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User: Deadstick

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Comments · 2,517

  1. Re:Standard FBI followup on Man Caught Trying To Sell Plans For New Aircraft Carrier · · Score: 1

    That be false. Look up jurisdiction under the UCMJ.

  2. Re:Standard FBI followup on Man Caught Trying To Sell Plans For New Aircraft Carrier · · Score: 1

    If the counterintel folks had an inkling that he might be vulnerable to selling out, then why the fuck didn't they simply REVOKE HIS SECURITY CLEARANCE!?!?!

    Ooo! Ooo! I know! Because they can't revoke his memory and he'll still have the information available for sale?

  3. Re:Entrapment is lazy policing on Man Caught Trying To Sell Plans For New Aircraft Carrier · · Score: 2

    No other country on earth would be interested in making a $12B, 100,000-ton aircraft carrier, but there are several who would love to know where its vulnerabilities are.

  4. Re:What in the hell was he thinking? on Man Caught Trying To Sell Plans For New Aircraft Carrier · · Score: 1

    Damn, it took a lot of posts before somebody figured that out.

  5. Re:These are real engineers, you Ruby weenies. on Orion Capsule Safely Recovered, Complete With 12-Year-Old Computer Guts · · Score: 4, Informative

    OK, Maj. English, here's a direct quote from Merriam-Webster:

    : a person who has scientific training and who designs and builds complicated products, machines, systems, or structures : a person who specializes in a branch of engineering

    : a person who runs or is in charge of an engine in an airplane, a ship, etc.

    : a person who runs a train

    In its original context it meant a maker of engines, from a Latin root meaning "invent".

  6. Re:They're leaves. on Trains May Soon Come Equipped With Debris-Zapping Lasers · · Score: 4, Funny

    At least those are pointed down at the track; the reflections aren't much of a hazard. But yes, if the train rolls over you, you may incur eye damage.

  7. Re:They're leaves. on Trains May Soon Come Equipped With Debris-Zapping Lasers · · Score: 2

    It will also shoot out car windshields with pebbles and other loose objects. High-pressure air is a serious industrial safety concern.

  8. Re:tl;dr on Ask Slashdot: Dealing With Electronics-Induced Inattentiveness? · · Score: 0

    You definitely don't enjoy books on composition or grammar.

  9. Re:You fell for this two years in a row? on Kiva Systems Co-Founder: Drone Delivery Could Be As Low As 20 Cents Per Package · · Score: 1

    What possible use could a Luddite feature like "delivery" have?

    If done with drones, it could enrich pediatricians and veterinarians...

  10. Re:obviously they should track the sun on You're Doing It All Wrong: Solar Panels Should Face West, Not South · · Score: 5, Informative

    Any time you move the panels out of close contact with the roof, you're accepting large wind loads. That means the supporting structure -- especially if it's movable -- has to be substantially sturdier.

  11. Re:Tort System on Football Concussion Lawsuits Start To Hit High Schools · · Score: 1

    Well how about having the person act responsibly? No one forced any of the kids to play football

    OK, so any high school kid over 18 should be free to play football.

  12. Re:That's going to be tricky to wiggle out of... on Football Concussion Lawsuits Start To Hit High Schools · · Score: 3, Funny

    Simple fix: Play football with the feet. There are countries where they do this.

  13. Re:Here's an idea on Football Concussion Lawsuits Start To Hit High Schools · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The boxing glove did much the same thing. The human head is several pounds of thick bone, and the human hand is basically chicken drumsticks; a bare-knuckle boxer couldn't hit a man in the head very hard without breaking his fingers. The object was to hit the supraorbital ridges, opening cuts. The plentiful blood flow in the head assured that the opponent would be blinded by blood, and the fight was over. It also left him looking like the second-place winner in a knife fight, and public revulsion caused boxing bans in many jurisdictions.

    The industry headed that off by inventing the boxing glove, which cut down on the lacerations. It also hardened the fist enough that a powerful man can deliver a maximum-effort blow. Result: boxing changed from a face-rearranging sport to a brain-damaging sport.

  14. Re:How do they define a close call? on FAA Report Says Near Collisions With Drones On the Rise · · Score: 1

    And do pilots also report to the FAA everytime they pass "within a few feet" of a bird?

    Yes, if it's the kind of bird that can come through the windshield and kill you, like a goose...or the big flock of small birds that put Capt. Sullenberger's airplane in the Hudson River. Your FAA is very interested in where those birds are.

  15. Re:How do they define a close call? on FAA Report Says Near Collisions With Drones On the Rise · · Score: 1

    Point is, the simple presence of the drone in front of an airplane pretty well settles the issue of being "controlled"...

  16. Re:Follow the money? on Taxi Medallion Prices Plummet Under Pressure From Uber · · Score: 1

    The Sunday sales thing is a religious law.

    Was, not is. Jesus got the law on the books, but business owners took charge of it long ago. Most of them paid their legislators to overthrow it -- but there's a special class of retailers whose demand is inelastic enough that they don't need 7-day availability.

    We rarely buy a bottle of liquor on impulse. It's an anticipated purchase, and we plan ahead; once in a while, if we're in a 6-day jurisdiction, we get caught without booze and we remember it next time. Sunday closing may reduce sales a little, but it reduces overhead much more, especially for a small merchant. So, at least here in Colorado, you could drink in a bar on Sunday but not buy package liquor, until we forced a change a few years back.

    The same effect is even stronger with cars: we never forgo a car purchase because we can't buy it on Sunday, and Colorado still doesn't have Sunday car sales.

  17. Re:How do they define a close call? on FAA Report Says Near Collisions With Drones On the Rise · · Score: 1

    Do the pilots fully comprehend the fact that even though there's nobody inside the thing that it's still being controlled.

    Yes, controlled into a close approach with an aircraft.

  18. Re:The FAA isn't doing jack on FAA Report Says Near Collisions With Drones On the Rise · · Score: 4, Informative

    The skies are open, they are owned by nobody.

    The Air Commerce Act of 1926 takes issue.

  19. Re:Yes... on Scientists Develop "Paint" To Help Cool the Planet · · Score: 1

    I don't mind when people state clearly that they don't really understand the absorption & radiation equations, but it does kinda piss me off when these same people pontificate as though they did.

    We definitely share that hot button. Good analysis.

  20. Re:Yes... on Scientists Develop "Paint" To Help Cool the Planet · · Score: 1

    a radiator that reflects sunlight sounds promising for other applications, like heatsinks for space probes.

    Sounds more like an oxymoron: radiation and reflection are two related but different processes. A perfect radiator reflects nothing, and a perfect reflector radiates nothing.

    Parts of spacecraft that need to be cold (like infrared telescopes) are cooled by radiators that are kept pointed at dark space, with reflective shrouds that keep sunlight off them.

  21. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? on Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina Considering US Presidential Run · · Score: 2, Insightful

    For all you Republicans out there, there will NEVER be another Ronald Reagan.

    If there were, they'd denounce him as a liberal for not conforming to their redefined image of him.

    Substitute Jesus for Reagan -- same deal.

  22. Re:Flip Argument on Officer Not Charged In Michael Brown Shooting · · Score: 1

    7 witnesses (black) collaborated cop's story.

    I love it when a diction error reverses the meaning of a sentence...

  23. Re:Go get more? on Conglomerate Rock From Mars: (Much) More Precious Than Gold · · Score: 1

    Mod this hummer up...

  24. Re:Why do we call remote quadrotors "drones"? on Ohio College Building Indoor Drone Pavilion · · Score: 1

    No one called toy helicopters drones 8 years ago.

    No, but there was an R/C model airplane club years ago (still is, as far as I know) called the Long Island Drone Society (LIDS).

  25. Re:How much does the device weigh? on Bicycle Bottle System Condenses Humidity From Air Into Drinkable Water · · Score: 1

    I'm perfectly aware of that, but if a camelback weighs 4 pounds with a liter of water in it, it's made of 1.8 pounds of nylon.