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User: FreemanPatrickHenry

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Comments · 99

  1. The best is... on Best Filesystem For External Back-Up Drives? · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...ReiserFS. I hear it's killer.

  2. Computer activity for those with language diff.. on Computer Activities for Those With Speech and Language Difficulties? · · Score: 2

    Slashdot editor?

  3. Re:We do science right! on Human Origins Theory Tested By Recent Findings · · Score: 1
    Therefore, the correct way to right this would be "Homo erectus" and "H. habilis".

    You're write, sir!

  4. Re:Not quite OSS on Ticket Tracking and Customer Management? · · Score: 1

    We ended up settling on a ticket tracking system by Intuit. I was pushing for the Cerberus solution, but the higher-ups settled on that, for whatever reason.

  5. Not quite OSS on Ticket Tracking and Customer Management? · · Score: 1

    It's not Free, but you might want to check out Cerberus Helpdesk. They've got a free (beer) version that's subject to some limitations. We considered using it at my last job (before settling on another solution.)

  6. Re:Slashdot == kdawson's political blog on Executive Order Overturns US Fifth Amendment · · Score: 1

    I think he's the love child of michael and timothy.

    I was thinking more along the lines of...JonKatz incarnate?

  7. Laser Cooling on Researchers Chill Mirror to Near Absolute Zero · · Score: 2, Informative

    "Laser cooling involves firing pulses of light at a specific frequency that exactly matches an atom's motions."

    I may be wrong on this, as I'm just an undergrad physics major, but in my experience laser cooling involves detuning a laser slightly below some atomic transition frequency, and counterpropagating the same beam back. What happens is as a laser moves quickly in the direction of the beam, it observes the laser's frequency to be higher due to the Doppler shift, and suddenly this laser that was not resonating with the atoms comes into resonance, and the atom starts absorbing photons, which have momentum. This knocks the atom back such that it can't move quickly in the direction of the laser. Often this is done with six beams along three orthogonal axes so that you cool the atoms in all directions.

  8. Deeply touching on Scientists Create Sheep That Are 15 Percent Human · · Score: 1

    I can't wait for this. Be still my bleating heart!

  9. I guess what this means... on NASA Fires Astronaut · · Score: 1

    ...is that even though NASA can't afford the search for the killer asteroid, they can apparently afford the search for the killer astronaut.

  10. Global Warming Fix on $25M Bounty Offered for Global Warming Fix · · Score: 2, Funny

    Global warming? What is that, some new street drug? And $25M for one shot? Crazy...

  11. Re:You are all MISSING THE POINT!! on 256GB Geometrically Encoded Paper Storage Device · · Score: 1


    Anyone else remember that the sine of any angle is some F'ing huge number


    Uhm...no, I don't actually.

  12. Ada? on Should Online Stores Be Subject To ADA? · · Score: 1

    Should Online Stores Be Subject To ADA?

    Well it worked for Charles Babbage...

  13. Re:Help me Sam and Max, you're my only hope... on Sam and Max - Culture Shock Review · · Score: 1

    I really hope this series takes off. I haven't seen a decent "poke the object" game for years. I used to love those LucasArts (and Sierra) games. Hit the Road, Monkey Island, and Day of the Tentacle were some of the funniest games I've ever played.

    You forgot Grim Fandango.

  14. Re:Oh please on IT and Divorce? · · Score: 1

    Dear Mrs. Chown, Ignore your son's attempts to teach you physics. Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is. Best wishes, Richard Feynman

    FPH-A physics major

  15. Where he hid the body on Hans Reiser Arrested On Suspicion of Murder · · Score: 1

    I hear he hid the body in the trees...

  16. Re:US shouldn't be the golden standard ... on Censured for Censorship in China · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wow. What crack smoking mod gave this Insightful?

    Your argument boils down to: The US System isn't perfect -> We have no right to judge any human rights situation. Logically, that doesn't follow. It's a question of degree: of course the US system is not perfect, and we have a record of human rights abuses in our past and present. However, the American concept of free speech is immeasurably more "correct" than China's.

    Their limits may be more restrictive than ours, but we *do* have restrictions.

    Agreed, we do have restrictions. But you're taking the whole beam/mote debate to a new level entirely. If a parent lies on occasion, does he no longer have the "right" to tell his children not to lie? Do we expect perfection out of every moral goalpost.

    Bottom line: We're never going to get perfection. We're (hopefully) going to to develop greater and greater respect for human rights. In the same way that perfect is the enemy of good, your relativistic judgment of the United States stands in the way of human rights progress in China. Just because I can't publish the DeCSS code in a newspaper doesn't imply that my country is on the same footing with one where reporters fear for their lives.

    We should not assume the American system is best and that we should force our political
    systems on others, that's how things like Iraq happen.


    It may not be the best. But we must adopt a philosophy which holds "more human rights" to be better than "less human rights," and "more free speech" to be better than "less free speech."

  17. Quick Google Scholar Search on Hot Pepper Kills Prostate Cancer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hmm, a quick Google Scholar search for "capsaicin cancer" revealed this. That link, from NIH, seems to indicate that there's evidence that capsaicin is a carconigen:

    The cancer increase was dependent on the concentration of these groups in a county. These results strengthen and extend an earlier case-control study which found odds ratios above 5 for the stomach cancer association with capsaicin pepper. It is further evidence that capsaicin is a human carcinogen.

    Thoughts?

  18. Adventure Games? on Games That Keep You Coming Back? · · Score: 1

    I still come back and play Grim Fandango from time to time. That was one great game--voice acting, difficulty. It's really a shame that G.F. didn't get nearly as much popularity as it deserved.

  19. Reminds me of the "Physics Chanteuse" on Singing Science · · Score: 1

    I ran accross Linda Williams, the "Physics Chanteuse." She has a similar routine.

    http://www.scientainment.com/pchant.html

  20. Coloring Bubbles on Mad Scientist Invents Colored Bubbles · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I imagine it would be difficult. I haven't RTFAd, but I'd guess that you'd have to constrain the width of the film. That way you could presumably create interference effects and "color" it.

  21. Re:Wait, when... on Web Chats Help the Chronically Ill · · Score: 1

    I think it's like my mother--she was chronically 37 for the longest.

  22. Re:Answer to the Sample Question on Your Favorite Math/Logic Riddles? · · Score: 1

    Regarding entropy, I know I used it...loosely. By "highest entropy state," I simply meant the state in which there was the highest number of permutations possible. An equal number of heads and tails would fit that condition (disregarding the fact that there are an odd number of coins).

  23. Re:Answer to the Sample Question on Your Favorite Math/Logic Riddles? · · Score: 1

    Not so. Since we're (presumably) assuming the system is random, the initial state of the system should not affect the final state. That is, if I take a group of quarters with 14 heads and 36 tails, and flip all of them, I should end up with about 25 heads and 25 tails.

  24. Answer to the Sample Question on Your Favorite Math/Logic Riddles? · · Score: 1

    I haven't thought about a more efficient way, but it seems that the surest bet would be to split the coins into two equal groups, and then flip all the coins in each group. You're most likely to end up with 25 heads up coins in each group (being the maximum entropy state).

  25. Encryption? on Bill Would Let Police Monitor Email · · Score: 1

    Here's the case for using strong encryption for emails.