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tcd004 (134130)

tcd004
  (email not shown publicly)
http://www.smalltownmisfit.com/
Yahoo! ID: tcd004 (Add User, Send Message)

tcd004 (134130)

  The Perils of Interstellar Trade[->] 2008-03-06 15:56 tcd004

Submitted by tcd004 on Thursday March 06, @03:56PM
tcd004 writes "What challenges will economic trade face in a future era of interstellar travel? Interplanetary trade could be one of the primary economic drivers for space exploration in the future, but the potential problems are by no means minor. Perishable goods won't weather long voyages and alien races might not even understand the concept of trade. In the latest issue of Astropolitics, political scientist John Hickman thinks where no social scientist has thunk before in his new article, "Problems of Interplanetary and Interstellar Trade." (only in print)"
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/8348
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 [+] submission, space

  Could Geoengineering be used as a Weapon? 2008-01-29 04:23 tcd004

Submitted by tcd004 on Tuesday January 29, @04:23AM
tcd004 writes "Geoengineering presents more than just an environmental question. It also presents a geopolitical dilemma. With processes of this magnitude and degree of uncertainty, countries would inevitably argue over control, costs, and liability for mistakes. More troubling, however, is the possibility that states may decide to use geoengineering efforts and technologies as weapons. Two factors make this a danger we dismiss at our peril: the unequal impact of climate changes, and the ability of small states and even nonstate actors to attempt geoengineering.

It wouldn't be the first time states looked at the environment as a weapon. In the early 1970s, the Pentagon's Project Popeye attempted to use cloud seeding to increase the strength of monsoons and bog down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In 1996, a group of Air Force and Army officers working with the Air Force 2025 program produced a document titled "Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025""
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 [+] submission, military

  Global Warming Can't Be Stopped[->] 2007-10-04 15:42 tcd004

Submitted by tcd004 on Thursday October 04 2007, @03:42PM
tcd004 writes "An article in Foriegn Policy argues that it is already to late to stop major climate change.

The mounting scientific evidence, coupled along with economic and political realities, increasingly suggests that humanity's opportunity to prevent, stop, or reverse the long-term impacts of climate change has slipped away....it would be irresponsible for us to count on an energy technology miracle to save the day.
The authors suggest that world governments begin taking drastic actions to prepare their populations for "a new world." What do you think?"
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3980
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 [+] submission, science, power, interesting
Submitted by MojoKid on Thursday October 04 2007, @03:42PM
MojoKid writes "When DirectX 10 was first introduced to the market by graphics manufacturers and subsequently supported by Windows Vista, it was generally understood that adoption by game developers was going to be more of a slow migration than a quick flip of a switch. That said, nearly a year later, the question is how far have we come? This in-depth HotHardware article showcases many of the most popular DX10-capable game engines, like Bioshock, World In Conflict, Call of Juarez, Lost Planet, and Company of Heroes, and features current image quality comparisons versus DX9 modes with each. The article also details performance levels across many of the more popular graphics cards, from both the mid-range and high-end. Digest all the data and you be the judge. Are we there yet?"
http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/The_State_of_DirectX_10__Image_Quality__Performance/
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 [+] submission, graphics, interesting, slownewsday, insightful, dupe
Submitted by tcd004 on Sunday May 20 2007, @08:11PM
tcd004 writes "Imagine sheer mountains of discarded Pentium III's, tractor trailers overflowing with discarded wall warts. Photojournalist Natalie Behring visited Guiyu, China and documented the world's biggest digital dump where, for $2 per day, the locals sort, disassemble and pulverize hundreds of tons of e-waste. The payoff is huge: computer waste contains 17 times more gold than gold ore, 40 times more copper than copper ore. But the detritus also leaches chemicals and metals into local water supplies."
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 [+] submission, hardware, business
  • Nothing More
Submitted by tcd004 on Monday May 07 2007, @11:48AM
tcd004 writes "F-Secure's Mikko Hypponen proposes an elegant solution to the problem of bank account phishing in the latest FP magazine. Hypponen thinks banks should have exclusive use of a new top level domain: .bank.

Registering new domains under such a top-level domain could then be restricted to bona fide financial organizations. And the price for the domain wouldn't be just a few dollars: It could be something like $50,000 — making it prohibitively expensive to most copycats. Banks would love this. They would move their existing online banks under a more secure domain in no time.
"
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 [+] submission, security
  • Nothing More

  The Coming Uranium Crisis 2007-03-27 20:09 tcd004

Submitted by tcd004 on Tuesday March 27 2007, @08:09PM
tcd004 writes "MIT reports that the world is running out of fuel for our nuclear reactors due to production limitations and an aging infrastructure. Nuclear power has gained popularity as a carbon-free energy source in recent years, but Dr. Thomas Neff, a research affiliate at MIT's Center for International Studies, warned that fuel scarcity could drive up prices and kill the industry before it gets back on its feet. Passport has pulled together some interesting numbers: there are 440 reactors currently in operation and 82 new plants under construction. The demand for fuel has driven the price of uranium up more than 40% in the last few months — 900% over the last decade. You can follow the spot price for a pound of uranium here."
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 [+] submission, power
  • Nothing More
Submitted by tcd004 on Friday March 09 2007, @12:23PM
tcd004 writes "How do you set up a cell network when there's no power grid? Namibia, India and Nigeria are building towers using localized power soucres to provide critical cell phone access to the most remote parts of their countries. Wind/solar hybrids, and biofuel power plants will power the radio towers, peripheral communications, and even the protective fencing around the installations."
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 [+] submission, power
  • Nothing More

  Is your website banned in China? 2007-02-28 12:24 tcd004

Submitted by tcd004 on Wednesday February 28 2007, @12:24PM
tcd004 writes "Is your site banned in China? FP Passport recently profiled a new online service, Greatfirewallofchina.org, which tests any website from a server based inside the Middle Kingdom, and reports back whether or not the page is available. Passport also notes that the Great Firewall reveals Chinese censorship whittles down websites to block out individual pages, instead of always applying a site-wide block. The site keeps a running log of each test so Censorship trends over time can be easily tracked."
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 [+] submission, censorship
  • Nothing More
Journal by sTeF on Wednesday February 07 2007, @05:47PM
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, spoke about how technology is transforming the world (and simultaneously being transformed by it) in yesterday's riveting keynote address at a Washington based thinktank. The juicy bits are via captured on youtube, so rtfa should be rather vtfa.
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 [+] journal, internet

  Dr. Schmidt Goes to Washington 2007-02-07 14:50 tcd004

Submitted by tcd004 on Wednesday February 07 2007, @02:50PM
tcd004 writes "Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, toured Washington, D.C. yesterday — but what was his agenda? Schmidt held several closed door meetings with lawmakers and delivered a keynote at an event for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Video excerpts of the his keynote reveal the struggles Google faces online regarding free speech, human rights, censorship, intellectual property, and how to be a good global citizen (notice how deftly Schmidt dodges the China issue). Clearly Google doesn't have a solution for all of these problems, yet. Also don't miss this Washington Post piece dissecting how little influence Google has in the nation's capital right now."
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 [+] submission, google
  • Nothing More
Submitted by tcd004 on Friday December 22 2006, @04:33PM
tcd004 writes "If I were a scientist, and I knew that global warming and the oil crisis were only flukes, I'd keep my mouth shut. Why? Because there is money to be made when you know something to be true that no one else believes. Here's my three step plan for getting wealthy fast, if you think that global warming is a hoax."
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 [+] submission, power
  • Nothing More

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