Comment Re:Why do scientists make these statements? (Score 1) 236
Brilliant.
Comment Re:Nothing unreal exists (Score 2) 373
I think you fail to understand what the term "abstract" means. My mind's conception of a circle may have a physical manifestation in my brain, but my mind's conception of that circle is not the abstract circle.
Before you start quoting Descartes, perhaps you need to revisit your Plato.
Comment Re:Yeah right (Score 3, Funny) 326
If you can't cook toast, then you probably shouldn't be bringing your phone in the shower with you, either.
Comment Re:In other words... (Score 1) 210
I would mod you up if I could, if only because that was such an incredibly clumsily worded sentence. Still, you have an interesting point. Even during drills, we should all remain Vigilant Guardians.
With all due respect, and admitting that I'm being totally pedantic (but hopefully helpful!) here, please let me illustrate how you could break down what you've said to make it easier to follow:
Do you really think a few minutes' delay will matter? After all, in the last few years these terrorists haven't managed to set off the bombs they've brought onto planes and into NYC.
Comment Re:This is huge news! (Score 2) 80
> Why did we need to invent twitter, web fora, and IM when we had Listserv, USENET, and IRC?
Because corporate firewalls blocked everything except port 80. So, everything moved onto port 80.
As an aside, ten years ago I predicted to my colleague that one day we'd see DNS over HTTP, and probably even TCP over HTTP. I've recently seen *both* of those come to pass via
China Completes First Space Docking Test 106
MrSeb writes "China has joined two space vehicles together in orbit for the first time. The unmanned Shenzhou 8 craft, launched earlier this week, made contact with the Tiangong-1 space lab at 1729 GMT. The union occurred over China itself. Being able to dock two space vehicles together is a necessary capability for China if it wants to start building a space station towards the end of the decade."
Comment Re:If you have nothing to hide (Score 1) 222
I'm going to leave the rest of your comment aside (my opinion is pretty much the opposite, but we're all entitled to our own), and answer this one:
for years now I get ads and coupons in my monthly CC statement, usually targeted to stuff I buy, how is it different from what the summary mentions?
The difference is that, in the case you mention, the advertiser hands over their ad copy, along with a profile of their target demographic, and says to Visa, find the 200,000 of your customers (or whatever #) that most closely match *this* profile, and send them this ad. But, this new plan sounds more to me (although the details aren't precisely discussed in the articles) that Visa will run a service that lets advertisers sign up and repeatedly query "does this customer match this profile?"
In the first case, Visa is giving you the advertiser's info; in the second case, Visa is giving the advertiser your info.
Comment Re:Climate change caused by...us? (Score 1) 967
Yes, but
Comment Loyalty and Outsourcing? (Score 2) 735
I was going to side with you on the loyalty argument, until I read that your employer outsources (some of) their programming. What does that say about their commitment to loyalty? On the one hand, it helps to maintain a good network of industry contacts for the long-term good of your career. On the other hand, it *is* possible to maintain a good relationship with your old co-workers, while simultaneously "looking out for number one".
Is you leaving going to be *difficult*, or will it break their entire business? That is, you can rest easy if you cause a bit of inconvenience, but just try not to screw them too badly: ask your new employer if you can have a couple of weeks before you officially start; or a "transition period" where you can remain on-call (e.g. a half-day a week when needed) to the old team.
Dinosaur Feathers Found In Amber 190
An anonymous reader writes "A stunning array of prehistoric feathers, including dinosaur protofeathers, has been discovered in Late Cretaceous amber from Canada. 'Protofeathers aren't known from any modern, existing groups of birds and therefore the most obvious interpretation is that they belong to dinosaurs,' said University of Alberta professor, Alexander P. Wolfe. The 78 to 79-million-year-old amber preserved the feathers in vivid detail, including some of their diverse colors."
Delivering Medicine By UAV
87
Buffaloaf writes "The brilliant minds at Singularity University are developing an internet of things they dub the Matternet which plans to deliver drugs and other small necessities to people in extremely remote locations by UAV. From the article: 'This particular class of S.U. was focused on solving problems for "the next billion people," those without access to modern technology. Matternet tackled the problem of getting drugs and diagnostic or test materials to people in rural areas in developing countries that don't have access to passable roads during rainy seasons. The company proposed building a network of robotic drones to deliver medication quickly and very cost-effectively--even less than a guy on a dirt bike costs.'"
Comment Re:Canonical is not American (Score 2) 364
Actually, Canonical is registered in the Isle of Man, a Crown Dependency off the British coast. It's a tax and legal haven from the civilized world, although its head of state is still the Queen of England. This has always been one of the things that's bugged me most about Shuttleworth's operation.
Earth May Once Have Had Two Moons 139
AaronW writes "According to a story at space.com, Earth may once have had two moons. The smaller moon, estimated to be 750 miles (1200km) wide and only 4% of the mass of the larger moon, crashed into the far side of the larger moon which caused the features we see today on the moon. The surface of the far side of the moon is quite different than the side facing the earth, having a different composition and a much rougher terrain."
Limits On Growth of Energy Use and Economies 482
snoop.daub writes "Dr. Tom Murphy, professor of astrophysics at UCSD, has a new blog called 'Do The Math,' and the first few posts are doozies. In the first, he shows the impossibility of continued exponential growth in energy use. Even if a new, 'free' energy source is developed, thermodynamic limits on efficiency mean that the heat associated with converting this energy into useful work will increase the temperature of the earth to unbearable levels within 300 years. In the second, he extends the argument to economic growth. The timescales there are faster, only 50-100 years. Fascinating stuff. Time to stop breeding, folks, or to get our butts into space."
Comment Re:Won't stop Oracle (Score 2) 204
I don't think it's tenuous at all. Lots of projects by lots of companies use Java; this is nothing new. Sun could praise any number of them, but it just so happens that Android / Java is high profile, so they chose to praise that one particular project. That doesn't mean they were aware and sanctioned copyright infringement on any particular piece of code. Java comes with a license, and it's not unreasonable to think that Schwartz would make a public statement of support under the assumption that Google was adhering to the terms of that license.
