Comment Re: Unbelievably Stupid Bastards (Score 1) 87
I thought you'd go in this direction with xkcd reference https://xkcd.com/927/, but I like yours, too.
Comment Thank Heavens (Score 1) 163
That the readers of /. aren't 'tards like the people over at The Register. Gives me hope that there are people who accept the totality of science rather than selectively pick their theories.
Comment Re:A Defense of Abortion (Score 1) 1469
I would. Then again, I spend most of my waking hours inert anyhow. I could also score free tickets to the 2013/2014 concert season.
Comment Re:Memory Alpha (Score 1) 109
I remember this. It was a $500 digital thermometer, barometer and it came with an instruction manual on CD, which was huge at the time. I wonder how many D-Cells in ran on.
Submission + - The Surge of Civil Unrest in Post-Fukushima Japan (thebulletin.org)
__aaqpaq9254 writes: Daniel P. Aldrich documents the surging civil dissent in Japan, post-Fukushima. Here's a quote: "Tens of thousands filled the square as the echoes of the speaker at the podium boomed through huge speakers. Some came in anger, others in grief, but all agreed: It was time for a change. Many carried banners, others carried drums; some had taken their children out of school to attend. No, this wasn't Tahrir Square; it was Tokyo, Japan..."
Submission + - Nanowire Forests Use Sunlight To Split Water (ieee.org) 1
An anonymous reader writes: One of the fundamental problems with fuel cells has been the cost of producing hydrogen. While hydrogen is, of course, the most abundant element, it attaches itself to other elements like nitrogen or fluorine, and perhaps most ubiquitously to oxygen to create the water molecule. ... Now researchers at University of California, San Diego have developed a quite different approach to mimicking photosynthesis for splitting water molecules by using a 3D branched nanowire array that looks like a forest of trees. ... The nanowire forest [uses] the process of photoelectrochemical water-splitting to produce hydrogen gas. The method used by the researchers, which was published in the journal Nanoscale (abstract), found that the forest structure of the nanowires, which has a massive amount of surface area, not only captured more light than flat planar designs, but also produced more hydrogen gas.
Comment 2012 II (Score 1) 412
Whatever we do, don't let Roland Emmerich and Harald Kloser find out about this, or they'll be making another over-financed, poorly-written, badly-acted, scientifically-laughable movie about it. Oh, phew, Michael Bay already beat them to it.
Submission + - Ralph McQuarrie, Darth Vader Designer, Dead at 82 (empireonline.com)
Dominus Suus writes: The concept artist who designed iconic figures in the Star Wars Trilogy, ET, Battlestar Galactica, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park and Star Trek IV, has passed away at 82. Originally a technical illustrator for Boeing in the 1960s, McQuarrie expanded into film and television. Then-unknown-director George Lucas hired McQuarrie in 1975 to design the characters who would become C-3P0, R2-D2, Chewbacca, Yoda and Darth Vader. In 1985 he shared the Academy Award for Visual Effects for his work in Ron Howard's Cocoon. He is survived by his wife Joan.
Submission + - The man who designed Darth Vader dies. (io9.com)
therufus writes: It's a sad day for the concept art world. Ralph McQuarrie, the artist who created concept designs for the first Star Wars trilogy, the original Battlestar Galactica television show, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., and other science fiction classics, has passed away at age 82. He set our minds on fire and made so many of us fall in love with science fiction. He'll be missed.
Comment Maybe it's what happens to... (Score 1) 212
Macbooks when their batteries explode. They get refurbished as 'stoves.' The leaking lithium adds taste and builds strong bones.
Comment Ground rules (Score 1) 292
If you're going to flame, at least quote something scientific and peer reviewed. I'm sick to death of these people citing The Economist and Newsweek and Time and, God forbid, The Register, when they go on tirades. There are a lot of facts in this world so there's no need to make up your own information.
Comment The problem is with the employees (Score 1) 744
The issue is not the prison-like dorms, abmysally low pay, lack of social interraction or pathetic employee support at Foxconn factories. The real problem is that workers have grown used to working under the Microsoft Windows system. The Foxconn model of working is far more intuitive and natural.
Comment Re:Finally (Score 1) 165
Careful Rogers, if you don't play by the rules you may get a stern talking to!
Comment Apple never makes mistakes (Score 3, Funny) 443
FCP users are used to doing things the 'Windows' way. When they learn why Apple removed all of those features, they'll realise that having to change their entire workflow and implement a bunch of clumsy workarounds will make them far more efficient than before. Besides, the features that have been dropped nobody ever uses anyway.
Comment Re:Unsuitable for outdoor use in wind (Score 1) 67
If you're going to keep the Parrot indoors, you have to be sure to nail it to its perch or it'll muscle up to those bars and VROOM
