Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Microsoft

Submission + - Photos of Chinese sweatshop used by Microsoft. (dailymail.co.uk) 1

MongooseCN writes: The image Microsoft doesn't want you to see: Too tired to stay awake. These Chinese workers earn just 34p an hour (about 52 cents in US dollars), work 15 hours shifts and deal with other abuses to package US made products.
Hardware Hacking

Newcastle Maker Faire 2010 27

krou writes "The BBC covered the most recent Newcastle Maker Faire, an event which Slashdot first covered last year. From racing power tools, to making music using electric sparks, or a robot that solves the Rubik's Cube in 20 seconds, makers, crafters and hackers were out in force. YouTube has a selection of videos available, and there are some pics on Flickr. And, while it may not be a hover board, there was a self-balancing skateboard."

Comment Re:health insurance is like auto insurance now (Score 1) 2424

And you haven't done much homework on being an Immigration Sponsor. Thanks to all the ultra-conservative everything-for-me'ists out there, anyone involved in the immigration process is required to sign a waiver guaranteeing that they will not accept any public or private aid for the entire time they are involved in the immigration process (and since my wife and I plan on staying married, that would mean until one of us dies). Basically, that means that I cannot receive and government subsidies. If I do, they will kick my wife out of the country, to put it quite simply.

Comment Re:health insurance is like auto insurance now (Score 1) 2424

hmmm sacrifice... I have a $10 Tracfone that costs me about $15/month to make all of the calls I need. Since my second job is OnForce, I HAVE to have a cell phone (and, hence, the Internet). That $15 includes my business-related calls, so a landline (at $25/mo + $69 setup, here) would be a large waste of money. I've never had trouble caused by my cell not working, so that 'safety net' would be a complete waste of income. The only dialup available here without incurring long distance fees costs around $20/month. So yeah, my snail-racer cable is the cheapest option available to me.
Oh, and in my original post, I forgot to mention that I would like a diet of Kraft. I have 'Great Value' $.55 mac'n'cheese at least 3 meals a week. And $.10 Maruchan Ramen typically at least twice. So don't talk to me about needing to make sacrifices for the better good of mankind. After all, I've been to the doctor once in the last 10 years (and it cost me $250 for him to give me prescription for cough medicine for my chronic sinus condition I've had all my life). Sure, medical reform is sorely needed... but fining me for not having insurance is ridiculous. There are people out here living in a grand a month. Before taxes.

Comment Re:health insurance is like auto insurance now (Score 2, Insightful) 2424

That's what the parent said; I get to keep my house and food. I never claimed to have a TV [of any size] or high-speed Internet (although I am forced to pay $38/mo for 256kpbs cable Internet. I'd just use the library WiFi, except my second job requires I have Internet access, and I don't have a phone [except a Tracfone], so this is cheaper than Dialup). I'd hardly call my $2 jeans from Goodwill 'fancy'. I work two jobs, and I've signed an agreement with Immigration (because my wife is from Canukland) that I will never accept any public assistance program. I'm already living paycheck to paycheck, and can't afford $700/year for a fine, or any non-subsidized insurance. Thanks, B.O., for driving my family into debt.

Submission + - Mass Produced Mini-Nukes? (publicradio.org)

An anonymous reader writes: Marketplace aired an interesting article about the possibility of decentralized "mini nukes" being used to provide power for towns or small cities. Based on designs for nuclear submarines, these reactors could prove to be a more economical solution for allowing nuclear power to become for widespread. By using a modular, mass-produced design costs for nuclear power could fall dramatically. The main corporate website for the reactors can be found here: http://www.babcock.com/products/modular_nuclear/ .
Earth

Submission + - Are We Ready for a Solar Radiation Katrina? 1

Hugh Pickens writes: "Every few decades, the sun experiences a particularly large storm that can release as much energy as 1 billion hydrogen bombs. Now NPR reports that an exercise held in Boulder, Colorado, has investigated what might happen if the Earth were struck by a solar storm as intense as the huge storms that occurred in 1921 and 1859 — a sort of solar Katrina — and that researchers found that the impact is likely to be far worse than in previous solar storms because of our growing dependence on satellites and other electronic devices that are vulnerable to electromagnetic radiation. "In many ways, the impact of a major solar storm resembles that of a hurricane or an earthquake," says FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate except a solar Katrina would cause damage in a much larger area than any natural disaster e.g. power could be knocked out almost simultaneously in countries from Sweden to Canada and the US so a lot more people in a lot more places would need help. In the exercise, the first sign of trouble came when radiation began disrupting radio signals and GPS devices, says Tom Bogdan, who directs the Space Weather Prediction Center. Ten or 20 minutes later electrically charged particles "basically took out" most of the commercial satellites that transmit telephone conversations, TV shows and huge amounts of data we depend on in our daily lives. But the worst damage came nearly a day later, when the solar storm began to induce electrical currents in high voltage power lines strong enough to destroy transformers around the globe leaving millions of people in northern latitudes without power. "It's one of those events that is of low probability but high consequence," says Dr. Roberta Balstad, a research scientist with Columbia University's Center for Research on Environmental Decisions. "The consequences could be extreme.""

Comment Re:no pressure sensitive stylus? (Score 1) 123

Someone mod the parent up, this is the most spot-on comment here. Why do you need pressure sensitive touch when pressure sensitivity is for capturing handwriting, which is most naturally done with a stylus, which can commonly support sensitivity with current technology?
For a perfect example of this, check out the LifeBook T-4310 or T-4410.

Comment Re:Theory versus reality. (Score 1) 1324

Wow, that sounds like a really bad testimony for homeschooling. Of course, I've heard bad testimonies before -- from both sides of the fence. Speaking as a homeschool graduate, I can give you a great testimony for homeschooling (and tell you that from what you wrote, my parents had a much different approach than yours, which may or may not relate to why the outcomes were different); I had friends, I socialized with others at homeschool group events on a weekly basis, and after graduating, I've held multiple jobs that required constant social interaction. My wife, on the other hand, went to public school K-12, and refuses to work in any job that requires any serious social contact. I've also known personally several people who did very poorly with public school, had no friends, and were fairly suicidal. Should we use them as examples of why public education is bad?
My point is that there are many variables; you can't use one case to define an entire group. I know several reasons why homeschooling has benefited many people; I also know reasons why some people prefer public institutions. Ultimately, however, it is up to the individual; to take away one's freedom to homeschool (as Germany and many other countries have done) is an encroachment on human rights.

Slashdot Top Deals

"Protozoa are small, and bacteria are small, but viruses are smaller than the both put together."

Working...