Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Microsoft Demos Three Platforms Running the Same Game 196

suraj.sun writes with this excerpt from Engadget: "Microsoft's Eric Rudder, speaking at TechEd Middle East, showed off a game developed in Visual Studio as a singular project (with 90% shared code) that plays on Windows with a keyboard, a Windows Phone 7 Series prototype device with accelerometer and touch controls, and the Xbox 360 with the Xbox gamepad. Interestingly, not only is the development cross-platform friendly, but the game itself (a simple Indiana Jones platformer was demoed) saves its place and lets you resume from that spot on whichever platform you happen to pick up."

Comment Re:Yet Again (Score 3, Informative) 807

Here is what climate scientist Edward Cook wrote regarding the accuracy of dendroclimatology:

Without trying to prejudice this work, but also because of what I
almost think I know to be the case, the results of this study will
show that we can probably say a fair bit about 100 year variability was like with any certainty (i.e. we know
with certainty that we know fuck-all).

From the climategate emails

Here is what Phil Jones said in his BBC interview regarding the Medieval Warm Period:

There is a debate over whether the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) was global or not. If it were to be conclusively shown that it was a global phenomenon, would you accept that this would undermine the premise that mean surface atmospheric temperatures during the latter part of the 20th Century were unprecedented?

There is much debate over whether the Medieval Warm Period was global in extent or not. The MWP is most clearly expressed in parts of North America, the North Atlantic and Europe and parts of Asia. For it to be global in extent the MWP would need to be seen clearly in more records from the tropical regions and the Southern Hemisphere. There are very few palaeoclimatic records for these latter two regions.

Of course, if the MWP was shown to be global in extent and as warm or warmer than today (based on an equivalent coverage over the NH and SH) then obviously the late-20th century warmth would not be unprecedented. On the other hand, if the MWP was global, but was less warm that today, then current warmth would be unprecedented.

We know from the instrumental temperature record that the two hemispheres do not always follow one another. We cannot, therefore, make the assumption that temperatures in the global average will be similar to those in the northern hemisphere.

So Phil Jones is unsure if the MWP was global in extent and Edward Cook thinks we have very little idea at all. Perhaps the certainty in wikipedia is overstated.

Comment Re:Is it only me (Score 5, Insightful) 114

The US cap and trade on sulphur dioxide emissions was passed in 1990.

Overall, the Program's cap and trade program has been successful in achieving its goals. Since the 1990s, SO2 emissions have dropped 40%, and according to the Pacific Research Institute, acid rain levels have dropped 65% since 1976.[15][16] However, this was significantly less successful than conventional regulation in the European Union, which saw a decrease of over 70% in SO2 emissions during the same time period.[17]

S02 emissions were also falling from a peak in the late 1970s toward the 1990s, in other words the US S02 trading scheme was on an already declining path and was less successful than more direct European approaches.

S02 emissions trading was also local and not between countries which is another area where the proposed Green House Gas emissions trading schemes fall down. A corrupt county can just 'create' permits and then sell them. This has already happened with European and other schemes.

A tax would be a much more honest, much more transparent scheme than an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). ETS type solutions are attractive largely because politicians don't have to say they are a new tax, they can be easily gamed by giving out free permits and Enron style firms (including Enron itself before it went bankrupt) see a potential bonanza.

Image

Political Affiliation Can Be Differentiated By Appearance 262

quaith writes "It's not the way they dress, but the appearance of their face. A study published in PLoS One by Nicholas O. Rule and Nalini Ambady of Tufts University used closely cropped greyscale photos of people's faces, standardized for size. Undergrads were asked to categorize each person as either a Democrat or Republican. In the first study, students were able to differentiate Republican from Democrat senate candidates. In the second, students were able to differentiate the political affiliation of other college students. Accuracy in both studies was about 60% — not perfect, but way better than chance."
Earth

Researchers Pooh-Pooh Algae-Based Biofuel 238

Julie188 writes "Researchers from the University of Virginia have found that current algae biofuel production methods consume more energy, have higher greenhouse gas emissions and use more water than other biofuel sources, such as switchgrass, canola and corn. The researchers suggest these problems can be overcome by situating algae production ponds behind wastewater treatment facilities to capture phosphorous and nitrogen — essential algae nutrients that otherwise need to come from petroleum."
Image

Own Your Own Fighter Jet 222

gimmebeer writes "The Russian Sukhoi SU-27 has a top speed of Mach 1.8 (more than 1,300 mph) and has a thrust to weight ratio greater than 1 to 1. That means it can accelerate while climbing straight up. It was designed to fight against the best the US had to offer, and now it can be yours for the price of a mediocre used business jet."
Image

Living In Tokyo's Capsule Hotels 269

afabbro writes "Capsule Hotel Shinjuku 510 once offered a night’s refuge to salarymen who had missed the last train home. Now with Japan enduring its worst recession since World War II, it is becoming an affordable option for people with nowhere else to go. The Hotel 510’s capsules are only 6 1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide. Guests must keep possessions, like shirts and shaving cream, in lockers outside of the capsules. Atsushi Nakanishi, jobless since Christmas says, 'It’s just a place to crawl into and sleep. You get used to it.'”

Comment Re:I love the iPhone (Score 2, Informative) 114

The iphone is a fine device. But your statement wildly overstates impact and improvements of the iphone over other phones.

In 1997 a reasonable phone looked like the 1997 Nokia 3110. By 2007 Nokia had the N95

In the 10 years till 2007 mobile phones, before the iphone had the following improvements:

  • The 1999 and further Blackberries that changed mobile devices massively, possibly more than the iphone by giving people good mobile communications. Barack Obama was not addicted to updating facebook on his iphone, it was Blackberry.
  • mp3 players
  • net browsers, albeit not as good as the iphone's
  • gigabyte flash storage
  • mulit-megapixel cameras.

But yeah, other than that, there hadn't been that much improvement....

Comment Re:Why are people getting so worked up (Score 5, Insightful) 1011

Kilimanjaro has been retreating since the 1800s.

C02 in the atmosphere has only been shooting up since the 1950s. Pre-industrial C02 levels were about 2.8 parts per 10 000. As opposed to 4 or so now.

If these things pre-date C02's big increase this indicates a large role for natural climate variations.

This is what many skeptic say.

Comment Re:Global warming is a scam. (Score 1) 316

Below is an exact answer to part of the question of 3 reputable climate scientists who disagree with the consensus. The original was moderated to -1. If you are moderating and moderate views that you disagree with down even when they explicitly answer the question posed you are a lousy moderator.

So here again. 4 reputable climate scientists who disagree with what is above:

Richard Lindzen
Pat Michaels
Roy Spencer
Roger Pielke Snr

Look at the list of those who disagree on wikipedia and check the Senate Minority list for hundreds more.

Comment Re:Global warming is a scam. (Score -1) 316

here are 4 reputable scientists who disagree with the consensus:

Richard Lindzen
Pat Michaels
Roy Spencer
Roger Pielke Snr

There is a whole page of them on that most hidden of sites, wikipedia. The page of scientists who oppose the consensus is worth looking at for getting some names. Then go and see what they say, wikipedia falls over on this because there is an edit war that is dominated by alarmists, so it can be difficult to see what they actually say themselves.

There is also a list of 650 or so scientists who disagree with global warming alarmism, the Senate Minority list has them.

They may be wrong, but there are way more than 3 scientists who are prepared to go on the record and speak out against global warming alarmism.

Comment Re:meh Not a troll, a valid point of view (Score 1) 410

True, part of it probably is the way I read. However it seems to be the way quite a few people are.

That's true about some jokes working better in print. Douglas Adam's books have great jokes about ideas and words that work better in print than in other media.

But, in general, the devices available live appeal more. The big point is that the parent post was unfairly marked as a troll when the guy was probably was expressing his point of view and a point of view that is probably held by quite a few people here.

Slashdot Top Deals

"What man has done, man can aspire to do." -- Jerry Pournelle, about space flight

Working...