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United States

How the Next US Nuclear Accident Might Happen 128

Posted by samzenpus from the big-boom dept.
Lasrick writes: Anthropologist Hugh Gusterson analyzes safety at US nuclear facilities and finds a disaster waiting to happen due to an over-reliance on automated security technology and private contractors cutting corners to increase profits. Gusterson follows on the work of Eric Schlosser, Frank Munger, and Dan Zak in warning us of the serious problems at US nuclear facilities, both in the energy industry and in the nuclear security complex.
It's funny. Laugh.

Kim Jong Un Claims To Have Cured AIDS, Ebola and Cancer 162

Posted by Soulskill from the what-took-you-so-long dept.
jones_supa writes: North Korea has created a wonder drug which not only cures AIDS, but also eradicates Ebola and cancer — at least, according to the latest proclamation from the country's news agency. Their announcement says the miracle cure consists of ginseng grown from fertilizer and rare earth elements. The drug's website cites a medical study in Africa where the product was tested on HIV-positive patients. It records that every single participant in the trial noted an improvement, with 56% being completely cured and 44% noting a considerable improvement in their condition. Among other benefits, the North Korean scientists also revealed that the drug is capable of curing a number of cancers, but did not provide details of the medical trials which support this claim. It's also good to remember that the state has previously claimed that Kim Jong Il invented the hamburger.
Python

How Much Python Do You Need To Know To Be Useful? 263

Posted by timothy from the how-big-is-the-python? dept.
Nerval's Lobster writes: Since Python is a general-purpose language, it finds its way into a whole lot of different uses and industries. That means the industry in which you work has a way of determining what you actually need to know in terms of the language, as developer Jeff Cogswell explains in a new Dice piece. For example, if you're hired to write apps that interact with operating systems and monitor devices, you might not need to know how to use the Python modules for scientific and numerical programming. In a similar fashion, if you're hired to write Python code that interacts with a MySQL database, then you won't need to master how it works with CouchDB. The question is, how much do you need to know about Python's basics? Cogswell suggests there are three basic levels to learning Python: Learn the core language itself, such as the syntax and basic types (and the difference between Python 2 and Python 3); learn the commonly used modules, and familiarize yourself with other modules; learn the bigger picture of software development with Python, such as including Python in a build process, using the pip package manager, and so on. But is that enough?

Comment Still waiting to see one positive comment (Score 2) 150

by rebelwarlock (#49827673) Attached to: Enter the Polls! Now On the Front Page
If you can show me a single positive comment about the poll change, that didn't come from one of the people who implemented it (or from AC, because I'm sure it would just be the same people who implemented it posting as AC), I'd actually be amazed. You'd still be doing something incredibly stupid - I'd just be amazed that someone who isn't you is also this stupid.

Comment Most pixel art is bullshit (Score 1) 175

by rebelwarlock (#49680351) Attached to: The Decline of Pixel Art
The vast majority of games that employ pixel art do so because they want to have an art budget of $1.50. While some games really wouldn't be the same without it (like Retro City Rampage), I'm pretty sick of seeing every lazy asshole indie dev using pixel art and slapping the word "retro" on their terrible game. It's gotten to the point that pixel art is a good way to weed out games I don't want to play. Turns out you can absolutely judge a book by its cover.

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