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User: ChrisMaple

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  1. Re:Makes sense on More Time Outside Tied To Less Nearsightedness In Children · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It isn't a question of strengthening. It's a question of the shape of the eye's lens and the distance from the lens to the retina.

    It's a matter of controversy (although it shouldn't be) which of the two is usually misshaped in myopia.

    Being outside means that most of the time the eye will be focused near infinity, and that habitual condition is what helps prevent myopia.

    There are other factors involved with being outdoors in sunshine.
    ____Sunshine causes the generation of vitamin D. So far as I know, this does not affect myopia.
    ____There's proportionally more blue light outdoors. Blue is refracted more strongly (the eye is not an achromat), so to get overall better focus when there's a strong blue component in the light, the eye must focus less strongly, i.e. farther away. This improves the habitual state of the eye.

    There is a claim (among the advocates of the Bates system) that muscles can be used both to focus nearer and farther away, but conventional understanding of the eye's focus mechanism is that muscles are used only to swivel the eyes and to make them focus near. Far focus is the relaxed condition.

  2. Re:people are forgetful . political?! on Law Professor: Genetic Engineering Is (Probably) Protected By the First Amendment · · Score: 1

    Each of the three branches is required to act within the limits of the Constitution, and thus each branch in deciding how to act must "interpret" the Constitution. The legislature must interpret the Constitution in order to determine whether the laws it passes are constitutional (a task it has been failing at), and so must the executive in signing off and acting on laws (also failing). The Supreme Court is the last branch to get a shot at a law, so it has the appearance of being the sole arbiter of constitutionality. Note that if the Congress were not being so wimpy, it could pass the same law again with a minor change in wording, and again, and again, and the court's reaction time would leave the law in effect more of the time than not. Congress also has the Constitutional authority to disestablish courts, impeach judges, limit the jurisdiction of courts, and declare a court's decision unconstitutional and therefor null and void.

  3. Re:people are forgetful . political?! on Law Professor: Genetic Engineering Is (Probably) Protected By the First Amendment · · Score: 1

    Political messages have been ruled to have LESS protection, not more.

    It depends. Where I live, you can't be ordered to take down a political yard sign, but business signage is strictly limited.

  4. Re:Genetic Engineering is Biological Warfare on Law Professor: Genetic Engineering Is (Probably) Protected By the First Amendment · · Score: 1

    Genetic Engineering is biological warfare without the intent to cause a war.

    A hybrid rose is biological warfare? A plumcot is biological warfare?

    I know it's tough, but if you're not trying to make a joke, you should consider the full implications of your words.

  5. Re:All things are political on Law Professor: Genetic Engineering Is (Probably) Protected By the First Amendment · · Score: 1

    This is why it is important to define things carefully, and clearly specify what is being talked about. Science, as a study of what is, is not political. Scientists individually and in groups making changes that do not affect other people (including funding) are not acting politically. Voluntary subjects of scientific experiments are not engaging in political activity as long as the experiments don't directly affect people outside the experiment.

    It is important not to define politics too broadly, because politicians will take a broad definition as an invitation to expand their control.

  6. Ink dries.

    I have a Canon BJC-8200, now about 15 years old. I'm on my second set of cartridges. A properly designed ink system is well sealed, and the ink stays fresh many years.

  7. Re:Misunderstanding on Spy Industry Leaders Befuddled Over 'Deep Cynicism' of American Public · · Score: 1

    One secret thing is the method used to separate friendly aircraft from enemy aircraft. Millions of Americans could die if that were made public.

    Idiot

  8. Re: In other news on Spy Industry Leaders Befuddled Over 'Deep Cynicism' of American Public · · Score: 0

    Occupy is George Soros's rent-a-mob.

  9. Re:In other news on Spy Industry Leaders Befuddled Over 'Deep Cynicism' of American Public · · Score: 1

    Through WWII and not counting Indian skirmishes, the U.S. won declared wars (although the War of 1812 needs further discussion). There have been no declared wars since then. A declared war tends to engage public support and full government involvement, a factor much more important than the CIA.

  10. Re:In other news on Spy Industry Leaders Befuddled Over 'Deep Cynicism' of American Public · · Score: 1

    Back in the '80s, a company distributing Russian or East German propaganda videos would be shut down and everyone involved arrested for providing aid and comfort to the enemy, to even treason by showing enemy propaganda.

    [citation needed]

    The anti-American propaganda has been ongoing for a century, the main difference now is that starts in elementary school, so that brainwashed students never learn to reject the lies.

  11. Re: Nonsense. on Spy Industry Leaders Befuddled Over 'Deep Cynicism' of American Public · · Score: 2

    The whole reason this country was founded was to wrest control away from the rich and powerful, and give it to the working man.

    If that's what you think, you are already in opposition to the founding concepts of the United States. It is not a matter of who is in control, but rather that there should be no control other than rational and mutually beneficial law.

  12. Re:Nonsense. on Spy Industry Leaders Befuddled Over 'Deep Cynicism' of American Public · · Score: 1

    Vince Foster.
    Ambassador Stevens
    Obama is an enemy combatant and his death squads are Islamists.

  13. Re:Hail to forced..... on Xerox PARC Creates Self-Destructing Chip · · Score: 1

    For roughly 50 years, perhaps much longer, there have been electrical devices designed to pass a given number of Ampere-hours and then open-circuit. They're electro-chemical based: an electrode gives off ions until it's exhausted.

  14. Re:Previously unknown? on Researchers Say S. African Bones Are From Previously Unknown Human Relative · · Score: 1

    Lois Piltdown.

  15. The space whiskey tastes like burnt rubber. At least we now know they practice safe sex.

  16. Re:Whisky doesn't age once its left the barrel on Whisky Aged On NASA's International Space Station Tastes "Different" · · Score: 1

    There will be impurities in the glass, which may be absorbed into the whiskey. Likewise the cork / sealant. Any porosity in the sealing system may allow chemicals in the atmosphere to enter the bottle. Over the course of decades, even slow processes will have some effect.

  17. It's obvious on Huge Ritual Arena Discovered Near Stonehenge · · Score: 1

    This is a NASCAR track.

  18. Re:Hmm on Huge Ritual Arena Discovered Near Stonehenge · · Score: 1

    Of course. They say "Bjork bjork bjork".

  19. Re:Photoshop on Ask Slashdot: What Windows-Only Apps Would You Most Like To See On Linux? · · Score: 1

    WineHQ claims that Photoshop CS6 installs and runs on wine, although the testing that's been done is not extensive.

  20. Re:Photoshop on Ask Slashdot: What Windows-Only Apps Would You Most Like To See On Linux? · · Score: 1

    I don't entirely understand the concept of adjustment layers, but it looks to me like most of the functionality can be achieved with the "undo history" and/or copying everything to a new image.

  21. Re:Stream 11 on Ask Slashdot: Cheapest Functional Computer For Students? · · Score: 1

    WalMart: mouse under $7, keyboard $7.40.

  22. English language on Ask Slashdot: Cheapest Functional Computer For Students? · · Score: 1

    You're a teacher, and you don't know enough to use "give" as a verb and "gift" as a noun.

  23. Re:Aesthetics and practicality to computing on Steve Wozniak "Steve Jobs Played No Role In My Designs For the Apple I & II" · · Score: 1

    Your description helps explain why the early Macintosh was successful in the artist and high end consumer market. For most businesses doing routine computer work, "pretty" was irrelevant and low cost essential, which is why the IBM clones won in that arena.

  24. Re:Good quote on Steve Wozniak "Steve Jobs Played No Role In My Designs For the Apple I & II" · · Score: 1

    The quoted three sentences are in the third to last paragraph of the message. Read all of that paragraph and the next, for a fuller and somewhat more Republican context. There's a bit of the spirit of Adam Smith in there. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29502

  25. Re:It takes two... on Steve Wozniak "Steve Jobs Played No Role In My Designs For the Apple I & II" · · Score: 1

    Most egomaniacal sociopaths could not have done what Jobs did, they didn't have his particular abilities necessary to Apple's success.

    I've worked for two such nasty bosses, one successful and the other not. For me, the critical question is "How much human damage has he caused pursuing his goal?" The corollary question is "Was it worth it?" and the answer is almost always "No."