Comment Re:William James Sidis (Score 1) 583
Can you imagine the scale of the machinery this battery is supposed to be powering?
Something like this?
NASA Purchases $19M Russian Space Toilet 245
Gary writes "NASA has paid $19 million for a Russian-built international space station toilet system. The toilet system, similar to the one already in use in the station's Zvezda Service Module, is scheduled to arrive at the space station in 2008 and will offer more privacy for a crew expected to double from three to six by 2009. The space station toilet physically resembles those used on Earth, except it has leg restraints and thigh bars to keep astronauts and cosmonauts from floating away. NASA says purchasing the multi million dollar toilet is a bargain compared to developing one from scratch."
Motorists Sue Over 'Hot' Fuel 572
i_like_spam writes "Motorists in 13 states have filed lawsuits against big oil companies and gas retailers alleging unfair pricing practices related to fuel-pumping temperatures. From an industry standard developed in the 1920's, the price for a gallon of gasoline is based on the density of the fuel at a temperature of 60 degress F. A gallon of gas at higher temperatures is less dense, and therefore contains less energy. The lawsuits claim additional costs of 3 to 9 cents per gallon without temperature adjustments. The fuel industry claims that the costs of installing temerature-adjustment sensors on every pump would be prohibitively high. These sensors are already installed in Canada, however, where the colder temperatures favor consumers."
Submission + - Women's Pay: Lagging From the Start
gollum123 writes: "Time magazine reports on new data that shows women are already earning less than men before the ink on their college diplomas has dried ( http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1 613829,00.html ). The study, which looked at more than 10,000 people who received bachelor's degrees in 1999-2000, found that just one year after graduation, women who are working full time earn only 80% as much as their male counterparts do. The recent graduate numbers includes an apples-to-apples comparison of full-time workers who majored in the same subject, and the discrepancies are jarring. One year after graduation, female business majors are earning 81% of what male business majors earn. Among biology majors, women get paid only 75% as much as men. female engineers make 95% of what male engineering majors do, and women who majored in math earn only 76% of what their male counterparts earn. Part of the gap may be explained by the number of hours women work compared with men. But after controlling for all the factors known to affect wages — including occupation and parenthood — the study found that college-educated women still earn about 5% less than college-educated men one year after graduation and 12% 10 years after graduation. This gap, the study's authors go on to say, "remains unexplained and may be attributed to discrimination.""
Submission + - Pocket-Sized Phone System
anthm writes: "FreeSWITCH, an open source telephony application, announced today that it can run on the Nokia N800 handheld PC.
Now you can carry your phone system around in your pocket."
Now you can carry your phone system around in your pocket."
Submission + - Wii Opera Browser: A Storm In A Tea Cup?
Steve Fulton writes: "We here at 8bitrocket.com love the Wii. We think the the Wii Browser with a Wii-mote is the best internet experience that any game console has been able to create to date. However, what we don't know is if the Wii Opera Browser is just a "storm in a tea cup" that few people will ever experience, or if it will really amount to something worth talking about.
http://www.8bitrocket.com/newsdisplay.aspx?newspag e=2637"
http://www.8bitrocket.com/newsdisplay.aspx?newspa
