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Comment Re:Isn't "exo" a bit redundant here? (Score 1) 32

To say another star has an exoplanet seems redundant. Why not just say it has planets?

In fact, seems to me that all stars have exoplanets, by definition.

Exi-planets would probably mean something like, they are being absorbed into the star.

Exo-planets is the sort of thing we live on. Scienterrific types like terminology, it's what they write White Papers with rather than "Y'know, there's like a bunch of stuff out there", which is meaningful, but isn't going to get you anywhere in a scientific body.

Comment Re:All the more reason (Score 4, Funny) 230

Please don't type half your post in the subject, it makes your post unreadable. Especially when using alternative browsing methods.

Indeed. As with modern media the subject should be a play on words or shameless pun.

The body of the post should be non sequitur by the paragraph, which leaves the reader baffled as to which medication you are on.

This media backed up by the cloud

Comment Re:We'll notice. (Score 1) 246

When robots have taken over the majority of labor and the number of unemployed people in the US rises over a billion, we'll notice. Does anyone else wonder how society will need to adapt to such a problem?

Going to be a while before we get to a billion people in the US, we're only 1/3 way there.

Comment I hardly noticed the mobile phone revolution... (Score 3, Interesting) 246

...until I saw non-geeks (or doctors) possessing them and blathering away like complete, oblivious idiots in places where sharing half a very personal conversation should have been abundantly clearly inappropriate.

I expect people will be as oblivious as the robots march past them, gathering in the town square, to proclaim the beginning of the end of Carbon Unit infestation of this world.

... so then she says, are you getting this? she says I'm not paying enough attention to what my kids are doing! do you believe the nerve. Oh, there's march of some kind of the town's robots going past, must be another recall or something. So anyway, I tell her to mind her own business and then do you know what she does? she calls me a mindless cow! really, like I have no feelings or anything, so I tell her listen here b...

Comment Re:About time (Score 1) 345

If a President is going to have War Powers, shouldn't there be a war going on?

Dude, we've always been at war with Eastasia.

I think the general category is "Terrorists" and at least on specific one is "Al-Qeada", although "American Taliban", "Religious Extremists" and various other enemies of the State are used as needed. Should be a Bingo game - you get the park a peanut on a square each time one is mentioned in the news or in a press briefing.

Comment Re:About time (Score 1, Interesting) 345

The problem with knee-jerk assessments, which most people are operating under (Fourth Amendment, unreasonable search and seizure) is that there are all sorts of vague bits of the constitution and other amendments which leave wiggle room for things which fall under "National Security" and have done for a long time.

There's this comical belief that Congress should have the ability to approve of War Powers, which the constitution clearly states are those powers reserved to the President. Which is a way of saying, what you think it should be and how it is is not always clear cut. There's always the possibility of a Split decision by the Supreme Court, where an opinion of the court states that in the time of war, or potential war, the Executive Branch may be delegated certain abilities. Defining when hostile threats are likely or not, that's not the purview of the court.

It will certainly, no matter how it is ruled, be interesting reading.

Comment Re:Word unlocked. (Score 1) 276

The term 'Orwellian' tends to be overused a bit these days. But, having read 1984, this is something straight out of that book. The adjective is appropriate in this situation: Go ahead and use it.

Good old sexiest man in the world was afraid. He doesn't like to be afraid. People go away when he's afraid. It makes him feel better. NK is now safer for Dennis's visit, with this dangerous hooligan removed as well.

Comment Re:So In Effect... (Score 1) 174

There's plenty of more dangerous public locations, and a lot of semi-private ones would be worse.

A doctor's office, or chair at the DMV would might get a dozen people a day. Ditto for plenty of public service waiting rooms. The plane that services US Airways flight 624 to Vegas probably goes back and forth 5-6 times a day, so that might get a dozen people -- but you'd have to get the '60 through security. The Disneyland Monorail probably gets someone every 20 minutes for 14 hours a day, but might be all plastic. I'm sure there's *some* Disneyland/6 Flags/Magic Mountain ride that you could leave the '60 on if you had the right container that'd do the same as the monorail.

I simply provided one example. Someone with more time and imagination could certainly come up with many more effective targets. For that matter, depending upon how much material there was available it could be spread over many targets.

While a dirty bomb would be attention grabbing, something approximating a plague onset would not only put local people in fear, but over a much wider area.

Back in 1995, when I was visiting Prague and three men were found to be driving around with 6 lbs of enriched Uranium in their car, looking for a buyer, I had much the same thoughts.

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"This generation may be the one that will face Armageddon." -- Ronald Reagan, "People" magazine, December 26, 1985

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