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Comment Re:Not the worst keyboard (Score 1) 91

I remember back in the day that at least a couple electronics hobby magazines had articles showing how to upgrade the ZX81 keyboard using surplus keyboards meant for a failed computer from Texas Instruments called the TI99-2. They were pretty decent, well made units that were easy to rewire and sold for ten bucks. I don't think I got around to hooking it up though. Memories...

Comment Northern Gateway (Score 2) 301

"Note that if Canada really wanted to export their oil overseas, they would have just built a pipeline to one of the Canadian ports." The Northern Gateway pipeline would enable us to do that, but it is under immense opposition as well by native and environmental groups as well. It would take oil from Alberta to the port terminal in Kitimat, BC. Funny thing is that oil is already being shipped overseas from Kitimat from oil being supplied by rail or other pipelines. These groups only pay lip service to environmental concerns: it's all about money. They could care less if another Lac Megantic disaster happens (unless it happened on a native reserve), they will have us ship oil by rail and oppose any pipeline until they get paid off in perpetuity. These groups are literally trying to keep Alberta's oil industry hostage. The Keystone XL crosses into the states, hence you guys tend to hear more about it in the news.

Comment CFL Recycling? (Score 1) 1146

One of the biggest problems regarding CFLs is their mercury content (Actually almost all fluorescent lights use mercury, not just CFLs). Seeing how most of all these fluorescent bulbs end up in landfills, I would have thought there would be more initiatives for people to recycle these bulbs. Maybe something like a refundable recycling fee, similar to beverage containers. That and making outlets selling them have a drop-off for dead ones where the mercury is recovered.

Many times I've seen building renovations where some idiot fires the old tubes into a dumpster to hear them go pop. Maybe if there was a dollar a piece recycling fee, it would reduce how much of that stuff ends up in my tuna sandwiches.

Comment Re:Siberia (Score 1) 332

I remember reading something about a phenomenon referred to as the Ganzfeld effect, which may be what you might have experienced. I think it referred to a group of people who were travelling in winter through a featureless snowscape, and in some way because they had a limited visual input, they described having some sort of heightened state of awareness, even going so far as suggesting a sort of empathic connection with their fellow travellers. It was a fascinating read if I could find it again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_effect

Comment Re:"Domestic"? (Score 2) 190

By labelling a remote control airplane a "drone", you can scare the public into thinking that there's roving bands of high school kids dropping Preadator UAVs on top of their babies playing in the backyard. In reality they can justify banning the decades old hobby of flying RC aircraft, and companies like pork processing plants won't have to worry about being caught dumping pig blood into public waterways via some guy with an RC plane with a camera.

Comment Easier route to escalation (Score 4, Insightful) 169

I've always thought that a lot of people don't realize that having lives in harms way on -either- side of a is a deterrent in itself to using weapons that would be horribly beyond all conscience (that in itself, well, depends on who's pushing the buttons). India and Pakistan say, have nuclear weapons. If Pakistan had a few infantry and tank divisions, along with a couple border villages wiped out by robotic troops, I'd think that the bar would be lowered as to them responding with a tactical nuclear strike to eliminate the robot threat. Then things would snowball from there. The situation wouldn't go from escalating from conventional to chemical in between at all. War is about killing people. When one side has troops that are machines, the other side does not have to restrain themselves to the moral restraints that have kept whatever tenuous leash on us throughout our history. Just a thought.

Comment Re:i could save many more lives (Score 1) 186

"by putting speed limiters in cars, and banning what are effectivly 'race' cars/bikes from the road. there is no legitimate reason to have a vehical that will do 0-60 in under 12 seconds. you want to piss about in a one 1.5 death machine? take it to a track. over 2000 people a year die on the roads here in the uk." Absolute, utter nonsense. I drove a lot for a living, and I couldn't begin to count how many times that having decent acceleration has been able to keep me and my co-workers alive. What hurts and kills people on the road are simply bad, unskilled drivers. Period. If you've ever looked in your rear view mirror and seen a speeding fifth-wheel flying up your ass, you're going to wish that you had some power under the hood.

Comment More Cloud Crap (Score 3, Interesting) 48

Beside this being a blatant ad, this whole "cloud" thing is really getting retarded. All "cloud" is really is getting applications and your data off your own computer and on to some company's systems where you have to pay to use "premium" services. WeVideo watermarks the output of the free version of their service? Other than them having some pre-made templates, I don't see anything that this can do than the dozen other free options I can think of: OpenShot, Cinelerra, even Windows Movie Maker, and you don't get watermark bullshit.

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