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User: trout007

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  1. Another reason contracts should not be enforceable on A123 Sues Apple For Poaching Employees · · Score: 0

    Contracts should exist similar to loans or buying things on ebay. There is risk to both parties making the contract and you can only go by the reputation of the party you are dealing with.

    By having governments enforce contracts you just externalize the costs of dealing with dishonorable people.

    If these employees signed a contract with A123 and broke it the only thing A123 should be able to do is make those contracts public and try to hurt the reputation of those employees.

  2. Re:Kinda notnews on The Science of a Bottomless Pit · · Score: 1

    OK I created the following Matlab code: The G term was a polynomial best fit to the gravity as a function of depth. The initial angular velocity is at the equator.

    [t,y]=ode45(@orbit_ode,[0 200],[6500 0 0 2*pi/(24*3600)]);

    polar(y(:,3),y(:,1))

    function dx=orbit_ode(t,x);

            dx=zeros(4,1);
            %x(1) = r position
            %x(2) = r velocity
            %x(3) = theta position
            %x(4) = theta velocity

            dx(1)= x(2); %Velocity
            dx(2)= x(1)*x(4)^2-(.0037*x(1)-3e-7*x(1)^2);
            dx(3)= x(4);
            dx(4)= (-2*x(2)*x(4))/x(1);

    end

    The plot isn't very impressive. It looks like a line straight through the center. The min radius is 114m so basically over 6500m drop the center moves about 114 m.

  3. Re:Does the pit have to be straight down? on The Science of a Bottomless Pit · · Score: 1

    You could but it isn't a simple shape since the earths gravity changes as a function of radius in a pretty non-linear way.

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

  4. Start using the term Intellectual Monopoly on The Burden of Intellectual Property Rights On Clean Energy Technologies · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because that is what it really is. Intellectual Monopoly is not compatible with property rights. You either own your property and are free to transform it and sell it or you don't own it. Someone saying I can't configure my property is only possible with a government granted monopoly and has no basis in property rights.

  5. Re:All nations got their start ignoring IP rights on The Burden of Intellectual Property Rights On Clean Energy Technologies · · Score: 1

    The movie studios were all in California because that was as far as they could get from Edison and his patent on motion pictures which he used to censor movies he didn't like. So Hollywood was founded on breaking Intellectual Monopoly.

  6. Re:The Selfish Gene on Game Theory Calls Cooperation Into Question · · Score: 1

    The problem is that at least in recent history (last couple thousand years) people care more about if their IDEAS are passed on. This is why there is so much propaganda from all sides. Who cares about genetics when you can get control of kids for 12 years of their lives. It's pretty easy to override any genetics.

  7. Re:Ten times stronger? on Nanotech Makes Steel 10x Stronger · · Score: 1

    Yielding is a statistical process. If the layers are actually isolated then I guess you could have failure in one layer that doesn't propagate to the next. Similar to first ply failure with composites. Theoretically perfect metals are much stronger than what we can make because of these failures. So maybe that is what they are claiming? By producing metal this way you will have less flaws and those that exist will only fail locally and not cause failure across the specimen?

  8. Re:What were you expecting? on Trans-Pacific Partnership Enables Harsh Penalties For Filesharing · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Intellectual monopoly is a danger to real property rights. You cant own something if you aren't allowed to configure it how you want.

  9. Re:FDA due for reform on Unearthing Fraud In Medical Trials · · Score: 1

    I think it should serve two purposes. One like you mention is purely. Make sure what the manufacturer says is in there is correct.

    The second is continue doing trials but only as an advisory function. If companies want to pay for the FDA seal of approval so be it. If not you can sell your drug with a warning it hasn't been tested.

    I try to to take drugs that have been out for 20-30 years. If I was really sick I might get more desperate.

  10. Re:Consider Man's Footprint on NASA Releases Details of Titan Submarine Concept · · Score: 2
  11. Re:3/5 clause on Ask Slashdot: What Will It Take To End Mass Surveillance? · · Score: 1

    If the North and South were seep rate countries it would just make slavery even more expensive to maintain. A shorter route to freedom would make it nearly impossible to maintain. Slavery is a very inefficient way to get work done.

  12. Re:Have I lost my mind? on Woman Suffers Significant Weight Gain After Fecal Transplant · · Score: 2

    That's not quite accurate. Those bacteria are all around us and especially on the food you eat. It may take a while for those bacteria to increase enough in population so to speed things up you inoculate your system.

    The same thing can happen with bread,beer or wine. You can go ahead and wait for the natural yeast to take over or you can take a vial of ready to go yeast and pitch it in to get things started right away.

    I know this personally because when I met my wife her family ate beans quite often. I was very gassy for a couple of months until the bacteria that digested the beans got to the point they could digest it all.

  13. Re:only trying to help? on Uber Capping Prices During Snowmageddon 2015 · · Score: 1

    You make a profit in a voluntary market only by giving people what they want. Someone wants what you have more than they want the money.

    It's people like AG that hurts people. There are people that would rather pay $100 to get home than pay $500 for a hotel room.

  14. Of course they build in business friendly states. on New Google Fiber Cities Announced · · Score: 1, Informative

    Can you imagine the red tape trying to do this in NY or Chicago?

  15. At least it wasn't a 3D printed drone! on Secret Service Investigating Small Drone On White House Grounds · · Score: 2

    That would have been trouble.

  16. Re:The Dangers of the World on Parents Investigated For Neglect For Letting Kids Walk Home Alone · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is a dangerous world. These kids were kidnapped on the way home. Luckily for them the kidnapper returned them to the parents.

  17. Re:Hope they don't walk to public school on Parents Investigated For Neglect For Letting Kids Walk Home Alone · · Score: 1

    I live in Florida and you need to live 2 miles from school before they will bus you. Even my older kid that lives 5 miles from school has to walk 1 mile to the bus stop.

  18. Pope Gregory XIII has you beat on Extra Leap Second To Be Added To Clocks On June 30 · · Score: 1

    He skipped 10 days to make the calendar line up with the equinox.

  19. Re:Re usability on In Daring Plan, Tomorrow SpaceX To Land a Rocket On Floating Platform · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Their engines are already reused "sort of". They test fire their engines before launch. One time they evens scrubbed a launch after the engines were lit. They fixed the problem in a few hours and launched after that.

    One of the reasons payloads cost multi-billion dollars is because the launchers cause near that amount. Cheaper launchers will lead to cheaper payloads..

  20. Re:Its a cost decision on Professor: Young People Are "Lost Generation" Who Can No Longer Fix Gadgets · · Score: 1

    You misunderstood. I had that rubber coupling break on my kitchen aid blender a bunch of times.

  21. Re:Integrated this, integrated that on Professor: Young People Are "Lost Generation" Who Can No Longer Fix Gadgets · · Score: 1

    There is no way to adjust timing anymore. I had a 1998 Civic that was just when electronic timing started but they still had a distributer. I went to adjust the timing after replacing plugs and when I turned the distributer the car started to stall then to my suprise fixed itself. I stood there for a few minutes in wonder as I could move the distributer from one side to the other and the computer would figure out how to fix my mistake. I guess they left the ability to adjust the timing in case the computer failed.

  22. Re:Its a cost decision on Professor: Young People Are "Lost Generation" Who Can No Longer Fix Gadgets · · Score: 1

    KitchenAid?

  23. Let the environment fit the task. on The Open Office Is Destroying the Workplace · · Score: 1

    As an enginner my ideal work environment would consist of communal spaces were you can talk and interact with other people to brainstorm and review ideas. Kind of like a coffee shop vibe with whiteboards and projectors or TV's where you can share your screen. Then also have places similar to quiet study rooms at college where you can hide away when you really need to focus on detailed tasks. I run relativly resource intensive CAD software and it easily runs these days on a $2k laptop. Any intensive FEA gets sent to a cluster anyway.

  24. Re:No group "owns" any day on the calendar. on Neil DeGrasse Tyson Explains His Christmas Tweet · · Score: 1

    It really isn't Newtons Birthday (as in the annual celebration) because we are using that fancy new calandar the anti-science Catholic Church came up with to be more astronomically precise while England was using the Julian calandar.

  25. Re:youmail on The Slow Death of Voice Mail · · Score: 1

    I changed my outgoing message to if you need a prompt response please e-mail me.

    I hate the phone and voice-mail at work. I want a record of every conversation.