Comment Re:Homeland Security (Score 1) 55
I'm just going to take my foot out of my mouth before someone else beats me to it. Clearly the wrong agency. I'll go back to lurking in the corner.
Comment Homeland Security (Score 3, Insightful) 55
So, the department that pretends to keep me safe on airplanes is now also the one that pretends to keep me safe from deadly airborne pathogens?
Why is the CDC not holding on to these for safekeeping? Their obvious failure here notwithstanding, I'd think that this is more their bailiwick than DHS's.
Comment Re:the executive can't just wave state law aside?? (Score 4, Funny) 382
It took me a minute to parse this for context. I was grasping at straws for when Michael Jackson and/or the Jackson Five was giving orders to Diana Ross.
Asteroid Mining Bill Introduced In Congress To Protect Private Property Rights 181
MarkWhittington writes: "Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) announced on Thursday that he was introducing a bill along with Rep, Derek Kilmer (D-WA) called the American Space Technology for Exploring Resource Opportunities in Deep Space (ASTEROIDS) Act of 2014 (PDF). The act is designed to protect the private property rights for entities mining asteroids and to otherwise encourage asteroid mining. The bill is in apparent reaction to efforts by companies like Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries to locate and mine Earth approaching asteroids for their resources.
The crucial part of the short piece of legislation states that the resources mined from an asteroid would be the property of the entity undertaking the operation. This language gets around the provision of the Outer Space Treaty that says states are forbidden to establish national sovereignty over celestial bodies, which would be a prerequisite to the United States allowing a private entity to own an asteroid. It rather grants mineral rights to the asteroid, something the treaty does not mention. There is no enforcement mechanism in the event of a dispute with another country, however."
The crucial part of the short piece of legislation states that the resources mined from an asteroid would be the property of the entity undertaking the operation. This language gets around the provision of the Outer Space Treaty that says states are forbidden to establish national sovereignty over celestial bodies, which would be a prerequisite to the United States allowing a private entity to own an asteroid. It rather grants mineral rights to the asteroid, something the treaty does not mention. There is no enforcement mechanism in the event of a dispute with another country, however."
Physicists Spot Potential Source of 'Oh-My-God' Particles 144
sciencehabit (1205606) writes For decades, physicists have sought the sources of the most energetic subatomic particles in the universe — cosmic rays that strike the atmosphere with as much energy as well-thrown baseballs. Now, a team working with the Telescope Array, a collection of 507 particle detectors covering 700 square kilometers of desert in Utah, has observed a broad 'hotspot' in the sky in which such cosmic rays seem to originate. Although not definitive, the observation suggests the cosmic rays emanate from a distinct source near our galaxy and not from sources spread all over the universe.
Comment Re:Non-compete agreements are BS. (Score 1) 272
I'm having a little trouble parsing the slavery comment.
"In order to ensure you will not use the valuable cotton picking skills you've acquired here at another employer, we've purchased these shackles so that you cannot help another plantation compete with us."
Comment Re:No airgap? (Score 4, Funny) 86
I am an engineer, but I agree with your assessment - I feel fully qualified to act as a doctor. None of my patients have complained, but if by chance one were to survive and make a fuss, I feel sufficiently competent as a lawyer that I'm sure I'd be okay.
Comment Re:to state a few obvious facts not in TFA (Score 2) 139
It's interesting that you mention this. I actually have a relatively green process that I'm working on for extracting energy from waste, and it's primary source of input energy is "Hip to be Square". We do note high turnover in our lab assistants, however.
Comment Re:Intellectual / Emotional? (Score 1) 121
But, since I can't even be bothered to read the _entire_ summary, I'm going to retract some of my article-bashing, since they clearly indicate some examples of what they're describing, and all of that seems perfectly reasonable.
Comment Intellectual / Emotional? (Score 1) 121
The summary specifically calls out physical, intellectual, and emotional. Are they suggesting that in 50 years you'll be able to get a chip implanted because you're depressed? Or stupid? Physical issues are being improved upon markedly. But seriously - fixing perceived issues in how people think seems just wrong. Fixing perceived issues with how people feel doubly so. If this were possible, we'd be squarely in sci-fi AI-controlled-human territory.
Comment Re:Retrieving memories causes decay? (Score 1) 426
Irrational numbers are supernatural.
Comment Ehh, No (Score 1) 338
While I agree that there would be considerable benefit from this, I think that there's a whole mess of tinfoil hat issues here. Don't get me wrong, I fully believe that my government is spying on me (not specifically me, but in general). Giving them all the hardware means no more negotiating with service providers (at any level).
No more sneaking around what is or isn't okay. "This is my hardware, and to protect my hardware, I have to install this additional monitoring." There's the whole "If you aren't doing anything wrong..." argument, but let's not assume that giving the government the "means of distribution" is going to be all sunshine and puppy dogs.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy that service providers can do whatever they want, but at least then the competition drives them to all be the best (well, we're assuming that "best" and "most profitable" are related). The government has no such goal. It's possible this would even backfire completely and the government would let it languish - they've got dial-up, so our job is done, etc.
Comment SimCity 2000? (Score 3, Insightful) 230
If there's anything I've learned from video games, it's that this is a bad idea.
Comment Ooh! Pick Me! (Score 1) 196
The answer is two.
Comment Re:Ability to design and write software... (Score 1) 581
The cake is a lie.
