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Comment Re:With the right training, huh? (Score 1) 347

The second bomb was unnecessary as surrender talks were already underway.

This statement contradicts everything I have ever read or watched about WWII. There is no support for this on Wikipedia (which clearly states that the emperor interceded after the second nuke), or anywhere else that I can find. Do you have a citation for this claim that "surrender talks were already underway"?

In July, the Japanese had tried to enlist the Soviets as an intermediary to negotiate an end to the war. But no talks were started because the Soviets were already making secret plans to abrogate the friendship pact and attack the Japanese in Manchuria and Sakhalin.

Even after the second nuke, a majority of the Japanese cabinet supported continuing the war. In his memoirs, Mitsumasa Yonai, the Japanese naval minister and close adviser to the emperor, described the bombings as a "divine gift" because they gave the emperor a face saving way to end the war. He felt that otherwise the war would have otherwise dragged on, with disastrous consequences for the Japanese people.

Comment Re:With the right training, huh? (Score 1) 347

The nuclear bombs at the end of WWII were unnecessary.

So we should have instead continued incinerating Japanese cities with conventional firebombs? That was killing far more people than the nukes. The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, beginning on August 9th, also killed far more Japanese than the nukes. That might have been prevented if we had used the nukes a few weeks earlier.

They were merely a demonstration to the newly perceived threat of the USSR

How many lives were saved by sending a clear message to Joseph Stalin? The history of Manchuria, as well as Europe, might have been very different. Prior to the dropping of the nukes, Stalin was pushing for the Soviet Red Army to participate in the occupation of Japan, including Hokkaido and northern Honshu. That could have ended in a "north" and "south" Japan, just like we have today in Korea.

Comment Re:With the right training, huh? (Score 4, Insightful) 347

So why don't we do that instead of electing them to public office or making them executives in the banking industry?

Because there is evidence that psychopaths actually make better leaders. There was an article about this a couple months ago in the Economist. By ignoring the suffering of individuals, psychopaths are able to focus on bold action for the greater good. This is especially apparent in war time, where compassionate leaders are often dithering and indecisive, leading to a prolonged war and many more deaths and wounds than needed.

Comment Re:If you can't trust the authenticity of the sign (Score 3, Funny) 218

(1) A particular section of a highway measured as to distance and with boundaries marked, designated, or otherwise determined in order that the speed of a vehicle may be calculated by securing the time it takes the vehicle to travel the known distance.

Speed traps are illegal in California.

As they should be. The problem with any automated system is they treat middle class white people the same as the blacks and teenagers that the cops are supposed to be focusing on. We can't allow that.

Comment Re:and a change of clothes (Score 1) 205

And because they probably expect to get him anyway.

Or because they want him to get away. Of course they have to put on a show of trying to get him, but do they really want to? The "Snowden Affair" is quietly fading away, with all the NSA spying intact. Bringing him back to the USA for a trial would put the issue back on the front page. The government prefers that we all focus on Will and Kate's new baby instead.

Comment Re:Old Joke (Score 1, Insightful) 270

Recall that DC voters re-elected Marion Barry.

DC voters don't like to get pushed around by the federal government, and they get pushed a lot. Marion Barry was a scoundrel, but he was sent to prison in what was a clear case of entrapment by federal agents. They were almost certainly targeting him because of his politics. How many other citizens have been handed free unsolicited cocaine by the US government? His reelection was just DC voters giving congress the finger.

Comment Re:IQ intellectuals (Score 2) 270

IQ tests are meaningless.

Baloney. IQ tests may not precisely measure "intelligence", but they are clearly measuring something. IQ scores are strongly correlated with economic success (higher salaries and lower unemployment), reduction in criminal behavior, and better health. Things that lead to higher IQ scores tend to raise these correlated factors as well, whether it is better nutrition, less lead exposure, or even coaching on the thinking skills required for the test (which seems to indicate that good "test taking skills" are actually broadly useful critical thinking skills).

Comment Re:derp.... (Score 4, Interesting) 270

It's also interesting that IQ scores tend to be spread that way as well.

IQ scores tend to be correlated with a history of urbanization and economic specialization. In a primitive society, innovation and original thinking are unlikely to lead to any benefit, and might lead to a disaster such as a crop failure or empty snares. But in an urbanized society with specialized jobs, successful ideas can be leveraged for disproportionate benefit. East Asia had large urban populations long before the West. In Europe, Jews were urbanized during the middle ages when almost everyone else was a rural serf. East Asians have average IQ scores about 5 points higher than Europeans, and Ashkenazi Jews are higher still.

Comment Re:Not the only public health benefit. (Score 5, Informative) 270

What kind of parasites, and why did they have more of them than damnyankees? Serious question.

A number of energy and grown sapping diseases, such as malaria and yellow fever, were common in the American South in the 19th century, but uncommon in the North. But the biggest culprit was probably hookworms, which cause "intellectual, cognitive and growth retardation". Average IQ in the South increased significantly as hookworms were eradicated in the early 20th century.

We might get another gain if we eradicate toxoplasmosis, a parasite spread by cats. It is believed by some to depress intelligence and novelty seeking behavior in humans.

Comment Re:derp.... (Score 4, Interesting) 270

excessive salt in the diet is NOT a problem for many/most people, but only those sensitive to it.

People with West African ancestory (as most African-Americans are) tend to be the most sensitive. East Asians tend to be the least sensitive. People of European descent tend to be in the middle. This correlates well with areas where salt was historically rare/common. In West Africa, salt was often brought in caravans across the Sahara, and was very expensive, and thus unavailable to common people. In China, for centuries, even peasants could afford to drench their food in salt-laden soy sauce.

Comment Re:Lots of fabs have closed (Score 1) 118

A lot of companies that used to maintain their own fabs have closed them over the years.

That is part of the "problem". But I think a bigger part is the rise of SOCs and FPGAs, which have become far more powerful, while falling in price. Many applications that would have required an ASIC in the past, can now be done by configuring a SOC or programming an FPGA.

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