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Submission + - Protests mounts against new surveillance laws (zdnet.com)

An anonymous reader writes: New revelations about Ministerial orders requiring backdoors into online services in New Zealand are fueling nationwide protests against new surveillance powers to be granted to the Government Communications Services Bureau. Speaking at one large protest meeting, Kim Dotcom described the "Five Eyes" X-Keyscore surveillance system as "Google for spies". He told protesters he first noticed he was being spied on when his internet speed slowed by "20 to 30 milliseconds". "As a gamer, I noticed," he said.

Submission + - RINGS propels satellites without propellants (gizmag.com)

cylonlover writes: Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are testing a new propulsion system ... inside the station. While this might seem like the height of recklessness, this particular system doesn't use rockets or propellants. Developed in the University of Maryland's Space Power and Propulsion Laboratory, this new electromagnetic propulsion technology called the Resonant Inductive Near-field Generation System (RINGS) uses magnetic fields to move spacecraft as a way to increase service life and make satellite formation flying more practical.

Comment Re:What Google doesn't like, it replaces... (Score 4, Insightful) 63

Bug finders now still get paid. but those who don't reveal everything Google wants do not.

True, and I don't think they are unreasonable to demand the full exploit when they are paying for it. I don't necessarily always agree with Google's approach but I think it's good that they man up and pay for the bugs. I wish more companies would do that.

Comment Re:rm -i (Score 1) 271

I now alias "r" as "rm -i". "r" by itself does not have default behavior on most computers.

I have a friend that used to alias "r" for "rm" and "e" for "emacs". Once he had to restore his thesis from day or two old backup he stopped doing that :)

Comment Re:Not so fast... (Score 2) 172

it's not unusual for a program to:

- Create a new file.
- Dump the data into the new file.
- Rename the old file.
- Rename the new file so it has the same name as the old one.
- Delete the old file.

This. Some of the more recent applications may replace last three steps with atomic rename so that new file replaces the old one. Linux has supported atomic rename already for a good while and so do Vista and later versions of Windows. Even after this data from the old file and new file are still retained on disk, even though space used for the old file will be marked 'free'.

Comment Re:Landing (Score 1) 379

Before I go any further, I am a pilot. [...] Final approach and landing is the single most dangerous operation performed by pilots

I have to say I'm surprised about that statement. Here I thought that being on final would set you up nicely for the landing; you'd be already lined up with the runway, most probably well positioned on the glideslope and more or less ready to take anything. Lose an engine and dead-sticking it down shouldn't be a problem.

I'd call take-off the most dangerous stage of the flight. You are just about the leave the runway, if you lose the power too many inexperienced pilots will try to make the "impossible turn" and make it back to the runway they departed. During and immediately after the take-off you don't have altitude, you are usually out of position and have limited number of outs to take if something goes wrong.

"Altitude above you, runway behind you and fuel on the ground don't do you any good." Now, if you take the lasers into the equations it doesn't change the fact that additional risk is the same in both of the cases. Losing your sight on the take off is just as bad and during the landing - same thing goes for being momentarily distracted. VFR pilots are notoriously bad at maintaining the level flight when the lose sight of the horizon. Controlled Flight Into Terrain is just as deadly no matter whether just after the take off or just before landing. It is still worth remembering that the baseline risk is higher on the takeoff.

Comment Re:Not really (Score 1) 327

USPA suggest that skydivers should pre-breath 100% oxygen for 30 minutes before take off for jumps with exit altitude is above 25000ft MSL, so well within range of commercial airlines and to some extent, general aviation. Difference between climbing Everest and rapid decompression of an plane is that there is no time to acclimatize. Above 25k most of the people will be affected by hypoxia almost immediately and would be in risk of DCS. Logic is the same as for why scuba divers ascend slowly at end of the dive to avoid DCS. My comparison of the risks was limited to DCS, obviously parachute would help the survival a bit.Usefulness of the parachute may be limited by hypoxia which may lead to unconsciousness - even though person may recover in the freefall once they have reached lower altitudes, as has happened with high-altitude skydivers.
Japan

Submission + - The Current Status of Japan's Reactors (tepco.co.jp)

Xenographic writes: There's so much panic over Japan's nuclear power plant malfunctions that a lot of misinformation has started showing up in the media from people who don't know anything about BWR safety systems or even what a Sievert is. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has been issuing detailed reports concerning the status of each of the reactors and the operations they're performing on each. Fukushima Daiichi has all six units shut down and everyone within 10km has been asked to evacuate. That's the same plant where the explosion took place, which experts believe to have been caused by built-up hydrogen. Also, before the explosion near unit 1, one worker, who was working on that same unit was accidentally exposed to 106.3mSv of radiation and hospitalized. Fukushima Daini currently has all four units shut down and everyone within 3km of it has been evacuated, while those within 10km are on standby. Kashiwazaki Kariwa is still up, with four of its seven units active and the other three undergoing regular inspections. Several other non-nuclear plants and power substations have been shut down as well. This leaves about 600k people in the area without power.

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