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Comment Re:Technology advances and the world changes (Score 2) 152

Why should the airline have to lose money so that SpaceX can make money?

This is where some government capitalism should set the right incentives.

There should be a tax put on airspace. It could be based on volume, area, and time.

And then we'll pay this tax in addition to what we pay now. It's our limited space these folks are using and we'll be the ones to pay for it. How on earth is this fair?

Comment The result of "publish or perish" (Score 4, Insightful) 122

They prey on people whose career depends on the quantity of publications. My friend published a paper that became famous in his area of research overnight. Everybody and their brother cited the paper, even mainstream media mentioned it. His dept chairman said, "We are satisfied with the quality of your papers. It's the quantity that's insufficient."

Comment Re:Same could be asked of all exams (Score 1) 274

... exams are pen-and-paper based. This is annoying for everyone involved, from the student (RSI, more time spent writing than thinking, no longer used to think "linearly", e.g. without quick editing), the professor (bad handwriting, lugging stacks of paper around that you really shouldn't lose, more difficult o spread the work or grade by question) and support/admin (more difficult to archive, more difficult to check samples post hoc, etc).

Can't help with bad handwriting, but you may want to try Gradescope for the rest. It solves all the problems you mention and then some.

Submission + - This Mirai malware vaccine could protect insecure IoT devices (networkworld.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Researchers repurposed the Miria malware exploiting the efficient spreading capabilities. The white worm project, called AntibIoTic, uses the Mirai bot design to gain access and control of these poorly secured devices and inject them with antibiotic-like code. https://www.networkworld.com/a...

Submission + - New Zealand Supreme Court rules operation against Kim Dotcom was illegal (torrentfreak.com) 1

Mashiki writes: New Zealand supreme court rules that spying against Kim Dotcom was illegal, that GCSB violated the law, including the observation of citizens and residents within the country. It was also determined by the courts that the operation had gone on longer then was stated by both the police and GCSB. This may, leave the extradition case up in the air since the methods used to gain the information have been ruled illegal, in turn this makes the arrest illegal, along with the seizure of his equipment illegal. "“The GCSB has now admitted that the unlawfulness was not just dependent upon residency issues, it went further. The reason it went further was because it didn’t have authorization to carry out the kind of surveillance that it was carrying out under the legislation, as it was at that time”" The GCSB has said that it was impossible to plead the case as it would jeopardize national security.

Submission + - French Scientists Sue State of Delaware for Selling Their Sock (wsj.com) 4

cdreimer writes: According to a report in The Wall Street Journal (possibly paywalled, alternative source), French scientists are suing the state of Delaware for using the unclaimed assets law to seize and sell stocks belonging to foreigners to fill state coffers. If owners don't show "interest" in the stock, either voting in the annual shareholder meetings or logging into a brokerage account during a three year period, the state can seize and sell the stock. Foreign stockholders are most likely to lose their stocks this way.

A lawsuit before Delaware’s Chancery Court could have broad implications for state finances around the country and for foreign shareholders who hold more than $6 trillion of stock in U.S. corporations. Two French scientists are suing the state of Delaware for seizing and selling their stock without their knowledge, depriving them of millions of dollars in gains. French scientists Dr. Gilles Gosselin and Dr. Jean Louis Imbach allege that Delaware officials wrongfully seized their shares in Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. and sold the stock for $1.7 million to pad the state budget in 2009. After Merck & Co. acquired Idenix in 2014, the scientists learned they no longer had stock in the company and couldn’t collect on a $13.7 million windfall from the deal because Delaware officials had sold their shares five years earlier. Unable to return the stock, officials only reimbursed the money the state received, leaving the two investors out some $12 million.


Submission + - The IoT security risk: it is too easy to connect devices to the internet (networkworld.com)

An anonymous reader writes: It is much too easy to connect devices and industrial equipment to the internet. IoT product makers do not need a deeply skilled team because component makers have made it so easy to connect anything to the internet. Maybe the responsibility for strong security should rest with chip makers like Intel, Freescale and Qualcomm.

Submission + - Limits of Speech: How Trump's Nazis Forced the Internet to Grow Up (vortex.com)

Lauren Weinstein writes: Then came Charlottesville, and what already had been heavy surf turned into a tidal wave of concern.

In the last week, we’ve seen Internet-related firms and others finally reacting with the kind of strong, ethical actions that many of us have long been urging in the context of dealing with hate groups on the Net.

Various of Trump’s Nazis and hate sites have finally been banned, and even the ACLU yesterday announced that it would no longer support the “speech rights” of groups that bring firearms to demonstrations — a change of staggering significance for the venerable organization.

Comment No life on a planet? (Score 1) 720

>strictly speaking, Earth itself should not exist, according to the computer model, according to the story in Discover Magazine. Long ago, in the country that does not exist anymore, a respected organization nominated 6 projects for a very prestigious award. They were told only 5 projects could receive this award, so they had to eliminate one project. Of course, every nominated group insisted that their project was crucial and someone else's project should be cut. A big boss suggested cutting a device that could figure out whether a new planet had life on it. When its inventors objected, the big boss took the device far into steppe and left it there overnight. In the morning the display read, "NO LIFE ON THIS PLANET".

Comment Re:Another possibility (Score 5, Informative) 69

is to get rid of the mosquitoes directly by using selfish gene elements like segregation distorters. But imagine the "what could possibly go wrong" comments if you tried to even suggest this.

People tried to eradicate mosquitoes decades ago. Fish population suffered. We never know how things we hate are connected to the things we need. That's why it pays to consider long-term consequences before doing anything drastic.

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