Did you RTFA? It also says that the researcher used a 0.22 micron filter to catch the particles out of the melted sea ice, and a 333 micron filter to catch particles out of the water from the garbage patch. Do you know how many orders of magnitude smaller that filter is? And how many orders of magnitude more crap that filter will catch?? Or was it more convenient for you to not mention that fact?
 
Again, this is common sense passed off as sensationalist bullshit trying to cause some alarm as if it's something we didn't already know. If you dump shit in the ocean, it pollutes the whole fucking thing. Some of that shit travels up to the Arctic where it's cold as fuck and freezes in the ice in the winter. Then, in the summer when it gets warmer, some of that shit thaws and is released back into the ocean. Gee, glad they told us that

I read the article and am just saying that while it might be a mildly interesting read, it really isn't anything as jaw-dropping or earth-shattering or outrageous as the headlines would lead us to believe, like most every article posted on here these days. And as for the "Thinly veiled reference to global warming", yes, I stand by what I said. Arctic sea ice freezes and thaws in a cycle every year. Whatever froze into that ice was already in the water recently, and therefore this is not some impending doom waiting to be released on the oceans when the warm period comes and that sea ice thaws. If we found a way to somehow pollute the land-based ice caps and they were actually thawing and releasing the pollutants, then this would be a story.

As it stands, still sensationalist garbage that didn't deserve a place on the front page of slashdot.

I like tinny humans. Helps to solder them together better.

Wait...as it melts?? It melts every year, then freezes again. It's not like some barrage of plastic that's been sequestered in ice for billions of years is suddenly going to be dumped into the ocean because of the Arctic sea ice "melting", a thinly veiled reference to global warming as if the melting isn't happening every summer. And if it was created in 2012, then gets released, then a little bit freezes in the ice next year...it doesn't sound like this is even a story!

As an aside, what happened to Slashdot? What happened to our ability to critically think in general? Crap like this should never see the light of day on the main page, it's almost as if we're just expected to consume whatever the headline is alluding to, truth be damned, and subsequently have the proper level of outrage as is determined by the +5 comments. What happened to active discourse, agreeing to disagree, and civility even amongst people with different ideologies? Every day, I read more and more comments along the lines of "If you disagree with me, you should be executed." It makes me really, really sad and angry at the same time that we've been effectively reduced to the mental capacity of neanderthals when it comes to our science/religion of choice (and really, what's the difference anymore?)

Nice appeal to emotion, but fuck off. A few posts down, someone replied that it sets a bad precedent, but that the first time an idiot cop interprets Fido's "woof" as consent to a seach it will be litigated.

The problem, is that it will be litigated and upheld, as cops can do no wrong in the eyes of a judge. All because assholes like you trade our rights away every day in the name of "poor beaten woman", "gang material", "guns", and other dangerous undesirables we should trade our rights away for. Which all sound very reasonable, until you realize where it goes. A totalitarian police state run by people like you who are afraid of shadows

So you know what, fuck off, and fuck the poor beaten woman. She shouldn't have been shacking up with gangbanging trash in the first place if she didn't want gangster shit going on in her house. I'm not giving up my rights because some people can't make even the most basic life decisions in a decent manner. It really isn't my problem, I don't associate with gangbangers so I could really care less if they all murder each other in the gang-ridden cesspits of our victim disarmament zones, and I'll keep my 4th Amendment, thank you very much!/p?

It's not like everyone hasn't been saying this for 3 years now. If you'd been paying attention, you would already know this was the case. But I remember when people were saying this in 2011, 2012, even into 2013, they were nay-sayed and called coal shills and alarmists. Now what?

And this is why you should support every Tea Party candidate that you can. Now, wait, hear me out. You may not agree with their politics, but you have to admit they're really stirring people up, both on the left and the right. Now, I know, what you're going to say: "They'll ruin our entire system, set the rights of $GROUP back 100 years, make the middle class poor, make the rich richer, and leave us all out to hang and dry!"

And you'd probably be right. And I support that. Yes, I support my quality of life dropping, at least temporarily, if it means we can reboot this entire thing and start over again. There are millions of sane, level-headed liberal folks out there who realize the mess of shit we're in. Just as there are millions of sane, level-headed conservatives out there who realize the same. You see, the average, middle class working person, which whether we admit it on Slashdot or not, most of us are, aren't in support of socialism, no more than we are in support of capitalism. It's a balance. It's not black and white, we're for a decent world to live in. One we can hand down to the next generation and say "See, we tried not to fuck it up so bad, made a few things better, made a few things worse. Give it a shot and see how you do."

But we need to get back to basics. We need a government that builds and maintains infrastructure. Roads, schools, sanitation, water, energy systems. At least at the basic level. We can still have toll roads, we can still have private schools, for those who want them. But government needs to get out of the business of micromanaging people's lives. Now, why should you support the Tea Party? Because if you're so sure they're going to fuck everything up beyond recognition, bring the whole system crashing down to the ground, LET THEM! Then you can rebuild it with your input as you see fit.

As it stands, it's the only real option we have left. No one wants violence or any of that kind of thing here in America. Call it exceptionalism, call it whatever denigrating term you want, I think we're above it. We're not stupid enough to end up shedding the blood of our own people, are we? Over such bullshit as Obamacare, or welfare, or abortion? We can agree to disagree. We can find a compromise that works for everyone, if we stop letting the power structure call all the shots and control every debate with the black and white all or nothing rhetoric. We're not all so different. Not as different as you'd think we are if you watch cable news or read every political blog on the web. We really can fucking get along without secession or violence or this radical idea or that radical idea. But we need to reboot, and the only way to do that is by electing someone who's not a D or an R.

Put the partisan, emotionally charged rhetoric down just long enough to get our country (world?) back. Then we can get right on back to debating about minutia and Justin Bieber. But the hole in the ship isn't getting any smaller, and the guys with the blue and red hammers and nails are only using them to beat us about the head. We can get back to that once we use them to fix the hole and pump out the water. Anyone but the incumbent. That's my vote.

Static?! Unacceptable, sir. This is 2014!! Everything must play in crystal-clear digital HD* sound quality 100% of the time**, or I just won't have it!! Inferior 20th century technology is beneath me.
 
* (decoded and re-encoded multiple times at 96kb/s with a bad codec)
 
**(that it will actually play, the 50% of the time the signal fades notwithstanding)

I agree. However, while it wouldn't be hard to replicate the system and start over anew, we would lose the years of discussions that slashdot has archived. Don't overlook the value of over a decade and a half of the discussions that have made this site what it is lo these many years.
 
And the value, for what it's worth, of someone with a 3-4 digit ID coming into the discussion to smack someone with his/her cane. We know what that low UID means, not that the person is speaking the gospel, but maybe we should stop and think about what he or she is saying a little further.
 
While I agree, whole heartedly mind you, that Slashdot Beta is fully broken, there are aspects of this place that are just impossible to be replicated. Dice isn't just going to hand over the database to the community. We need to preserve and fight for what we have left rather than try and start over anew. It would never be the same.

I have a passcode on my phone. It doesn't allow data transfer off of the unit until that passcode is entered. After 10 incorrect attempts, bye-bye data.
 
That being said, even if they get to my pictures or personal text messages, there really isn't fuck all they can do with them. I don't take nude selfies, I don't deal in illegal materials, I rarely even have risque conversations with my girlfriend. Why not?
 
Because keeping anything you don't want the whole world to see on ANY internet connected device (PC or mobile) is the height of stupidity.

Storing, absolutely. But why is it any less secure to enter the info into the browser of a phone than any other web browser in existence? You know, the people who have the technology to sniff an LTE or HSPA data connection are either not interested in something as mundane as your credit card number and/or they already have it.

I needed a steaming hot cup of thinly-veiled racebaiting with a small side of patriarchal guilt to start my day.

This is offtopic and trolling. Why is it not missed as such?

And they were also invalidated by Constitutional amendments. There were obviously enough people who agree that slavery, segregation, and treating women as second-class citizens were a bad thing that those amendments could be passed.
 
If you can find enough people to support a Constitutional amendment allowing the government to mandate the legality of same-sex marriage, the ACA, and abortion, then by all means, go for it! I think, however, that there are enough people who disagree with all of those things that getting the Constitution amended to allow them is never going to happen.
 
When you equate servitude forced at the barrel of a gun or treating women as property with the inability of two people to enter into a legally binding contract in a certain area, you are seriously deluded and need to take a step back and realize why half the country thinks you're crazy.

Look here. I'm sick and tired of liberal morons painting everyone with the same brush. We're not all the same. I oppose the ACA, not only because it gets the government, the IRS, and the DHS involved in my personal healthcare decisions (which are all bad enough), but because also it takes away my freedom to make my own decisions regarding how I live my own life, puts even more tax on the already-burdened middle class, and limits the charity care that the lower middle class/poor are already receiving. You think people are dying in the streets now, wait until this shit takes effect.
 
That being said, I also think the government should stay out of people's bedrooms, marriage chapels, and wombs. Again, it's one more place the government doesn't belong. But, you see, it's not that the leftists want government out of all of those places (like I do in addition to my doctor's office), it's that they want the government IN all those places, on THEIR side.
 
Therein lies the problem, people wouldn't be happy with only being left alone by the government, oh no. They want their own lifestyles mandated onto everyone else. These are decisions that should be made at the local level. If there is enough demand for same-sex marriage in a given area, then of course that local community should be free to allow it. Additionally, if there is enough demand for abortion at a local level, then a doctor should be free to provide those services. The opposite applies, as well. If a given community has no need for an abortion doctor or same-sex marriages, why should they be federally mandated to provide those services? Because it hurts liberals feelings otherwise, and that's the only reason.
 
Again, I could care less about abortion, same-sex marriage, or any of these wedge issues because they are distractions designed to polarize left vs. right and keep people divided. But the ACA affects everyone, and that's why it is so dangerous. It brings a whole new level of intrusion into people's lives who don't want it there. If states and municipalities decide that this healthcare system is something that is needed in their area, then they should be free to provide it, and people should be free to opt-into it or ignore it, whichever option fits them better. That's freedom.

Bigger authoritarians than the "gun nuts". Hopefully this shit stays on the other side of the pond.

In many regards, but especially to Mr. Musk's business model.