Comment It's probably annual (Score 1) 710
It's ambiguous, but it doesn't explicitly say "112 hours per week" which led me to assume it meant over the course of a year.
Interviews: Ask Lawrence Lessig About His Mayday PAC 308
samzenpus (5) writes "Lawrence Lessig's list of achievements and areas of influence is not small. He's co-founder of the Creative Commons, but it is his Mayday PAC however that has garnered the most attention recently. The crowdfunded "Super PAC to end all Super PACs" was launched in May with the goal of raising money to elect candidates who would pass campaign finance reform. It raised over $1 million in the first 13 days and has the support of some influential people. With the help of matching contributions, Mayday hopes to raise $12 million by the end of June. Lessig has agreed to answer any questions about the PAC that you might have. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one question per post."
Comment What about statistics vs calculus (Score 4, Insightful) 155
It's not really a new debate, but the assumption that high school students will on average be better served by taking calculus instead of statistics could use some scrutiny.
Practically speaking, basic familiarity with statistics is also a form of civics - teaching kids when to call BS on bogus claims, helping them to understand what statistical significance means and doesn't mean, etc.
Comment Re:Car analogy? (Score 3, Interesting) 142
Everyone wants faster, cheaper, and lighter cars, but you cannae break the laws o' physics, captain.
That doesn't sound like breaking the laws of physics: making the car lighter will make it faster, as well as (assuming you avoid exotic materials) making it cheaper.
Comment citation needed (Score 1) 619
Well over 25% of gas tax funds go to side walks and bike trails and shit like that. How about we start with this.
Be honest. You just made up this number, didn't you?
Comment No. (Score 1) 76
OP complained about use of the word "gifted," claiming it was derived from Farmville jargon. This is factually incorrect and demonstrably false. I have never heard "gifted" in the context of Farmville or any other Zynga game until this Slashdot discussion. I have, however, heard it many times in normal English usage, used in ways similar to the examples given by the OED.
Just because OP is not familiar with the English word, which predates Zynga by centuries, does not mean that all modern usage derives from Zynga, which appears to be what you are arguing.
Comment Learn to use a dictionary (Score 5, Informative) 76
From the Oxford English Dictionary, the definition of "gift" as a verb:
2. To bestow as a gift; to make a present of. Const. with to or dative. Also with away. Chiefly Sc.
1619 J. Sempill Sacrilege Sacredly Handled 31 If they object, that tithes, being gifted to Levi, in official inheritance, can stand no longer than Levi [etc.].
a1639 J. Spottiswood Hist. Church Scotl. (1677) v. 278 The recovery of a parcel of ground which the Queen had gifted to Mary Levinston.
1711 in A. McKay Hist. Kilmarnock (1880) 98 This bell was gifted by the Earl of Kilmarnock to the town of Kilmarnock for their Council~house.
1754 J. Erskine Princ. Law Scotl. (1809) i. 51 Where a fund is gifted for the establishment of a second minister, in a parish where the cure is thought too heavy for one [etc.].
1801 A. Ranken Hist. France I. 301 Parents were prohibited from selling, gifting, or pledging their children.
1829 J. Brown New Deeside Guide (1876) 19 College of Blairs..having been gifted to the Church of Rome by its proprietor.
1836 A. Alison Hist. Europe V. xlii. 697 Thus did Napoleon and D'Oubril..gift away Sicily.
1878 J. C. Lees Abbey of Paisley xix. 201 The Regent Murray gifted all the Church Property to Lord Sempill.
I'm not sure when Zynga was founded, but I'm pretty sure it was after 1619.
Comment Re:Real reason for suing peace.... (Score 1) 398
V2 had nowhere near the payload capacity for an early nuclear device. One tonne / 300 kilometers. Compare to more than four tonnes for little boy / fat man.
Also, Japan just didn't have the industrial capacity to wage war any longer-- it's just a question of how costly invasion was going to be. You can't tool up to build V2's and nukes in the face of invasion.
Also, there's the question of how many more times we would have nuked Japan in the meantime. We were about to be producing three per month. Probably would be good to build a stockpile, so maybe drop one every couple of weeks?
Bill Gates To Stanford Grads: Don't (Only) Focus On Profit 284
jfruh (300774) writes "The scene was a little surreal. Bill Gates, who became one of the world's richest men by ruthlessly making Microsoft one of the word's most profitable companies, was giving a commencement address at Stanford, the elite university at the heart of Silicon Valley whose graduates go on to the endless tech startups bubbling up looking for Facebook-style riches. But the theme of Gates's speech was that the pursuit of profit cannot solve the world's problems."
Congressman Asks NSA To Provide Metadata For "Lost" IRS Emails 347
An anonymous reader writes in with news that the IRS lost email scandal is far from over. Representative Steve Stockman (R-TX) has sent a formal letter to the National Security Agency asking it to hand over "all its metadata" on the e-mail accounts of a former division director at the Internal Revenue Service. "Your prompt cooperation in this matter will be greatly appreciated and will help establish how IRS and other personnel violated rights protected by the First Amendment," Stockman wrote on Friday. The request came hours after the IRS told a congressional committee that it had "lost" all of the former IRS Exempt Organizations division director's e-mails between January 2009 and April 2011.
California Regulators Tell Ride-Shares No Airport Runs 314
An anonymous reader writes in with news about ride-share crackdowns in California. California regulators are threatening to revoke permits for on-demand ride companies UberX, Lyft, Sidecar, Summon and Wingz unless they stop giving rides to and from airports within two weeks. The move could lead to the state shutting down the companies' operations. Flouting the airport rules also flouts regulations that the CPUC set up for the new generation of ride companies to operate in California. In a clear rebuttal to an argument often made by the ride companies, Peevey wrote: "These safety requirements should not hinder your creativity nor should they impede your innovation."
Amazon Dispute Now Making Movies Harder To Order 210
trazom28 writes: Hachette books aren't the only products that are now harder to order on Amazon — the online retailer is going after movies, too. Amazon has turned off the preorder function for DVDs of prominent Warner Bros. films as it seeks to raise pressure on the company during negotiations. The Lego Movie, for example, is listed as "currently unavailable" on Amazon. Set for release in the home video marketplace on June 17, there is no option to place a preorder."
Comment Re:How surprising... not (Score 1) 110
> It's also much smaller than Earth and Venus, so the area exposed to the sun (from the sun's point of view) is around 12% of Earth's. So it gets much less heat.
And light.
It's dimmer on Mars because of the inverse square law, not because of Mars being smaller. Mars being smaller doesn't have much of a direct effect on temperature, either.
> The images we see from Mars are not what we would see if we were there - the cameras are adjusted for less light, and exposure pushed up so we can see things clearly.
I think you -severely- underestimate the dynamic range of the eye compared to practical cameras.
Comment Re:Wind chill on a space suit? (Score 1) 110
For one, the pressures still need to work out that you can move your chest to breathe, if you're just going to wear a mask/helmet.
Comment Everyone needs software freedom. (Score 1) 307
And why all computer users need free software in all of their computers. I don't want someone I don't trust vetting the software that has the ability to ruin my project or kill me. Those who get to audit code may be expert in someone else's opinion, but I would rather have software freedom.
