Comment Re:It's The American Drean (Score 1) 1313
I'm going to burst your bubble: your ship will never ever come in... The current top 1% will prevent that...
Belgium Plans Artificial Island To Store Wind Power 242
bmcage writes "Belgium wants to build an artificial energy storage island within 5 years. The island will store excess energy produced at night from the offshore wind farms already present in the North-Sea. From the article: 'Belgium is planning to build a doughnut-shaped island in the North Sea that will store wind energy by pumping water out of a hollow in the middle, as it looks for ways to lessen its reliance on nuclear power.
One of the biggest problems with electricity is that it is difficult to store and the issue is exaggerated in the case of renewable energy from wind or sun because it is intermittent depending on the weather.
"We have a lot of energy from the wind mills and sometimes it just gets lost because there isn't enough demand for the electricity," said a spokeswoman for Belgium's North Sea minister Johan Vande Lanotte.'"
Comment Re:Doomsday clock (Score 5, Insightful) 301
As a Dutch person I can only say: yawn...
If you really think that just a modest spending restraint is the solution to the US debt, then you're an idiot...
The only solution to the US debt is a tax raise and a significant spending restraint.
If you don't get it by now: You're in it till over your heads... It's a miracle you can still breathe...
As a Dutch I really don't get it: more than 50% of the US population is against a tax raise for the 'filthy' rich which only constitutes a maximum of 3% of your population... Why do those (more than) 50% care for those 3%, they certainly don't care for you?....
If those 3% can raise their wealth by driving that 50% into poverty they certainly will do so... The other way around will never happen...
Btw, my taxrate is about 40%, those 'filthy' rich in the US don't even pay half of that with all the shortcuts they can make...
Comment Re:Yeah! (Score 1) 1387
They needed a German to build them...
UK Government Changes Tack and Demands Default Porn Block 163
judgecorp writes "British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to reverse a policy announced last week, and demand that ISPs filter adult content by default. This system would require users to actively opt out of a filter designed to block adult content and material about self-harm. Last week, after consultation with parents, the Department for Education had said that an opt-in system would be sufficient and no default porn block would be required, but the Daily Mail has announced triumphantly that Cameron will be presenting the policy in the paper. MP Claire Perry, who has argued for the block, will be in charge — and freedom of speech campaigners have branded the sudden change of mind as 'chaotic.'"
Comment Re:So (Score 2) 347
All of them?
Comment Re:Only a little evil (Score 1) 305
Why then do people defend Android with "well, you can root it and install whatever you want on it" when people point out things like the fact that Android devices typically hit the market with out of date OS software and usually never see an update, ever?
I don't have to root my Android phone to install software not coming from "Play Store". That's a big difference.
My 1 year old phone had 1 official rom update and is getting updated to an Android 4.0 within a few months, although I also could also update it to another 'unofficial rom as it has been rooted... Thats total freedom...
Comment Re:How many small businesses don't start... (Score 1) 130
So you call up the lawyer and find out that the offer is insultingly small and comes with a catch. If you don't accept it, they are going to start suing you for all the bullshit patents you are violating. You are small, have nothing to fight back with, so what do you do?
Get your shotgun and shoot the lawyer?
BART Defends Mobile Service Shutdown 149
itwbennett writes "In a filing to the FCC, Bay Area Rapid Transit general manager Grace Crunican defended last August's mobile shutdown, saying that 'a temporary disruption of cell phone service, under extreme circumstances where harm and destruction are imminent, is a necessary tool to protect passengers.' Taking the opposing position, digital rights groups, including Public Knowledge, Free Press, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology, told the FCC (PDF) that 'wireless interruption will necessarily prohibit the communications of completely innocent parties — precisely those parties closest to the site where the emergency is located or anticipated.'"
Comment Re:Say what????? (Score 1) 714
Hmm, you can ding the US on a lot of things, but I think there is quite a few indicators that we do quite well on. American homes are the largest in the world
Yeah, but you're also the fattest country so that extra room vanishes into thin air...
Comment Re:Just another Con Man (Score 2) 498
Have any evidence to backup your defamatory statement?
Why yes I do and there are way too many to jot down here.
Just check everything out he does claiming to be a skeptic.
No, we're asking you to show the evidence!
It appears though you don't have any evidence...
Comment Re:Their servers (Score 1) 156
You still don't get it...
Comment Re:Holland, my own experience (Score 1) 156
You do know what an ISP is, right?
Leaseweb is not an ISP... it's an hostingprovider, that's something completely different...
Comment Re:in other words... (Score 5, Informative) 156
Nope, it doesn't sum it up.
The 2 providers who will block were ordered by a court to do so.
The blocking providers are XS4All and Ziggo and they already appealed the ruling, but they still have to implement the block in the meantime.
The other providers were not mentioned in the court order and so they decide not to implement the block unless ordered by court...
Web Developer Sentenced To Death In Iran 368
An anonymous reader points out the case of Saeed Malekpour, an Iranian-born permanent resident of Canada who worked as a web developer. In 2008, during a visit to Iran, Malekpour was arrested and detained by Iranian authorities on charges that he designed and moderated "adult content websites." In 2009, he was sentenced to death for "acting against the national security, insulting and desecrating the principles of Islam, and agitating the public mind." Malekpour wrote photo-uploading software, and in a letter he sent from prison, he said it was used by porn sites without his knowledge. This week an Iranian court reviewed the case and confirmed that the death sentence was an acceptable punishment. According to one Canadian publication, "Human rights monitors believe that Malekpour, one of a number of people held on Internet-related charges, is trapped by a convoluted justice system that is manipulated by rival factions in Iran."
