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User: Livius

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Comments · 2,750

  1. Re:Interesting on Censorship Struggle Underway In Iceland · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is also (usually) a correlation between their enthusiasm for suppressing the information and the need for it to be revealed in public interest.

  2. Re:Its OK though on EU May Allow US To Keep Snooping On European Bank Data · · Score: 1

    They don't care about terrorists. So why do they want other people's financial data? Hint: consider the incestuous relationship between the US government and Wall St.

  3. Re:Science, lol? on Of Science and Choice In Online Dating · · Score: 1

    Women, and sometimes men, typically have certain priorities that are so ingrained that they don't realize they have them. They may actually care about, say, looks, income, forceful personality, or whatever, but consider those qualities completely non-negotiable, and therefore don't articulate them as priorities. E.g., a woman saying she is looking for a sensitive man is probably dating or has recently dated a man with no sensitivy, and hence would appreciate a little bit of sensitivity. She likely would be totally repulsed by a man who was genuinely sensitive by nature.

  4. Re:Truly Gates now thinks he is God on Can Bill Gates Prevent the Next Katrina? · · Score: 1

    Gates is trying to patent basic heat transfer. I'm sure I saw some prior art in Grade 2.

  5. Re:You mean racketeering on We Rent Movies, So Why Not Textbooks? · · Score: 1

    I pick up some extra work at the university bookstore during their busy season, and, while maybe some fields like pharmacology genuinely do need the latest textbook (maybe), I almost want to cry when I see students buying $200 first- or second-year calculus books, subjects which have not changed in 250 and 100 years respectively.

  6. Re:First Vote on Pirate Party Coming To Canada · · Score: 1

    If nothing else, it's mathematically impossible for them to be any worse than the other political parties.

  7. Re:Yup on Richard Stallman Says No To Mono · · Score: 1

    Why else did Microsoft put so much effort into plagiarizing Java?

  8. Re:hmm... on Researchers Discover That Sand Behaves Like Water · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Clearly some of the air will be accelerated and it's pressure will change. They will have to try it in a vacuum.

  9. Re:Hell yeah - R2-45 on Church of Scientology On Trial In France · · Score: 3, Insightful

    With a religion, not everyone involved is a charlatan, or at least it's hard to prove. Scientology is a demonstrable fraud thinly disguised as a knock-off of gnosticism with some 1950s technology buzzwords.

  10. Re:Amber preservation on Microbes 100M Years Old Found In Termite Guts · · Score: 1

    No, the whole point is to do it while they're alive and all those bio-molecules are still viable. So the sooner the better.

  11. Quid pro quo on Microsoft Blocks Messenger In Five Embargoed Countries · · Score: 1

    The US military recent made Windows purchases. In other words, they gave away money in the form of purchasing toxic assets. Now we know what they got in return.

  12. Re:I wonder... on More Americans Play Video Games Than Go To Movies · · Score: 1

    Yes, it couldn't possibly be the quality of the product the movie industry is producing.

    </sarcasm>

  13. Bush guessed wrong on Voyager Clue Points To Origin of the Axis of Evil · · Score: 1

    It means the Axis of Evil is very far away from Little George's idea of Iraq-Iran-North Korea. Of course, Bush being wrong no longer surprises anyone, even when he's off by 100 AU.

  14. Simple Geography on Special Effects Lessons From JJ Abrams' Star Trek · · Score: 1

    Clearly the purpose was to distract the audience from the absurdity of Kirk, faced with searching an entire planet (say, 500,000,000 km2 or so), literally stumbling into Spock within a matter of minutes.

  15. Re:Eating apes is pretty close to cannibalisim on Were Neanderthals Devoured By Humans? · · Score: 1

    ...*aren't* entirely...

  16. Re:Eating apes is pretty close to cannibalisim on Were Neanderthals Devoured By Humans? · · Score: 1

    True, the palaeontologists are entirely sure, but I'd say calling 'cannibalism' is just pseudo-journalist sensationalism.

  17. Worst denialist argument EVER on Ocean Circulation Doesn't Work As Expected · · Score: 1

    Uncertainty about the cause is no excuse for inaction. If the human race becomes extinct or human civilization is destroyed, it's not going to matter whether it was caused by human activity or not.

  18. Yes, it has. on Flash Drive Roundup · · Score: 1

    "has the flash drive become an undifferentiated commodity... that you might find at an office supply store checkout counter?"

    Yes. We had them when I did some part-time work as a bookstore cashier not long ago, and I see them at plenty of other places as well.

  19. Re:Duh on New Pattern Found In Prime Numbers · · Score: 1

    Gauss figured out the logarithmic distribution of primes about two hundred years ago, so the leading digit will have the logarithmic distribution described.

    Now, the *proof* might well be some interesting mathematics, but the result is not new, just expressed differently.

  20. Re:Erm.....What the hell? on Microsoft To Disable Autorun · · Score: 1

    I've always thought this was one of the more bizarre default settings Microsoft inflicted on the world. Thankfully the registry key wasn't too hard to find.

  21. Re:For a smart guy, dumb statement on Researchers Show How To Take Control of Windows 7 · · Score: 1

    Especially given how prompt Microsoft is at fixing security flaws.

  22. Re:In other news... on Quantum Theory May Explain Wishful Thinking · · Score: 1

    Sadly, there are worse business plans out there.

  23. Re:Usage based is fine if you're an honest ISP on Bell Proposing Usage-Based Billing · · Score: 1

    It's simply that Bell is evil. They found the worst ways to abuse their monopoly, and when they were forced kicking and screaming into competition, they found the worst ways to abuse that. It's not even about the money, they do it for sport.

  24. Men just won't admit when they're outsmarted on Quantum Theory May Explain Wishful Thinking · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Women think that they have more bargaining power than men, and that they can wield this power more effectively by pretending they don't realize they have it. Women are correct in their thinking.

  25. Their model of human behaviour is wishful thinking on Quantum Theory May Explain Wishful Thinking · · Score: 1

    Even if it's quantum mechanics math and not actual quantum mechanics, it's still trying to invoke something exotic rather than simply admit some of their assumptions are not simply wrong, but are so obviously wishful thinking in their own right.

    The human brain evolved in an environment where there there was almost never a safe strategy available, and there was never a single ideal course of action. Hence, a natural suspicion of things too good to be true, and a certain pattern of guesswork. Some people make optimistic assumptions, some pessimistic assumptions. We (as a species) have both because neither is perfect. In real life, you do not have perfect information, and you have to fill in the gaps, even at the risk of being wrong, perhaps fatally wrong, because not doing so also has a risk.

    Researchers get frustrated with the "prisoner's dilemma" simply because they won't admit that the "irrational" choice people make is actually correct. The best answer in the real world is to think ahead and assume a 'rational' jailer who will double-cross both prisoners no matter what.