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User: pdavisgenoa

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Comments · 58

  1. Re: Yes, that was actually the point on 'Yes, Pluto Is a Planet' (sfgate.com) · · Score: -1

    Well said. There ARE several planetariums and universities (and lower grade schools) that have completely ignored that duplicitous 4% of IAU members and continue to place Pluto as the ninth planet.

  2. Why not? on 'Yes, Pluto Is a Planet' (sfgate.com) · · Score: -1

    One of the arguments I've heard from astronomer's against classifying planets so that Pluto is included again is that: "oh my god we'll end up with hundreds of planets!" Which they seem to think will either make the word planet meaningless (hyperbole), or too hard for people to learn, (condescending). They also worry that children in school will get confused by it and it will turn them off science. If the arguments sound overblown and silly it's because they are. It's handwaving and hyperventilating over a number. So what if there's suddenly 300 planets instead of 9? Are they afraid all those mobiles of planets hanging in museums and planetariums will suddenly be thrown out and useless? They act as if doing this will be some sort of sacrilege. That it's anathema to interfere in such a long established construct. Kind of like removing the status of a planet after 75 years... for example. Maybe instead of coming up with inane titles like "dwarf" planet they could go the other direction and call the original our "prime" planets - but ultimately they'll all be "planets". And I'm willing to bet it won't ruin science or cause children to be confused.

  3. Re: On Facebook, it's the recommender, stupid! on Facebook Exec Admits 'No Real Understanding' for the Scope of Fake News (mercurynews.com) · · Score: -1

    My druthers too. You can tell which dogs this stones likely to hit by who's criticizing the EPR idea. They don't want anything to interfere with their troublemaking so their going to fight anything like this tooth and nail.

  4. They don't want to know on Facebook Exec Admits 'No Real Understanding' for the Scope of Fake News (mercurynews.com) · · Score: 0

    "We have no real understanding of what the scope of misinformation is" What a load of crap. Politics are covered by a wide range of media instruments: local and national TV news, print media, international journalists, video recordings, audio recordings etc. You bloody well can check almost all news as to whether it's "fake" or not if you bother one tiny bit to actually verify it with sources known to be accurate. And by "known to be accurate" I mean sources that consistently show high standards of accuracy. They do exist and are pretty easy to identify. The problem with these social media giants is the same problem with individual people: when you've made up your mind about a thing there's no desire or motivation to check that it's true. In the case of these companies it's also greed. They'll take anyone's money and look the other way when it comes to their associations. It's intellectual laziness and avarice on a corporate scale.

  5. "people" not "it" on Selling Full Autonomy Before It's Ready Could Backfire For Tesla (arstechnica.com) · · Score: -1

    I think you mean before people are ready. The technology is just fine and massively safer than human drivers. That's not an opinion, it's a demonstrable fact. Several millions of miles and several different car makers have proven that. But if you go to any comment thread on this subject it's clear by the mix of ignorance, myth and anecdote that people aren't ready. So let's be honest about where the bulk of "not ready" actually lies.

  6. Re: Another terrorist attack by a Moslem on We May Not Have Enough Minerals To Even Meet Electric Car Demand (jalopnik.com) · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    "Moslems" that and that alone speaks volumes about the feeble horsepower running your brain. It indicates virtually everything anyone needs to know about your demographic, and everyone here knows exactly what I mean. Except for you of course. Moslems. Wow.

  7. Where there's one... on US Voting Server At Heart of Russian Hack Probe Mysteriously Wiped (theregister.co.uk) · · Score: 0

    Anyone want to take bets on how important this will be looking back in a few years? If Mueller's team didn't know about this before you can be damned sure they will now. It's a sure bet this will put them on the scent of any other states with similar situations.

  8. Re: Elon on CNN Skeptical of Elon Musk's 'Big Promises' (cnn.com) · · Score: 0

    Basically. And in the case of the Semi you can ho watch video of him talking about it and saying the initial date was a "best case" scenario but click sites love to ignore that part and say it was a promise. Also when it comes to the "what" of the product or service he's generally accurate. It's details of size or quantity of the thing that usually get adjusted down - not the thing itself.

  9. Nothing burger on CNN Skeptical of Elon Musk's 'Big Promises' (cnn.com) · · Score: 0

    Anyone that's followed Musk since PayPal (I have) could easily tell you this is not only typical of his businesses MO's but a feature. It's not about over-promising because he doesn't "promise". He gives optimistic, aspirational goals and benchmarks and is consistently upfront that they are aspirational. In fact this delay is a very short one by his standards. The thing about Elon Musk is that in spite of all his detractors he does deliver. You can't say the same about his competitors regardless of the field. This is just CNN being snarky because they love to tear down good people in a passive-aggressive way and Slashdot fanning it on.

  10. The very existence of the 22 million comments that are mostly against net neutrality sways public opinion and is used to influence votes. These companies and corporations did this so they can go to those who DO vote and say "look, the public is on our side". Those bots aren't votes but don't for a minute think they don't affect actual votes.

  11. Re: Before people lose their minds again on Homeland Security Plans To Collect Immigrants' Social Media Information (fortune.com) · · Score: 0

    You're just casually leaving out that it's written as an "optional request". This is different. Also note that at the time that was introduced our countries legislators - as in those making laws - were a GOP majority.

  12. Not new, but getting worse on More Millennials Would Give Up Voting Than Texting (nypost.com) · · Score: 0

    And that headline alone explains the hot mess dumpster fire that is our politics. Replace "millennial" with any other generations nickname and "texting" with any other time consuming past-time from that generation and it becomes less true as you go back in time. I'm not indicting millenials here - just the trend.

  13. Not once on Is Online Advertising Worthless? (zerohedge.com) · · Score: 0

    I'm 54. I've been online more or less every day since the internet began. As of right now I typically buy things online three times a week. I've been buying things online for over a decade and I can say with high confidence that I've never, not once, made a purchase because of an online ad. In fact I can also say that there are businesses I actively don't buy from and encourage others not to buy from because of their ads. Usually because they're obnoxiously everywhere. AT&T is a good example. Lately I've purchased a monthly subscription to an IP hiding service because of how insidious targeted ads are. An argument could be made that I've made purchases that were influenced by an online ad but I can't recall one so unless subliminal ads are real I think I can safely say "never". I don't know how true this is for others since I can only speak for myself but I suspect a higher than expected percentage of internet ads are useless to the entities using them. Personally I think the internet could damn near be a utopia if some other way of revenue were employed rather than ads.

  14. I could have sworn we sprayed for Luddites this month. What a bunch of shrinking violets. The future is happening with you or without you.

  15. Oh... well in that case let's just toss out the whole idea. Don't want people to be uncomfortable or anything. Lord.

  16. Ya don't say? Kinda picked that up on Nov 2nd.

  17. The most encouraging thing in this news is the way it was done. A collaboration that was then published to the world. Now will come the hard work: not just building this massive machine but teaching a generation of programmers an entirely new way of programming. My understanding after following this subject for years is that it will require a completely new way of writing code. That may well be as big a challenge as the construction itself.

  18. Re: Comcast customer here on Comcast Remains America's Most-Hated Company, Survey Finds (dslreports.com) · · Score: 0

    Could not possibly agree more. Not only are they terrible at customer service, support and the actual phone service but they just blatantly lie in commercials, testimony in court cases and in their stores. You'd think they're running for president.

  19. Alternate winner on Comcast Remains America's Most-Hated Company, Survey Finds (dslreports.com) · · Score: 0

    If you happen to have Conn's electronics in your part of the country I suspect you'd agree with me that they're worse than Comcast.

  20. You're an uneducated moron. Historian - Josephus. Contemporaneous accounts of Jesus' life. He Washington one of many historians of the time. He was a real person historically and you're the one spreading fairytales. And not very good ones.

  21. Oh, but but the New York Post thinks it's aliens. I get it. It's funny because you know.. aliens. Hahahaha. Yeah, real funny. Ask any physicist in the world, any astronomer, any scientist period, what the chances are that there are extraterrestrial civilizations in the galaxy and a high 80 to 90 percentile will say very likely to certain. And yet when ANY celestial phenomenon comes up that "could" have signs of extraterrestrial activity as a viable theory everyone grins, smirks or cracks a joke. People need to make a choice - including you in the press that are usually the first ones to be sarcastic and condescending - is there a high probability of extraterrestrial life in our galaxy or not. You don't get to have it both ways.

  22. Great idea, wrong device on World's First 'Solar Panel Road' Opens In France (theverge.com) · · Score: 0

    There's a concept being tested that puts a network of water filled pipes under standard asphalt and the heat generated -from the sun mostly - heats up the water and runs it through a system at regular intervals along the road. It's basically old geothermal/steam technology that turns it into electricity. I can't remember where this is being tested but it seems it was either Germany or Netherlands. That sounds massively cheaper both to implement and use. The fact is there are millions of miles/kilometers of roadway in the world that store a LOT of wasted heat. Someone should really figure this out. I don't see a downside.

  23. Re: This makes several Mars mission plans feasibl on An Underground Ice Deposit On Mars Is Bigger Than New Mexico (popularmechanics.com) · · Score: 0

    "high-fived" *obviously ;)

  24. Re: This makes several Mars mission plans feasible on An Underground Ice Deposit On Mars Is Bigger Than New Mexico (popularmechanics.com) · · Score: 0

    Thought the same thing. I have to think once this was confirmed there were quite a few NASA groups (and likely one at SpaceX) that literally high fives. This is very good news for everyone.

  25. Re: There is only one way this ends.. on An Underground Ice Deposit On Mars Is Bigger Than New Mexico (popularmechanics.com) · · Score: 0

    The embarrassment of this movie is physically painful. Not just the horrible "science" or horrible acting or horrible effects but for the horrible crime of turning a truly cool science fiction story into such a bad, bad movie.