"Hackers" are called Makers now. We lost that language war, but we have a new term now.
Because "maker" isn't a completely generic term, that wouldn't get confused with ANYONE WHO MAKES THINGS. Sorry to yell. Some people are hard of hearing.
The commonly-accepted usage of words is determined by the majority. Whatever "hacker" used to mean, it now means someone who bypasses computer security systems to commit crimes.
Hacker is someone who drives a hack, a horse and buggy or else car for hire. Another term for cab driver.
We just pour water into cattle and nothing wet ever comes out. Instead, all the water is converted directly into meat.
No, we take collected fresh water, give it to cattle, who piss it away, which evaporates and is carried away by the winds. Really, how hard is this to grasp?
How is this a Slashdot topic?
Last time I checked, dietary considerations and irrigation policy weren't high on the agenda of a site that usually talks about electronics, rockets, and Star Trak...
Because intelligent people still care about issues besides their own hobbies? And this community has a perspective that is not represented on the usual news sites.
This is part of a campaign trying to whitewash industrial consumption of water. Most water used in agriculture/cattle feed is not consumed in any sense of the word. It evaporates back into the atmosphere.
Which then follows the winds to other places. The problem isn't that we are destroying water, it is that we are taking it from a place where it is scarce, and distributing it elsewhere.
Blaming meat eaters for poor agricultural practices is wrong.
First off, cattle should NOT be eating diets wholly of corn and alfalfa. Cattle are grazers and should by and large be eating grasses and the like.
So you will be the first in line to get the sub-par meat? Thought not.
I have a very difficult time believing this. This sounds like junk, alarmist science. The problems are more than just meat. We cannot even begin to understand what impact human beings have on the environment.
Wah, science is hard. I don't understand, therefor no one does.
Yes the human impact is well understood. The question is only how bad it really is, and what can we do to slow down the destruction. We're not even talking about reversing it yet, just slowing it so that we have more time to study.
I though most of it came from snow melt on the western half of the continental divide.
Exporting 100 billion gallons, is, of course, utter bullshit. The only water that gets actually exported is the water weight of the exports. There is additional water lost through evaporation due to agricultural irrigation, which exceeds the non-irrigated evaporation rate. That last one is the real target, and the concern of this veginazi.
No it is not. Maybe not all, but a large percentage of the water is lost to evaporation, which is then spread around the world. That is, California is not a closed ecosystem. Most of that water follows the winds. This leaves you with a desert.
The statement that they export 100 billion gallons of water in alfalfa is silly. There is a sod farm down the road from me and they water grass like crazy. Is all that water in the grass? When they cut, roll and ship the sod does the water go with it? Nope. Some of the water is used by the grass for it's growth, a lot evaporates and a lot goes into the ground returning to the water table. This is pure propaganda of the worst kind. What about the cattle? How much water is in a pound of ground beef? Hundreds? Of course not! It may take hundreds to grow it but the cows piss out almost all the water they take in. That water doesn't ship with them. There is a cost to grow these things and it does take water but water is replenishable although if you overpopulate an area (California) it will become scarce. Maybe deserts were meant to be dry? This article is sensationalism.
Sorry, but you seem to have missed the point that the alfalfa is being shipped to China for a profit. Or to put it another way, any water conservation project means cheaper water for the alfalfa growers, which means more profits for the corporations that own the farms. This is corruption at it's worse, to the detriment of the people of California, as well as the environment, in the name of profits.
There's a simpler solution... less people.
Oh here we go again..
You want to be the first to volunteer to reduce the population by one? I hear a CPAP mask and a tank of helium are an easy way out..
Good luck trying to convince people to not have children, especially the Bible Belt people who literally believe it's their God-given right to litter the Earth with their offspring. Also good luck convincing any other group of people in the world not to have children for similar reasons, and also because of this insignificant little matter of "propagation of the species" that just happens to be the most basic drive of any living thing.
So what's your solution, smart guy you might say? We need to find a way to get off this planet.
Yeah, here we go again. There is no infinite growth scenario for any species. Education is the solution, not throwing your hands up and saying "it's hard, so why bother." Culture needs to change to encourage individual achievement, not "get all the money I can to pass onto my children." Look at Japan. Population growth is declining, and there are no draconian rules on procreation like in China. As a matter of fact, the government is encouraging procreation.
Conceptual, qualitative, or practical? All very different things. Things with mass are attracted to other things with mass. That's settled, because that's how we define it. All the math that goes into that attraction? Will always be open to further refinement. Will a rock always fall if you drop it? Well, antigravity is theoretically possible, so maybe not.
This is about as useful a question as "have you stopped beating your wife."
If I were organized crime, I would either create exchanges to ponzy people's coins, or else take over the exchanges at gunpoint. I'd also track down the creators and experts, and threaten/browbeat information out of them to break the system. Bit coin is like the keys to Fort Knox given to a couple dozen random people around the world. Hey, just saying.
Of course after you take your initial cut, you'll find that taking the scheme legit (semi-legit really) is the way to cash in big. In that regard, bitcoin might succeed in the long run if they don't panic and pull out the supports on the way out. Think of Las Vegas, possibly on an even larger scale.
I have relatives who work for Microsoft who use the same gym Steve Ballmer uses. He does not have any sidekicks hanging around him, nor does he project any kind of superior airs there. Quietly shows up and works on some free machine, wipes the equipment with a towel like everyone else before leaving. I am not disputing "he throws chairs" or "shouts at the directors" etc. Both could be true.
That makes him sound like a pretty ineffectual CEO. Seriously, shouldn't he be taking charge and reading the law to his reports? There is so much going on at MS, that I'd expect there to be a constant flurry of activity around the CEO. It sounds more like he was just "phoning in" the performance.
Microsoft still has a chance
Microsoft is a huge successful company, and is not going anywhere. If anything, they will have to scale back in a few sectors.
They need to make Windows Free, maybe even open source (ok, that's a pipe dream)
Absurd. The near monopoly of Windows gives them the muscle to keep better products off the market. They are also the only player in town when it comes to PC OSs (sorry Linux), and the Windows tax is not something that they would or should give away for free.
Then they need to invent all kinds of stellar business apps that integrate with it flawlessly...
and license those apps to businesses. Businesses will pay for supported apps, because they like to be covered if something happens (thats how oracle makes money)
That has never been their business model. Either buy the better app and rebrand it MS, or else crush the competition through their Windows monopoly, e.g. withholding parts of the API.
Basically everything Microsoft is currently doing is wrong. They are digging their own grave and anyone with any tech savvy at all knows it.
I really don't think that you speak for the "tech savvy."
Ballmer just comes across as a big fat baby with all the charisma of a loose turd.
Will someone tell me why he was there in the first place?
Ask Bill.
"An organization dries up if you don't challenge it with growth." -- Mark Shepherd, former President and CEO of Texas Instruments
