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Comment Re:Bad science (Score 2, Insightful) 198

One of the biggest and most improbable is the existence of Israel against all odds, exactly as it has been foretold thousands of years ago will happen.

Firstly, it is very possible that the people who instated Israel as a state were influenced by the prophesy of it's existence.
Secondly, Asteroids have hit before and will hit again, it is only the size of the asteroid and time from now until the hit that are variable.
Third, The bible is anecdote and not a good historical record. Therefore any "prophesies" within cannot be independantly verified and "The bible is right because it says so in the bible" is very flawed logic.
Finally, the reason that Jerusalem is so contentious is because of superstitious people putting too much faith in a book. There is absolutely nothing special about Jerusalem other than the billions of people who think that it is "holy" and cry out when zoning changes are made.
Do not confuse scientific predictions with mythology, they are not the same thing.

Comment Re:Maybe the measurements are wrong or incomplete (Score 1) 436

Or all the planets 1 through 1000.

That's right, if we observe n planets, and there are still at least (n - 1) * 1000 planets that are unobserved, then the 1 in 1000 model might still be correct!

That is, even if every single one of the 1000 planets that we observe display a "1 in 1000" characteristic, the next 999,000 we see might not show that characteristic and therefore hold up the "1 in 1000", or we might go 1,000,000 planets seeing it, and then the next 999,000,000 without...

Comment Re:.. with one of their trademark images .. (Score 1) 94

DSL Modem is going through a firewall/router that's not set up to forward BT ports? I'm not familiar with your setup, but in my experience dialup was always straight to the computer (windows firewall etc, where Azureus could ask for permission) where DSL was usually on a LAN setup with a router (which usually contains a builtin firewall)...

Comment Re:Feedback (Score 1) 167

I agree.

If you get busted stealing, then your account gets "suspended" while you're in jail (but you have to keep paying your subscription). Repeat offense = longer sentence. Perhaps lighter sentences for lower level thieves to allow people to "get into" thievery.

This makes it very unattractive to become a thief, but mirrors real life better. Unfortunately, it may make the game a lot less fun.

Shopkeepers spend their MMO time (which they pay for) gathering items, maintaining their shop etc, why shouldn't punishments for thieves be real-world too?

Comment Re:High Thrust, High Specific Impulse (Isp) (Score 1) 168

we seem to be devolving

Are you suggesting that our present species is less advanced than we will be in the future? How do you measure the (evolutionary) advancement of a species? Are we (humans) more advanced than bats, bees, hummingbirds, dolphins, extremophiles etc, etc? Devolving implies that we are getting worse, but with no way of telling worse vs better, the statement is meaningless.

In any case, if the species is "devolving" (presumably this means a measurably lower average intelligence across the population over a long period of time), you won't be alive long enough to notice so it really makes no difference anyway. You (as an individual in the population) also have a negligible impact on the average intelligence of the populace as a whole, particularly if (as you suggest with the word "devolving") the decline is genetic.

Biotech

"Miraculous" Stem Cell Progress Reported In China 429

destinyland writes "In China's Guangdong Province there's been 'almost miraculous' progress in actually using stem cells to treat diseases such as brain injury, cerebral palsy, ataxia and other optic nerve damage, lower limb ischemia, autism, spinal muscular atrophy, and multiple sclerosis. One Chinese biotech company, Beike, is now building a 21,500 square foot stem cell storage facility and hiring professors from American universities such as Stanford. Two California families even flew their children to China for a cerebral palsy treatment that isn't available in the US. The founder of Beike is so enthusiastic, he says his company is exploring the concept of using stem cells to extend longevity beyond 120 years."

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