Comment Re:All in all... (Score 1) 243
Share on, you crazy pirate.
Comment Re:.04 DUI in Oregon (Score 1) 957
I tend towards doubting the "science" of the Breathalyzers used also. One of my friend was stopped recently and the cop told him that if he was chewing mint gum, spit it out and wait a bit because it could increase the alcohol reading by up to 0.02%. That's a HUGE margin of error for determining whether or not to give a guy a $6000 fine.
Comment Re:I don't get it. (Score 1) 142
I really like some of the Treehouse of Horror episodes. Episodes 5 and 7 are probably my favorites, because of "The Shinning" and "Citizen Kang".
Comment Re:Breaking in? (Score 1) 139
Well in my case they certainly did. The password I had been using was "very secure", or whatever their highest rating of them is called, and somehow they got in to my account to send messages. I saw server bounce messages popping up on emails written in Spanish, so I was fairly certain they weren't coming from me. This was around Jan/Feb though, and from TFA:
The New York Times reported Monday that Google's centralized login system, code-named Gaia, was compromised by hackers in late December.
Comment Re:uname (Score 1) 288
guest@xkcd:/$ fuck
I have a headache.
I have a headache.
Comment Beer != food (Score 3, Insightful) 582
I consider beer to be medicine, so that keeps my food expense pretty low.
Comment Re:No need for elevated alarm... (Score 1) 451
I did my undergrad approximately an hour from Yellowstone...
Go Cats!
Comment Re:Underground methane leaking? (Score 4, Informative) 297
There are recent studies showing it may be possible that some of our methane on Earth is being created by the high pressure/temp conditions in the earth's mantle, rather than exclusively by the decay of organic matter. A written article on this, or an NPR segment (about 1/3 of the way into the audio file).
Sharp Rise In Jailing of Online Journalists; Iran May Just Kill Them 233
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.
Comment Re:Shiny things? (Score 2, Interesting) 627
So what about the "invisibility cloaks" (http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/13/2215220) that are being researched. At some point could those metamaterials theoretically redirect the energy from these lasers?
Comment Re:New Jersey Drivers (Score 1) 449
The page you linked to is a little misleading with its title. The "safety" measure they are using to rank each state is percentage of fatal crashes in which at least one driver tested positive for alcohol.
Comment Re:What a Ride (Score 1) 575
That's probably derived from a line in Hunter Thompson's Hell's Angels.
Submission + - Quad-core computers getting more affordable
An anonymous reader writes: If you have been playing with the idea to buy a quad-core computer, but refused to shell out $5000 or more, you may be surprised to hear that there is suddenly a system that is in your reach. Ok, now we all expected that prices would come down sooner or later, especially, after Intel's latest price round, but I was somewhat baffled about the dramatic price drop: Gateway is offering a decent $2100 retail system with an overclockable Q6600 CPU from Intel, which is, according to TG Daily, at least $700 below the nearest competitor's offering. We are still a bit away from calling these computers mainstream, but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel, right?
Submission + - Paid to do nothing?
djupedal writes: Are you paid to do nothing? Were you hired to do nothing?
Are you paid, yet you don't do any work? This is for anyone, except of course those collecting job benefits. I'm talking about those that come into work and hang out and do nothing whatsoever productive, but still receive regular performance reviews, generic corporate emails and a routine weekly/monthly salary. Maybe you don't even have to show up at the office.
I have a friend who is going on six months since he was asked to do any type of work, yet his (not meager) salary keeps being automatically deposited and the only time anyone from the office checks on him is to make sure he is still alive. How long has it been since you had an assignment or participated in an active project, etc.? What do you do with your time? How long do you think this type of ghost position can continue? Is this a dream job or an ethical burden?
Are you paid, yet you don't do any work? This is for anyone, except of course those collecting job benefits. I'm talking about those that come into work and hang out and do nothing whatsoever productive, but still receive regular performance reviews, generic corporate emails and a routine weekly/monthly salary. Maybe you don't even have to show up at the office.
I have a friend who is going on six months since he was asked to do any type of work, yet his (not meager) salary keeps being automatically deposited and the only time anyone from the office checks on him is to make sure he is still alive. How long has it been since you had an assignment or participated in an active project, etc.? What do you do with your time? How long do you think this type of ghost position can continue? Is this a dream job or an ethical burden?
Submission + - End of Peak Oil? Shell Oil Patents Oil Technique.
Oil guy writes: "The weekly standard is running an article about Royal Dutch Shell. The oil company is patenting a technique to convert shale reserves in Alaska and other areas to petroleum at a cost of only about $30/barrel. If it works, the world's single largest source of oil would be the United States Of America. Amazingly the claimed method is cleaner than conventional drilling, and generates the highest grade of light-sweet crude oil, which burns cleaner than other varieties. The other big deal? Oil would only be $30 a barrel."
