Slashdot Mirror


User: Vasheron

Vasheron's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
128
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 128

  1. Re:Amazing! on 10-Year Study Reveals Electron Shape · · Score: 1

    Can you suggest a better way of measuring the shape of an electron?

  2. Amazing! on 10-Year Study Reveals Electron Shape · · Score: 1

    It's incredible that the shape of one of the most fundamental particles in the Universe has one of the simplest mathematical descriptions! Is it a coincidence or is there some deeper meaning to this fact?

  3. Re:This is why I left development on Is Process Killing the Software Industry? · · Score: 2

    One cruicial difference between OS and commercial projects is the existence of tight deadlines and unstable customer defined specifications, which often have implications for reliability, featureset, security, and documentation.

  4. Re:Encryption? on Dropbox Attempts To Kill Open Source Project · · Score: 1

    Mod parent up!

  5. Invest in LFTR! on US Funding Five Game-Changing Energy Projects · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    A potentially truly game-changing technology is Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor). This was a technology developed during the Cold War that uses thorium to breed uranium for nuclear fission in order to generate electricity. It has most of the advantages and almost none of the disadvantages of traditional nuclear power generation. The technology has been tested and a reactor was build and run at Oakridge National Labs for a number of years. Unfortunately it wasn't developed initially due to the emphasis on building weapons - the thorium fuel cycle isn't ideal for nuclear weapons - and the technology faded into obscurity. Recently, however, a group of engineers, scientists, and concerned individuals has taken a serious interest in this technology and is advocating restarting research on LFTR with the goal of developing a commercially viable reactor. You can find more information at http://energyfromthorium.com/.

  6. Re:I submit this possibility on Abandon Earth Or Die, Warns Hawking · · Score: 1

    What if Earth isn't the first human colony, and these disasters have merely wiped out the evidence of our migration...

    Then you would expect to see a different sort of fossil record. The one we have says we emerged here.

  7. Re:This is pretty much what I've been telling peop on Abandon Earth Or Die, Warns Hawking · · Score: 1

    Sooner or later we're gonna have to get out of here, or go extinct.

    Or... we could use Earth as our spaceship :)

    Or we could remember the laws of inertia instead.

  8. Re:Lectures versus books/papers on Forget University — Use the Web For Education, Says Gates · · Score: 1

    That's because you shouldn't be "watching" a lecture (its not television), you should be "interacting" with the lecture. Unfortunately, many lecturers have adopted a style which is not conducive to proper learning, but that is beside the point.

  9. Re:Criminal on WikiLeaks Publishes Afghan War Secrets · · Score: 1

    Should we just let the Taliban have Afghanistan back?

    This is really at the heart of it isn't it? Do you go, or do you stay? Perhaps the answer lies in letting the answer to the following question guide your decision, "If we knew what we know now, would we have invaded Afghanistan in the first place?"

  10. Re:special interests on WikiLeaks Publishes Afghan War Secrets · · Score: 1

    Or weapons inspectors from the UN who went to Iraq, looked around, found nothing, and told us all about it.

  11. Re:US abuse on WikiLeaks Publishes Afghan War Secrets · · Score: 1

    You realize that every country in the history of humanity has done the exact same things, right?

    That doesn't make it right.

  12. Re:That didn't take long on Industrial Marijuana Farming Approved In Oakland · · Score: 1

    Thank you for saying what needed to be said.

  13. Re:That didn't take long on Industrial Marijuana Farming Approved In Oakland · · Score: 1

    We should be honest about this. Legalized alcohol will result in more people using, more people abusing, and all the problems that implies. We all remember smart kids from high school that wasted their lives on alcohol. But, this is still far better than incarcerating people for only harming themselves and the huge amount of money and abuse of freedom that we currently have. In addition, we will be taking away a guaranteed source of income from alcohol gangs, some of the nastiest people on earth. It is not a panacea, but it is a large net gain.

  14. Re:That's how science works... on Climategate and the Need For Greater Scientific Openness · · Score: 1

    I hate to break it to you, but String theory is "The Establishment" in theoretical physics and to my knowledge it is not a panacea.

  15. Re:Using radio seems a silly method on SETI Institute Is Looking For a Few Good Algorithms · · Score: 1

    Arranging a few stars...

    Do you have any idea just how impossible such a task would be? It makes for good science fiction, but the laws as we know the say no.

  16. Re:That's how science works... on Climategate and the Need For Greater Scientific Openness · · Score: 1

    They're acting like petty assholes in private emails, they're talking about tricks to make graphs display their data in the specific way they want it displayed?

    What exactly was the nature of these tricks? I happen to think that singular value decomposition is a great trick when used for solving certain optimization problems, but that doesn't mean the technique isn't justified. The word "trick" is sometimes used as a synonym for "clever" in a perfectly innocuous sense.

  17. Re:Impressive on Climategate and the Need For Greater Scientific Openness · · Score: 1

    According to the Wikipedia article on Steve McIntyre, he is not a statistical analyst; he has been in business administration and policy for the last 30 years. Having a degree in mathematics obtained 30 years ago is not equivalent to being a trained and experienced statistician proficient in techniques of climate modelling.

  18. Re:Yes, but uneducated in a way you not thinking o on Unique ID In India Causes 'Fear of the Beast' · · Score: 1

    Yes, my beliefs are better than yours because at least they weren't completely made up and have some basis in fact.

  19. Re:Yes, but uneducated in a way you not thinking o on Unique ID In India Causes 'Fear of the Beast' · · Score: 1

    I do not advocate Christians isolating themselves from the world.

    Could you at least insulate your beliefs from the rest of the world? Many of us think they're crazy.

  20. Re:Two things... on Unique ID In India Causes 'Fear of the Beast' · · Score: 1

    Ahh yes, playing the game of interpreting the Bible in whatever manner is most asthetically pleasing or politically expedient. How about the Church just comes out and says, "The Bible is not the word of God, it was written by men. Some of it might be true, but most of it is probably not. It is just a collection of methaphorical stories, similar to those of Greek mythology."

  21. Re:Educated, not crazy and not afraid. on Unique ID In India Causes 'Fear of the Beast' · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sounds like a reasonable experiment. Why not try it?

  22. Re:Educated, not crazy and not afraid. on Unique ID In India Causes 'Fear of the Beast' · · Score: 1

    I believe I am well educated with some extensive study in Eschatology.

    So you are well educated in fictional accounts of the end of the world... Congratulations?

  23. Re:Blah on Unique ID In India Causes 'Fear of the Beast' · · Score: 1

    Here here! Well said!

  24. Re:jack on Some Google Searches Now Blocked In China · · Score: 1

    Increasingly it has been my view that the United States, and indeed the entire Western world, should follow a cultural prime directive.

  25. Re:Animal Intelligence on Empathy Is For the Birds · · Score: 1

    Hell, even my dog knows what cars are; he only really gets thrown off by motorcycles.