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Comment Re:The true believer (Score 1) 1328

And we all know what happens when scientists try to mix science and religion... they just end up pissing the priests off, and you don't want to see what happens when a priest gets pissed off... he takes it out on poor little Timmy, the church Alter Boy in a way that we don't want to see.

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Man Sues Neighbor For Not Turning Off His Wi-Fi 428

Scyth3 writes "A man is suing his neighbor for not turning off his cell phone or wireless router. He claims it affects his 'electromagnetic allergies,' and has resorted to being homeless. So, why doesn't he check into a hotel? Because hotels typically have wireless internet for free. I wonder if a tinfoil hat would help his cause?"

Comment Re:Translation into sensible units (Score 1) 305

Umm is that the American definition of 1 trillion and 1 billion (1x10^12, 1x10^9 respectively) or the British definition of 1 trillion and 1 billion (1x10^18, 1x10^12 respectively)?

This could be the difference between ground breaking research and a black hole that swallows us up. Remember the infamous Mars probe that crashed because NASA couldn't convert betweem the Imperial and SI systems.

Comment Consider this.... (Score 1) 258

As a resident of Canada who has faithfully obtained the seasonal influenza vaccination nearly every year for the last 5 years, and the son of someone who works in the our provincial healthcare field, let me raise the following points about this study and the way vaccinations work in Canada, because it is entirely different that in the US or perhaps other areas of the world.

In Canada, it can be rather difficult to obtain the season influenza vaccination, since there tends to be a shortage every year. This means that people who are in at risk groups receive it first. These high risk groups include 1. Canadians aged 65 and over, 2. People with immunodeficiency diseases such as AIDS, HIV, etc., 3. People with diseases such as cancer, and 4. People with chronic conditions/diseases such as asthma, etc.

Canadians under the age of 65 with normal immune systems, and no diseases do not as easy access to seasonal influenza. I find it exceedingly hard to believe that he sample space is 12 million people as there are only 33 million Canadians. You can't tell me that an combined number of 12 million Canadians have received the seasonal influenza vaccination and/or received swine flu to allow this study to be possible. I propose the following reasons for people who received the vaccination are twice as likely are for the same reasons some people in Canada get "first dibs" on getting the vaccination in the first place.

Security

Submission + - World's strongest "laser beam" unveiled 1

EEGeek writes: "The world's most powerful "laser beam", created to help keep tabs on the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile while also studying the heavens, has been unveiled. The super laser, known officially as the National Ignition Facility, was unveiled Friday at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory about 80 kilometres east of San Francisco. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., were among thousands of people in attendance at the ceremony."

Comment Is a pandemic really something to be worried about (Score 3, Insightful) 216

People seem to panic when they hear the word pandemic. What people are not realizing is the true definition of a pandemic. It is simply a disease or sickness that is prevalent around the globe. The swine flu can go panemic, and may not kill very many people.

It seems that most people (with the exception of the 1 child in Texas that was visiting from Mexico) show relatively mild symptoms, and recover fairly quickly from this. You need to ask yourself why numerous people in Mexico die from this, and virtual no one else outside of Mexico are affected other than a few mild symptoms? (My city has around 20 cases, all have recovered at home, or are recovering, nobody hospitalized). There are a few possibilities, 1. Mexico is a third world nation and doesn't have the level of health care that US, Canada, Europe, etc have, 2. The virus may have mutated to a more mild version, 3. Mexicans have a genetic weakness to this influenza.

The media and the WHO seem to be panicing over this, but if this is a more mild form and spreads easily, why not test our defences against a true pandemic such as H5N1 that kills virtually 100% of people who contract it? This is a great way to see if we're ready to battle a pandemic.

I for one am not scared... then again the first wave of the 1918 Spanish Flu was mild, 2nd and 3rd waves killed 100 million world wide...

Comment Re:spectrum (Score 1) 859

For some reason, my skin looks, I don't know, pale green under CFLs. I'm sticking with incandescent lights in my bachelor pad. Can't look bad in front of the ladies...

What ladies? You read Slashdot and post to it. Therefore, you probably don't "get ladies". If you look pale green you could look like some kind of sci-fi alien.

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