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User: Karmashock

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  1. Is there a valid source on this? on European Parliament Blocks Copyright Reform With 113% Voter Turnout · · Score: 2

    This just seem to be a bunch of blogs linked to each other. Where can we verify that 113% percent voted? I have no idea what that means.

    The automatic assumption is that there was voter fraud but it's possible there is some procedural thing going on here. I have no way to verify anything because these links always use themselves or a sister site for authentication. That doesn't work.

    Anyone have a legitimate link?

  2. Re:This is going to be free eventually. on Pay the TSA $100 and Bypass Airport Security · · Score: 1

    I don't see how the TSA ID makes any of this worse. It just takes existing bad things and uses them for something useful. But the bad things would exist whether we did something productive with them or not.

    It's making lemonade out of lemons. I'm not defending the lemons... I'm saying the lemons exist... they're there... no real way to get rid of them... might as well make lemonade.

  3. Re:This is going to be free eventually. on Pay the TSA $100 and Bypass Airport Security · · Score: 1

    They got my finger prints when I signed up for a driver's license. And the background check is mostly them just collating existing information in their database. Exactly what am I giving up that wasn't lost 50 years ago... eg before I was even born? This is ultimately a backpedal.

    The majority of the flying public is going to get this approved flying thing and at the same time it's going to be expanded to international groups. So really that will probably be the real change. The US TSA is going to get intel on the majority of the planet's flying public. Processing all the intel will be a challenge. They'll need to automate it and at the same time the automation has to spot terrorists. My guess is that it won't really work but we'll pretend it does.

    And the net result will be that security goes back largely to the way it was before 9/11 but passengers will never forget. So when a terrorist tries to grab control of the plane... the passengers will die sooner then let him take control.

    9/11 can't happen again unless we forget.

  4. This is going to be free eventually. on Pay the TSA $100 and Bypass Airport Security · · Score: 1

    The TSA is going to do an opt in background check on everyone that flies and if you do it you can go through a fast line.

    And it will be free...

    Really... if they make this reasonable it might solve the problem.

    Have to hand it to the TSA. They were getting very close to getting terminated.

  5. Re: Google seems to be less interested in innovati on James Whittaker: Focus on Ads and 'Social' Destroying Google · · Score: 1

    ultimately even by your own logic that requires corporate sponsorship.

  6. Re: Google seems to be less interested in innovati on James Whittaker: Focus on Ads and 'Social' Destroying Google · · Score: 1

    That's incredibly shortsighted and naive. I don't disagree that some in google might see it that way however it is the innovation that makes the profits possible.

    We would not have the society we have today if we just stuck with stone age technology. The innovation allowed entirely new heights of wealth to be possible.

    So innovation might not create wealth but it enables it.

  7. Re:How is this possible? on Startram — Maglev Train To Low Earth Orbit · · Score: 1

    No idea it had to be that big. I thought the track itself was only going 12 miles up? I assumed it wasn't going to be more then 12 miles long... so you have a track at a 45 degree angle. And then maybe make the magnet trail twice as long so 24 miles or something. That we could bury in Nevada no problem. But if it has to be a thousand miles long then it has to be in Canada or Siberia. Ideally canada because I have no interest in giving the Russians bargaining chips. The Canadians are reasonable... the Russians are frequently irrationally stubborn.

  8. Re: Google seems to be less interested in innovati on James Whittaker: Focus on Ads and 'Social' Destroying Google · · Score: 1

    Where did I say they should give anyone free stuff?

    Charge me for it. Make a mint off it. The whole patient system exists to help companies and individuals get rich off of innovation. We give them a MONOPOLY on the invention for 14 years. What more do you want?

    Don't assume I'm some punk demanding free loot unless otherwise stated. It is quiet annoying to be so wildly and unjustifiably misunderstood.

  9. Re: Google seems to be less interested in innovati on James Whittaker: Focus on Ads and 'Social' Destroying Google · · Score: 1

    You're not getting advances in genetic engineering, cpu design, or a thousand other fields out of a garage.

    Again, it took google dumping billions into that whole automated car project to get it to work. And then we have Richard Brandson with his Virgin Galactic nonsense... we do depend on these institutions to innovate. Hate on them all you like but like a group of men sitting around dissing women... or vice versa... understand that at the end of the day you need them. You will come back to them and you will make peace because there is just no alternative.

  10. Re: Google seems to be less interested in innovati on James Whittaker: Focus on Ads and 'Social' Destroying Google · · Score: 1

    We'll see, I hope you're right.

    We count upon large corporations for doing the research that moves our society forward. So it is sad when they lose all ambition to innovate.

  11. Google seems to be less interested in innovation on James Whittaker: Focus on Ads and 'Social' Destroying Google · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Who thinks they would have made that push into automated cars if they had the choice to rethink that today?

    The whole company is getting focused on profits rather then innovation.

    That might be valid. However, it might also be possible that the best way to ensure future profits is to take risks now on new ideas.

  12. Re:How is this possible? on Startram — Maglev Train To Low Earth Orbit · · Score: 1

    ah... I understand that better now. Thank you.

    I'd still avoid unstable regions. It would be okay if we buried the cable and there were nothing above ground to remind the locals that there is a multi billion dollar installation below their feet. But that will be hard with the startram reaching into the sky.

    Also the people you have to bribe or disapear... it's just more trouble then it's worth most of the time.

    I'd much rather it be in Arizona or Nevada. Ever seen Nevada? It's flat, dry and dead.

    We could put the magnets well below the ground right? It wouldn't matter if they were 20 feet or so below the surface?

  13. Re:How is this possible? on Startram — Maglev Train To Low Earth Orbit · · Score: 1

    As to the location, it will have to be in a very stable region of the world. No one is building something like that in a place where it will be vulnerable to attack. Africa and south america are off limits for that reason. If it could be built in the US south west, east asia, Siberia, or Australia that would be fine. I don't know if temperature matters but if cold weather conditions are useful then we have lots of space in Canada, Alaska, and Siberia.

    As to adding more force and making it wider... my understanding is that you'd have to do both. I'm just conceptualizing this in my mind... but the force should start dropping off exponentially if it's just a strip. I think you'd need a plane to sustain the force linearly.

    As to charging up the super conductors... I was thinking about weather and emergencies. We could even use the conductors sans magnets to store power from the grid. Like a giant capacitor. So it wouldn't go to waste.

  14. Only if it learns. on Can Microsoft Afford To Lose With Windows 8? · · Score: 1

    MS has been making the same mistake since windows ME.

  15. Re:How is this possible? on Startram — Maglev Train To Low Earth Orbit · · Score: 1

    Does the position on the earth matter? I ask because a cable that long will use up a lot of real estate and you're going to want to put it someplace where the land is cheap.

    As to the fall off... I'm picturing the fall off from an infinite plane and I can see the fall off is linear. But now I'm picturing a strip of light 12 miles away and when looking down at the earth I'm going to guess that most of what I see won't be that strip of light. So the fall off while not inverse squared will have to be pretty savage. To a certain extent the strip will probably have to get wider as the pipe gets farther from the ground.

    It would be manageable if the whole thing fit into a 20 mile square area. We can find a stretch of nowhere to put something like this... especially if we can shut it off when we're not using it without destroying it.

    We should be able to slowly reduce the field and "land" the track right? We're just not going to need this thing 24/7... at least not until we have used it enough to get a really strong space economy going.

  16. Re:ironically this would require nuclear war on Solving Climate Change By Bioengineering Humans? · · Score: 1

    personally, I'd be happier with randomly releasing timber wolves on to the streets... and polar bears... and... cloned saber tooth tigers.

    Be honest... which world would you rather live in?

    1. A world where there are 20 billion people that are genetically engineered to be 3 feet tall and hate meat.

    2. A world with 3-5 billion and vicious predators are randomly released in major population centers.

    No contest for me... vicious predators every time.

  17. It works so long as the issue isn't controversal on Have Online Comment Sections Become Specious? · · Score: 1

    A problem with comments is that it's often got political, religious, or philosophical issues and that tends to create tension that causes people to flame each other.

    Discussions that don't have that focus tend to be more productive.

    Controlling trolls or extreme and hostile opinions is difficult. Something like the yelp system but for commentators might be useful. That is, some system that actively sorts posters using some kind of algorithm.

  18. ironically this would require nuclear war on Solving Climate Change By Bioengineering Humans? · · Score: 1

    The only way you'd get people to submit to something like this is by going to full blown total war... and then winning. Which means you're dealing with a full blown thermo nuclear war on a global scale.

    Which would probably not be the best thing for the environment.

    I don't know... environmentalists do well when they talk about reducing pollution or protecting animals. But when they start talking about limiting children or forcing people to live differently or this genetic engineering idea... they're going to lose all support.

    So short of some James Bond villian's master plan... they really might as well give up on these aggressive strategies.

    All of that said, a better idea might be to find a way for humans to be selectively warm blooded. We use up a huge portion of our calories regulating our own body temperature. Lizards can eat less then some people eat in a day by body mass and survive on it for more then a month without starving. If humans could turn their heat regulating abilities on and off then humans especially in warm areas or who just lived in warm homes could radically reduce their food intake without reducing activity.

  19. Re:How is this possible? on Startram — Maglev Train To Low Earth Orbit · · Score: 1

    thank you. This has been enlightening. You've expanded my understanding of physical laws and the nature of the universe.

    I've perhaps made that easy through my ignorance but know that I truly do appreciate the insight you've provided me here.

    Applying what you've just said back to the idea of a magnetically suspended railgun (basically what the train is), would a thin line of magnets or a track be sufficient to sustain a field at that distance? Or would you need a massive plane? Because a track is only just possible. But a plane would require far too much to be reasonable.

  20. Re:I switched to bing about a year ago on Bing Now Nearly As Good As Google — Says Microsoft · · Score: 1

    Better two monsters in competition then one monster with a monopoly.

    That it's MS up there doesn't matter. Two is better then one.

  21. Re:I switched to bing about a year ago on Bing Now Nearly As Good As Google — Says Microsoft · · Score: 1

    Google is not a small company. And in search they are the giant.

  22. I switched to bing about a year ago on Bing Now Nearly As Good As Google — Says Microsoft · · Score: 2

    Google was creeping me out... it was just too large and it bothered me that the other search giants were dying. So I made a point of using bing as much as possible.

    When I started using it... it was worse then google... a lot worse. But now it's about the same.

    I still sometimes check google when I'm not finding something on Bing. But increasingly I've found that if it isn't on bing it won't pop up on google either. So they seem about the same to me now.

    We should be happy about this... I know lots of people just hate MS for being MS... but do we want only ONE search engine? We need to support alternate engines just to keep a dynamic marketplace.

  23. Re:How is this possible? on Startram — Maglev Train To Low Earth Orbit · · Score: 1

    I didn't know the shape of the magnet mattered. I thought magnetic fields acted like electromagnetic fields in that they lose ins tensity with distance geometrically.

    I mean, if I'm twice as far from the sun the sun will be less then half as bright. The sun is huge... the size of the light source doesn't matter. I didn't realize magnetic fields allowed for linear falloff... If so... then that's pretty amazing.

  24. Re:How is this possible? on Startram — Maglev Train To Low Earth Orbit · · Score: 1

    really? Superconducting magnets have linear magnetic fields?

    If so that would be pretty amazing...

  25. Re:How is this possible? on Startram — Maglev Train To Low Earth Orbit · · Score: 1

    how though? Magnets don't have that sort of range unless they're insanely powerful... I mean... more powerful then the magnetic fields around planets. We've never built magnets a billion times as strong as what this would need if it were holding it up from the ground.

    The strength of a magnetic field falls off geometrically from it's source. So a magnet that can lift a car at 2 inches can't lift a paper clip at 10 feet.

    For a magnetic field to be so powerful that it can lift this crazy thing at 12 miles... I mean... there are magnetic fields that strong and stronger in the sun... but... I can't think of anywhere else you're going to run into force like that outside a star.

    or am I just wrong about everything? I have enough humility to know I'm sometimes full of crap. Tell me if I'm wrong. This is just my understanding of the science.