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Submission + - Small asteroid burns up over Atlantic Ocean

Submitted by The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: On Feb. 6, an asteroid roughly 6 meters across burned up over the Atlantic Ocean, exploding like a 10 kiloton bomb. Although this was the largest event since the Chelyabinsk superbolide in 2013 (which injured 1000+ people), there were no witnesses. It happened 1000 km off the coast of Brazil, and was reported by the military, though it's unclear how they detected it.

Comment Re:Too much current (Score 1) 295

by N3TW4LK3R (#43767327) Attached to: Charge Your Cellphone In 20 Seconds (Eventually)
Actually, the GP is right about 380 amps. To charge a 2.1Ah battery, you need 2.1/3600*20 amps at the battery's voltage.

You're also right in saying that your household power supply can easily take it at high voltage, but you must take into account the conversion to low voltage too.

The charging equipment would simply be huge and the cable and plug would be ridiculously impractical at 380A.

You'd need something in this order of magnitude :)
http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/575796945/GENUINE-ANDERSON-SB-350A-600V-POWER-CONNECTOR-WITH-2-0-AGW-CONTACTS.jpg
Quickies

Submission + - How to prove someone is female?

Submitted by krou
krou writes: Caster Semenya won the 800m at the World Athletics Championship in blistering style leaving her competitors in the dust, but she has been thrown into the midst of a scandal amidst claims that she's not really a woman. According to press reports (there are many), she's believed to shave, is flat chested, has a very masculine physique, previously preferred playing physical games with boys, and shunned traditional female activities and clothing. Questions about her gender have followed her entire career. Previously, acceptance that she was a women relied on simple inspection of female genitals. However, according to other reports, the IAAF claim that they want to conduct further tests to see if 'she may have a rare medical condition that gives her an unfair advantage.' An IAAF spokesmen noted that 'The [testing] process was started after Semenya made her startling breakthroughs — a 25-second improvement at 1500m and eight seconds at 800m, just some weeks ago.' I'm curious what /.ers think: what can be considered proof of someone being male or female? Is it simply a case of having the right genitals, or is there some other criteria that should be used? Is the IAAF right in claiming that someone should be prevented from competing because they have a rare medical or genetic advantage?
Earth

Submission + - Cleaner air leads to heat increase in Europe (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by SpuriousLogic
SpuriousLogic writes: Quite what Keats would have made of it is anyone's guess, but "mist and mellow fruitfulness" appears to be on the decline in Europe.
The number of foggy, misty and hazy days is diminishing across the continent, say scientists who have analysed the meteorological data.
The researchers found this clearing of the air in the past 30 years may have amplified the warming of Europe.
They report their findings in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Government

Submission + - DHS believes blogs are for terrorists

Submitted by MirrororriM
MirrororriM writes: An article at USA Today shows The Department of Homeland Security believes that "Blogging and message boards have played a substantial role in allowing communication among those who would do the United States harm," the department said in a recent notice. "I just can't envision a scenario where somebody posts to a message board, 'I'm getting ready to launch an IED at this location,' and the government will find that," said terrorism analyst Matt Devost. This combined with the U.S. preparing itself for massive civil disorder makes me wonder how much longer until we are completely a police state?
Linux Business

Submission + - Need Quickbooks for Linux? Intuit is listening. (intuit.ca)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: From the Quickbooks product suggestion board:

Ron Said:
"It is unlikely that we will ever move to Windows Vista. Instead we will stick with XP for as long as we can and switch to Linux within the next couple of years. When will QuickBooks be available for Linux?"

Eric@Intuit said:
"QuickBooks is currently designed to run only on Windows operating system platform. As for the Linux platform, there are no words on whether it will be supported or not. I'll throw in a suggestion for the Product Development Team."
The Internet

Submission + - Canadian Police Tolerate Piracy

Submitted by
headkase
headkase writes: "Torrentfreak brings word that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have stated that they are not that interested in pursuing piracy in the case of personal use. Another link to offset the slashdot effect. And a link in Canada's other official language: French. Considering Canadians already pay levies on blank media to compensate publishers for piracy loss, do you believe this is a positive or negative development?"
Media

Submission + - Commander Taco: Lord of the Geeks

Submitted by
BStorm
BStorm writes: "Commander Taco was interviewed for the November issue of IEEE Spectrum

One thing that comes out of the article is that he does have the perfect job. Heres to another 10+ years of slashdot. Bill"
Cellphones

How Not to Build a Cellphone 326

Posted by CmdrTaco from the now-seriously dept.
Jamie found an NYT story about a new t-mobile Shadow phone which starts off by talking about how Apple is changing the phone game by wrestling power from the carriers, and then discussing what could be a reasonable piece of hardware. And then how it is wrecked by software. The phone has wait screens, a task manager, odd error messages etc. Makes for an amusing read.

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