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User: SlashDotIDOne

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  1. Re:Now... or... 22 years ago? on Inhabited Island Vanishes Forever Underwater · · Score: 1

    If you're going to link to nothing but a chart and say that it's of any worth whatsoever, it should at least have all its units specified. What are those anonymous numbers on the left supposed to mean? Judging by the graphics, the numbers on the left most likely represent the net change in the number of satellites in orbit, as measured every six months by NASA. Notice that this chart appears to begin in 1993. This is because the Mt. Pinatubo eruption of June 1991 perturbed the atmosphere with its stratospheric aerosols, thus making it impossible to properly track the satellites until December of 1992. It is still unknown what caused the Great Satellite Decline of 1994, but it is quite possible that Al Gore was involved.

    On a serious note, the graphic is from As Sea Level Rises, Beaches Shrink, an article from '03. The article really doesn't explain the pretty graphics very well, but they were probably attempting to refer to sea level change in mm, with 0 as some base of what they think it should've been at some point in time. If you're interested in the newer, more accurate data on this, check out GRACE or get your own GRACE TELLUS data.
  2. sniperbots on Pentagon To Send Robot Soldiers to Iraq · · Score: 1

    I'd really love to see some quality sniperbots someday though. I can only imagine the military advantages of being able to airdrop robotic snipers in, or preposition them, and then have them controlled via relay from a UAV or other aircraft flying nearby. A few snipers firing simultaneously, shorter than the average human, and requiring no food would be absolutely awesome.

    Of course I'm no sniper, I'm just imagining here, and it'd suck to be the marine scout-sniper that had to find a new job or sit in a shipping container somewhere fighting a war on a videoscreen.

    If they start making serious advances in batteries and portable, storable energy, this could start being a much more feasable way to fight wars or dangerous missions. Not to mention the cost ($200,000 or so) is less than the standard $250,000 life insurance most soldiers have these days. Though I'm sure 50 years from now there'll be robots' rights protests, and people spilling robot blood on cars and carrying something similar to a coffin through the streets in protest.

  3. Re:This kind of thing... on American Airlines Information Gathering · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Yes, feel free to tell us all about what you believe to be the responsibilities and moral codes that should be followed by the servicemen of a country you're afraid to visit.

    Clearly you have absolutely no clue. Why don't we seperate things out a bit, mmkay?

    Torturing prisoners? usually a pretty bad thing to do
    Detaining guerillas/terrorists who took up arms against us overseas, then bringing them to a safer place where they can be interrogated, housed, etc.? Good idea! Great idea! And nothing wrong about it. They've been there what, 3 years or so now? Tops? I'm sure some more and some less. They've begun a process to give them hearings and present their cases as to why they should still be there.

    You make it sound like some evil and immoral Amerikanos grabbed thousands of random people off of airports, out of disneyland, etc., stuck them in cages for buying cotton candy for their daughters, and then tortured them brutally.

    Now, let's not have uninformed people discussing constitutionality, ok?

    Oh, and military personnel don't swear in on the bible, despite the popular belief across the world that they're just a huge group of loud, sadistic, evil christians. OK, they're very loud.

    Please don't blame others for your extreme paranoia and prejudice. Thanks.

    That being said, every country has not only a right, but an obligation to attempt to collect information regarding foreigners entering and exiting their territory. The primary purpose of a government is to provide security, after that it depends on the type of the government, the type of leaders, and the desires of the people, in THAT order.

  4. Re:We don't need them, until we need them. on Budget Issues Force Spy Satellites Into The Open · · Score: 1

    Care to provide links, references, or information on how you have such a deep personal knowledge of satellite systems, UAVs, supposed stealth UAVs, etc.? Or are you getting this all from online discussion groups, CNN snippets, and geocities websites?

    Just curious if you can back anything up or make it up. I feel that's entirely relevant to these conversations.

  5. Military Readers on /. on Gaming in the Military · · Score: 1

    From reading these replies I'm beginning to think the military community on /. is composed entirely of marines and one air force who calls his own unit wannabe army. Though I can say from experience that I met more marines who played MUDs and D&D than any other branch. Some even openly.

    Though you have to know there probably are hundreds of gamers in the air force who have read this story and chosen to continue to remain secret instead.

  6. Re: Always call the 1-800 number on HOWTO: Annoy a Spammer · · Score: 1

    (According to what kind of ads you get over here, you have to think that all US Americans are a bunch of low-earning people with little dicks that would pay a fortune to watch pre-recorded porn on the 'net and haven't found out how to MAKE MONEY FAST yet. Blame the spammers.)

    I've lived in america for nearly all my life, but I must say... I'm startled by how well spam really presents America. I thought it'd be bad, inaccurate, and lower than we are.. No, that's pretty right, actually. Especially if you go into the lower income areas. References, full bibliography, and many resources available, should you want them. I love my country, but most of my fellow citizens really piss me off.

  7. Re:Size Matters on Earth's Little Brother Found · · Score: 1

    Doesn't that depend entirely upon its composition? An asteroid this size made of styrofoam may burn up really easily, but something, say, metallic or hard, nickel would do just fine, would be more than a case of severe bloating when travelling at very high speeds towards us. When you're dealing with gravity and objects at a distance 12x that of the moon, accelerating as it approaches Earth the entire time, you build up some rather insane velocities. A fly hitting your glasses at Mach V might still do some damage. F = ma and all... Just a thought, too lazy to look up the numbers :).

  8. Re:libertarians should be gassed on Earth's Little Brother Found · · Score: 1

    the real question is, how the hell did it get +5, funny?! the second question is, why the heck didn't anyone interject a comment about anonymous cowards being far more deserving?!

  9. Re:Ultrasecure? on Ultrasecure Quantum Communications Over Thin Air · · Score: 1



    Sorry, I was just trying to point out that it was somewhat more secure than "secure credit card transactions"... Not that I question the security of my credit cards when I purchase online until AFTER they get stored in the database and hacked a few months later... Just that I haven't heard of NSA telling the state dept. to go ahead and use it overseas. But your joke is rather well founded, I just had to reply since it was a joke on me :(.

  10. Re:I may not know too much, but.. on New Scientist: Venus' Atmosphere Implies Life · · Score: 0

    Well, I'm not an extreme religiousist, that's the difference.. My extremism is more along the lines of "stop killing people, damnit, or I'll whap you with my... shinai! (bamboo sword)"

  11. Re:I may not know too much, but.. on New Scientist: Venus' Atmosphere Implies Life · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hmph. Well don't I feel right well stupid. Thanks for the info though, that's pretty insane and interesting. Hmmm, perhaps we could change a few entries in holy scripture, make venus the new holyland, and send all the extremists and fundamentalists THERE?

  12. I may not know too much, but.. on New Scientist: Venus' Atmosphere Implies Life · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Besides the typical "oooogle first post bork bork", I do have some sort of serious question to ask: Why are we focusing so much on mars instead of venus? Venus seems to be very earthlike in some ways, and if we could only find a way to cool it down some... :) Not to mention just plain having a better name and no nasty stigma of war.. Oh yeah, and speaking of space, why has /. been up and down the last 20 minutes?!

  13. Not allowed to play videogames! on Alleged eBay Hacker Goofs up and Goes to Jail · · Score: 1
    Heckenkamp had been free on $50,000 bail, and living under electronic monitoring -- prohibited by court order from using cell phones, the Internet, computers, video games and fax machines.

    Ok... I understand that a l33t h4x0r could use some quake for the ps2 on the net to hack something..? MAYBE? But... come on man! That's cruel and unusual.

    How many of you could quit using ALL of those, trapped in your home... I bet he's not even allowed to read books related to technology! No wonder he's acting strangely! He should countersue, demand immediate release, and umm be given a sega master system or something to do.. some sort of electronics...

    i'd die without monitor radiation to sustain me!

  14. Re:How did all this schisse porn get in my MP3 sha on Peer-To-Victim File Sharing · · Score: 1

    Being german, and moderately offended, I feel I must say: a) it's the Japs that really are into that stuff.. and b) it's scheisse, or scheiße. And the parody of Aqua's Barbie Girl is in Dutch (netherlands) , not Deutsch (germany). And another thing: it's "du hasst" or "du haßt" not "du hast". Two s' means hate, one is have. Big difference. Now that this is cleared up, I would simply like to agree with you. This could easily become not only a way for a person to become unhired, but a new tool for framing him. Incriminating evidence has always been easy to place, but now your average 12 year old pimple-face next door can do it to your 83 year old grandpappy. Really reverses the flow of power in society, eh?

  15. Re:Some more thoughts that didn't fit my blurb on Sleeplessness Impairs Memory · · Score: 1

    What about public schools? Here in the state a high school student enrolled in Calculus, Physics, English, Economics or Government, etc. all at one time will have more homework than possible with this sleep limit. Our classes are roughly 7 hours total a day, homework can total 6 hours easily. If you add in four hours a day for work, transportation, and just getting up and showering you fall below the 8 hours. Note high school students are supposed to get 8 minimum and 10 optimum. These are the numbers released officially in my district for the explanation of why I can't work more than 8 hours a day on a weekend.

  16. Re:So for $30 I can get rid of my VAX-6000? on IBM Offers Computer Recycling · · Score: 1

    Well, if you have any smaller VAX systems I will take one off your hands for free, plus shipping?

  17. Re:Tinma undone by i815 chipset? on Intel Cancels its Timna chip · · Score: 1

    I work at a small computer shop in southern california. All I can say is I built many of these systems with Pentium III flipchips running ~700MHz, and they run beautiful and fast with their nice 128MB PC133 DIMMs. Overall the system with case, mobo, cpu, fans, hard-drive, monitor, etc. is still well under $1,000. Not bad for a board that beats the graphics and sound quality of a $3,000 system from 2 or 3 years ago.

  18. Re:President on Foil-The-Filters Contest · · Score: 1

    Wasn't he also the first to sign it? Either that or the last. It could be 30 years or 1 day since I last attended an American History course, either way I don't remember.

  19. Re:NOVA Episode on Antartic Ice on Water On The North Pole · · Score: 1

    Actually, the rain forest doesn't really produce all that much in the way of O2.. About 75% of our CO2->O2 conversion comes from phytoplankton and seaweed. This is how the atmosphere was teraformed when the earth was pretty much all ocean with very few land-based life forms. The rain forests may seem vital, but it has been calculated that we could survive without them.