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User: mschaffer

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  1. engineering is applied science on Ask Slashdot: Are General Engineering Skills Undervalued In Web Development? · · Score: 1

    Engineering is applied science. Electrical engineering, chemical engineering, and running a train are true engineering pursuits.
    Computer "science" is not a science---it is an arbitrary paradigm beyond the electrical engineering and physics required to construct physical computers.
    Since there is no "science" in computer science, calling a programmer an "engineer" makes no sense.

  2. Rubbish... on Quantum Equation Suggests Universe Had No Beginning · · Score: 1

    This is all rubbish. It makes no sense to ask when the universe "started" or came into being. Time is an artifact inside of the universe---not the other way around.

  3. Prove it! on There Is No "You" In a Parallel Universe · · Score: 2, Funny

    Show me one other alternate universe. Is that so much to ask?

  4. What else would you expect... on Michael Mann: Swiftboating Comes To Science · · Score: 1

    What else would you expect from someone who keeps insisting that he personally received a Nobel Prize---but didn't.

    Michael Mann could predict that the sun will rise tomorrow morning and I would be hard-pressed to believe him.

  5. Nope on Ask Slashdot: Sounds We Don't Hear Any More? · · Score: 1

    Anti-lock brakes don't help when someone skids sideways.

  6. Back to plated wire memory and tape sytems? on 10 Years In, Mars Rover Opportunity Suffers From Flash Memory Degradation · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So, does that mean that NASA needs to go back to the plated wire memory and tape systems like the Honeywell systems that ran the Viking and Voyager systems for decades on Mars and in space?

  7. 2015 could be the year of just about anything! on 2015 Could Be the Year of the Hospital Hack · · Score: 1

    Really? I am beginning to wonder why I still look at /. after seeing an article like that.

  8. Damn that Pope Gregory XIII... on Neil DeGrasse Tyson Explains His Christmas Tweet · · Score: 4, Funny

    Damn that Pope Gregory XIII. He should have left the calendar as it is. It would prevent any alchemists or astronomers born on January 4 from being praised on their birthday when it gets shifted to December 25. What was he thinking! So much for papal infallibility.

  9. There is no spoon! on Linking Drought and Climate Change: Difficult To Do · · Score: 1

    To paraphrase the "spoon boy" from The Matrix:

    Do not try and bend the correlation, that's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth...there is no correlation. Then you will see it is not the correlation that bends, it is only yourself.

  10. At least ... on Will the Google Car Turn Out To Be the Apple Newton of Automobiles? · · Score: 1

    At least the Newton was a bit revolutionary. It could have been worse. At least it isn't the iPod HiFi of Automobiles.

  11. One less inhabitant... on Despite Patent Settlement, Apple Pulls Bose Merchandise From Its Stores · · Score: 1

    One less inhabitant in Apple's walled garden.

  12. Re:waste of time on New Chemical Process Could Make Ammonia a Practical Car Fuel · · Score: 1

    I didn't know electricity came in gallons.

  13. Not thrilled! on New Chemical Process Could Make Ammonia a Practical Car Fuel · · Score: 1

    Depending on where the hydrogen in the ammonia comes from, this is a complete waste of time.
    Much hydrogen is consumed to make ammonia. Why waste the energy to reclaim it?
    Another source of ammonia involves reacting steam with coke to form ammonia and....get this...carbon dioxide.
    Until ammonia from other sources is readily available, making hydrogen this way is not wise or helpful for the environment.

  14. Just keep drinking the Kool-Aid... on Study: Stop Being So Cynical, You Could Give Yourself Dementia · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just keep drinking the Kool-Aid. Apparently they put anti-dementia meds in it.

  15. NSA proprietary information on Cisco Complains To Obama About NSA Adding Spyware To Routers · · Score: 2

    I doubt that the NSA would like Cisco to know how/what they are doing to their routers.

  16. Rediculous premise on Do Embedded Systems Need a Time To Die? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is based on a ridiculous premise that newer=more secure.

    Who is going to pay for all of this?
    What happens when someone forgets to replace some critical controller (gee, I thought your group was in charge of replacing it...)?

    Also, what's In-Q-Tel's real motive? Mandating a secret back-door so that the CIA can have access to what they want? Or, are they quietly investing in Siemens, Rockwell Automation, Hitachi, and the like?

  17. Re:Their business model sucked on How the USPS Killed Digital Mail · · Score: 5, Funny

    Some day, he may be able to get the scans via a FOIA request.

  18. Re:Incomplete on How the USPS Killed Digital Mail · · Score: 1

    It has only been an agency since 1971 and it does occasionally receive some minor subsidies from the US government.

  19. Re:Not "thousands" on Ancient Virus DNA Discovery Could Be a Breakthrough In How Diseases Are Treated · · Score: 1

    From the National Geographic article:

    More than 1,000 copies of HERV-H litter the human genome. The DNA sequences are unique to humans and great apes, apparently invading primates less than 20 million years ago, said evolutionary geneticist Cedric Feschotte of the University of Utah, who did not take part in this research.

    What I would like to know is what did mammals, reptiles, and other organisms do before this.

  20. Re:Actually... on 70% of U.S. Government Spending Is Writing Checks To Individuals · · Score: 1

    Wealth, income, fruits of one's labor---it doesn't matter. The salient point here is that the US Government just wants to take what YOU own or earn and do what THEY want with it. This is, of course, a violation of a fundamental right and any government that commits this is unjust.

  21. Actually... on 70% of U.S. Government Spending Is Writing Checks To Individuals · · Score: 1

    Actually, a lot of nerds need to be reminded of what the US Government has become: the largest engine for the redistribution of wealth.

  22. Giving credit where credit is due... on Cops Say NDA Kept Them from Notifying Courts About Cell Phone Tracking Gadget · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One can assume ONE of the following is true about the police department:
    1. They are completely ignorant of the laws and the Constitution that they have sworn to uphold
    2. They conspired to withhold information from the courts.

    Either way, I believe that credit should be given where credit is due.

  23. Seriously? on Google Funds San Francisco Bus Rides For Poor · · Score: 1

    Seriously? We're talking about California. Because Google has money, they should have the right to redistribute it as they see fit.

  24. The difference is just the proportion... on Whole Foods: America's Temple of Pseudoscience · · Score: 1

    The difference is just a difference in the proportion of products targeted at a demographic. Safeway has a wider audience and wider variety of products. Whole foods just allocates the proportion of their products differently.

  25. It goes hand in hand with Creatonism on Whole Foods: America's Temple of Pseudoscience · · Score: 2

    Look at who is vehemently perpetuating this pseudoscience. People like Orrin Hatch have neutered the FDA in regard to dietary supplements.
    http://www.sciencebasedmedicin...