Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:cold fusion fraud again? (Score 1) 580

Developing this means of fuel production (even using coal, which the US has a lot of btw...) could have strategic importance for the US or any other net importer of oil. Since pretty much all military vehicles use petrochemical fuel, an embargo of the US by the oil-rich nations could cripple the US military forces. (Nuke subs probably being the exception) A ready infrastructure able to synthesize hydro-carbon fuel rather than refinement from crude oil provides a means of escape from dependence on oil imports. In the least, it augments fuel producing capability in case of shortage.

Comment Chance to Stargaze in the City... (Score 1) 222

My best chance to see a perfectly dark sky came about 8 years ago. (I'm in Cleveland) The sky was pretty clear and ALL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003/ the lights were out, but around 9:46pm an almost full moon rose and ruined the whole thing... http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KBKL/2003/8/13/DailyHistory.html?req_city=Cleveland&req_state=OH&req_statename=Ohio/

Comment $9Billion Waste? Not by the author's reasoning... (Score 1) 221

In the first paragraph the writer praises JFK because it was not the actual trip to the moon part that would be good for the country, but the technology development to get there.(and everything that entails) Then in short order he calls the $9billion spent on constellation development "a waste". Well? Which is it? Technology was developed(if not finished) just like for the Apollo program. Why is the development process the real success of one program and "a waste" in the other program? If the process of trying to accomplish a goal is good for Murrica, reaching that goal should be immaterial.(per the authors reasoning, I'm not saying reaching a goal is unimportant)
Education

200 Students Admit Cheating After Professor's Online Rant 693

Over 200 University of Central Florida students admitted to cheating on a midterm exam after their professor figured out at least a third of his class had cheated. In a lecture posted on YouTube, Professor Richard Quinn told the students that he had done a statistical analysis of the grades and was using other methods to identify the cheats, but instead of turning the list over to the university authorities he offered the following deal: "I don't want to have to explain to your parents why you didn't graduate, so I went to the Dean and I made a deal. The deal is you can either wait it out and hope that we don't identify you, or you can identify yourself to your lab instructor and you can complete the rest of the course and the grade you get in the course is the grade you earned in the course."
Robotics

Submission + - Robots, With Fricken Laser Beams on Their.....

Blitz22 writes: Autonomous robots with weapons? http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/robotics/2007-06 -28-robot-soldiers-tasers_N.htm?csp=34 By adding Tasers to robots it already makes for the military, iRobot says it hopes to give soldiers and law enforcement a defensive, non-lethal tool. But some observers fear such developments could ultimately lead to robots capable of deciding on their own when to shoot and kill. "It's one more step in that direction," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va.-based military research organization. "It is not the first step in that direction, but I think at some point toward the end of the next decade, you're going to start seeing RoboCops, or a Terminator," Pike said, referring to a pair of 1980s robot-themed sci-fi films. "We may see autonomous robots capable of inflicting lethal force."

Slashdot Top Deals

Intel CPUs are not defective, they just act that way. -- Henry Spencer

Working...