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Education

Submission + - Not So Global Warming

Submitted by OverlordQ
OverlordQ writes: A new report on climate over the world's southernmost continent shows that temperatures during the late 20th century did not climb as had been predicted by many global climate models. This comes soon after the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that strongly supports the conclusion that the Earth's climate as a whole is warming, largely due to human activity. David Bromwich, professor of professor of atmospheric sciences in the Department of Geography, and researcher with the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University, reported on this work at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at San Francisco.

Feed Water on Mars: New Evidence (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed
Photographs sent by a NASA orbiter suggests that water may indeed be flowing on Mars. And where there's water, there's at least a chance of life. By the Associated Press.


Feed Polar Lakes and Global Warming (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed
Previously undiscovered lakes under Antarctica may help improve our understanding of the interaction between global warming and the melting icepack. Plus: New climate accord sought. By the Associated Press.


User Journal

Journal Journal: [parenting] Immunizations 8

Journal by FroMan

I guess I'll start my own tag of [parenting] to let folks know, incase they are severely brain damaged and don't want to hear about the [mis]adventures that my wife and I experience raising our son.

Todays topic: Immunizations.
Announcements

Submission + - nanotechnology battery demo on youtube

Submitted by
h00manist
h00manist writes: "mPhase Technologies will post a video demonstration of its Smart Nanobattery on YouTube today, February 16th at 5 p.m. Eastern time. The video will explain the technology behind its breakthrough development of a "smart" battery based on nanotechnology. The video will illustrate in layman's terminology some fundamental concepts behind the company's smart nano battery. mPhase has proven it is possible to fabricate nanotech-based "smart" batteries, which can store reserve power for decades and generate electric current virtually on demand. The prototype battery is based on a discovery that liquid droplets of electrolyte will stay in a dormant state atop nanotextured surfaces until stimulated to flow, thereby triggering a reaction producing electricity. This effect can permit precise control and activation of the batteries when required."
Space

Submission + - End of the World? Nah,.Only 3 Football Fields Wide

Submitted by
j2xs
j2xs writes: "So a funny thing happened today as I was checking my web stats report. This company was surfing DataRush, so naturally I went out to take a look at 'em... then I found this quote regarding what the world can expect in 2036. Heck, forget that! Look what happens seven years earlier!

"Some believe that all of this is science fiction," Ailor stated, "but we know that an asteroid (Apophis) 300 meters in diameter, large enough to cause serious damage, will pass within 20,000 miles of Earth — closer than our weather satellites — in 2029, and an impact by the same asteroid in 2036 cannot be ruled out. This conference will help improve our readiness should we need to defend our planet in the future."

I for one, am hereby donating my software to the effort !! Hey Aerospace Corporate guy, uhhh, just TAKE the darn software and start modeling its trajectory!!
[nervous laugh turning to whimper...as the screen fades to black]"
Classic Games (Games)

Submission + - A not so brief history of E A

Submitted by
ganjadude
ganjadude writes: "http://gamasutra.com/features/20070216/fleming_01. shtml

"In the summer of 1975 I learned about the invention of the microprocessor and about the first retail store where a consumer could rent a timesharing terminal to use from home," he remembered. "That very day I committed to found EA in 1982. I figured that it would take seven years for enough computing hardware to get into homes to create an audience for the computer games that I wanted to make."

This gets me thinking about how the other giants of the industry got their beginning."
Businesses

Submission + - "War on terror" forces firm to break EU la

Submitted by Turismo
Turismo writes: European legislators aren't happy that the US has subpoenaed European financial information for four and half years from SWIFT, the Belgian group that allows banking systems to interoperate. Because it mirrored all European data to a US backup, SWIFT became the target of Treasury department subpoenas in the "War on terror." SWIFT has gotten in plenty of hot water back home, where the European Parliament just passed a resolution asking the company to stop hosting its data in the US. "The resolution makes it clear that SWIFT is not off the hook simply because the company was complying with US law. The decision to store European data in America was a "purely commercial decision" on the part of SWIFT; to better comply with its obligations toward European data, the company was advised to stop mirroring European data to the US or to move the mirror somewhere outside of US jurisdiction." Will other multinationals start doing the same thing?
Windows

Consumer Vista Upgrades Moving at Snail's Pace 269

Posted by Zonk from the playing-the-waiting-game dept.
Chester Freeze writes "During the holiday season, many shoppers bought PCs with the promise of quick, free Vista upgrades. The reality has been something else entirely: many Dell and HP customers are being told that they won't receive their copies of Vista before April. 'One source at a major OEM who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the real issue is that OEMs are still not sure which PCs are really ready to support Vista, and which PCs aren't... Customers who qualify for an Express Upgrade also qualify for OEM support for Windows Vista, even if their machines came with Windows XP. The last thing a Dell, Gateway, or HP wants to do is start sending out upgrades to customers who might have video cards that do not have particularly stable drivers yet (or sound cards, or RAID controllers, etc.). This could be a support disaster.'"
Google

Submission + - Google acquires in-game advertising company

Submitted by
Firmafest
Firmafest writes: "According to Red Herring Google has bought an in-game advertising company called Adscape for $23 million. Is this the next logical step to delivering ads where there's sufficient potential buyers? Or is it simply a response to Microsoft acquiring a similar company. Considering the massive budget for product placement in movies, this could mean larger budgets for games resulting in better and/or cheaper games."
Censorship

Submission + - Norway to censor internet more than China?

Submitted by
nickull
nickull writes: "Gunnar Helliesen muses about the great firewall of Norway: "My country is going off the deep end. A Computer Crime Panel study group established by the Norwegian Government has issued a proposal to the Justice Department for a new law that would force all ISPs (Internet Service Providers) in Norway to actively censor the Internet. If this proposal were to become law, Norway would have stricter Internet censorship than China." more — http://archives.listbox.com/247/200702/0064.html"
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Another perspective on intellectual property

Submitted by joejor
joejor writes: With so much controversy over intellectual property rights in software development, it may be instructive (or at least entertaining) to look at another human endeavor that suffers from stolen ideas: stand-up comedy. Radar magazine has an article that describes the long history of cribbing and theft in comedy, by big names and small.

Given the nature of stand-up, where source material has to be broadcast from performer to audience, it often happens that one performer will hear another's bits and incorporate the funniest ones into his own act, without attribution. The perspectives of the comedians interviewed range from enlightened to downright hateful (hmm, sounds familiar).

Choice quote from TFA: "People take plagiarism so seriously in all other forms of media, whether it's music, newspapers, books ... But with comedy, it's like, 'You're on your own.'"
Patents

Submission + - Congress Tackles Patent Reform

Submitted by nadamsieee
nadamsieee writes: Wired's Luke O'Brian recently reported about Congress' latest attempt to reform the patent system. In the article O'Brian tells of how "[w]itnesses at Thursday's hearing painted a bleak picture of that system. Adam Jaffe, a Brandeis University professor and author of a book on the subject, described the system as "out of whack." Instead of "the engine of innovation," the patent has become "the sand in the gears," he said, citing widespread fears of litigation." The House Oversight Committee website has more details. How would you fix the patent system?

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