Comment Units, much? (Score 3, Insightful) 201
I love the jumble of Imperial and SI units in the summary. Great work!
Submission + - Masao Yoshida, director of Daichii Fukushima nuclear plant, has died. (washingtonpost.com) 1
Doofus writes: Masao Yoshida, director of the Daichii Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, has passed away. Colleagues and politicos in Japan praised his disobedience during the post-tsunami meltdown and credited him with preventing much more widespread and intense damage.
On March 12, a day after the tsunami, Mr. Yoshida ignored an order from Tepco headquarters to stop pumping seawater into a reactor to try and cool it because of concerns that ocean water would corrode the equipment.
Tepco initially said it would penalize Mr. Yoshida even though Sakae Muto, then a vice president at the utility, said it was a technically appropriate decision. Mr. Yoshida received no more than a verbal reprimand after then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan defended the plant chief, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.
“I bow in respect for his leadership and decision-making,” Kan said Tuesday in a message posted on his Twitter account.
Comment Creep, Shmeep (Score 1) 365
inevitable mission creep, ending with the proof of self being required at polling places, to rent a house, buy a gun, open a bank account, acquire credit, board a plane or even attend a sporting event or log on the internet.
Except for some sporting events and accessing the internet, the other events all require ID, some require photo ID and others do not. Please, stop the hysterics. The issue is not whether you need to show an ID to vote, or to rent a house (credit report, anyone?), or buy a gun (background check, hello?), or board a plane (where have you been for the last 12 years?).
The bigger issue is does the DHS - or a client of their data - have authority to prevent you from carrying out these activities based on the data - identity and other - stored its databases. That would be a sensible concern.
Stop whining about policies of private institutions and state and local governments that are sensible and non-invasive. The arm-waving and yelling is immature, and cheapens other more valid concerns about the use of personally identifying (and classifying) data.
Comment Take 10 minute walk breaks (Score 1) 372
Get up from your desk a few times during the day, perhaps once in the morning, once at - or just after - lunchtime, once in the afternoon, and walk briskly for 10 minutes - OUTSIDE.
Walking lowers blood pressure, reduces stress levels, give you a chance to breathe non-recycled, fresh, or at least fresher, air (depending on where you work), and burns calories.
Diet is important. But even if your dietary choices are poor, a simple brisk walk of short duration a few times a day will measurably lengthen your life.
Submission + - Sinofsky Leaves Microsoft With Immediate Effect (microsoft.com)
toomanyairmiles writes: The BBC reports that Microsoft's head of Windows division Steven Sinofsky has left the company with immediate effect. He will be replaced by Julie Larson-Green "Microsoft Corp. today announced that Windows and Windows Live President Steven Sinofsky will be leaving the company and that Julie Larson-Green will be promoted to lead all Windows software and hardware engineering. Tami Reller retains her roles as chief financial officer and chief marketing officer and will assume responsibility for the business of Windows. Both executives will report directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. "
Submission + - CloudFlare masters global pxe-driven content delievery (arstechnica.com)
Doofus writes: Quoting from the Ars article:
On August 22, CloudFlare, a content delivery network, turned on a brand new data center in Seoul, Korea—the last of ten new facilities started across four continents in a span of thirty days. The Seoul data center brought CloudFlare's number of data centers up to 23, nearly doubling the company's global reach—a significant feat in itself for a company of just 32 employees.
But there was something else relatively significant about the Seoul data center and the other 9 facilities set up this summer: despite the fact that the company owned every router and every server in their racks, and each had been configured with great care to handle the demands of CloudFlare's CDN and security services, no one from CloudFlare had ever set foot in them. All that came from CloudFlare directly was a six-page manual instructing facility managers and local suppliers on how to rack and plug in the boxes shipped to them.
Comment No water, no air, no bonds broken? (Score 5, Insightful) 315
So in amber, or some other similar impermeable substance, the chemical reactions requiring water or air might well be prevented or dramatically slowed, thus the degradation of DNA might be substantially slower than the 521 years described in the summary.
Not necessarily the end of the Jurassic Park idea.
Not necessarily the end of the Jurassic Park idea.
Comment Re:easy answer. (Score 1) 394
This assumes that the interpretation of binary in the far future is the same as what you intend here, which is ASCII.
And while ASCII is portable, is it guaranteed to be a known, useful encoding a hundred years from now? A thousand years?
And while ASCII is portable, is it guaranteed to be a known, useful encoding a hundred years from now? A thousand years?
Submission + - Journey to the Mantle of the Earth? (newscientist.com) 1
Doofus writes: New Scientist has an interesting story about a Japanese effort to reach the Earth's mantle. While some mantle material has been recovered from volcanoes, no pure mantle material has been obtained. (We have moon rocks, but nothing from a few km beneath our feet!) Accompanying the article is a gallery of previous attempts at drilling farther and farther into the Earth's crust.
Comment Re:This article from 1996 never gets old (Score 1) 188
great reference
thank you for sharing this
thank you for sharing this
Comment We used ViaCord (Score 3, Informative) 321
We used ViaCord for our first, and will be using them for our second. Similar to other services, you pay a collection fee (blood approx $1500, blood+tissue approx $2700) and then a small annual fee for storage.
It remains unclear to me that cord-tissue preservation will be worth the gamble; the option wasn't available several years ago for our first, but is now. We are debating about whether the extra cost is worthwhile, considering no studies have demonstrated effective therapies using cryo-preserved cord tissue.
Your mileage may vary.
Enjoy the adventure with the new one.
It remains unclear to me that cord-tissue preservation will be worth the gamble; the option wasn't available several years ago for our first, but is now. We are debating about whether the extra cost is worthwhile, considering no studies have demonstrated effective therapies using cryo-preserved cord tissue.
Your mileage may vary.
Enjoy the adventure with the new one.
Comment Re:What am I missing? (Score 1) 279
It's filled with random bits.
All the way down.
Submission + - Tablet computer designed 15 years before iPad; prior art, anyone? (washingtonpost.com)
Doofus writes: The Washington Post has a profile of Roger Fidler, who "invented" the tablet computer in the 1990s, while working as a visionary for newspaper firm Knight-Ridder. He is now embroiled in the Apple/Samsung legal war, as an expert witness. Fidler admits that other prior art influenced him, such as the tablets being used as computing devices in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Prior prior art.
Submission + - Tablet computer designed 15 years before iPad; prior art, anyone? (washingtonpost.com)
Doofus writes: Roger Fidler, who worked for Knight-Ridder, had a "skunk-works" lab next door to Apple in the 1990s.
Fidler invented the "tablet" computer in 1994, long before Apple patented the design (2004). Of course, he admits (in the article) that the tablets in 2001: A Space Odyssey may have influenced him. Prior prior art.
Fidler invented the "tablet" computer in 1994, long before Apple patented the design (2004). Of course, he admits (in the article) that the tablets in 2001: A Space Odyssey may have influenced him. Prior prior art.
Submission + - The Windows 8 Power Struggle: Metro vs Desktop (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: "Metro, Microsoft's new UI, is bold, a dramatic departure from anything the company has previously done in the desktop/laptop space, and absolutely great. It's tangible proof that Redmond really can design and build its own unique products and experiences. However, the transition to Metro's Start menu, for some desktop users, is jarring and worse yet, Desktop mode and Metro don't mesh well at all. The best strategy Microsoft could take, would be to introduce users to Metro via its included apps and through tablets, while prominently offering the option to maintain the Desktop environment. Power users who choose to use the classic UI for desktops and laptops can still be exposed to Metro via tablets and applications without being forced to wade through it on their way to do something important."
