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  1. Re:ohhhhh... on Penny-Sized Nuclear Batteries Developed · · Score: 3, Informative

    From TFA:

    "To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density," said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. "The radioisotope battery can provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries."

    Power density.

  2. Re:Slashdot achievements on Slashdot Launches User Achievements · · Score: 1

    My daughter is still asking for the pink slashdot back.

  3. Re:Slashdot achievements on Slashdot Launches User Achievements · · Score: 1

    Exactly.

  4. Re:New HOT, faster Postgres on PostgreSQL 8.3 Released · · Score: 2, Informative

    I guess nobody appreciates humor here. Well, not if it's against the fanboys.

    I'll stand by it though-- switching to MySQL from Postgres made my life significantly simpler:

    1) you can install MySQL easily
    2) MySQL has great vendor support
    3) my experience is that MySQL performs significantly better in the general case (i.e. I'm not spending my entire life tweaking performance)

    Many an honest thing were said in jest, I suppose.

  5. New HOT, faster Postgres on PostgreSQL 8.3 Released · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    I suppose they've figured out how to only make it an order of magnitude slower than MySQL.

  6. Re:Finally some proof! on Many Scientists Admit Unethical Practices · · Score: 1

    It's 6000 years.

    Get it straight.

  7. Good job Chris on Washington State Outlaws Spyware · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    Since I live in Washington, I wonder if the androgynous Chris Gregoire would be willing to pass a law banning elections that, "Prevent, through intentionally deceptive means, an owner or operator's reasonable efforts to block the installation of a Governor"

    Margin of error > margin of victory. Hm.

    Feeling disenfranchised (and I didn't even vote for Pat Buchanan!), but the ACLU won't file a lawsuit on my behalf.

    Yeah well, whatever, them's the breaks, I guess.

  8. Re:Worst doctors on What Do You Do When Outsourcing Goes Bad? · · Score: 1

    Um, I think you forgot dentists.

    There's a reason that the English have what they call a socialized smile =).

    But dude, I'm with you on the cooking. It's all bad.

  9. Re:Uh-huh on Sun-isms Debunked · · Score: 1

    bzzzt! wrong.

    Solaris actually is SunOS, with xwindows.

    Put another way, Solaris includes SunOS.

  10. Re:Cross platform...promise? on Can Infinium Compete In The Game Console Market? · · Score: 4, Funny

    Like, Breakout, Super Breakout...

    Photoshop.

  11. Re:August 5th on Doom 3 Web Site Now Operational · · Score: 1

    No kidding! Mine is the 5th, too.

    And my wife's is today.

  12. Re:Laser printer hack on Harmless Pranks During a Downsizing? · · Score: 1

    putting:

    INSERT $.25

    into the LCD of an HP printer: 2 minutes

    Watching the puzzled reaction of your cow-orkers? Priceless.

    We actually watched people looking around for a spot to put the quarter. Absolutely hilarious-- no end to the funny things that you can put in there.

  13. Because people are listening to less music. on 2003 CD Sales Officially Down 7.6 Percent · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I just read in McPaper (USA Today) that Americans, on average, are listening to less music. Something like 198 hours (down from 216). This is especially suspicious since the decrease is similar to the reduced CD sales number.

    Maybe people *just don't like* the music that is being put out, and as a consequence, aren't buying and/or listening to CDs. Maybe they're out having lives. Maybe they are listening to live music.

    Every time I see something like this from the RIAA, it sounds like, "our business plan isn't working! It must be a conspiracy! Piracy on the high seas!"

    Whatever.

    Maybe you should produce some music that we want to listen to?

    Maybe you should make it easier to find music we *like*?

  14. Uncle Tom's Cabin on Dystopic Novels? · · Score: 2

    A classic. By Harriet Beecher Stowe.

  15. What about radio on Turning the PC into a Digital Video Recorder · · Score: 2

    I listen to talk radio, and I want to be able to record broadcasts for later listening.

    Are there any solutions out there for doing this? I'd need AM support.

    I'd love to be able to use my radio just like a TiVo.

  16. Re:Low card diets DO work and I'm proof on Scientific Battlegrounds in Diets · · Score: 2

    Agreed.

    I started at about 360 (I'm just big boned) and Am now steadily losing my way (about 1 lb/week) past ~270.

    I have been on the diet (not counting relapses) for about 2-2.5 years.

    It works, and my HDL/LDL/Triglycerides are *well* within norms (total Chol ~130).

    I also have a marked increase in energy levels.

    But, and here is the clincher:

    I stay depression free while I'm on the diet. I've had lifelong depression, and the Atkins diet has cured it. When I "cheat" for more than a couple of days, the depression comes back. My family and friends all think I'm a totally different person.

    There are studies linking hyperinsulinism and depression, it isn't just anecdotal.

  17. Re:theomathmatics on Apple Deals with Devil, Communists · · Score: 2

    Never Mind the fact that cubits are an imprecise measurement, something akin to "about 18 inches."

    But hey, whatever you need to prove your point, right?

  18. Re:Here's page 2 on Behind The "Work-At-Home" Street Spam Signs · · Score: 2

    Do you mean:

    http://www.herbal-attitude.com/ ?

  19. ten years == we don't really know on British Researchers Say Fusion Is Close · · Score: 4, Troll

    I think that fusion research is great and all, and I do think that it has potential. But I'm tired of hearing scientists say, "we're only a decade away!"

    Note to future readers of ambitious scientists: ten years means, "we don't really have any idea where we are, but we're getting really close!"

    I guess that I kind of feel for them (the scientists), since the public is really unwilling to fund "blue sky" research, but to keep prognosticating like this is irresponsible. Predicting timelines is best left to engineers.

  20. That's what the internet is all about! on Human Clock (Complete with Hands!) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This harkens back to yesteryear. The FishCam, the internet enabled coffee maker, etc.

    Reminds me of the good old days, when people had way too much time on their hands and creativity was rampant.

    A nice break from the current spam infested and x10.com peddling (oops, I mean, "business friendly") Internet.

  21. I *like* ebooks! on Why Nobody Likes E-Books · · Score: 2

    I've read a bunch of the Gutenberg texts in my iPAQ, and have really enjoyed them. So far:

    _Life Among the Lowly_ (Uncle Tom's Cabin)
    _Hound of the Baskervilles_
    _Pilgrims Progress_
    a bunch of shorter Sherlock Holmes stories
    etc.

    I've found that the format is very nice, since I'm already carrying my iPAQ, and I can get some reading done wherever I'm at (Taxi cab, subway, etc.)

    I must admit that I don't like the copyright "features" that companies are trying to peddle, but I've only really read stuff from Gutenberg.

  22. notoriously buggy? on Netscape 6.1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No "editorial bias" here:

    AOL Time Warner released the first final upgrade to its notoriously buggy Netscape 6 browser, promising a smoother and faster ride for Netscape loyalists.

    netscape loyalists?

    Are they trying to position Netscape users as a bunch of militia members or something? Wait'll we see Rosie attacking Tom Sellick saying we have no right to keep using Netscape.

    Beautiful example of objective reporting there.

  23. DARPA paid for HP patent? on HP Patents Nanoscale "Street Map" Technology · · Score: 4

    I'm really enthused to see that DARPA is funding ~half of this project, but HP gets to hold the patents. Maybe we need a million geek march on Washington to tell them that if we are paying for public (not "national security" related) research (through tax dollars), we expect to have rights to said developments.

    Something ironic in there about the government funding research so that we can be forced to pay a company for it.

  24. Electoral College reform on More Candidate Answers - Bush and Hagelin · · Score: 2

    Personally, I think that all these whiners complaining about the electoral college have no idea why it was implemented.

    Our founding fathers (whoa, hows about an all male hegemony!) created the electoral college for the same reason we have three branches of government with checks and balances. So our government will move SLOWLY. That's right, SLOWLY.

    Believe it or not, most people don't want sweeping change in our government based on whether or not some fickle minority changes its collective mind. Believe it or not, the statement, "majority rule, minority rights" SHOULD apply to the United States.

    I like the fact that we haven't had five or six constitutions in the last 100 years like the French.

    Brad

  25. Re:What exactly are you CHOOSING, and why? on The Full Nader Plus a Taste of Bush and Gore · · Score: 1

    >It is my body.

    Your body isn't in question here, it's the baby. Why doesn't he or she get a choice?

    We've determined that we don't treat other humans as property-- we've outlawed a whole raft of things like murder, slavery, assault, etc. that confirm this. Some believe (I'm in this camp) that an unborn child is human.

    My standard litmus test:

    Is it alive?
    Is it human?
    Did you kill it?
    Is it murder?

    I suspect that there are people that disagree with my views, but I hope that some are open minded enough to see why a sizeable portion of the populace does not agree that infanticide should be legal.

    I absolutely cannot see where people get off saying that birthing a viable baby and sucking its brain out would be considered "a choice" about "my body" (in reference specifically to the so-called "partial birth" abortion).