

    This. Bonus points for a professor who changes the requirements every week or two.

  17. Re:Hows this bug work? on iPhone Alarm Bug Leads To Mass European Sleep-in · · Score: 2, Informative

    The other oddity is people use their phone as an alarmclock? A smartphone with a battery life measured in hours, probably dead by wakeup time? I'm with the modern generation in that I haven't worn a wristwatch in over a decade, but is it a generational thing that people don't own/use alarm clocks? What do you glance at, at 2am, when you just want to see the time if you momentarily wake up, etc? Get the tiny little phone, unlock it, put on the glasses/contacts, and read the time?

    Yes. You plug it in first. Unlocking a phone can generally be done by touch after you've owned it for more than a couple days. And bringing it to your face is a lot easier than sitting up to see the alarm clock if you don't happen to have the right furniture for placing your alarm clock in a better position, which is quite common when you're a 20-something in a cramped apartment. No need to put on glasses, though. At least not for me.

  18. Re:Well, that sure will change the song on NASA Strikes Gold and Water On the Moon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Gaian Manifest Destiny: life is awesome, we're a part of it, and we all want it to survive, therefore let us spread it throughout the galaxy, because so far, we haven't found anyone else using it.

  19. Hold on on Microsoft IE Browser Share Dips Below 50% · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The methodology question in the FAQ leads me to believe that all their stats are from sites that use this tool - "the best free web counter in the world." IE may indeed be below 50% market share for this population, but I bet it leans towards recreational rather than business browsing.

  20. Re:Spelling nazi on ATMs That Dispense Gold Bars Coming To America · · Score: 1

    how much is "35 bullion"

    Lots of soup.

  21. Re:This Is a Comment Expressing New Found Skeptici on This Is a News Website Article About a Scientific Paper · · Score: 1

    This is where I tye

  22. Re:Carte blanche on In France, Hadopi Reporting Begins, With (Only) 10,000 IP Addresses Per Day · · Score: 1

    To quote Kinsey, "Everybody's sin is nobody's sin, and everybody's crime is no crime at all."

  23. Re:Maybe... on Mozilla Labs To Promote Open Web Gaming · · Score: 1

    This looks like the effort of 1 FTE, tops. For all we know, it may even be a volunteer project. And remember, open source evangelism is one of the reasons Mozilla got its edge and re-opened the web after the onslaught of IE.

  24. Re:Lawsuits or not, it's sort-of Linux and Java on Samsung Galaxy Tablet Coming In September · · Score: 1

    YES. Only the handful of nerds will know and care first, but they will make noise. They will direct the conversation with the force and vigor of someone who knows what they're talking about. And, little by little, they'll change many other minds about what free [libre] software can do for them.

  25. Re:Blasphemous on The Chipophone — an 8-Bit Chiptune Organ · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yup. The easiest instrument to get for free on Seattle craigslist is an organ from the Cold War. The second easiest instrument to get for free is an upright grand piano, which is easy because everyone wants to get rid of a huge freakin' upright grand, but hard because it's a HUGE FREAKIN' UPRIGHT GRAND.