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Comment Re:Information is power (Score 1) 525

That is exactly what I thought, except I figured you could pull over some RANDOM pot smoker and then use his phone calls and text messages to figure out who he gets pot from. Most smokers have several hook-ups and copying their data would provide a treasure trove. People are dumber than you think, we think "if I did something illegal I'd never use a phone", but in real life most law breakers talk about their actions on the phone all the time. Sounds all good to stop the evil weed, but what happens when political views are criminal, and YOU, not joe-blow stoner, are pulled over and YOUR phone data endangers family and friends?

Comment Forget Harrier Jump Jets (Score 1) 152

Obviously the bird in the video isn't to the point of being to perform in the same way as our Harriers, but we are definitely seeing the future of military aircrafts.  Our fighter jets out perform nature in many ways, but one only has to go outside for a few minutes to see bird after bird perform in ways that makes every current aircraft pale in comparison.  This is a demonstration that gets the ball rolling.

F-15 Screamin' Eagle, pahh, meet  the F-420 Literally Screamin' Eagle.

Comment Re:Whatever (Score 2) 148

You are definitely correct that this is a very bad way to actually measure the light pollution, but that isn't the point.  By getting more people involved they are getting the word out.  When more people are aware of what is going on then by convention the more likely it will be that architects, light manufactures, city planners, etc. will implement projects differently.
Security

Submission + - USENIX Security talk videos: cars, capabilities! (usenix.org)

An anonymous reader writes: Videos from the 2010 USENIX Security Symposium are now online, including award-winning talks on new classes of browser extension vulnerabilities and the Capsicum sandboxing system. Also included are how to track cars using their tire sensors, acoustic attacks on dot matrix printers, the Adobe flash security model with a vicious Q&A session, and a talk by the author of Ubuntu's AppArmor, now at Microsoft, who argues that Windows now has far better security than Linux!

Comment Re:ADHD is real (Score 1) 711

Wrong.  dextroamphetamine given a the typical levels to treat ADHD will create the ability to concentrate better to a normal individual as well as someone who is ADD.  Caffeine, amphetamines, and Ritalin have all been shown to increase recall and concentration at low doses.

What ADD medications do is get the kid high, and when you have ADD being high is a better state than being sober.  Too much higher and even the ADD kid will have trouble concentrating.  That is the biggest danger with these medications, long-term drug use by being over prescribed stimulants as a child.

Comment A different generation (Score 1) 711

I grew up in a different videogame generation.  I would play Super Mario Kart on the SNES for three hours, but then I would be outside playing baseball, backyard football, and king of the mountain*.  Today's kids don't do that.  What happens when one plays videogames all day is that the brain gets its release in a violent game lowering aggression levels, but the body has not exercised and it creates this strange fatiguing anxiety that makes one figity and unable to focus.  These kids don't have real ADD or ADHD, which is very real, they are just crammed into an abnormal environment where their complacency is assured by their parents.  If a drug is needed to subdue the child into this state it will be had by any parent from the doctor.

* Played on a hill where the person standing at the top is the king and tries to use his elevation to throw everyone else down and the try to throw him down to becoming king.  Why did I feel I needed to explain that?  Maybe because the younger generation never gets outdoors.

Comment Re:Why has no one made a video game museum? (Score 2, Interesting) 177

But you can't have it legally on your home built MAME machine (at least with EVERY game you could think of). The various MAME cabinets that you see in arcades get most of the popular ones though, and you can buy those machines.

Buying old broken machines allows you to do a full restoration, exempting hardware, that flawlessly plays classic games. When you buy the machine with the ROMs, or a machine from an owner you bequeaths you all rights including his right to all information on the ROMs all lost parts, et cetera, then get the right to run the game. You can buy a crapped out box and gain the legal rights to a full restoration in a commercial or private environment. Someone could probably make a hand-some amount of money selling replica machines with the rights they gain. One could even secure the old ROMs inside a new case as proof of its legality. Emulation has made it so some of the very fun cult classics could make their way back into bars, or even in gamer cafe's. One game on a machine, period. Mastering a really hard game makes one want to play more. Anyone who has ever played Defender:Stargate understands the urge to pump in more quarters to get a shot at them Yllabians.

Comment I would love it (Score 1) 165

This would be awesome. Simply set up a web page where people can donate to help you carry out your messianic duties, sit back, and collect a shit load of cash.

It would be no worse than what the fifty churches in my town do. Plus instead of using the money for purely evil reasons you could do the world favor and donate it to the ACLU, Richard Dawkins Foundation For Reason and Science, the Reason Project, or cancer research. There are a millions things that could be done with that money, after taking a hefty sum for yourself, of course.

Comment Perception (Score 3, Insightful) 422

It is all just people's perception. A videogame can't be too expensive, but it damn well better work so the market pushes high quality at low prices. In the medical world we expect devices to cost out of the ass and be complex. That is the exact opposite of the videogame, or rather, the general technology world. It is about time there is direct market competition with the medical device manufactures who rip us off and overcharge for clunky hard to use equipment that doesn't work that well in the first place.

Comment Protest To The School (Score 5, Informative) 687

What we should all do is send letters of protest to the school. I have just written them asking them to apologize to the student and his family. I have suggested that the vice principal in question should be counseled on the proper way to react in such a situation. I know the chances of the school issuing an apology is low, but enough of public pressure will eventually force them to. And anyone who lives near this school should be their for the next board meeting to protest what has been done. You can contact them here: http://www.mtechmiddle.org/apps/contact/

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