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User: Renraku

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  1. Re:doesn't add up on Nuclear Scanning Catches a Radioactive Cat On I-5 · · Score: 1

    I'm sure there are ways to tell the difference between nuclear weapon or dirty bomb, and radiotherapy patient.

    I don't think people realize just how radioactive real radioactive things are. Like if you had a chunk of Cobalt-60 in your trunk, you probably wouldn't make it to your destination before your nervous system and intestines shut down. Most nuclear weapons that people without proper facilities and manufacturing capabilities could produce would be unsafe and unreliable.

    Granted any terrorist worth his or her bombvest is going to shield radioactive materials, light vehicles would have a hard time properly shielding something strong if its not an alpha emitter.

  2. Re:Instant cure for internet addiction then. on Discussion of Internet Addiction as Mental Illness Resurfaces · · Score: 1

    Its a vicious cycle.

    Step 1: Use internet a lot. Be a nerd.
    Step 2: Get intimidated by your friends that always have a date with some pretty young thing.
    Step 3: Try to find a date, end up with 100 replies from gay men and fat chicks looking for a father for their three children.
    Step 4: Sink furthur into the internet, as its the only real form of acceptance you have.
    Step 5: Use internet a lot. Continue being a nerd.
    Step 6: Very few people in the outside world treat you well, due to lack of self esteem brought on by step's 2 and 3.
    Step 6: Repeat steps 1 and 3.

    There's no such thing as internet addition. There's a such thing as OCD, and a such thing as depression. Both of which could contribute to things like being a cat lady, internet addict, drug abuse, suicidal tendencies, etc.

  3. Nothing to see here.. on Newly Discovered Fungus Threatens World Wheat Crop · · Score: 1

    Hey, since when does a loaf of bread cost $15? Or a pack of ramen cost $4.99?

    or..

    "This is the FBI. You're under arrest for posessing ergot or ergot-derived chemicals!"

  4. Pollution on China Plans to Surpass the U.S. in Nanotech Development · · Score: 1

    Fancy seeing this happening in a country known for its rampant pollution. How long will it be before a Union-Carbide-esque event happens and thousands die? I would urge the Chinese to take caution, but it isn't always their way when dealing with technology and its refuse.

  5. Re:Recursion? on Stanford's New Website Converts Your Photos to 3D · · Score: 1

    You can't see data that's not there.

    Same reason you can't waltz into the mall security office and ask for the license plate number of the person that scraped against the side of your car when they were backing out. The minimum pixel of a 320x200 picture is much larger than the minimum pixel size on 1920x1080. And since a pixel is the smallest unit of color you can get, there's going to be very little zooming you can do on such a shitty picture to begin with.

    That and the waltz is usually banned at malls.

  6. Re:I knew it all the time. But explain that to the on Multitasking Makes You Stupid and Slow · · Score: 1

    Multitasking is required to ensure profitability. Very rarely will you see a job where a person does ONE thing or performs one role..especially in an office environment.

    Lets say your entire job is to take phone calls from customers, but you aren't on a phone call 24/7. You could sit there the rest of the time, but the company isn't getting all of the bang for its buck it could be getting if you were doing something else useful in the mean time. Its common practice to load you up with 5-6 different jobs so you should in theory ALWAYS be working.

    The difference between a good place to work and a bad place to work is that the good place to work asks you to help with other tasks, and a bad place to work demands you do so.

  7. Re:Thats worth around 6500$ on World of Warcraft Gold Limit Reached, It's 2^31 · · Score: 1

    Well, if you were to make 1000g in one day, I'd say you were doing pretty damn well. If you made that in 8 hours..wow. So that's about 200 days of over 8 hours grinding money. Hell, lets say you make 2000g a day. That's 100 days, so $6500 / 100 days at 8+ hours a day.

    Still wouldn't be worth it compared to even mediocre paying jobs. Unless you were botting, of course.

  8. Re:consumers lose on Toshiba Execs Declare HD DVD Not Dead Yet · · Score: 1

    Look who was one of the major backers of it. Microsoft.

    Do you think Microsoft would let us off without region coding? If they thought they had a chance, they'd region code it per state and give it a limited number of viewings before you had to recharge it. And the disc would be invalidated if played in another player other than the one it was first played on.

  9. Re:10.2Gbps Wireless? on There's No Such Thing as 'Wireless HDMI' · · Score: 1

    I'm sure we could come up with something, but the energy density would be so high you'd have to tell people not to stand in the invisible beam.

  10. Re:The bigger problem on Retail Store Scalping Wii Consoles on eBay · · Score: 1

    Confirmed that a store is receiving 20 Wii's overnight.

    You go to the store, the second they open after having just received, and all 20 are gone. No one else is in the store except for employees.

    You check Craigslist as soon as you get home and there are about 15-20 different postings on Wii's. Several of those show a stack of 5-10 Wii boxes stacked up to show that they have multiple ones.

    Fortunately, retailers do fire people based on this. If you go and tell your shithead buddies when the shipments are and they buy them all up before anyone else gets a chance, you could very well be fired. Its happened before, and it will happen again.

    Sure, the store gets their money, but when a regular customer is pissed off because its 8:01 and 20 Wii's have vanished..well..

  11. Re:Homo Superior on Recent Human Evolution May Have Been Driven By Self-Selection · · Score: 1

    Aw come on..Alpha Centauri quotes? :/

  12. Re:Uh on Duke Scientists Map 'Silenced Genes' · · Score: 1

    Nope, not at all.

    It might be the first step to a good measure of control over certain genes.

    Or more deadly bioweapons.

  13. Re:Suggested google search on How Best Buy Tried To Whip The Geek Squad Into Shape · · Score: 1

    And most of the time they are abused. 90% of jobs involving unskilled labor that isn't exceedingly gross or rural will be far more difficult and lower paying because there are 5 people lined up for your position, and the companies know that this is about enough to keep most people in line and quiet. If we ever go back to a more protected employment status, I predict riots. A lot of government jobs are like this, thus, you almost can't be fired from them.

  14. Re:Computational Complexity on Mapping the Brain's Neural Network · · Score: 1

    First you'd have to have the IO systems connected properly. If you just grow a brain, this doesn't happen. For all practical purposes, the spine is part of the brain. The optic nerves are part of the brain. The cranial nerves are brain too. They all grow out of the brain when the brain is given chemical signals at the right time. Or more specifically, the stem cells are. If its not given, they don't grow. The brain will be a closed system.

    The best idea for that would be to get the brain, cranial nerves, spinal nerves, and optic/auditory nerves. Without all of those, there's not going to be a whole lot of IO going on.

  15. Re:So remember... on UN Says Tasers Are a Form of Torture · · Score: 1

    They should never be called non lethal. More like less lethal.

    A baton strike to the chest has a small chance of killing someone by disrupting the heart's rhythm and having it send confusing information to the brain stem. Pepper spray can kill people who have trouble breathing or have asthma/allergies. Tasers can kill people with heart conditions or that are on some drugs.

    Now, if you're acting up and throwing punches at the police officers..which would you rather have happen? You can get a baton, you can get pepper sprayed, you can get tazed, or three people can beat the shit out of you until you're too weak to stop resisting.

    In days of old, the baton used to be the primary melee weapon. Easy to break bones, teeth, skulls, etc..its not always easy to have fine motor control when the adrenaline is pumping and a guy just hit you in the face a few times. A little more power than necessary in the right place and you die. The court would of course look into it and dismiss it unless they just jumped you with batons for no reason. Pepper spray is a medium range weapon. If you're being a dipshit but aren't a direct threat to anyone but yourself yet, pepper spray will probably be used. What if you're sitting there with that knife to your throat and are threatening to cut yourself? They peppper spray you, causing you to drop the knife. Of course you die because you have asthma and are hopped up on PCP. Lets say you're the local retard that has retard strength and it takes 4 people to keep you from going crazy and hurting someone or yourself. You get tazed after hitting and beating on a few officers. You die because of your heart defect. Case is dismissed because either you were going to stop, or they were going to stop. Guess who has the right-of-way?

    Look up occupational hazards. Its real lame when a police officer gets hurt for doing his job. In very few other jobs do people obviously try to injure you. They're only going to NOT injure you if you successfully resist. What if you were in a factory that had no lines on the floor, no safety meeting, and no safety gear? What if you had to work there? Don't know the range for those robotic arms flailing and assembling the shit? What about the autowelders? Not a very good place to work, huh? That's what being a police officer is like. People can turn violent in an instant. If you don't want to be tazed, don't resist arrest. Don't be a little bastard. Do what they say and let the court figure it out.

  16. Re:Computational Complexity on Mapping the Brain's Neural Network · · Score: 1

    Lets say that we could, in fact, emulate an entire human brain in real time.

    It would be very difficult to get something useful out of it. Answers wouldn't always be the same due to the semi-random effect brains have a tendency to produce. You would spend a lifetime putting something in and watching it come back differently than it did a few minutes ago. It wouldn't be too unlike a network connection, if packets were voltage gradients and various neurotransmitters. Since there are only a few ways each can function...good luck.

  17. when the free-est country in the world.. on Houston Police Test Unmanned Surveillance Aircraft · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    ...allegedly, has the top two political parties conspire to not only not include any other candidates on the forum for the so called national and official presidential debate, but actually threatens them with arrest if they have tickets and try to just sit in the audience-I'd call that a dog and pony show. And when the controlled lapdog press goes along with it, another part of the show. When two cooperating parties basically hijack the government and just divide the spoils, and it is clear both of these parties have full compliments of crooks, thieves, liars, bribe takers and assorted scum, yet nothing substantial happens overall, that's a dog and pony show. When both parties are run by globalist millionaires at the top, even to the point of running so called "opposition" candidates from the same billionaire boys club fraternity secret society, that's a joke, a dog and pony show. Candidates who are so far removed from the productive middle class electorate, so much so that they don't even know what a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk really costs-that's a dog and pony show political system, a farce. When elected leaders come from hereditary political dynasties-basically an elite aristocracy- including the ex head of the "secret police", that's a sham, a dog and pony show. When you have overwhelming smoking gun evidence that the "electronic" elections have been hacked and compromised, that quite possibly whomever is in office shouldn't be there, yet nothing happens, and no one gets into any trouble over it-it goes beyond a dog and pony show and starts to look like any other banana republic dictatorship, just with two "wings" instead of one to give the illusion of "free and honest elections". When you have an overwhelmingly large violent "incident", that pushes forth a radical anti freedom agenda, and there is enough credible evidence with literally dozens of quite peculiar characteristics that don't jibe in any manner whatsoever with the "official story of what happened", and there are no actual honest and open investigations, instead they push forth an obvious whitewash/coverup/ignore the evidence that doesn't fit commission-you have to ask yourself, when can a violent coup be called a coup?

    The US has been in a slow and steady gradual takeover by shadowy elements very powerful inside and outside of government, ever since an actual brave and thoughtful president-Ike- thought it necessary to warn the people during his retirement speech that it could and would happen if we weren't careful. Later on, the folks he was warning about managed to get rid of one elected person who was getting wise to them and was seeking to limit their power. Then they eliminated his brother, who looked likely to carry the torch on for his fallen sibling-yet nothing has happened about it. It's gotten worse since then, until now, we have only the faintest mirage of real freedom as it was originally designed to be, and that mirage is fading fast, with various "patriotic enabling acts" and "signing statements" that clearly show that only one agenda will go forward and the people and their wishes be damned, with big wars completely based on proven lies, wars which still will not end even when the lies are finally admitted to, and nothing happens to the proven liars.

  18. Re:tobacco is a sometimes food on Sesame Street DVD Deemed Adult-Only Entertainment · · Score: 1

    This is similar to my argument against most religions.

    Why would a loving, caring God or deity damn you to an eternity of torture that you cannot possibly comprehend? It would be like giving your toddler a piece of candy that was actually chocolate rat poison, telling him its poisonous and if he eats it he'll die, and then being shocked when he eats it. Just as the toddler has no concept of death or poison, we have no concept of an eternity of torture.

    'sides, Darwinism is only effective if genetic differences are playing a part. Most people who are stupid-by-genes don't go on to reproduce anyway. Society tends to make people stupid. I've seen some very smart people condemned to life in Andersonville (the local redneck/backwater town) because of a few bad choices they made, mostly due to societal pressures.

    If you really want to be effective, create an environment in which children can learn decent values, and then let them make their own damn decisions. Sesame Street taught good values. It educated. If you want to smoke when you're older, that's fine. Lots of people do. Lots of very intelligent, decent people smoke. Denying someone a learning tool because of the off chance they might take up smoking in the future is simply retarded.

    Everyone wants their kids to have better than what they themselves had as kids. This I understand. The pussification of America is the result. You had a bike? Your kid needs a motorized bike. You had to use a payphone? Your kid needs a cellphone. You went outside to play? You keep your kid inside to watch TV and play video games. You ate eggs/toast? Your kid needs colorful and tasty cereals. You ate brussels sprouts? Your kid needs McDonalds.

    Notice that a lot of parents are doing just that? Notice that our country is heading in that direction?

  19. Re:should be an easy job. on Inside A Korean Rehab Camp For Web Addiction · · Score: 1

    Personally, I wouldn't spend as much time on the internet if I had a girlfriend. Its not particularly difficult to get one, but society has taught most women that unless they're showered with compliments and gifts, then they should feel worthless. As a result, when someone with a little common sense who isn't desperate for sex starts hanging out with them, they get all offended and either put them squarely on the friend's list or stop talking to them altogether.

    Combine this with the lack of real-life social skills brought on by being online too much and you're going to have a perfect storm of 20-something singles that won't go near each other. The women will continue to go after older guys, and the guys will be blasted for going after younger ones that might 'Have a Clue'.

  20. Heh. on First Use of RIPA to Demand Encryption Keys · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Acquire virus.

    Virus encrypts hard drive with unknown key.

    Virus forwards CP to authorities.

    Authorities bust you for having CP, for not revealing those encrypted files, AND for probably having more CP. Most likely will be averaged..say..15k is a picture..you have 200GB. The media will say that you were arrested with 100k+ pieces of child pornography.

    Five years later, turns out that it really was a virus. Sorry about that..here's your freedom again.

  21. Re:That's why Fed subsidies are a poisoned gift on Bill Would Tie Financial Aid To Anti-Piracy Plans · · Score: 1

    Alright, less people to go college, more people earn less, more people have less money to spend on entertainment, so they download it for free.

    So the piracy group can say, "You're doing it wrong! Make it a felony! Its not going to stop otherwise!"

  22. Re:A half-measure at best on Predator-Style Helmets Allow Pilots to See Through Planes · · Score: 0

    The only problem is that these sensors would probably be pretty weak. Go through some rain and you might lose some sensors. You want to try to complete your air superiority mission if you can only see things in the 3'oclock and 7'oclock positions? What about landing? Without autopilot? At a different airport?

    When we start doing shit like this is when WW2-type fighters will stand a chance against our newest planes.

  23. Own medicine! on EMI Caught Offering Illegal Downloads · · Score: 1

    If they can't find a way out of it, they should be liable for the exact same amounts they try to charge regular people, only more, because they profited directly from the sale.

  24. Just imagine on GMOs Perfected Down to the Chromosome Level · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Five years from release of a few of these new plant lines. Turns out the tomato causes cancer due to some unforseen chemical combo that's being manufactured. They decide to pull them all from the market. Hey, it turns out that 80% of all tomatos in the world are now this new version. But which ones? You have to test each and every plant, or just get rid of them all. And we know how hard it is to get rid of 100% of a certain type of plant. Good luck with your new cancertomatos.

  25. Re:Artificial Kidney? on New Plastic to Cut CO2 Emissions and Purify Water · · Score: 1

    The major problem with creating artificial organs is one of flexibility.

    Your kidneys, for example, do much more than just filter blood. They keep the pH livable, help control blood volume and consistency, secrete a few hormones, and help maintain blood pressure.

    This material could be reworked to possibly improve the function of dialysis machines, however, if its not just right or flexible enough to become just right, even that will be far fetched..

    Nothing in your body has just one purpose.