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User: smaddox

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  1. Re:Stomp Feet on Verizon Posts Message In Morse Code To Mock FCC's Net Neutrality Ruling · · Score: 4, Informative

    (the oft discussed "fast lane" has yet to actually happen)

    I get about 5x lower bandwidth streaming movies from Amazon than from Netflix. I've stopped renting HD movies from Amazon because the buffering kills it. Netflix happens to have paid to AT&T (my ISP) to get preferred service [1].

    Hmm... That sounds an awful lot like a "fast lane" to me.

    [1] http://time.com/3059431/netfli...

  2. Re:What if you move your eyes on Smart Rendering For Virtual Reality · · Score: 1

    Which is why the current crop of displays won't last long, if VR really catches on. Magic Leap is already well on the way to developing consumer-level retinal displays. I'm pretty sure Oculus and Apple are working on their own; other companies likely are, as well. There are some significant challenges, particularly with making it economical, but nothing insurmountable. Advances in MEMS and fiber-coupled diode lasers will play a critical role. I expect to see consumer-ready, variable-focus retinal displays in ten years at the latest. The question in my mind, is whether the other peripherals will be able to match the level of immersion provided by the displays. Convincing haptics may end up being more difficult than direct neural interfaces; I hope that's not the case, though, because the latter seems to be quite far off.

    Of course then there's the question of how much society will be able to adapt to immersive VR. If the second or third generation consumes all the brightest minds, there will be no one left to develop the subsequent generation.

  3. Re:Whenever you want something other people have.. on The Burden of Intellectual Property Rights On Clean Energy Technologies · · Score: 1

    Your analogy has an issue: traditional drilling can only extract a small fraction ( 5%) of the oil from a field, and only from a specific, relatively rare type of field. The combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing makes extracting oil from shale (a porous but low permeability rock) both economical and extremely effective. I'm not a petroleum engineer, but my understanding is that the perfection of these techniques has started a revolution in oil and gas production, and that traditional oil reserve figures are now nearly meaningless.

  4. Re: Big Data on Will Submarines Soon Become As Obsolete As the Battleship? · · Score: 1

    Nuclear carriers are great for asymmetric warfare, but useless in a nuclear war. Nuclear subs are critical for mutually assured destruction.

    Disclaimer: I am not a military strategist.

  5. Re: We are your gravediggers, capitalists on Mood-Altering Wearable Thync Releases First Brain Test Data · · Score: 1

    You're conflating macro stability with micro stability. The former describes entire economies as a whole. The latter describes single entities or sectors. Maintaining macro stability in no way requires maintaining micro stability or the elimination of risk.

  6. Re: why? on Empirical Study On How C Devs Use Goto In Practice Says "Not Harmful" · · Score: 1

    Correction: break can't break out of two loops in many popular languages.

  7. Re:Landing Pad on SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches, Rocket Recovery Attempt Scrapped · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think this demonstrates that the disadvantages likely outweigh the advantages, on average. If launches require optimal weather in two distant locations, it's going to be a lot harder to get rockets off the pad. Once stage recovery is working, I suspect it will be a lot cheaper to increase the fuel by 15-30% than to scrap a sizable fraction of launches.

    Of course they don't necessarily have to pick one. They could default to using an ocean landing when weather in the atlantic is optimal (and thus load less fuel), or a land landing when weather in the atlantic is less ideal. Whether or not such a last-minute decision could realistic work is beyond my knowledge.

  8. Re:Attractive proposition on Quantum Equation Suggests Universe Had No Beginning · · Score: 1

    Yes, I've no problem with the universe not being measurable, but then, we're still in the dark about measurements anyway, as it's been proven that "red shift" has a lot more to do with the youthfullness of a star as opposed to it's motion (or lack of) through the universe.

    Uhh, no... it hasn't... The redshift is determined by the shift of spectral signatures such as the double sodium line. Only relativistic effects can cause such a shift.

  9. Re: What is a "cyberattack"? on Utah Cyberattacks, Up To 300 Million Per Day, May Be Aimed At NSA Facility · · Score: 1

    There is such a thing as a non-distributed denial of service attack. They're just not very effective.

  10. Re: Okay, so... on Woman Suffers Significant Weight Gain After Fecal Transplant · · Score: 2

    If he's drinking multiple non-diet sodas a day, he's practically guaranteed to be above a 2000 cal diet.

    This article is not science. A single uncontrolled data point is far from convincing. There appears to be some legitimate evidence from studies in mice that gut bacteria transplants can have an significant effect on weight (on phone so no ref), but it's not definitively proven.

    This particular case could be explained in a thousand other ways.

  11. Re: Here's a great idea... on DOT Warns of Dystopian Future For Transportation · · Score: 1

    In not an anthropologist, but my understanding is that almost everyone was either a farmer/rancher living on their farm/ranch, or a factory worker living in a slum.

  12. Re:Why is blowing up everything helpful? on Art Project Causes Atlanta Police To Close Highway and Call Bomb Squad · · Score: 1

    [citation needed]

    With how obsessed the media is with anything terrorism related, you think we would have actually heard of some of these supposed "one a day" IED attacks in the US. Or maybe IED attacks are far, far more rare than "suspicious items".

    It's difficult to blame the police officers and bomb squad for doing their job, but this is pretty good example of how broken the system is. I don't have a great solution to suggest other than STOP FREAKING OUT ABOUT TERRORISM! It's not a significant threat to your life if you live in the continental US. Yes, I know 9/11 and the Boston bombings are scary, but more people died in car accidents in the last two years on Texas roads than have died in the full history of the US due to terrorist acts in the continental US.

  13. Re: But wait, there is even more to it... on Science's Biggest Failure: Everything About Diet and Fitness · · Score: 1

    There have been some gut transplant studies in mice that demonstrate causation. It's pretty far out of my specialty, so I can't comment on their scientific merit, but there it is nonetheless.

  14. Re: Published but not released yet. on Lab Samples Database "JuliaBase" Published As Open Source · · Score: 1

    ...wouldn't trust...

  15. Re: Published but not released yet. on Lab Samples Database "JuliaBase" Published As Open Source · · Score: 1

    Neither would I. Then again, I would trust my data to any single point of failure. That's why I have copies scattered around.

  16. Re: cOOKING? rEALLY? on DARPA-Funded Robots Learning To Cook By Watching YouTube Videos · · Score: 1

    Last I read, they are targeting a price point of $20k for those robots. Considering they could probably replace 2 workers each, the payback time would be less than a year.

  17. Re: Not their fault on "Mammoth Snow Storm" Underwhelms · · Score: 1

    You got a good laugh out of me

  18. It's amazing... on Scientists Discover How To Track Natural Errors In DNA Replication · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's amazing that we're able to learn so much (regardless of how little it really is) about something so mind-bogglingly complicated. Biological processes make quantum mechanics look like child's play.

  19. Re:This test was a successful failure on SpaceX Landing Attempt Video Released · · Score: 1

    I'm guessing the on-board guidance computer prioritizes position over angle. Thus, when the fins stopped controlling the angle of descent, the engine compensated to hit the target position.

    Just a guess, though.

  20. Re:Wait a minute on SpaceX Landing Attempt Video Released · · Score: 2

    An open system is also a whole lot simpler. Weight is very important, but so is reliability. If a pump fails (keep in mind the extreme environment), you lose the stage. Increasing the reservoir size is much simpler and more reliable.

  21. Re: Sounds suspiciously like welfare. on Cryptocurrency Based Basic Income Program Started In Finland · · Score: 1

    Until they start, at which point maybe they become unstable and lose their wealth. Wealth doesn't rain down from heaven. Automation has reduced the amount of human effort required, but less is not zero.

  22. Re: It's a con... on Cryptocurrency Based Basic Income Program Started In Finland · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah, but don't tell the government that. They really like thinking they're in control.

  23. Re:Mars Needs Nothing on NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission May Not Actually Redirect an Asteroid · · Score: 1

    The month-long day/night cycle and low gravity are significant issues for long-term habitation of the Moon. There's also evidence now that Moon quakes regularly hit 5.5 Richters and last for 10 minutes. Mars presents plenty of challenges, but it's nowhere near as bad as the Moon.

  24. Re:Remote Admin Enabled by Default? on Lizard Stresser DDoS-for-Hire Service Built On Hacked Home Routers · · Score: 1

    But why is the router's diagnostic/config interface accessible from the WAN port? It seems rather obvious that only the LAN ports should have access to that.

    Now, if this is some kind of buffer overflow error induced by malformed packets, that is of course rather different.

  25. Re: Slashdot today. on Scientist Says Potential Signs of Ancient Life in Mars Rover Photos · · Score: 2

    Thanks for the suggestion. I've been looking for somewhere better than slashdot. However, the lack of threaded comments is abhorrent.