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User: infaustus

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Comments · 117

  1. Re:well damn on US Consumer Bureau Opens Online Credit Card Complaint DB · · Score: 1

    There are plenty of cards that have no annual fee, regardless of whether you carry a balance. I have 4 such cards.

  2. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee on Bonobos Join Chimps As Closest Human Relatives · · Score: 1

    I thought the post had some trollish racial subtext.

  3. Re:Charity Navigator on Ask Slashdot: Most Efficient, Worthwhile Charity? · · Score: 5, Informative

    In a similar vein: http://www.givewell.org/charities/topcharities GiveWell does a very thorough job of vetting charities and evaluating their impact.

  4. Re:Geography also a factor on Your State University Doesn't Want You · · Score: 1

    It is not true that out-of-state students have an easier time getting into VA schools, at least not the good ones (UVA and WM.) They have much higher SAT scores and better GPAs because out of state enrollment is restricted to 1/3 of students. It's also not terribly difficult to get in from NoVA. Most of the people I know who got rejected and used that excuse were not the bright, even if they thought their weighted 4.0+ GPAs made them perfect candidates.

  5. Re:not my field.... on What You Eat Affects Your Genes · · Score: 3, Informative

    DNA is transcripted into RNA which is translated into proteins, which are the main structural components of life. MicroRNA binds to the RNA transcripts, preventing them from being translated into proteins. The article title is misleading because we usually consider DNA to be our genes, and MicroRNA affects gene expression rather than genes themselves. RNA interference, including interference by MicroRNA was discovered decades ago but no one has studied interference by foreign RNA in food. It's mostly been studied in the context of viruses or transgenic cells.

  6. Broadcom's Suspicious Acquisition Track Record on Broadcom To Buy NetLogic For $3.7 Billion · · Score: 1

    I wonder if Broadcom is issuing any stock warrants to NetLogic's customers.

  7. Re:Not convinced. on American Grant Writing: Race Matters · · Score: 1

    Getting admitted is often more difficult than graduating. In order to graduate, you only need to be good enough to avoid failing. To be admitted, you have to stand out among all the other qualified candidates. How about you try a little less unwarranted condescension.

  8. Re:Not convinced. on American Grant Writing: Race Matters · · Score: 2

    If you read TFA article, you will see that the p-value's are given as less than .001. That means there is a .1% chance of getting results this extreme if grants are given on a race-neutral basis, assuming their model is otherwise correct. It seems unlikely this statistic is due to random chance. I have an alternate explanation for the data. Affirmative action means that degrees from and jobs at prestigious universities will overstate the aptitude of minorities, so these variables are not sufficient for the regression.

  9. Frosty Piss on AMD Enters Desktop Memory Market · · Score: -1

    Remember the taste.

  10. Re:Humanities - you're wrong on Ask Slashdot: CS Degree Without Gen-Ed Requirements? · · Score: 1

    I find your attribution of Santayana's quote to Hegel amusing. Hegel is the source of a great retort: "The only lesson we learn from history is that we don't learn from history." The liberal arts portion of my education has been about as useful as a peacock's tail. It lets me impress people and make ostentatious displays, but that just attests to how silly our society is. I enjoyed some of the liberal arts classes, but if my parents had not been paid for them and I had to support myself I would surely have resented them.

  11. Re:300,000 years to get there on Gliese 581d Confirmed as 'Habitable' Exoplanet · · Score: 1

    Genetic mutations won't stop because it's no longer necessary, but natural selection could. And random mutations tend not to spread without natural selection

  12. Re:Blu-Ray Disc Association on LG Wants PlayStation 3 Banned From US Market · · Score: 1

    No, that is not a patent issue, it is a DMCA issue.

  13. Re:The problem in the US... on Can Movies Inspire Kids To Be Future Scientists? · · Score: 1

    I think in some cases we have the opposite problem. You don't need to be a genius or even much above average to be a doctor, just to get into med school. There are easily twice as many qualified applicants as spots available.

  14. Re:First post, for the umpteenth time on One Night Stands May Be Genetic · · Score: 1

    The vast majority of extant genes will of course be "selfish genes." Otherwise they wouldn't have been passed on.

  15. Re:F1RST P0ST! on German Scientists Create Bose-Einstein Condensate Using Photons · · Score: 1

    I think this was pretty firmly considered impossible - there is a problem in my stat mech textbook (Kittel and Kromer, Thermal Physics) as follows: 7.7) Photon condensation. Consider a science fiction universe in which the number of photons N is constant, at a concentration of 10^20 cm^-3. The number of thermally excited photons we assume is given by the result of Problem 4.1, which is Ne=2.404V(tau^3)/(pi^2hbar^3c^3). Find the critical temperature in K below which Ne N. The excess N - Ne will be in the photon mode of lowest frequency; the excess might be described as a photon condensate in which there is a large concentration of photons in the lowest mode. In reality there is no such principle that the total number of photons be constant, hence there is no photon condensate.

  16. Re:You CAN be fired on Lawyer Smokes Pages From the Koran and Bible · · Score: 1

    From your link: "Several exceptions to the doctrine exist, especially if unlawful discrimination is involved regarding the termination of an employee." Political discrimination is pretty much always unlawful. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is unlawful in many states.

  17. Re:If you can't handle calculus, science isnt for on Help Me Get My Math Back? · · Score: 1

    Even MIT has stopped teaching functional programing in most of their CS courses. They switched to a combination of Python and Java.

  18. Re:Politial speech influenced 6 yrs old chid. on Sergey Brin On Google and China · · Score: 1

    The US series are cheap because they have a large domestic audience. The US series are shown in other countries because they are cheap, and this makes them even cheaper. Nowhere in this chain of events is force being applied by anyone to anyone. Whether or not they are good is both subjective and irrelevant. As far as I'm concerned, all television is terrible and I don't watch it. (This is, of course, the cheapest option. But I don't feel like I'm being forced to make it.)

  19. Re:Politial speech influenced 6 yrs old chid. on Sergey Brin On Google and China · · Score: 1

    Really? The US is forcing you to watch its television programs and movies...by providing them at a cheap price? Well, there are Americans who believe similar things about China, so I guess idiots abound in every country.

  20. Re:ipad might be worthwile on Multitasking In For iPhone 4.0? · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Over and underrated mods don't get metamodded, so they're a safe way to be an asshole.

  21. Re:The Bastard Broadcasting Company had a doc on i on Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, Protein ... and Now Fat · · Score: 4, Informative

    Energy enters neurons almost exclusively as sugars. In the rare situations when adequate carbohydrates are unavailable, neurons can survive off of ketone bodies from fats elsewhere in the body, but this is a last resort and ketone bodies have poisonous byproducts. In this context, saying "the brain is fueled by carbohydrates" is true and meaningful, saying it runs on fat is mostly false, and saying it runs on ATP is not meaningful and sort of dickish.

  22. Re:Google V China on Google Asks US For WTO Block On China Censorship · · Score: 2, Informative

    Because contrary to popular opinion, China is not an insect colony with a hive mind. It is our obligation to protect the freedom of individuals wherever they happen to be located.

  23. Re:Cuba vs China on 2-D Avatar To Be Pulled From Theaters In China · · Score: 1

    I can tell you what that paragraph is missing. The Chinese were soundly defeated by the western countries, and forced to sign a very unfavorable treaty. Huge indemnities were paid to the 8 nations, many boxers and government officials who joined them were executed, and more territorial concessions were made. That is, more of China was colonized. The Qing dynasty became more unpopular for signing the treaty, and the refusal of Yuan Shikai to fight the 8 nations made it clear they were losing control. The people began to consider them foreigners and they barely managed to last a decade after signing. The 8 nations had not been trying to restore the Guangxu Emperor and I'm do not think the information about him is relevant. He'd been under house arrest since before the war. Anyway, the 8 nations did not need the Qing, as shown by their support for the RoC's formation.

  24. Re:Cuba vs China on 2-D Avatar To Be Pulled From Theaters In China · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The Boxer rebellion is not a particularly effective example of resistance to foreign control...unless the foreigners you're talking about are the Qing. Really, China got its independence because the Japanese took it over before being destroyed by a greater power, not because the Chinese fought off foreign control.

  25. Re:how many scientists are enough? on Study Says US Needs Fewer Science Students · · Score: 1

    There are many small, unglamorous problems in science whose solutions are nonetheless important.