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User: dedalus2000

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Comments · 274

  1. Re:"Undeniable" on Global Warming 'Undeniable,' Report Says · · Score: 1

    yes, this year the debate is about causation. next year it will be about economic feasibility the year after that they will start quoting Zeno's paradox and pointing at the impossibility of change.

    ultimately scientists debate nested interests stall.

  2. No, no, no!!! on Ricardo Montalban Dead At 88 · · Score: 1

    I am Ricardo Montalban.

  3. Re:human nature on Network Neutrality — Without Regulation · · Score: 2, Interesting

    the cables would never have even been put in the ground without government intervention in the granting of utility easements. the cable companies would have to either buy strips of land or dots of land and air rights as would the electric providers, the phone companies, the gas companies, water and sewage providers. it would take only one holdout to prevent utility penetration into a neighborhood.

  4. Re:Precision in Reporting ... on Solar Powered Microbes Manufacture Biofuels · · Score: 1

    that's like saying evolution will make sure that dairy cows will be more likely to survive if they produce less milk. this is exactly the opposite of reality in reality the largest selection pressure placed on the bovine species is that which is applied by humanity in selective breeding. similarly those vats that produce the most usable fuels would likely be the ones that are used to seed additional vats. over time the selection pressures would lead to higher sugar and cellulose production not lesser.

  5. Re:I'm so proud because... on Solar Powered Microbes Manufacture Biofuels · · Score: 1

    so your saying cyanobacteria were the catalyst for the formation of the earth as we know it. also it seems as if the incredible energy expenditures that would be required of the modified bacteria would mean that they would actually be less prolific than their non excess sugar producing brethren also the organisms that feed on cyanobacteria may actually be benefited by the higher energy content of their food source. all of this should be established experimentally of course.

  6. Re:Very large surface area needed on Solar Powered Microbes Manufacture Biofuels · · Score: 1

    I think part of the point of this research is also that land that was unsuitable for farming could be used. for example this could be grown in sea water in tanks in the Desert. so it's not only not competing for cropland but it's not competing for water resources nor fertilizer nor any other agricultural necessity. though i don't know what the backlash would be politically or environmentally to large pools of bacteria and brackish water covering much of the desert region of the US. I also don't know that it would be a good idea to flush any of these bacteria into the ocean so assuming that evaporation is an issue renewing the water would lead to gradually more saline conditions in the tanks.

  7. Re:Bring a lot to the table on Bill Gates On the GPL — "We Disagree" · · Score: 1

    Why do I picture an IT director with the shakes saying "It was free with the computer... everyone was doing it."

  8. Re:Bring the marshmallows on DARPA Working On Arthur C. Clarke Weapon Idea · · Score: 1

    don't know about flamethrowers but the use of napalm against civilian targets is viewed by the international courts as being a war crime.

  9. Re:Accountability on Sacha Baron Cohen Wikipedia Entry Creates Circular References · · Score: 1

    Give the kids lead to play with and poison our dogs?

  10. Re:Due to lack of funding on Coolest University Tech Lab Projects in the Works · · Score: 1

    They are just so advanced that each one represents five regular projects.

  11. Re:Uh.. on Chinese Blogs, Netizens React To the Tibet Issue · · Score: 1

    yeah like "Yankee go home" had racist elements when it was used during the US occupations in south Asia doesn't change the fact that it was a violent invasion by a foreign power. The invasion of Tibet is still recent history people don't forget and it's not like china owned up and apologized. I haven't heard a "Gee Tibet sorry for overthrowing your government and for marginalizing and controlling your religion."

    My take on the argument that the west has done worse without criticism is that lies are cowardice no matter what government, organization or individual is telling them. China has done wrong so has the US, Canada, England, Germany and the rest, none of it justifies or excuses the others.

  12. Re:How fitting... on Darwin's Private Papers Get Released To The Internet · · Score: 1

    Social Darwinism is not actual Darwinism since the genetic underpinnings of group action and altruism were actually a survival mechanism insuring the survival of traits by protecting the herd or tribe or whatever.

    On a related note I love it when people who advocate social Darwinism are in fact childless.

  13. Re:Its pretty simple, really on Brain Study Calls Free Will Into Question · · Score: 1

    IOW, true free will requires religion, if my argument is correct.


    You've obviously never visited the southern states in the US.
  14. Re:They can patent that? on Satellite Abandoned Due To Orbital Patent · · Score: 1

    I don't know anyone who thought that ethanol from food crops was a good idea. ethanol itself as a transitional fuel was not a bad idea but relying on corn as the feedstock for it's production was more a product of the farm lobby than than of any Green or ecologically minded individuals. the ideal feed stock for biofuel production would be tapped from the waste stream and that sort of technology has been starting to come online only recently.

    As for plastics the first plastics were casein based plastics and the technology to produce plastics from biologically derived hydrocarbons has existed for years. there is even a type of plastic that is in production now for industrial applications that uses waste CO2 and even CO in a catalytic process to produce a kind of plastic used in metal injection molding and other applications where clean degradation during sintering is essential for metal purity or where being cleanly biodegradable is a desirable characteristic.

  15. Re:Really? on 3D Self-Replicating Printer to be Released Under GNU License · · Score: 1

    they did early tests depositing solder into channels formed in the plastic think they made a simple circuit in this way can't recall

  16. Re:yeah on 3D Self-Replicating Printer to be Released Under GNU License · · Score: 1

    If wishes were horses...


    we'd all be eating steak.

  17. Re:Yeah, but is there anything worth watching? on Matrix-Like VR Coming in the Near Future? · · Score: 1

    Love that the holoshed simulation was written in "Four million lines of Basic!".

  18. Re:Well duh on Feds Overstate Software Piracy's Link To Terrorism · · Score: 1

    I don't know about tire pressure monitors and I'm not particularly opposed to gun sales hell I can even see arguments against criminal background checks given the sorry state of the terrorist watch list but what i don't understand is the opposition to trigger locks. opposing trigger locks makes as much sense as opposing safeties. one is intended to make a weapon safe when it's being carried the other is meant to make it safe when it's not. maybe you can explain this to me.

    As far as food stamps go I'd just as soon not live in a country that an economic down turn leads to a generation of mentally under developed adults due to childhood malnutrition. maybe some people want that, stupid people and the uneducated are easier to control, but that's not what I want.

  19. Re:Also from the article... on China to Use Silver Iodide & Dry Ice to Control the Weather · · Score: 1

    I agree with you there is no excuse for government abuse of power or political suppression, violent or otherwise, anywhere. In recognizing our own mistakes recent and historical and saying it was wrong when we did it it's equally wrong for you to do it now. in doing so we remove the argument that the US exercises a double standard in world affairs and lends credibility to our statements. "Don't do what I have done" holds more weight with everyone than "do as I say" with the entire world recognizing the unspoken "not as I do".

  20. Re:Also from the article... on China to Use Silver Iodide & Dry Ice to Control the Weather · · Score: 1

    so the difference is that in the US, thanks to institutionalized denial and a largely biased media, criticism can be safely ignored. In times in the past when protests were viewed as not being safe to ignore the US government acted in essentially the same way as that of china.

  21. Re:Do we really need patents? on Patent Reform Bill Unable To Clean Up Patent Mess · · Score: 2, Informative

    It was copyrighted not patented thus the need for the cleanroom design.

  22. Re:Do we really need patents? on Patent Reform Bill Unable To Clean Up Patent Mess · · Score: 2, Insightful

    reverse engineering is the basis of the computer industry. if compaq had not reverse engineered the original IBM pc bios there would never have been a commodity PC industry. which would have greatly slowed the pace of computer uptake. so basically one software patent could have stopped the entire PC market from happening.

  23. Re:Minor correction... on The Arthur C. Clarke Gamma Ray Burst · · Score: 1

    Well then this may not be a sun going nova at all but rather the finally of a Disaster Area concert.

  24. Re:The primary idea on Windows 7 Likely Going Modular, Subscription-based · · Score: 1

    Perhaps it's modular like Android is modular.

  25. Re:Job Loyalty? How about orker loyalty? on Gen Y Workers Reinventing IT for the Better · · Score: 1

    I might point out that not many kids of my daughters generation are of the "take what you get and shut up" mindset. the internet has taught them to take systemic intransigence as damage and rout around.