More like climbing from a deep pit, along with countries like Bulgaria or Albania. Not so much a matter of (lack of) science funding, but one of corrupt people in charge. That is what Romanians should be looking to fix.

From where I'm sitting at (the Netherlands), "Romanian" equates to "shady / criminal bunch". An example: just in the few days around Amsterdam's Gay Pride, 46 pickpockets were arrested (!). 43 of those of Romanian nationality.

There are several types of crime where some groups are named often, in particular Romanians and Bulgarians. Again, again, and again. They seem to have some specialties like burglary, pickpocketing, and ATM skimming. But also violent crimes like extortion, human trafficking, drug-related offenses etc. Often organized, travelling groups of people that 'do their thing' a few weeks here, a few weeks there, and then move on.

IMHO the country shouldn't have been let into the EU (yet), but they have. As a result, many of those poor folks make their way to richer EU countries and make a dishonest living. Getting caught (or even prison time) isn't much of a deterrent given the conditions back home. I'm sure Romania is a great country, with great people, most of those honest and hard working. But that's how things currently are, sadly. So a story like this doesn't surprise me one bit.

*citation needed*

How do you know? Did you personally try the exact build the article talks about? Or even a later build? Not saying you're talking nonsense, but the article states: ".. which means almost no one outside (other than OEMs) would get officially released Windows 8.1 bits until October 18". So it would be good to know whether your description is based on inside developer access, a leaked build, hearsay, or assumption based on an earlier released build.

Beside that: if it's in response to customer demand, what would be the point of adding back in a start button that does something other than what users expect from a start button?

"Barely set foot on it" ?!? The US government is murdering people without due process, trial or anything on a regular basis. Without a declaration of war involved. Violating other countries' sovereignty whenever it's convenient and/or 'doable'. Locking people up indefinitely without those prisoners having access to lawyers, a date for their trial, etc. Mass spying on their own citizens, in violation of its own constitution. Guys heading those 3-letter agencies lying about it to the public - but still stay in office. Silencing critics using a claim of "national security", together with gag orders issued by a secret court, or referring to a secret law.

Really, the only step missing is a dictator that rigs an election or sets aside democratic institions. Other than that, the US is a long way down the drain already.

Sounds like you have a Kickstarter project there, dude.

Personally I'd go for Justin Bieber. But only if no innocent, bystander monkeys are hurt in the process.

You must be new here. That "pretentious philosophical BS" is like the spark in a fuel-and-oxygen filled chamber. It ignites into a heap of comments, and those comments are the actual story. Who needs an article when you can browse +5 funny / informative / interesting and -1 trolls?

As for the linked articles, that's just a cleverly disguised DDoS botnet setup. Some figured it out, but few seem to care the /. botnet is still operating. Heck, I'm even contributing people-time to it (on top of CPU cycles).

Well, as humans we invade parts of our anything-infested cesspool on a regular basis. Even though we know what 'crap' we are getting. So why wouldn't an alien species?

Of course if there's any intelligent life on Mars, they will have known for a long time about us humans. Radio / TV transmissions, the odd nuclear explosion, a few space probes passing by & landing on Mars, etc. So for anyone who fears an alien invasion: I suggest to look outside our solar system.

IMHO: If Snowden can help the EU even the slightest bit to determine the extent of US surveillance on EU citizens and institutions, than the value of that info far exceeds the cost of putting him through some sort of witness protection program.

So if EU politicians really care about their own (ehm... citizens' ;-) privacy, that's exactly what they should do. For the sole reason of fact finding, with the EU's public benefit in mind. Giving the US the finger is just icing on the cake.

I'm not so optimistic there... Chances are EU politicians are just as crooked as US ones (well perhaps a *little* bit less), and Snowden will rot somewhere in a 3rd world country or a jail cell. Or have a suspicious but convenient accident / disease / whatever.

Tickle the brain of M$ sales managers?

In science, Google maps out your brain!

If washing your hands takes 2 liters of water, isn't that an environmental problem if it could be done using just 1/10th that amount?

Perhaps, but is that a problem? If that amount of water costs $100: probably. If that amount of water costs $0.01: probably not.

I know so-called externalities can blur the picture, but in general the cost of things reflects how much effort was needed to produce them. So if Bitcoin mining is profitable, that probably means a produced Bitcoin is worth more than the effort it took to produce the required energy. No doubt Bitcoin market developments, and efficiency improvements (FPGA / ASICs) will change the actual numbers here.

Problem much, why? There are so many human activities that require energy, and (often) don't produce results that would be considered useful or valueable. So if you spend (for example) $10 worth of energy to find (is that the correct description?) $100 worth of Bitcoins, you could have spent that energy worse.

Btw: article would do good to report how many/what worth of Bitcoins were mined using the stated amount of energy.

Using whatever is at hand, in MacGyv^H^H^H^H Mythbuster style, and make stuff that goes boom! (among other things)

I salute thee, mr. Booth!

Equal treatment under the law? But yes, absolutely! No matter who you are, what you believe, or where you're from, an equal amount of justice for every dollar you have. How's that not fair?

Given the overall level of detail, the stupidity in this chapter "Power considerations" kind of amazed me. Calculations look correct btw, result just doesn't hold up when you draw up to 1A.

Probably the person(s) who figured out most of the info, person writing this chapter, and person putting everything together, must be different people. Otherwise this chapter would surely have been re-written.

Pics or it doesn't exist.