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Search: Posts Made By: xtifr
Forum: Computers and the Internet 21st November 2015, 04:59 PM
Replies: 290
Views: 38,523
Posted By xtifr
It appears to be as easy to replace with Linux as...

It appears to be as easy to replace with Linux as any other version of Windows, and since that's all I ever ask of Windows, I guess I'd have to say I'm reasonably happy with it? :D
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 8th November 2014, 10:16 PM
Replies: 196
Views: 12,936
Posted By xtifr
Both of those are easily faked by a "sufficiently...

Both of those are easily faked by a "sufficiently advanced" alien (in Clarke's sense).

If it were just a matter-of-fact demonstration ("oh hey, look, I created you guys, check it out"), I might be...
Forum: General Skepticism and The Paranormal 6th November 2014, 08:53 PM
Replies: 60
Views: 8,605
Posted By xtifr
It may be the Prof. Farnsworth...

It may be the Prof. Farnsworth (http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Good_news,_everyone!) version.

"Good news, everyone. Tomorrow you'll be making a delivery to Ebola 9, the virus planet."
-- Prof....
Forum: General Skepticism and The Paranormal 3rd November 2014, 09:00 PM
Replies: 3,272
Views: 491,048
Posted By xtifr
All those other recently discovered critters...

All those other recently discovered critters basically fall into three specific categories:

1. Lives near similar species, so it's hard to distinguish. Members of this class are usually well-known...
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 3rd November 2014, 07:25 PM
Replies: 206
Views: 20,513
Posted By xtifr
Of course, it might be that they went public with...

Of course, it might be that they went public with this because their Skunkworks really aren't producing a lot since Cold War financing went away, and they wanted some good publicity.

(Not saying...
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 3rd November 2014, 01:20 PM
Replies: 196
Views: 12,936
Posted By xtifr
The real problem is that any entity powerful...

The real problem is that any entity powerful enough to provide convincing evidence of being the creator of the universe is also an entity powerful enough to fake such evidence! As Arthur Clarke...
Forum: Computers and the Internet 31st October 2014, 08:39 PM
Replies: 100
Views: 4,823
Posted By xtifr
You may be single; a lot of us aren't. (Four...

You may be single; a lot of us aren't. (Four users on my "personal" computer, plus a "guest" account for friends and such.)

In any case, adding a separate user for "adminstrator" (the equivalent...
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 30th October 2014, 07:51 PM
Replies: 29
Views: 1,955
Posted By xtifr
On the other hand, once you're in orbit, low...

On the other hand, once you're in orbit, low thrust/low acceleration engines are a big win, which is why they're currently the target of a fair amount of research. Fuel efficiency becomes a much...
Forum: Computers and the Internet 29th October 2014, 10:47 AM
Replies: 100
Views: 4,823
Posted By xtifr
Back when Android first came out, I was chatting...

Back when Android first came out, I was chatting with a friend of mine. First, I showed her my Android phone, which she was pretty impressed with. Later, she was telling me how sad she was that her...
Forum: Computers and the Internet 28th October 2014, 12:19 PM
Replies: 100
Views: 4,823
Posted By xtifr
And many more are selling more generic machines...

And many more are selling more generic machines running Linux, ranging from "boutique" vendors like System 76 to even some of the big-box outfits like Dell.

Here, for example, is a Dell that comes...
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 24th October 2014, 05:20 PM
Replies: 44
Views: 5,417
Posted By xtifr
Homeopathic "remedies", like herbal "remedies"*...

Homeopathic "remedies", like herbal "remedies"* are classified in the US as dietary supplements. As such, they are subject to very few regulations, but they are required to list ingredients. So, if...
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 19th October 2014, 09:52 PM
Replies: 137
Views: 9,578
Posted By xtifr
Gravity is even more of a factor in floods, but...

Gravity is even more of a factor in floods, but that doesn't mean gravity waves are water waves. ;)
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 18th October 2014, 12:54 PM
Replies: 137
Views: 9,578
Posted By xtifr
Just in case anyone's not clear: earthquakes are...

Just in case anyone's not clear: earthquakes are not gravity waves, and, in fact, have almost nothing to do with gravity.
Forum: General Skepticism and The Paranormal 18th October 2014, 12:42 PM
Replies: 16
Views: 9,386
Posted By xtifr
Of course, the initial response should be (as it...

Of course, the initial response should be (as it is with all these types): "if you're so psychic, why haven't you applied for the James Randi Million Dollar Challenge or one of its equivalents?"

I...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 17th October 2014, 11:10 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
I assume you mean the Strong Anthropic Principle,...

I assume you mean the Strong Anthropic Principle, rather than the Weak Anthropic Principle. The Weak is pretty much a tautology, and I suspect that every man jack* of us accepts it.



Yes, but...
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 16th October 2014, 08:49 PM
Replies: 206
Views: 20,513
Posted By xtifr
I think they broke that barrier last year, albeit...

I think they broke that barrier last year, albeit barely.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_power
Forum: Computers and the Internet 16th October 2014, 08:31 PM
Replies: 100
Views: 4,823
Posted By xtifr
Autoraise is orthogonal to the focus mechanism....

Autoraise is orthogonal to the focus mechanism. Win & Mac combine click-to-focus (CTF) with autoraise as the only option. You're probably not even used to thinking of them as separate things. Most...
Forum: Computers and the Internet 16th October 2014, 02:02 AM
Replies: 100
Views: 4,823
Posted By xtifr
Go away! We don't want you! Linux is for me, not...

Go away! We don't want you! Linux is for me, not you pathetic losers! :D

Ok, I'm going to mention something that will probably make no sense to you, but is a big reason I refuse to use Win or Mac:...
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 15th October 2014, 12:11 PM
Replies: 47
Views: 2,706
Posted By xtifr
Estimates of the Goldilocks zone vary wildly....

Estimates of the Goldilocks zone vary wildly. According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumstellar_habitable_zone), Venus at aphelion touches the inner edge in even conservative...
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 15th October 2014, 11:19 AM
Replies: 47
Views: 2,706
Posted By xtifr
Here's one suggesting the magic distance is 12...

Here's one suggesting the magic distance is 12 feet: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130807194653AAprXuE

Hard to tell if it's a Poe or serious, especially given the asker's response...
Forum: General Skepticism and The Paranormal 14th October 2014, 10:27 AM
Replies: 34
Views: 7,317
Posted By xtifr
Ah. That would actually explain a lot! :D ...

Ah. That would actually explain a lot! :D



That may help protect them from charges of fraud, but not from charges of harm if the copper hurts people who don't know they have a reaction like...
Forum: General Skepticism and The Paranormal 14th October 2014, 10:10 AM
Replies: 34
Views: 7,317
Posted By xtifr
Some people, including me, have a very bad...

Some people, including me, have a very bad reaction to copper on their skin. I was given a copper ring when I was in my teens, and after wearing it for less than a month, I had a frighteningly deep...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 14th October 2014, 09:54 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
But you haven't shown anything about A's...

But you haven't shown anything about A's probability. Saying that A is improbable because you're improbable is like saying that a die only has a one in six chance of existing because you rolled a 3,...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 5th October 2014, 12:54 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! You were fine until that...

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! You were fine until that last. But that last is not "other words" for the same thing. It's a completely separate concept, and one that doesn't begin to follow.

Yes, you were a...
Forum: General Skepticism and The Paranormal 30th September 2014, 01:16 PM
Replies: 3,231
Views: 427,412
Posted By xtifr
The Grateful Dead never played the same set...

The Grateful Dead never played the same set twice, and had a large enough repertoire that they could play a five night stand without repeating a song. And of course, they were famous and popular...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 27th September 2014, 11:33 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
Nobody bet on your existence. In fact, you didn't...

Nobody bet on your existence. In fact, you didn't even realize it—let alone consider it lucky—until after the fact. Basically by definition. Which is why this is the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy.
...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 25th September 2014, 02:42 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
No. 2. 1080! = 1080 * (1080 - 1) * (1080 -...

No.

2. 1080! = 1080 * (1080 - 1) * (1080 - 2) ...

Remember, (1080 - 1) is represented by a sequence of eighty 9s. (1080 - 2) is seventy-nine 9s followed by an 8. Both are eighty digit numbers....
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 25th September 2014, 01:06 AM
Replies: 45
Views: 2,468
Posted By xtifr
And lines and curves. Base 10 and zero...

And lines and curves.



Base 10 and zero are notational; while they're very useful tools (at least the latter), they're not actually part of the math. Not using them doesn't change the math; it...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 25th September 2014, 12:47 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
Someone had to win the lottery. One side of that...

Someone had to win the lottery. One side of that 1080! sided die had to come up.* This is an argument by incredulity. Superficially, it may indeed seem obvious--but anyone who actually thinks about...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 18th September 2014, 10:33 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
You can, but it seems awfully high, and I thought...

You can, but it seems awfully high, and I thought you were aiming for a low probability. I was suggesting 1/(1080!), which you're also free to use. As I've said multiple times, I, personally, will...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 17th September 2014, 04:15 PM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
Your post ended here. Did some of what you...

Your post ended here. Did some of what you intended to post get lost or eaten by data goblins? Or did you simply misstate yourself (to put it politely)? Or do you have a different definition of "now"...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 14th September 2014, 11:51 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
Infinitely fewer than infinity! But, as I pointed...

Infinitely fewer than infinity! But, as I pointed out before, the same is true of Graham's number, which is all the unimaginable you could want. Nobody cares about the limits of your imagination or...
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 11th September 2014, 02:19 PM
Replies: 1,071
Views: 94,360
Posted By xtifr
So the Sun didn't exist before the Curies were...

So the Sun didn't exist before the Curies were born? The natural reactors at Oklo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklo) never happened? ;)

(I know what you meant, but your wording was fairly...
Forum: General Skepticism and The Paranormal 10th September 2014, 05:49 PM
Replies: 181
Views: 24,293
Posted By xtifr
But if it's alien, it shouldn't look like a...

But if it's alien, it shouldn't look like a terrestrial bone, so the fact that it doesn't look very much like a terrestrial bone to an expert (or a reasonable approximation of one) proves (proves, I...
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 10th September 2014, 05:32 PM
Replies: 101
Views: 6,012
Posted By xtifr
For the record, I, for specific legal reasons...

For the record, I, for specific legal reasons having to do with my profession, prefer the term "discovered" when referring to mathematics over the term "invented". Mathematical notations can be...
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 10th September 2014, 04:24 PM
Replies: 39
Views: 3,566
Posted By xtifr
In grade school, I figured out how to trisect the...

In grade school, I figured out how to trisect the angle, using only compass and straight edge—even though this has been called impossible by most mathematicians. My answer is correct, and I stand by...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 9th September 2014, 01:00 PM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
I already suggested (several times) one over...

I already suggested (several times) one over 10^80 factorial*. What's wrong with that? It may not be precise (there are reasons why it might be larger, but also reasons why it might be smaller), but...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 4th September 2014, 10:57 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
That's actually somewhat ambiguous. Despite what...

That's actually somewhat ambiguous. Despite what the religious, with their belief in souls, like to think, life doesn't really start at conception, because eggs and sperm are both alive. So, from a...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 2nd September 2014, 01:04 PM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
Moreover, an infinite universe doesn't help if...

Moreover, an infinite universe doesn't help if the habitable portion (where protons still exist) is finite, which seems to be the case no matter how long the "dark" period after all matter is gone...
Forum: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology 2nd September 2014, 11:15 AM
Replies: 2,761
Views: 375,636
Posted By xtifr
In my experience, though, the stupid crackpots...

In my experience, though, the stupid crackpots seem more attracted to more mundane conspiracy theories and the like. The ones that take it upon themselves to tackle physics, while obviously not as...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 2nd September 2014, 10:58 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
They both are. Choosing one over the other...

They both are. Choosing one over the other (calling them the same or calling them different) is misleading. Unless you can take into account both perspectives, you're going to get off-track and can...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 1st September 2014, 10:33 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
No, the only reason we're interested in the prior...

No, the only reason we're interested in the prior probability of you, in particular, existing is because you did end up existing. That's a textbook case of drawing the circle after the shooting.
...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 31st August 2014, 09:03 PM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
Debatable. At least in the (purely hypothetical)...

Debatable. At least in the (purely hypothetical) case of making a perfect copy of someone, you can say it's the same person or a different person, and both statements could reasonably be considered...
Forum: General Skepticism and The Paranormal 30th August 2014, 10:53 PM
Replies: 22
Views: 3,738
Posted By xtifr
They left out one of my absolute favorites:...

They left out one of my absolute favorites: Quantum Jumping. See, it's like a quantum leap, except you actually jump, and somehow, if you do it in the right frame of mind, it leads to some sort of...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 30th August 2014, 10:47 PM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
Is that even English? What do you mean "first...

Is that even English? What do you mean "first set"? The denominator I'm allowing (though it's ridiculously larger than it should be if we take causality into effect), includes all possible...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 29th August 2014, 10:44 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
And you're wrong, and every single person who...

And you're wrong, and every single person who responded to that post pointed out that you're wrong.

Note, however, that my "every permutation of every particle throughout the habitable section of...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 27th August 2014, 10:29 AM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
Obviously there's no way to give a precise answer...

Obviously there's no way to give a precise answer to that question, but we can give a lower bound. It's greater than one over the total number of possible arrangements of all particles in the...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 24th August 2014, 01:33 PM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
When making a similar argument to the one...

When making a similar argument to the one Giordano just made, I suggested using 10^80 factorial. This is probably too large, which would seem to unfairly weight things in your favor, but I don't...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 21st August 2014, 12:55 PM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
Still not endless. Its still a finite number of...

Still not endless. Its still a finite number of possible combinations, even if you take all possible ways our universe (or a universe like ours) could have evolved. This is where you keep going...
Forum: Religion and Philosophy 19th August 2014, 03:00 PM
Replies: 3,352
Views: 211,957
Posted By xtifr
I'm sorry, I don't see how positing time travel...

I'm sorry, I don't see how positing time travel or anything else like that gets you to infinity, since the entire possible number of combinations of particles in the volume of the habitable universe...
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