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Comment Very Afraid of the Teleporter (Score 5, Interesting) 633

by jayspec462 (#34678128) Attached to: Trek Tech That Most Needs To Be Invented Before I Die:

I voted for the replicator. End scarcity. That'd be pretty wonderful.

The idea of a teleporter actually frightens me, though. I can't shake the idea that you're actually destroyed in the teleporter, and when you're recreated at the other end, there's an entirely different "you" created, with all the memories of the final copy. However, the "you" that got into the teleporter ceases to exist. And this terrible death happens to you over and over, with the "new you" and the outside world utterly oblivious.

It kind of recasts Star Trek into a horrible, inadvertant tragedy. Yes, yes, I know. "It's just a show, I should really just relax."
Image

Man Builds His Own Subway Screenshot-sm 174

Posted by samzenpus from the everyone-needs-a-hobby dept.
jerryjamesstone writes "Everybody is into rail these days; it is the greenest way to get around next to a bike. Leonid Mulyanchik has been into it for years since before the Berlin Wall fell, since before the first Macintosh, building his own private underground Metro railway system. English-Russia says that he has been doing it with his pension, that it is all legal and approved and that he is still at it. Gizmodo calls it 'Partly the traditional, inspiring, one man against all odds type of persistence, but more the obsessive, borderline insane persistence.'" Update: 06/02 07:33 GMT by T : And if you're the type to visit Burning Man, you can actually ride a home-made monorail this summer, too.
Space

90% of the Universe Found Hiding In Plain View 279

Posted by timothy from the that-tricky-universe dept.
The Bad Astronomer writes "As much as 90% of previously hidden galaxies in the distant Universe have been found by astronomers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile. Previous surveys had looked for distant (10 billion light years away) galaxies by searching in a wavelength of ultraviolet light emitted by hydrogen atoms — distant young galaxies should be blasting out this light, but very few were detected. The problem is that the ultraviolet light never gets out of the galaxies, so we never see them. In this new study, astronomers searched a different wavelength emitted by hydrogen, and voila, ten times as many galaxies could be seen, meaning 90% of them had been missed before."

Comment Re:If you are worried about it... (Score 1) 791

by jayspec462 (#31316436) Attached to: Killer Apartment Vs. Persistent Microwave Exposure?

The RF geeks replying that it probably won't do any harm are absolutely correct. It will almost certainly be entirely harmless.

However, the people saying that it will adversely affect your resale value are also correct, and in this case their opinion is the far more important one. Anyone purchasing a Manhattan penthouse will certainly do sufficient due diligence to look out the window before purchasing. The future purchaser won't think, "Hey, there's a cell tower right by me, maybe I should ask Slashdot." They'll think, "OMG, my testicles will fry! Abort transaction!"
Censorship

UK Government Seeks New Web Censorship Powers 187

Posted by CmdrTaco from the well-that's-not-good dept.
oldandcold writes "Given the recent coverage and controversy over Australia's forthcoming web censorship system, it is somewhat surprising (and worrying) that Clause 11 of the UK's proposed Digital Economy Bill seems to have gone by largely unnoticed. It amends the Communications Act 2003 to insert a new section 124H that could give the Secretary of State powers to order ISPs to block pretty much any website for pretty much any reason. Such orders would not require the scrutiny of parliament, or anyone else for that matter, because the Secretary of State would not be required to publish them."
Censorship

Sharp Rise In Jailing of Online Journalists; Iran May Just Kill Them 233

Posted by timothy from the your-ethics-may-vary dept.
bckspc writes "The Committee to Protect Journalists has published their annual census of journalists in prison. Of the 136 reporters in prison around the world on December 1, 'At least 68 bloggers, Web-based reporters, and online editors are imprisoned, constituting half of all journalists now in jail.' Print was next with 51 cases. Also, 'Freelancers now make up nearly 45 percent of all journalists jailed worldwide, a dramatic recent increase that reflects the evolution of the global news business.' China, Iran, Cuba, Eritrea, and Burma were the top 5 jailers of journalists." rmdstudio writes, too, with word that after the last few days' protest there, largely organized online, the government of Iran is considering the death penalty for bloggers and webmasters whose reports offend it.

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I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

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