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User: Neil+Boekend

Neil+Boekend's activity in the archive.

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Comments · 2,395

  1. Re:Space mining ROI - fuel on Earth-buzzing Asteroid Would Be Worth $195B If We Could Catch It · · Score: 1

    Step 1 in making this profitable would be building a space elevator. Step 2 is relatively easy.

  2. Re:Banking passwords are overrated on Everything You Know About Password-Stealing Is Wrong · · Score: 3, Interesting

    With mine I can transfer money. However, it's protected way beyond a simple password. I need a "random reader": a simple device that accepts my debet card, requires my PIN and gives me back the one-time key to even see my details. When signing a transaction I need to give the PIN, a one-time key from the webpage and the amount of money before the comma (probably to prevent hijacking).
    I feel quite safe with that.

  3. Re:Who cares if we are hungry... on Corn Shortage Hampers US Ethanol Production · · Score: 1

    That only works if you include the CO2 dumping "subsidy" that dinosaur-bone gasoline has. The dumping of all that CO2 into the atmosphere has it's costs, whether we want to pay it now or later (probably in tenfold by then).

  4. Re:Because..... on Facebook's Graph Search: Kiss Your Privacy Goodbye · · Score: 1

    No, people who have others post pictures of them drunk passed out pants round their ankles in the street are concerned with privacy.
    You do not have to have a facebook account to be trackable to facebook. You just need to have friends who have facebook. Friends who do not care for your privacy, who will tag you in their posts.

  5. Re:Sooo on Parcel Sensor Knows When Your Delivery Has Been Dropped · · Score: 1

    When I order at amazon.co.uk the order is packed in cardboard. A simple box filled to the brim with what I ordered (usually books and blu-rays) if they could. If they couldn't it's filled with some brown paper (probably recycled).
    Paper and cardboard have very good recycle processes (although the fibers tend to shorten during recycling).
    I wouldn't call it over packaging, I call it perfect packaging.
    But then again, I haven't had a package that was dented. Not a scratch on the outside box, and I get a lot of boxes. Amazon knows they are sending to the Netherlands, so maybe they know the packages get treated properly here.

  6. Re:How about a different headline.... on China's Radical New Space Drive · · Score: 1

    And most objects that are shaped for their aerodynamic properties, like: really fast bikes and planes (up to mach 1).

  7. Re:Great idea on San Diego Drops Red-Light Cameras · · Score: 1

    It should also detect speed. If you are going over the speed limit then the system would not turn the light red.
    However this can often be applied cheaper: use a green wave where possible. The main roads should have a green wave. And don't time it like Hellmond (Netherlands). There the green wave is timed for 70 km/h, but the speed limit is 50 (and there are speed and red light camera's).

  8. Re:Mind boggling on AT&T: Don't Want a Data Plan for That Smartphone? Too Bad. · · Score: 1

    I don't know if it would be legal here in the Netherlands, I guess it wouldn't, but it wouldn't last long anyway. They changed the terms of the contract, so there is no way of forcing you to keep it. You can drop them like a brick into a black hole. Even if you are still paying for a phone.

  9. Re:Turn off wifi on Have a Wi-Fi-Enabled Phone? Stores Are Tracking You · · Score: 1

    Don't have an android phone now, but it would be something I'd do with Tasker.

  10. Re:just don't automatically join public wifi on Have a Wi-Fi-Enabled Phone? Stores Are Tracking You · · Score: 1

    That doesn't work with hidden SSID's.

  11. Re:Corollary on Bad Grammar Make Bestest Password, Research Say · · Score: 1

    I haven't had the need.

  12. Re:Umm? How far away would it have been? on Earth May Have Been Hit By a Gamma-Ray Burst In 775 AD · · Score: 1

    Use a map instead of a globe. Makes it much easier. :P

  13. Re:Umm? How far away would it have been? on Earth May Have Been Hit By a Gamma-Ray Burst In 775 AD · · Score: 1

    If you had enough trees to check, neatly spaced over the globe, then you'd be able to pinpoint the exact half of the earth that was irradiated. The event was straight above the middle of that half-globe at that time.
    No, the trouble is in finding where that point was in the sky. That requires the exact date and time of the day (unless it's precisely north or south).
    The data would be very valuable in finding out what distance is dangerous in black hole forming, but alas, it's probably unavailable.

  14. Re:To find out what the Neanderthal was really lik on Scientist Seeks 'Adventurous Human Woman' For Neanderthal Baby · · Score: 1

    That's the reverse of what I read in his post. He claims that if there were no immigration then solving ignorance would doom the country. He says that the immigrants are saving the western world. I feel he has a point.

  15. Re:Corollary on Bad Grammar Make Bestest Password, Research Say · · Score: 1

    I usually pic a random question from the list and just mash in a lot of characters beneath that. An answer like "4rtilufga,lghajkhgigh;klgnulahglhsafgvubhgu s" is hard to guess.

  16. Re:Super? on "Superomniphobic" Nanoscale Coating Repels Almost Any Liquid · · Score: 1

    No, levitation would be caused by an absolutely omniphobic surface. "Super" here is just used as a step up from "very high".

  17. Re:Windshields? on "Superomniphobic" Nanoscale Coating Repels Almost Any Liquid · · Score: 1

    You'd be better off with a super hydrofile coating. Water droplets distort your vision greatly, a relatively smooth layer of water doesn't distort your vision as much.
    Although I do not know if and how strongly hydrofile coatings repel dust and grime.

  18. Re:Why is this good? on VIA Unveils $79 Rock and $99 Paper ARM PCs · · Score: 1

    You can get durable and reliable ARM systems, but they aren't cheap.

  19. Re:Remember Netbooks? on VIA Unveils $79 Rock and $99 Paper ARM PCs · · Score: 1

    No, think it serves 3 purposes quite nicely:
    1. Having the license plate of the guy that rear ended him and drove off.
    2. A second rear view mirror to see kids when you are backing up.
    3. The fun of creating such a contraption.
    4. ...
    5. Profit

  20. Re:What's up with that giant capacitor? on VIA Unveils $79 Rock and $99 Paper ARM PCs · · Score: 1

    If you read it closely you'll see something like:
    kts
    C#2032 3.0V
    The energizer CR2032 3.0V battery has about that size.

  21. Re:Anyone hungry? on Scientists Create New Gasoline Substitute Out of Plants · · Score: 1

    Could you imagine a more depressing human tragedy, letting people starve to death simply because we turned over all our arable land to power our cars.

    Yes, but then my imagination is not a normal place
    By the way: I do think a lot of our fuel needs could be cut if people just quit driving and start biking. For example in bikes like this. Now how to get people who live only 25km or less from their work to take a bike is an important issue. There are ways, but they cost time and money. Luckily many important steps have been made here in the Netherlands.

  22. Re:How are they validating ID? on New Phishing Toolkit Uses Whitelisting To 'Bounce' Non-Victims · · Score: 2

    Unlike the usual IP-restricted entry

    This doesn't use IP addresses to verify. Using IP addresses requires you to know the IP addresses of your intended victims, severely limiting the usefulness. This can send emails automatically and still filter out the incoming requests.

  23. Re:Anyone hungry? on Scientists Create New Gasoline Substitute Out of Plants · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In Europe we already allow 5% ethanol in gasoline. People are lobbying to allow 10%. This does not damage engines, but assuming it is done (and with bio-ethanol) it does put a 5 or 10% dent in the CO2 production.
    Now with high percentages (90% for example) of ethanol some trouble does arise. Ethanol is soluble in water. Engines do not like water, so high ethanol percentages could carry to much dissolved water. That can damage an engine.

    Now if some chemist could find a way to remove that pesky oxigen, polimerise the resulting ethane (or ethylene) to a bit longer chains with some branching and some double C connections (to get the flammability right) then we'd simply have bio-gasoline and we'd just have the problem that we can't create enough bioethanol to fuel the world.

  24. Re:hmm on Scientists Create New Gasoline Substitute Out of Plants · · Score: 3, Interesting

    By that time we may have found out how to mix the sun. A star dies because it burned all the hydrogen in the core. The outer layers, where fusion does not occur, are still mostly hydrogen (guess: 90%). If we bring that hydrogen to the core the life of the sun may be extendable by a factor 10.

  25. Re:hmm on Scientists Create New Gasoline Substitute Out of Plants · · Score: 1

    By that time we may well have found a way to mix the sun. A star dies because it doesn't have enough hydrogen in it's core, but the outer layers are still mostly (guess: 90%) hydrogen by that time. Give it a good mix and enjoy the rays.