Vapymid

MzClIH9idIg "The future lies erased These are the last remaining days..." Regards

From the BBC: "The threat of another asteroid strike like the one that hit Russia earlier this year is much higher than was previously thought, a study suggests." "Much higher" apparently means from 2 to 10 times more often... I do not subscribe to Nature but the extract seems to say that there is an order of magnitude higher than earlier predicted probability of impact by a small(ish) asteroid (tens of meters in diameter), however, the damage from each individual impact is likely to be lower than thought. Regards

Women and men are biologically different. We have Y-chromosome, they have an extra X-chromosome instead. We are biologically programmed to treat women differently than men. They - the other way round. Just learn to deal with it. Regards

A lot of people tend to fall into a logical fallacy that, if one extreme might be very bad then the opposite extreme would, by necessity, be very good. This is totally wrong but it leads to the absolutist attitudes, which are totally counterproductive and do more harm than good. For example, recently, a junior minister in the UK government (herself being heavily pregnant at the time) said that offering one's seat to a pregnant woman is unacceptably sexist. This kind of denial and false equality are simply creating a double morality where, on the surface, everyone complies with the politically correct norm while, underneath, practicing even greater discrimination. Regards

9iMFeFeIVMo Regards

oh-oh... wait a moment... Regards

OK, deal. Fine with me too - but they will have to work for it, just like everybody else. You know, someone has to pay those electricity bills Well, nothing's new in that. This has always been popular among bio-humans, so, no reason to expect that it will be much different when non-bios will arrive... That will further blur the boundaries between biological humans with and machines, so there will be some kind of convergence in the end, I think... Regards

tBWFofJSm-c Gonna be Iron like a Lion in Zion... Regards

"I don't understand why we don't look out for our fellow human beings and make sure everyone has enough to eat, drink and is free from diseases only then truly will we be civilized. in my opinion only when religion and nationality is abandoned and we live as a global community that looks after each other without the thought of reward or expectation of repayment will we be a civilized race." You would not want to live in such place, believe you me. Also, it is prohibited by laws of nature as it would require infinite availability of resources and energy supply. Regards

This I don't see as much of a problem - people were concerned about such things every time there was a technological leap, yet, the societies with more efficient production were able to always sustain higher number of people at higher standards of living than before. There is no reason to think that it might not be the case with robotisation. Your idea is unusual in that normally, people are concerned that robots and AI may *not* have emotions and therefore lack empathy to humans. You seem to think that emotional competence in itself will be the problem. I personally disagree. I think that an AI with emotions will be just yet another form of human. Regards

"how could any deity support us." Ahem... AFAIK, most religious doctrines state or imply that man has been created in the image and likeness of the relevant deity. Not supporting us in such circumstances would be hypocritical. Regards

Technically they all are fruit. Culinary, to me at least, all are 1s except Tomatoes, Olives and Pumkins, which are vegetables and are therefore 7s. Regards

America's got talent... QuEQxhP-Zmo Just not where Simon Cowell was looking for it. Regards

For me - it's silence when I need to concentrate. Long time ago I realised I cannot drive a car with the stereo on. If I didn't like the music - it was annoying and distracted me from driving, if I liked the music - I would listen to it and forget about the road... Regards

Oh, that is enough to put me off humanities and languages! But science? Science goes with maths, always did - shame on Spotify "scientists" for not knowing that simple fact. Regards

I think that was the Israelis - they've modified the AK and made the Galil? Regards

Well, I've spent some time (and put my sanity at risk, all for science!) and listened to some of that music. I now know that there are things like drum'n'bass, house, dubstep, with multiple substyles, each of which has a dedicated following of purists arguing between themselves about the superiority of this or that style and substyle. I have to say that all that totally eludes me and the differences I could detect between, say, 2-step garage and progressive house are much smaller than one could find in one Genesis song, for example. My hypothesis, therefore, is that there are 2 fundamentally different mechanisms of perception of music in our brains - one I would call repetitive-resonating and the other rhythmic-esthetic. The former focuses on repetition of a rhythmic pattern, inducing trance-like detachment from reality and suppressing conscious thought, interspersed with "withdrawal shocks" from "drops". I suspect that it is the same mechanism that works in the African tribal chants and rites. The latter, on the opposite, is activated by what is more traditionally considered "music" - a variable combination of rhythm and melody with or without vocal component. That provides brain with information, which stimulates both emotional and analytical thinking processes. It's almost like the first one is directed at the peripheral nervous system and the second one - at the CNS. Some people must have one mechanism more prevalent than the other, some, perhaps, can switch between the two. Consider this: v this: (incidentally, the second example is about a record-breaking run of the fastest ever steam locomotive and the East Coast here is British, not the US East Cost - need to listen to it 2 - 3 times to get all the nuance). I am not trying to say that one is "better" than the other, but rather that they are totally different, probably incompatible. Any thoughts? Regards

This is not unique to the US. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10/09/mi5_boss_net_surveillence_speech/ The thing is that the Cold War gave the Western governments a unique PR opportunity to present themselves as fluffy, cuddly, freedom-loving, liberal democracies as opposed to the oppressive, obsessive, authoritarian police states behind the Iron Curtain (not to worry, the same thing was happening on the other side). They then got used to it and took it for granted that this image is safely set in stone. As seems to be the rule, though, they were completely blindsided by the internet and they are no longer able to maintain the illusion (but they still don't realise they have already failed!). So, now they are cross that the truth is coming out and the public begins to understand once again that the governments consider their own people as the main threat. It has always been like that, there's nothing new in it. It's just the honeymoon bliss of the Cold War is wearing off, that's all... Regards P.S. I recommend reading the comments thread to that el Reg article - that's where all the fun usually is on that site.

FWIW, from the Afghan war onwards the Soviet Army was using AK-74, which shoots 5.45mm rounds. The action is the same as that of AK-47 but the less powerful round gave better control and increased accuracy. The Russian Army still uses it (with some newer minor improvements). Regards

wE3fmFTtP9g There is no stopping these people... Regards P.S. I don't if it's just me, but it looks like it's running backwards all the time. Also - a spectacular fall (and recovery) at 1:15!

I wonder what that might mean... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10/01/half_life_3_confirmation/ Regards

How about a quantum God - he has done everything there is to be done, possible or impossible. You need to observe each God's deed to collapse its wave function and fix it in reality. Obviously, in the real universe you can only observe the possible wave functions, leaving the impossible to remain in their superimposed eigenstates forever - so it's your fault as the observer and not God's if you can't see the impossible deeds! Regards

Few years ago I was skeptical about "peak oil" and I am even more skeptical now. Well, sure, one day the oil may run out as there is only so much of it which has cooked ready to date and it takes a while for new oil to be naturally synthesised. But more likely it will never run out because we will stop using it - if commercially viable fusion power will finally be achieved it may well prove cheaper to make hydrocarbons artificially than to produce them from under the ground. Economically, however, with the market prices rising, more and more oil becomes extractable - there are still huge discovered reserves of it left, including in all currently or previously producing oil fields, which are not used because of high extraction cost. The higher the market price, the more of such "difficult" and expensive oil can be extracted. In addition, there are expected to be vast reserves of oil still undiscovered - for example, offshore drilling is now limited to depths of about 3km max because of technology and economics. If economics will become tempting, technology will follow. It will be possible to drill, say, in waters up to 5km deep. That will expand offshore exploration area exponentially. And, last but not least - look at the oil prices. They have risen by 400% over the past 10 years, yet that was *not* the cause of the recent economic crises, in fact, it was mostly unnoticed by the final consumers. So what kind of supply shortage will be needed for the oil price alone to induce a catastrophic economic shock? Nah, I think, as the prices will eventually rise further it will gradually make other forms of energy generation more competitive and that in turn will be limiting the growth of demand for oil. Nuclear is the way to go, of course. Fission and, when available, fusion. And I'm sure it will happen. Regards

Finally, someone has figured it all out! BBC explains Syria in 3 minutes Regards

Judas Unrepentant s4JeLGchO7s Regards