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Comment Re:Yes, trust the UN (Score 1) 367

by balsy2001 (#43637355) Attached to: Observed Atmospheric CO2 Hits 400 Parts Per Million
The individuals that make up the working groups are PhDs from a number of universities around the world. The co-chair of working group I is a guy from China (you would think they have a reason not to want global warming). You also seem to be missing the difference between what is happening and what the solution is. The wealth transfer to poor countries doesn't have to be the solution to the fact that global warming is real.

Comment Re: Hydrogen Sulfide (Score 1) 367

by balsy2001 (#43634625) Attached to: Observed Atmospheric CO2 Hits 400 Parts Per Million
And I wonder how many of the people making claims on here are actually climatologists. I am not and since I don't think there is a giant conspiracy of climatologists, I take my cues about global warming from the IPCC (http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.shtml). Even though I am not a climatologist, I can read, and the IPCC 4th assessment report agrees with you.

Comment Re:Barrel and slide/bolt too? (Score 2, Interesting) 625

by balsy2001 (#43552743) Attached to: 3D-Printed Gun May Be Unveiled Soon
The more interesting part of this development is the possibility to make receivers on your printer. For example, the only federally controlled part on an AR-15 is the lower receiver. Every other part can be bought with no paper work (e.g., barrels, triggers, upper receivers, stocks, optics,...). There are already production models that use polymers. Factories that do this type of stuff require an FFL (federal firearms license) for manufacture of weapons. If you can do it in your house all the rules are out the door (legally you are also supposed to have the FFL, but...). You can make the receivers and buy the rest of the parts with cash for a fully untraceable gun. Another interesting point is that there are only very small difference between fully automatic versions and semi-automatic versions of the AR-15, if you can make the receiver at your house you could make a full auto version.

Comment Re:Totally unworkable (Score 1) 115

by balsy2001 (#43310923) Attached to: Laser Fusion's Brightest Hope
I am not saying the estimates are wrong, but I take these types of estimates with a grain of salt. People have been warning about the end of oil for decades and saying peak oil is not far off. The problem is that these predictions are inherently based on proven reserves. In oil, as the demand increases (and hence the price and profit), companies start looking harder for more. In oil they historically keep finding it. The same may not be true for Uranium, but there is a decent chance there is more uranium out there than people think. All that being said, I am a big fan of breeder reactors. Thorium Breeder reactors are NOT experimental and have been used in commercial pressurized water reactors (LWBR http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shippingport_Atomic_Power_Station and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor) that put electricity on the grid (about 60MWe). Non-throium breeders have also been run that are liquid sodium fast reactors (EBRII http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBRII) which produced 20MWe. You may be confusion these technologies with liquid flouride throrium reactors (LFTR).

Comment 100% accuracy? (Score 5, Informative) 81

by balsy2001 (#43169725) Attached to: Technology To Detect Alzheimer's Takes SXSW Prize
Not quite in line with the data. FTFA "Kaplan said 100 percent of subjects who scored below 50 percent on the test have gone to receive an Alzheimer's diagnosis within six years, while none of those who scored above 67 have developed Alzheimer's." This doesn't equate to 100% accuracy. What happens between 50 and 67%? Plus it doesn't say what the sample size is. Is it 1, 10, 100, 1000? Some more robust statistics would have been nice. They were probably trying to keep it simple instead of confusing people with 99/99, but they could have said "approaching 100%".

Comment Re:More green? (Score 1) 398

by balsy2001 (#43147485) Attached to: Global Warming Has Made the North Greener
I guess I could see how a certain world view might cause you to incorrectly say that about the second book (guns germs and steel), but you clearly have not read Collapse. Collapse talks at length about how many white and non-white civilizations/societies have collapsed, barely escaped, or are on the edge now.

Comment Re:More green? (Score 1) 398

by balsy2001 (#43136283) Attached to: Global Warming Has Made the North Greener
A book called COLLAPSE by Jared Diamond goes into some good detail about the viking settlements and the conditions that allowed their society to survive and then collapse. The rest of the book discusses other societies that collapse and the reasons. Interesting read if you like the subject. His other book (Guns Germs and Steel) is also very good.
Movies

Submission + - MegaUpload's closure boosts movie rentals and sales (blogspot.fr)

Submitted by
quantr
quantr writes: "A new study shows that in the months following the takedown of Kim DotCom's cyberlocker, online movie revenue increased by 6 percent to 10 percent.

Here's something that will make the Motion Picture Association of America happy: movie sales and rentals increased after the feds shuttered cyberlocker MegaUpload last year.

A new study by Carnegie Mellon's Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics shows that after MegaUpload's closure online movie revenue increased by between 6 percent and 10 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal. The study researched two major movie studios and the results were measured in 12 different countries, including the U.S.
"We conclude that shutting down MegaUpload and Megavideo caused some customers to shift from cyberlocker-based piracy to purchasing or renting through legal digital channels," the study's researchers told the Wall Street Journal.
The U.S. government conducted a major takedown of the cloud-storage service in January 2012, charging its founder Kim DotCom with racketeering, copyright infringement, money laundering, and more. Federal authorities claim that DotCom pocketed millions of dollars in illegal profits from illegal file sharing and downloading, which has reportedly cost the film industry more than $600 million in damages.
MegaUpload was one of the most popular video destinations on the Web, with reportedly 50 million users per day that shared and streamed files."

Submission + - Self healing chips can handle a few laser blasts (engadget.com)

Submitted by ceview
ceview writes: Caltech researchers have been tweaking their designs of self-healing microchips with the hopes of them working to save power if they not being damaged by laser blasts.

From the article in Engadget
  " Its prototype power amplifier chip has a dedicated circuit and sensors that can change actuators in microseconds if there's damage, re-optimizing the connections on the spot." Which sounds pretty impressive. But can some explain how this actually works? It sounds like something from Star trek voyager.

Feed Engadget: DIYRockets starts a challenge to build open source, 3D-printed rocket engines (engadget.com)

From feed by feedfeeder

DIYRockets believes that our chances of advancing space exploration improve when everyone can lend a hand. The company is putting its money where its mouth is by launching a competition to develop 3D-printed rocket motors using Sunglass' cloud design platform. Teams who sign up have to build an engine that could boost a nanosatellite-level payload into low Earth orbit using 3D-printed steel and other safe materials. The only major stipulations are that creators present a good business case and open-source their creations to help out other builders. DIYRockets' prize strategy reflects its for-the-greater-good ambitions: there's a $5,000 award for the best motor, but there are separate $2,500 prizes for both a student creation and the design that contributes the most to the industry. Registration officially starts on March 9th, and runs until April 6th, with the finished models due on June 1st. We'll be closer to a crowdsourced vision of space when the winners are revealed by July 1st.

Filed under: Transportation, Science

Comments

Source: DIYRockets


Science

Submission + - Scientists Grow Replacement Human Teeth in Mouse Kidneys (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: When an adult loses a tooth, there's no hope of growing a new one—unless you've got a mouse kidney handy. In a new study, researchers injected human gum tissue extracted during oral surgery into the molars of fetal mice. After giving the cells a week to get used to each other, the scientists implanted the chimeric concoction into the protective tissue surrounding the kidneys of living mice. There, 20% of the cells developed into objects recognizable as teeth, complete with the root structures missing from artificial tooth implants. The next step is to transplant these so-called "bioteeth" back into human mouths and see if they grow into something that we can chew on—or rather, with.
Science

Submission + - If violent video games make people violent, so do pictures of snakes. (gamasutra.com)

Submitted by
phenopticon
phenopticon writes: "For nearly thirty years we’ve been having this discussion, asking the question: do violent movies, music or video games make people violent? Well according to Brad Bushman and Craig Anderson of Iowa State University, yes. Based on the results of their research they concluded in 2001 that video games and violent media can make people aggressive and violent. Based upon their data and their conclusions, however, it’s safe to say that photos of snakes, crispy bacon, or a particularly rigorous game of chess can also make people aggressive and violent."

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