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User: Surt

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Comments · 8,792

  1. Re:inelegant and elegant proofs on Data Transfer Has A Speed Limit · · Score: 1

    "it must be fun to play with accelerators..."

    You'd think so, but it turns out mostly they just sit there making strange noises.

  2. Re:the preserving culture argument on Academics Take On Government Net Censorship · · Score: 1

    Except that the ruling royal family has been caught repeatedly funding anti-western fundamentalist terrorists.

  3. Re:Wow! We've come so far! on Sony Develops 25 GB Paper Disc · · Score: 4, Funny

    The nice thing with this sony paper is that you could put every book ever written on it.

  4. Re:He's safe on AmEx vs. rec.humor.funny · · Score: 1

    Because a lawsuit isn't the same as the threat of a lawsuit, or a cease and decist letter.

  5. Re:Wrong on Quantum Cryptography Leaving the Lab · · Score: 1

    That's right.

    That's why alice and bob have to make sure that the physical connection is set up securely _once_. The endpoints probably need to be physically secure forever.

  6. Re:Not a question of if, but when on Quantum Cryptography Leaving the Lab · · Score: 1

    Yeah, it doesn't make sense until we find all the freeways collapse from becoming waterlogged.

    Then we'll decide pretty d**n quick that hydrogen burning engines are polluting, and make sure that ever car comes equipped with a pollution control device (possibly a bucket of some sort).

  7. Re:Wrong on Quantum Cryptography Leaving the Lab · · Score: 1

    The problem is that once you set up the connection:

    Alice Bob

    Alice and Bob can both tell that

    Alice Eve Bob

    is _not_ the same physical connection thanks to the quantum security.

  8. Re:What application? on Quantum Cryptography Leaving the Lab · · Score: 2, Informative

    Transmitting a large one time pad to an agent in the field can allow them to use that one time pad _later_.

  9. apparently no one is considering on The Only Way Microsoft Can Die is by Suicide · · Score: 1

    That the behavior of a company takes significant direction from its CEO. If a new CEO was in charge of microsoft (say if bill gates and steve ballmer were to die tomorrow), then the behavior of the company could change very quickly.

  10. Re:Question for the more cryptically inclined crow on Probable Solution Found for ECC2-109 Challenge · · Score: 1

    But it's

    D(E(m,key),key)

    Two messages can collide provided they use different keys.

  11. Renewable???? on The Heavyweight Sea Snail · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Like the tidal energy isn't coming straight out of the moon. Won't be very easy to renew when we've used this one up.

  12. Re:Oh come on. on Stop Cell Phones Without Stopping Pacemakers... · · Score: 1

    They should have a life too, but the example was one where the doctor was required to respond quickly to an emergency to save lives. The point is that such a person cannot reasonably expect to be able to perform that duty if they are engaging in such activities, and therefore the issue of whether or not they can receive emergency phone calls in such a location is moot.

  13. Re:I guess I lead a sheltered life... on Stop Cell Phones Without Stopping Pacemakers... · · Score: 1

    In my area i'd guess cell phone are on about 1/3rd of the people in the theatre. However, I'd be very surprised if the number of phone calls that didn't ring thanks to turning on vibrate mode is more than equal to the typical 3 rings.

  14. Re:I guess I lead a sheltered life... on Stop Cell Phones Without Stopping Pacemakers... · · Score: 1

    By your command:
    http://www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCogniti onLab/TRB1 .pdf
    http://www.njsafety.org/html/cellreport.pdf
    http://www.nsc.org/library/shelf/inincell.htm

    Among plenty of others.

  15. Re:Lawsuit time on Stop Cell Phones Without Stopping Pacemakers... · · Score: 1

    A doctor on call for medical emergencies should not be in a concert hall.

  16. Re:Lawsuit time on Stop Cell Phones Without Stopping Pacemakers... · · Score: 1

    People talk louder on the cellphones because the microphones are typically cheap crap, and also because cell losses cause a lot of static, which people ineffectively respond to by raising their voices.

  17. Re:RTFA! on Stop Cell Phones Without Stopping Pacemakers... · · Score: 3, Insightful

    People on call for life and death situations should probably not be going to the theatre. Having to work your way through a crowd may mean a fatal delay in reaching the person who needs your life or death service.

  18. Re:I work for a University and... on Code Copying Survey for Developers · · Score: 1

    I find it effective to amend the agreements to exclude work undertaken to satisfy any prior contract.

    Have yet to have any of 1 university or 3 employers balk at that.

    And none of them even asked to see a list of prior contracts, so apparently none of them know I have a contract with my wife for all work done on my own time.

  19. Re:I guess I lead a sheltered life... on Stop Cell Phones Without Stopping Pacemakers... · · Score: 2, Informative

    There is significant research to suggest that the concentration needed to have a two way conversation on a cell is > the concentration needed to have a conversation with someone in the car > the concentration necessary to change the radio channel > the concentration necessary to listen to the radio.

    The uproar about it is caused by the experience that 9 of the last 10 near accidents i've been in have all been the fault of a person talking on a cell phone, and in about half the cases that person seemed to be experiencing difficulty with overcorrection due to the use of one handed driving.

    Switching the radio station takes one hand away from the wheel briefly. Talking to a person in the car or listening to the radio doesn't take one hand away at all. Talking on the cell phone non-hands-free takes away one hand for an extended period of time.

    Another frequent problem with cell phone users is that they commonly raise their voice to overcome bad microphones and/or static on their connection. They wind up talking innapropriately loudly for an extended period of time. Think about the irritation you experience hearing one person yelling at another person. This happens all the time with cell phone users.

    Finally there is the problem with cell phones being left to ring (often with an innappropriately loud and long ringsong) at inappropriate times. I haven't been to a movie in the last 3 years without at least 3 cell phone rings. And in at least the last year they have the warnings to turn off your cellphones up on screen for 20-30 seconds before the movie starts! And in 2 movies in the last year I've had to request my money back because I couldn't hear dialog over people who actually took calls and started talking during the movie (and of course talking too loud because of their crappy phone microphones/static issues!)

    In short, if you're a frequent cell phoner, try to be considerate of others. It sounds like you (the person i'm replying to) aren't a frequent user, and are probably polite while you're at it, but the fact is most people aren't.

  20. Re:The Score on Technology Spontaneously Combusts In Sicily · · Score: 1

    There are no supernatural causes. Only natural causes we don't understand yet, and may or may not be able to understand in the future.

    Anything which exists is natural. If poltergeist exist and set computers on fire, then they are a natural cause of computer fires.

    Whether or not we can understand the behavior of poltergeist in detail is open to question. There are many things that scientists feel are unlikely we will ever know. Although current belief is that information is never lost, there is much information for which no one has any even remote idea for how it might be retrieved practically (and even information for which a practical retrieval method is believed impossible).

    So there will always be much that science does not know, but there will never be anything supernatural in the world.

  21. Re:Halo vs Ringworld on Scifi Channel to Make Ringworld Miniseries · · Score: 1

    That was the sufficient difference that kept him from being able to sue halo for copyright infringement.

  22. Re:Not Funny Mods on Gateway To Close All Retail Stores · · Score: 1

    Sure I do, it's apparently you who does not.

  23. Re:Not Funny Mods on Gateway To Close All Retail Stores · · Score: 1

    The economy is bad when it doesn't provide jobs.
    Sure, some very rich people are getting richer, but that's not the same thing as good.

  24. depends on the size of the cup on Death by Coffee? · · Score: 1

    I had a friend with a coffee addiction problem who had worked himself up to around 8-9 _pots_ per day. He had to stop when he developed heart problems.

  25. Re:Popularity on Spread The Love (And Pay Us) · · Score: 1

    Britney Spears because I would expect her to be comparatively harmless? The real question is would anyone who currently plans to vote democrat in the forthcoming election change their vote if the democratic candidate were Britney Spears.