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Science

Submission + - Threadlike Carbon Nanotube Fiber Combines Strength, Flexibility and Conductivity (gizmag.com)

Zothecula writes: At about 100 times the strength of steel at one sixth the weight and with impressive electrical conductive properties, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have promised much since their discovery in 1991. The problem has been translating their impressive nanoscale properties into real-world applications on the macro scale. Researchers have now unveiled a new CNT fiber that conducts heat and electricity like a metal wire, is very strong like carbon fiber, and is flexible like a textile thread.

Comment Heat and Light (Score 1) 82

Face Palm!

Heat is vibrating atoms. (Or slightly more accurately, banging off each other randomly like billiard balls.) Some of that energy gets converted and emitted as radiation, and radiation can be absorbed and converted to heat, but that does NOT make them the same thing.

Comment Thermodynamics (Score 1) 82

It's only a "law" because we do not yet know how to break it.

I, for one, look forward to the day (year, century...) when we decide that it's an obsolete principle. Until we actually know all the rules of the game, all the interactions, all the api of the universe... we cannot know that anything is truly a "law of physics". We can speculate, postulate, investigate, narrow-in-on, or disprove, but never really affirm.

(Which is not to say that this specific mechanism shows any promise, just that some mechanism might exist in the future.)

Comment Re:the danger of abstracted combat (Score 1) 297

Worker rights aren't (much), but union "rights" are contributing. (Unions can be a very good thing, or a very bad thing. These super pervasive unions are practically organized crime.)

Loosening the immigration policy wont bring in more people, it will just insure they get paid better and stop looking over their shoulder for ICE.

It won't bring back manufacturing. Even most illegal Mexican labor won't work for rates low enough, and regulatory overburden alone prevents it. (Note: We need better regulation, not just less regulation. Much of what we have is totally ineffective at achieving legitimate goals, only in killing jobs.)

Supposedly, Social security is being propped up by "immigration", and would be even more-so if it was legal immigration. I think this might be true, but I can't tell if it's a byproduct of bad laws, or a weird twist in our collective culture.

Comment Re:the danger of abstracted combat (Score 1) 297

"Natural" does not always imply nature. It follows the etymology, but not longstanding common usage.

...
4
: having an essential relation with someone or something : following from the nature of the one in question [his guilt is a natural deduction from the evidence]
...
7
: having a specified character by nature [a natural athlete]
8
...
c : having a normal or usual character [events followed their natural course]
...

Comment Israel (Score 1) 297

It's a bit like what Palestine is doing to the invading Israeli forces, except that this time the Americans are on the wrong side.

Both the Israelis and Palestinians have done horrible, dishonorable things in the past to try to drive out the opposing side. I think Israel currently has some bad policies, but I don't believe they are murderous lunatics. Various Palestinian organization... and even churches... actively encourage the populous to be frothing-at-the-mouth murderous "martyrs".

The US is on the right side of this one, even if we can't convince Israel to give up some of their more unreasonable policies.

If my understanding is correct, I blame post WW2 politicians of England (long retired and dead) for starting this mess.

Comment War and Pacifism (Score 5, Insightful) 297

Indeed. Humans NEVER accept that the answer is so simple.

Don't resort to war. If your cause requires forcing somebody else at gunpoint to comply, it isn't just, it isn't honorable, and it cannot be justified. So, just don't do it.

Let's say that China attacks Guam tomorrow, and starts moving for Hawaii and the US mainland. What should be done? What should France have done when Germany invaded them in the blitzkrieg?

Clearly somebody isn't justified in any war. Frequently it's both parties. However, it is the height of intellectual dishonesty to say that war is never justified for any of the participants.

Yes, war is never, ever a good thing. Sometimes, though, it really is better than the alternative.

Comment Parents (Score 3, Insightful) 684

Where the f' are the parents in all this?

That is a fantastic question. But... Whose parents? Note that the victims parents can't teach the bully that he's misbehaving.

When I was in junior high, I was bullied frequently and mercilessly. My parents did get involved. They were told by the school councilor that I just had a self-esteem problem (I didn't) which somehow made myself a target (blame the victim, anyone?). They were told by teachers that there was nothing they could do (not true). They were told by administrators that everything was fine. They weren't permitted to contact the other students' parents. I blame the school system (primarily) for permitting bullying.

Comment Re:This is news? (Score 2) 684

Conservatism is about conserving what has worked in the past.

There is simply no path back from where we are to where we were (public dept is to high, regulatory over-burden too hard to reverse). All we're left with is arguing about how to get somewhere sane. Some conservatives aren't doing it very intelligently*. Other so-called conservatives are taking advantage of the situation. Some few are trying to fix problems, but are restrained by idiots from their side and decried by extremist from the other.

*(to be fair, this post could easily be changed from "conservative" to "progressive" and still be completely correct.)

Comment Re:idiotic politically correct fears indeed (Score 1) 1223

No, I read that. That's where the word "allegedly" came into play.

Your post never actually made an accusation. This is true. I never said that it did. What it did to was make a strong insinuation.

I was pointing out how rude it had been. I still hope it was unintentional, but it was entirely uncalled for, as framed.

Comment Re:Beware third Parties (Score 1) 58

He looks like a left wing nut job. That doesn't mean that there's not a lot of truth there, though.

It appears to me that both parties have been engaging in election stealing campaigns... not using fraudulent voters, but insiders.

May the sneakiest thief win.

(Please note, I don't think the candidates themselves have any idea this is going on. I think the parties are doing it.)

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