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User: MrFebtober

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  1. Re:Not good..... on Drugs Eradicate the Need For Sleep · · Score: 1

    I believe we, and other primates, are among the very few mammals that have color vision. It has been theorized that social behavior in primates has favored color vision over time because of the importance of judging moods in others-- when faces flush with anger or pale from depression or illness. This is also thought to be why many primates do not have hair on their faces.

    Social behavior can be a very powerful tool in evolution. It could be that because color vision became so important to our ancestors that in the process we gave up a lot of night vision capabilities and therefore gave up on being nocturnal. Another idea might be that night time, itself, was making social/facial communication too difficult for primates and so they evolved to be awake during the day instead. Then, good color vision began to be favored over mono-chrome nightvision do to the advantages of being able to tell good leaves from bad leaves, ripe fruit from unripe fruit, etc. Humans have a fantastic ability differentiating shades of green. that is no accident.

  2. Re:Invention of Beer lead to this? on Did Humans Get Their Big Brains From Neanderthals? · · Score: 1

    A cudgel was more traditional, according to Gary Larson anyway.

  3. I knew this day would come on MPAA Ignores Usenet, Goes After Bittorrent · · Score: 1

    I've been wondering for quite a while why mpaa has never bothered about bittorrent. Then youtube came around and I just assume that the mpaa would be trying to dig its talons into that, instead. Guess I was wrong.

  4. neomage86 wins! on Top Ten Geek Wallets · · Score: 1

    Wow, after looking at that "Wallet 2.0," I must concurr. You have identified the geekiest wallet ever produced. It's a mini-frickin' file system for your pocket!! I'm dumbfounded that someone even conceived the idea of a tabbed, file-system wallet.

  5. Re:Nano in my pocket? on Top Ten Geek Wallets · · Score: 1

    That was my first thought as well, but then with "CEO" in the name of the wallet my imagination led me to believe this wallet is for business men who tend to keep their wallet in the breast pocket of their suit jacket or sport coat.

  6. Re:Dear Congress on House Approves Warrantless Wiretapping · · Score: 1
    They have found an issue which scares enough Americans that they can abandon some of their other traditionally 'conservative' agenda items like the ones you mention.

    If terrorism is their excuse for this abandonment, then what is the real reason? What does congress gain by hacking away at our personal freedoms if fighting "terra'" is just a scare/control tactic? This is not meant to be rhetorical, I'm asking you.

    /not trying to defend congress' actions, just can't understand their true motivation, and don't tell me it's to get re-elected, because they could come up with less controversial ways to do that, such as increased military spending and just saying you're doing all you can and that you want to win the "war on terror."
  7. gasoline? on Power Suit Promises Super-Human Strength · · Score: 1
    Now if we could only improve that 30 minute battery...

    Somehow I envision the next generation of foot soldiers wearing these suits, only they'll be powered by what is currently about the most efficient energy medium (by weight and volume, iirc).
    "In the future, our soldiers will be gas-powered!"
  8. Re:Tsunami with a shower curtain... on Group Fights Politicizing Science and Engineering · · Score: 1

    It does seem really easy to lose faith in humanity these days, as you seem to have. I do also, sometimes. However, I believe human ignorance almost seems to be cyclical. Just the same way people come out attacking evolution every half century or so, it seems science in general gains and loses popularity throughout history, as does tolerance. Were i more of a historian or someone good with dates I'd be able to back this up, but I think we're at a low point in the cycle right now.

  9. an alternate "theory" on Face on Mars Gets a Make-Over · · Score: 1
    the fake earth having been used to show tv images of a round earth instead of the actual flat one
    Or perhaps they just used a fish-eye lens to take high altitude pictures of our very flat Earth! Yeah, that MUST be what they did!
  10. Re:much worse than I feared on Fish Work as Anti-terror Agents · · Score: 1

    I just know there was an Onion article about the moral implications of sex changing sealife, but I couldn't find it in the archives.

  11. they are no better... on California Sues Automakers for Global Warming · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...than PETA, it would seem. I lost respect for PETA long ago because of their shenanigans and now I think I'm feeling the same way about the Sierra Club.

  12. Re:Speaks volumes he wants to become a lawyer on University of Virginia Student Graduates in One Year · · Score: 1

    I disagree. I think the USPTO needs more lawyers like this guy. Why wouldn't it be considered valuable to have a very bright engineer reviewing and comparing patents, using all that intellect to help sort out the BS patents from ideas and products that are actually worthy of recognition? If I had invented something new and applied for a patent, I would want the brightest, most technically educated patent lawyer working on my idea.

    To restate, I believe it is the lack of technically competent patent lawyers that are the problem with IP law these days.

  13. Re:The punchline on University of Virginia Student Graduates in One Year · · Score: 1

    meh, I bet he ends up writing for the 2008 season of Futurama.

  14. Re:Vinyl was already immortal... on Analog Revival Means Vinyl Will Outlive CD · · Score: 1

    heck, I don't even need to do that. CDs and DVDs alike pop out of my home player like in was a toaster; nice and warm. I never have determined if it was the laser doing the warming or just all the power supply and processor heat that was heating my media like meals.

  15. thanks for that on Paypal Co-Founder Backs Anti-Aging Research Prize · · Score: 2, Funny
    She could live to be 1,000, but unless she's fertile and breeding...
    Thanks for that early-morning visual of a 1,000-year-old woman breeding. No, wait, wait, I fixed it: She's an elf isn't she?

    There, that's better.
  16. that'll just require a good filter, like a HDD... on Engine On a Chip May Beat the Battery · · Score: 1

    ...only much bigger since it will actually be moving significant amounts of air through it. I would imagine changing an intake air filter on one of these things could require use a clean room, but nonetheless, a very fine filter system would be in order. This would mean that efficiency would drop over time as dirt built up at the intake.

  17. less worry about radiation on a planet? on NASA Testing Linux-Based Exploration Robots · · Score: 1

    I was always under the impression that any probes/landers had to use "rad-hardened" processors to deal with the solar radiation in space. Is this less of a concern for rovers and the like since they could be adequately shielded until entering the atmosphere of another planet/moon? Meanwhile, get a load of the wacky space Centaur!: http://www.linuxdevices.com/files/misc/nasa_drats_ centaur.jpg

  18. Re:Another expensive Christmas on Apple Announces iTunes 7, Movies, Set-Top Box · · Score: 1

    A cheaper route would be to buy some masking tape and some pretty blue paint and "customize" her existing ipod, presuming she already has one that's functional. Try Pep Boys for finding a nice metallic fleck paint. ;-)

  19. Re:yep on Radio Shack E-Fires 400 Workers · · Score: 1

    Ha Ha, fax!? That's hilari...er..uh...cremated? Is one of those sentences a punchline?

  20. Re:Darwin never said that on Single-Celled Species' Genome As Complex As Ours? · · Score: 1

    Well put. Also, the "ignorant crowd of relious nutters" really don't like hearing that biologically, we still are apes. Great apes to be more specific: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_ape

  21. Darwin never said that on Single-Celled Species' Genome As Complex As Ours? · · Score: 5, Informative
    Darwin had the nerve to say that we are descendents of monkeys.

    I feel it's worth pointing out that no where in the Origin of Species does Darwin discuss human/great ape/primate evolution. I'm not even certain he used the word "evolution", but don't quote me on that. Also, no true evolutionary biologist has ever said that humans descended from monkeys. It's that whole common ancestor thing. Lot's of branches, not straight line.
  22. Re:Your dad wants vista on Windows Vista Prices and Release Date Leaked · · Score: 1

    I hadn't intended to make me sound like some OS snob. I use windows exclusively, myself, and i'm happy enough with XP to not bother upgrading to vista. however, if I was in the market for a new machine, perhaps I would also wait for vista to come to market and get the OEM version. also, thanks to those who corrected me on the 64-bit issue, I didn't know there was a 64-bit xp. See, i'm definitely not an OS snob! ;-)

  23. Your dad wants vista on Windows Vista Prices and Release Date Leaked · · Score: 1

    Well, actually I just know my dad wants Vista. But I think my dad represents a model microsoft user. He's very computer literate when it comes to MS and Mac applications, but he's no programmer. He buys and registers all of his software. He uses his achingly slow pc for business and photo editing. Working with 8MP RAW image files in PS on his 400MHz machine has been a huge pain but he is insistant on holding out for Vista before getting a new machine. I think there are a lot of people (dads, mostly) who are waiting patiently for Vista, even though they've pretty much been in need of a new machine for quite a while already. It may not be just the new features, but it's just assumed that the newer windows will be the better windows.

    isn't there also something about 64-bit processing? DOn't recall them offering that with XP. I didn't look it up though, so I might be mistaken.

  24. Re:I haven't seen it yet. on Snakes on The Net Fail to Put Butts in the Seats · · Score: 1
    Do I really want to pay for a campy movie that I'll be able to rent for $2 when it hits DVD in a few months?

    No, well, not any more. As mentioned elsewhere in the thread, the best experience you can have with this movie is opening night with a crowd of people there to enjoy and laugh at the sheer campy-ness of it. Wait for the DVD and gather a bunch of friends to watch it with.

    I saw it opening night with about 8 friends. Maybe it had something to do with getting loaded at the bar beforehand, but I thought it was great! Best analogy I've come up with: SoaP is to action movies what Evil Dead II is to horror movies.
  25. Re:Origin of moon? on Closer to Deducing the Origin of the Moon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    most who think that certainly wouldn't react the way you did.