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User: ArcSecond

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Comments · 279

  1. Size of the unobservable universe on It's Official: You're Lost In a Directionless Universe (sciencemag.org) · · Score: 1
    I was watching a Youtube video that mentioned the size of the universe suggested by inflation models, can't find the video but here is a 2010 science blog that is in the same ballpark:

    "Based on what we currently think about inflation, this means that the Universe is at least 10^(30) times the size of our observable Universe! "

    http://scienceblogs.com/starts...

    I remember the number being 10^28, but these are just guesses... but still, that puts the relative size of the "actual" and observable universe at almost the relative size between YOU and a PLANCK LENGTH. (well, 10^35, but close!)

  2. Re:Too much, too late? on The Future of Astronomy: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope · · Score: 1

    Couldn't have said it better myself.

  3. Dear everyone who bitches about Hydrogen on German Automakers Working On Hydrogen Fuel Cell Tech (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    I thought you guys were supposed to know shit. You don't need a tank of hydrogen to power a hydrogen fuel cell. THIS IS NOT NEWS. http://www.fch.europa.eu/proje...

  4. Re:Where did it all go right? on B-52s: The Plane That Refuses To Die · · Score: 1

    Took the words right out of my mouth. Hercules is ridiculously long-lived.

  5. Re:Theyre not refugees! on Paper Retracted After Anti-Immigrant Scientist Bans Use of His Software (sciencemag.org) · · Score: 1
    'Turkey is a stable and safe country'

    Wrong and wrong.

  6. Computer... COMPUTER!! on Bringing Back the Magic In Metamaterials · · Score: 1

    The movie was mostly forgettable, aside from Spock neck-pinching a rude punk on the bus. But I remember the scene where Scotty is trying to show how to make transparent aluminum for the whale tank, and trying to get the Macintosh to respond by speaking into the mouse... "COMPUTER!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  7. So, I guess this would be... on UK Company Wants To Deliver Parcels Through Underground Tunnels · · Score: 1

    So, this would be an example of Internet business evolving into the proverbial "series of tubes"?

  8. Excuse me, Mr. Stormtrooper... on YouTube Launches Multi-Angle Video Experiment · · Score: 0

    "Is this the drone you've been looking for?"

  9. Time to unleash... THE POWER OF THE PYRAMID! on Sharp Developing LCD Screens In Almost Any Shape · · Score: 1

    Looks like The Office was right.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  10. I would be happy if I wasn't so bitter. on Mirrors Finished For James Webb Space Telescope · · Score: 1

    You know what would have REALLY been able to "see back to the beginning of time"? A proper gravitational observatory like the LISA/Pathfinder project, which would have used three satellites to measure fluxuations in space-time less than the width of an atomic nucleus. It was planned to be operational by 2015 and would have been able to "see" better and farther than light-based telescopes.

    But I probably will never see anything as cool as that, because it lost funding when the Webb sucked up all the oxygen in the room.

  11. Re:Recording devices are banned in McDonalds on Man Physically Assaulted At McDonald's For Wearing Digital Eye Glasses · · Score: 1

    First, the guy is a Canadian, not an American.

    Second, as he CLEARLY STATES IN THE ARTICLE, his device does *not* record images by default. The only reason it recorded images is that when he was assaulted and his system was damaged, it stopped over-writing images in the buffer, which were then recovered later.

    Bloke was being who he is: a geeky techno pioneer with a focus on developing augmented sight for the seeing impaired.

    You, sir, are the dick.

  12. What are the odds?... on Charles Carreon Drops Case Against the Oatmeal · · Score: 1

    ...that a guy who's last name is suspiciously close to the descriptor for animals who feed on decomposing flesh decided to become a lawyer?

  13. An alternative to DM: MOND on Survey Finds No Hint of Dark Matter Near Solar System · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I like to think I have an open mind when it comes to cosmology, but I've never liked the Dark Matter "theory". If they ever find direct evidence, fine, but I will remain unconvinced until then.

    My personal favourite alternative hypothesis is called Modified Newtonian Dynamics, which is based on the idea that gravity exerts a stronger pull between objects that are more or less in the same inertial frame (ie at very low relative accelerations, that "acceleration is not linearly proportional to force at small values").

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOND

    Obviously, a lot of people find this blasphemy, but I don't see what is so bad with modifying the law of gravity as compared to invoking "ghost matter".

  14. truer words on All Hands Active in Ann Arbor is a Makerspace for All Ages (Video) · · Score: 4, Funny

    "any excuse to use a laser cutter is a good excuse"

    That should be added to the Slashdot quotes.

  15. Re:Two words: PAPER BALLOTS on Prof. J. Alex Halderman Tells Us Why Internet-Based Voting Is a Bad Idea (Video) · · Score: 1

    heh heh. "Mark 1 eyeballs".

    exactly!

  16. Two words: PAPER BALLOTS on Prof. J. Alex Halderman Tells Us Why Internet-Based Voting Is a Bad Idea (Video) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I like them. I trust them. They are their own record. And, if you like, you can spoil them.

    In Canada, we have our ballots counted within hours of the polls closing. And you can go back and re-count them if necessary.

    Keep it simple!

  17. Finally! Some evidence that Dark Energy = entropy on IBM Scientists Measure the Heat Emitted From Erasing a Single Bit · · Score: 1
    So in an expanding universe there is a loss of information -- and by Landauer's principle this loss of information should release dissipated energy -- and Gough claims that this dissipated energy accounts for the dark energy component of the current standard model of universe.

    There are rational objections to this proposal. Landauer's principle is really an expression of entropy in information systems -- which can be mathematically modeled as though they were thermodynamic systems. It's a bold claim to say this has a physical reality and a loss of information actually does release energy -- and since Landauer's principle expresses this as heat energy, wouldn't it then be detectable (i.e. not dark)?

    Well, so much for *that* objection. :)

    http://http//www.universetoday.com/85855/astronomy-without-a-telescope-holographic-dark-information-energy/

  18. minor edit on World's Largest Virtual Optical Telescope Created · · Score: 1

    "Besides creating a gigantic virtual mirror, interferometry also greatly improves the telescope's spatial resolution and zooming capabilities."

    Should read:

    "Interferometry greatly improves the telescopes' spatial resolution."

  19. I miss... on AMD Hates Laptop Stickers As Much As You Do · · Score: 1

    ...the fun of carefully placing the wrap-around stickers on floppy disks. As for removing sticker crud from a new laptop? I would use a Dremel.

  20. don't be a dumbass on Pirate Bay Founder Begs For Hacker Ceasefire · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I find it amusing that the same mind that could be outraged at the prosection of "four innocent men... accused of copyright infringement" would then go on to say "we urge the public to boycott and lynch those responsible".

    Boycott, sure. Protest, fine. Even a little creative vandalism is good. But lynching?

    I would say someone has their priorities out of whack. Either they haven't thought this through or they are just *that* dumb that they would offer "support" to someone on trial by calling for violence against the plaintiffs.

    I thought hackers were supposed to be ingenious and creative thinkers. Not the equivalent dumbass jocks on a rampage.

  21. You must be joking on Photog Rob Galbraith Rates MacBook Pro Display "Not Acceptable" · · Score: 1

    "Photog is just someone being too lazy to type Photographer..."

    So sayeth the non-photographer.

    As a photographer and writer, I see no problem with the term. Your suggested "smarter" PhotR and SnpR are ludicrous and would seem to indicate that you were born on another planet.

    And that "someone", whoever they were, started using the term many, many, many years ago. The fact that you have only discovered the word now proves how out of touch you are with the field and profession of photography.

    Thanks for coming out. Your opinion has been filed apropriately. *cue shredder*

  22. Re:hey totally lost me... on Mad Scientist Brings Back Dead With "Deanimation" · · Score: 1

    sure it is!... if you say it right. :)

  23. hey totally lost me... on Mad Scientist Brings Back Dead With "Deanimation" · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ...when he wrote "It's a weird thing about scientists--you would think that they would love science fiction. But they don't."
    If you'll excuse my French: bullshit!

  24. Re:Recycling too far? Heck no on Urine Passes NASA Taste Test · · Score: 3, Funny

    Your rational response is too much for the morons in the mainstream media and (unsurprisingly) Slashdot submitters/editors to parse.
    Try to keep your analysis to something a little more apropriate for a grade 3 class, please. I mean in a story that is about conserving resources, ensuring safety, and pushing humans-in-space technology forward, how are you going to draw attention to your story if you don't pander to bathroom humour and sexual innuendo?
    We don't need your kind around here, elitist.

  25. Re:As a Canadian on Afghan Student Gets 20 Years For Blasphemy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Agreed. And I used to be in the infantry. If they were accomplishing something worth dying for, I wouldn't have a problem with the sacrifices Canada has made. But when you look at the kind of power structyre that were are being asked to support, it turns my stomach.