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Submission + - analysis of warmest year ever

Submitted by kpw10
kpw10 writes: Dr. Jeff Masters from Wunderground has a great summary of this year's rather abnormal weather (his blog is the best source on the net for in-depth weather analysis). The post discusses some of the cyclical climate forces at work this year as well as compares this year's record temperatures to records from the past — there are some interesting differences particularly in the extent of northern hemisphere seeing record highs this year. From the article: "December's weather in the Northeast U.S. may have been a case of the weather dice coming up thirteen — weather not seen on the planet since before the Ice Age began, 118,000 years ago. The weather dice will start rolling an increasing number of thirteens in coming years, and an ice-free Arctic Ocean in summertime by 2040 is a very real possibility..."
Security

Submission + - What does your dead man's switch do?

Submitted by
LqdEngineer
LqdEngineer writes: "How many of the Slashdot crowd use or have used a Dead Man's Switch designed to perform some action if you don't check in for a certain amount of time? Recently, I decided to put one together using MySQL and some Cron jobs, but I wanted to see what others have their Switches set up to do in the event you fail to check in. E-mails to loved ones? Send encryption keys to friends/family? Hate mail to your boss? Has anyone ever been on the receiving end of a Dead Man's e-mail? I can't even imagine how creepy that would feel."
Microsoft

Submission + - college math classes forcing windows on students?

Submitted by
OiToTheWorld
OiToTheWorld writes: "I recently started classes again after winter break. On arriving in my math class, we were told that we had to use the MYMATHLAB software to turn in homework online. The catch is that this software/membership that I paid for along with my textbook will ONLY work on Internet Explorer and apparently shows no indication of changing this. Having asked the teacher if I could turn in the assignments on paper because my linux computer could not run internet explorer, I was told no and that I essentially needed to buy a new operating system in order to pass the class.

My questions are these: Is there a workaround method i can use to do my assignments? why would the company that sells the software do this? Has anyone else encountered similar problems with other software?"
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Make Artificial Volcanos vs Global Warming? ideas?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: So, volcanos like Pinitubo and St Helens are thought to have lowered global temperatures. Global warming, is widely publicized as a Bad Thing (dont want that debate here). So, assuming for the moment both are the case:

a) Any ideas on how we might efficiently mimic a volcano and get the same particles or gases into the upper atmosphere?

Should we build the worlds biggest shotgun and point it at the sky? Should we nuke some small, inoffensive country for the nuclear winter effects? (j/k) Should we just try to create a ring of thermal updrafts to make a "chimney" tube, and then inside that tube, try to have some kind of super-thermal updraft? Even if we have to find natural geothermal to power it (ie: bulldoze off the top of a volcano, to expose the hot part), would that actually reach the upper atmosphere? Should we be like springfield and build a protective layer of industrial pollution? Is it cheaper and easier to find a near-earth asteroid, like the one due in the 2030s, and convince it to crash into the earth? (preferably somewhere not in my backyard)

for bonus points:

b) does anyone know the approximate scale of gases/particles that a volcano like Pinitubu releases, compared to some kind of estimate of the industrial release of pollution or CO2, or even compared to cows "releasing" methane?
Education

Submission + - Sex lowers stress levels

Submitted by Ice Wewe
Ice Wewe writes: BBCNews has an article on how having penetrative intercourse can help with public speaking.

"New Scientist magazine reports that Stuart Brody, a psychologist at the University of Paisley, found having sex can help keep stress at bay. However, only penetrative intercourse did the trick — other forms of sex had no impact on stress levels at all.

... Volunteers who had had penetrative intercourse were found to be the least stressed, and their blood pressure returned to normal faster than those who had engaged in other forms of sexual activity such as masturbation. "

A New Spin on Open Source Business Models 93

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the coopetition dept.
IT Managers Journal is reporting that a Canadian communications student is trying to put a new spin on open source business models. Greg Dean, a student at Simon Fraser University, is attempting to merge the principles of open source with that of a co-op and a regular corporation. From the article: "On the first slide of his presentation, Dean described the ICT/OS as a 'participatory, self-managed workers' business' designed for 'getting the benefits of a corporation through the convivial democracy of a co-op.' Punctuated by dozens of questions, the rest of the presentation explained exactly how he thought this goal could be achieved. In his vision, the co-op would involve three types of members: full members, who are freelancers in high-tech professions and have full voting rights; associated members such as lawyers who provide services to the co-op; and non-members with an investment in the company."

Open Source Globalization? 76

Posted by Cliff from the a-boon-or-a-bane dept.
Carl Rosenberger asks: "In this article at IT Managers Journal [which is another part of OSTG, Slashdot's parent publishing company], db4objects CEO Christof Wittig speculates about the future effect of open source globalization on organizations and individuals. According to his opinion 'Engineers like globalization', although it may mean tougher worldwide competition for jobs. What is the opinion of Slashdot readers on this article? Is open source globalization going to happen? Will it make our jobs better or worse?" As the referenced article puts it, open source globalization is the ability to hire programmers from all over the globe to collaborate together on a single project with low overhead. Heck if it works for open source projects, why not for corporate software? Do you see the corporations you are familiar with embracing or fighting this concept?

Climate Changes Shift Springtime in Europe 259

Posted by Zonk from the cue-the-dancing-hitlers dept.
gollum123 writes to mention a BBC article on a study of Europe's changing climate. The study collated information from 17 nations and 125,000 studies involving 561 species. The results indicate that, at least in Europe, 'Spring' is coming earlier and earlier every year. From the article: "Spring was beginning on average six to eight days earlier than it did 30 years ago, the researchers said. In regions such as Spain, which saw the greatest increases in temperatures, the season began up to two weeks earlier. The findings were based on what was described as the world's largest study of changes in recurring natural events, such as when plants flowered. The team of researchers also found that the onset of autumn has been delayed by an average of three days over the same period."

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