downer87 | 12 years ago | on: Bootstrap or Die - Lessons Learned From a Web Startup's Murder/Suicide (2010)
The headline is link bait. That article involved neither murder, nor suicide.
downer87's comments
downer87 | 12 years ago | on: Would You Shoot R2-D2 in the Face?
Bah! I feel the extreme total opposite. When he kicks the robot, I'm deeply disturbed by the fact that the robot is undaunted.
I've always chalked it up to an uncanny valley reaction. The buzzing noise of the on-board 2-cycle engine (power generator?), combined with the freakish, threatening movements raises my hackles every time.
Every time I see robots like Big Dog, I feel a visceral instinct brewing within me, prompting me to find ways to annihilate them with rocket propelled grenades.
downer87 | 12 years ago | on: Uncomfortable parallels with the era that led to the first world war
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information for more detailsdowner87 | 12 years ago | on: Dell Ultra Sharp 24" 4K display
...and besides, any self-respecting movie buff knows that all the best movies are shot in anamorphic widescreen, with no less than a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
downer87 | 12 years ago | on: Keyboards, UX, and “Fuck”
I often find myself typing "ducksuckgo" or "suckduckgo" on soft keyboards, and I smile every time...
downer87 | 12 years ago | on: Swiss to vote on proposals to treat bitcoin as foreign currency
If it was Hal Finney, then we'd actually know who it was. There would be a degree of closure.
Without that closure, there's a mysterious gaping black hole that only adds to all the other uncertainties that come naturally with a new frontier like crypto-currency.
If we can't answer fundamental questions about the bandwagon we're expected to jump on, worse yet, when we're told that we shouldn't even ask, then it is correct to be suspicious about the motivations of those who might herd us, and toward what ends they might march us into.
downer87 | 12 years ago | on: Swiss to vote on proposals to treat bitcoin as foreign currency
Not only that, why should bitcoin be enshrined as the only special crypto-currency worthy of recognition?
Not until we know who Satoshi Nakamoto is. Until then, bitcoin is just another internet clusterfuck.
Don't tell me it's not relevant who he/she is. It is relevant. It's a clear demonstration of our own incompetence. Without that information in hand, we're nothing more than rats following a pied piper.
downer87 | 12 years ago | on: Navy sailors have radiation sickness after Japan rescue
I can't claim to know anything about naval nuclear engineering. My intuition tells me that avoiding runaway criticality and avoiding crew contamination are high priorities. Based on this I can think of 4 significant questions off the top of my head:
1. How might they ever know to avoid a massive radiation plume they weren't expecting? Particularly if the plume is very large and expanding faster than they can move the ship?
2. How much of the crew would be informed of such a situation? Would there be a risk of panic or mutiny, if all of the crew were permitted to fully understand such circumstances?
3. Given that this is a military vessel, if they are ordered into harm's way (or perhaps ordered to assist since they've already unwittingly suffered irreparable harm), would they say no? Would careers be protected and defended if orders were obeyed?
4. Would it be possible to fake 70 cases of thyroid polyps, leukemia, testicular cancer and uterine bleeding so bad it requires transfusions?
...and as an aside, given that we're introducing the idea that everything might be a hoax, one more question: Given what we've learned about the NSA and Facebook over the past year, how probable is it that a Navy-nuke Facebook group might be astroturfed into an echo chamber aligned with a particular agenda?
downer87 | 12 years ago | on: Scientists Send Text Message Using Vodka
So what's the baud rate?
I might guess something like one bit, every 10 seconds?
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