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Comment Re:Misguided (Score 3, Informative) 217

First, he was 100% correct about cancer. Second, even if he doesn't know how homeopathy works, I do, and it doesn't. This is how homeopathic "medicines" (no, they aren't medicine; I'm not even willing to just put medicine in scare quotes and leave it at that. It must be said explicitly, homeopathy is not medicine; it is water.) are made:

1: Put random shit in bottle. Set counter C to 0.
2: Dilute 100:1 with water.
3: Shake solution up and down ten times.
4: Shake solution side to side ten times.
5: Shake solution back to front ten times.
6: Tap bottle of solution on a Bible (King James preferred for some reason) ten times.
7: Increase C by 1.
8. GOTO step 2 until C is 30 (or whatever number you prefer).

The interesting thing here is that by 13C or so, there's no way that there's any of the original substance left unless you poured some 1C in the ocean and smacked it up a few times with a Bible. At 14C, you're lucky if you got a single molecule. Beyond there it's just gone. So unless Jesus comes down from Heaven to make water into medicine every time you shake a bottle and beat a Bible with it, homeopathy is nothing. See this website for more details: http://www.howdoeshomeopathywork.com/

Comment Re:and undergrad biochem class teaches us... (Score 1) 152

I found it in three seconds by asking Aunt Google. It varies by type but is generally around 920 kg/m^3. Given 7-9 kcal/g (since I'm not sure what a cm^4 would be anyway, I'll assume that was a typo), Aunt Google says 6.44 - 8.28 kcal/cm^3. Of course, she also said that 3.94 (kcal / g) * (1.58700 (g / (cm^3))) = 6.25278 kcal / (cm^3), which makes oil practically the same to around 20% better.

Privacy

FBI Launches $1 Billion Nationwide Face Recognition System 188

MrSeb writes "The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun rolling out its new $1 billion biometric Next Generation Identification (NGI) system. In essence, NGI is a nationwide database of mugshots, iris scans, DNA records, voice samples, and other biometrics that will help the FBI identify and catch criminals — but it is how this biometric data is captured, through a nationwide network of cameras and photo databases, that is raising the eyebrows of privacy advocates. Until now, the FBI relied on IAFIS, a national fingerprint database that has long been due an overhaul. Over the last few months, the FBI has been pilot testing a face recognition system, which will soon be scaled up (PDF) until it's nationwide. In theory, this should result in much faster positive identifications of criminals and fewer unsolved cases. The problem is, the FBI hasn't guaranteed that the NGI will only use photos of known criminals. There may come a time when the NGI is filled with as many photos as possible, from as many sources as possible, of as many people as possible — criminal or otherwise. Imagine if the NGI had full access to every driving license and passport photo in the country — and DNA records kept by doctors, and iris scans kept by businesses. The FBI's NGI, if the right checks and balances aren't in place, could very easily become a tool that decimates civilian privacy and freedom."

Comment Re:Hmmm... (Score 1) 113

My schools rely on Blackboard too, and most of my classmates hate it. I find it to be quite useful, when used correctly. Grades go on BB, as should homework submission, quizzes and tests for most subjects (watch out for formatting issues with code snippets, profs who give CS quizzes on BB), and course documents (assignment spec sheets, syllabuses, etc.). What shouldn't go on BB? Discussions. Seriously. BB's "forums" are shit. They're a pain in the ass to read, a pain in the ass to post, and a pain in the ass to everything else in. Don't use the discussion forums. A privately run phpBB forum or old school listserv/majordomo would be a million times better.

Comment Re:Why hasn't this pushed the stock price up? (Score 2) 300

It did. By several dollars. On Friday the stock was only trading in the $18 range. Today it's been in the low 20s, closing just shy of $20. In fact, Yahoo, right on the linked page, says it's up 2.35 from Friday's close, more than 13%. I'd say that's up quite a bit.

Oh, now I see the source of the confusion. That 24-26 range in the summary is the range that the Best Buy founder offered to pay to buy out the company, not the actual price of the stock.

Comment Re:Implications (Score 5, Informative) 221

I would wager that in 1776 well over 50% of the population of the nascent United States of America was willing to outright defy the ruling government, while somewhere north of 90% of the remainder at least supported said dissidents.

And you'd be wrong. It's widely accepted that only 1/5 of population were rebels. Another 1/5 were loyalists. The remaining 3/5 were neutral (with a number joining one army or the other for purely economic reasons without actually believing in one side or another). We only won because England was at war with everyone else at the same time.

Comment Re:I just flip the bottle upside down (Score 2) 292

Oddly, those red bottles prevent that. (I manage a restaurant) Now we just wait for them to empty and then get a new one. Since we don't have to worry about the crappy look of an empty ketchup bottle, we no longer even consider combining bottles. Besides, the health inspector would shit a brick if he ever caught you doing it. At most restaurants that have ketchup on the table, the stuff moves so fast, there's no worrying about spoiled ketchup anyway. I have 30 tables, and I use 60 bottles of ketchup per week, and we specialize in breakfast, not burgers and fries, just to give some perspective.

Comment Re:Free software wouldn't have helped (Score 2) 807

I believe that's argument from incredulity. It's usual form is something like, "This guy's ideas are wrong because he can't properly format a hyperlink and is therefore retarded and because of his idiocy his ideas are also wrong." While it's true the GGP can't properly format hyperlinks, that doesn't make his conclusions wrong; it just makes him either stupid, ignorant or lazy.

Comment Re:Dude, that's lame (Score 1) 123

Generally that problem can be solved with 36 inch flexible drill bits (they exist and are awesome and not too expensive), maybe some flexible drill bit extenders (you may need the equivalent of a 100 inch drill bit), and some fishtape. Usually, you just drill down until you hit the unfinished part of your basement, or you drill over until you hit an air duct and run plenum rated through that with the fishtape.

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I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning. -- Plato

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