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User: Zorpheus

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  1. Any info on the original court case? on No, You Can't Seize Country TLDs, US Court Rules · · Score: 1

    North Korea and Syria sponsor terrorism? Never heard of that accusation, who do they support? And who was suing them? This could only be done by someone who was damaged, right?

  2. Re:Correlation and Causation on Study: Body Weight Heavily Influenced By Heritable Gut Microbes · · Score: 1

    Let me tell you about an experience that I had over the last year.
    I like lentil soup, but did not have much over a few years. Last year I found a good offer, and ate quite much of it. This was fine for several meals. Well, the problem with lentils is that they contain some carbohydrates that are hard to digest, and certain gut bacteria feed on these and produce some gasses. So what happened is that when I ate lentil soup regularly the gas production became more and more. Even after taking a break for a month or two it still happened.
    So I think this indicates that eating the lentil soup changed the composition of my gut bacteria, making the ones that feed on these carbohydrates more common. Why should this not happen? Of course they multiply when they find more food that suits them but not the others..

  3. Re:Correlation and Causation on Study: Body Weight Heavily Influenced By Heritable Gut Microbes · · Score: 1

    Well, fat and sugar are taken up in the intestine so I assume that the bacteria see this. Also we have a high number of different microbes there, and I guess they only check the genome of the more common ones. The composition of the food should determine which ones are common and which ones are rare. But you are right, I should read this article ...

  4. Re:Correlation and Causation on Study: Body Weight Heavily Influenced By Heritable Gut Microbes · · Score: 1

    I think their statistics showed only correlation, I wonder how they concluded causation.

  5. Correlation and Causation on Study: Body Weight Heavily Influenced By Heritable Gut Microbes · · Score: 1

    So they found certain microbes in the guts of people who are overweight.
    How do they conclude that the microbes cause the people to be overweight? I would assume that it is the other way around. The composition of microbes is determined by the "diet" of the people, if they take up too much fat and carbon certain microbes will grow in their guts.

  6. Re:Specialization is for insects on There's No Such Thing As a General-Purpose Processor · · Score: 1

    The current "general purpose" processors are also specialised though, for example for algorithms with a low number of threads. A processor with the combination of several specialised cores is less specialised, since it is good at everything.

  7. Re:They're probably correct on Too Many Kids Quit Science Because They Don't Think They're Smart · · Score: 1

    That sucks. I just meant that it should only count how good you are in the end. I am sure you are as good as the others in your topic, and probably better and handling difficulties.
    Where I studied the rule was that the final mark is determined by the final (oral) exams. Though in reality the examiners looked at the marks of each course and let that go into the mark, so everything still counted. But it was a bit up to them what they made out of this.

  8. Re:They're probably correct on Too Many Kids Quit Science Because They Don't Think They're Smart · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What counts is what capabilities you have in the end. Why should it matter how you performed in first year? Someone who is behind in the beginning but catches up is probably better than someone who already knew half of the topic because his parents helped him before.

  9. Re:Confused Reporter on SpaceShipTwo's Rocket Engine Did Not Cause Fatal Crash · · Score: 1

    I am wondering if anything holds the mechanism in place if it is unlocked. Otherwise the aerodynamic forces should deploy the mechanism if they try to pull the ship up.

  10. Re:This is related on Ebola Forecast: Scientists Release Updated Projections and Tracking Maps · · Score: 1

    I fully agree with you. Well, I don't know what the current state of science is, but from these few cases it seems that they are not starting to be infectious when the first fever starts, but when they are in a quite late state of the disease. So it is probably easy to contain people in time, unless you don't have enough hospitals and education as in some 3rd world countries.

  11. Re:This is related on Ebola Forecast: Scientists Release Updated Projections and Tracking Maps · · Score: 1

    I meant "if" not "when" of course

  12. Re:This is related on Ebola Forecast: Scientists Release Updated Projections and Tracking Maps · · Score: 1

    Whether or not they are at risk of transmitting Ebola "right now" is not the question. It is whether they are at risk of transmitting Ebola in the future.

    I think the question is if she will be contained in time when she starts showing symptoms.

  13. Re:Are they saying... on Europol Predicts First Online Murder By End of This Year · · Score: 1

    Oh, I just meant the steering. Probably it is the same for brakes, also not sure about the rules for accelerator. But as long as you can disconnect the engine with the shift or clutch it can't get too bad anyway. Unless you forgot what you learned in your driving lessons.

  14. Re:Are they saying... on Europol Predicts First Online Murder By End of This Year · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't know about other countries, but in Germany drive-by-wire is not allowed. This became law long ago because they were worried about an electronic failure, not hacking. Though hacking also is a type of electronic failure, so it is actually widely covered by that approach.

  15. Re:Uses blackbody emission on MIT Study Outlines a 'Perfect' Solar Cell · · Score: 2

    Interesting concept. I think it should also be compared to a conventional heat engine which is driving a generator. Though this device is surely better for small power plants.

  16. Re:Really? on Utilities Should Worry; Rooftop Solar Could Soon Cut Their Profit · · Score: 5, Informative

    But this is due to the laws. The network companies in Germany have to take all solar power. They have to pay a fixed price. The losses they make from this are covered by an extra fee paid by consumers.
    All other (non-renewable) power plants have to compete for the rest of the market, and this is shrinking due to the strong growth of solar and wind power. That is why coal power plants are shut down, and why gas power plants are barely running.

  17. Re:This won't amount to anything... on Scientists Twist Radio Beams To Send Data At 32 Gigabits Per Second · · Score: 2

    I would think that MIMO can do quite a lot in a stationary environment, though it is useless if the environment changes significantly, especially if sender or receiver is moving. A polarization scheme may be imune to that. What do you think?

  18. Re:Parallax. on Apple Edits iPhone 6's Protruding Camera Out of Official Photos · · Score: 1

    Ok, let's estimate this.
    The display is not visible, so lets assume that the light goes parallel to the display. Lets also assume that it is 60mm from the side of the phone to the lens.
    When drawing this in a sketch there are two triangles with identical angles. One is along the phone with two sides given as 1mm and 60mm. In the other one side is the phone thickness of 6.9mm, and the other is the distance between phone and camera.
    Simply calculating the ratios gives a maximum camera distance of 60*6.9/1 = 414mm = 41cm.
    Sounds reasonable.

  19. Re:Quite accurately? on Universal Big Bang Lithium Deficit Confirmed · · Score: 1

    The models we are talking about is the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. It accurately calculates the abundance of the other light elements.

  20. Re:Like DRM? on Could Tech Have Stopped ISIS From Using Our Own Heavy Weapons Against Us? · · Score: 1

    Or just require a certain code. Encrypting it with a OTP does not change the security, it is only good if you need to transmit data. Only the length of the code is important.

  21. Re:Molten piece of crystalline rock with ionic bon on Why Hasn't This Asteroid Disintegrated? · · Score: 1

    I would conclude that this was part of a larger body. It is a solid rock because it was molten at some point in its history. Probably resulted from a larger collision.

  22. Re:Why do scientists falsify? Or how can they? on Japanese Stem Cell Debacle Could Bring Down Entire Center · · Score: 1

    Yeah, you can get some money for more research, and another temporary contract.

  23. Re:On behalf of all network specialists, on Latin America Exhausts IPv4 Addresses · · Score: 1

    Isn't the problem that only people without an IPv4 address will have problems? If they can not access large parts of the internet, and they are a small minority, it will be up to them to find a solution.

  24. Re:Science Writers: Stop Causing Us Intellectual P on Strange New World Discovered: The "Mega Earth" · · Score: 1

    Funny that we have exactly the same in German. The conclusion from the logical meaning is 3.3, but no one uses it this way. People who value the logical meaning say 2.3 times as large, they just would not use it, and the others use it the way that it is commonly used, although it is illogical.

  25. Re:Simple on As NASA Seeks Next Mission, Russia Holds the Trump Card · · Score: 1

    What I meant is: if the USA would start capturing Chinese spying satellites China would probably retaliate by destroying one or more American satellites. Currently the USA has an advantage due to a higher number and quality of satellites in orbit, if it starts to attack satellites it will lose this advantage due to the counterreactions.
    The Chinese method is simple and produces lots of debris in orbit. If this is done a few times orbits will become unusable because the danger of collisions becomes too high. The USA can not use this method since it will block itself with it, but for China it is ok, especially as a counter-threat.