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User: proslack

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  1. Re:Make a difference? on The DHS's Latest Investment: Terahertz Laser Scanners · · Score: 1

    Does it detect box cutters?

  2. Re:Headline should say... on Nature: Global Temperatures Are a Falling Trend · · Score: 1

    The paper finds that: "These findings together with the trends revealed in long-term CGCM runs suggest that large-scale summer temperatures were some tenths of a degree Celsius warmer during Roman times than previously thought." They aren't talking about 2 to 5 C warming, rather a few tenths of a degree.

  3. Ozzy thought of that decades ago on Nukes Are "The Only Peacekeeping Weapons the World Has Ever Known," Says Waltz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nothing new. "If that's the only thing that's stopping war then thank God for the bomb" ---Ozzy

  4. Re:Lots of coffee or caffeine = always indoors? on Caffeine Linked To Lower Skin Cancer Risk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The military runs on coffee. I used to wash raw coffee grounds down with a swig from my canteen on road marches (no hot water) when I was an infantryman. Plenty of people with non-desk jobs drink coffee, especially in colder climates. That's what Thermos bottles are for.

  5. Pay well on Ask Slashdot: What Defines Good Developer Culture? · · Score: 1

    I like it. I use it. I have some. I keep it in a jar above my refrigerator. I'd like to put some more money in that jar. That's where the employer comes in.

  6. Re:Dear Parasite on Supreme Court: Affordable Care Act Is Constitutional · · Score: 1

    Veterans typically are only eligible for "free healthcare" if they are poor or disabled. For example, the income threshold for benefits around here is $30k/yr. Above that, VA typically won't even consider you. Below that, they might assuming you have a service-related disability, a Purple Heart, or served in "high risk" (e.g. Agent Orange) theaters; even then, the "healthcare" typically is focused on your service-related disability. A veteran who is earning anything above around $15.00/hr isn't going to receive "free" health care. Don't believe me? Here: http://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/ Disclaimer: I am a disabled combat vet. I haven't bothered applying for VA health benefits because my employer benefits are light-years better than anything VA could offer. I can also get in to see a doctor when I'm sick, as opposed to waiting a month or two for an appointment.

  7. Re:They are even dumber than they seem. on Fundamentalist Schools Using "Nessie" To Disprove Evolution · · Score: 1

    Here's your proof. Genomic evolution during a 10,000-generation experiment with bacteria http://www.pnas.org/content/96/7/3807.short

  8. Re:IQ vs Street Smarts on Fastest Growing US Export To China: Education · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You've obviously never taken a real IQ test if you think it is all about "memorization of facts and conclusions". The primary objective is assessment of reasoning and cognitive ability. Analogies, puzzles, spatial reasoning.

  9. Re:TCO on Young Listeners Opt For Streaming Over Owning · · Score: 1

    The beauty of streaming is that it can be easily monetized by adding advertising.

  10. geolocation...really? on Cognitive Software Identifies America's Brainiest Cities · · Score: 1

    The mere fact that these lab rats are allowing themselves to be continuously geolocated doesn't say much about their brains. I suspect the smarter people are busy working in the lab and don't need games to improve their "brain performance."

  11. Spot on on Online Courses and the $100 Graduate Degree · · Score: 1

    To say nothing of the equipment...IRMS, ICP-OES, SEM, TEM. You don't get access to those for $100.00.

  12. Re:Hopefully this succeeds on Online Courses and the $100 Graduate Degree · · Score: 1

    Add in two young kids and it gets even worse. Even so, 50k to 75k of debt for a STEM graduate degree isn't a big deal and pays for itself in a few years. Just skip a Volvo or BMW for ten years. No big deal.

  13. Re:I'm sure SpaceX would be happy to launch them on NASA Gets Two Military Spy Telescopes For Astronomy · · Score: 1

    Billions. http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=20081223 "HAWTHORNE, CA – December 23, 2008 – NASA today announced its selection of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft for the International Space Station (ISS) Cargo Resupply Services (CRS) contract award. The contract is for a guaranteed minimum of 20,000 kg to be carried to the International Space Station. The firm contracted value is $1.6 billion and NASA may elect to order additional missions for a cumulative total contract value of up to $3.1 billion."

  14. Re:I'm sure SpaceX would be happy to launch them on NASA Gets Two Military Spy Telescopes For Astronomy · · Score: 3, Informative

    The company would not exist without billions in NASA funding. SpaceX isn't any different than Rockwell, which built the Apollo capsules, or McDonnell-Douglas, which built the Mercury capsules. We've just gone full circle back to the '60s, is all.

  15. Not unique on The Link Between Genius and Insanity · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From TA "Many prodigies like painter Van Gogh, author Jack Kerouac and mathematician John Nash had displayed self-destructive behaviors, and it is unclear as to why humans have evolved this trait. " Many people who *aren't* prodigies display self-destructive behaviors *all the time*.

  16. Re:Why US Navy? on New Evidence Indicates Amelia Earhart Survived For a Time on Pacific Atoll · · Score: 1

    Training with a purpose is more productive than "training to train", in any event.

  17. I would have though Chianti and fava beans...

  18. Re:This is sad on The Real-Life Doogie Howser · · Score: 1

    He had a youth. It just wasn't a typical youth. It doesn't say anywhere that he didn't have toys or exercise his imagination. In any event, a kid that smart isn't going to have a "normal" youth by any standard. How would he even relate to another teenager? When you are that smart you are, in a relative sense, surrounded by morons when you are in school. He'd have more in common with his teachers than the other students, even if he was lucky enough to be in a full-time gifted program. I suspect that this young man has a great life ahead of him, and I wager it won't be filled with regrets of a "robbed childhood".

  19. Re:theories on When Continental Drift Was Considered Pseudoscience · · Score: 4, Informative

    Wegener presented plenty of evidence that drift had occurred in the past but didn't have a reasonable driving mechanism. His book "Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane" has remarkable detail, discussing isostasy in terms of mineral density, triple junctions (e.g. Red Sea region), and the boundaries of the plates. He just didn't have enough evidence (no fault of his own, it just wasn't available) to cause a major paradigm shift (ala Kuhn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions); instead, he laid some of the groundwork for future acceptance. The hypothesis was not dismissed out of hand or completely; instead, it was batted around with varying levels of interest until the 1950s, as evidenced by scholarly citations of his various pertinent articles and books. Scientists are typically occupationally conservative and require a preponderance of strong evidence to advance a hypothesis (Continental Drift) to a theory (Plate Tectonics); that Wegener was working out of his primary field of meteorology didn't help either. If Wegener had known about seafloor spreading, I think things would have turned out differently, but that had to wait for Harry Hess and his USN sonar.

  20. All you need on Ask Slashdot. Best Online Science Course? · · Score: 1
  21. History on World's Subways Share Common Mathematical Structure · · Score: 1

    In my experience subways *pretty much* mirror the overlying infrastructure. They could have as easily studied the layout of streets, population densities, and zoning (industrial/commercial). You need one central location for maintenance. It really isn't rocket science.

  22. Re:Reminds me about LA's nuclear reactor on Kodak Basement Lab Housed Small Nuclear Reactor · · Score: 1

    University of Florida still has one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UF_Training_Reactor.

  23. Re:Don't do this! on Ask Slashdot: How To Secure My Life-In-A-Briefcase? · · Score: 1

    That won't work if Pirates are stealing the briefcase...

  24. Re:Of course. on TSA Defends Pat Down of 4-Year-Old Girl · · Score: 1

    They aren't actually armed as they are not, in fact, law enforcement officers. That's why you still have *real* law enforcement (aka police) at the airport. All these TSA types can do is call the real cops if there's a problem. A Brink's driver or a Pinkerton detective have more training and authority than TSA.

  25. Re:Ouch too bad on Microsoft Passed On iPhone-Like Device In 1991 · · Score: 2

    Gene Roddenberry thought of that stuff in 1964.