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Comment Re:Missing the obvious? (Score 1) 183

And it was obvious enough for an undergrad to discover. Even though it passed the (at the time) tried and true methods that proved the fitness of many designs. It even became a cautionary tale that improved our procedures without the building falling down and killing people (which I find to be the truly amazing part of this story).

However, your lego example could point out why wind wasn't tested at the corners. In pushing over legos you assume a constant force from any direction (since you're pushing with your hand/foot/whatever). But wind produces considerably less force at angles. How would you blow over a lego tower? Your first obvious choice might be to try directly at the sides.

Comment Verification Time (Score 4, Insightful) 332

I'm still concerned with the verification time required to show that double spending hasn't happened. It's simple to double spend bitcoins, though within 20 minutes or so the blockchain will show which transaction went through. This means bitcoins can be used for online orders (as long as the seller is trusted because no chargebacks), but waiting around at the Target checkout for 20 minutes can't happen, at least with only direct bitcoin transfers. You could have a processor guarantee with more information to save time, but that's more like an already existing debit account and less like the bitcoin transfers people are excited about.

Comment Re:Mediocrity in Academics (Score 1) 194

And while the current reality isn't exactly new, we're creating new ways to understand and handle it. Can subpar research and publication be harnessed to advance us or is it just a drag? Is more education in our current model helpful to the new masses of PhDs? What does that do for science? Society? Not everyone uses their high school education in their jobs or really needs to even be literate, but it's made our society better in many ways to educate as many people as we do today. There's so many cool questions about what this is today that we're seeing and what it means and what we can do with it!

Comment Re:Officer dickhead is a dickhead. (Score 1) 1440

They changed the law in 2012 to limit it to texting. So they've fixed the law. Now they need to fix the officer enforcing what's no longer a law.

Current: http://web.lexisnexis.com/research/xlink?app=00075&view=full&interface=1&docinfo=off&searchtype=get&search=O.C.G.A.+%A7+40-6-241.2

Comment Re:touch-typing? (Score 2) 240

I can, and it's a pretty useful skill for someone who lives in a cubicle all workweek. I've been surprised at people who've spent 20+ years in front of computers and never learned to type without staring at the keyboard and pecking with one or two fingers. Like my father who learned drafting in college where I learned CAD, and the always in front of your own computer thing showed up during his career. It doesn't take long to learn, but apparently you do have to try to learn.

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