Submission + - Scientists Question Global Temperature
Information Retrieval writes: Global temperature, a widely cited measure of global warming, is being challenged by Bjarne Andresen, a professor at The Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen in collaboration with professors Christopher Essex from University of Western Ontario and Ross McKitrick from University of Guelph, Canada. According to http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/07031 5101129.htm, the professors challenge the metric as
thermodynamically as well as mathematically an impossibility
I've also noticed that the wikipedia has no free standing, detailed definition or justification of the global temperature metric. Given that this is such a hot topic, I wondered if Slashdotters could elaborate on the physical basis for relating this particular metric to global warming.
Submission + - Buses win over developers for Google
Reverse Gear writes: "The New York Times has an interesting article about how different kinds of fringe is starting to mean more in the fight for the best brains in Silicon Valley. The article mainly focuses on Google's high tech shuttle bus system which is quite extensive covering a huge portion of the San Fransisco Bay area and allows the employees to be much more efficient. 1/4 of the employees are now using this system. A Google software engineer quoted in the article:
"They could either charge for the food or cut it altogether, (...) If they cut the shuttle, it would be a disaster.""
"They could either charge for the food or cut it altogether, (...) If they cut the shuttle, it would be a disaster.""
GoDaddy Bobbles DST Changeover? 201
Several readers alerted us to this piece in PC World reporting on concerns that GoDaddy might not be ready for the DST changeover. Some readers, and others, claimed that GoDaddy's servers are not reachable now and are not serving email or web sites; but others see no evidence of this. The article recounts the rather flip response one GoDaddy customer got from their tech support: "As Daylight Savings [sic] does not apply to our servers, since we are on Arizona Time and our time zone does not change, our servers wouldn't update." When IDG News Service contacted GoDaddy they got an altogether more sensible reply.
Submission + - Technical glitch thwarts Skynet launch
linumax writes: "Remember a recent story on Skynet's launch and all the jokes about what could go wrong and when it will become self aware? As reported by BBC "Saturday's attempt at a lift-off from Kourou in French Guiana was thwarted by a technical glitch in ground equipment at the European spaceport. There will be another attempt on Sunday to launch Britain's Skynet 5 satellite.""
Submission + - Bush administration again stifles scientists.
niloroth writes: The Independent Online Reports on a leaked memorandum from the US Department of the Interior instructing members of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to refrain from mentioning climate change, sea ice, or polar bears in their trips to countries the arctic region. Following other such attempts by this administration to control either scientists connected with the government, or the results of those scientists, is there any hope for the next few years? Or is this just how it will be in the future no matter who is in power? Is the mix of science and government funding just too volatile?
