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User: Randym

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  1. What kind of simulation.... on Neil deGrasse Tyson Says It's 'Very Likely' The Universe Is A Simulation (extremetech.com) · · Score: 1

    ...allows its denizens to *even consider* that it might be a simulation? Isn't that what brought down The Matrix? On the other hand, this might be just the thing to allow atheists and theists to peacefully co-exist: the latter can advance the axiom that *everything* is God's will (since it's, presumably, His simulation) -- and the former can relax realizing that *nothing really matters* since it's all just an illusion anyway...

  2. Gives a whole new meaning to COSplay....

  3. Why high in sulphur and manganese? on Mystery Rock 'Appears' In Front of Mars Rover · · Score: 1

    High sulphur could in theory be a waste product of HS metabolism; microbes are known to utilize this.

  4. Re:Great Satan on Senator Dianne Feinstein: NSA Metadata Program Here To Stay · · Score: 3, Insightful
    ' "New terrorists are emerging, new groups, actually, a new level of viciousness," Feinstein said.'

    Ah, yes -- that small vicious group that call themselves "The Congress". Vile bastards, those... Claiming to 'represent the people', yet imposing insult after insult upon the very people they claim to represent.

  5. Gammas Rule! on Telegraph Contributor Says Coding Is For Exceptionally Dull Weirdos · · Score: 1

    For the dull and weird in all of us....

  6. Sign the anti-censorship petition at change.org on Books With "Questionable Content" Being Deleted From ebookstores In Sweeping Ban · · Score: 2

    Sign the anti-censorship petition at change.org. Currently it is accumulating signatures at the rate of 1 signature every four seconds. Today, Fifty Shades of Grey (virgin enslaved by a billionaire); tomorrow, Ender's Game (children enslaved by the military).

  7. Re:Facts please. on Books With "Questionable Content" Being Deleted From ebookstores In Sweeping Ban · · Score: 1

    You are incorrect. That particular smutpocolypse already happened in 2010. What they are going after now is things which are perfectly legal which seem "bad" -- and it's all being driven by some right-wing rag in Great Britain (you know, land of the page 3 girls...). If you are getting your news from the BBC, you are already a little late to the story.

  8. Unlikely metabolism... on Intraterrestrials: Mars Life May Hide Deep Below · · Score: 1

    'This organism has had to figure out everything on its own,' says Amend, 'it splits water into hydrogen and oxygen for metabolism.'

    It's hard to believe that geochemist Dr. Amend said that about Desulforudis Audaxviator, since D. Audaxviator is completely intolerant of oxygen, and its sulfate reduction mechanism is right there in its name!

    If anyone had bothered to follow the links in that discovery.com article, they would have found this useful article that quotes the original discoverers of Desulforudis Audaxviator: "Tullis Onstott classified the microbe under the genus Desulforudis for its ability to get energy from sulfate and its rod shape... Living deep underground for such a long time has also stripped D. audaxviator of the ability to use oxygen as an electron acceptor in its metabolic pathways, thus making it a strict anaerobe. Instead of oxygen, sulfate is used as an electron acceptor...These [2157] genes allow the microbe to live in almost all conditions except in the presence of oxygen." (my emphasis)

  9. Life IN Mars (yet again) on Intraterrestrials: Mars Life May Hide Deep Below · · Score: 1

    Here is my second comment entitled "Life IN Mars"; my original comment on this was so long ago that it has vanished. Let me merely add that eventually we will find life inside almost every extra-terrestrial planet-sized-or-larger object (assuming we get there), with the probable exemption of solar objects.

  10. Hubs and authorities on Fake Academic Journals Are a Very Real Problem · · Score: 1

    So again, scientists know this is a problem. They just don't know how to stop it.

    Hey, I have this really cool idea. I call it Hubs and Authorities ; the idea is that there is peer review and the best-reviewed journals are considered the best journals to send your paper to! Whaddya think?

  11. There's a better way... on Teachers Know If You've Been E-Reading · · Score: 1

    '"It's Big Brother, sort of, but with a good intent,"

    ...it's called grading the students on what they have learned. And I can't believe such an inane comment came from a dean. Of course, it is Texas, land of the dumbed-down and incorrect textbooks, so maybe we shouldn't be that surprised....

  12. There are consequences... on Speeding Ticket Robots — Laws As Algorithms · · Score: 2

    An automated system, however, could maintain a continuous flow of samples based on driving behavior and thus issue tickets accordingly.

    An unanticipated consequence of an "always-on" mass surveillance system. "Big Brother is always watching."

  13. Re:Unlikely to work on The Human Brain Project Receives Up To $1.34 Billion · · Score: 1

    Yep. Think even deeper -- see my .sig.

  14. Re: Aptronym on Scientist Seeks 'Adventurous Human Woman' For Neanderthal Baby · · Score: 1

    Nice link, thx. There is a Republican in Michigan -- who has run for several offices -- named Rob Steele.

  15. Re:The real problem on Republican Staffer Khanna Axed Over Copyright Memo · · Score: 1
    Groen Links (Green Left) was decimated in Holland when it became clear the party had lost all touch with reality in supporting several right wing measures, forgettin they were supposed to be a LEFT wing party.

    Not according to German Green Party founder Petra Kelly, who famously said "Not Left or Right, but straight ahead!" ("Nicht links oder recht, aber gerade aus!")

  16. Re:Do people never learn? on Legislators Call On Twitter To Ban Hamas · · Score: 1

    The Christians lost the Crusades. Those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it.

  17. Re: deceleration of war on Legislators Call On Twitter To Ban Hamas · · Score: 1
    A declaration of war is an acceleration.

    But you are right. 'Allowing foreign terrorist organizations like Hamas to operate on Twitter is enabling the enemy,' said Poe. Someone needs to tell this twit to STFU. We don't care to stumble into yet another war started by a Texan Republican with a big mouth.

  18. Re:the number e on Study Finds Similar Structures In the Universe, Internet, and Brain · · Score: 1

    Aargh. I just pointed out above that it is actually 1/e. Well, we are both on the same page.

  19. Re:And the answer is 42 on Study Finds Similar Structures In the Universe, Internet, and Brain · · Score: 1

    No, it isn't. It is 1/e. The inverse power function runs through everything.

  20. Re:Jumping the Gun on How Do We Program Moral Machines? · · Score: 1
    Asimov’s laws effectively treat robots like slaves. Perhaps that is acceptable for now, but it could become morally questionable (and more difficult to enforce) as machines become smarter and possibly more self-aware.

    I will start worrying about the slavery problem when my machines start complaining about it.

  21. Re:Watch the other hand... on US Congressman Wants To Ban New Internet Laws · · Score: 1
    via redditor Sheepwn:

    The goal is to put off internet regulation for 2 years because that'd be 2015 after elections. Democrats won the election and the party the won usually loses favor during the mid term election. Basically they're stalling until they get a Republican Senate to do the legislation instead of the split Senate/House (which I would prefer over all Democrat or Republican)

  22. Has anyone done a study on how much time/dollars are spent in dealing with such?

    All of them.

  23. Unlike OS X.... on Windows Blue: Microsoft's Plan To Release a New Version of Windows Every Year · · Score: 1
    just like Apple's OS X...move to an OS X-like system....just like OS X

    ...neither first to market *nor* "first to profit". But certainly "last to cool".

  24. Just like the 80's: "We won." on Climate Contrarians Seek Leadership of House Science Committee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Back in the 1980's, the [so-called] Moral Majority spent a lot of time stealthily taking over local school boards. By stealthily, I mean they concealed their true colors, while running, then used their winning of elections to argue that they had a mandate to undermine the teaching of science and critical thinking in public schools. The fact that people can be elected to Congress and make such fatuous statements with a straight face makes me think that they -- in a certain sense -- did "win": these Congresspeople are the children of that age. It's sad, of course, that people think that "winning" means one has the right to determine the conceptual course of the nation's children -- regardless of actual facts.

  25. "See ya, Texas..." on Secession Petitions Flood White House Website · · Score: 1

    "...and hello Democratic Presidents for the next twenty years!"