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Comment Re:The description is a lie... (Score 1) 440

I'm responding to this one, but this is really meant for all the others too that responded saying its an experiment, I'm outnumbered, I'm a shitlord, etc :)

The problem is that monitoring will be inherent in the solution...when has any government ever done anything like this with no strings attached? With no intrusion into your life? Anyone who says 'its an experiment, it doesn't have to be that way in reality' is living in a fantasy world. Of course it would have to be that way, just like the purest ideas of whatever ideology you or I subscribe to can never be implemented in the ideologist's conceived way. In what existence does any of us live in where the powers that be would not want to have those kinds of strings attached? How else do you expect the distribution of wealth and future decision making can be made regarding these kinds of programs? I for one do not want to be any kind of a social experiment. Social experiments should not happen.

You know, some people like to call the idea / creation of the United States the "great social experiment". Bullshit. Stop experimenting with freedom. Freedom is not an experiment, all these so called 'social experiments' are thinly veiled attempts to figure out how you can take someone's freedom away in a way that's acceptable to them.

Comment The description is a lie... (Score 2) 440

The money is not unconditional. First, the article does not specifically say they have decided on having no strings attached or not, just that they would prefer it that way. However even that is a lie. Right there in the summary, it says:

"Then, assessors will record life consequences like changes in work patterns, self-employment, artistic endeavors, or idleness".

If they are doing that, the money is not unconditional. You must provide this information or have someone study/watch what you do with your life. Those are conditions. Give me the money and expect nothing in return - that is unconditional. And this ladies and gentlemen is exactly why I don't want to live in a socialist shithole. If the nannystate provides us with our income or some portion of it, they will eventually (or immediately) require us to let them watch and analyze everything and anything we do with our lives. If you take this money, this is what you want for yourself and the rest of society. Period.

No one who takes this money values their freedom. I never want to hear anyone who would even consider taking this money bitch about the NSA, CIA, FBI, TSA, backdoors, cryptography, or neocon wingnuts....because these leftist moonbat experiments will truly destroy the freedom of all humanity.

Comment Not suprising at all (Score 3, Interesting) 669

It was a Catholic priest who first developed the idea that became known as the big bang theory, which Einstein did not accept until he saw Msgr Lemaître present his theory at a conference or something. It is unfortunate that some scientists are so anti religion that they ignore the contributions of the Catholic Church and clergy to many of the ideas that they so rabidly defend as "proof" that there is no God or that religion and science are incompatiable.
Earth

Pouring Water Into a Volcano To Generate Power 321

Hugh Pickens writes "Until recently, geothermal power systems have exploited only resources where naturally occurring heat, water, and rock permeability are sufficient to allow energy extraction. Now, geothermal energy developers plan use a new technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) to pump 24 million gallons of water into the side of the dormant Newberrry Volcano, located about 20 miles south of Bend, Oregon, in an effort to use the earth's heat to generate power. 'We know the heat is there,' says Susan Petty, president of AltaRock Energy, Inc. of Seattle. 'The big issue is can we circulate enough water through the system to make it economic.' Since natural cracks and pores do not allow economic flow rates, the permeability of the volcanic rock can be enhanced with EGS by pumping high-pressure cold water down an injection well into the rock, creating tiny fractures in the rock, a process known as hydroshearing. Then cold water is pumped down production wells into the reservoir, and the steam is drawn out. Natural geothermal resources only account for about 0.3 percent of U.S. electricity production, but a 2007 Massachusetts Institute of Technology report projected EGS could bump that to 10 percent within 50 years, at prices competitive with fossil-fuels. 'The important question we need to answer now,' says USGS geophysicist Colin Williams, 'is how geothermal fits into the renewable energy picture, and how EGS fits. How much it is going to cost, and how much is available.'"
Transportation

Solo Explorer Begins Bicycle Journey To South Pole 144

Hugh Pickens writes "Helen Skelton, the first person to solo kayak the length of the Amazon, has set for herself another difficult task — to travel up to 14 hours a day battling 80mph winds and -50C temperatures 800km across Antarctica in an attempt to reach the South Pole by bicycle. It's no average ride, and Skelton, 28, is not using your average bike. Her specially-built Hanebrink 'ice bike' took designers in Los Angeles three months to finish. It features a seamless frame made of aluminium aircraft tubing, heat-treated to withstand harsh environments, and fat, tubeless, rubber tires designed to bulge over the rim to provide maximum stability and traction. The bike is designed to be as minimalist as possible, to make it aerodynamic and very low maintenance. 'The bike is designed specifically to cycle in soft snow or sand,' says polar guide Doug Stoup. 'We trained together in the desert this past summer. It helps because the temperatures are so cold the snow has little moisture and has a sand-like consistency.' Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes commends Skelton for taking on 'incredibly tough and grueling challenge.' 'Like Captain Scott, Helen is attempting something that has never been tried before and I applaud her pioneering efforts.'"

Comment need vs want (Score 2) 851

Most people don't NEED a smartphone. However they WANT a smartphone. Most people also don't know the difference between the two. When enough people have them, the carriers will convince/dictate to you that you NEED a smartphone too. When plain old device service (PODS) is discontinued by the carriers, you will not have a choice but to have a smartphone.


BTW, I claim patent, copyright, and trademark on that acronym. I will sue everyone and Steve Jobs' corpse for 1 Billion dollars if you do not pay my license fee for using that acronym. Even if you are quoting me, you violate the EULA for my acronym.

Comment Re:How about Fedora? (Score 1) 685

Come over to sid. It's "unstable" in terms that it changes a lot. Sid is almost ALWAYS newer than Ubuntu. Because every 6 months Ubuntu draws a line in the sand and says "Nope, we're stopping here." Sure you get bug fixes and can go through and find a ppa that backports. As long as that ppa developer doesn't stop. Then you find another PPA. But it has a different naming convention and it's a (@#* nightmare.

I would go to Sid except for exactly what you described...it's called unstable for a reason, one day I will try to update my system and it will break. Only reason Sid works so well as the baseline for Ubuntu is because they take that unstable and manage it as it if was a stable branch, keeping it patched, dependencies working, etc. Running Ubuntu is like having a happy medium between debian stable and unstable.

Comment Re:Great (Score 1) 392

We do have national and local roads, also state roads and county roads. Each type can get funding from any variety of sources for many reasons. However I think the previous poster is commenting on how a nationally collected tax would provide disproportionate funding to federal infrastructure on a state by state or local level. There might be more online shoppers in areas of higher population and wealth, but that federal internet tax money would be applied to federal projects in areas that may not be contributing to the pot as much...in other words, like every other federal program in existence.

Comment Why would the community care... (Score 1) 591

...about porting Linux apps to the Cloud? TFA talks about how OpenOffice/LibreOffice will never make it to the cloud in time to be competitive vs Google Docs/Office Live...but if the Linux/FOSS crowd wants their software to remain open, why would they use such applications in the cloud? Would providing the app via the cloud into a browser be considered "distribution" of the application or binary, and if so would the cloud provider be required to provide their modified source to interested parties? If not, I see no reason why OSS advocates would even want to use such applications in the cloud...and without those who are most feverishly supportive of Open Source, what real market would "Cloud LibreOffice" or "GIMPCloud" have?

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