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Comment: wmfire (Score 1) 191

by davek (#39064673) Attached to: WindowMaker Development Resumes, Has First Release Since 2006

I love WindowMaker. Monitors are square, therefore my persistent icons and helper apps should be square also. It's the best way to manage desktop real estate. And it's lightening fast. I'm very gracious that the project continues on.

wmtop, wmblob, wmcalclock, wmjazz, wmbinclock, wmchess, wmcube, wmtetris, wmgrav, I can't get enough!

Now, if only I could find a version of `wmfire` that actually works, I'd be 100x more productive!

Comment: Typical Chuck U. Response (Score 3, Insightful) 564

by davek (#39044257) Attached to: Female Passengers Say They Were Targeted For TSA Body Scanners

After hearing the claims, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced plans to introduce legislation that would require the presence of "passenger advocates" at airports to deal with complaints like these.

Typical Chuck U. response: the cure for problems in a power-drunk federal bureaucracy is... MORE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY!

Sometimes I'm really ashamed to be a New Yorker.

Comment: MOD PARENT UP: religious zealots (Score 0, Offtopic) 356

by davek (#38907003) Attached to: Is the Earth Gaining Or Losing Mass?

OP is correct. Going into an experiment with a preconceived bias isn't science, it's politics:

as the temperature of the Earth goes up, energy is added to the system, so the mass must go up.

But from TFA:

So taking into account the gains and the losses, Dr Smith reckons the Earth is getting about 50,000 tonnes lighter a year.

So AGW isn't happening, then?

Comment: Re:This reminds me.... (Score 1) 646

by davek (#38548624) Attached to: How Doctors Die

What you are missing is....wrong about what? Wrong about the christian god? Wrong about zeus? Wrong about Jupiter Optimus Maximus? Wrong about the Hindu pantheon? Which one might I be wrong about?

But more to the point...I could be wrong about any of them, thats not what I am talking about. I am saying, in my own mind, there is nothing to doubt. Nothing to be wrong about.

Quite a convenient logical scaffolding you've built there, isn't it? You don't care about the question, therefore the question doesn't exist. First, I'm not arguing about the superiority of any religion's god. I know my beliefs are true by faith, and as a Presbyterian, I know that only God can change your mind, not me. To me, God is obvious because we are here. To an "atheist," their god is themselves or the unquestionable sovereignty of the state. As the philosopher said, "if god didn't exist, it would be necessary for people to invent him." It's human nature. Natural law. Truths that are "self evident." All this points to a sovereign being greater than ourselves.

If there is no god, then there is likewise no judgement. Justice cannot exist. The law is in vain. How can one live with that?

I suggest you amend your hypothesis to explain why religious people DO spend more time and money on prolonging life because... thats exactly what the data finds.

I have no idea where this data is coming from. I'm speaking only from my own experience in my church and other PCA congregations with whom I'm familiar. If you define "religious" as "not atheist", then yes, I can see your point. A catholic will prolong life to make sure they have their checklist of things done to make sure they don't go to purgatory. A muslim fears that god will be in a "bad mood" when they die, and will damn them to hell just for the fun of it. A communist fears that their legacy of serving the state will be tarnished, and will fight to stay alive as long as possible.

This is why I said you must be looking at false religions. True religion believes in victory over death, and the irresistible grace of God that will present us worthy to be in God's presence. Does that mean we should commit suicide or live recklessly to get into heaven sooner? Not at all. God expects us to work in this world for His purpose for as long as He intends, not one moment less.. or more.

Comment: Re:This reminds me.... (Score 2) 646

by davek (#38530728) Attached to: How Doctors Die

I think that is a lot of it. Other studies have found that the groups who spend the most on healthcare at the end, and spend the most time in hospital beds prolonging life are... the religious people. Atheists are much more in line with doctors. Why?

I think you've been looking at false religions. In my experience, religious people believe they have victory over death, and don't fear it. In fact, keeping someone alive artificially is more of an affront to "God's Will" than anything else. Those who are the most afraid of death are those who would advocate suicide & euthanasia, because they want to get it over with. Religious people don't fear it, therefore they let nature take its course.

For me as an atheist, whats to doubt? If there is an afterlife, great....but a heaven one seems just as unlikely as a hell. We literally have nothing to worry about.

Unless you're wrong, of course.

Hardware

Nanowires enable low-power 10nm 3D transistors->

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes "When it comes to 3D transistors, you’ve probably heard of FinFET — the 3D, “Tri-gate” transistors that are taking Intel (and eventually other silicon foundries) to 22nm and beyond — but now a research team from Harvard and Purdue have forsaken silicon entirely and created a 3D transistor out of nanowires. These new transistors will get us to the 10nm mark, beyond silicon’s theoretical 14nm limit. In a conventional 3D FinFET, the individual components are much the same as a standard, flat, MOSFET, but in Harvard and Purdue’s transistor, nanowires made of an indium gallium arsenide alloy replaces the silicon fin, and ALD is used to deposit a high-k dielectric. Indium gallium arsenide has higher electron mobility, requires less voltage to switch, and is capable of higher switching frequencies. Chips made with these nanowire transistors would require less power, generate less heat, and thus provide another boost in the battery life of mobile computers, and a reduction in weight."
Link to Original Source

Slashdot Poll 3

Submitted by Nom du Keyboard
Nom du Keyboard writes "How many incandescent light bulbs have you replaced in your house with fluorescent equivalents?

None – and never will.
1-2
3-5
6-10
10-20
>20
Waiting for LEDs/Light Bulb Next.
I use pre-incandescent lighting technology"

Ask Slashdot: Which mobile app platform agnostic s

Submitted by awjr
awjr writes "It's a choice I have been considering for some time, and I think it has come down to either Appcelerator or Phonegap. There are advantages in both but mostly I feel I am sacrificing performance over re-usability (as well as cost as Appcelerator realistically can only be developed on a Mac). I'm also not sure if I am being too narrow in my list of candidates. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!"

Library of Congress to receive entire Twitter arch->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes ""The Library of Congress and Twitter have signed an agreement that will see an archive of every public Tweet ever sent handed over to the library's repository of historical documents.

"We have an agreement with Twitter where they have a bunch of servers with their historic archive of tweets, everything that was sent out and declared to be public," said Bill Lefurgy, the digital initiatives program manager at the library's national digital information infrastructure and preservation program. The archives don't contain tweets that users have protected, but everything else â" billions and billions of tweets â" are there. " ...
"Researchers will be able to look at the Twitter archive as a complete set of data, which they could then data-mine for interesting information.""
Link to Original Source

Good day for overcoming obstacles. Try a steeplechase.