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Comment Re:don't use biometrics (Score 4, Interesting) 328

Seriously. A friend of mine had his ex-wife (they're on good terms) send him a picture of their daughter, who was something like 4 at the time. The girl was riding a toy horse, and but for a cowboy hat was buck naked. The ex thought it was cute; my friend was upset that she would encourage things like that. I told him to get that picture the fuck off his phone before he gets pulled over (he had a lead foot and a weed habit), arrested, and the cops find a photo like that on his phone. He saw the wisdom in that right away.

You can't be too careful. There are cops and attorneys at the D.A.'s office who like nothing better than to put the screws to people, at the smallest provocation; and in this "zero tolerance" world, you're guilty until you prove yourself innocent.

Comment iPhone 4S (Score 1) 258

I just traded in my iPhone 4S last weekend. I ended up getting an iPhone 5S. The 6 is just too big, if you ask me. And, honestly, if Apple had offered a 4S form factor with upgraded innards, I very well may have bought that. I liked the heft of the 4S, and I much prefer having the headphone jack at the top of the phone rather than at the bottom.

A big reason I upgraded was because I realized my phone was getting a little bit long in the tooth, and I worried that there was no way I could wait two more years to see what Apple came out with next. If that were another big phone, I'd be SOL. I got last year's phone in self-defense.

Comment Why a pill and not an enema? (Score 1) 135

Call me a conspiracy nut, or whatever you want; but I question what's going on here. Is there someone with a background that can explain?

A fecal transplant can be done with an enema, and my understanding is that it's quite effective. But some doctors aren't interested, preferring either to deliver the dose via a colonoscopy or endoscopy. My father had C. Diff last year, but began to get nauseated when they tried putting tubes up his nose. So the doctor was going to recommend as an alternative—and I swear this is true—that my father mix feces up in a blender with yogurt and eat it. WTF!

If you ask me, an enema can be done by a nurse, or even at home, for next to nothing. There's no money in that for the doctor, like there is with a colonoscopy, for instance. Now there's a little pill: meaning, that drug companies can get rich, rather than pharmacies selling enema kits for $15 a pop. Isn't that what's going on?

Am I wrong here? I'd love to have someone tell me—with documentation—that enemas are ineffective and that pills and medical procedures are actually the best way, but I'm skeptical. I think there's more economics behind these courses of treatment than there is medicine.

Comment Re:This device is not new or interesting (Score 4, Interesting) 651

People with a need for untraceable guns [...]

People, like, the police, for instance?

My uncle, long retired from the NYPD and now dead several years, told me a long time ago that smart cops carry a "throwaway." A throwaway is a small handgun that cannot be traced back to you. Should you happen to shoot dead a denizen of the 'hood you work in, and the shooting might be deemed questionable, you take your throwaway and plant it on the dead guy. Then, there's no question about why you had to shoot him.

Now, I realize we're only 3-D printing AR-15's at this point, and no one can keep one of those in his sock; but one day all sorts of guns will be able to be printed. The cops will be just as happy about this as the mafiosi and cartel kingpins.

Comment Re:Why are you in charge of the decision? (Score 0) 316

Although I am well-versed in C, I have thus-far avoided C++, C# and Java [...]

It's amazing to think there is someone like this in 2014. It's like those stories they used to tell of Japanese soldiers stranded on Pacific Islands, back in the '50s and '60s, who allegedly had no idea WWII had ended. In all honesty, I find it almost easier to believe in the stories about the Japanese soldiers.

Comment Switcheroo (Score 1) 541

I do not believe you did this on purpose, but you switched contexts during your argument. First, you stated that race does not exist at the "biological" level; and then you went on to say, presumably as an explanation, that there is "no genetic trait" behind race. Those two statements are not the same thing. I recall that when the human genome project was completed, scientists stated that one of the things they determined is that genes, by themselves, cannot account for all of the variability among human beings; and, thus, the field of epigenetics took off.

What goes on at what you call the "genetic" level is not the last word on biology. If at the genetic level race is not distinct, that does not mean there is no biological cause behind race.

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