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User: TheDugong

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  1. Re:Sounds like M$ sock puppet speech.. on Google Gets Serious About Home Automation: Unveils Google Home, Actions on Google and Google Wifi (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 2

    M$ has root, brah.

    Not for me they don't.

  2. I think I'd be able to have a better lifestyle/standard of living now by working less hours than them.

  3. Re:Yes Apple continues to innovate on Apple Isn't the Next Microsoft (and That's a Good Thing) · · Score: 1

    They are valued by me, a geek, too. Since my mum and extended family went apple I rarely have any support calls :)

  4. Re:A century from now... on $375,000 Lab-Grown Beef Burger To Debut On Monday · · Score: 1

    Computers are stupid because they rely on a developed industrialised economy and would worthless in an apocalyptic scenario \s

    However, as I live in a developed industrial economy and I am "surrounded by machines that make my wishes real"...

  5. Re:Ride a bike on Ask Slashdot: How Do You Stay Fit At Work? · · Score: 1

    ^This.

    I got up to ~96kgs/212lbs at 173cm/5'8" by working in IT and developing OS software for fun. Went to a gym and cycled the 8 (hilly) km each way to work for a while and lost ~10kg.

    Got very fit after my office moved 24 (hilly) km away and decided to keep riding it. I now ride for fun (up to 400km in a day), have a personal trainer to make me work muscle groups that cycling does not work and to generally kick my^K^K^K^K^K^K^Kencourage me, and generally am considered a fit bloke.

    The advantage cycling gives is that you are likely to be able to get to work in a comparable time to driving, but getting fit at the same time. IOW, it takes no time out of your day. It will also allow you to get over the pain hump* while doing something practical. Once you are over the hump you'll (well, I did, YMMV) start enjoying exercise and being fit for its own sake, so going for a run will not seem liek an ordeal.

    *The pain hump is just getting used to exercise after being a potato for a few years.

  6. Re:Corporations should be justified on Outrage At Microsoft Offshoring Tax In the UK, Google Caught Avoiding US Taxes · · Score: 1

    My definition of trust is that it is a gradient, rather than binary...

    I get a tiny winy say in government. I get no real say in what happens in corporations.

  7. Re:You might get life in prison on Employees Admit They'd Walk Out With Stolen Data If Fired · · Score: 1

    Here's what happened to one person who took "backups" home and also wrote to the embassy of a different country in which he worked and offered to sell them secrets.

    http://www.johnwdowns.com/blog/?p=100

    FTFY

  8. Re:Elections in Australia on US-Australia Agreements Create Opportunities for Privacy Violation, Extradition · · Score: 1

    Only if you do not give your own preferences. Vote below the line.

  9. Re:Before fire, how did humans consume meat? on Eating Meat Helped Early Humans Reproduce · · Score: 1

    Spot on.

    This is similar to the human race not being able to develop technologically without the discovery/use of fossil fuels. However, we are (probably) not going to be able to continually progress without moving onto more advanced power generating/harnessing/whatever technologies (which would have been impossible to discover/develop without having a good fuel source to begin with). IOW, you cannot jump straight to solar electric energy without first having a useful fuel source to develop it, in our case fossil fuels.

    WRT to eating meat, it is perfectly possible to reproduce now without every eating meat and it having zero net affect on brain development of the child etc etc. However, the human race might not have become what it has done without eating meat back in the day.

  10. Re:I'll buy more when they are truly dimmable on $60 Light Bulb Debuts On Earth Day · · Score: 1

    We solved the problem of dimming (CFLs) by having a lamp in the corner. We already had a wall light and a ceiling light in the room. 8 step dimming (if you include no light and do not include the hall and kitchen light which also can spill over to the lounge).

  11. Re:example of harm on Growth of Pseudoscience Harming Australian Universities · · Score: 1

    In Australia C-sections are often done for liability reasons. They tend to get sued if they do not do everything possible and the baby dies or has other bad stuff happen.

    Our ob was completely fine, actually very happy, with my wife having a natural no-drug birth... in hospital and with everything, including drugs, to hand if needed. We're not stupid. The midwife thought it was awesome and is writing a paper on the birth.

    USE ALL THE THINGS!

    Seriously, we did hypnobirthing - lots of witchy-witchery-woo in that (no, really, there is), but it worked. It helped my wife really relax. All through the pregnancy, we did loads of exercise (she was walking/jogging 8-10km a day up until a few days before the birth), yoga, maintained a good diet etc.

    So... all holistic and stuff, but with modern medicine, which we ended up not really needing, to hand should Pete raise his Tong.

  12. Re:right on on Why Fuel Efficiency Advances Haven't Translated To Better Gas Mileage · · Score: 1

    We have a Honda Jazz (Fit is the American name for the Jazz) 1.3L Manual and our trip computer (which I reset when we bought it and not since) shows 6.7L/100km which is 35mpg.

    So... hmm...

    Australian BTW, so distance blah blah much of a muchness compared with US.

  13. Re:Aircraft carriers on Satellite Spots China's First Aircraft Carrier · · Score: 1

    So did battleships.

  14. Re:And how do they know who was driving? on Multi-Target Photo-Radar System To Make Speeding Riskier · · Score: 1

    In Australia (at least in NSW anyway) the registered owner of the vehicle is assumed to be the driver. Statutory declarations have to be signed etc if this is not the case. Not necessarily a good idea to sign an untrue stat dec either:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Einfeld#Criminal_conviction

  15. Re:Dispensing medication? on Robot Workforce Threatens Education-Intensive Jobs · · Score: 1

    "people get worried about disclosing their weight."

    To people. To a machine?

    "A machine probably won't be double-checking"

    I think you are wrong. Machines can easily be designed to double check.

  16. Re:PPTP saves the planet. on The Mythical Tunnel Between CERN and Central Italy · · Score: 1

    But.... I wouldn't download a car.

  17. Re:Pity the US Can't Do This on Chinese Want To Capture an Asteroid · · Score: 2

    Correct me if I am wrong, but we are not running out of anything (except maybe hydrogen and helium? And oil). What we are running out of is easily/cheaply minable stuff. Are asteroids any more easily/cheaply minable than landfill or than implementing decent recycing?

  18. Re:And the sad part is... on Driver Using Two Cell Phones Gets Year-Long Driving Ban · · Score: 1

    I'd rather somebody not be killed in the first place though.

  19. Re:Get off my carbon emitting lawn on What's the Carbon Footprint of Bicycling? · · Score: 1

    I ride about 10,000km/year (6214 miles says google). My commute is 48km (30 mile) round trip.

    IME, if you ride car-like distance then bicycle require more maintenance/km than cars. However, bicycles are simpler and require less/cheaper tools and space to fix.

    So, I do not think that jmichaelg is exaggerating (much), but to a certain extent I think {s,}he needs more spokes :) (seriously, I am not joking get yourself some 32-36h wheels for commuting, save the 20-24spoke wheels for racing and whatnot). Patching and bulk buying tubes can save a motza. Also commuting on a sora/tiagra level bike is a good idea, especially in the rain.

    I find it difficult to keep track of what I spend and how to allocate it. We have 5 bikes at home and another on the way between the two of us. A lot (most, truth be told) of the expense is recreational, but in a year if I had just one bike for just transport I reckon I'd go through:

    1 Cassette ~= $20-30
    3 chains ~= $60
    Lube ~= $5
    2 tubes ~= $5-10
    4 tyres ~= $120
    Couple of spokes ~= $5
    Set of cables ~= $40

    ~$255-270pa

    Cheap... however if you take it to a bike shop to get all this done you would be looking at double to triple the cost once you add labour into the equation. This is also taking advantage of the high Australian dollar. In less economically weird times it could easily be double the above.

    Saying that though, it is still cheaper than paying for just the insurance. Unfortunately we still have to pay that on our car anyway :(.

  20. Re:This Article is Just Silly on What's the Carbon Footprint of Bicycling? · · Score: 1

    We invest the money we save.

    Cyclists in Sydney, Australia are generally from an above average demographic as far as education and income go, so I do not think that we would be unusual in that.

    FWIW, based on the fuel liter/100km of our car, we cover most of the CO2 generated by our electricity usage by cycling. Not that I give too much of a crap about that, I cycle for the fitness and fun benefits. Still, I can feel generally silently smug about it :).

  21. Re:Nobody's smarter than I! on Study Compares IQ With Browser Choice · · Score: 1

    Osmosis? Pah. I use spooky action at a distance. I had read your comment before you had even posted it.

  22. Re:You mean... on For Texas Textbooks, a Victory For Evolution · · Score: 1

    "There is no proof, it's only a THEORY."

    The way you use theory in this context is analogous to a scientific hypothesis, not a scientific theory which is more or less what you would call a fact.

    In science, the concept of evolution is not disputed. The only disputes are over how it works.

    "If man evolved from apes, then why do we still have apes?"

    Man is an ape. Humans and chimps (including bonobos) have a common ancestor from which we evolved. IOW, chimps are as evolved as us.

    But seriously, read some books. The Greatest Show On Earth by Richard Dawkins is a good place to start.

  23. Re:Numbers, motherfucker on New Scottish Wave Energy Generator Unveiled · · Score: 3, Funny

    Roughly equivalent to a library of congress or a fotball field.

  24. Re:My CJ teacher on Law Enforcement Wants To Try 'Predictive Policing' · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't the fact that their may be unmarked police cars patrolling be a deterrent in itself?

  25. Re:Sounds more like "instinct" than altruism on Robots 'Evolve' Altruism · · Score: 1

    Hmmm... Not really. I am altruistic, but my genes are not.

    Genes exists to reproduce, they do not (and have no ability to) care what they do to do so, e.g. build and elephant, human, bacteria, virus etc. They just reproduce. Any side effect of their reproduction, i.e. us, elephants, bananas, whatever, is completely unintentional (genes do not have intentions) and occurs only because it has proven a successful way for genes to reproduce themselves.

    Genes just say "reproduce me.... but build a dugong first".

    IOW, genes in various species survive better than some other genes because they created vehicles they use to reproduce (i.e. living things) which display altruism.