Disqus - Latest Comments for neilrieck

Re: Israel faces crisis due to conscription dispute over ultra-Orthodox Jews

neilrieck — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 20:28:37 -0000

quote: "They dismiss the calls for equality in bearing the burden of military service by claiming that full-time study of the Torah provides “spiritual protection” for Israel".
comment: Obviously their spiritual protection did not shield Israel from the attack by Hamas ~ 16 weeks later. When are humans going to realize that religion is just another form of magical thinking?

Re: No One Seems To Care About Apollo - Except NASA

neilrieck — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 08:09:23 -0000

Well it’s now official. I no longer fit in with the zeitgeist of western society. Back in the 1960s when I was attending Forest Heights secondary school in Kitchener (Ontario, Canada), most students would have gotten 3-of-5 correct. I was situated in the tech wing where I am certain that everyone could have easily answered 5-of-5. Same with students in the electronics program at Conestoga College.

Re: Ukraine announces ‘invasion date’ plan — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

neilrieck — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 17:33:17 -0000

I'm not so sure. Biden just authorized a defense budget of 768 billion (that three quarters of a trillion for you people following along at home). That's a lot of money for a country without any wars and the only way to keep the money flowing is to get back into one.

Re: Ukraine announces ‘invasion date’ plan — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

neilrieck — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 17:29:08 -0000

Here is the only way to defuse this issue: rather than offering NATO membership to Ukraine, offer them EU membership.

Re: Baltic countries in talks to boost NATO troop presence on their soil

neilrieck — Sat, 15 Jan 2022 09:45:54 -0000

I disagree. NATO is the organization that (primarily) the USA and Britain use to sell the output of their respective military manufacturers. NATO began as a common defense against Stalin and should have been disbanded in 1953 when Stalin died. NATO is an acronym for "North Atlantic Treaty Organization" so now look at all the NATO members and candidates not on the Atlantic (Turkey, Germany, Poland, Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, the Baltic states? NATO is now like a cancer cell that needs to continuing growing except it will kill the host (humanity)

Re: Baltic countries in talks to boost NATO troop presence on their soil

neilrieck — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 13:49:07 -0000

We all remember Kennedy's 1962 proclamation that "an attack on the USA by Cuba would be treated as an attack on the USA by the USSR". Well, 60 years later, what if Putin announced "any attack on Russia by any NATO countries would be considered an attack by the USA?" It's something to think about.

Re: Baltic countries in talks to boost NATO troop presence on their soil

neilrieck — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 08:32:53 -0000

In 1962, the USSR brought the world very close to nuclear war by placing nuclear weapons in Cuba. Now the US is doing the same thing (via NATO) by surrounding Russia. Does it only take 60 years to forget the lessons of the past? On a related note, why does the E.U. stay silent when member countries are allowed to be bribed into military agreements with NATO/USA? Surely this activity dilutes the E.U. mandate to prevent future wars in Europe.

Re: On Contact: The new global order

neilrieck — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 13:11:48 -0000

Has anyone noticed how this book is back-ordered, then available, then back-ordered again? Either the online retailers are not ordering enough -OR- this book is in very high demand. Let's hope the people reading it heed the warnings of history in order than we don't repeat it.

Re: On Contact: The new global order

neilrieck — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 13:09:10 -0000

And to top off your remark, most Americans are addicted to shopping at Walmart which is the largest retail outlet for Chinese manufactured goods. But let's be realistic: the next American civil war would be triggered by the American backlash to anyone forcing Walmart to close or charge.

Re: On Contact: The new global order

neilrieck — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 13:05:19 -0000

Sometimes science fiction provides a better view of reality than anything else (there was all kinds of capitalism and mercantilism expressed in Asimov's sci-fi books)

Re: On Contact: The new global order

neilrieck — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 13:02:10 -0000

This book is a real pager-turner so thanks for the recommendation. BTW, it is now clear to me that history taught in primary and secondary schools is heavily sanitized for the young. If it was not then you could only imagine the parental revolt after a child of either Spanish or Portuguese descent comes home from school saying "guess what I learned in school today?" Then later the story would be repeated by the children of the British, Dutch, French and Germans. I was surprised that the cost of Britain's Royal Navy was 2.5% of GDP. Now compare that with the current number for the USA which is already higher at 3.5% (768B / 22T). Perhaps history is repeating itself (again)

Re: On Contact: America’s War Machine

neilrieck — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 13:23:23 -0000

So it is okay to manufacture weapons the use them yourself (American drone attacks in the middle east) or selling to second parties (Saudi Arabia) to kill third parties (Yemen) just for a pay check? If the answer is yes then that paycheck is "blood money" which will f-up your karma if nothing else.

Re: On Contact: America’s War Machine

neilrieck — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 13:16:33 -0000

Most people are already aware of the phrase "Military Industrial Complex" but my wife and I were shocked by what was presented in this show. I am definitely going to buy a copy of the book. comment: The USA is putting pressure on Russia by expanding NATO into Ukraine. Do Americans have no recollection of what this felt like (to Americans) when the USSR was installing missiles in Cuba in 1962?

Re: On Contact: The new global order

neilrieck — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 17:28:09 -0000

This book was sold out in many places but I finally received a copy and it looks like a real pager-turner. Thanks for this tip.

Re: Earth Will Lose Its Oxygen in a Billion Years, Killing Most Living Organisms

neilrieck — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 07:46:50 -0000

Because "oxygen production" on planet Earth is lower than "oxidation by all of humanity's machines", atmospheric oxygen levels have been falling ever since continual measurements began in 1990 (as I have documented here: http://neilrieck.net/docs/c... )

Re: Cyberpunked 2077: CDPR ‘Apologizes’ For Releasing Broken Game, Offers Refunds

neilrieck — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 17:33:26 -0000

From the CD PROJEKT WEB SITE: "Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be responsible for the distribution and promotion of Cyberpunk 2077 in North America, and will bring the game to PC, PlayStation®4 and Xbox One." Now other sites have claimed that the investors, and WB, screamed blue murder every time CD PROJEKT announced another delay; this is the usual non-sense with the suits saying we needed this thing published before the end of 2020

Re: Cyberpunked 2077: CDPR ‘Apologizes’ For Releasing Broken Game, Offers Refunds

neilrieck — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 11:25:33 -0000

So was this quality-on-console debacle caused by "CD Projekt Red" or "Warner Bros"? I think you will find WB to blame here (just as has happened with other titles from other studios). It does appear that CDPR put a lot of love into Cyberpunk if you watch this video from Linus Tech Tips where the game is running on top-end hardware https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Re: SpaceX Starship Performs Amazing Flip Maneuver, Explodes on Hard Landing

neilrieck — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 07:51:01 -0000

Someone f'd-up. If this flip maneuver would have been performed at a higher altitude then much more data could have been gathered. Performing the flip maneuver at low altitude failed first time (the experiment was prematurely ended)

Re: Sony’s PlayStation 5 Debuts to Strong Reviews

neilrieck — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 12:45:26 -0000

can anyone tell me if the "Netflix" or "Amazon Prime Video" viewers work on the PS5 ???

Re: NASA Administrator: Artemis Could Revisit Apollo Moon Sites

neilrieck — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 19:41:39 -0000

Visit the old sites? Why? 14-day hot days will be followed by 14-day cold nights. The only safe place to land right now is near the south pole which will not endure these extremes but MIGHT detect signs of water

Re: FRONTLINE Premieres Our First Major Documentary on COVID-19 Tonight

neilrieck — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 11:20:49 -0000

That was an informative, but scary, show. Thanks for producing it

Re: The SETI@home Project Is Ending After 21 Years

neilrieck — Fri, 06 Mar 2020 06:43:38 -0000

I was a huge fan of SETI@home until I learned of Folding@home which will make like better for everyone on planet Earth. Even today, the biological science needs our help (especially if your PC has an external graphics card)
http://neilrieck.net/docs/f...

Re: NASA Says Venus May Have Supported Life Billions of Years Ago

neilrieck — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 07:04:28 -0000

Mercury is much closer to the sun than Venus and yet Venus is much hotter. This has everything to do with the high CO2 level in the atmosphere. Click here to learn more: http://neilrieck.net/docs/c...

Re: Sony PlayStation 5: Ray Tracing, SSD, 8-Core AMD Ryzen 3

neilrieck — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 09:16:11 -0000

I used to watch 3-d blue-rays (Avatar etc) on my PS3. That technology never made it into the PS4 ecosystem which is why I kept my PS3. While I think that VR-headsets will someday be necessary for gaming, as soon as you put one on you ostracise everyone else in the room (kiss your marriage goodbye). So in the meantime, I think Sony should focus on the support of 3-d movie playback and 3-d gaming in there whole console ecosystem. Chicken-vs-egg: If Sony builds it, the publishing industry will supply the content (if Sony doesn't build it then it can't happen). I guess I don't need to mention here that Sony should put a high-def blue-ray drive on the PS5 as well as an option for 8k video. Gamming hardware ALWAYS leads the way pushing displays. 8k games will appear before 8k movies. (Not sure why M$ just announced a version of the XBOX-ONE without optical media; Seems to me that this will go down in history as another stupid hardware mistake; why? Korea and Japan might have high-speed internet but sadly, many places in North America do not)

Re: Sony PlayStation 5: Ray Tracing, SSD, 8-Core AMD Ryzen 3

neilrieck — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 09:00:57 -0000

Forget about technology for a moment and let's only talk aesthetics: The black+blue PS2 was beautiful while the roundish PS3 was ugly. The PS4 console was cool and the PS4-Pro was even better. How about bringing back some of the PS2 look for the PS5