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User: Skywolfblue

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Comments · 85

  1. Re:Jeeze, Now I have to support the UN? on UN Debates Rules Surrounding Killer Robots · · Score: 1

    The people in power are the one's who programmed the robot to follow their orders...

    That's the thing that worries me most about robots. A human soldier always has the choice to be able to go against the orders of their superiors and spare the life of an innocent. A robot can't.

  2. Re:No KDE? on Linux Mint 15 'Olivia' Is Out · · Score: 1

    There will be a KDE version released later!

    It's a small development crew so they work on Cinnamon first.
     
    Personally I'm loving Mint KDE 14 so far, and am looking forward to Mint 15 KDE!

  3. All in the packing on DARPA's Headless Robotic Mule Takes Load Off Warfighters · · Score: 2

    It's the size of a horse, not as agile as a horse, not as intelligent as a horse, and about a million times more noisy then a horse.

    Donkey's can be frightened pretty easy yes, Horses if they're not trained, but War-Horses can handle extreme battle conditions pretty well.

    Food vs. Batteries is a pretty even trade off. The robot is screwed if an EMP goes off, Horses are going to starve if there isn't any grass. A horse can beat 20miles in a day. /cue "interesting factoid thinking about that made me look up: (The world record is some 160km in about 6 and a half hours)"

    The only really good reason I can think of is packing. You could probably stick this on the back of a Humvee, which isn't really possible with a horse.

  4. Upgraded Soyuz? on NASA'S Orion Arrives At Kennedy, Work Underway For First Launch · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...was the thought that first came to my mind when I saw it.

    So... It takes billions of dollars to essentially make what amounts an upgraded Apollo Command Module or Soyuz Reentry Module?

    What's wrong with just using a Soyuz then?

  5. Re:Gesture Computing Will Never Last on See-Through 3D Computer With Gesture Controls Gives Us a Glimpse of the Future · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, that's largely because most of today's gesture recognition is absolutely terrible at recognizing fingers precisely from a long way off.

    Waving arms is generally tiresome and not all that effective.
    But say, twitching a finger to flip through photos would be a lot easier then using a keyboard.
    A better version of kinect that can turn on the TV and load that DVD at the slightest wave of your hand? Awesome! now you don't have to look for that clunky remote anymore.

    However, this particular device with the screen in between the person and their hands, just awkward and plain ungainly.

  6. OS9? Seriously? on The Condescending UI · · Score: 1

    "I wish there was a similar OS 9 mode for OS X."

    Ok I just lost all respect for his taste in UI. I think he must have completely forgotten how bad OS9 really was, or maybe he's never used OS9 at all. OSX is light-years better.

  7. Re:Hugh Laurie on Doctor Who To Become Hollywood Feature Film · · Score: 1

    That would pretty amazing IMO. He can match the same happy-with-a-side-of-sarcasm Tennent did so well. I'd love to see that.

  8. Re:What could possibly go wrong on Public Supports Geo-Engineering · · Score: 1

    The problem is that it adds permanent consequences (weather impact, long term solar reduction) without actually countering CO2 levels.

    It's like a partial band-aid for temperature only. Only this band-aid comes with really nasty side effects.

  9. Re:If that doesn't put it in perspective on The 147 Corporations Controlling Most of the Global Economy · · Score: 1

    Those 1% aren't "taking risks". They have golden parachutes, government bailouts, and small-fry employees they can fire. They get away scot free, while burning everyone else around them into the ground.

    It would be nice if there was actual "risk" involved, but currently there isn't.

  10. Why? on MS Buying Yahoo? Bad Idea, Even At a Discount · · Score: 1

    Why would MS really want to buy Yahoo at this stage?

    I thought last time around it was to try and sink it so MSN wouldn't have competition. But now with facebook and google and whatnot being much bigger players, that doesn't seem like a very workable plan.

    Or make some hybrid bastard child of MSN and Yahoo and turn into into the worst social networking site they possibly can and trumpet it as the "new facebook"?

    I just don't see it being ~all~ that attractive to MS. Yahoo runs a slightly (well, maybe upgrade that to "a fair bit" because MSN is pretty abysmal) better version of much the same stuff as MSN, but it's not like it's a groundbreaking change.

  11. Re:why not a mule on Boston Dynamics Unveils AlphaDog Quadruped Robot · · Score: 1

    You can't mount big guns on the next generation of mules and remote control them from an island in the Indian Ocean

    Pfffffft. Lack of vision.

    A true evil villain would mount big guns on mules anyway. Now to design a railgun that can fit in the saddle...

  12. Re:NASA, I am disappoint on NASA To Demonstrate Largest-Ever Solar Sail in Space · · Score: 1

    Friction is a HUGE problem for mass drivers. It's pretty much completely impractical to accelerate something to Escape Velocity in the lower atmosphere because the air resistance will fry anything at that speed. Also, unless you build an absurdly (I mean REALLY absurdly) long track, no person is going to be able to survive the G forces. Now it'd be great for say the Moon, or other places with low to no atmosphere.

  13. Re:International coordination? on NASA Rolls Out Space Exploration Roadmap · · Score: 1

    And the ones they can build have a nasty habit of blowing up.

    Well, the Russians had/have that problem too. They're just less squeamish about it.

  14. Re:You don't "GET IT", do you? on Google Preps Devs For One-Size-Fits-All Android · · Score: 1

    within a decade the English language will have completely devolved into a mess of mutually unintelligible sets of syntax so different that communication between different groups will present a real problem.

    How exactly is that new? English has never really had a sane fixed syntax.

  15. Re:Obvious answer, convuluted on Why Aren't There More Civilians In Military Video Games? · · Score: 1

    The obvious answer is that most companies don't want to deal with the shit-storm that COD Modern Warefare 2

    shit-storm = free publicity. They made that mission on purpose to create controversy and thus sales.

  16. Re:those things have been coming for 30 years on SignalGuru Helps Drivers Avoid Red Lights · · Score: 1
    That has to be about the most absurd comparison I've seen in a while.

    So a safe, responsible, aware driver driving their car around town to enjoy the evening breeze is the same thing as someone doing target practice in the middle of town???

    No.

    If they're being irresponsible and reckless driving then I can understand. But safe driving is not an "extremely dangerous activity".

    totally remove the danger for innocent bystanders.

    There will always be something with danger to innocent bystanders. An automated system will still have casualties.

  17. Re:those things have been coming for 30 years on SignalGuru Helps Drivers Avoid Red Lights · · Score: 1

    So suddenly anyone who likes the activity of driving is a maniac?

  18. Re:Ugh. on Microsoft 'Ribbonizes' Windows 8 File Manager · · Score: 1

    Given the trends started in Lion I'm afraid for the future of OS X. Oh well, viva la 10.6, long may it reign.

  19. Re:One word: WHY? on Microsoft 'Ribbonizes' Windows 8 File Manager · · Score: 1

    That's due to cutting out stuff on the page, not the toolbar using less real estate. It's a good thing they're cutting the page down yes, but it doesn't excuse the horrid ribbon.

  20. Re:What happens next? on Steve Jobs Resigns As Apple CEO · · Score: 1

    I'd like Apple to use their resources to make laptops and desktops the way they've made iPhones.

    They already have? At least for laptops anyway. A whole slew of manufacturing decisions that give the MacBook Pro it's efficient shape, design, and solid construction are being copied by the rest of the world.

  21. Re:Total Nonstarter in the US. on Russia Approves Siberia-Alaska Railway · · Score: 1

    Alaska can't even afford to push a gas pipeline down to the lower 48 to sell off all of the neato natural gas we have. The economics of nat gas have gotten so bad that we've shut down the LNG facility that shipped it to Asia.

    That part right there is basically the perfect example of why this railway project won't work. The gas pipeline would have done pretty nicely... if businesses had cooperated on it, instead each played politics and begged for ever more and more compensation from the government, and then the government went all sideways... Ugh. If they can't cooperate on something like that, how on earth would they do their part for a railway that's going to cost a million times more?

  22. Re:Not Skynet enough on Iron Man-like Exoskeleton Nears Production · · Score: 1

    Would they really "decide not to use it" if sovereignty was at stake?

    MAD is kinda balanced around the idea that "you'll stay in your corner and i'll stay in mine". Once one side actually steps onto the other side's home soil everything goes downhill.

  23. Re:Built Upon Failures on Google's Self Driving Car Crashes · · Score: 1

    Unfortunate Occurrence or Manufacturing Defect? A lot of the latter gets written off as the former. (I.E. Ford Explorer tire blowouts, etc)

  24. I for one... on NASA Sends Lego Figures to Jupiter · · Score: 1

    welcome our new Lego overlords! Sounds like a great plot for a movie/game! Legos sent out to other planets evolve into sentient super-Legos and return to destroy the Earth.

  25. Re:Charles Manson on Online Call To Shoot President Ruled Free Speech · · Score: 1

    ++
    It's scary how "clamping down on terrorism" has become a hammer for forging a police state where you can't question or voice opposition to the government.