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  1. Re:To circle the globe on USAF Hypersonic Scramjet Successfully Scrams · · Score: 1

    ... but how many negative Gs does that create once a constant speed is reached while just maintaining level flight (in an arc around the earth)

    Part 2 ... since you are starting at roughly 1G (due to gravity, but actually slightly lower due to altitude), how fast would you have to go to get 0Gs (effective weightlessness)

    at some point it would be necessary to fly inverted because the human body can handle +Gs better than -Gs ... and flight equipment is designed for +Gs (it tightens around extremities to keep blood in your brain vs filling up your legs)

  2. fish nightlights on Genetically Modified Plants To Produce Natural Lighting · · Score: 1

    I like Sheldon Cooper's idea better.

  3. Military/Corporate use on Ask Slashdot: Are There Any Good Reasons For DRM? · · Score: 2

    One legitimate use would be for secret military or corporate secret/confidential information dissemination. Maybe to some extent other private entities (terrorists?, paranoid individuals?)... but the existing solutions are far from meeting any such criteria. This message will self destruct in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... j/k

  4. simplify on Stop Standardizing HTML · · Score: 1

    1. Parse xml/json to dom.
    2. Apply css (use css to make html tags behave as expect... But modifyable)
    3. Use any supported language to manipulate.

  5. insufficient language at the time of writing on Senate To Vote On Internet Sales Tax (For Real This Time) · · Score: 0

    When the constitution was written, there were no phones or internet and no way to electronically transfer funds. A sale happened in 1 state or the other ( prepay or cash on delivery ) never in both except maybe a state-line shop. When a product was shipped by ship, riverboat or horse and buggy from a supplier to a merchant, the founders didn't want central states to act as middlemen states by taxing products in transit. This product typically went to a merchant who bought wholesale to sell at retail at which point a sales tax _could_ be levied by the state, or the merchant or a representative would go and pick up the merchandise and may be obligated to pay sales tax at the origination point - though in most states this is only assessed at the point of final sale if it is purchased for resale with a TIN.

    Other places use a VAT or value added tax, where basically the tax applied at each point is base on a difference between the purchase and sale cost at each point.... arguably much easier to implement

    It could just be a compromise where it is 5% flat and states get 4% (1% federal) whether they have a sales tax or not. This encourages local economy but is too simple and our current legislators don't do "compromise".

    A hybrid version could allow someone to set up shop in NH (no sales tax state) buy stuff at wholesale and pay no sales tax, then pay a sales tax only on the difference between their wholesale and the customers cost to the customer's state

    Both fed and state _need_ to invest in regulating "customs" on the internet - yesterdays illegal fur import and banned weapons is today's pirated whatever and malware .... but it would probably get misappropriated to some other garbage.
    Would a takedown notice then be called an ICE packet?

  6. files that end in .exe or .dll on Botched Security Update Cripples Thousands of Computers · · Score: 1

    ... don't belong on a production server - isn't it *.so obvious the problem here

  7. must've been a slow week for the lawyers on Competitors Complain To EC That Free Android Is a 'Trojan Horse' · · Score: 1

    And apparently their mobile divisions all have a blind spot on the upper right hand side that prevents them from seeing the "fork me on github" buttons. ... but then they would have to admit that Linux was a better choice than their own

  8. you mean like this one? on Fake Academic Journals Are a Very Real Problem · · Score: 1
  9. Incentive for a cure. on You Don't 'Own' Your Own Genes · · Score: 1

    Great, 30 days to remove property or pay $9999/day

    To anyone claiming "ownership", those with genetic disorders should give them XX days to remove their property or pay $XXXXX/day for "storage" fees... Now that's incentive for a cure.

  10. NO on Defend the Open Web: Keep DRM Out of W3C Standards · · Score: 3, Interesting

    1 standard is better than 1000 crappy implementations - if you don't like it just disable it like you do any other browser option and you'll never be burdened with DRM'd content.

  11. Ethics. on Tesla Motors To Pay Off Government Loan 5 Years Early · · Score: 1

    A corporation would reinvest this low interest loan at higher rates and pay it off only when finally forced. Private companies have the luxury of being ethical like this. I hope it works out for them.

  12. Oh, amazon search _intentionally_ sucks... on Federal Court OKs Amazon's System of Suggesting Alternative Products · · Score: 1

    That explains it - MBAs. Here, I just thought their programmers were too incompetent to write a decent search algorithm. If the algorithm is designed for max profit rather than user results, I change my opinion from lousy to sleezy.

  13. to paraphrase South Park ... on Wirelessly Charged Buses Being Tested Next Year · · Score: 1

    Tesla did it, Tesla did it.

  14. The nation of Me on DHS Can Seize Your Electronics Within 100 Mi.of US Border, Says DHS · · Score: 1

    When traveling outside of the US, my vessel shall be considered the nation of Me.
    Any vessel attempting to come within 100 miles of the nation of Me without prior consent will be considered an invasive force and open to being sunken, seized, boarded or otherwise obliterated immediately and without warning.

  15. a day with a packet sniffer and... on Xbox 720 Could Require Always-On Connection, Lock Out Used Games · · Score: 1

    it will take about a day for a custom proxy server to spoof the connection, why do they waste their time?

  16. scifi exists therefore there is on Is the Era of Groundbreaking Science Over? · · Score: 1

    As long as science fiction exists as a category, there will be room for invention. Genetics, space, energy, human-machine interaction, soylent green...

  17. Re:Whatever on Apple To Discontinue Mac Pro In EU Over Safety Regulations · · Score: 1

    They will have to whenever Apple simply decides there are too many iphone(x) users that haven't "upgraded" time to phase out support, shut down the app store and stop updates. P.T. Barnum would be so proud.

  18. out of context? on French Telecom Claims To Have Forced Google To Pay For Traffic · · Score: 1

    Perhaps the actual agreement was for big G to colocate some servers so that the isp doesn't need to use external pipes for some requests. gstatic would be most appropriate and beneficial to both companies. I wrote a small app that does exactly that for end users (I'm not targeting isps for net neutrality ethics)

  19. too accessible on Why JavaScript Is the New Perl · · Score: 1

    It's not that its a bad language, it is just so accessible that all the worst (non)programmers write in it. Take a look at the relatively poor quality of questions with a javascript tag on stackoverflow... if you ever thought there is no such thing as a stupid question, that will almost certainly change your mind. Iirc this was the case with perl in its early years. Maybe it will change with the release of ECMASCRIPT-1.D.10.T?

  20. tiered pricing on A Subscription-Based Movie Theater · · Score: 1

    It would make sense to use a supply and demand model and start movies off at a set starting price and raise/lower the price based on attendance. More than half the seats filled (or some other threshold), raise it $1 or vice versa. Once the movie gets down to $1 (or free) it gets replaced with a different one. This model would allow for more people to afford them and even if there was a free showing, at least the studios don't get a cut of the vending revenue, so it may even be more profitable.

    If the pricing depended on how many tickets were already purchased for a given showing, it would reduce overcrowding on opening weekends while maximizing profit.

    "Lets go see if there is a free movie worth watching... Crap! Those all suck. Oh well, we are already here, wanna watch something anyways?"

  21. not true on Real World Code Sucks · · Score: 1

    Most of the code that I spent time reading was my own, and trust me - it wasn't perfect... probably should have bought the text book.

  22. Whats next? Bremsstrahlung? on Mini-Tornadoes For Generating Electricity · · Score: 1

    Next we will be ionizing the air and letting it pass between some plates to generate electricity directly. (no moving parts)

  23. Re:Beast of burden on DARPA's Headless Robotic Mule Takes Load Off Warfighters · · Score: 1

    and it can't run on biomass either

  24. Re:Kudos on Anonymous Hacks Westboro Baptist Church · · Score: 1

    I've often made the comment that just because it's right, doesn't mean it's legal. Just because it's legal, doesn't mean it's right.

    Of course it is legal and right, anonymous was simply "expressing their freedom of speech" toward the WBC website and then the internet.

  25. Re:Kudos on Anonymous Hacks Westboro Baptist Church · · Score: 1

    You would destroy all of the freedoms so many have died for you to obtain -- if only because a group is using speech you deem unacceptable. Shame. Shame on you sir.

    Rights != right;

    Just because one has a right to bear arms, doesn't mean there aren't consequences if they use those arms to cause harm.

    Speech should be no different. Ever heard of "intentional infliction of emotional distress"?