16BitTons

I remember feeling rather devastated when I found out that F<>MA and that energy and mass aren't really conserved. I think it was because I was trying to build a philosophy from studying physics, rather than just getting the equations down to pass the test.

Zed, I admire you immensely. Please don't feed the trolls.

>In fact, photons don't interact with each other at all.

They can. It's a non-classical concequence of Quantum Electrodynamics. If you are interested in the cross-sections, check out Berestetskii et al., 1982.

Yes, it is kind of amazing. I almost submitted it with the title "Does PCMag Know What Open Means?" but I decided that there was enough linkbait/troll in the material already. If nothing else, it does highlight that the concept of "open" is still poorly grasped even within technical circles.

I just finished reading your book. It is very well done. I recomend it to everyone interested in this thread. (http://technicalblogging.com)

Except without sleep, we all die. The question before us is this: without TSA, do we all die?

For a long time, I thought of medical doctors as scientists. Then one day I realized they were technicians. I still have an enormous respect for them, but it did change my expectations.

>...today's society...

Has it ever been otherwise?

I frequently put in extra time on projects without compensation. I care more about doing the job right than I do about squaring up a timesheet. It's not about my time being worthless, it's about my life being worthwhile.

>Google is a publicly traded company, their first duty is to their share holders.

I'm a shareholder. It's not much, but it does imply a tiny bit of ownership. And so, as a shareholder, I want Google to be totally righteous even at the risk of going bankrupt.

This is what I love about HN. A little heat to a discussion creates more insight instead of a flame war.

PakG1, you have a good point. Accusing someone of "selectively ignoring" evidence is suggesting the person is not seeking truth at all. In civil discourse, one owes a response. In uncivil discourse, then the opponent often isn't asking a real question and the answer doesn't need to take it seriously. I think PG was taking onan_barbarian's comment seriously and asking a sincere question.

I'm a bit confused. Did they invent their own language, or did they randomly assign names to places on a map?

Is the 300 ms a measurement or WAG?

Whenever HN is filled with items that aren't HN-esque enough for me, I like to go to "new", find some good articles, and upvote them.

>This is definitely _not_ a technical issue.

Are there any ideas with a TRL>napkin?

If you are realy interested, look into NASA's Orbital Debris program. They have a must-read quarterly newsletter: http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/

For me, it's a cycle. I have trouble reading about something when I don't know WHY I am reading about it. If I 'do' first, then hit a wall, then read, then I really care about the reading because I've got skin in the game. Then I'm trying to solve a problem, which makes me happy.

How about something like Slashdot, where you can say why you are downvoting. +/-1 agree/disagree +/-1 thoughtful/usless

"Thank you for your thoughtful comment, but I disagree with your conclusion."

"I agree that 'Palin Rocks' but your comment adds nothing of interest to this discussion."

It is a tempting mistake to make. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window

Anything that increases the cost of energy will decrease the ability of a civilization to advance.

>This is the top of the front page of HN, really??

My approach is to go to the "new" link at the top of HN, find an article that I consider HN-worthy, and upvote it.

"I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which 'Escape' is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?" — J.R.R. Tolkien

"I spent three days a week for 10 years educating myself in the public library, and it's better than college. People should educate themselves - you can get a complete education for no money. At the end of 10 years, I had read every book in the library and I'd written a thousand stories." -Ray Bradbury

"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." -Ray Bradbury

To carry this too far, I think the analogy demands that language/grammar/punctuation are the ingredients. They end up in the customer's mouth. The tools, be it edlin or a pear peeler, only make the chief/writer's job easier. You have to use good ingredients, but the tools are a matter of efficiency.

The WSJ is behind a paywall for me, but a Google search for "Mistakes in Scientific Studies Surge" works.

Do you have any suggestions on safe countries? As far as I can tell, the USA is still has the best mixture of freedom and protection available.

Here is a link to the article: http://download.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/PIIS09609822110...

Transcendental numbers translate into the real world just as well as any other Real number.[1]

You can't fabricate a string that is exactly Pi long anymore than you can fabricate a string that is exactly One long. But you can get as close to a transcendental number as you can to an algebraic number.

[1] I'm ignoring the trivial case.

The site itself: http://www.gocarshare.com/