Comment Re:I know where . . . (Score 1) 471
What the hell did you do?
NASA Running Low On Fuel For Space Exploration 282
smooth wombat writes "With the end of the Cold War came warmer relations with old adversaries, increased trade and a world less worried about nuclear war. It also brought with it an unexpected downside: lack of nuclear fuel to power deep space probes. Without this fuel, probes beyond Jupiter won't work because there isn't enough sunlight to use solar panels, which probes closer to the sun use. The fuel NASA relies on to power deep space probes is plutonium-238. This isotope is the result of nuclear weaponry, and since the United States has not made a nuclear device in 20 years, the supply has run out. For now, NASA is using Soviet supplies, but they too are almost exhausted. It is estimated it will cost at least $150 million to resume making the 11 pounds per year that is needed for space probes."
Comment Wasn't 1979's TI-99/4 the first 16 bit home comp? (Score 1) 159
Wasn't the TI-99/4 the first 16 bit home computer?
While it wasn't until 1981's TI-99/4A that you could play Parsec, there were many classic games you could play on either: Munchman. Car Wars. Hunt The Wumpus.
PG&E Makes Deal For Solar Power From Space 392
N!NJA writes "California's biggest energy utility announced a deal Monday to purchase 200 megawatts of electricity from a startup company that plans to beam the power down to Earth from outer space, beginning in 2016. Solaren would generate the power using solar panels in Earth orbit and convert it to radio-frequency transmissions that would be beamed down to a receiving station in Fresno, PG&E said. From there, the energy would be converted into electricity and fed into PG&E's power grid."
Comment Notebook computer bolted to the reshelving cart? (Score 1) 3
How about bolting a notebook computer to the reshelving cart?
Submission + - Best Wi-fi Portable Browsing Device? 3
foxxo writes: "I'm a library worker, so I get lots of questions about our collection when I'm out in the stacks. I'd love to be able to access our online catalog and give patrons more comprehensive guidance without directing them to the reference desk. What options are available for a portable device with wi-fi connectivity, full-featured web browsing, and (most importantly) no cellphone-style activation and service fees? Size is important, too; I need something I can carry in my pocket, not a micro-notebook with full keyboard. (And I am a library worker, so low cost is key!)"
Comment Re:Net Neutrality in Action (Score 0, Troll) 269
And it's "multicultural", which makes the CBC-types feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Now if only you could find some way of making Albertans look like assholes, you could slot it between Little Mosque on the Prairie and Wild Roses and we'll have another show that nobody watches but gets government funding.
The guy from Little Mosque on the Prairie could meet up with some chick from Wild Roses and then he could cut off her head as a pay-per-view event, but still no one would watch. As with all CBC programming, it would be culturally realistic enough, but as with all CanCon, it's all bad lighting, all bad acting, all bad concept, all horribly written, and all horrific direction. Welcome to Canadian television. No wonder I have an illegal satellite dish.
The people petitioning the CRTC to expand CanCon are just bitter that they weren't talented enough to get a Green Card.
Comment Re:Do not bite, it's a gimmick! (Score 1) 117
Rem,ember this is one country without a domestic car concern...the only such country in the entire so called G8! Canada? Give me a break!
No, Canada has the Bricklin, and we all know how well that turned out.
You are right, you speak hard truths, but you're right. The Canadian market isn't big enough to support a car industry, except through reciprocal agreements with our best friends, the USA. As for the Japanese stuff, it's ASSEMBLED in Canada, much like Ikea furniture is ASSEMBLED in your living room - it's not a product of your innovation, testing, or manufacture: its factory is a slightly larger Allen key, that's all.
Detroit/Windsor builds some of the most innovative and technologically amazing cars of the day, and had historically done so. The Model T. The Cord. The Hemi cars. The Omni/Horizon. The Chrysler minivan. US leadership and design for a US market, but MANY American cars were built in Canada.
US/CDN cars are well-designed and very innovative. The killer for The Big Three is that when you have a poor quality intake manifold casting built by someone with a 9th grade education making $40+ an hour, you can't afford to scrap it. (Case in point: intake manifold on my Dodge Ram was full of bubbles; it looked and sealed like Swiss cheese. No wonder the truck never had any power and had burned out three sets of exhaust valves.) You have to deal with it - put it on the car and pray it doesn't come back under warranty. The unions have driven the Big Three into their current state. A sock filled with mashed potatoes could make a better brake piston than some of the work I've seen the UAW's people turn out.
You need to kill the unions to save the Big Three.
Pull a Reagan. Fire them all, replace them with a bunch of pimply high school kids who like to ask questions, and I promise you the cars will be better.
As for me, I continue to drive domestics. It's easier to fix bad manufacturing than it is to fix bad engineering.
Comment Re:Is it valid to compare an IP to address book? (Score 1) 258
The police using an IP Number to locate my address is no different than if they did a Reverse Phone Number lookup. If the latter does not violate my rights, then the former does not violate my rights either.
I disagree. If your IP address is by DHCP, it may change even more often than a teenager's cellphone number. How good is the ISP's record keeping?
Universal Power Adapter Struggling For Support 277
Ian Lamont writes "Last year, there was a lot of hopeful discussion surrounding an initiative to have the consumer electronics industry standardize their products on a USB-based universal power adapter devised by Green Plug. Eight months later, the effort has stalled. The reason: manufacturers have balked from using Green Plug's technology. '... Gadget makers seem to have no compelling financial incentive to adopt Green Plug's technology. It would require them to add Green Plug's chip, or similar hardware and software, into every phone, camera, or music player they build, making them more expensive and more complicated to build. Another stumbling block for manufacturers: A universal power supply would kill the market for replacement power supplies. Manufacturers sell these at a steep markup price to customers who lose or break the original one that came with the device, and aren't tech-savvy enough to procure a low-cost generic replacement.' Green Plug is now trying to drum up public outcry through a (slow) website, but the number of supportive comments and votes remains relatively low."
Comment Re:Inaccurate? (Score 1) 354
db32: I need your e-mail address. I'm slant6mopar@yahoo.com.
Comment Re:Gomco, Mogen, Plastibell. (Score 0, Offtopic) 1397
The most sensitive nerve cluster in the male body is at the base of the foreskin - and you don't have it.
Really? Ever had it? Ever had sex with it?
How about the frenum. All you guys jump up and down about that being the most sensitive part of my penis.
Neither one is sensitive. They're just *there*, in the way of the head and the shaft.
Well, I had 'em both cut off - the frenum, the mucosal end - and the only thing I regret about the whole thing is that it wasn't done at birth.
Your crappy sex life has to do with whatever whacked-out psychology you have. Blaming circumcision for your erectile dysfunction or your premature ejaculation is pure idiocy.
I wish I'd been circumcised at birth in your place, so I could have enjoyed its benefits all my life, and you could come to terms with whatever your failing is.
Comment Re:Gomco, Mogen, Plastibell. (Score 1) 1397
Evidence suggests that there is no significant reduction in sensation.
Oh, I'm so glad you cited the works of a recipient of a Bachelor of Arts degree as scientific evidence! That just clears everything up. Her background in poetry or some other basket-weaving crap makes her well-suited to statistical analysis.
She can't even differentiate a fucking polynomial and you're citing her as a reference in a scientific discussion?
Once again, the anti-circ whackos lose credibility.
Comment Re:Gomco, Mogen, Plastibell. (Score 1) 1397
It is a mutilation to reduce sexual pleasure and has no other purpose.
Really? My penis has had oral, vaginal and anal sex both before and after circumcision, and I think my penis would disagree with you.
And I know there are glans sensitivity studies which prove the (albeit counterintuitive) fact that a circumcised man's glans is no less sensitive than an uncircumcised man's glans. But you're apparently as oblivious to this as you are to the medical evidence. Another poster cited studies. I shan't bother, you're another one of those anti-circ wackos who blames everything from his baldness to his latent homosexuality on the fact that his glans is bare.
I did a shitpile of research because I was dissatisfied with having to go to the hospital every three months with my foreskin ballooned out to the size of a beach ball. I wanted to know what I was gaining and losing before I elected to the surgery.
The only thing I lost was my first 22 years enjoying the benefits of being a circumcised man. And that I resent.
The foreskin became a liability when man decided to wear clothing. You want me to stop being a proponent of circumcision, either you make mankind give up pants, or you make my circumcised penis more unreliable than the Chevy Vega it previously was.
If I'd known you in 1996 and you'd wanted my foreskin, I would have cheerfully given it to you.
Sit down, shut up, and enjoy the fact that your parents allowed the medical profession to give you an advantage in the world.
I wish I'd been circumcised at birth.
Comment Re:Gomco, Mogen, Plastibell. (Score 1) 1397
Gomco, Mogen, Plastibell...
Guess where I consulted once.
The Venetian boy's choir?
Good one! Agree or not, that was intelligent.
