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User: Beryllium+Sphere(tm)

Beryllium+Sphere(tm)'s activity in the archive.

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Comments · 4,347

  1. Natural gas is pretty cheap on Japan's Radiation Disaster Toll: None Dead, None Sick · · Score: 1

    Low capital costs, and at current prices low fuel costs.

  2. Would it have shown up so soon? on Japan's Radiation Disaster Toll: None Dead, None Sick · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Isn't there a long delay between exposure and visible cancer? Does the fact that the cases are visible now imply that they must have started before the accident?

  3. Oil and nuclear are separate markets on Japan's Radiation Disaster Toll: None Dead, None Sick · · Score: 4, Informative

    There's almost no oil consumption for electricity generation, and until we get a large fleet of electric cars nuclear electricity will displace very little oil burning.

    What nuclear power does is displace coal, thus saving thousands of lives every year.

  4. Re:Regardless of your political background on IRS Admits Targeting Conservative Groups During 2012 Election · · Score: 1

    Yes, this is the sort of thing that should grab our attention and cause us to check for abuse of power.

    In this case, one of the first steps in investigating is to check who appointed the IRS commissioner.

  5. Re:Seems Odd To Me on Observed Atmospheric CO2 Hits 400 Parts Per Million · · Score: 3, Insightful

    OK, without studying the science, you can use other heuristics to guess at the credibility of the people involved.

    On one hand, you have people saying "We didn't know this for sure until late last century, here are our methodologies, here are several different lines of evidence and how similar their results are, here are our error bars".

    On the other hand, you have people saying
    o Global warming is not happening
    o The global warming that is not happening is being caused by natural sources.
    o The global warming that is not happening that is racing ahead because of unstoppable natural forces ended in 1997.
    o The global warming that ended in 1997 is still going on because of carbon dioxide from volcanos.
    o The carbon dioxide levels, which are going up because of volcanic activity, are not really going up.

    Then read a book like _The Climate Coverup_ and find out which side publishes arguments because they test well in focus groups.

  6. JP-7 on USAF Hypersonic Scramjet Successfully Scrams · · Score: 1

    Ethylene to get it started.

  7. Not just pressure, but heat on 3D-Printed Gun May Be Unveiled Soon · · Score: 1

    Setting off a cartridge is a bit like touching a blowtorch to the barrel.

    Everyone I've talked to with gunsmithing or general materials engineering knowledge thinks an ABS barrel is not worth trying.

  8. Analyzed by Scotty on Green Meteorite Found In Morocco May Be From Mercury · · Score: 1

    "It's ... it's green."

  9. Simpler solution on A New Benefit For Logged-In Readers: Meet Slashdot's ROT13 Initiative · · Score: 1

    You can preserve the existing encryption engine by simply using more rounds. The 2-round version has been broken, so cryptographers recommend using the full 16 rounds, as is done in other encryption systems.

  10. Legally it IS a gun on 'Download This Gun' — 3-D Printed Gun Reliable Up To 600 Rounds · · Score: 1

    In US firearms law it is the receiver that is the identity of a gun.

  11. If voting didn't matter they wouldn't suppress it on Supreme Court Disallows FISA Challenges · · Score: 2

    The immense efforts that go into manipulating eligibility and registration, understaffing polling places in poor areas, and historically even outright violence prove that the powers that be are afraid of voters.

  12. Would the military fire on civilians? on Machine Gun Fire From Military Helicopters Flying Over Downtown Miami · · Score: 1

    Battle of Blair Mountain.

  13. How better to be forward-looking on What Early Software Was Influential Enough To Deserve Acclaim? · · Score: 1

    Than to know what a groundbreaking innovation looks like and how it leverages what came before.

  14. The tubeworms would never even notice on Earth May Have Been Hit By a Gamma-Ray Burst In 775 AD · · Score: 1

    It would be pretty grim for anything near the surface.

  15. Amtrak sleepers don't lock from the outside on Ask Slashdot: Anti-Theft Devices For Luggage? · · Score: 1

    Unless you have so little luggage that you can take it to the dining car with you, then get a good bike lock and chain it to the metalwork of the seat/bed.

  16. They're regulating software already on DHS Steps In As Regulator for Medical Device Security · · Score: 1

    Anyone doing that today should understand security. If they can't, then they can get help from NIST and/or NSA, or outsource it and make the device maker pay a specialist for an audit.

  17. Threat of nuclear war on The World Remains Five Minutes From Midnight · · Score: 1

    The superpowers have backed down but there are many more chances for miscalculation today among the smaller nuclear weapons states.

    I don't want to be downwind of the next India-Pakistan war.

  18. Re:Not very useful the way it's worded. on Nuclear Rocket Petition On White House Website · · Score: 1

    Ion drives get you delta-V at low cost, but that delta-V takes time. This matters if you have meat sacks on the mission who persist in eating and breathing and need to minimize their exposure to cosmic radiation.

  19. Re:It's a shrunk-down ballistic computer! on World's First Linux Powered Rifle Announced · · Score: 1

    Which fits better with the idea that hunting is supposed to be a sport, i.e., a test of skill.

  20. Yes. Imagine a religion that bans hand washing. on Indiana Nurses Fired After Refusing Flu Shots On Religious Grounds · · Score: 1

    If there were a religious objection to flu vaccination, which is not plausible, then it's a religious objection to taking the job, just as Buddhists can't be slave traders.

  21. It's been tried on Scary Toothbrush Prompts Shutdown of World's Busiest Airport · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Screening by airline personnel was the standard prior to 9/11. It wasn't clearly better.

  22. Given just the titles of those claims, on Jury Hits Marvell With $1 Billion+ Fine Over CMU Patents · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The idea of a jury of non-engineers deciding on their novelty is at best weird.

  23. Long distance trains have an advantage over cars on World's Longest High-Speed Rail Line Opens In China · · Score: 1

    Trains can run 24 hours.

  24. Insurance companies should be happy on How Do You Give a Ticket To a Driverless Car? · · Score: 1

    As soon as computers can drive more safely than humans, the amount of damage and injury will go down. And that's setting the bar pretty low.

  25. Thy wish is granted! A car analogy. on Taking Sense Away: Confessions of a Former TSA Screener · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Imagine if traffic cops were allowed to write the traffic laws.

    That's where we are with the TSA. We need to separate threat assessment from implementation, or else the people who want to build their budgets and bureaucratic empires will "identify" hijacking dangers from nutrias and demand $250K each to buy magic anti-nutria rocks from companies that pay them "consulting" fees.