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User: Toad-san

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Comments · 672

  1. Re:that's odd on Rising Sea Levels Uncover Japanese War Dead In Marshall Islands · · Score: 2, Informative

    Wait! What world is that? I live in Nawth Ca'lina, where Duke Power is king. And coal ash is good for the roses. Where, now that almost all the shallow water wells are contaminated with fuel, chemicals and fertilizers, they're now targeting the deep aquifers with fracking. Yeah, THAT Nawth Ca'lina. And obviously not part of your world at all, alas.

  2. Let's Not Oversimplify or Overcomplicate on The Sci-Fi Myth of Killer Machines · · Score: 1

    I'll admit Hollywood and artists have given us some wonderfully scary imagery of the killer robots of the future:

    http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-i...
    http://ockhamsbeard.files.word...

    But I suspect the real future will be more like:

    http://www.wired.com/images_bl...

    Or the much less vulnerable and maintainable:

    http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2...

    Coupled with thermal imagery, a simple AI to identify sneaking human patrols, and (at least at first) a go/no go command from some Private Tentpeg hunkered down in a bunker or OP somewhere. Trust me on this: I've BEEN that Private Tentpeg .. and later, his supervisor. It isn't far, in the front lines, from a tripwire connected to a hand grenade" to a much more complicated (and even more lethal) machine. How much "intelligence" will be vested in that machine is just a quibble. Trip wires aren't smart at all, yet we've never hesitated to use them.

  3. Back in The Day ... on id Software's Original 'Softdisk' Games Open Sourced · · Score: 1

    I'd have KILLED for some of that source! But today? Naaaah ...

  4. It's a Shame ... on Zazzle.com Thinks Depictions of Pi Are Protected Intellectual Property · · Score: 1

    that stupidity isn't painful. Add to that, greed.

  5. This Has ALWAYS Been True on Official MPG Figures Unrealistic, Says UK Auto Magazine · · Score: 1

    One of the biggest "Doh!" moments lately. I can't believe some consider this news.

  6. John Wooden Had It Right on Games That Make Players Act Like Psychopaths · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "The screen flickered back on. I was reborn, standing naked in an empty field, holding only a rock. Not far away I saw a man gathering wood, his back to me. I crept toward him through the grass. He didn’t hear me slinking closer.

    I thought of the words of John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach, who once said that the true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.

    I raised my rock above my head."

  7. That's Right, Blame the Spaniards on Spanish Conquest May Have Altered Peru's Shoreline · · Score: 1

    Since the slowing or cessation of dune / ridge formation started about 2800 years ago (according to one paper), one might want a little more evidence before blaming it all on the Conquistadors or the following Spanish occupiers.

  8. "Ignore" is a wonderful tool on Data Mining Shows How Down-Voting Leads To Vicious Circle of Negative Feedback · · Score: 1

    Works on World of Warcraft chat .. and presumably on Internet forums as well.

  9. Can't. Resist. Optimizing. on Grace Hopper, UNIVAC, and the First Programming Language · · Score: 1

    "(1) COMPARE PRODUCT-NO (A) WITH PRODUCT-NO (B) ; IF GREATER GO TO OPERATION 10 ;
    IF EQUAL GO TO OPERATION 5 ; OTHERWISE GO TO OPERATION 2 .
    (2) TRANSFER A TO D ."

    What's wrong (if useless is wrong) with this code?

    Godz, I can't believe I'm trying to correct Hopper's code!

  10. Re:NOT zero-emissions! on Airbus E-Fan Electric Aircraft Makes First Flight · · Score: 1

    But but but but ... the PILOT does! Which leads us to the conclusion ...

  11. Re:Ghostery on Help EFF Test a New Tool To Stop Creepy Online Tracking · · Score: 1

    Hmmm .. down to five ads, and three of them are red (and blocked)! Interesting.

  12. Re:Ghostery on Help EFF Test a New Tool To Stop Creepy Online Tracking · · Score: 1

    My system caught 8! [phthththth!]

    But they're all Green, no worries.

  13. Don't Forget the Old Adage on Sony Tape Storage Breakthrough Could Bring Us 185 TB Cartridges · · Score: 1

    " Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.

    —Tanenbaum, Andrew S. (1989). Computer Networks. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. p. 57. ISBN 0-13-166836-6. "

  14. Re:Captain Obvoius on Male Scent Molecules May Be Compromising Biomedical Research · · Score: 1

    I know! The title to this thread is sexist as hell!

  15. Re:test material on Minesweepers Robotic Competition Aims For a Landmine-Free World · · Score: 1

    Actually they're readily available, even in civilian circles:

    http://www.inertproducts.com/i...

    The above site is HUGELY overpriced, of course; the mine manufacturers could put out inert mines very cheaply if they wished. Most armed forces already have them, used for mine warfare training all the time.

    But there may be other and better solutions. Not necessarily the goats in another comment, but maybe things like honeybees:

    http://www.wired.co.uk/news/ar...

  16. Re:Happy Birthday on 50 Years of BASIC, the Language That Made Computers Personal · · Score: 1

    Throw in a counting loop (1 to 50 .. or 0 to 49 if you wish), just to show off your l33t skills.
    Make it 0.0 to 49.0 if you want to test your math coprocessor at the same time :-)

  17. Frankenskeeter on Brazilians Welcome Genetically-Modified Mosquito To Help Fight Dengue Fever · · Score: 1

    Remember, you read that word here first!

  18. I'd Wondered About That Soft Landing on SpaceX Files Suit Against US Air Force · · Score: 1

    I missed what happened to it after the report of a successful soft landing.

    "Unfortunately, they weren't able to recover it because it landed in the middle of a rough storm, which eventually destroyed the stage."

    Well, if it's so damned smart and clever and capable and all, why didn't they tell it to land somewhere else?

    Land at sea in the middle of a bloody storm, you get what you deserve!

  19. That Grant Money on New Shape Born From Rubber Bands · · Score: 1

    They're gonna give it back .. when?

  20. Re:QQ More on Master of Analytics Program Admission Rates Falling To Single Digits · · Score: 1

    I've concluded for decades now that any shortage of med school students or graduates (and thus the number of doctors) is an artificial shortage, totally created by the medical profession itself. Wouldn't want to endanger those nice fat incomes, hmmmm?

    http://healthland.time.com/201...

  21. Re:It's an acceptance rate of 5% on Master of Analytics Program Admission Rates Falling To Single Digits · · Score: 1

    Finding the applicants is not the problem, as you can see by looking at the number of applicants for the very few seats.

    Unless totally unqualified people were applying .. but that still begrudges the question: why aren't these Nawth Ca''lina universities teaching what the students want?

    Oh .. yeah .. sorry, I forgot. All that money going for Black Studies.

    http://espn.go.com/college-spo...
    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01...

  22. Encyclopedia Brittanica Has It Right on Siphons Work Due To Gravity, Not Atmospheric Pressure: Now With Peer Review · · Score: 2

    http://www.britannica.com/EBch...

    "The action depends upon the influence of gravity (not, as sometimes thought, on the difference in atmospheric pressure; a siphon will work in a vacuum) and upon the cohesive forces that prevent the columns of liquid in the legs of the siphon from breaking under their own weight."

  23. There May Not Be An Issue on Beer Price Crisis On the Horizon · · Score: 1

    Amazingly, it could be that the FDA actually listened to the howls of protest (not to mention the poor cattle: did no one consider the cattle?)

    http://www.pressdemocrat.com/a...

    "The Food and Drug Administration will redraft proposed rules for the use of brewery waste as animal feed after both brewers and farmers complained the plan would impose a burden on the centuries-old practice."

  24. Re:Doesn't Gravity Affect Angle of Repose? on Astronomers Solve Puzzle of the Mountains That Fell From Space · · Score: 1

    The article I read. The references I read, but didn't look up (since I don't subscribe to the Journal of Geophysical Research). If they were using reduced gravity data, they should've said so in the body of the article. They didn't. That's my point: we don't know WHAT they took into account.

  25. Re:The Canadian Exodus.... on Retired SCOTUS Justice Wants To 'Fix' the Second Amendment · · Score: 1

    Yeah! There are no gun nuts in the Klondike! It'll be ours for the taking! America, f*ck yes!