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User: Chris+Mattern

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Comments · 7,102

  1. Re:Did Anyone? on SuperMario 64 Coming To a Browser Near You! · · Score: 1

    I too first read it as "Superman 64" and all I could say is, "Why?"

  2. Re:Countries without nuclear weapons get invaded on How Nuclear Weapon Modernization Undercuts Disarmament · · Score: 1

    A Japanese battleship of that era could travel at 27 knots (about 31 mph) at flank speed. Every navy does things a bit differently but a reasonable cruising speed would be at 2/3rds power, so at 20mph they could have arrived there 15 hours after the initial strike.

    Yes, it could have. I'm having trouble coming up with hard figures, but I believe if it did so, it then wouldn't have enough fuel to get home.

  3. Re:Countries without nuclear weapons get invaded on How Nuclear Weapon Modernization Undercuts Disarmament · · Score: 1

    They did not have "a whole fleet there already." For an airstrike, the fleet only had to get in airstrike range, and they were barely able to manage that. For an invasion, the fleet would have to actually go all the way to Hawaii, and maintain a supply line at that distance. No, it would've been too much.

  4. Re:Countries without nuclear weapons get invaded on How Nuclear Weapon Modernization Undercuts Disarmament · · Score: 1

    People say that, but I don't buy it. Hawaii was just too far away. It was amazing they were able to just launch an airstrike at it--the US didn't think it that was possible until it happened. But a full scale invasion, take and hold? No. Not that far away.

  5. Re:Given that humans still struggle... on Do Robots Need Behavioral 'Laws' For Interacting With Other Robots? · · Score: 1

    I think part of it at least is the certainty. Switching the trolley to another track will certainly save the four people. No chance it won't. But pushing a fat man into its path? Might work, might not. And it would be truly awful if it didn't work. Even if the tester assures you it will work, your mind still looks at the situation and just doesn't know.

  6. Re:Countries without nuclear weapons get invaded on How Nuclear Weapon Modernization Undercuts Disarmament · · Score: 1

    Close but not quite right. There's not really any oil in the Phillippines. What happened was this--Japan invaded French Indochina (later to be Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia). In response the US placed an embargo of oil and steel on Japan. The US at that time was a major oil exporter from the fields in Texas and Japan had been getting much of their oil from the US. They decided that they would make it up with the oil, not from the Phillippines, but rather the Dutch East Indies, which was also a major oil source. To get that oil, they were going to need to militarily occupy it. Japan didn't think they could get away with that without pulling the US in, so they decided they would strike the US first as part of the plan. They hit Hawaii, the Phillippines (not because of oil but because it was far too good a forward base to leave in US hands) *and* and the Dutch East Indies all at once, conquering both the Phillippines and the East Indies.

  7. Re:I must be reading it wrong on Draconian Australian Research Law Hits Scientists · · Score: 2

    Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil invented spread-spectrum communications in 1942.

    That's Hedley... No, wait. It is Hedy Lamarr. Never mind.

  8. Re:Nuclear Material Incidents on The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Introduces the Doomsday Dashboard · · Score: 2

    Probably more like:

    "Where are those two pounds of plutonium?"
    "Eh, logbook says it's in Building C."
    "No, it's not. I checked."
    "Don't know where it might be, then."

  9. Re:I guess she got tired of blaming weed... on Child Psychotherapist: Easy and Constant Access To the Internet Is Harming Kids · · Score: 1

    "talidome baby"? I have no idea what you mean by that. Google couldn't find anything either.

  10. Re:Today's youth collapsed the Roman Empire! on Child Psychotherapist: Easy and Constant Access To the Internet Is Harming Kids · · Score: 1

    And he blamed that dratted new technology, writing.

  11. Re:Related poem on OS X Users: 13 Characters of Assyrian Can Crash Your Chrome Tab · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now then, this particular Assyrian, the one whose cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold,
    Just what does the poet mean when he says he came down like a wolf on the fold?
    In heaven and earth more than is dreamed of in our philosophy there are great many things.
    But I don't imagine that among them there is a wolf with purple and gold cohorts or purple and gold anythings.

    Ogden Nash

  12. Re:Metal Gear on Hideo Kojima To Depart Konami; Metal Gear Franchise Changing Hands · · Score: 4, Funny

    There's only two good reasons to like Tomb Raider.

  13. Re:I'm all for this on Scientists: It's Time To Resolve the Ethics of Editing Human Genome · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Of course we can't cure all hereditary diseases at once with this. But the OP talked about Cystic Fibrosis; it's hard to think of a better candidate to use this technique on than CF. Cystic Fibrosis's genetic basis is simple and well understood. It's just one gene, which has been thoroughly studied. Editing it in germ plasm to eliminate it should not pose insurmountable obstacles.

  14. Re:Internal on Gabe Newell Understands Half-Life Fans, Not Promising Any Sequels · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Heck, if there's nothing else you want to do with the gameplay, write a novel (or, probably better, get a well-known SF writer to do it) to give it all a proper ending.

  15. Re:You can't fly with the eagles on Evolution Market's Admins Are Gone, Along With $12M In Bitcoin · · Score: 1

    when you're surrounded by turkeys.

    ...you have the makings of a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner!

  16. Turns out they were crooks. on Evolution Market's Admins Are Gone, Along With $12M In Bitcoin · · Score: 0

    People running an online black market dealing in illegal goods turned out to be criminals. Who knew?

  17. Re:Know what's worse? Cleartext. on Researchers Find Same RSA Encryption Key Used 28,000 Times · · Score: 1

    If something is wireless, it is more vulnerable. It may not be significantly vulnerable, but it is still more vulnerable than going over a wire, because you have relieved any attackers of the need to put a tap on your wire. This does not mean you are at significant risk, only that you have increased that risk by a small amount.

  18. Re:Most transparent Admn ever.... on White House Office of Administration Not Subject to FOIA, Says White House · · Score: 2

    There is no war on women and non-christians. There's a war against the programmed divisiveness of identity politics.

    There is? I sure don't see one. I see a war *about* the programmed divisiveness of identity politics, with different sides choosing the identity politics they want to fight for. Not too many damn people fighting against it.

  19. Re:I hope you brought your toga... on White House Office of Administration Not Subject to FOIA, Says White House · · Score: 1

    On a related note, a funny thing happened to me on the way to the Senate...

    Shut up, Pseudolus.

  20. Re:Transparency in Government is good! on White House Office of Administration Not Subject to FOIA, Says White House · · Score: 5, Funny

    At this point, I have come to the conclusion that Obama has difficulty distinguishing between "transparency" and "invisibility."

  21. How odd... on ICE Tells Reporter Its Secretive Drone Program Isn't Newsworthy · · Score: 1

    I wasn't aware that the Freedom of Information Act had a "It's not news" exemption.

  22. It's gotta be said... on Uber Rival Lyft Raises $530M, Will Beef Up IT · · Score: 1
  23. Re:Sorry bitcoin fanboys... on IBM Reported To Be Developing Blockchain-Based Currency Transaction System · · Score: 2

    Well, if it's families, it's okay. Everybody's got a family.

  24. Re:What's this "bipartisan Congress" thingie... on FCC Posts Its 400-Page Net Neutrality Order · · Score: 1

    He's PRing for a legal issue. PR people in this position will always say that they will win, if they have envision a battalion of angels flying to their rescue in order to do so.

  25. Re:...a period of uncertainty.... on FCC Posts Its 400-Page Net Neutrality Order · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, sure. I always know what I'm going to do. it's those other idiots who are so damn unpredictable.