Hacker News Reader

NeverEnoughon FAA Proposes Nearly $2M Fine Against Drone Operator

I'm on mobile and didn't watch the video, but a commercial airliner travels something like 500mph, 8 lbs of drone is pretty damaging at that speed. I know they take significant precautions against eg birds.

NeverEnoughon How Wasps Use Viruses to Genetically Engineer Caterpillars

Don't endangered species contribute some portion of new pharmaceuticals each year? Didn't we just finish unraveling the complex dynamics of a bee's flight, which our previous models couldn't explain?

My impression was always that the study of ecology and such is a big driver for technology, and by extension the economy and quality of life.

NeverEnoughon The Parable of the Two Programmers (1985)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car#Golden_age

"In 1900, 40% of American automobiles were powered by steam, 38% by electricity, and 22% by gasoline.[19]"

NeverEnoughon Patent reform advocates are launching a ‘super-coalition’ to whack patent trolls

that's an interesting thought. it could be done monthly or quarterly as well.

NeverEnoughon The Death of the Artist and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur

engineers don't normally build whatever they think the best thing to build would be. they build what someone pays them to build, with some exceptions.

The author wants all artists to be like Elon Musk, in how freely they can pursue their craft.

NeverEnoughon Charts That Defined the Global Economy in 2014

education is still really valuable, if one chooses the right field.

Employment rates and salaries for geologists, metallurgical engineers, pharmacists, one can go from poverty to well off in the span of a single generation with the right college degree.

That isn't to say there is no problem. I doubt that history will look at this disparity kindly. Perhaps better education about education, and what options and powers are available to us in general, would be wise.

NeverEnoughon NASA Study Proposes Airships, Cloud Cities for Venus Exploration

mars and venus are the first step. we aren't going to jump out of the solar system on our first try. we will be lucky if we don't have a lot of failures in that endeavor, even after the experience and materials we gain from the solar system.

>Moreover if death is natural process

humans are also a natural process.

>some alternative star may born by that time.

you mean a new star is going to come to our solar system before the sun dies? I think I must be misunderstanding. If not, that's asinine.

I don't really get how you can call it fearmongering. who is supposed to be afraid? most people only think as far ahead as two generations. the only people who are disturbed by your strange brand of environmentalism are people who think hundreds of years into the future, ie other environmentalists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future

your billions figure is also a gross overestimate. our timeline is not so generous.

and don't forget that life took (actually) billions of years to evolve. what are you trying to protect on mars and venus that is more important than that?

NeverEnoughon NASA Study Proposes Airships, Cloud Cities for Venus Exploration

life on earth isn't sustainable anyway. how can you not be aware of that?

the sun is dying. if humans don't 'develop' enough before then, it is unlikely that any of earth's legacy will be preserved.

NeverEnoughon Genomic Loopholes and Other Weapons (2013)

this is so interesting! games have a long way to go before becoming as interesting as ecology.

NeverEnoughon An Open Love Letter to Our PC Fans

there isn't any reason to suspect that a small company doing one thing better will walk all over AAA, that's hyperbole. AAA's culture is good enough and their other large advantages give them their market share.

NeverEnoughon NASA's Van Allen Probes Spot an Impenetrable Barrier in Space

would you disagree with the idea that there are a lot of good ways of describing something, that are true for many cases but very wrong for others?

NeverEnoughon Should the United States Declare Books an ‘Essential Good’?

I believe they mean good as in a consumer good, not a moral good.

that is, how should this good be taxed, is it something essential like food that should carry a low tax rate?

NeverEnoughon Our lander’s asleep

that it wasn't a significant factor, at least

NeverEnoughon U.S. Navy Deploys First Laser Weapon in Persian Gulf

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/03/gears-...

the analog computers used for that were really cool, check out some of the videos

NeverEnoughon How a Shrimp Treadmill Became a Political Plaything

Is it hysteria to suggest that what men in a male dominated field think is appropriate might have statistical significance in the representation of women?

NeverEnoughon How a Shrimp Treadmill Became a Political Plaything

it is that he found it an appropriate shirt to wear.

as an extreme comparison, if it was a woman dominated field and they commonly wore shirts depicting scantily clad men with bulging pants, I think it would impact my desire to enter that field.

I don't know that the parents can be blamed so readily. Here in Los Angeles at least, I've been very dissaspointed with what my classmates consider appropriate.

NeverEnoughon Welcome to a comet

color works just fine

I know that sometimes, images are first sent in black and white to save on data, color is sent later.

Hubble apparently only does black and white. color images can be obtained using a technique involving two of its black and white images. But that is a telescope, probably not similar.

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/behind_the_pictures/meaning_of...

the comet could just be grey, not sure about that one.

NeverEnoughon What an Uncensored Letter to M.L.K. Reveals

Is it really that easy to draw a distinction between the various ways of compelling people to vote a certain way?

NeverEnoughon Chinese hack U.S. Weather systems, satellite network

yeah just like when it came out that the NSA was reading the emails of Germany's prime minister.

NeverEnoughon Old Masters: After 80, some people don’t retire. They reign

certainly we would expect that people in good physical health are less likely to retire, that those in poor health are more likely to.

NeverEnoughon Old Masters: After 80, some people don’t retire. They reign

he is suggesting it as an explanation for retirement contributing to premature death in men more than in women, not the difference in life expectancy in general.

NeverEnoughon Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

are you arguing that given a study that turned out to be false, a layman should be able to spot the error in methodology?

I don't think that's the case at all. It isn't a black and white issue, and I certainly don't feel it has been conclusively shown that if I start drinking drinks that are BOTH fizzy and sugary tomorrow, it will result in my telomeres shortening at an unusually high rate as the article claims. Is that really anti science? I don't think so.