Comment Re:Hmmm that'll do... (Score 1) 293
"The area" is the Chernobyl 30km exclusion zone. It's not like you're imagining. The risk here is with consuming or inhaling particles of irradiated dirt or material.
Comment Re:Bad Hacking (Score 1) 251
No, it's a win-win situation. If they cannot solve reCAPTCHA then we get website security. If they do solve it, it means that we can digitize all of that content without any human interaction. This is great news.
Comment Re:Moderate yourself (Score 1) 256
Right now, there's no way for the consumer to tell the market what you are looking for. Back when we came up with all this Internet thing, wasn't the fact that it makes bi-directional communication possible one of its best features?
Ah yes, if only we still had that Internet thing. But you're right, this will be better, because it's going to be mobile! Yeah...
Comment Re:Two reasons for SSL (Score 1) 269
If you cannot verify the other party, then you cannot verify your transmission wasn't intercepted. The verification is designed to prevent a MitM attack.
Giant Plumes of Oil Forming Below the Gulf's Surface 483
An anonymous reader sends in a NY Times article about the spread of oil from the BP gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. Quoting:
"Scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide, and 300 feet thick in spots. The discovery is fresh evidence that the leak from the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates that the government and BP have given. ... The plumes are depleting the oxygen dissolved in the gulf, worrying scientists, who fear that the oxygen level could eventually fall so low as to kill off much of the sea life near the plumes. Dr. Joye said the oxygen had already dropped 30 percent near some of the plumes in the month that the broken oil well had been flowing. ... [Scientists on the Pelican mission] suspect the heavy use of chemical dispersants, which BP has injected into the stream of oil emerging from the well, may have broken the oil up into droplets too small to rise rapidly. ... Dr. Joye said the findings about declining oxygen levels were especially worrisome, since oxygen is so slow to move from the surface of the ocean to the bottom. She suspects that oil-eating bacteria are consuming the oxygen at a feverish clip as they work to break down the plumes."
Facebook Now Supports Jabber/XMPP 174
supersloshy writes "Facebook Chat has so far only been meant to be used in a web browser, and instant messaging applications have had a hard time implementing its undocumented protocol. Today, Facebook is making this job much easier by enabling support for XMPP to access its chat service. AOL's AIM and the Empathy Instant Messenger are also including pre-set Facebook options, due to already supporting XMPP."
Here are instructions for setting up XMPP Facebook chat with popular instant messaging clients, including Pidgin and Adium.
Comment sudo (Score 1) 502
How does something like this differ practically from using sudo, which in many distros grants the user root privileges without any further authentication necessary?
New Dating Sites Match People Through DNA Tests 278
The Installer writes with this excerpt from an Associated Press report:
"A couple of genetic testing companies are promising to match couples based on DNA testing, touting the benefits of biological compatibility. The companies claim that a better biological match will mean better sex, less cheating, longer-lasting love and perhaps even healthier children. 'How many dating services can you think of where they can suggest you might have better children?' said Eric Holzle, founder of ScientificMatch.com, one of the first online dating sites to use DNA. ... The idea is that people tend to be attracted to those who have immune system genes that are dissimilar from their own. Biologists say the HLA genes of the immune system — which are responsible for recognizing and marking foreign cells such as viruses so other parts of the immune system can attack them — also determine body odor 'fingerprints.' And people tend to be attracted to the natural body odors of those who have different HLA genes from their own."
Comment Re:Eclipse and Netbeans (Score 4, Insightful) 1055
I am surprised to see you describe Netbeans as bloated when compared to Eclipse. I fought with Eclipse for years before trying out Netbeans, and have been nothing but pleased with it. More than anything, it is the bloat of Eclipse that drove me away! Plugins upon plugins upon plugins, all heaped together in some massive directory. Configuration panels that need a search box!
My Netbeans experience has been a breath of fresh air.
Streaming the Inauguration In a School? 201
Anonymous Teacher writes "I work in a small school in Washington and we are trying to prepare a way to watch the inauguration in 20 classrooms over a 1.5 T1. As our bandwidth severely limits the ability to individually stream to these rooms, is there an alternative to presenting it to the students? Are there any sites that offer a downloadable copy of the video quickly after the event that can be hosted locally or is reconfiguring the computers to use a proxy server the best solution?"
Humans Hardwired to Believe in Supernatural Deity? 1852
dohcrx writes "According to a Sunday New York Times article, 6 in 10 Americans believe in the devil and hell, 7 in 10 believe in angels, heaven and the existence of miracles and life after death, while 92% believe in a personal God. The article explores the possibility that this belief structure may be ingrained into our genetic makeup. 'When a trait is universal, evolutionary biologists look for a genetic explanation and wonder how that gene or genes might enhance survival or reproductive success ... Which is the better biological explanation for a belief in God — evolutionary adaptation or neurological accident? Is there something about the cognitive functioning of humans that makes us receptive to belief in a supernatural deity?'"
