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Earth

White House Approves Sonic Cannons For Atlantic Energy Exploration 272

An anonymous reader writes: The White House on Friday gave final approval to allow the use of sonic cannons in finding energy deposits underneath the ocean floor on the U.S. Atlantic seaboard. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management says that finding energy resources off the Atlantic seaboard "could generate thousands of jobs, but has also acknowledged that the process will harm sea creatures." Sonic cannons "fire sound waves 100 times louder than a jet engine." Mammals such as whales and dolphins that communicate through sound will most likely be affected, but scientists aren't sure to what extent. They also aren't sure how the cannons will affect fish and other sea creatures or how any physiological effects on them may impact the fishing industries of the U.S. and the other countries who rely on seafood that migrate into and out of the Atlantic Ocean.
Wikipedia

$10 Million Lawsuit Against Wikipedia Editors "Stragetically" Withdrawn 51

First time accepted submitter The ed17 (2834807) writes with new developments in the $10 million defamation lawsuit against a few Wikipedia editors. From the article: On the same day the Wikimedia Foundation announced it would offer assistance to English Wikipedia editors embroiled in a legal dispute with Yank Barry, the lawsuit has been dismissed without prejudice at the request of Barry's legal team — but this action is being described as "strategic" so that they can refile the lawsuit with a "new, more comprehensive complaint."
Earth

Australia Repeals Carbon Tax 291

schwit1 notes that the Australian government has repealed a controversial carbon tax. After almost a decade of heated political debate, Australia has become the world's first developed nation to repeal carbon laws that put a price on greenhouse gas emissions. In a vote that could highlight the difficulty in implementing additional measures to reduce carbon emissions ahead of global climate talks next year in Paris, Australia's Senate on Wednesday voted 39-32 to repeal a politically divisive carbon emissions price that contributed to the fall from power of three Australian leaders since it was first suggested in 2007.

Comment Re:Do as they do in job references (Score 1) 424

Check local laws. Many companies chose to provide only the information you suggest in order to essentially eliminate any risk of a defamation lawsuit. But that doesn't mean that they can't say more. If the statement is factual and can be supported or demonstrated with evidence, it very much could be revealed in a reference check. So I wouldn't say that is "the worst" as "the worst" may be much, much worse.

Plus, the above doesn't even consider your former employer breaking the law, blackballing you, whatever. If that does happen, you'd have to find out, then sue, and then win. And that takes money...something most people looking for jobs probably don't have much of a surplus of.

Software

Australian Electoral Commission Refuses To Release Vote Counting Source Code 112

angry tapir writes: The Australian Electoral Commission has been fighting a freedom of information request to reveal the source code of the software it uses to calculate votes in elections for Australia's upper house of parliament. Not only has the AEC refused an FOI request (PDF) for the source code, but it has also refused an order from the Senate directing that the source code be produced. Apparently releasing the code could "leave the voting system open to hacking or manipulation."

Comment Re:No need to qualify (Score 2) 382

There should be no legal prohibition against me buying a car directly from Tesla, GM, Toyota or any other car maker if I want.

Is the opposition coming just from the dealers? Or is it coming from the established manufacturers by way of dealers?

Many industries sell only through distributors, dealers, or otherwise "authorized" retail outlets. The company I work for is in the HVAC industry. We only sell to our dealers and never directly to the end consumer. I don't know of any major HVAC manufacturer that sells direct to consumer. It's not that there are laws that prevent direct sales of furnaces or air conditioners, rather that's just how the industry chooses to sell. However if an new manufacturer decided to sell direct a new type of furnace or AC that was "better" and therefor a legitimate threat, I wonder if you'd see types of legislation from the established players to slow if not stop the new competition.

Comment Re:Leaks or spying? (Score 1) 244

The next level could be a new version of watermarked paper, which knows when it has been accessed or photographed.

Can you explain how paper, with presumably some type of magical substance applied to it, would know the difference between a human eye reading it vs a camera lens? Both are operating by receiving light that has been reflected, or more correctly, not reflected, off the ink.

I suppose you could use some type of photosensitive chemical that could detect a flash...but that would easily be defeated by just not using a flash, plus likely would destroy the document should you look at it outside or by a sunny window.

Supercomputing

How a Supercomputer Beat the Scrap Heap and Lived On To Retire In Africa 145

New submitter jorge_salazar (3562633) writes Pieces of the decommissioned Ranger supercomputer, 40 racks in all, were shipped to researchers in South Africa, Tanzania, and Botswana to help seed their supercomputing aspirations. They say they'll need supercomputers to solve their growing science problems in astronomy, bioinformatics, climate modeling and more. Ranger's own beginnings were described by the co-founder of Sun Microsystems as a 'historic moment in petaflop computing."

Comment Re:So was the landing successful? (Score 1) 112

It sounded to me like what they were testing was successful (did the legs deploy, did the engines restart, did the vehicle slow down, etc), but that it wasn't a full test with the goal of being able to reuse the rocket as it was a water landing. And due to rough seas, the rocket was destroyed once it was in the water.

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