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Submission + - Europe to Ditch Climate Protection Goals, Fracking To Follow (spiegel.de) 4

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: Spiegel Online reports, "The European Commission wants to forgo ambitious climate protection goals and pave the way for fracking ... Commission sources have long been hinting that the body intends to move away from ambitious climate protection goals. ... At the request of Commission President José Manuel Barroso, EU member states are no longer to receive specific guidelines for the development ofrenewable energy. The stated aim of increasing the share of green energy across the EU to up to 27 percent will hold. But how seriously countries tackle this project will no longer be regulated within the plan. As of 2020 at the latest — when the current commitment to further increase the share of green energy expires — climate protection in the EU will apparently be pursued on a voluntary basis. ... With such a policy, the European Union is seriously jeopardizing its global climate leadership role. ... In addition, the authority wants to pave the way in the EU for the controversial practice of fracking ... The report says the Commission does not intend to establish strict rules for the extraction of shale gas, but only minimum health and environmental standards."

Submission + - Is a mini ice age on the way ? (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: Since September of last year people already ponder what has happened to the Sun.

The Sun is in the middle of a hyperactive phase of its 11-year cycle, and suddenly it got quiet, extraordinary quiet.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/09/sun-all-quiet/

http://www.sott.net/article/266382-The-sun-goes-strangely-quiet

With almost completely devoid of sun spots, solar flare activity has come to a halt.

The recent super cold snap that hit North America and the wet weather that hit part of Europe might be linked to the eerily quietness of the Sun.

BBC is reporting that the nearest episode of the Sun's quietness compared to the one which is happening was 100 years ago. This solar lull is baffling scientists, because right now the Sun should be awashed with activity. This giant ball of plasma should be peppered with sunspots, exploding with flares and spewing out huge clouds of charged particles into space in the form of coronal mass ejections.

"It's completely taken me and many other solar scientists by surprise," says Dr Lucie Green, from University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25743806

https://www2.ucar.edu/climate/faq/isnt-sun-in-quiet-period-wouldnt-grand-minimum-cool-earth-down

Submission + - Microsoft Quietly Fixes Windows XP Resource Hog Problem (redmondmag.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft indicated this week that it has fixed a Windows XP resource-hog problem associated with the system's SVCHOST.EXE processes.

Windows XP users affected by this problem typically found that the operating system was using up system resources for 15 minutes to an hour after startup, making it difficult to use the machine during that period. The Microsoft Update team had vowed last month to spend the holiday break tackling the issue, which has plagued some users for years.

The fix involved stopping the system from perpetually checking Internet Explorer updates. Microsoft indicated that the fix was rolled out on Tuesday.

Submission + - Adblock's days are numbered (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: PageFair offers a free JavaScript program that, when inserted into a Web page, monitors ad blocking activity. CEO Sean Blanchfield says he developed the monitoring tool after he noticed a problem on his own multiplayer gaming site. PageFair collects statistics on ad blocking activity, identifies which users are blocking ads and can display an appeal to users to add the publisher's website to their ad-blocking tool's personal whitelist. But Blanchfield acknowledges that the user appeal approach hasn't been very effective.

ClarityRay takes a more active role. Like PageFair, it provides a tool that lets publishers monitor blocking activity to show them that they have a problem — and then sells them a remedy. ClarityRay offers a service that CEO Ido Yablonka says fools ad blockers into allowing ads through. "Ad blockers try to make a distinction between content elements and advertorial elements. We make that distinction impossible," he says.

From ComputerWorld http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9245190/Ad_blockers_A_solution_or_a_problem_?taxonomyId=71&pageNumber=4

Comment Re:I fail to understand (Score 1) 212

by RandomFactor (#45867187) Attached to: First US Public Library With No Paper Books Opens In Texas
Well, to be fair, there is really only an artificial scarcity of free ebooks.

I think it is reasonable to assume that letting every library lend an infinite number of copies of every book would put a damper on sales, effectively making the ebook market into a 'donations only' market overnight.

I haven't kept up, what is current thinking on how effective donation based selling is for ebook authors?

Comment Re:Common sense (Score 1) 370

by RandomFactor (#45844881) Attached to: Illinois Law Grounds PETA Drones Meant To Harass Hunters
Heh...PETA getting pissed at someone else for destruction of property? (+1 Irony).

But this is precisely the enforcement headache the gubment is trying to avoid.

- Harassing outdoors-men and scaring off game (Hunters are paying the government, that's a revenue stream) - Drones getting blasted out of the sky - Lead flying off in dangerous ways (hunters know better than to go shooting rifles in the air, but if you start buzzing 'em with drones, it would happen) - blasted drones falling out of the sky - Lawsuits all around

Comment Re:It's for the best (Score 1) 225

by RandomFactor (#45830709) Attached to: Public Domain Day 2014
Or a 4x4









(There's one scene where you can spot a set of 4x4 tracks off in the distance in that ST movie. One of the guys in the old BBS scene used "Why does God need a 4x4?" for his tagline for a while as a result. Ahh the good old days...)

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