Comment Re:Abolish FCC?.. (Score 1) 193
OSM is only concerned with government use of spectrum.
FCC regulates and assigns non government spectrum use.
Comment Re:Malevolence (Score 1) 349
Translation: you're an idiot.
Comment Re:Cheating the rules (Score 1) 349
bullshit.
Comment Re:He's confusing free speech with Net Neutrality (Score 0) 349
here you go with your bullshit again.
Comment Re:cue the Trump tweet conversation (Score 1) 98
Number of daily gun deaths.
The economy (no, he doesn't get credit for Obama's last fiscal year).
America's reputation and standing in the world.
The environment.
Worker protections.
Consumer protections.
Or any of the things you listed.
Comment You fools! (Score 2) 98
You were so preoccupied with whether or not you could that they didn't stop to think if you should.
The US Is Now the Only Country In the World To Reject the Paris Climate Deal 719
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Today, Syria announced that it would sign the Paris climate agreement -- a landmark deal that commits almost 200 countries to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to fight global warming. With Nicaragua also joining the deal last month, the United States is now the only country in the world that opposes it. In June, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris climate accord, unless it is renegotiated to be "fair" to the United States. But other countries in the deal, such as France, Germany, and Italy, said that's not possible. The Trump administration is also taking steps to roll back regulations passed under former President Barack Obama to achieve the emissions reduction goals set under the Paris deal. The U.S. is the second largest emitter of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the world after China. "With Syria's decision, the relentless commitment of the global community to deliver on Paris is more evident than ever," Paula Caballero, director of the climate change program at the World Resources Institute, told the Times. "The U.S.'s stark isolation should give Trump reason to reconsider his ill-advised announcement and join the rest of the world in tackling climate change."
Comment Re:Destroyed? (Score 4, Insightful) 283
it literally says it was scrapped.
and that the funding was cut for partisan (ie, GOP science denying) reasons.
the headline isn't inflammatory.
its completely accurate.
Comment Re:Destroyed? (Score 2) 283
the one that had its funding cut.
The US Has Destroyed A Critical Sea Ice-Measuring Satellite (scientificamerican.com) 283
"A key polar satellite used to measure the Arctic ice cap failed a few days ago, leaving the U.S. with only three others, and those have lived well beyond their shelf lives," writes long-time Slashdot reader edibobb. The Guardian reports that all three of the remaining satellites "are all beginning to drift out of their orbits over the poles" and will no longer be operational by 2023. This could put an end to nearly 40 years of uninterrupted data on polar ice, notes the original submission, adding "It seems like there would be a backup satellite, right?
"In fact, there was a backup satellite ready to go." The $58 million satellite was dismantled in 2016 when the Republican-controlled Congress cut its funding. (The Guardian reports that many scientists "say this decision was made for purely ideological reasons.") Now Nature reports: The U.S. military is developing another set of weather satellites...but the one carrying a microwave sensor will not launch before 2022. That means that when the current three aging satellites die, the United States will be without a reliable, long-term source of sea-ice data... For now, the the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center is preparing for those scenarios by incorporating data from Japan's AMSR2 microwave sensor into its sea-ice record. Another, more politically fraught option is to pull in data from the China Meteorological Administration's Fengyun satellite series... Since 2011 Congress has banned NASA scientists from working with Chinese scientists -- but not necessarily from using Chinese data. One final possibility is finding a way to launch the passive-microwave sensor that scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory salvaged from the dismantled DMSP satellite. The sensor currently sits at the Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California, where researchers are trying to find a way to get it into orbit.
"In fact, there was a backup satellite ready to go." The $58 million satellite was dismantled in 2016 when the Republican-controlled Congress cut its funding. (The Guardian reports that many scientists "say this decision was made for purely ideological reasons.") Now Nature reports: The U.S. military is developing another set of weather satellites...but the one carrying a microwave sensor will not launch before 2022. That means that when the current three aging satellites die, the United States will be without a reliable, long-term source of sea-ice data... For now, the the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center is preparing for those scenarios by incorporating data from Japan's AMSR2 microwave sensor into its sea-ice record. Another, more politically fraught option is to pull in data from the China Meteorological Administration's Fengyun satellite series... Since 2011 Congress has banned NASA scientists from working with Chinese scientists -- but not necessarily from using Chinese data. One final possibility is finding a way to launch the passive-microwave sensor that scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory salvaged from the dismantled DMSP satellite. The sensor currently sits at the Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California, where researchers are trying to find a way to get it into orbit.
Amazon (and Netflix) Pursue a 'Lord of The Rings' TV Series (theverge.com) 236
An anonymous reader quotes The Verge:
Amazon Studios has been looking for a way to duplicate HBO's success with Game of Thrones, and the company may have found a solution: adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings into a TV series. Variety reports that the company is currently in talks with Warner Bros. Television and the late author's estate, and while discussions are said to be in "very early stages," it is clearly a high priority, with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos himself involved in the negotiations.
Amazon isn't the only one looking into the rights, according to Deadline, which reports that the Tolkien Estate is looking to sell the television rights to the iconic fantasy series to the tune of $200-250 million, and has approached Netflix and HBO as well. There appears to be some strings attached: the rights might not encompass all of the characters in the story. HBO has reportedly passed on the project.
"We can hear the pitch now," jokes The Verge. "It's like Game of Thrones, only with a series of books that are actually finished."
Amazon isn't the only one looking into the rights, according to Deadline, which reports that the Tolkien Estate is looking to sell the television rights to the iconic fantasy series to the tune of $200-250 million, and has approached Netflix and HBO as well. There appears to be some strings attached: the rights might not encompass all of the characters in the story. HBO has reportedly passed on the project.
"We can hear the pitch now," jokes The Verge. "It's like Game of Thrones, only with a series of books that are actually finished."
Comment Re:US National Registration Required (Score 1) 509
none of those problems are unique to compulsory voting.
those are all potential problems NOW, without it!
and somehow we muddle through.
your bullshit argument is bullshit.
Comment Re:Erm (Score 1) 509
We know for a fact they will lie to bias a story to fit with their pre-existing politics.
takes one to know one, eh?
Comment Re:Erm (Score 1) 509
this is the same kind of conservative bullshit that they used to excuse poll taxes and literacy tests.
saying "oh, you think they're too dumb to read? who's the bigot now", while ignoring that at the time illiteracy was dramaitcally higher among minorities.
or saying "oh, you think they're too poor to vote? who's the bigot now", while ignoring that at the time (and still today) poverty was dramaitcally higher among minorities.
Comment Re:Support Right to Independence (Score 1) 579
we pretty much established, via a long and bloody civil war, that unilateral secession is not in fact legal.
all law is essentially conflict resolution.
war is the ultimate conflict and resolution.
its essentially the highest form of legal precedent.
non-unilateral secession however stands a chance of passing muster.
