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Technology

Submission + - GE develops quiet, slim piezoelectric cooler for your next ultraslim tablet. (cnet.com)

postermmxvicom writes: In just a couple of years, your next ultra portable might be sporting GE's new dual-piezoelectric cooling jets. These new cooling devices, called DCJs, are much slimmer than current coolers and since they lack fans, they are also quieter. Here is a demo of the technology implemented in an Ultrabook.

Comment Keyboard-mouse is inferior and outdated. (Score 1, Funny) 173

True fps masters shun keyboard-mouse and use mouse-mouse. With keyboard-mouse you only have unlimited turning speed. But with mouse-mouse you have unlimited turning speed and unlimited *movement* speed! Any good player can then twitch instantly through any level. Meanwhile the knuckle-dragging keyboard users have to press a button to move. Those noobs don't have a chance. Let alone the console mouth-breathers who have to press a stick to move and press a stick to turn. Lol. Noobs.

Comment Mouse+keyboard is different, not better. (Score 1) 368

Mouse+keyboard is different, not better. It gives you (virtually) unlimited turning speed. This makes FPS's play *differently* - not better. Twitch FPS's can be fun, but it can also be loads of fun to play an FPS with limited turning speeds.

Every game is like this. All games have arbitrary rules. Good games have them tuned so players can enjoy the competition. What you are suggesting is like saying, bicycle races aren't fun, because motorcycles have been *proven* to beat them.
Education

Submission + - What are good books/kits/tools for skilled/learning software/hardware hobbyist?

postermmxvicom writes: I have a friend who is a mechanic, but enjoys tinkering with software and hardware as a hobby. I want to get him a gift that will either broaden his horizons or deepen his understanding in these fields. He is proficient at soldering components and removing them from circuit boards. His programming experience is with a wide variety of scripting languages. He recently used teensy and arduino boards and an accelerometer to add some bells and whistles to a toy car he made. He also used his knowledge to help a friend find and correct weaknesses in his shareware (that would have let 'customers' share more freely than intended). He is fascinated that people can create chips to modify existing hardware. Do you know of any good books or kits (or even tools of the trade) that would appeal to a hobbyist and allow him to grow? Is there anything that might also play off of his handyman/mechanic abilities?

Comment There are all kinds of smarts (Score 1) 488

I've got students who lament their lack of prowess. They have to work very hard for every A or B they earn and are discouraged by those who breeze by without any effort. I try to console them. I tell them that they are learning how to work hard, which is at least as important (possibly more so) than being 'smart'. I tell them I've seen 'smart' kids who never learned how to work hard and went nowhere in life. I tell them getting to work and solving a problem is more valuable to an employer than being able to solve a problem quicker, but not having the discipline or follow through to do so. Of course, some kids are both smart and hard working and my hat is off to them.

Bottom line: knowing how to work is a kind of smartness that is no less valuable than book smarts.

Comment Thank you (Score 1) 1486

Thanks for a well written commentary on the posts being made. I was quite saddened by the underlying ignorance in many of the highly rated posts. Many of them sounded as ignorant and hysterical as Jenny McCarthy telling us that vaccines cause autism.

Comment falsifiability (Score 1) 1251

I have a question about 'falsifiability'. How is evolution or the big bang falsifiable in a practical sense. If tomorrow, the LHC finds a particle which thoroughly smashed the standard model and any major competing theories, we wouldn't say "Aha! the big bang is wrong!" We would just retool our theories to meet current data. Or if a fossil shows up in the wrong layer or dates to the wrong time, we wouldn't say "Aha! Evolution is wrong!" We would just retool our theory to fit the current data.

Now I am not some super genius, so it is highly likely that you can pick apart my specific examples I tried to use to frame my question. I ask you to try to understand the spirit of my question and answer accordingly even if my ignorance has framed my question poorly.

Comment politics (Score 1) 119

This has been discussed many times here. It goes something like this: Carter [or whoever] made an executive order that says we can't use the stuff, because, in doing so, we would be able to make more nuclear weapons material or something. So, the stuff is really useful, but we aren't legally allowed to use it. So it is only waste in a legal sense. tl;dr if this was China [or some other developing country or France probably] we would be using it. Also, all of the above was reconstructed from my memory of barely read posts about this, so don't take it as gospel, but it should be enough to help you find the real answer on google or something.

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