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User: tm2b

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Comments · 1,018

  1. Re:What about those from the sun? on ET Will Phone Home Using Neutrinos, Not Photons · · Score: 1

    The key issue is the energy of the neutrinos - much like the frequencies (, Kenneth,) of EM radiation.

    We've got noise all over the EM spectrum from black-body curves shifted for every thermal source out there. Neutrinos from nuclear reactions are only of a very small set of energy values - so as long as we communicate with neutrinos of another set of energies, the sky is pretty clear.

    Put another way, it's as if (as a radio analogy) the AM band of frequencies is completely noisy everywhere from EM. This other FM band (neutrinos) only has a few frequencies taken up by known reactions - we can create new "radio stations" anywhere there isn't a current natural "station."

  2. Re:I played AoC's beta... on Age of Conan's "Kinda" Launch and Massive Pre-Orders · · Score: 1

    Where do people get that WoW runs alright on a POS machine?
    You neglect to tell us how many UI mods you're running, and what your net pipe looks like (and whether you're, say, loading your tube with bittorrent or other traffic). That machine should be perfectly fine everywhere in the game, you've got issues that have nothing to do with the machine itself.
  3. Re:See & Avoid on Unmanned Aircraft Pose US Airspace Problems · · Score: 1

    It's much worse than halving the effectiveness, though. UAVs are much much smaller than piloted GA craft, and thus much much more difficult to see - it's more like trying to spot a large bird like a vulture than a Cessna.

    This means that the distance at which the UAV will be spotted will on average be much closer to a point of potential collision than with GA craft, and the time to react will be much lower.

    On top of that, when you see something airplace shaped, you judge its distance in part by its apparent size. If you as a pilot are thinking "Piper" about a UAV, it's going to be very much closer than you believe until you have enough time to judge by other factors like parallax (difficult, considering you don't know the UAV's airspeed).

  4. Context on Fat People Cause Global Warming, Higher Food Prices · · Score: 1

    OK, how many more resources does a new child take? It's far better to be fat and not have any more children.

    We really ought to be focusing on the impact of reproducing. I mean, think of the, uh, children. The other children, I mean.

  5. Re:YouTube's unspoken policy for fair users on YouTube's Unspoken Linking Policy For Copyright Infringers · · Score: 1

    On the other hand, such use is essential for a society to have any kind of culture. If you can not record a video of your 1 year old son dancing to a well-known song, your ability to participate in the society and extended family is seriously curtailed.
    Good god, that sounds dire.

    How did people ever participate in the society and extended family before YouTube (never you mind before home video)?
  6. Re:How do schools make science dull? on Lectures On the Frontiers of Physics Online · · Score: 1

    You haven't spent much time taking a look at the U.S. public school system lately, have you?
    Note that the OP is almost certainly not in the US or talking about the US educational system, since he referred to mathematics as "Maths" (an idiom not used in the US).
  7. Re:In other news.... on 3G iPhone Expected in June · · Score: 1

    Today men died in Iraq, but we are worried if fucking Obama wears a flag pin or what colors the damned iPhone will be available in.
    "My GOD man, how can you enjoy that chocolate, the company of a beautiful woman, or a poignant sunrise?? TODAY MEN DIED IN IRAQ!"
  8. Re:New extinction event hypothesis? on The Milky Way's Black Hole Is Not So Quiescent · · Score: 1

    And if you want to dismiss this then just read my signature first.
    You posted anonymously, so you don't have a signature, genius.
  9. Re:No wonder Apple wants to stop PsystarDON'T UNDE on Psystar Offers $399 "OpenMac" Computer · · Score: 1

    That's a really bad analogy. You're absolutely entitled to ignore the terms of the GPL.

    The thing is, you have no rights to copy the software without the GPL: the GPL grants you a conditional right (an exception to the default restriction against copying copyrighted work), it doesn't remove any rights.

  10. Re:RIP on Physicist John A. Wheeler is Dead at 96 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Well, it's true enough. Hawking pretty clearly isn't standing.

  11. Re:That's outrageous on Administration Claimed Immunity To 4th Amendment · · Score: 1

    Not true. He was a senior lecturer (which is essentially a professor) of Constitutional Law at U of Chicago.

  12. Re:Hmmm on IBM Suspended From US Federal Contracts · · Score: 1

    Why does it suck?

    For IBM, sure. For taxpayers ... not so much. IBM is an expensive trainwreck-for-hire when it comes to actually delivering on its contracts.

  13. Re:Inside Sony on Sony BMG Sued For Using Pirated Software · · Score: 1

    Why in the world would you expect anybody to believe anything you write after, "I work in one of the US divisions of Sony?" Because you read Slashdot, you expect to get a pass on the overall deceitful, criminal behavior of Sony's "computer professionals?"

  14. Re:Of course it's not easy on Space Elevators Face Wobble Problem · · Score: 1

    Evil space squirrels?

  15. Whine, whine, whine on Does It Suck To Be An Engineering Student? · · Score: 1

    When engineers screw up, people die. When English majors screw up, we get badly written dross. Engineers should be graded harshly.

  16. Re:Warning: Spoilers on A Battlestar Galactica Prequel Series on the Way · · Score: 1

    They do not. Rather, only one model does: Number Three does, but has been boxed. When she found out, she apologized and said that she had no idea - but she never had a chance to share the info.

  17. Re:In other news on Supreme Court to Hear FCC Indecency Case · · Score: 1

    No. "Nookie" is synonymous with intercourse, not vagina. The origins may be otherwise, but that's certainly the meaning in common American English now.

  18. Re:unprofessional on Class Action Complaint Against RIAA Now Online · · Score: 1

    YANAL.

  19. Re:Not Frankenstein on Endeavour Crew to Assemble Giant Robot, in Space · · Score: 1

    Undergraduates can be scientists too, provided that they're doing science.

  20. Re:Android on Apple Targeting Business World for the iPhone · · Score: 1

    Are Apple really doing that well? I've yet to see one in the UK.
    Anecdote follows.

    I went to a wedding in December, and about 20 of us there were all CMU alumni (geeky, early adopters). About 2/3s of us had iPhones.

    This ended up sucking when a glitch in Google Maps sent us all to the wrong place for the after-reception drinks.
  21. Re:Android on Apple Targeting Business World for the iPhone · · Score: 1

    Oh, right. Instant replacement for the iPhone in the making, and it's open.
    Don't you mean: "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."

    Seriously, this is the kind of noise people were spouting about the iPod.
  22. Re:Hopefully on NASA to Test Emergency Ability of New Spacecraft · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why a duck? Why-a-no chicken?

  23. Re:Gary Gygax was a god. on D&D Co-Creator Gary Gygax Has Passed Away · · Score: 1

    Except that experience shows that this is true, just not the only reason. They're good for gaming for other reasons, but they do often inspire the male gamers to take a freakin' shower from time to time.

  24. Re:Falsification not always a criterion for scienc on Bill Allows Teachers to Contradict Evolution · · Score: 1

    With apologies to Frank Zappa:

    Philosophizing about science is like dancing about architecture.

    (I got yer Bayesian statistics right here, buddy boy)

  25. Re:Land of the Free. on Military Steps Up War On Blogs · · Score: 1

    What's even more disturbing to me is the abandonment of the notion of the "citizen-soldier."

    I can understand restriction of some rights for the sake of discipline, but the participation of the soldier as a fully informed citizen is vital to the nature of our volunteer military. They are not mere automatons, and they do not give up their franchise or their right to political information, including that regarding military matters, just because they have chosen to defend their country.

    This is a disgrace.