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Comment: Re:All of worlds music just for $26 million (Score 2) 184

by olsmeister (#43573407) Attached to: iTunes Store Turns 10
No. As a non-mathematician, but someone who is pretty good at simple arithmetic, you could invest that $26,000,000 and if you could get a 5% return, that's $1.3M per year, or $25k per week.
For that, I could have a string quartet at my house every night, a pretty decent rock band live every weekend, or if I was busy for a week or two I could buy a new car instead.
And still leave $26M to my kids.

+ - Sentate to vote on Internet Sales Tax (for real this time)->

Submitted by JoeyRox
JoeyRox writes "On 3/22 the Senate approved (http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/295115-senate-poised-to-back-internet-sales-tax) a non-binding proposal to allow states to tax online sales to residents outside their state. That vote was a trial balloon to gauge the support for the Marketplace Fairness Act. This week Reid filed a cloture (http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/295115-senate-poised-to-back-internet-sales-tax) to allow the law to be voted on for real this time. The vote may occur as soon as tomorrow. eBay is attempting to rally Americans against the bill via a massive email campaign (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/21/ebay-online-sales-tax_n_3127098.html?utm_hp_ref=business)."
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+ - Low Levels Of Toxic Gas Found To Encourage Plant Growth->

Submitted by olsmeister
olsmeister writes "Hydrogen Sulfide is a toxic, flammable, foul-smelling gas that some theorize may have been at least partially responsible for some of Earth's mass extinctions, including the Permian-Triassic event, which killed well over half of the species on the planet. Now, thanks to a fortuitous accident, doctoral student at the University of Washington seems to have discovered that very low doses of the gas seems to greatly enhance plant growth, causing plants to germinate more quickly and grow larger. The finding could have far reaching implications for both food and biofuel production."
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Comment: Re:It's beautiful if you get a chance to see it... (Score 2) 67

by olsmeister (#43444033) Attached to: Aurora Borealis Likely To Be Visible In Southern NY and PA Tonight
I went to college in Houghton, MI (way up north) and on the night of March 13th, 1989 we were walking back to our dorm from a parking lot and the auroras were so insane I couldn't even believe what I was seeing. They covered the entire northern half of the sky, with greens, reds, and violets rippling through them. I've never seen anything like it before or since but I consider myself very lucky to have been coming back from the bar at that particular time on that particular night. I'm still in Michigan, but after a quick check right now we currently have bubkus.

Comment: Re:How did they come to that anyhow? (Score 2) 31

by olsmeister (#43433861) Attached to: Mystery Meteorite May Not Be From Mercury After All
I think they check the composition and based on the types and quantities of minerals that are present, they can get an idea of what temperature environment the parent asteroid was formed in and hence its approximate distance from the sun. I'm sure they're not guessing based on color.

Comment: Cut off the node to spite the face (Score 2) 306

by olsmeister (#43402133) Attached to: Fox, Univision May Go Subscription To Stop Aereo
Going subsciption only would turn them from one of the 'Big 4' networks to just another cable channel, like TNT or Discovery. I can't believe that this would be good for their ratings or advertising revenue. I guess they could try to demand premium pricing, like ESPN, but they might not have as much luck with that as they think.

I fail to see why these companies don't have a problem blasting their signal free out into the ether for anyone to receive, but the instant you try to blast it free into the internet for anyone to see, suddenly all the executives start lawyering up.

+ - Lawmakers Propose Revisions to CISPA to Ease Privacy Concerns->

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes "Backers of the controversial Cyber Intelligence and Sharing Protection Act (CISPA), said they would propose amendments to the bill, under which Internet companies can give the government information about what they see as potential security threats and they are protected from liability for providing the information.

The measure has provoked a storm of protests, with civil libertarians claiming such laws could allow too much government snooping and conservatives say they would create new bureaucracy.

The lawmakers claim to be listening to those concerns, but explained that the issue has become more pressing recently with revelations about new cyber threats.
Greg Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology said the changes failed to address one key concern — that information could be accessed by the NSA. The lawmakers said they would insert a more narrow definition of national security in the bill.

Lawmakers are expected to meet Wednesday to vote on the issue, which passed the House last year but died in the Senate."
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Q: What is the difference between a duck? A: One leg is both the same.

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