Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Um. (Score 1) 229

https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/api/search/
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/api/post/

Maybe they just replaced it with something better? Maybe learn how to use google for even a single moment? I don't recall facebook ever promising to me that they would meet my every data need if I signed up for their free ad-supported service.

Maybe build a tron canoe to ride on your river of digital tears?

Comment Re:Oh, good (Score 4, Insightful) 219

Forget about "greedy" beekeepers - neonicotiniods are indiscriminate insecticides. They'll kill any pollinator unlucky enough to be on the wrong plant. You know, pollinators that pollinate crops, maybe you heard about pollination, it's this crazy thing that makes your food exist.

This isn't just a beekeeper issue, plenty of farmers depend on bees (almond growers, blueberries, oranges, etc) to pollinate their crop. The california almond crop isn't a crop at all without migratory bees.

In other news: these pesticides are chronic toxins, they build up in bees until the whole colony keels over. There's other not-so-long-lived insecticides (i.e. organophosphate) that can be safely used even where bees are going to be, because it breaks down quickly, and unless the bees receive a lethal dose, they'll be able to pass the toxin.

Whine about beekeeper's all you want, you're still pissing in the well if you think using nonspecific pesticides are going to do anything other than breed tougher bugs. Why do we keep having to develop nastier and nastier pesticides anyways? Because pests are becoming resistant to all the old ones because of overuse.

Comment Buzzword attack. (Score 1) 716

Holey moley, if I was allergic to buzzwords I'd be in anaphylactic shock right now. Could the have possibly crammed more buzzwords into the summary?

Really all that needs to be said for going to college: "don't be stupid"

Racking up huge debt for a worthless degree when you aren't already rich? Stupid.

Taking gen-ed classes at community college and then transferring into a state college to get your degree? Smart.

Comment Simple (Score 1) 590

is it more than just solar cell efficiency that's preventing the creation of a solar-powered airliner?

Short answer: No.

Why do we keep using fossil fuels really (in a non-conspiracy theory world)? Two words: energy density.

Gasoline has a significantly higher energy density than many (most?) explosives. TNT, gunpowder, etc. Compare that to batteries, solar cells, capacitors, whatever, you aren't even anywhere on the same chart. Jet fuel has an even higher energy density than gasoline. On top of that, the best solar cells ever are something like

Think about those solar planes you've seen. Super light weight, incredibly long wings with a super high aspect ratio (wingspan/chord). Often designed to fly at high altitude (above clouds). The kind of wingspan and PV cell area needed for a many-passenger plane would be astronomical. Maybe if PV cells were hyper-efficient, but even then, you can only optimize so much. I highly doubt that completely weightless 100% efficient solar cells completely covering a modern jet in perfectly clear weather at high noon would generate as much power as those jet engines do.

Comment Maybe actually measure efficiency? (Score 2) 303

Measure by joules/floating-point operation, and I bet video cards win hands-down every time over any other kind of computing unit. If you want to perform certain types of calculations (like, I dunno, graphics), a GPU is the most efficient way to do it. Now that's not to say that some GPUs aren't much more efficient that other per op. Especially when you consider the power they use while not cranking out a top-end game, I'm sure the field opens up even more. But measuring a card by total draw is dumb.

Comment Shotgun. (Score 1) 340

Wait in a ground blind with a boomstick and give em a taste of frontier justice (where justice == birdshot)

Seriously though, the comment about trail cameras is right on. Motion activated camera that's self contained and battery powered. Designed for locating and tracking game movements, sounds like it would be perfect for your situation.

Double seriously, trying to wait out for them and firing some blanks and generally appearing to be a totally unhinged redneck might go a long way to scaring them off. Plus it would be a hell of a lot of fun, legal issues not withstanding.

Comment Whaaaaa (Score 1) 171

IE10 HAVE RENDER ISSUES ME NO BELIEVE.

I get that it's really hard to make a browser do everything right, but if you're going to push IE as such a major competitor to other browsers, maybe make it less of a steaming pile? The web browser is basically a commodity nowadays, drawing things right is just about the only thing that matters.

Slashdot Top Deals

HELP!!!! I'm being held prisoner in /usr/games/lib!

Working...