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Comment Re:Seriously? (Score 1) 216

by arisvega (#45823181) Attached to: Mars One Selects Second Round Candidate Astronauts

If they can't demonstrate that they can launch a crew, convey them to their destination, and provide them with some form of functional shelter then they will never get off the ground.

How so? Who's going to stop them?

I think the real issue here is screening 1058 suicidal or terminal maniacs with a death wish out of 200k suicidal or terminal maniacs with an even greater death wish, and hope that somehow out of those a useful crew will be able to run a friggin' spaceship. To Mars. And build the foundations of a colony. On Mars.

An astronaut is usually a pilot, AND a glorified lab manager, AND an engineer, AND physically superfit, AND possesses iron willpower, and his balls are probably made of some badass titanium alloy. He/she is NOT suicidal and, though risks are understood, made a brave choice and is backed by thousands of professionals on the ground. He/she is not a telephone sanitizer backed by some soap opera script writer and his CEO.

There are many, many, many things that can go wrong here: and I am not talking technicalia, I am talking about human behaviour and attitude: people become obscene, detached, depressed, sarcastic, suicidal and even aggressive in reality shows on EARTH. And the masterminds behind this endeavour are okay in sending I-am-cool-with-it-being-a-one-way-trip reality show material to Mars?

The sad part is that I am pretty sure that it is going to actually happen, and it might end up badly not because of a hardware failure or similar, but because of human moronity: this sound more like a "put some humans in an airtight tin-can on Mars, and watch them perish on TV" (or even "better", watch them kill each other)

Comment Perhaps the reason is that: (Score 3, Interesting) 121

by arisvega (#45787197) Attached to: India Cautions Users On Risks Associated With Virtual Currencies
There spawned a couple of new exchange sites in India over the past few weeks. A few that I checked look legit, demanding some sort of official government documents for user identification, making it non-trivial for scammers to jump aboard the train. It is only natural that there is a warning, and those sites already had more or less the same warning on their frontpages. The fact that this warning is on a state level is a good think for bitcoin (and for potential traders) I think.

Submission + - China 'Flies First Stealth Drone', Japan Steps Up Defence (bbc.co.uk) 3

Submitted by arisvega
arisvega writes: The BBC reports that 'China successfully flew a stealth drone for the first time on Thursday, state media said, citing eyewitness reports. A drone, called "Sharp Sword" by the media, made a test flight for around 20 minutes in Chengdu, reports said. China has been developing stealth aircraft in recent years, including J-20 and J-31 stealth fighters. Following that incident, Japan said it would shoot down unmanned aircraft in Japanese airspace.'

'In September', the BBC continues, 'an unmanned drone flew close to a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea, raising tensions with Japan. China's defence ministry said that any attempt by Japan to shoot down Chinese aircraft would constitute "an act of war".'

Point is, will UAV skirmishes eventually become an intermediate --and alternative-- level of conflict, perhaps a step above cold tensions and diplomatic sanctions (since UAVs can be very well armed indeed) but surely still below a full-blown war? And would The People's Republic of China actually go to war over a dead drone?

Submission + - First Hard Evidence for the Process of Cat Domestication (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Cats have been part of human society for nearly 10,000 years, but they weren’t always string-chasers and lap-sitters. Ancient felines hunted crop-destroying rats and mice for early farmers, and in return we provided food and protection. At least that’s what scientists have long speculated. Now, they can back it up. Cat bones unearthed in a 5000-year-old Chinese farming village indicate that the animals consumed rodents and that some may have been cared for by humans. The findings provide the earliest hard evidence of this mutually beneficial relationship between man and cat.

Comment Re:Do they turn up in the downloads? (Score 3, Informative) 163

by arisvega (#45705089) Attached to: Facebook Tracks the Status Updates and Messages You Don't Write Too

Facebook has an option to download all your data. Do these texts turn up in these downloads as well?

You know they don't. Who you search for, your browsing habits and clicks, none of that turns up either.

I do not know what purpose this 'download all your data' option serves, but it is certainly not there to give you the option to actually download all data facebook has on you: it is something ridiculous like your name, your birthday and a couple of other useless stuff. It does not even include the messages you have sent and received.

Comment Re:Upper limit on planets? Lower limit on stars (Score 1) 129

Wikipedia says that at 13 times the size of juptiter you get something that can ignite and you get a brown dwarf.. How that is calculated is beyond me..

From hydrostatics: the more mass you build up, the higher the pressure --and the temperature-- becomes in the core, and then you reach a point where the temperature is high enough to start fusing stuff up (as per definition of 'a star'). This, for hydrogen, happens at some mass limit or other which is at around a few Jupiter masses.

It is a back-of-the-envelope calculation really, though there are a few other, more sophisticated models, around.

Submission + - Row over US mobile phone 'cockroach backpack' app (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by arisvega
arisvega writes: A US company that has developed an "electronic backpack" that fits onto a cockroach allowing its movements to be controlled by a mobile phone app has defended itself against cruelty claims.

For the "electronic backpack" to work the cockroaches have to be placed in icy water to subdue them before sandpaper is used to remove the waxy coating on the shell of the insect's head.

An electrode connector and electrodes are then glued on to the insect's body and a needle is used to poke a hole in their thorax in order to insert a wire. Their antennae are then cut and electrodes are inserted. A circuit is attached to their backs, and signals are received through a mobile phone app allowing users to control the cockroaches' movements to the left and to the right.

The Roboroach weighs 4.5g and is compatible with most mobile phones. It overrides the insect's antennae making it turn left and right at the flick of a switch.

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