stavrianos

639 karma · joined March 17, 2009

submissions comments

stavrianos··on Life Lessons From A 27-Year Old

Definitely want to live as long as I possibly can. If at any point that stops being true, it's because I screwed up.

stavrianos··on Microbes use arsenic in their DNA: Proves phosphorus is not required for life

bicycle discovered constructed entirely from wood: proves metal not required for transportation

http://www.leevalley.com/newsletters/woodworking/2/3/article...

stavrianos··on Is Precognition Real?

http://xkcd.com/808/

stavrianos··on One Dunkin’ Donuts store is taking a stand against the penny

Australia, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't even have a denomination smaller than the nickel.

stavrianos··on OkTrends: Gay Sex vs. Straight Sex

This is not a true rationale- it's a kneejerk reaction. The mention struck me as a joke, not a serious comment. This is already more analysis than the joke deserved.

stavrianos··on Sir, can you help me with this?

I have the belief, largely anecdotal, that transgendered people tend to adhere to stereotyped gender roles rather more than people in general.

stavrianos··on The Best Goal is No Goal

I skeptical of this. For one, a goodly chunk of those making people feel ashamed of not having goals are probably in the no-goals demographic themselves. Most of the ten probably have better things to do.

stavrianos··on Google's CEO: 'The Laws Are Written by Lobbyists'

China is like a sociopath in a room full of schizophrenics.

stavrianos··on FBI drives for encryption backdoors

Check me on this, but isn't encryption basically a solved problem? In which case, isn't it a little late for this? We have the encryption, there is no backdoor, and legislation won't make it so.

stavrianos··on Stringbike: Chain-free bike

Having only one chain drastically simplifies the derailer problem, I should think. Also, you spend half as much on gears and chain.

stavrianos··on Getting rejected

at any rate, I genuinely thought it was interesting

stavrianos··on Why Alcohol Is Good for You

Homes might be disadvantaged by the presence of an alcoholic. A friend of mine came from a home like this- her father spent truly stupendous amounts on alcohol. There was never enough money afterwards.

stavrianos··on Why Alcohol Is Good for You

Shot in the dark, foot size is correlated with overall size, which is correlated with childhood nutrition, which is correlated with socioeconomic status

stavrianos··on India's red rain may contain life not seen on Earth

Uh, guys... you found the rain on earth. This is where you saw it. Just sayin'.

There should be some kind of rule that evidence is only strong enough to support a theory of equal or lesser weirdness. "Bacteria reproducing at 121 degrees" is way less weird than "Bacteria from outer space".

stavrianos··on 77% of the population have symptoms of personality disorder?

you're assuming that the 77% all have the same thing.

stavrianos··on Ray Kurzweil Responds to "Ray Kurzweil does not understand the brain"

Absence of evidence is evidence of absence. No-one has ever observed electric blue swans. How likely do you think it is that they exist? If this seems like an unfair question, that's kind of my point.

stavrianos··on Ray Kurzweil Responds to "Ray Kurzweil does not understand the brain"

even with the obligatory "so far" tacked on the end, I think that's pretty significant

stavrianos··on Ray Kurzweil Responds to "Ray Kurzweil does not understand the brain"

I know a fact about "zygote machines": they are the only machines we know of that have ever successfully constructed intelligence algorithms.

stavrianos··on Elon Musk: Correcting the Record About My Divorce

If the wealthier spouse ceases to be wealthier throughout the process (hypothetically, because of astronomical lawyer's fees), are the tables turned?

stavrianos··on Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

eating what the locals eat, beware of endemics. If you're in rural India, do not drink the tea sold at road-side carts.

stavrianos··on Female Anti-Rape Condom

this looks to me like one of those security things that can only work because it isn't used widely. Won't a carrot defeat this? If adoption becomes widespread, the trick will be known and therefore useless.

stavrianos··on Apple fears the killer app

It's a cool idea, but I'm skeptical. This strategy does nothing to prevent the creation of a killer app. All it does is prevent the creation of a killer app on the iphone. If we assume that someone somewhere is gonna drop an app-bomb, forcing them to other platforms might not be the best idea.

stavrianos··on Things That Annoy Programmers

the fact that "width" and "height" aren't the same character length

stavrianos··on Obviously, HP Thinks We Are Stupid

Being smart does not protect you from being stupid.

stavrianos··on 'Artificial life' breakthrough announced by scientists

they've got root

stavrianos··on Thursday = Thor's day

a good deal of that might constitute stronger evidence than attending a lunch date, and therefore validate belief. Lunch makes a good testing bar, above which other proofs may pass.

stavrianos··on Thursday = Thor's day

actually, Jupiter is Zeus. I don't think Janus has a counterpart.

stavrianos··on Jurors more likely to convict unattractive people

Men are more likely to have committed the crime. The harsher sentence still sucks.

stavrianos··on Don’t talk to aliens, warns Stephen Hawking

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3aa.html#killingstar

A darker, more games-theoretic take on first contact.

quoth this link:

They won't come to get our resources or our knowledge or our women or even because they're just mean and want power over us. They'll come to destroy us to insure their survival, even if we're no apparent threat, because species death is just too much to risk, however remote the risk...

stavrianos··on Obesity Pill Passes First Human Trial

Artificial roughage. Nice.

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