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User: TheSkepticalOptimist

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  1. Pfft. Security books. on Book Review: Latest Two Books By Peter Loshin · · Score: 1

    We all know the NSA is publishing these books so we build back-doors into our products without even realizing it.

  2. Re:At the rate they are going..... on Apple Now the World's Most Valuable Brand, Knocks Off Coca-Cola · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'd love to run a company with "distant" second numbers like this:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups

    Why don't people just Wiki something first.

  3. Re:This solves nothing on Producing Gasoline With Metabolically-Engineered Microorganisms · · Score: 5, Insightful

    yeah, another ignorant green reaction.

    First, Fossil Fuel is what comes from the ground after millions of years of biological decay. Nothing today will create "fossil" fuel.

    Second, taking CO2 that we have released into the atmosphere and turning it back into hydrocarbon fuel will close the loop so that things will at least not get worse. It might not do a lot to remove 100+ years of excessive burning of fossil fuels, but at least will help to reach a balance where we might be able to remove as much CO2 as we put into the air from burning fuels moving forward. If we reach a balance like that, then nature can do the rest to remove the excessive CO2.

    Abandoning hydrocarbons is not a solution. Hydrocarbons are a highly concentrated and relatively easy to transport and store form of energy and ALL other forms of energy production are a lot less efficient in the long run to create the energy we need. That isn't going to change, ever. I would even suggest that being able to hook in solar or wind energy and having them produce hydrocarbons using some process is better than simply abandoning burning "fuel" and relying solely on something that only makes energy when the sun shines or the wind blows.

    A system to create a closed cycle where CO2 is released but then pulled back to create fuel is what our civilization needs, not an ignorant reactionary myopic solution like "fossil fuel is bad" so ride a bike bullshit.

  4. Re:Hmmm... on Producing Gasoline With Metabolically-Engineered Microorganisms · · Score: 1

    Creating a closed system where the CO2 released is also then consumed by some process to turn it back into fuel. This is what is missing now.

    Our problem is not that we burn fuel and create CO2, it's that we have ignored the responsibility to take released CO2 and turn it back into fuel with a process that might actually work.

  5. Meanwhile on Saudi Cleric Pummeled On Twitter For Claiming Driving Damages Women's Ovaries · · Score: 2, Informative

    The Pope says stupid shit all the time and is lauded for it.

    Actually I would have to say this current Pope is a little more forward thinking, he is choosing to ignore the issues rather than outright dismissing them based on 2000 year old dogma. Given another 2000 years a Pope might finally say something intelligent and original based on current science and facts.

  6. Re:France have the 3-strikes-you're-out-policy on Google May Face Fine Under EU Privacy Laws · · Score: 2

    yes, I agree, the French would run out on the 3rd strike.

  7. Re:Wonder the accuracy rate on How Your Smartphone Can Spy On What You Type · · Score: 1

    It's because tin-foil hat wearing reactions to potential privacy issues are trending high on Slashdot these days.

  8. Re:Wonder the accuracy rate on How Your Smartphone Can Spy On What You Type · · Score: 1

    Please don't confuse the idiot masses with facts, all they care about now is that your phone can track your keyboard presses and will cry outrage about privacy rights and link it to NSA conspiracies while they never for once think about turning off their phone, or just getting rid of the phone, or changing anything that might affect their behavior or basic common sense.

  9. Re:If this works out on What Valve's Announcements Mean for Gaming · · Score: 1

    Yes, a Linux game console will kill PS4 and Xbox the way Linux killed Wintel boxes. (rolls eyes).

  10. Re:Poignant on Everything You Needed To Know About the Internet In May, 1994 · · Score: 0

    Lol, maybe they should re-issue that manual.

    Ah, 1994 at time before the Idiot Elite took over, when nerds were the technological kings and the Luddites shunned everything electronic.

  11. Re:So as a Canadian Taxpayer... on SpaceX Falcon 9 Blasts Off From California · · Score: 1

    63 million all to study "space weather".

    5 minutes into mission, someone at the Canadian Space Agency just lit up a cigarette and exclaimed "Mon Dieu, der is no weder in space eh, zut alors!".

  12. LHC@Home on 3mm Inexpensive Chip Revolutionizes Electron Accelerators · · Score: 1, Funny

    Why spend 8 billion Euro on something that will be in every kid's room in 5 years? I fully expect "My First Large Hadron Collider" from Fisher Price in a few years so that kids can make their own micro-singularities and find out how meaningless the "God Particle" actually is for themselves.

  13. Re:Job security on How Early Should Kids Learn To Code? · · Score: 1

    Lol, not sure why you are marked down, but I agree. I don't want some young whippersnapper to come in and out-program me with a K-12 education either.

    The moment I can't program better than a 5th grader is the moment I start finding Jeff Foxworthy hilarious and watch reality TV exclusively.

  14. Re:Lunar clocks? on Scientists Describe Internal Clocks That Don't Follow Day and Night Cycles · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately one could suggest that sleeping after lunch doesn't do much to improve the economy of a country.

  15. Yes on Water Discovery Is Good News For Mars Colonists · · Score: 2

    Because finding water on Mars was their greatest challenge.

  16. C++ still amazes on The Most WTF-y Programming Languages · · Score: 1

    I don't consider C++ code itself to be confusing or poor, but I think there can be significantly more done to modernize the language, including it's IDE and compilers to remove the contrivances of headers, slow compile and retarded linkage. Considering that large C++ projects could still take hours to compile on over-spec'd monster boxes, compared to modern languages that takes only a few seconds to compile on a far leaner machine, it is obvious C++ needs some serious overhaul at its core.

  17. Still sucks on VLC Reaches 2.1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I mean ok, yes, it plays everything under the sun. But not very well.

    For something as widely popular and prolific as VLC, I simply don't understand why its not the pre-eminent media player that rivals anything on the market...without any compromise. The UI of VLC sucks, still, especially tablet incarnations of it, and while it might load a video, often the video craps out even though it plays perfectly fine on other dreaded "closed source" media players. Simply being able to load a video format is not "support" of that video format, it should play flawlessly and have all the capabilities to track throughout the movie with having it hang for several minutes. Its the 21st century, I shouldn't have to wait for video to load regardless of what format it is.

    VLC is the prime example debunking the myth that open source software is better because its community developed. If the community actually invested more effort into improving VLC code rather than just lauding its superiority then VLC would actually be the best media player on the market.

  18. not a big issue on Bill Gates Acknowledges Ctrl+Alt+Del Was a Mistake · · Score: 1

    I mean considering some of the ridiculous key-combos required on a Mac over the years both before and during OS startup, I bless Microsoft for only requiring 3 fingers to get things moving.

    I think at one time I had to use both hands and my tongue in order to get my Mac out of a retarded state, and it didn't even thank me afterwards.

  19. Psst on BBC Thinking of Canceling Sky At Night · · Score: 1

    Nobody cares.

  20. About time on Scientists Build Computer Using Carbon Nanotubes · · Score: 1

    Surely this is the year of the "Inanimate carbon rod", as predicted by the great prophet Homer.

  21. Stupid politicians on UK MPs: Google Blocks Child Abuse Images, It Should Block Piracy Too · · Score: 1

    I mean really, searching for Images through a Google webpage is why Google can block child porn.

    Torrenting has nothing to do with Google.

    Do these politicians really believe Google is the main server of the Internet?

    I will agree that Google could stop search results for prolific torrent sites, but seriously, people who pirate are not starting their day searching for content on Google.

  22. Good, lets start the ball rolling on Popular Science Is Getting Rid of Comments · · Score: 1

    I mean yes, sites like Slashdot allow us trollers a place to vent our frustration, flaunt our myopic views, point out grammar errors, and exercise our sarcasm detectors, it's the whole point of Slashdot after all.

    But I mean not EVERY website has to be social.

    It has gotten very ridiculous that at the end of every online news story there is more than a dozen stupid little icons asking people to like this or plus that or follow up or whatever. And then posted after those icons is some of the most inane commentary found on the planet.

    I mean, don't get me wrong, Slashdot has some real doozies when it comes to trollers and posters, but have you actually read commentary from people that are not typically involved in posting online? I mean go to your local newspaper (I mean local, not the NY Times or some big national rag, but like the Podunk Kronical or something). Read some of the commentary there.

    I mean the troll wars people go into over a story about Firefighters rescuing some old woman's cat or other such nonsense, endless rants about wasting tax money on a bastard moggie and not a proper breed.

    Ultimately I think Slashdot got it right, let people PULL a story onto it and open it up for discussion and moderate and rank them according to interest rather than the Podunk Kronical just slapping social network badging and a discussion board at the end of all website content.

    So I'm glad to see Pop Sci woke up and got rid of a useless remnants of social networking 1.0. Considering that many people are getting their news through aggregation services like Flipboard or Google+ or even Slashdot, it doesn't make sense for the original sites to maintain their own comment board.

  23. Re:Proprietary on top of linux = no control for us on Valve Announces Hardware Beta Test For 'Steam Machine' · · Score: 1

    Why would you even be concerned about this?

    First, who the fuck are you? Ain't nobody got time to waste spying on you. I can honestly say that there is nothing going on in your life that anybody needs to worry or care about.

    Second, its a game console. What are they really going to gleen by tapping into your gaming habits, are they going to figure out you need to be pushed more viagra ads?

    Also yes, it's not something you control, its a game console. If you want control, buy a fucking shoebox and stuff it full of the hardware you want to use, end of story. Not everything has to be open. You're just bitching because you can't cheap out with a ~$400 console and make it into something you want it to be that would otherwise cost you more money.

    Lastly, what is the alternative? If you are really afraid of "spying" then stay off the Internet and go back to gaming on the NES.

  24. Re:Stupid People on Apple Maps Flaw Sends Drivers Across Airport Runway · · Score: 1

    The only problem is that stupid people might also take out the smart people on the plane.

  25. Not a Maps flaw on Apple Maps Flaw Sends Drivers Across Airport Runway · · Score: 2

    It's a user flaw.

    I never understood how someone could just blindly follow GPS directions and enter what is most likely very well marked security area, or even just use common sense and NOT drive onto a runway. Also mind boggling is the idea of driving into a river or lake.