Comment Re:2 week (Score 4, Informative) 892
If you're referring to this you have an odd definition of "all companies" and should realize that this only applies to mass layoffs. Many layoffs are far smaller.
Comment Re:No notice, no reference (Score 1) 892
It's precisely that interpretation that leads many companies to set a policy of only verifying employment, regardless of how good or bad an employee was.
Comment Re:Trucking? (Score 2) 91
you'll have "simulators" over in China, India, wherever filled with remote drivers.
That might cause a bit of a latency problem. Plus it adds the risk that the next time a ship drags anchor on an undersea cable, several thousand trucks crash. Oops...
Comment Re:surprise (Score 1) 95
If only there was a button for that.
New 'Academic Redshirt' For Engineering Undergrads at UW 147
vinces99 writes "Redshirting isn't just for athletes anymore. The University of Washington and Washington State University are collaborating on an 'academic redshirt' program that will bring dozens of low-income Washington state high school graduates to the two universities to study engineering in a five-year bachelor's program. The first year will help those incoming freshmen acclimate to university-level courses and workload and prepare to major in an engineering discipline."
Comment Re:Easy. (Score 1) 288
Supercalafragalisticexpialadoshus
The Most Detailed Images of Uranus' Atmosphere Ever 105
New submitter monkeyhybrid writes "The Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla reports on the most detailed images of Uranus ever taken. The infrared sensitivity of the ground based Keck II telescope's NIRC2 instrument enabled astronomers to see below the high level methane based atmosphere that has hampered previous observations, and with unprecedented clarity. If you ever thought Uranus was a dull blue looking sphere then look again; you could easily mistake these images for being of Jupiter!"
Comment Re:Causation was a tool of the Nazis. (Score 1) 223
Apparently today's Godwin number is 10.
Comment Re:Maybe (Score 5, Funny) 223
Then there's this: http://xkcd.com/925/
Comment Re:Interweb (Score 1) 412
Actually, I believe, interwebs is a singular collective noun. Therefore the correctness of is/are depends on which version of English you prefer.
Comment Re:Yes, but other than that, how did you like it? (Score 0) 453
'Master Bates', is what we called little Norman, before he put on momma's dress.
Comment Re:maybe invent a (Score 1) 86
I haven't done the math, but I think you'd have to eject something roughly the size of Australia for the effect on Earth's orbit to even be measurable.
Huge Freshwater Bulge In Arctic Ocean 382
New submitter turkeyfish writes "UK scientists are reporting today in the journal Nature Geoscience that a huge bulge of freshwater is forming in the Western Arctic Ocean caused by a large gyre of freshwater. The gyre appears to indicate that the ice is becoming thin enough over the Arctic Ocean that the wind is beginning to affect the motion of water under the ice. A sudden release of this water or its emergence to the surface will greatly accelerate the melting of the remaining polar oceanic ice and likely alter oceanic circulation in the North Atlantic."
Comment Re:HA! AT LAST! (Score 1) 94
Well he did just sing at the Apollo.
Sunspot Tosses Plasma Cloud Toward Earth 94
parallel_prankster writes "The Washington Post reports that a huge sunspot unleashed a blob of charged plasma Thursday that space weather watchers predict will blast past the Earth on Sunday. Satellite operators and power companies are keeping a close eye on the incoming cloud, which could distort the Earth's magnetic field and disrupt radio communications, especially at higher latitudes. The huge blob of charged gas spotted by NASA satellites is speeding toward Earth at more than 2 million mph. The most damaging solar discharges, which are very rare, can move at speeds more than twice that fast. Here's a more detailed article with some animation."
