Comment Re:Cooling is worse then warming. (Score 1) 140
The planet will be fine either way. Save the humans.
Comment Cool? No. Common? Workhorse? Yes. (Score 1) 511
I doubt too many people think a cast iron pan is cool. Yet it can be used to bake, broil, fry, sauté, reduce, and more.
Is mergesort cool? Are linked lists and hash tables cool? They are common building blocks, but are very useful.
Is DRAM cool? Are x86_64 processors sexy?
Is the Honda Accord or the Toyota Camry "bitchin'"?
Are asphalt shingles as impressive as a slate roof?
When your job calls for a sturdy workhorse, you don't need a thoroughbred racehorse. You don't haul gravel in a Huracan. If your project calls for Java, or C++, or Fortran, Ada, or even for COBOL then you use what gets the job done. If it calls for rapid deployment from a small team, you might use Perl, Python, Ruby, Javascript, or even a shell script. If you need Erlang, Forth, Swift, some assembly language, or some Basic dialect due to platform, existing code, etc then you just suck it up and do that. If you have a chance to do greenfield development and can pick your language, pick anything that works.
If you're in a Java shop working on a Java project, you write and debug Java. Sometimes there's more than one right tool for the job, but you use the one everyone in your workshop has and can use.
13-Year-Old Finds Fungus Deadly To AIDS Patients Growing On Trees 134
An anonymous reader writes Researchers have pinpointed the environmental source of fungal infections that have been sickening HIV/AIDS patients in Southern California for decades. It literally grows on trees. The discovery is based on the science project of a 13-year-old girl, who spent the summer gathering soil and tree samples from areas around Los Angeles hardest hit by infections of the fungus named Cryptococcus gattii.
Princeton Nuclear Fusion Reactor Will Run Again 147
mdsolar writes with good news for the National Spherical Torus Experiment. Tucked away from major roadways and nestled amid more than 80 acres of forest sits a massive warehouse-like building where inside, a device that can produce temperatures hotter than the sun has sat cold and quiet for more than two years. But the wait is almost over for the nuclear fusion reactor to get back up and running at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. "We're very excited and we're all anxious to turn that machine back on," said Adam Cohen, deputy director for operations at PPPL. The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) has been shut down since 2012 as it underwent a $94 million upgrade that will make it what officials say will be the most powerful fusion facility of its kind in the world. It is expected to be ready for operations in late winter or early spring, Cohen said.
Finding an ISIS Training Camp Using Google Earth 134
An anonymous reader writes: Terrorist organization ISIS has been in the news a lot lately for their hostile activities in Iraq and Syria. They've also been very active online, posting propaganda and photos on various social networking sites to try to recruit more members. Frequently, they'll have pictures of themselves in nondescript locations — but even carefully selected images give clues to a real location. Citizen journalists at Bellingcat analyzed a group of these photos, comparing buildings and bridges in the background to images from Google Earth. With very little to go on, they were able to pinpoint the location of a terrorist training camp.
Comment Re:2GB of RAM? (Score 1) 215
Who cares for the puroses of this story, since an AMD A4 is a 64-bit (AMD64 / x86_64) processor from AMD?
Comment corruption in Chicago: film at 11 (every night) (Score 1) 115
What's really news is that corruption in Chicago makes the news.
Feds: Red Light Camera Firm Paid For Chicago Official's Car, Condo 115
An anonymous reader writes "The former CEO of Redflex, a major red light camera vendor, and John Bills, former Managing Deputy Commissioner at the Department of Transportation, have been indicted on federal corruption charges stemming from a contract with the City of Chicago. According to the indictment, a friend of Bills was hired as a contractor and paid $2 million. Much of that money was then kicked back to Bills, who also got a Mercedes and a condominium via Redflex employees. The defendants are facing 23 counts including: mail fraud, wire fraud, and bribery. Each fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years."
Comment Re:The drugs are terrible (Score 1) 200
Not all ADHD folks are hyperactive. The "H" is common but not universal. Poor sleep can definitely cause a loss of ability to focus, though. It can also contribute to risk of stroke, heart attack, type 2 diabetes, and a lot of other problems. I wouldn't doubt that hyperactivity could be among those.
The Billion-Dollar Website 194
stoborrobots writes: The Government Accountability Office has investigated the cost blowouts associated with how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) handled the Healthcare.gov project. It has released a 60-page report entitled Healthcare.gov: Ineffective Planning and Oversight Practices Underscore the Need for Improved Contract Management, with a 5 page summary. The key takeaway messages are:
- CMS undertook the development of Healthcare.gov and its related systems without effective planning or oversight practices...
- [The task] was a complex effort with compressed time frames. To be expedient, CMS issued task orders ... when key technical requirements were unknown...
- CMS identified major performance issues ... but took only limited steps to hold the contractor accountable.
- CMS awarded a new contract to another firm [and the new contract's cost has doubled] due to changes such as new requirements and other enhancements...
Comment Re:Greetings, Starfighter. (Score 1) 84
Listen, Centauri. I'm not any of those guys, I'm a kid from a trailer park.
Every Day Is Goof-Off-At-Work Day At the US Patent and Trademark Office 327
McGruber writes An internal investigation by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office found that some of its 8,300 patent examiners repeatedly lied about the hours they were putting in and many were receiving bonuses for work they did not do. While half of the USPTO's Patent Examiners work from home full time, oversight of the telework program — and of examiners based at the Alexandria headquarters — was "completely ineffective," investigators concluded. The internal investigation also unearthed another widespread problem. More than 70 percent of the 80 managers interviewed told investigators that a "significant" number of examiners did not work for long periods, then rushed to get their reviews done at the end of each quarter. Supervisors told the review team that the practice "negatively affects" the quality of the work. "Our quality standards are low," one supervisor told the investigators. "We are looking for work that meets minimal requirements." Patent examiners review applications and grant patents on inventions that are new and unique. They are experts in their fields, often with master's and doctoral degrees. They earn at the top of federal pay scale, with the highest taking home $148,000 a year.
Comment Re:No, the CIA spies on the US Senate. (Score 1) 118
That was a specific case in which the CIA was trying to protect itself from a specific investigation into their other illegal activities. In general the CIA does not spy on US citizens because there are other agencies already doing that.
Comment Re:catch has gotten more specific, skill not chang (Score 1) 146
I'm not so sure I agree. When you practice out routes and sideline routes your whole career counting on push-out rules and then suddenly being pushed out means you're out of bounds for the catch, that's massive. An out route can't go as far out, and a sideline route has to be further in from the sideline. It's probably a bigger change than going from NCAA football with the one-foot rule to the NFL with the two-foot rule.
The reply rules made what counts as a catch a lot more strict, but a good solid catch with control of the ball was always the goal. Thayt didn't change too much other than getting incomplete passes more accurately called. The push-out rule changing OTOH changed how the routes are run on the same size field.
Comment Re:They'll do the right thing (Score 3, Insightful) 118
Nah. The CIA spies overseas. The FBI spies domestically. The NSA does both. Then they all hand their analyses to DHS overlords to put us on watch lists for further Fourth Amendment violations with no actual evidence of anything.
