Hopeless Geek - Comments

I included the entirety of

Adam Knight — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:05:29 -0600

I included the entirety of the text at the time I made the comment. If that’s there now then he’s clearly realized the error of his ways and rectified the situation.

Idiot.

The answer is in the

Franjo — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:18:16 -0600

In reply to CopyLeftRightThataWay:

The answer is in the sentence that follows your quotation: “On the other hand, this physics ebook in pdf format is free for everybody to store, read or print for personal use, and to distribute electronically, but only in unmodified form and at no charge.” Reading helps much.

It seems you owe the author 500 Euro/Dollars. That is the usual fine for calling somebody “idiot”.

Let’s see, Jobso mentions

Edna Mode — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:15:40 -0600

In reply to Gizmodo is a Sensationalist Rag:

Let’s see, Jobso mentions being happy at spending the holidays with family rather than having the red hot poker of MacWorld keynote prep shoved up his rectum. And then he discusses his health issues. And in the world of Gizmodo math 1+1=3 and “I win!” Idiots.

One comparison with Fox though falls down. The idiocy on Fox is somehow entertaining.

I think comparing Gismodo to

Adam Knight — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:57:17 -0600

In reply to Gizmodo is a Sensationalist Rag:

I think comparing Gismodo to Fox News is pretty much the perfect response for what I’m claiming.

yes, this latest article is

rick — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:55:50 -0600

In reply to Gizmodo is a Sensationalist Rag:

yes, this latest article is sensationalism crap, but have they been pushed to that point? Does anything show up at the top of reddit or digg if it isn’t sensational.

Case in point: FOX news.

What a great find! Thanks

Dan — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:13:06 -0600

In reply to Loving Cheap Parts:

What a great find! Thanks for the tip!

That is totally disgusting.

Linda G — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:25:56 -0600

In reply to Krispy Kreme bacon cheddar cheeseburgers:

That is totally disgusting. Foods of different types should never touch. Never. It’s just wrong.

Well, they are too

squider — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:49:06 -0600

In reply to The PR Campaign that is the Republican Party:

Well, they are too stupid/lazy to look into things and formulate their own opinion so they just take their talking points from people like Sean Hannity.

I think you pretty much

Charley — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:12:09 -0600

In reply to The PR Campaign that is the Republican Party:

I think you pretty much nailed it!

Do you have any idea as to

Theo — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:56:56 -0600

In reply to Weather Underground Widget:

Do you have any idea as to whether or not this widget is available for Windows? I can’t seem to find a decent weather widget for my Vista machine.

Absolutely amazing when you

Zac — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:15:02 -0600

In reply to The Obama Movie:

Absolutely amazing when you think about it. If this has been a movie you would think no way this could happen in real life, but it has. Incredible.

I am pro-choice, but not for

Keely Wahl — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:09:30 -0600

In reply to The Mythical Right-To-Life Issue:

I am pro-choice, but not for the usual nonsense of “a woman’s right to choose” Abortion is killing a baby.

I worked for years with emotionally disturbed children to decide that no one should have to endure what they did… Ever. I don’t understand that kind of suffering.

Abortion is certainly an epidemic. Banning it will not stop it. Abstinence only programs have proven to be ineffective at preventing it. I would love to see the Pro-Life movement, and those who claim to be pro-life, do things to stop abortions at the point when we actually can—before the unwanted pregnancy starts.
Things we can all do to show respect for unborn life:
1. Heavily support programs that give free/sliding scale health care AND birth control options to all women. This also includes making sure that pharmacists can’t interfere with a decision made between a woman and her doctor or midwife.
2. Adopt or foster children born addicted to drugs and/or taken away for reasons of abuse/neglect. I believe many pro-lifers come from functional and generally happy families. They really don’t have a real idea of what pain means. Why can’t they bring these suffering children into their warm and functional homes. Then, the children could learn self-respect and stop the vicious circle.
3. Demand that the USA doesn’t refuse international healthcare assistance only on the basis of whether or not that nation only abstinence-only sex education.

I would love to see our nation, our world, cured of this murdering epidemic. Abortion existed before Roe vs Wade and will continue to exist if it is ever made illegal again. The only way to stop it is to nip it at the source—unwanted pregnancies!

My apologies. It is your

Prolife not for Obama — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:04:08 -0600

In reply to The Mythical Right-To-Life Issue:

My apologies. It is your forum, but if you allow comments…doesn’t that lend itself to discussion?
But I agree…I was longwinded. Sorry.
I agree with Obama’s statement…which is why it is utterly baffling that he would vote the way he did and that you rationalize it the way you do.
I understand too, that there are so many points of view on the war and its cost…it’s an argument I usually don’t engage in, mainly because I really do understand the anguish.
I know you don’t want to go point by point…but I am really curious where you think I’m off on historical events.
And, if you’ll notice, I never mentioned McCain. That’s a whole other issue.
ok, i’m done.
well, er, I just noticed the quote below. Drawing the line somewhere. Hmmmm.

Well, first, get your own

Adam Knight — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:41:56 -0600

In reply to The Mythical Right-To-Life Issue:

Well, first, get your own blog.

It’s nice that you think McCain is someone other than who he’s running as and think the same for Obama, but looking at any statement from either person clearly states that you have some serious misconceptions about both candidates (and some issues on historical events, to boot).

You apparently also missed Obama’s clear answer when asked about abortion: “I think the better answer… is to figure out, how do we make sure the young mothers, or women who have a pregnancy that’s unexpected or difficult, have the kind of support they need to make a whole range of choices, including adoption and keeping the child.”

I’d point-by-point you, but not only would it be useless, it wouldn’t really be keeping with the spirit of my position on this issue. It’s a moot issue.

There is nothing mythical

Prolife not for Obama — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:38:29 -0600

In reply to The Mythical Right-To-Life Issue:

There is nothing mythical about the right-to-life. I, too, am prolife. Zygote to dirt. Babies unborn, babies born alive after an abortion, and those aborted through PBA. The 3,000 world citizens who died on Sept. 11, Iraqis, Afghans, soldiers who went to fight for their freedom, and ours. Black, white, and all colors in between. Male, female.
But let’s start with Obama’s vote against banning PBA and to protect babies born alive after abortion.
Those votes are not just about one issue, but help me as a voter to understand the true character of the man. Abortion and euthanasia are always an issue. Who are the people we choose to lead us. If we blur the lines and say these two issues aren’t important, but we are pro-life…that’s an oxymoron.
PBA is an unconscionable practice, and voting to preserve it is equally unconscionable.
Bush voted his conscience instead of politics when he voted against PBAs. He never, nor do I, expected the Supreme Court to reverse Roe v. Wade.
I, like many, had a grandmother almost die from a coat hanger abortion. My mother remembers her nearly bleeding to death. Returning to those days will not save lives.
What I want is for an activated conscience—from the President on down to the poor, young pregnant woman, the woman who is simply messing around, or the woman pregnant with a Downs baby. Understand what abortion does, in your conscience, in your gut, in your soul, not because a law says don’t do it. It takes a life. Period.
You make the case that war can be compared to abortion…that we have sacrificed 190K lives,....(I, too, would like more evidence of those numbers.) I believe that Bush made mistakes in the initiation and management of the war in Iraq.
But like so many who decry the war, you fail to mention that the Iraqis are beginning to manage their country without a cold-blooded murderer at the helm, a man who would burn women in the street, shoot relatives in cold blood, gas his countrymen, and destroy the environment in the Fertile Crescent simply to destroy his people.
People say there were no WMDs, and I say, Hussein was an WMD. I believe that Bush’s legacy will not be that he killed 4,000 young men and women, but that he stood up to a bully dictator who was destroying his country and harboring terrorists. The legacy of that decision will not be decided for some time to come.
I know people have died in the process…and I weep for each and everyone of them. But people do regrettably die fighting for and preserving freedom. Mainly because there are people who, like Hussein, do not value life.
I never doubted this war and I never compared it to the abortion issue, except to say, if you are going to disagree with the war, then disagree with abortion. But you are coming at it from the opposite direction, justifying a vote for a person who says he wants to end the war, but who will wantonly vote to kill babies.
Not only will Obama not save the unborn, I do not believe he will “save” the poor and the downtrodden. Nor will he remove us from Iraq any faster than Bush is doing, unless he does not recognize that an untimely withdrawal will send Iraq back into chaos.
Obama is a man after power. The kind of power that leads to corruption and mayhem. If he is elected, I will consider it a bloodless coup (well, hopefully bloodless).
I hope your trust in Obama is not misplaced, for the sake of all of us. Although I disagree with Obama on virtually every issue, if he is elected tomorrow, I will pray for him that he is protected, guided, and does what is right for all life.

Well, the number of square

Adam Knight — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:44:52 -0500

In reply to You're Less Than a Speck of Sand:

Well, the number of square degrees on the celestial sphere is where my math agrees with a lot of other folks, so I’m pretty sure that part is right. Where my math disagrees with some other folks is in the final number. In the reference link to Cornell’s Ask an Astronomer, for instance, the author tries to do something similar, but when I use his method I come up with a wholly different number than he posted, so I’m not sure about that answer.

scale=10
148510800/11.5
12913982.6086956521
last*10000*100000000000
12913982608695652100000.0000000000

The author responds with “123,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars” but the answer above is 12,913,982,608,695,652,100,000 stars, using his method (123 quintillion vs. 12 sextillion). Note that we both agree on the 150 million number for the sphere, at least.

I’d love to have a math/astro major drop in and destroy me, however.

I think you’re wrong by a

Beat Bolli — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:06:44 -0500

In reply to You're Less Than a Speck of Sand:

I think you’re wrong by a factor of two. The whole sky is just 360 × 180 degrees (by extrapolating the possible coordinates on Earth: latitude -90 to 90, longitude -180 to 180). But still, the numbers are quite impressive!

I couldn’t agree more! I am

Pro Life for Obama @ — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:49:34 -0500

In reply to The Mythical Right-To-Life Issue:

I couldn’t agree more! I am totally pro life too, and always have been. However, I do not blindly vote for someone simply based on their stance on abortion. I have been saying this for years. As you said, Bush has been in office for 8 years, but abortion is still legal. I doubt that will ever change. Pro life is not just about abortion. It is caring about ALL life, not just the lives that politicians think matter.
Thank you for this post. It is good to know that I am not alone in this way of thinking.

I think those numbers are

Adam Knight — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:18:15 -0500

In reply to The Mythical Right-To-Life Issue:

I think those numbers are mostly distractions. The parts of the world where children are starving to death are not areas where abortions are readily available, thus considering it some kind of aid to that problem is a logical fallacy.

I am FAR from pro-abortion,

dakotaben — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:01:43 -0500

In reply to The Mythical Right-To-Life Issue:

I am FAR from pro-abortion, but I would be considered a pro choice person. There are 40 million abortions in the world every year. There are 15 million children that starve to death or die from malnutrition every year. It is generally accepted that we can keep people alive for 1-2 bucks a day. I wonder what the cost per saved fetus is? Both on pro-life and pro-choice sides. I hate to put $$ on life, but if the goal is to save as many lives as possible, I think it would be worthwhile to know.