BlaKmaJiK_ - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Wind Could NOT Provide 100% of World Energy Nee (Score 2, Informative) 867

by BlaKmaJiK_ on Monday June 22, 2009 @07:41PM (#28431525) Attached to: Wind Could Provide 100% of World Energy Needs

Actually this is not uncommon. It is called Single Wire Earth Return. It is often used in rural areas to save cost due to the long cable distance.

I didn't know that it was used for HVDC submarine cables, but it seems like it is in use in Germany and Tasmania (Basslink), as the GP stated.

Comment Re:This is GREAT for bittorrent (Score 1) 294

by BlaKmaJiK_ on Friday February 13, 2009 @05:54PM (#26849941) Attached to: Researchers Warn of Possible BitTorrent Meltdown

I used a ratio site for a while, and I found the easiest way to get some positive credits was to pick a brand new torrent, and congifure bt to only download one file from it (say about 10% of the total size). It was like a partial-seed, without nearly as much initial download for a file I didn't want anyway :)

Submission + - What's wrong with Ubuntu 7.04?

Submitted by

SlinkySausage

on Sunday April 29, 2007 @10:29PM

SlinkySausage writes: "Ashton Mills from APC Magazine has written a pretty scathing review of Ubuntu 7.04: "It's out love for Ubuntu that I'm being so harsh in this review. Look where we're at — 7.04, a number of significant releases since 4.10 Warty three years ago — and it still can't manage the display properly. And that's just the start. I'd like to say the install was seamless, but it wasn't — the migration tool, while a nice touch, didn't apply to me as I was doing a fresh install, but the tool would have none of it and spewed up an error saying the process couldn't continue. Upon inserting a DVD movie, Ubuntu recognised recognised it didn't have the CODECs needed to support the media, but then couldn't install DeCSS support to actually play encrypted DVDs — i.e. 99.99% of the ones you're likely to use. I had great expectations for 7.04, but unfortunately they're not met. If you're a fanboy, don't read on, because I'll shatter your fragile world.""

Submission + - SCO receives official delisting notice from Nasdaq

Submitted by

fifteencattleprods

on Friday April 27, 2007 @04:33PM

fifteencattleprods writes: "On the tail of two stories regarding possible delisting of SCO stock (reported on slashdot here, and here), today is the day the delisting process has started. Straight from SCO's own press release site, they have received their delisting notice from Nasdaq. While this doesn't mean their stock will be delisted immediately, it does mean they've come under notice by Nasdaq, and must fix their problems within 180 days, before October 22, 2007. If they don't get their stock above $1 per share for ten consecutive days between now and then, they're toast."

Submission + - Disposable Nano Insulin Pump to Reach Market

Submitted by on Monday April 23, 2007 @09:00PM

An anonymous reader writes: Medgadget is reporting on a new disposable, wearable nano-insulin pump that has the potential to improve the lives of millions of diabetics: The Nanopump, which relies on microfluidic MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) technology, is a breakthrough concept that allows a tiny pump to be mounted on a disposable skin patch to provide continuous insulin infusion. The Nanopump will enable substantial advancements in the availability, treatment efficiency and the quality of life of diabetes patients. The original technology was awarded the Swiss Technology Award in 2006 and this agreement brings it closer to the market. (Press Release)

Submission + - Online Image Manipulation

Submitted by

Simon Hargraves

on Monday April 23, 2007 @08:55PM

Simon Hargraves writes: "Wiredness Image Manipulation is an online image manipulator designed to be quick/simple and easy to use. It is completely HTML and Javascript based. You can modify images in all of the usual ways such as resizing, cropping and rotating an image. It also has a number of different effects you can apply to an image. It currently has FlickR integration with more services such as Picasa on the way, you can easily upload photos to online hosting services for use on forums or in blog posts."

Submission + - Think tank attacks One Laptop Per Child

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 23, 2007 @08:53PM

An anonymous reader writes: European think tank the Globalisation Institute says the laptops are the "very worst idea in international development", may prove unreliable, have the wrong type of user interface and are a bad use of funds.

Submission + - Coffee has more soluble fiber than orange juice

Submitted by

drmirkin

on Monday April 23, 2007 @08:48PM

drmirkin writes: "Coffee contains more soluble fiber than orange juice, according to a study from the Instituto del Frío in Spain (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, February 2007). Many people start the day with a glass of orange juice because they believe it is a health food, but it contains the same amount of sugar as a glass of Coca Cola.

Soluble fiber is beneficial because it is not absorbed in the upper intestinal tract. It goes to your colon where bacteria ferment it to form short chain fatty acids that are absorbed through your colon into your bloodstream. The short chain fatty acids travel to the liver to block the formation of cholesterol, and also lower high blood pressure by widening arteries. Better dietary sources of soluble fiber include oatmeal, barley, beans, and many whole fruits and vegetables. More on soluble fiber at http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/N233.html

Since fruit juices contain as much sugar and calories as soft drinks, it makes no sense to substitute juices for soft drinks. It's far better to learn to drink water to quench thirst, and get calories, vitamins and other nutrients from solid foods. Researchers at the University of Houston reviewed scientific studies to explain why sugared drinks make people fat (Nutrition Review, April 2006). They concluded that sugared drinks do not fill people up as much as solid food does, so calories in drinks do not suppress appetite as effectively as calories in food."

Submission + - NASA Releases 3D Images of Sun

Submitted by SunnyGa on Monday April 23, 2007 @08:45PM

SunnyGa writes: NASA released the first three-dimensional images of the sun Monday, saying the photos taken from twin spacecraft may lead to better predictions of solar eruptions that can affect communications and power lines on Earth

Submission + - Testing site powered by submissions

Submitted by

rdtreefrog

on Monday April 23, 2007 @08:36PM

rdtreefrog writes: "Just released, Revision 14 is a site for tech managers to collaborate in building skills test. Online testing systems generally lack usefulness since they rely on trick questions to fill up their quota of questions. Revision 14 asks for the questions that have helped managers find good people in the past, and uses the best of those to build our tests via our voting system. Of course, to keep everyone playing nice, questions submitted are under the creative commons public domain license."

Feed Safari browser exploit produced within 9 hours in hacking competition (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed on Sunday April 22, 2007 @05:12AM

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Shane Macaulay and Dino Dai Zovi, a software engineer and security researcher taking part in the brilliantly named "PWN to Own" Hack-a-Mac contest at the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver, managed to hack into and take control of a MacBook by finding a security exploit that takes advantage of an open Safari browser window. Shane and his teammate Dino won the prize of a brand new MacBook -- presumably loaded with Firefox or some other browser variant -- for managing to find the hole on the second and final day of the contest. The hack wasn't exactly a breeze, since the pair admitted to a total of 9 hours in order to find and exploit the weakness. Apple has patched OS X four times over the last year to fix dozens of security updates, and only regurgitated the corporate line when asked for comment on this particular vulnerability. ("Apple takes security very seriously", well duh!) Even with the recent arousal of interest in Mac OS security, the world has yet to see any kind of exploit released into the wild world web; when / if one does, we'd probably expect the most damaging exploit to use good ol' social engineering rather than a complicated hack like this. Still, Mac users should take some form of satisfaction from knowing that the issue of Mac security is being investigated, rather than being taken for granted.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Submission + - Russian Police Break Bones of Protestors

Submitted by

reporter

on Sunday April 22, 2007 @03:28AM

reporter writes: "After the conclusion of last week's protests in Russia, "Newsweek" investigated the fate of some of the protestors. Apparently, the Russian police so brutalized them that 40 protestors needed hospitalization. The "Newsweek" reporter states, "In St. Petersburg, a police baton broke former city Duma deputy Sergei Gulayev's hand in five places. Police chased down and beat every pedestrian they could, including pensioners. ... Kazantsev suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung after a policeman kicked him repeatedly ." Did the Soviet Union really cease to exist in 1991 or was it merely renamed to "Russia"?"

Submission + - Epic Fantasy FPS: Project Offset update!

Submitted by

skatehead

on Sunday April 22, 2007 @02:03AM

skatehead writes: "Most gamers (and slashdotters) will remember when the initial team of 3 developers behind Project Offset (http://www.projectoffset.com/) released a video showing off a sneak peak of their upcoming game and engine (see previous slashdot article http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/11/ 2019242) Now it has been almost a year since the last media was released (http://www.projectoffset.com/downloads.html) and the game has apparently progressed to the point of starting their marketing campaign A few days ago a forum member found a hidden page titles "a storm is coming" on the offset website, and after he showed a few friends, they noticed a bar that was progressing with every unique view the bar filled up within a few hours and 2 new screenshots were released! (http://www.xboxyde.com/news_4235_en.html) now the bar has reset, and its taking alot more views to fill it up this time (more than 24 hours to get to 80%)! no one knows whats coming next, but after this many views, we're expecting a bunch of screenshots or even a new video! just thought it was a really cool marketing idea, and im also interested in getting that bar filled up it's been posted on a bunch of news sites including ign (http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/782/782412p1.html) and blue's news, and all over forums everywhere, but it still hasnt hit 100% hopefully slashdot can help out there? :) cheers"

Submission + - Linux box replaces your annoying TV weatherman

Submitted by

chicomarxbro

on Sunday April 22, 2007 @01:52AM

chicomarxbro writes: "Tired of dumb jokes or silliness by the local TV weatherperson? Then get your own channel. You can program your own local weather channel at home, office, marina, golf course, school, a truck stop, gas station, or wherever there may be an interest in weather to make a go/no go decision. You can view it on your own terms, and unlike the Weather Channel, you don't have to watch a half hour to get the info you need.

The graphics look at good as anything on TV. According to a review on www.Linuxdevices.com you can get this nifty Linux based appliance and hook it up to any TV or big screen display and have realtime weather 24/7."

Submission + - Tasmanian paper made from 'roo poo

Submitted by

msmiffy

on Sunday April 22, 2007 @01:49AM

msmiffy writes: "BBC News reports that a Tasmanian paper company is offering tourists — and others — paper made from kangaroo and wallaby dung. It is nice to see companies "going through the motions" to produce a green and sustainable product.

This may be old news for some, as the article reports that it is already being done in Africa using the end-product of elephants and in Scandinavia with post-elk fibres."

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