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User: TheMeuge

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  1. It quietly expired... on Missed Opportunities in U.S. v. Microsoft · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just like the assault weapons ban and stem cell research funding. Soon you'll see things quietly expiring all over the place... the Bill of Rights, the US Constitution, and the political opponents of the 'quiet expiration' domestic policy.

  2. Re:Paranoia on Hobbit Hole + World Class Fallout Shelter · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually there is proof. A little while ago, I microepidemic of the Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease broke out when surgeons at a hospital (kill me, but I do not remember where exactly) operated on a person who had advanced neurological problems. They found damaged brain tissue, but the diagnosis was never made. Several years afterwards, patients with CJD started coming in. The final conslusion was that it was transmitted by the medical team who were re-using some of the equipment. The medical equipment was sterilized by autoclave, according to the procedure, but because prions (the objects responsible for CJD) are very stable proteins and contain no genetic material, sterilization at 120C couldn't destroy them. One thing you're right about though - CJD poses no real epidemiological threat at this point. I do agree with the general sentiment - there seems to be a lot of fear-mongering going on. Many people clearly want us to be afraid. The trouble is, they're not totally wrong! Many countries have developed bioweapons, since they are much cheaper and easier to hide than nuclear weapons, and certainly easier to develop. There are dozens of modified versions of the pneumonic plague with engineered resistances to many antibiotics. And let's remember that pneumonic plague is pretty much 100% lethal without adequate treatment. Furthermore, there is no real effective vaccine against it. No one was worried about the Russians using it against the US because the infection would likely spread worldwide before the epidemic would be recognized. But I doubt that the people we're facing now would care. So those who think that the threat of bioterrorism is a joke should probably re-evaluate their view of the world. With this in mind, everyone living in densely populated urban areas should have a plan that all the family members carry, with agreed-on meeting points in case communication is impossible, as well as detailed directions for getting out of the area by foot. This, along with a few gallons of water, some power bars, and a medical kit, are probably not a bad idea.

  3. Hmmmm on Robot Eats Flies to Generate Power · · Score: 5, Funny

    A machine that can digest flies, then use the sugars in their bodies to generate energy! How ingenious. Oh, wait - it's called a FROG.

  4. Re:Image Quality (MOD PARENT UP) on More 'Application-Specific' Optimizations in NVidia Drivers · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, Tech-Report did check what happens to the ATI drivers as well, just visit their website and see. And like they said in the article, the differences they found were negligible for ATI (1-2%) and I would not be surprised if image quality remained the same. After all, there ARE legitimate optimizations one can write for a graphics engine to run better on a given video card architecture, just look at Doom3. The optimisations for GFFX are endless when it comes to the new Doom engine, and I doubt that Id would want to get caught reducing game image quality to let a certain card have an fps advantage.

    P.S.I've been visiting Tech-Report for a while now and I find no reason to doubt their honesty quite yet, but then again - i semi-trusted nVidia too.