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User: gewalker

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  1. Re:All you need to know on Scientists Make Fish Grow "Hands" In Experiment Revealing How Fins Became Limbs · · Score: 4, Funny

    And the fish died 4 days after being treated with the new gene. A complete success otherwise.

  2. Re:IBM has no crystal ball on IBM Predicts the Next 5 Years of Computing · · Score: 1

    Well, it is not like other industry giants make better predictions. Like these or these or these.

  3. Re:The Maths on Is It Worth Investing In a High-Efficiency Power Supply? · · Score: 1

    If you are in a cold climate and you don't have something cheaper than electric resistance heating you are doing it wrong. I know that in the case of running a heat pump it defaults to resistance heating as a backup mode when it is very cold outside. But you are really paying too much if you do this all the time (and my grandmother's house has resistance heating and she keeps it about 80 degrees)

  4. Re:Controversial paper published? on Did Land-Dwellers Emerge 65 Million Years Earlier Than Was Thought? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is a significant difference between an article that leaves the basis premise alone but changes some of the details compared to an article that attacks the core of the theory.

    Even in the recent case where someone suggested that the speed of light was slightly exceeded by neutrinos the results were broadly assumed to be experimental error because the theory of special relativity is widely considered proven fact. Perhaps a small refinement to SR would accommodate FTL neutrinos -- this would not necessarily destroy the basic theory. Einstein did not destroy Newton, he improved the model.

    If I invented a time machine and go back in time to interview Adam & Eve it would be very difficult for a science journal to accept this evidence as scientific because it violates the very concept of scientific study -- natural causes are always assumed as anything else is not science (this assumption is reasonable). Short of time travel, I would say it is impossible for any theory to replace modern evolutionary theory unless it also has a naturalistic explanation. If I found a complete set of mammal fossils in pre-Cambrian rock it would be publishable in Nature, etc. but this does not mean that most evolutionists would suddenly embrace special creation. Evolutionists would simply modify their their to accommodate new data -- they have modified it a number of times in the past to accommodate new data.

    In the case of global warming the full-blown time-to-panic theory is not well established as a scientific fact, so it is relatively easy to publish against that oppose this -- if you attempt to say that there is no anthropogenic global warning due to industrial greenhouse gases you will find it much more difficult to get it published -- this is how science works.

  5. Re:Sorry to be frank but what did he think on Hit Game Makes £52 In First Week On Windows RT · · Score: 2

    Combine the 2 concepts, and allow user to assign "from 1 to 5 farts" for recipes that stink and you will have a best seller.

  6. Re:Comment from a now retired high DOE official on How Yucca Mountain Was Killed · · Score: 1

    The GAO reported that the total cost of lawsuits resulting from cancelling this could be as much as $50 Billion. $50 billion in $100 bills would weigh 500 metric tons.

  7. Re:statement pulled from ass? on Hagfish Slime Could Make Super-Strong Clothes · · Score: 1

    Maybe not cave art, but it is supposed to be 1100 years old. The article is in Swedish, but the picture of Mickey Mouse is not.

  8. Re:Film at 11 ... on Microsoft Surface Struggles to Ship A Million Units · · Score: 1

    But they can play angry birds on the RT device, the space and star wars edition at least. There are many many other games that they won't be able to play though. If you want to use your tablet at work, you will also need an IPad if you want to be "da bomb" when chillin' with your buds. Android users at least get pity for not being able to afford an IPad -- but paying more? Must be a nerd. Surprisingly, that is not enough to guarantee success with the Slashdot crowd.

  9. Re:Understanding Burton on Congressional Committee Casts a Harsh Eye On Vaccination Science · · Score: 1

    Burton retired (probably reading the tea leaves, he was strongly contested in the primaries in 2010). Susan Brooks will be seated as his replacement come January.

  10. Re:Congress Sucks on Congressional Committee Casts a Harsh Eye On Vaccination Science · · Score: 1

    A significant factor in US avg. lifespan is that the US has a larger black population. Blacks don't live as long as whites even when controlling for other factors. Some factors are understood such as genetic diseases like sickle cell anemia that kills off blacks much more than whites, or diabetes (which includes a genetic component). This does not explain all of the difference, neither does behavioral differences such as twinkies and crack babies.

  11. Re:U.S.A. on The Countries Most Vulnerable To an Internet Shutdown · · Score: 1

    Most people in the US would not notice if 90% of these countries simply disappeared either. Seriously, next Slashdot poll could be how many of these countries could you identify on a map that does not show the country names. My guess is that 10% would be about typical, maybe even optimistic.

  12. Re:If they want to stop the copper thieves... on High-Voltage Fences For Zapping Would-Be Copper Thieves · · Score: 3, Informative

    They passed this in Indiana some years ago, the newspaper generally endorsed it, and the public mostly thought it was a good idea (after all they were not recycling copper frequently, nor were they in the salvage business). I think it is pretty much "sign here" and snap a picture. This did not stop copper theft either.

  13. Re:Yay! Democrats! on Senate Bill Rewrite Lets Feds Read Your E-mail Without Warrants · · Score: 1

    The difference is self interest of the states is no longer represented at the federal level. Even if a few "crazy states" have crazy senators, you would still have representation of the states in congress. If a given state is crazy, they can pretty much only damage themselves.

  14. Re:The next time on USPS Reports $15.9 Billion Loss, Asks Congress For Help · · Score: 1

    The Constitution does not require a national postal service, it merely authorizes congress to establish one. Those silly delegates at the constitutional convention actually thought that the post office might be a source of revenue for the US.. Abolishing the post office or not has nothing to do with wiping the mud off of my stylish jackboots with the constitution.

  15. Re:Headers on Ask Slashdot: AT&T's Data Usage Definition Proprietary? · · Score: 2

    Try contacting your local state senator or representative. Some of these are remarkably interested in their constituents, other could not care less. You might be lucky enough to have a good one.

  16. Re:So all those psych patients complaining on Ear-Powered Medical Devices In Development · · Score: 2

    That is nothing, wait until they start complaining about implanted guinea pigs.

  17. Re:more copying on Will Microsoft Dis-Kinect Freeloading TV Viewers? · · Score: 1

    There was a case in Indiana where the cops illegally entered the residence of a homeowner. The homeowner tried to defend him. A judge ruled that he did not have the right to defend himself from this illegal entry.

  18. Re:Brick on Building the Ultimate Safe House · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know some pigs that recommend brick over wood or straw in their ability to withstand winds gusts.

  19. Re:Hardly surprising, it's still a baby. on Security Firm VUPEN Claims To Have Hacked Windows 8 and IE10 · · Score: 1

    You don't know much about VUPEN -- they are expletive deleted low-lifes of the first order. VUPEN used their existing 0-day exploits from older versions of Windows -- and they don't tell the manufacturers about the exploits -- they only sell them for big bucks to government intell. agencies, etc.

  20. Re:Theocracies on Dr. Richard Dawkins On Education, 'Innocence of Muslims,' and Rep. Paul Broun · · Score: 1

    You must mean the King of Babylon, as it explicitly says in Isa 14:4 -- Lucifer was the King of Babylon -- not Satan

  21. Re:Theocracies on Dr. Richard Dawkins On Education, 'Innocence of Muslims,' and Rep. Paul Broun · · Score: 1

    The US constitution makes only a single reference to God at the, at the end, where is refers to the "Year of our Lord" 1787. The other 2 references to a specific year, omit the "Year of our Lord" qualifier.

    The Articles of Confederation clearly refer to God in several locations.

    Lots of the writing of the "founding fathers" refer frequently to God and religion in one form or another often clearly in the relationship to government, the mostly absent reference to God in the constitution is curious considering the other "founding documents".

  22. Re:How about on Microsoft Prepares To Push Kinect Everywhere Windows Is · · Score: 3, Informative

    Check out leap watch the video, still claiming that that will ship in early 2013.

  23. Re:And why weren't the Whigs represented?!? on Democracy Now Asks Third Party Candidates Questions From Last Night's Debate · · Score: 2

    A lot of the environmental cleanup has nothing to do with the EPA, dirty air, etc. can cost you customers and thus money -- so there is more incentive to be clean these days and peoples attitudes have changed. That said, without laws against it, there would be plenty of people willing to spread filth as long as they make a buck.

    The EPA may not be an ideal agency, but I think it is one of the few "general welfare" federal agencies that actually are constitutional as in, "generally speaking, everybody benefits by not living in a cesspool".

  24. Even the Bible warns us about this on Malware Is 'Rampant' On Medical Devices In Hospitals · · Score: 1

    1 Tim 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: (KJV)

    BTW, The word translated as science comes from gnosis: Knowledge

    I usually prefer the ESV

    O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”

  25. Re:While I like the idea on Uber Gives Up On New York Taxi Service · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Thank the government / crony capitalism duo . Taxi medallions are now worth 1 million $ in NYC these days. Slate had a good article on the situation. If taxi prices were set by the market, you would save a bunch, and they would be likely to support Uber as they might see a competitive advantage in doing so.