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Ask Rym & Scott - Monday Sci/Tech

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  • Do you guys think one is genetically predispose to be a homosexual? I raised that question because I think that for one homosexual to be in the closet was good in the way that even while living a lie it would eventually have a child and therefore the homosexuality would somehow conitnue in future generations, while if you are out of the closet then you would have some problems in having a child, well at least for guys.
  • Do you guys use OpenDNS on your home router? In general, what are your feelings about the service? Is it legit enough to use in a business environment if the DNS sever with your provider is slow as balls?
  • Do you guys useOpenDNSon your home router? In general, what are your feelings about the service? Is it legit enough to use in a business environment if the DNS sever with your provider is slow as balls?Already talked about that.
    Not only is OpwnDNS silly, but the man behind it sent us angry emails after we panned it.  He's a pretty scary dude.
  • Lately my computer started restarting on it's own. Even when I'm not running any programs it just turns off and on. Any way to stop this?
  • Lately my computer started restarting on it's own. Even when I'm not running any programs it just turns off and on. Any way to stop this?
    Check for virusses and malware which might reboot your PC. Check if your windows update isn't rebooting once it's done. Check if you haven't messed up with the energy saving configuration. Use Linux. Besides some minor issues with my nVidia graphics card (Damn you nvidia-glx-new package!) it has yet to do stuff I didn't say it should do. And everything is damn well documented @_@
  • Lately my computer started restarting on it's own. Even when I'm not running any programs it just turns off and on. Any way to stop this?
    Check for virusses and malware which might reboot your PC. Check if your windows update isn't rebooting once it's done. Check if you haven't messed up with the energy saving configuration. Use Linux. Besides some minor issues with my nVidia graphics card (Damn you nvidia-glx-new package!) it has yet to do stuff I didn't say it should do. And everything is damn well documented @_@
    I don't know how to do any of that. I'm not that knowledgeable.
  • Do you believe that psychology is a valid scientific field?



    What are your thoughts on the number of diagnoses of ADD and ADHD in the U.S.?

    It seems that one of the following things is occurring:

    U.S. citizens are progressively become more psychologically unstable.
    U.S. citizens have always had the psychological issues, but they're getting worse at dealing with them.
    U.S. citizens for the most part aren't messed up psychologically, but issues that they have are being blown out of proportion and misdiagnosed.



    By the way, I am not a Scientologist. ;)
  • I think it might just be a result from the movement of taking the unsound and putting them in group homes and sanitariums (as used to be done) to the new method of "mainstreaming" kids with problems.
  • edited October 2007
    What are your thoughts on the number of diagnoses of ADD and ADHD in the U.S.?
    When I was doing lot of social security, it was usually pretty easy to get an SSI award for a kid who was diagnosed with ADHD. You wouldn't believe how many kids have SSI because of ADHD. If they had a diagnosis and if they had a prescription for Ritalin, they were well on their way to having an SSI award. The diagnosis would normally be the result of seeing the kid for about half an hour (if that), hearing from the parent about what a little bastard the kid was, and maybe reading a teacher's evaluation.

    I began to think that the whole thing was more economic than psychological. Parents usually don't want to think their kids are stupid or unruly, but even if they don't care, they usually want their kids to settle down and not present such a problem to deal with (parents who have disabilities of their own, whether real or imagined, especially want their kids to just settle). Psychologists met the need of parents who don't want to think their kid is stupid by coming up with "ADHD" so they have an excuse for their kid being stupid and Ciba-Geigy met the need of parents who want their kid to settle by making something to settle them. This is not to say the condition doesn't exist at all. I just think it's been overdiagnosed.

    Once I had a hearing for a kid making a claim for SSI benefits due to ADHD. The ALJ said, "Okay, I understand the child is difficult, but the behaviors I've heard described aren't anything worse than I did when I was a child." I said, "Yes, but now the SSA recognizes the behaviors as constituting a disability." The kid got an SSI award - to match his sister's SSI award, his mother's Disability award, his grandmother's Disability award, and his aunt's Disability award.

    Edit - I'm a little pissed off about SSI in general because one of my worst experiences in private practice dealt with an SSI award for a kid with ADHD. The SSA keeps back your attorney fee from a regular disability award and sends it to you directly. For some weird reason, they leave it to you to get your fee from the claimant for an SSI award. Right before Christmas one year, an award came through for an SSI client (who got his award because of ADHD). My fee was going to be $3,500.00.

    The client totally skipped on me. I didn't get a dime. SSA didn't help at all. I got a judgment of course, but they're judgment proof. I still haven't gotten a dime from them to this day.
    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • What Firefox add-ons do you use and/or recommend?
  • ......
    edited October 2007
    What Firefox add-ons do you use and/or recommend?
    There's an episode on that. And a more recent (though already getting a bit old) thread.

    EDIT: Ooooh, and questions. Just dumping it here since it's about computers, but could fit in Thursday too I guess.
    - How do you create, manage and remember passwords? Do you create random passwords and manage them with a password manager and thus only remember the main password, or do you use one password for everything, or a handful. Do you use words or patterns, mixing words with 'leet-speak', etc, etc, etc...
    Post edited by ... on
  • This may be a Thursday or Monday question.

    Do you think that online communities like 4chan, digg, slashdot, or even your own forums, could in the future, become actors in international politics, and if so how much power will they have? Or another way the internet could shape politics, as I foresee in the future of 4chan, is by using terrorism and "raids" to achieve a political means.

    I feel that this idea has truly taken shape after the first DNC sanctioned debate on July 23, 2007 where voters were able to submit their questions to the candidates via YouTube.
  • edited October 2007
    Assume humans put a permanent civilian settlement on The Moon. What solutions would you offer, if any, for dealing with any technical problems that settlement would experience accessing the (terrestrial-based) Internet?

    How about for a settlement on Mars?
    Post edited by SoylentGreenIsPurple on
  • If you could fiat any technology into use by every major organization in the world, what would it be and why?
  • edited October 2007
    What is stopping wireless energy transfer - specifically microwave transmission - from being put into use? Are the caveats too great or is the technology just not yet right?
    Post edited by xenomouse on
  • Why do we still use x86?

    Sure it has changed over the years but it has been proven that better i.e. faster and more energy efficient options exist. Is it only a Chicken--Egg problem or are there inherent advantages to using x86?
  • External hard drives? Is there really a difference besides GB? Are there certain better quality ones you'd recommend or any one for anyones purposes would do? Same question with portable ones.
  • If I want to use an old white box as a router, what sort of hardware would be required and where should I go for more information about how to go about it (for someone who can program, knows his way around a command prompt, and understands the OSI model but doesn't have any real training in IT).
  • If I want to use an old white box as a router, what sort of hardware would be required and where should I go for more information about how to go about it (for someone who can program, knows his way around a command prompt, and understands the OSI model but doesn't have any real training in IT).
    The easiest way I know of is with IPcop. You just have to put as many network cards as you need into the computer, wire it up properly, and install and properly configure the OS. It has a web interface that makes everything relatively easy.
  • ......
    edited October 2007
    Would either of you ever want a Steampunk style computer? (tower, keyboard, monitor, mouse, printer, the works) Or only a part? (e.g. Only the keyboard and monitor)

    Also, what do you think about people steampunkifying items? This probably is a thursday question, but also has show potential...
    Post edited by ... on
  • Cut-off has passed.
  • edited October 2007
    What audio production/music software do you recommend other than Rezound?
    Is it time for people to stop asking that annoying question "Is Linux ready for the desktop"?
    Do you get as irritated as I do at the stupid new words people coin like "blogosphere" or "podfading"?
    What do you think about non-Linux alternative OSes like BeOS, Syllable etc? Even if the future is in FLOSS, is it really going to be based on 30-year-old Unix? (I'm kind of a Unix hater, sorry)
    Has there been too much hype about the Internet, or not enough?

    Edit: oops, silly me
    Post edited by Paulathon on
  • Edit: oops, silly me
    Don't worry, if Rym and Scott find those questions awesome/need more questions they might use them. Good questions btw. Hmmmm...
  • edited October 2007
    What would you recommend as an off site backup? Would Amazon S3 be a good idea?
    Why is it not possible to get rid of radioactive waste by splitting it into smaller and smaller elements?
    I think thats because you end up with a greater number of even more unstable atoms.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
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