privong

I think it depends on what one wants to model. For a general understanding of how traffic flows, a statistical model is okay. On the other hand, if you want to know why a specific traffic jam is happe…

I think the idea is to give it a treatment analgous to how statistical mechanics works for properties of gas, for example. True, we can't easily say what individual atoms/molecules might do,…

> I wish more drivers would follow the driving etiquette that advises one to "stay right except to pass." In many places this is the law, rather than just ettequite. :) Of course, that do…

> The arithmetic I did is a tool illustrating the scale that is needed to make metric expansion operative. You might revisit the wording then. As it's written it implies that with arbitrarily …

The expansion of the Universe is irrelevant in this case. Our galaxy is gravitationally bound, so things (stars, planets, etc) within it do not follow Hubble's law. So there will be no modificati…

One option (if you have a trusted FPGA) is to run something from opencores.org, where you can verify the code. But more generally, yes there is an issue of having an initial base system which can be t…

I understand the point about software, but what about hardware? If the NSA is corrupting software, then it must be corrupting chips too. How can chips be verified NSA spy free? In principle, an anal…

I guess we interpreted the OP's use of "safer" in different ways. But, your point is well taken.

One-time pads are probably what they meant to say instead of simply symmetric crypto. One-time pads are unbreakable, but the issue is transmitting the key to the recipient. Public-key crypo is so wide…

The next logical step is to create a mount for the back of a holga to replace the film plane with a smartphone camera. Or, to create a holga look-alike that interfaces with a smartphone's camera.

> Is there any intrinsic value in Twitter other than the plethora of people using it? s/Twitter/[any social network]/ The point is the people using it.

I think such a thing would be unenforceable without the consent of those same nations which currently ignore privacy rights.

Not quite. https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/surveillance

Often the grades will follow a gaussian (normal) distribution. In that case, the wider, less used range, is important in capturing and quantifying the outliers. It would be an effective grading system…

> Seeking asylum isn't an endorsement of Venezuela. It's a last-ditch-effort to stay free against government oppression. It's not clear that jumping out of the pan and into the fire …

This gets into the issue of where rights originate. Do they originate with the government (or its founding documents) or are they an integral part of being human?

Technically Sgr A* is a component of the Sgr A region. There is also Sgr A East and Sgr A West, in addition to Sgr A*.

The activity level (in terms of how much material is falling into it) is fairly low, such that it doesn't qualify as being an "active galactic nucleus". However, a gas cloud (called "G2") will be pass…

The lines forming a cross in pictures of stars is a separate phenomenon. That is due to diffraction from the support structures of the secondary mirror. For a detailed answer to why the Einstein cross…

To be technical, you could still see an object that is smaller to than your resolving power (this happens essentially every time we observe individual stars). The issue is what is called the "confusio…