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Comment Re:Swords (Score 1) 174

So I don't think that this guy is some deluded sap who thinks that lightsaber fighting is a real skill or anything.

I'm not so sure. He does admit it's stage fighting. However, he refers to himself as a "Grand Master" (of fake sword fighting...) and is quoted in the article as stating “We’re teaching people how to be heroes, and I need it back.” Seems pretty deluded to me...

Comment Re:Dunning-Kruger effect (Score 1) 1003

...Wow... No.

Your perception of your performance while impaired, and the reality of it, are two different things. Driving tests are not really hard, so being able to pass one in an inebriated state does not mean anything at all. That's like saying if you get home once, drunk off your ass, it's OK to do it again; clearly you have the skills right?

If you drive impaired, eventually you will kill someone. It probably wont be yourself though, it will be the sober guy in the other lane. Sure, people get away with it, sometimes for years; that doesn't make them safe to do so, just lucky.

Join a rescue squad, or fire dept. Run some calls. Learn a few things first hand.

Comment Re:Somebody tell the schools (Score 2) 184

Even my schools back in the 60s and 70s had landlines that could be used by the students. My daughter's schools (she graduated just a couple yrs ago), had phones in the office that could be used.

In the 90's, at my high-school, the office was closed after school hours. If one didn't have money for a payphone, there were no phones a student could use. My only option, on more than one occasion, was to call collect. With payphones quickly disappearing, I'm not even sure if that's an option anymore.

I appreciate you're pragmatism. But your personal situation is not universal.

Comment Re:Bush led in pre-election polls in Ohio (Score 1) 504

You can't know. You can't Recount. You don't know the source. YOU CAN NOT [VERIFY].

You can recount paper all you want. But if the paper has been manipulated you're not really verifying anything at all.

E-voting has been implemented all-wrong. I'm not going to argue that. But if is was done correctly, with audits of the system and audits of the tallies, it would be every bit as, if not more secure than, paper.

Comment Re:Bush led in pre-election polls in Ohio (Score 1) 504

It's simply not as easy to fudge physical ballots as [electronic] ones.

Why's that?

We trust people not to replace a truckload of votes before they get to the tallying location. But that doesn't mean they couldn't do it. Or, more nefariously, one could manipulate the tally by legislating which votes are acceptable. Consider the hanging chads fiasco; or, changing the rules of when absentee votes are, and are not, acceptable.

A paper ballot can not be traced back to you as a person. So how is it more secure? What's to stop counterfeit ballots?

Comment Too simple (Score 1) 172

You're comparing apples to oranges.

Desk lamps are not trying to be human, even though Pixar has a way of personifying animals and normally inanimate things. People already have a natural inclination to attribute human emotions and qualities to non-human things and animals. We get attached to objects and we believe that our pet fish have personalities, a complete fantasy. However, that has nothing to do with the uncanny valley phenomenon. Your counterpoint, Final Fantasy, worked very hard to give very human qualities to very human looking CGI. The effect was not complete and many people were turned off by it. That is the uncanny valley.

Makeup and bras alter a persons appearance in a manner that is pleasing; most of the time. Makeup can enhance one's color to be warmer, or create a more even skin tone. However, the wrong makeup, too much makeup, improperly applied makeup, can trigger repulsion. Many people find clowns frightening or repulsive. Also, to your point, mimes make some people uneasy. People differ wildly on how much makeup is attractive. A bra can enhance one's shape. The wrong bra, not so much.

I think the bottom line is our brains don't like to be tricked unless we see it coming; and, like almost any human attribute, some people are more sensitive than others. Most people can accept an animation that has human traits but doesn't look all that human (Simpsons, Flintstones, etc.). They are so far from looking human that it doesn't trigger our alarms. Most people can accept a human that acts like a robot, or even a zombie. We see these things for what they are. Humans with decoration, not things trying to look like humans. Most people can not accept something that looks and acts a lot like a human, but not quite. It gets past some of our filters, but sets off alarms in others. We get conflicted subconsciously. We don't like it...

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Scientists Create a "Worth Saving" Index For Endangered Animals 259

If you're one of the last hairy-nosed-wombats left in Australia things got a little worse for you today. Thanks to a new mathematical tool created by researchers from James Cook University and the University of Adelaide, the wombat has been classified as not worth saving. Co-author of the safe index Professor Corey Bradshaw says he doesn't think people should give up on saving extremely endangered animals but adds, "...if you take a strictly empirical view, things that are well below in numbering in the hundreds - white-footed rock rats, certain types of hare wallabies, a lot of the smaller mammals that have been really nailed by the feral predators like cats, and foxes - in some cases it is probably not worthwhile putting a lot of effort because there's just no chance."

Comment Re:More like a flaw in statistics (Score 1) 437

The category provided by the dispatch system determines a target response time. The call taker puts pertinent information into the computer aided dispatch (CAD) system. The CAD will determine priority level, and recommended units. At that point the call is dispatched to the appropriate response crews. An intelligent dispatcher, with the authority to do so, could take a CAD recommendation and alter it before dispatching. For instance, in the situation from the article, the dispatcher would know that a patient who was unconscious with abnormal breathing after a fall is clearly a top priority patient. They would relay that to the responding unit with a high run priority. The ambulance would then run lights and sirens to the scene instead of taking their time as they would for a twisted ankle.

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