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Submission + - Solar and Wind power are the most expensive.

Submitted by turkeydance
turkeydance writes: A new study from the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, argues that using solar and wind energy may be the most expensive alternatives to carbon-based electricity generation, even though they require no expenditures for fuel.....Specifically, this means nuclear power offers a savings of more than $400,000 worth of carbon emissions per megawatt of capacity. Solar saves only $69,000 and wind saves $107,000.
http://www.brookings.edu/~/med...

Submission + - Popular Android apps full 'o bugs - researchers blame recycling of code (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by Brett W
Brett W writes: The security researchers that first published the 'Heartbleed' vulnerabilities in OpenSSL have spent the last few months auditing the Top 50 downloaded Android apps for vulnerabilities and have found issues with at least half of them. Many send user data to ad networks without consent, potentially without the publisher or even the app developer being aware of it. Quite a few also send private data across the network in plain text. The full study is due out later this week.

Comment Technical Merit really overrated (Score 5, Insightful) 739

by Crashmarik (#47545463) Attached to: Linus Torvalds: "GCC 4.9.0 Seems To Be Terminally Broken"

Of the winners in computing, those that won because of technical merit are swarmed by those that won for other reasons.

I mean just look at some of the match ups
DOS vs Everything else available ?
Windows vs Everything else
Microsoft office vs Everything else
X86 vs Everything else
ISA bus vs NuBus vs MCA
DirectX vs OpenGL

Technical merit only seems to matter when it completely crushes every other factor as in transistor vs tube, IC vs transistor, CMOS vs TTL.

Submission + - Bird flocks resemble liquid helium (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: A flock of starlings flies as one, a spectacular display in which each bird flits about as if in a well-choreographed dance. Everyone seems to know exactly when and where to turn. Now, for the first time, researchers have measured how that knowledge moves through the flock—a behavior that mirrors certain quantum phenomena of liquid helium. Some of the more interesting findings: Tracking data showed that the message for a flock to turn started from a handful of birds and swept through the flock at a constant speed between 20 and 40 meters per second. That means that for a group of 400 birds, it takes just a little more than a half-second for the whole flock to turn.

Submission + - The five greatest space hacks of all time

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: Space missions are amazingly well-prepared affairs, every action and procedure is followed, right down to the most minute detail. But sometimes mishaps and emergencies occur. Some can be dealt with by sophisticated sensors and equipment. Some can be dealt with on Earth from Mission Control. But sometimes the only option is for an astronaut to get their hands dirty, using whatever comes to hand and a bit of DIY know-how. It’s amazing what has been grabbed, bent and improvised to save red faces – or, indeed, the lives of astronauts.

Comment 5 billion per launch already looking optimistic (Score 3, Insightful) 132

by Crashmarik (#47533765) Attached to: SLS Project Coming Up $400 Million Short

http://www.thespacereview.com/...

Doesn't the old saying go "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" ?

What is it when it is fool me endlessly ? NASA does not bring down the cost of space access period. The shuttle didn't none of their boosters ever have. If we get really lucky we get commercial enterprises able to do end runs around them to actually make a little progress.

Really we should have NASA do what it is good at, robotic exploration and high risk high payoff research. Let commercial companies do what they are good at mass production and perfecting technologies.

Comment Re:Godwin and wrong at the same time (Score 0) 109

by Crashmarik (#47524609) Attached to: Dutch Court Says Government Can Receive Bulk Data from NSA

virtually any other country? Read on...

/EMOTE FACEPALM

Somewhere on the internet there is another nit for you to pick maybe next time a little basic English will help

https://www.google.com/search?...

virtually
vrCH(w)l/
adverb
adverb: virtually

        1. nearly; almost.
        "virtually all those arrested were accused"
        synonyms: effectively, in effect, all but, more or less, practically, almost, nearly, close to, verging on, just about, as good as, essentially, to all intents and purposes, roughly, approximately; More
        informal pretty much, pretty well;
        literary well-nigh, nigh on
        "the building is virtually empty"
        2. by means of virtual reality techniques.

The reason I used the word virtually was precisely because I didn't want to have a pointless argument about which country during WWII did the least to collaborate, or was the least sympathetic to the Nazis.

Comment Re:Godwin and wrong at the same time (Score 1, Insightful) 109

by Crashmarik (#47522479) Attached to: Dutch Court Says Government Can Receive Bulk Data from NSA

If you mean sacrificing your life to defend people

Shortly after it was established, the military regime began to persecute the Jews of the Netherlands. In 1940, there were no deportations and only small measures were taken against the Jews. In February 1941, the Nazis deported a small group of Dutch Jews to Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. The Dutch reacted with the February strike, a nationwide protest against the deportations, unique in the history of Nazi-occupied Europe. Although the strike did not accomplish much—its leaders were executed—it was an initial setback for Seyss-Inquart as he had planned to both deport the Jews and to win the Dutch over to the Nazi cause.

Another factor was the disbelief of both the Dutch public as a whole and the Dutch Jews themselves. Most could not believe that the Jews would be subjected to genocide and sent to death camps.[citation needed] This meant the Jews needed to hide in others' homes, but that was difficult especially in urban areas.[citation needed] It was also punishable by death. Despite the risks, many Dutch people helped Jews. One-third of the people who hid Jews did not survive the war.[citation needed]

BTW that was from your link, you might want to read up on it.

Comment Re:Occams Scalpel (Score 1) 962

by Crashmarik (#47522243) Attached to: The Daily Harassment of Women In the Game Industry

Typically ?
How would anyone determine that ?

At this point we are into the realm of making crap up, I will stand by the fact that googling for news about violent incidents perpetrated on game developers by gamers yielded exactly 0 results. So when someone says "They are in fear for their lives" from gamers they might as well be claiming they live in fear of Sharknadoes.

Comment Re:Occams Scalpel (Score 1) 962

by Crashmarik (#47520253) Attached to: The Daily Harassment of Women In the Game Industry

You seem to be missing the point. The claim in TFA is that a sufficient number of real assholes exist to make women's lives miserable, and that most men don't take it seriously or do anything to help. That is entirely consistent.

That's because it's a non point. There are enough real assholes to make everyone's life miserable.I am still not clear if she is complaining about office behavior or gamer/forumite behavior but either way there's big reality checks she isn't cashing.

If she is talking about office behavior what she is describing is completely mind bogglingly unbelievable. You could be the Axeman( oh lets be PC Axeperson) letting go an entire office/branch/corporate subentity and not get the kind of blowback she is talking about.

If you are talking about gamers/game forums, lol welcome to internet gaming. I can't count how many times I have had people tell me they would rip off my head and shit down my neck.

So when you say men don't take it seriously, you might want to add that men don't take it seriously when it's directed at them as well.

Speaking of Reality checks, I decided to do one, https://www.google.com/search?...

You know how many news results actually had gamers assaulting or attacking developers ?
NONE !!!!!
NONE !!!
NONE !!!

If this woman is actually concerned about her safety it's likely she would be thousands times more effective, campaigning to improve driver education and road safety in her community.

Comment Let me save the editors the trouble then (Score 1) 60

by Crashmarik (#47519429) Attached to: Raspberry Pi Gameboy

https://www.google.com/search?...

All the Raspberry Pi in a gameboy box stories you could ever want.

You have to wonder what the progression of these will be

Raspberry Pi does Coleco Football
http://www.evl.uic.edu/aej/526...

Raspberry PI does Merlin
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi...

Probably not this
http://retrothing.typepad.com/...

Seeing as people are still selling and making new ones and I am sure the people doing so actually guard their rights.

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