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Comment Re:No surprise (Score 1) 224

... the most violent and aggressive species on earth?

When's the last time you chased down and killed your food? When's the last time you actually used physical violence against another human, much less a prey species?

We're our most violent in aggregate (war). Most recent 'wars' were/are over ideals or perceived threats (we don't like what you're doing to your people, so we're gonna invade), not actual physical threats (WWII was an actual imminent threat). We're not so bad when we don't _have_ to use violence.

Comment Re:Still pretty affordable (Score 1) 393

The uController could easily run for several _years_ on a pair of D batteries. It sleeps for all but a single second out of the day, and wakes up to 'press' the go button. You could just as easily power it from a wall tumor across the 220V line powering the charger (many/most are 110/220 tolerant).

The fish timer would be powered from 1 leg of the 220 V circuit to the neutral to provide 110V as it expects.

My point in posting was that there are alternatives to having to switch the full 220V / bazillion amp charging current directly. Sometimes subtlety wins out over brute force :-)

Comment Re:Microwaves and 2.4 GHz (Score 3, Informative) 122

The special part about 2.4 GHz is that it's a the first available world-wide ISM band that is anywhere near frequencies that can be generated with high enough power in a countertop form factor to heat anything. Magnetrons are not known for their spectral purity or frequency stability, so using an ISM band that's 100 MHz wide also gives you a lot of leeway for frequency excursions for what little RF is actually leaked out of the oven.

Submission + - Study Finds Link Between Artificial Sweeteners and Glucose Intolerance

onproton writes: The journal Nature released a study today that reveals a link between the consumption of artificial sweeteners and the development of glucose intolerance, a leading risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes, citing a critical alteration of intestinal bacteria. Paradoxically, these non-caloric sweeteners, which can be up to 20,000 times sweeter than natural sugars, are often recommended to diabetes patients to control blood glucose levels. Sugar substitutes have come under additional fire lately from studies showing that eating artificially sweetened foods can lead to greater overall calorie consumption and even weight gain. While some, especially food industry officials, remain highly skeptical of such studies, more research still needs to be done to determine the actual risks these substances may pose to health.

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