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Comment Re: New ways to generate... gravity? (Score 1) 86

IANATP either but, if gravity is nothing but bent spacetime, then gravitons are not needed. I, jumping up and down on earth, am following a straight path through space.

IAAP, although not a specialist in gravitons. However, I can tell you that they are hypothetical bosons that are introduced in theories that attempt to link gravity with quantum mechanics (or quantum chromo-dynamics if you prefer.) They mitigate the gravitational force in a quantum setting in much the same way as photons do for electromagnetism, gluons do for the strong force, and W+, W- and Z bosons do for the weak force.

You can find more information on them here.

Comment Re:C versus Assembly Language (Score 5, Insightful) 226

Keep in mind: this is [w]hat the compiler tried to do; when you start down this path you are saying "that fancy compiler doesn't know what its doing, I'll do it all myself".

Trying to outsmart a compiler defeats much of the purpose of using one.
-- Kernighan and Plauger, The Elements of Programming Style

Comment Re:Religions codify survival info ... (Score 1) 755

"sometimes they tell you to kill gay people"

You made that shit up. Not one of the big 3 guys said to kill gay people. And I'm pretty sure Buddhists are okay with gays so there's 4.

Leviticus 20:13 (King James version):

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.

Not that I agree with it, of course. I'm just pointing out that you're wrong.

Comment Re:Motive (Score 1) 282

Would you really want to send your son or daughter to die in North Korea because crackers broke into a company's servers?

The cast of "Duck Dynasty" did North Korea's hacking for them? I didn't know this...

Cracker is also a term for a malicious hacker. The media has corrupted the term hacker from its original meaning: someone who is obsessed with the internal details of a system and is able to manipulate it in unconventional ways.

I think of the difference between a cracker and a hacker as similar to the difference between a burglar and a locksmith.

Comment Re:Age prior to dyine (Score 2, Informative) 115

The older humans lived 20 - 30 years MAX.

Bull. The Bible itself tells us the full span of a man's years is "threescore and ten". That's from the Book of Psalms, and was probably written around 700 BC.

Not that I agree with the GP's 20-30 numbers, but I think he refers to humans who lived tens of thousands of years ago, not in relatively recent biblical times. You deleted his point that humans who lived more recently (which I parse to mean starting around biblical times) lived up to 70-100 years. I think those larger numbers are likely true of earlier humans too, but the premature mortality of those times cuts the average down.

Comment Re:Flight (Score 4, Informative) 115

Modern human skeletons have shifted quite recently towards lighter—more fragile, if you like—bodies.

Sweet! Maybe we will also start evolving wings and finally be able to fly without manufactured air foils! I for one intend to sit on the couch more and make this happen faster!

If humans could fly, we'd consider it exercise and never do it.
-- origin unknown

Comment Re:A Solution to the Santa Quantum Wave Function? (Score 0) 59

Considering Santa must travel at about 650 miles per second, Rudolph's nose would need to be so bright to illuminate a safe distance ahead that he would incinerate himself and anything else nearby.

It's no wonder the other reindeer didn't let him play in any reindeer games.

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