ridgeguy

39 ms·

1. 451.▲
   by ridgeguy 8y ago

   Thanks for a great illustration of false dichotomy.
2. 452.▲
   by ridgeguy 8y ago

   I question whether the vote coercion/purchase opportunities opened up by mail voting are actually "huge" compared with in-person voting. But even if so, these opportunities don't scale easily and potential damage is limi
3. 453.▲
   by ridgeguy 8y ago

   Scale matters. If it were only warm-blooded individual humans identifying you, there wouldn't be much potential for abuse. In the 1960s, your privacy was pretty much preserved even in public spaces. Unless you were a genuine person of
4. 454.▲
   by ridgeguy 8y ago

   Dyson already has a large automated fab & assembly plant in Singapore for its appliance motors. Maybe there are some economies to expanding their facility vs. relocating.
5. 455.▲
   by ridgeguy 8y ago

   I'm with you. I hate being monetized, and there's increasingly no escape. A suggestion. When it comes time to replace your Corolla, buy an older used car and use the price differential between your "new" oldie and the ne
6. 456.▲
   by ridgeguy 8y ago

   Thanks for your reply, it's informative and interesting. Helps me understand why detection of dark matter is a continuing challenge.
7. 457.▲
   by ridgeguy 8y ago

   I agree with your first sentence. We don't yet know how to make an IT-based voting system that is as secure as paper ballots. Paper ballots have attack surfaces, to be sure. It's just that they don't scale well, and that grea
8. 458.▲
   by ridgeguy 8y ago

   If this were true, Fox news would long ago have disappeared.
9. 459.▲
   by ridgeguy 8y ago

   Given a 2009 flyaway cost of $150 million each [1], 17 F-22s lost is about $3B in todays dollars. Seems like it's worth hardening Tyndall's buildings or scrapping the base and moving inland. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org
10. 460.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    Filing a provisional patent application costs $70 when filing as a microentity (common individual case). You can do it without an attorney (see Nolo Press and others for DIY help). After filing, the applicant has one year to file a utility
11. 461.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    This is why it's worthwhile filing a provisional patent application ($70). When your product takes off, you have a potential recourse if you're ripped off.
12. 462.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    I agree. If I understand current law, one cannot be forced to supply a password or passcode because of 5th Amendment rights against forced, potentially self-incriminatory speech. A fingerprint is regarded differently. You can be forced to s
13. 463.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    I have no chops whatever in this field, but it's fun to think of experiments we might do: If I understand current theory, dark matter only interacts with itself and with ordinary matter through gravity. Hence the importance of Vera Rub
14. 464.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    I think it's not simple to predict the impact of a breach. I would rather the breach itself be penalized. I prefer incentives that prevent spilling the milk to post-spill arguments about how damaging the spill may have been.
15. 465.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    This may be hyperventilation [1], which is too little CO2 in the blood, not too much O2. Symptoms include dizziness and loss of consciousness. I discovered this in 7th grade by doing about 30 seconds of rapid breathing followed by holding m
16. 466.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    It was only at the moment of shredding that Banksy finished his work. I won't be surprised to see its estimated value double within a week.
17. 467.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    I'll add one more sci-fi reference involving HERVs: Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_Radio
18. 468.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    NASA tried "faster, better, cheaper". It didn't work out so well. Mars Climate Orbiter, Mars Polar Lander were two missions executed under the FBC regime. They failed, arguably due to underfunding that elevated risks. It&#x27
19. 469.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    I cannot fathom why you find it so necessary to constrain discovery. None of us knows what these artists will create after their flight. You think they'll do nothing beyond what they've done before. I think they might be inspired
20. 470.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    You might reserve that evaluation for a century or two. Arguably, we're still cruising on the de Medicis' and Borgias' investments in the arts.
21. 471.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    You might try looking up your gas company's agent for service of process (Secretary of State site search, probably). Send a registered snail mail describing the leak in your neighborhood to the agent, copy corporate counsel and at leas
22. 472.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    EEG to machine interface has a long history. Here's a brief article about a 1975 DARPA/SRI program that used EMG and EEG to identify words human subjects were thinking. [1] Computers were a CDC6400 and a LINC-8. The article has a
23. 473.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    Probably not mercury rectifiers or thyratrons, but hydrogen and deuterium thyratrons do (edit - emit X-rays, that is). They're much higher voltage devices. Example at [1] [1] https://www.e2v.com/shared/content&#x2
24. 474.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    Not hydrogen storage for seed dispersal, but Larry Niven's Known Space series featured Stage Trees. These were plants genetically engineered to be solid fuel rockets. They grew to be quite large, multistage launchers. When they ignited
25. 475.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    I think it would be the same ∆V requirement (for geosynchronous orbital altitude). But it's not possible to have a geo orbital plane (so the subsatellite point is stationary on the Earth) that is out of the equatorial plane.
26. 476.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    I'm curious about space elevator phenomena related to lateral ∆V. At Earth's equator (zero altitude - i.e., on the ground), an object moves spinward at about 0.46 km/sec. In geosynchronous orbit, an object has to move at abou
27. 477.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    Brief search didn't get me anything about longest ride on a centrifuge, which I guess would be the only way to test G-tolerance over extended periods. Where 'extended periods' means > an hour. Any pointers to 6 Gs as being
28. 478.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    Naked because hairless, no pants in the evaluation. More engagingly, it's also called a sand puppy [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_mole-rat
29. 479.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    OT, but kind of interesting - Xe, one of the 'inert' gases you've listed, is a remarkably effective and safe general anesthetic as well as a cardio- and neuroprotective agent for some kinds of ischemic events [1]. Still a lit
30. 480.▲
    by ridgeguy 8y ago

    Second this. A great read. Rhodes' layout of the early 20th century physics discoveries that lead to the atomic bomb is engaging all by itself. Who knew it would matter whether your lab benches were made of wood or granite?