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Comment: Re:Science! (Score 2) 57

by Frnknstn (#38810101) Attached to: Princeton Team Casts More Doubt On Arsenic DNA Claims

You are incorrect. Evidence can have varying levels of quality. You get weak evidence, you get strong evidence, and you can also get extraordinary evidence.

If any hypothesis is well-supported by established theory, it is only necessary for there to be mediocre evidence for it. In the absence of any reasonable alternative, it can then be accepted as correct, because it is backed not only by that weak evidence but also by all the strong evidence that supports the established theory.

If a hypothesis contradicts established theory, the evidence for it must be particularly strong. Accepted theory is based on the BALANCE of evidence being in favour of one hypothesis over another.

There is always at least some evidence to support a crackpot claim, otherwise that claim would never have been made. To simply abandon a theory because another theory has some evidence to support it is pure folly. The only reasonable action is to compare the sum of evidence for competing theories.

(Upon re-examining your post, it seems possible that you are mistakenly taking the phrase 'extraordinary evidence' to mean 'evidence of something extraordinary', it isn't clear. If so, you have completely misunderstood the grandparent post.)

Comment: Re:For the internet age? (Score 2) 61

by Frnknstn (#38173516) Attached to: Toy Story Meets Google Street View

That's not all! Windows 95 was released without a spreadsheet application or presentation package installed! Clearly, the "business age" hadn't started yet, either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Plus!

Obviously, having TCP/IP support enabled by default for all your network devices is a fundamental part of Internet access. How else could people in 1995 utilize the cable-provider broadband connections in their home?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-to-Point_Protocol

(For those of you who are a bit slower, my point is that the reason the web browser or many other applications designed for the Internet were not installed in Windows by default, is that Microsoft was still hoping they were products they could sell to you.

TCP was not enabled on LAN interfaces by default because IPX was the most common LAN protocol at the time. Of course, any modems you installed DID have PPP enabled to tunnel the TCP/IP traffic over to your ISP)

Comment: Re:Several thoughts on this rather positive trend (Score 1) 201

by Frnknstn (#38114660) Attached to: 'Arrested Development' Comes Exclusively To Netflix

Don't you even read the links you post? 'Copyleft' is a subset of 'Copyright'. Copyleft works because of copyright.

the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work

Comment: Re:Battery problem? (Score 1) 315

by Frnknstn (#37940328) Attached to: Apple Acknowledges iPhone 4S Battery Problems

If he won't, I might...

"A small number of customers have reported lower-than-expected battery life on iOS 5 devices," Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison said in a statement to All Things Digital. "We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life, and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks."

That is very different to "saying they've found software issues causing a problem". That's more like saying "Look, we have found a couple of tweaks to slightly lower the usage of some apps, but that's all we can do. People are just going to have to get real with their battery life expectations."

Comment: Re:Pax Romana (Score 1) 386

by Frnknstn (#37802296) Attached to: US Troops To Leave Iraq By End of Year

you said:

[quote]How does going into a war mean a period of peace?[quote]

That is what I disagree with. The [i]pax romana[/i] was won by agressive expansionism, and wars to pacify the provinces. That placed it in a state where peace could largely be enjoyed throughout the empire.

It could therfore be argued that the war in Afganistan could mark the start of a [i]pax americana[/i].

Of course, the peace was kept through propaganda and social engineering, but that's a story for another time.

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