Comment Re:Btrfs definition (Score 2) 115
I hope the /. wannabes that'll spring up when beta goes into production will enforce the explicit declaration of all acronyms in the summary...
Overuse of Bioengineered Corn Gives Rise To Resistant Pests 259
An anonymous reader writes "Though warned by scientists that overuse of a variety of corn engineered to be toxic to corn rootworms would eventually breed rootworms with resistance to its engineered toxicity, the agricultural industry went ahead and overused the corn anyway with little EPA intervention. The corn was planted in 1996. The first reports of rootworm resistance were officially documented in 2011, though agricultural scientists weren't allowed by seed companies to study the engineered corn until 2010. Now, a recent study has clearly shown how the rootworms have successfully adapted to the engineered corn. The corn's continued over-use is predicted, given current trends, and as resistance eventually spreads to the whole rootworm population, farmers will be forced to start using pesticides once more, thus negating the economic benefits of the engineered corn. 'Rootworm resistance was expected from the outset, but the Bt seed industry, seeking to maximize short-term profits, ignored outside scientists.'"
Comment Re:Precisely how... (Score 1) 147
Besides, ACPI is complete overkill for booting.
Agree. I've written bootloader code and kernel drivers. All the bootloader really has to do is get the kernel in memory somehow and jump to it. Why can't you boot directly into the kernel you ask ? One reason is size; on many (embedded) systems, there are only a few Kb available for an executable on boot. The other is that the bootloader doesn't not change easily (it needs reflashing or is in some kind of ROM), allowing you to easily change the kernel.
Comment Re:Real geeks know statistics (Score 1) 334
It all depends how this immortality thing is implemented. If it's just 'stop aging', yeah, you'll die at the first serious accident. But if it's 'mind backup' with re-uploading into custom bodies, there need not be any limit. Go ski Everest. If you die, you spawn right back.
Comment Re:Huh? (Score 1) 334
Tell that to religious people and their 10 kids. Actually if you become immortal, what of paradise and hell ? Do they just shut down ?
Comment Death is necessary for evolution to take place (Score 1) 334
Without death, there's no evolution possible as one generation can no longer replace the previous one. Immortality would be death of the specie (*), just the same as when cells become immortal we call it cancer and the organism dies. If it happened at once society would collapse as children would no longer inherit (and be able to afford a house), you'd no longuer be able to replace your boss at work, and indeed never get a job because nobody would move up the corporate ladder... A pretty good novel about that: The Postmortal by Drew Magary.
(*) A justification is that an immortal 'specie' stays static. If another similar specie keeps evolving, it'll eventually outcompete it and beat it to death.
Want longer life spans ? Very simple: start breeding later in life and let evolution sort it out.
(*) A justification is that an immortal 'specie' stays static. If another similar specie keeps evolving, it'll eventually outcompete it and beat it to death.
Want longer life spans ? Very simple: start breeding later in life and let evolution sort it out.
Comment Re:So, how does it smell? (Score 1) 126
I was about to ask the same question. I shat for a year in a 'burner'. It took some practise and self control to get used to piss and shit separately. But also that shit-burner (a resistor in our case), stank to all hell. Normally the smoke would go outside in a chimney... Until it froze. Imagine having the smell of cooking shit all over the building. I had to rappel down the building in -65C temperatures to fix the chimney ! Complete story here.
Transformer-Style Scooter Lets You Ride Your Briefcase To Work 102
cartechboy writes "If you're going to sell a brief case for $6,000, there better be a pony inside — or at least an electric scooter. Who wouldn't want to transform their boring old briefcase into an electric scooter and zip off to (or away from) work? The Commute-Case, as it's known, is essentially a briefcase you can ride to work. While in briefcase mode, if you extend sections of the front and back, wheels, handlebars and a step for your feet pop out. In 3 to 5 seconds, your briefcase is now an electric scooter that can go up to 25 miles on a single charge and weighs 27 pounds. Don't count on actually carrying stuff to work with this briefcase (there's a scooter inside)."
Comment Re:Religious ignorance. (Score 1) 529
Communism was a religion alright. It has its messiah (Marx), its holly book, its apostles (Lenin, etc), its saints (Stakhanov, etc), its groupthink, its fierce opposition to competing religions, its clergy (politburo, etc) and you can find a lot of other common things. As for Lenin having no idea what kind of evil would spring up, neither did Jesus or Mohamed I'm pretty sure.
Comment Re:People need to realize... (Score 1) 747
Similar to that, there was a case where a lawyer convinced a doctor to claim that something (1) was causing something (2), and cash in by suing the manufacturers. I'm pretty sure that it was (1) aluminum and (2) Alzheimer, but I can't find it now. They were both disbarred and jailed for fraud. Anyone recalls the story.
Comment Re:I'm sorry to say... (Score 4, Funny) 129
I'm not smart enough for some of the XKCD strips...
Hell, I'm not smart enough for Garfield.
And I'm clearly not smart enough for the Family Circus... I never even got one.
CIA Accused: Sen. Feinstein Sees Torture Probe Meddling 187
A reader writes with this news from the Washington Post: "In an extraordinary public accusation, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee declared on Tuesday that the CIA interfered with and then tried to intimidate a congressional investigation into the agency's possible use of torture in terror probes during the Bush administration. The CIA clandestinely removed documents and searched a computer network set up for lawmakers, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a long and biting speech on the Senate floor. In an escalating dispute with an agency she has long supported, she said the CIA may well have violated criminal laws and the U.S. Constitution."
NASA Offers Bounty For Improved Asteroid Detection Algorithms 38
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Dara Kerr reports at CNET that NASA is launching an 'Asteroid Data Hunter' contest to inspire the creation of algorithms that identify asteroids in images captured by ground-based telescopes. ... The winning solution must increase the detection sensitivity, minimize the number of false positives, ignore imperfections in the data, and run effectively on all computer systems. 'Current asteroid detection initiatives are only tracking one percent of the estimated objects that orbit the Sun,' says Chris Lewicki. 'We are excited to partner with NASA in this contest to help increase the quantity and knowledge about asteroids that are potential threats, human destinations, or resource rich.' NASA's goal is to discover those unknown asteroids and then track and characterize them. For the contest, citizen scientists will be allowed to study images taken from ground-based telescopes to see if they can develop improved algorithms for identifying asteroids. If dangerous asteroids are found, NASA could determine if they'd be viable for a re-direction into a lunar orbit. 'For the past three years, NASA has been learning and advancing the ability to leverage distributed algorithm and coding skills through the NASA Tournament Lab to solve tough problems,' said Jason Crusan, NASA Tournament Lab director. 'We are now applying our experience with algorithm contests to helping protect the planet from asteroid threats through image analysis.'"
Study: Elephants Have Learned To Tell Certain Languages Apart 62
sciencehabit writes "Whether we realize it, African elephants are listening to us. The pachyderms can tell certain human languages apart and even determine our gender, relative age, and whether we're a threat, according to a new study. The work illustrates how elephants can sometimes protect themselves from human actions. The work may be helpful in preventing 'human-elephant conflicts where the species co-exist,' says Joshua Plotnik, a behavioral ecologist at Mahidol University, Kanchanaburi, in Thailand. For instance, elephants might be deterred from entering farmland or encouraged to stick to the corridors designed for their use. 'The trouble is elephants are too smart to be fooled by us for long.'"
Comment Re:What could possibly go wrong (Score 1) 216
Yeah, when I learned of the wholesale destruction of _all_ the Mayan codices by a catholic bishop, I wanted to raze the Vatican to the ground. They not only conquered the land and committed genocide but they also wipe out all traces of literacy. I really wonder what _more_ you could do to a people.
