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Submission + - Is California Going To Waive Environmental Rules For Tesla?

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: We all know Tesla is working on its Gigafactory, and it has yet to announce officially where it will be. But the automaker did announce a shortlist of possible locations, and California wasn't on it. The state has quickly been trying to lure Tesla to get back into contention. Now the state may waive environmental rules which would normally make construction of such a large manufacturing facility more difficult. Apparently, Governor Jerry Brown's office is currently negotiating an incentive package for Tesla that would waive certain parts of the nearly half-century-old California Environmental Quality Act. Not only that, but state officials are reportedly considering letting Tesla begin construction and perform damage mitigation later, along with limiting lawsuits that could slow down the project. Let's not forget some massive tax breaks to the tune of $500 million. Is California stepping out of bounds here? Is it about to be in hot water, or does this all sit just fine with everybody?

Submission + - SCE&G nuclear plants facing more delays, cost overruns (thestate.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: Two nuclear reactors under construction in Fairfield County are facing another significant delay, utility provider S.C. Electric & Gas confirmed.

The delay will put the $10 billion project at V.C. Summer Nuclear Power plant outside the 18-month contingency allowed by state regulators and likely will drive up the costs, but utility officials said they would not know how much until later this year.

The first new reactor will go online between late 2018 and mid-2019, with the second new reactor going online a year later, officials said. The plants originally were set to begin operating in 2016 and 2018 and already had been delayed a year ago.

Under conditions of the state’s Baseload Review Act, SCE&G also will have to go back before the S.C. Public Service Commission to get approval of a new construction schedule and likely to seek more money, according to Dukes Scott, PSC spokesman.

SCE&G, which is building the plants with state-owned utility Santee Cooper and has a 55 percent stake in the project, won regulatory approval to raise rates annually for its current customers to help pay for the construction of the nuclear power plants. SCE&G ratepayers already have ponied up numerous increases for the nuclear project, the latest one approved in May.

Submission + - Silver Lining to Drone Warfare? It's Fodder for Dystopian Fiction (biographile.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "I began the cumbersome process of seeking permission from the U.S. Air Force to speak with some of the "pilots," and to visit a base where they worked. I approached this task with a key assumption: Surely, to ease the burdens of such a high stress occupation, the military would offer the sanest possible shifts, and the most ergonomically advanced working conditions possible, right?

Not exactly. The shifts alone can drive you around the bend. The schedule is built from nine-day blocks — six days on, three days off — which means you’re already on a different cycle from friends and family. Then there are the wacky hours. For twenty-seven days you’ll work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Then, for the next twenty-seven, from midnight to 8 a.m., and then from 4 p.m. to midnight, until finally, eighty one days after you began, you’re back on the 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift."

Submission + - Why hasn't this asteroid disintegrated? (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Planetary scientists have found an asteroid spinning too fast for its own good. The object, known as 1950 DA, whips around every 2.1 hours, which means that rocks on its surface should fly off into space. What’s keeping the remaining small rocks and dust on the surface? The researchers suggest van der Waals forces, weak forces caused by the attraction of polar molecules, which have slightly different charges on different sides of the molecule. For example, water molecules exhibit surface tension because of van der Waals forces, because the negative charge of one water molecule’s oxygen atom is attracted to nearby water molecules’ hydrogen atoms, which have a positive charge at their surfaces. Similar attractions could be occurring between molecules on the surfaces of different pieces of dust and rock. Such forces would be comparable to those that caused lunar dust to stick to astronauts’ space suits.

Submission + - Historians Rediscover Einstein's Forgotten Model of the Universe

Submitted by KentuckyFC
KentuckyFC writes: In 1931, after a 3- month visit to the US , Einstein penned a little known paper that attempted to show how his theory of general relativity could account for some of the latest scientific evidence. In particular, Einstein had met Edwin Hubble during his trip and so was aware of the latter's data indicating that the universe must be expanding. The resulting model is of a universe that expands and then contracts with a singularity at each end. In other words, Einstein was studying a universe that starts with a big bang and ends in a big crunch. What's extraordinary about the paper is that Einstein misspells Hubble's name throughout and makes a number of numerical errors in his calculations. That's probably because he wrote the paper in only 4 days, say the historians who have translated it into English for the time. This model was ultimately superseded by the Einstein-de Sitter model published the following year which improves on this in various ways and has since become the workhorse of modern cosmology.

Submission + - Bookstores beware, Amazon to come to campus (purdue.edu)

Submitted by Kilroy1218
Kilroy1218 writes: After freezing tuition past their original deadline Purdue University announced a partnership with Amazon today which aside from greatly competitive book pricing "will bring staffed customer order pickup and drop-off locations to Purdue’s campus, as well as expedited shipping benefits phased in over the course of the 2014-2015 academic year."

Submission + - Fugitive child sex abuser caught by facial-recognition technology

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: A US juggler facing child sex abuse charges, who jumped bail 14 years ago, has been arrested in Nepal, after the use of facial-recognition technology. Street performer Neil Stammer travelled to Nepal eight years ago using a fake passport under the name Kevin Hodges. New facial-recognition software matched his passport picture with a wanted poster the FBI released in January. Mr Stammer, who had owned magic shop in New Mexico, has now been returned to the US state to face trial. The Diplomatic Security Service, which protects US embassies and checks the validity of US visas and passports, had been using FBI wanted posters to test the facial-recognition software, designed to uncover passport fraud. The FBI has been developing its own facial-recognition database as part of the bureau's Next Generation Identification (NGI) programme.

Submission + - Gas cooled reactors shut down in UK (nytimes.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: EDF Energy, the British subsidiary of the French state-controlled utility, said on Monday that it was shutting down three nuclear reactors and that a reactor with a fault that has been shut down since June would remain so. The facilities, which are being investigated as a precaution, generate nearly a quarter of nuclear capacity in Britain.

The British Office for Nuclear Regulation said that there had been no release of radioactive material and no injuries. Industry experts did not anticipate much effect on electricity supplies or prices in the short term.

EDF said that over the next few days it would idle a second reactor at the facility where the fault was found last year, Heysham 1, in northwest England. The company said it would also shut down two other reactors of similar design at Hartlepool in northeast England to investigate whether they had the same flaws.

Submission + - Burger Robot Poised to Disrupt Fast Food Industry (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by kkleiner
kkleiner writes: The company that makes a robot that produces a quality burger in 10 seconds is taking greater responsibility for the disruptive force of their bot to the fast food industry. Momentum Machines recently announced an offer to help retrain workers displaced as a result of their robotic technology. Their proposal involves partnering with vocational schools to assist in the education of former workers in technician and engineer programs. Whether the company's intent will propel the further development and ultimate adoption of robotics and AI into the industry remains to be seen.

Submission + - Russia cracks down on public WiFi usage (reuters.com)

Submitted by WilliamGeorge
WilliamGeorge writes: Russia is further constraining access to the internet and freedom of speech, with new laws regarding public use of WiFi. Nikolai Nikiforov, the Russian Communications Minister, tweeted that "Identification of users (via bank cards, cell phone numbers, etc.) with access to public Wifi is a worldwide practice." This comes on top of their actions recently to block websites of political opponents to Russian president Vladimir Putin, require registration of prominent bloggers, and more.

The law was put into effect with little notice and without the input of Russian internet providers. Sergei Plugotarenko, head of the Russian Electronic Communications Association, said "It was unexpected, signed in such a short time and without consulting us." He added, "We will hope that this restrictive tendency stops at some point because soon won't there be anything left to ban."

In addition to the ID requirement to use WiFi, the new law also requires companies to declare who is using their web networks and calls for Russian websites to store their data on servers located in Russia starting in 2016.

Submission + - WSJ: Computer Programming Is a Trade; Let's Act Like It (wsj.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: From the story "Fortunately, it turns out that a computer-science degree isn't necessary to get a job in programming. Fourteen percent of the members of some teams at Google don't have a college degree, and 67% of the programming jobs in the U.S. are at nontech companies where other kinds of industry experience are more likely to be valued.

Computer programming, in other words, has become a trade. Like nursing or welding, it's something in which a person can develop at least a basic proficiency within weeks or months. And once budding coders learn enough to get their first jobs, they get onto the same path to upward mobility offered to their in-demand, highly paid peers."

Submission + - Experimental Drug Compound Found to Reverse Effects of Alzheimer's in Mice (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: While there has been progress made in the fight against Alzheimer's, our understanding of the dispiriting disease remains somewhat limited, with a definitive cure yet to be found. The latest development comes at the hands of researchers from Yale's School of Medicine, who have discovered a new drug compound shown to reverse the effects of Alzheimer's in mice.

Submission + - New recipe produces ammonia from air, water, and sunlight (sciencemag.org) 1

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: Nitrogen is essential for all life. But even though nitrogen makes up 78% of the atmosphere, it's in a form that can't be used by living organisms. Instead it's tied up in nitrogen molecules made up of two nitrogen atoms that share a strong triple bond that's not easily broken. A century ago, two German chemists, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, figured out how to sever those bonds with high pressures and temperatures and weld nitrogen atoms with hydrogens to make ammonia, thereby converting nitrogen into the starting material for a nitrogen-rich fertilizer that can be taken up and used by microbes, plants, and people. That process has been so successful that ammonia-based fertilizers now enable farmers to feed billions more people than our planet could otherwise support. But ammonia production also comes at a high environmental cost, as it is responsible for 2% of worldwide energy use and thus a massive greenhouse gas footprint. However, on page 637 of this issue, U.S. chemists report that they've come up with a way to synthesize ammonia from air, water, and sunlight. If the approach can be scaled up, it could offer a means for making an essential commodity without a major cost to the climate.

Submission + - Linus Torvalds is pissed at Change.org, starts a petition (themukt.com) 1

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: Linus Torvalds rarely gets upset over a wrong reason and Change.org has given him that reason. The creator of the world's most dominant technology – the linux kernel – found that someone started a petition on Change.org using his identity. So Linus took over and created a petition asking Change.org to stop its dickish ways and verify emails.

Submission + - The Hidden Cost of Your New Xfinity Router (speedify.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The battle over Comcast's public WiFi network that is hosted on your cable modem continues. Comcast responded to Speedify's earlier power measurements by rushing them a new Cisco cable modem. The new modem proved to be more power hungry than the last, and also introduced some tricky IPv6 problems that caused major headaches for the team.

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