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Comment Re:Look for what you can see. (Score 1) 300

That's something I've always wondered about Dyson Spheres. If they are built to absorb 100% of the stars radiation, how the heck do astronomers expect to detect them? (As they are probably not very large stars for a variety of reasons, and possibly only dwarf stars, their gravitational effect on other nearby stars would be rather limited and very hard to detect even if you were looking for such small perturbations.)

Comment Re:Look for what you can see. (Score 1) 300

I still find it funny that they think radio waves will still be a primary form of communication for advanced civilizations that may have been around for 100,000 years or more. Heck, we've only been using it for a little more than a century now, and can already imagine using other technologies that haven't been invented by us yet. (Various systems based on known or theoretical concepts like Neutrinos, Tachyons, Quantum Entanglement, Wormholes, Gravity Waves, etc.) Who knows what a civilization that's had a lot more time to work on it has come up with.
If you question that concept, just imagine asking someone in 1815 how people in 2015 would communicate over distances. I guarantee that radio is NOT on that list.

Comment Re:Starivore? (Score 2) 300

Exactly. The Dyson sphere's and shells merely surround a star to absorb the radiation emitted by the star. An astrovore, or whatever name you want for a "star-eater", is doing something to actively "feed" off of the star itself. Maybe it's using a companion body to syphon off hydrogen & helium to fuel something, or it's dumping in quantum black holes to increase hawking radiation to suck up, or something so exotic we haven't even imagined it. It seems very likely that whatever they are doing, they also have a dyson sphere or shell to aid with the system, but as this is all wild speculation, we are just shooting in the dark... at stars. :D

If you want a description of the difference that's a little more down to earth, then imagine a media star, music, movies, whatever.
Now the dyson sphere or shell is like a bunch of fans surrounding the star, listening to every word, ogling their appearance, and just generally basking in the glory they imagine is there.
The Star Eater on the other hand, is right up there hands on groping the star, stealing whatever souvenirs they can pull off, and possibly even trying to draw blood or cut hair to keep. Whether or not they have a possie of cronies surrounding the star to keep things "convenient" for them doesn't make it the same as the previous example despite some similarities as the intent and method is very different.

I hope this example was funny and somewhat disturbing. If it wasn't, you crawled out the wrong tube today. :P

Comment Re:Starivore? (Score 1) 300

Bravo!
Additionally, English as a language rather sucks as it is composed of a lot of weird shit it's absorbed from other languages. It's kind of like the malfunctioning retarded borg of linguistics. Yes, I am a native speaker of English who has failed miserably at learning any other language, which is why I can appreciate how messed up it is. :P
(If you can't figure that last sentence out, turn in your secret decoder ring!)

Comment Re:That's an attack! (Score 1) 139

You do know that all light, visible or otherwise, is elevtromagnetic RADIATION don't you?
Radiation doesn't mean bad, evil, or dangerous. Whether you like it or not, you and every other living thing in the entire universe exists in, and always has existed in a constant bath of radiation.

Now what is important is what type of radiation and how much. Now since they mention Radar specifically, we know it's some frequency of radio waves since Radar is an acronym of RAdio Detection And Ranging. I've also seen it listed as Radio Air (or Aerial) Detection And Ranging, but the important part for this discussion is the Radio portion. Now the amount of Radio frequency radiation needed to harm a humans biology is pretty large, so I doubt anything the cops have would reach those power levels.

Ok, so the exposure to this is not likely to be dangerous in and of itself. On the other hand, the act of actively snooping inside someones house is an entirely different danger and violation of privacy. There has already been a case where the cops used non-visible light frequencies that has been thrown out with the judge declaring that since there was no warrant, it was not allowed since it violates any reasonable expectation of privacy. Just because they are using a different frequency this time doesn't mean jack, the principle still stands. Of course the cops will still try to overturn it, and far too many lawyers are willing to partake of any argument so long as they get paid. (ianal)

Comment Re:Well it's quite simple (Score 1) 116

There are several guns that have been made using 3D printers, except for the firing pin. Sure they were parts that had to be assembled, but they were still guns printed by a 3D printer non the less. Now if you want the entire gun printed in one shot fully assembled, that is currently beyond the capabilities of the designs and technology for a few reason, but it's a temporary situation that people are trying to rectify for many reasons that have nothing to do with guns.
Of course, yes, the current crop of printed guns are total crap and it's cheaper, better, and faster to make a saturday night special with the tools you probably have in your garage.

Comment Re:Who will get (Score 1) 360

I rarely try to act like Conan the Grammarian (horrible play on grammar and barbarian), but I believe you meant to use "than" instead of "then".
Otherwise your sentence indicates that the police kill white people before they go out and kill black people as that usage of "then" is a reference to time and sequence of events. :P
You can blame autocorrect, I sure do. :D

Comment Re:Who will get (Score 1) 360

There are several theaters in my state that were looking forward to running that movie, until Sony said they weren't going to allow it.
Yes, some theaters got cold feet, but it was NO where near all of them.
The final decision that nixed it for everyone sits squarely on the shoulders of Sony.

Comment Re:Who will get (Score 1) 360

Anonymous is not the USA, even if many US citizens claim to be members.
If the USA wanted North Korea offline, they'd probably use some kind of long range weaponry (cruise missile for example) to take out whatever buildings host the critical backbone hardware. It's not like they have a multiply redundant system with lots of viable alternate resources.
Heck, a lot of NK doesn't even have proper access to electricity. With the government there doing their best to hide all problems from the few allowed visitors it's kind of hard to pin things down all that well, but if nothing else us general public plebes can at least see the vast swaths of darkness that engulfs NK at night.

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