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User: RichMan

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  1. Re:So more enthalpy=more life? on A Thermodynamics Theory of the Origins of Life · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think this is specifically water based, or at least where things can be water like.
    With water you get a scum boundary. Thermically there will be pressure to move the heat through the scum boundary. Which will generally be less thermally conductive. This will promote chemical processes that move the heat through the boundary.

    The scum boundary becomes cell membranes and the chemical processes then become cellular mechnisims that seek their own energy input (feed on available chemically stored energy).

  2. How about applying copyright to corporations? on Cameron's IP Advisor: Throw Persistent Copyright Infringers In Jail · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It seems to me when politicians or corporations misuse a photo or song they get off with a "opps". Yet they want to throw people in jail.
    Step #1 should be much steeper penalties to corporations and other functioning entities that should have proper procedures in place to avoid violations.

  3. If the ads win, I drop the site on Ask Slashdot: Are AdBlock's Days Numbered? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The people that are using ad-blockers are stating "I am annoyed by adds". These people seem to think it is a good idea to show the people that have flagged themselves as getting annoyed by ads more ads. That seems really really dumb.

    These people should be careful what they wish for. There are many, many sites out there for people to browse on. Annoy a "customer" to much and it is very easy for them to go elsewhere.

  4. Education!! on Why Standard Deviation Should Be Retired From Scientific Use · · Score: 2

    There is a great difference between a mean value and an RMS value. Scientific people can work with the appropriate version so I don't see a problem with using the correct one for the correct occasion. And certainly science should stay with the correct term as appropriate.

    What I believe the person is calling for here is the most appropriate use when communicating to the non-scientific person. This is an education issue in that the communication really should not use either term as a shorthand but should explain in full the effect of the distribution. Science uses mean and standard deviation (often also requiring a named distribution) because they are shorthands that describe the random behavior and have full meaning without any other explanation needed. So I say use neither term when communicating to the non-scientific as they do not fulfill the communication role to which they are intended.

    What I believe should actually be done is proper education of all so that they understand the differences between various random distributions and move totally away from a "it is cold today, so global climate change based on heating must be a lie".

  5. these guys pushed the 4 digit pin on Mobile Banking Apps For iOS Woefully Insecure · · Score: 5, Funny

    The banking people made the glory of the 4 digit decimal PIN authentication a universal standard.
    I am sure they know all about very secure systems and the public domain.

  6. Does that mean my insurance pays for phone? on The First Prescription-Only App · · Score: 0

    I don't have a smart phone.
    Does this mean if I get perscribed an app my insurance will pay for the smart phone so I can get the perscription filled?

  7. Re:really? on The UK's Internet Porn Filter and Fighting Censorship Creep · · Score: 1

    You should actually say that to the politician to get results not the anonymous phone support person

  8. last days of broadcast tv on ABC Kills Next-Day Streaming For Non-Subscribers · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is move is going to lose me as a viewer, not push me to subscribe to cable.

    I have netflix. I get TV over the air. This sort of access was the only way for me to watch current shows other than at their prescribe transmission time. Other networks have made it "enter your cable bill number" to access this content as well.
    I guess they don't want me, and those like me, to watch their shows at all.

    I am certainly not going to subscribe to overpriced pile of crap that is basic cable. I grant you can get some good stuff by going specialty cable, but that is even more $$ on top of basic. I am almost never home at the right time to watch it "live" over the air. So count me and countless others like me off the viewship list. This is move is going to lose me as a viewer, not push me to subscribe to cable.

    Bu-bye.

  9. Re:Doesn't sound very stable... on Enormous Tunneling Machine 'Bertha' Blocked By 'The Object' · · Score: 5, Informative

    The machine puts up tunnel walls as it goes.
    http://gizmodo.com/big-bertha-is-digging-seattles-massive-underground-fre-662469199
    Concrete panels go in right behind the bore head. Infront of the maw is ground below the water table. The bore head forms a seal and the tunnel behind the bore head is pumped dry of water that leaks through.

  10. Accessory before the fact on Proposed California Law Would Mandate Smartphone Kill Switch · · Score: -1, Troll

    Current manufactures should be charged as accessories before the fact for all cell phone thefts and any personal assaults related to that for not enabling this feature a long time ago.

  11. NSA etc on CryptoLocker Gang Earns $30 Million In Just 100 Days · · Score: 2

    Where are the vaunted security agencies in providing protection for citizens? Should not the government have a hand in protecting its citizens?

  12. Re:No slashdot article can be complete... on Coldest Spot On Planet Earth Identified · · Score: 1

    Please exaplin "because all observable planets, besides earth, show the exact opposite happening" because as far as I can see Jupiter has one heck of a violent storm problem.

    The center of the planet is molten. Space is cold. Air temperature is primarly affected by 1) solar input from ground heat and 2) radiative loss to space at altitude. More ground warming means more air rising, which means more cold air falling somewhere else. Making one spot hot is going to push more air up at that point, to balance that more cold air is going to "fall" somewhere else. One dynamic is that land cools quicker than water so we get arctic outflows. The world could get warmer and north america get colder due to all the cold air getting dumped on NA which is ideally shapped for north south air circulation.

  13. When is the Kickstarter T-Rex project ? on 3D-Printed Dinosaur Bones "Like Gutenberg's Printing Press" For Paleontologists · · Score: 1

    Scaled from 3-D scans of real T-Rex bones. Own your own T-Rex skeleton -

    1' high $20
    3' high $100
    12' high $500
    life size assemble yourself $2000

  14. Re:How hard can that possibly be? on A Math Test That's Rotten To the Common Core · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There do not appear to be any coins in the cup. It appears to be full of liquid with the internal liquid level line.
    There is a number 6 under the cup, it does not say 6 coins. Why would there be coins in cap anyways? You put liquid in cup.

    "Find the missing part?" is a bad question. If anything it should ask about coins, not parts.
    There are no parts missing all the coins are whole so is the cup.

    The whole thing is not clear and misleading.

    You are assuming the question is asking about the sum of coins. That is not indicated by the question.
    Having to make assumptions about a question is very very wrong when it is not a written test where one can explain the assumptions one has to add to a question.

  15. Life In Alberta on Scientists Say Climate Change Is Damaging Iowa Agriculture · · Score: 2

    http://albertaventure.com/2013/06/albertas-farmers-adapt-to-climate-change/

    “It’s jokingly been said by some people that we’ll eventually become the grape producers of America.”

    The Good:
    One of the ways this is measured is through the boundary for corn heat units, which measures where corn can be grown in the province. The northern boundary for these units has moved up a couple hundred kilometres since the 1910s, and it’s advanced about 50 kilometres since the 1940s.

    The Bad:
    His county was flooded four years ago, but he didn’t get any rain at all in July or August of 2012. “You can go from one wet year to extremely dry with no gradual buildup. Basically you just get hit with it and you have to survive it,” he says. “Nothing is consistent anymore. You think you have things figured out and then it throws a loop at you to say to you, ‘No, you don’t.’

    Follow The Money:
    agriculture-oriented investment funds have taken an increased interest in Canadian farmland?

  16. "incredibly low" on No, the Earth (almost Certainly) Won't Be Hit By an Asteroid In 2032 · · Score: 1

    99.99998% of a miss.
    0.9999998 ^ 100,000 = 0.980 -> 2% chance of at least 1 hit with 100,000 such events
    Or approx 3.5 million such events for a 50% chance of at least 1 hit

    Next questions are
    a) how often do such events occur ?
    b) how long since the last such event ?

  17. Re:ISOhunt had 5-6 million dollars?!? on IsoHunt Settles With MPAA, Will Shut Down And Pay Up to $110 Million · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ISOhunt provided the index. From the index they made a profit.

    The "Yellow Pages" is a profitable form for finding things. The makers of the yellow pages make money, yet they provide none of the services they index.

  18. What are you doing? on Ask Slashdot: Best Language To Learn For Scientific Computing? · · Score: 3, Informative

    What do you mean by scientific computing?

    Modelling: Hard core finite element simulations or the like. Then C or Fortran and you will be linking with the math libraries.
    Log Processing: A lot of other stuff you will be parsing data logs and doing statistics. So perl or python then octive.
    Data Mining: Python or other SQL front end.

  19. Re:What can a home server be used for on Google Fiber Partially Reverses Server Ban · · Score: 1

    My point is that the internet is more than a replacement for Cable TV. It can be so much more if we use it for all that it can do. And the ISP's are limiting the ability to expand the functionality of the internet by limiting its uses which means business are not going to start up supporting the other functions.

  20. What can a home server be used for on Google Fiber Partially Reverses Server Ban · · Score: 1

    These are all potential applications that could be enabled by Home Server Applications. These require good security. But "Why can't we make secure apps?". And yes you can do all this now. It is just not as easy as it could be.

    a) Why can't I have my own "facebook" Why do my pictures have to be uploaded to a webserver with dubious terms of use that are subject to modification at any time. My own server would allow access only to my friends and totally controll my content among that group.
    b) Google Drive, without the Google. Again why does it have to pass through a 3rd party
    c) Monitoring aging parents. Souped up home security server system (which itself is outlawed by the no server). Can I check the fridge. Have they taken medications ...
    d) run your own Game Server. New machines should easily be able to run 5-10 and even 40 player real time games. Again why do I need a 3rd party host.

    There are likely to be a host of others that become available. The issue is not security. The issue is "monetization" in that the home server removes the third part and "profit" from the loop.

  21. RANT: it's not internet access on Google Fiber Partially Reverses Server Ban · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Any provider that bans "servers" is not providing internet access. They are providing media consumption access. They should be forced to very clearly differentiate that as a type of service provided.

    Internet access is unconstainted IP packets. Both TCP and UDP and whatever other protocol you want.

  22. Re:Fire people on Alcatel-Lucent To Cut 10,000 Workers, Calls It "Shift Plan" · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You missed the important part

    As CEO collect outrageous bonus.

  23. patent on math on Personal Genomics Firm 23andMe Patents Designer Baby System · · Score: 0

    This is pretty much a patent on the math for matching between genome expressions. That is pretty much pure math which they have wrapped into an interface.

    The patent system continues to fail.

  24. Re:Sensitive Data comes in different types on Lavabit Case Unsealed: FBI Demands Companies Secretly Turn Over Crypto Keys · · Score: 1

    The more "people" who have the keys, the more likely they will get snagged by some source that should not have them.
    Also if the FBI has keys to BankA, BankB, BankC ..... The FBI becomes a very high value target. And human hacking can be a lot easier than electronic hacking to get things like that.

  25. Re:NOT News For Nerds on Pentagon Spent $5 Billion For Weapons On Day Before Shutdown · · Score: 5, Insightful

    a) nerds also follow politics
    b) a lot of nerds are employed from defense department money