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Earth

Ancient Megadrought Entombed Dodos In Poisonous Fecal Cocktail 55

Posted by samzenpus from the now-that's-a-way-to-go dept.
sciencehabit writes: Nine hundred kilometers off the east coast of Madagascar lies the tiny island paradise of Mauritius. The waters are pristine, the beaches bright white, and the average temperature hovers between 22C and 28C (72F to 82F) year-round. But conditions there may not have always been so idyllic. A new study suggests that about 4000 years ago, a prolonged drought on the island left many of the native species, such as dodo birds and giant tortoises, dead in a soup of poisonous algae and their own feces.
Earth

Africa E-Waste Dump Continues Hyperbole War 78

Posted by timothy from the let's-go-take-a-visit dept.
retroworks writes: Two stories appear today which feature close up photos of young African men surrounded by scrap metal in the city of Accra. The headlines state that this is where our computers go to die (Wired). The Daily Mail puts it in even starker terms, alleging "millions of tons" are dumped in Agbogbloshie.

The stories appear the same day as a press release by investigators who returned this week from 3 weeks at the site. The release claims that Agbogbloshie's depiction as the worlds "largest ewaste dump site" to be a hoax. It is a scrap automobile yard which accounts for nothing more than local scrap from Accra. Three Dagbani language speaking electronics technicians, three reporters, Ghana customs officials and yours truly visited the site, interviewed workers about the origins of the material, and assessed volumes. About 27 young men burn wire, mostly from automobile scrap harnesses. The electronics — 20 to 50 items per day — are collected from Accra businesses and households. The majority of Accra (population 5M) have had televisions since the 1990s, according to World Bank metadata (over 80% by 2003).

The investigation did confirm that most of the scrap was originally imported used, and that work conditions were poor. However, the equipment being recycled had been repaired and maintained, typically for a decade (longer than the original OECD owner). It is a fact that used goods will, one day, eventually become e-waste. Does that support a ban on the trade in used goods to Africa? Or, as the World Bank reports, is the affordable used product essential to establish a critical mass of users so that investment in highways, phone towers, and internet cable can find necessary consumers?

Submission + - Comic strip shows that vision is always prey to execution (scarygoround.com)

Submitted by samjam
samjam writes: So many conflicts between technology and marketing are manifest in this short comic strip. Vision is destroyed by execution which is forced by finance, technology is destroyed by the need to sell to ignorant but wealthy customers. Does Zambian represent Apple or Google to you? Or a variety of other companies? Maybe it is a dogfood failure: perhaps Zambian developers are not permitted to use two-monitor setups? Have you ever had an executive make his first "executive decision" to release something that is totally broken?

Comment Re:But they support it already (Score 1) 178

by samjam (#49390465) Attached to: UK Forces Microsoft To Adopt Open Document Standards

What is this rubbish? Didn't we have these talks a long time ago already?

- Office 2007 and Office 2010 support ODF 1.1

- Office 2013 also supports ODF 1.2

Go open your Microsoft Office, and the option to save in OpenDocument is right there in the Save As dialog.

Whether anyone actually uses it, is the real question.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+o...

"Office 365" refers to subscription plans that include access to Office applications plus other productivity services that are enabled over the Internet (cloud services), such as Lync web conferencing and Exchange Online hosted email for business, and additional online storage with OneDrive and Skype world ...

It doesn't seem to be the same as Office 2007 or Office 2010 or Office 2013.

There was a bit of a clue in the name, but we don't read articles and we don't even read the summary these days

Comment MS will do a bad job like Outlook Web Access (Score 2) 178

by samjam (#49390091) Attached to: UK Forces Microsoft To Adopt Open Document Standards

I always wondered why Microsoft weren't terminally ashamed that they were the only company in the world that could

1. produce a very good web based email/calendar client
and
2. yet have it not work properly on any browser other than MSIE

surely that fact hurt them when bidding for contracts?

But I don't doubt that their ODF implementation will be equally poor.

Comment Re:Christian Theocracy (Score 1) 1168

Do you believe that business owner should have the legal ability to refuse service to a black/hispanic/asian person, or a woman?

If not, what is it about homosexuality (an immutable characteristic) that is different than race or gender?

If so, why are you an bigot?

The difference in racial bigotry & homosexual bigotry is the former is forbidden by a matter of law, something the later does not enjoy. Just as importantly, these laws are a knee jerk reaction to gay marriage proponents trying to force their beliefs on those who want no part of it. What did people think was going to happen when they sued a bunch of private businesses that refused to cater to gay weddings? And given the Hobby Lobby SCotUS win along similar grounds, I'd be willing to bet that these laws will stand judicial review for the same reasons.

Here's the thing, we do not have a right to not be discriminated against. We are all allowed to walk down the street & cross it if we encounter someone who outwardly portrays something we don't like, be it his/her race or the way he/she walks & dresses. When you walk into a store the salesman is allowed to treat you as courteously or as mean as he feels like, even if it's because you walked in with your same sex partner, to the point of refusing to sell something to you.

Businesses have the right to refuse service. Is it discrimination if the bank refuses to give a loan to someone who walks in wearing smelly rags pushing a shopping cart? Or what about clubs that only let "fit" men/women in? Can your John Candy & Chris Farley's sue for discrimination?

If I don't like you, then I should have the ability to no associate or do business with you, for any reason I see fit. The only exception to that is if I'm providing a service & my dislike for you is due to you belonging to a protected class(race, sex, religious beliefs, disabilities, or national origin). Notice what's missing? It's what I said at the beginning, sexual preference is not a protected class.

Comment Mechanical but not noisy (Score 1) 452

by Ed Avis (#49273511) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Good Keyboard?
Others have mentioned Topre keyboards; you might also like to look at Mattias quiet keyboards. But really if you are happy with the Logitech G15 then there is no need to change away from rubber domes - keyfeel is entirely a matter of personal preference.

Comment Look at Panasonic's tablet (Score 1) 450

by Ed Avis (#49231947) Attached to: Reactions to the New MacBook and Apple Watch
The real competition (in features, that is, not price) for an Apple tablet would be the Panasonic Toughpad 4k, a monster 20-inch tablet with 3840x2560 resolution (that is, 4:3 aspect ratio). It's a beautiful piece of kit but hugely expensive. Apple could put the same panel in a 20 inch "iPad Pro" or "MacPad" and if priced more keenly it could sell well among those doing graphics work who want something more portable than a desktop.

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