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Comment Re:Coder Boycott (Score 5, Insightful) 303

The ruling means that any library in any language can be shut down. It means that public interface declarations can be copyright. It means it could be impossible for anyone to reproduce a public interface.

AkA it makes all public interfaces private. It is not just a Java specific ruling, it has implications across all coding environments.

Comment Energy in Train load: 11 Tanker Cars = 1 nucBomb (Score 2) 211

So how much energy is there in a train load of Cude Oil?

Energy denisty of crude oil ~46MJ/Kg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density)
DOT-111 tanker car of Lac Magantic fire is 131,000 L (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOT-111_tank_car)
Assuming 1L/1Kg - some of these oils float some of the really thick stuff sinks.

Per Tanker car 6.026x10^12 J/ Tank Car.
Little Boy explosion was equivalent to 16,000 tons of TNT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy)
16000 tons of TNT is 66944000 MJ of energy (http://www.kylesconverter.com/energy,-work,-and-heat/megajoules-to-tons-of-tnt).
Or 1 Litte Boy = 66.944x10^12 J
or 1 Little Boy = 11.11 Tanker Cars of Crude Oil

Comment Information (Score 1) 60

The first requirement for a better democracy is
not more votes on issues
not more debates
it is more infomation.

What is needed is puiblic access to all the background information -

Who initiated the bill?
What is the problem it addresses?
How does it address the problem?
What are the side affects/other problems that get created or are not covered?
What are the costs?
Who bears the costs?
How will the costs be paid?
Who benefits?
Who loses?
What other problems are there in the area?
Does this impact any other laws or rights?

All that should be presented as full background information on every line item in all bills.
Without that information the representatives should say "not enough information to vote".
So we as people should demand all that information be made public on every line item.

Comment Put up a Deposit (Score 4, Interesting) 126

If the company is so sure they can put up a refundable deposit on the cost of exploring their location. If they are right then they get the deposit back. If they are not right no deposit refund.

The deposit should cover the cost of putting one unmanned vehicle down on that location.

Would any of the governments be willing to back that compromise?

Comment Rule #1 Lawyers Win (Score 2) 192

Whatever happens it will be constructed so that lawyers get their danegeld. And a non-trivial amount.

Every carriage agreement will require verifiable traffic levels and performance all of this will have to have minutly agreed upon measurement processes.

The whole notion is very B-Ark worthy. And will result in a lot of work for the providers.

Comment Re:sync data between data centers? (Score 1) 114

Now that netflix has exclusive shows that release an episode a week (and the whole seasona t once) there is going to be burst traffic on specific shows. It is going to really help top level bandwidth if they can offload the most popular content.

Having low level peering on popular content is good for the network as whole.

Comment Liability, Funding, Responsibilities (Score 5, Insightful) 367

Until the dangers of sitting at a desk get raised up a few more levels the spectre of injuries in shop class has pretty much banished the once wonderful hands on practical skills from the ciriculum.

The lessons of the table saw and possibility of losing fingers or getting a 2x4 in the gut were taught to me in grade 8. I can't imagine the number of permission slips needed to allow such adventures in our modern school system. Also given the lack of funding currently in our systems the need for shop equipment, supplies, trained teachers and insurance is a financial burden I can't see the system taking on.

Certainly there are pockets were it could but done but but it would take several revolutions in funding, responsibilty and trust before it could be implemented on a wide scale.

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