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Comment Re:No commercial applications (Score 1) 59

Are you suggesting that Shor's and Grover's are the only possible quantum algorithms? I'm not holding my breath for commercial QC either, but I don't like being overly pessimistic or conservative either. Quantum computers now are a bit like the early electronic computers of the 1940s — proofs of a concept but not exactly commercial success stories. Sure, with those computers people could do the same old calculations much faster, but the really interesting and useful applications involved a bit more vision, and those didn't appear overnight.

While many people associate QC with breaking cryptography, in the end it's just a faster way to do classical math. There's a whole world of pure quantum problems that are more naturally solved with quantum computers; this is what Feynman meant when he conceived the idea of QC in the early 1980s. So instead of getting hung up on the number of qubits, consider for example what D-Wave is doing.

Comment Only two, on Windows 10 (Score 1) 227

- AxCrypt 1.7.3
- MS Publisher 2010

On my Linux Mint 22.3 system, I'm using 7z (with longer passwords) in lieu of AxCrypt, at the moment, and will have to get better with LibreOffice and/or learn Scribus for the the things I did in Publisher, mostly greeting cards. I converted my more complex Word docs and Excel spreadsheets to LibreOffice a while ago.

Comment In custody for now. (Score 4, Interesting) 69

Following the arrest, Stokes was extradited to the U.S., where he appeared in front of a federal court in Chicago for the first time on June 30, 2026, and he remains in custody, ...

Until he complains he was treated unfairly, ponies up some $$$, and gets a pardon from Trump. Maybe get a discount if he tries to blame his treatment on Biden or Obama. Trump's okay with white collar crimes, especially if he gets a cut.

Comment Re: Standing Desks (Score 1) 88

I started using a standing desk soon after I quit teaching, and I guess there's a connection. But I also have some level of ADHD traits, and I find it easier to work on a computer if I can move around. I guess the commenters that don't understand standing desks have never used one extensively; the idea is not to stand in attention for 8 hours straight, but to allow your body some natural movement.

It also feels nice to sit down for a break, or for things like reading. I don't like the idea of moving the desk down to a sitting position, I'll much rather move myself somewhere else (undocking the laptop if necessary).

Comment Re:So basically... (Score 2) 186

I think satellite data centers are colossally stupid, but I suspect the larger problem is the public's gullibility for big lies.

Now, which things ARE lies and which aren't has been delightfully co-opted by politics; what one puts on that list is *instantly* translated into political affiliation.

I can think of 3 big lies that would immediately get me labeled "stupid maga fuck".
I can think of 3 others that would likewise get me labeled "woke fag".
Amusingly, putting all 6 in a list would be cognitively negatively filtered; each "side" would only see and respond to the ones they DISagree with, in most cases as if the others weren't even present.

I think data centers in space will be inevitable WHEN WE LIVE THERE and some research to address the (large) physics challenges the context poses are a good idea. Anything above research trial scale today is dumb. But that's all noise compared to the bigger problems, this argument is only a symptom.

Comment it's also for stability (Score 1) 92

I have a home full of expensive electronics and live in a rural county in the US Midwest where weather is an issue. I'd much rather have the external feed trickle-charging batteries that steady-supply my home, than be vulnerable to the spiky local power during weather events.

I sort if wonder in a complete amateur sense if this might herald a "ac for distribution, dc microgrid in homes" evolution.

Comment Re:Global Warming is Hitting Florida Hard (Score 4, Insightful) 126

Florida already has major problems with hurricanes and sea levels rising is devastating for a state that's mostly flat with swamps.

They can stick their heads in the sand about it or they can work to slow the problem, but the anti-science government doesn't seem to care.

Ya, but the new law also provides free snorkels, masks and swim fins to residents to mitigate policy ramifications. Besides, the idiots who passed this will probably either be dead or moved out of state by the time the bills come due.

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