Slashdot Mirror


User: starglider29a

starglider29a's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
458
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 458

  1. Aerospace company stock spikes due to DYAC on Next Big Thing From Elon Musk? It Could Be 'Boring' (usatoday.com) · · Score: 1

    "Shares of Boeing spiked momentarily as a tweet from Elon Musk hinted at buying the Aerospace giant. When asked, stock pickers universally believed that 'boring' was an autocorrect artifact."

    #fakenews #autocorrupt #dyac

  2. Say this aloud: "It's so massive..." on Curious Tilt of the Sun Traced To Undiscovered Planet (spacedaily.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "How massive is it?"
    "It's so massive that even at an insane distance, this Oort Cloud body can out-twist the masses of both Jupiter AND Saturn."

    Wait? How massive is it? How is it able to tilt the axis of the sun, since tilting an axis is a TIDAL action? IMHO (as a degreed rocket scientist) that Occam's Razor would indicate that it's easier to shift the orbital planes of the planets, rather than tidally torque the sun. Remember, for the tidal action, the Planet IX must be very close to Sol to work its magic.

  3. ST only needed transparent aluminum for... on Breakthough Makes Transparent Aluminum Affordable · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...the audience to see the whales. I'm sure the whales were comforted seeing the inside of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey~

  4. One Second After by William R. Fortschen on Ask Slashdot: What Are the Books Everyone Should Read? · · Score: 1

    Not because it's a great book. It's a good book. The books listed all discuss how to think logically, feel compassionately, seek truth, govern (or dominate) wisely, and every civilized person should be reading them.

    But One Second After forces you to think about what happens when logic, compassion, truth, and governance flash into oblivion under the power of an EMP. If you have read all of the above, you need to read One Second After to make you think about what happens if everything they taught you about civilization vanishes.

    What do you miss first? How do you know what happened? How long will your meds hold out? Why didn't I think of this beforehand? Why didn't I prepare? Why did the government not harden against this? How can I read all of the above books if my Kindle is bricked?

  5. So 'Gravity is God'... on Cometary Impacts May Have Provided Key Elements of Life · · Score: 4, Funny

    According to Hawking, Gravity (capital G) created the Universe: http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/13013/stephen-hawking-says-universe-can-create-itself-from-nothing-but-how-exactly
    According to TFA, Gravity (capital G) created life (via the kinetic energy of the comets obeying laws of Gravity)
    According to Genesis, God created the Universe and life.
    Therefore, Gravity = God.

    Glad we finally solved that! Can we move on now?

  6. Stratigraphy vs. the Created Young Earth on Ask Dr. Robert Bakker About Dinosaurs and Merging Science and Religion · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am aware of many ideas that "young Earth believers" foster to explain the stratigraphy of fossils in a 6K-year old Earth.

    Question: What explanations have you heard? What answer can you offer from the middle ground between a scientist (whose expertise relies on that stratigraphic record) and a man of faith who reads the same Bible that the "young Earth believers" do?

  7. Flame wars on science articles on Ask Dr. Robert Bakker About Dinosaurs and Merging Science and Religion · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It is my observation that reader comments on science article quickly follow a Godwin-like trajectory to a flame war between those who hold to religious (though many are scientists) beliefs and those who hold to scientific (usually atheist) beliefs. The two factions spew hate, obscenity, and generally impugn the intelligence of the other.

    Question: What advice can you offer to help the readers, and thus the comment posters, to strike a balance? Can there be some kind of 'kumbaya manifesto' to skip the quarreling and get to the matter at hand? Climate change, dark matter, even human colonization need well-tempered minds, of all persuasions. How do we get there?

  8. Obligatory BR on "Subconscious Mode" Could Boost Phone Battery Life · · Score: 1

    Would this allow Androids to Dream of Electric Sheep? (Too obvious, should have been in the tags.)

  9. Re:Another step closer to proving there is no God on 50 New Exoplanets Found, Billions More Await · · Score: 1

    ...and when do we get there? And why haven't we gotten there yet? I mean, Duke Nukem Forever is out. Didn't we miss a lot of deadlines when it finally released?

  10. Even Chinese must obey laws... on Chinese Want To Capture an Asteroid · · Score: 1
    of Orbital Mechanics. Physics, too... when convenient.
    1. Let's start with the mass of this asteroid, so we can determine the VAST amount of energy it will take to "nudge it." Recall that the 365-foot Saturn V pushed a capsule the size of a VW Bug.
    2. Secondly, note the orbital change is a plane change, which takes orders of magnitude more Delta-V than an in-plane maneuver.
    3. Thirdly, what will they gain from this rock that will be worth the effort, energy, money, and risk to the planet?
      Sure, mining asteroids is a great idea, in principle, but not in theory.
  11. Lies, Damn Lies, and IE at 24.3% on Internet Explorer Use Slips Below 55% · · Score: 1
    http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

    I know this is YMMV source, but according to it, IE hit 50% in August of 2008.

    I know how browsers are detected. It's about as scientific as a Slashdot poll.

    This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane.

    For example:

    1. I'd bet that Chrome's download page has a much lower percentage of Chrome users than the general populace.
    2. I'm sure M$ could show you stats with IE at 92% and the rest reading the files from FTP.
    3. Corporate vs. Academic sites would probably see great variation for a single browser.

    What makes any one set of browser share statistics any better than any other?

  12. Driod slogan v1.1 on Ask Slashdot: Android Security Practices? · · Score: 1, Troll

    "When there's no limit to what Droid gets, there's no limit to what Droid does^H^H^H^H can do to you."

  13. Space-XKCD on DARPA Building Futuristic Space Exploration Group · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Amazing at how well-timed the previous XKCD turned out to be.

    http://xkcd.com/893/

  14. Re:Does not apply to FTL on Tech That Failed To Fail · · Score: 1

    Not the same thing. Analogously, that is like saying "I can mail this letter, and if the envelope is opened, I can tell." vs. "I can mail this letter and get it to Mars in 23 minutes (this month)."

    The first defies someone's opinion on a theory. The latter defies physics. You can fool the theory, but you can't fool the physics.

    BTW, you just did what I initially complained about. "technological breakthrough."

  15. Does not apply to FTL on Tech That Failed To Fail · · Score: 1

    Sadly, I have heard people use the argument that "the experts miss calls like this one" to point to how we can achieve Faster-Than-Light once we start to "think outside the box".

    None of these missed calls, esp. satellite radio, defy the known physics of their day. Those FTL-friendly people see FTL as a mere 'technological breakthrough."

  16. Re:Read the history of polar exploration. on NASA Looking To Build 'Gas' Stations In Space · · Score: 1

    How much energy did it take to keep the polar caches in place? That's the difference. NASA can't just hang it up there, turn on the anti-gravity, and find it there in 10 years. I mean... explorers sailed to new worlds for centuries using nothing but windpower. Why doesn't NASA do the same thing...

    Oh, right... they also have to take their own oxygen, and don't have a medium upon which to float. Gotcha...

  17. Re:Reminds me of the fuel stores in WWII. on NASA Looking To Build 'Gas' Stations In Space · · Score: 1

    Nope. I'm with LWATCDR. Check your facts or post on Facebook!

  18. You need propellant to lift the propellant on NASA Looking To Build 'Gas' Stations In Space · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Disclaimer: degreed rocket scientist without time to do the math.

    Rather than
    1. lift a surplus of propellant to a gas station
    2. have the Mars mission lift with just enough energy to park at L5, Phobos or whereever,
    3. refuel and thrust away to mars... Instead:
    4. launch the required propellant on nearly the same trajectory as the mission, once trajectory confirmed...
    5. Launch the Mars mission with enough energy to travel to Mars
    6. Rendezvous on the long trip, refuel, carry on

    Advantages: putting the heavy lifting on the booster on Earth (where logistics is easier), don't waste energy stopping/pausing and restarting the trajectory.
    Disadvantages: You better be sure you can refuel in flight.

  19. from the is-there-anything-it-can't-do dept... on Graphene Super Paper Is 10x Stronger Than Steel · · Score: 2

    Can it give Superman a paper cut?

  20. "Your G/F is named Minuet?!" on Can't Get a Real Girlfriend? Get a "Cloud" Girlfriend · · Score: 2

    "So is MINE! The two-timing $|^+!"

  21. iPad v. TV != iPad v. iPhone on iPad Just Another TV Set? · · Score: 1

    Before I argue whether iPad is a TV, first tell me why my iPhone ISN'T? I recorded Butler v. UConn on my ATT UVerse so my wife would watch it on the iPad in the morning. Couldn't. Make that, 'was not allowed'. But I COULD have watched it on my iPhone. What is the difference between iPad and iPhone?

    So, they're saying SIZE matters?

  22. Re:They tried this before ... on Arkansas Earthquakes Could Be Man-Made · · Score: 1

    Politicians.

  23. They only needed the aluminim transparent... on DoE Develops Flexible Glass Stronger Than Steel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...for the cameras. The whales wouldn't care. They spend lots of time in the dark. And besides, which would make you feel better? magically appearing in a black void? Or looking out and seeing the insides of a Bird of Prey?

  24. A galaxy of what? Dark stars? on Milky Way May Have Dark Matter Satellite Galaxies · · Score: 2

    What is the form of the dark matter? Does it coalesce into spherical bodies? Or does it homogenize into equidistant particles due to mutual repulsion? And if it is bound to the Milky Way by gravity, and itself bound to as a 'galaxy', does it exert cosmos expanding repulsion in an "inverse almost square" relationship? Is it 1/ (r- fudgeFactor)^2 or 1/ (r)^(2-fudgeFactor)?

    Seriously. I'm a rocket scientist, and I'm baffled by the mixed properties of 'dark matter'. Can we land a probe on it, or would baryonic space probes pass right through it?

  25. Yet another case of "a little piracy is good." on Astronaut Sues Dido For Album Cover · · Score: 1

    I actually bought her debut album BECAUSE of hearing her on Eminem. And then her next two albums. Pre-ordered the third, in fact.

    It worked. I paid money.