flipper9 - Slashdot User

Natural Gas "Cleaning" Extracts Valuable Waste Carbon 73

Posted by timothy on Tuesday May 05, 2009 @09:22AM from the i'll-take-it-black dept.

Al writes "There's been a lot of focus on "clean coal" lately, but a Canadian start-up called Atlantic Hydrogen is developing a way to make natural gas more environmentally friendly. The process involves using a plasma reactor to separate hydrogen and methane in the gas. The procedure also turns carbon emissions into high-purity carbon black, a substance that is used to make inks, plastics and reinforced rubber products. Utility companies could potentially sell the carbon black, making the process more financially attractive."

Google Mows With Goats 466

Posted by samzenpus on Monday May 04, 2009 @02:30PM from the google-goats-gruff dept.

Kelson writes "Google's Mountain View headquarters has fields that need to be kept clear of fire hazards. This year instead of mowing them, they took a low-carbon approach: they hired a herd of goats to eat the grass for a week. 'It costs us about the same as mowing, and goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers,' wrote Dan Hoffman."

Comment We've heard this same song for years (Score 0, Redundant) 266

by flipper9 on Thursday April 30, 2009 @05:51PM (#27779617) Attached to: ARIN Letter Says Two More Years of IPv4

Every few months, another prediction comes out that IPv4 is doomed and that we are going to run out of addresses. Those dire predictions never come true, and the predicted date keeps getting extended. When are we truly going to run out? Nobody knows. What will happen is that IPv6 won't become a priority until things start breaking. That's just how it goes.

Comment Will this work with the Apple iCar? (Score 3, Funny) 369

by flipper9 on Wednesday April 22, 2009 @10:56AM (#27674793) Attached to: Developing Battery Replacement Infrastructure For Electric Cars

In future news, Apple announces the release of their new, sleek iCar! With touch-screen capabilities, smooth acceleration, and lots of eye candy. Better Place, however has been stymied by the fact that the iCar's batter is sealed and hidden inside of the frame of the car, and cannot be swapped out. Millions of iCar fans can only hope to travel 250 miles and struggle to find their lost iCar charging adapters, while Microsoft and PC-maker made Windows-Roadsters take advantage of the Better Place swapping program.

gCar and kCar enthusists, while having the first electric cars out there can be seen at the side of the road, can be seen hand-wiring in their own D-cell battery replacements every 100 feet, soldering gun in hand.

Scientists Begin Mapping the Brain 129

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 07, 2009 @04:06PM from the writing-it-down-in-silicon dept.

Raindance writes "A team at the University of Utah has unveiled a system to map and digitize brain tissue — thus fulfilling one of the long-standing holy grails of neuroscience and enabling for the first time in-depth analysis of how mammalian neural networks function. So far, maps for the entire retina and related neural networks have been released; no ETA on a full-brain digital reconstruction yet. (One of the lead authors hangs out here on Slashdot.)"

Why Every Office Needs an Outsider 81

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday April 07, 2009 @03:46PM from the he-put-my-stapler-in-Jell-O-again dept.

Research has shown that having an oddball team member not only gives you someone to make fun of, but also leads to better decision making. Researcher Katie Liljenquist, says having "socially distinct newcomers" on a team can help it perform at a higher level. Team tension is crucial, and shaking up the same old crowd is the way to create it. "You can imagine if you work in an office and you've got this outsider like Dwight Schrute who walks in and a lot of his ideas resonate with you. Your fellow in-group members are hearing this and thinking, 'Wait, you agree with Dwight?' That can be really uncomfortable and socially threatening," she says.

Comment Dorthy? (Score 4, Funny) 112

by flipper9 on Tuesday April 07, 2009 @03:02PM (#27493785) Attached to: Largest High-Tech Tornado Chase Set To Begin

Will this be the Dorthy I or the Dorthy II?

Largest High-Tech Tornado Chase Set To Begin 112

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 07, 2009 @02:58PM from the just-a-big-blowhard dept.

coondoggie writes "Next month, with the help of a variety of high-tech gear, researchers will begin a wide-ranging project to better understand the origin, structure and evolution of tornadoes. The National Science Foundation has given $9.1 million to the project called Vortex2 (of course it has a convoluted backronym), which will take place from May 10-June 13. Researchers say Vortex2 is the largest attempt in history to study tornadoes, and will involve more than 50 scientists, 40 research vehicles, and 10 mobile radars, and will cover 900 square miles in southern South Dakota, western Iowa, eastern Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, the Texas panhandle, and western Oklahoma."

Apple Patent Claim Threatens To Block Or Delay W3C 332

Posted by timothy on Tuesday April 07, 2009 @01:20PM from the broad-patents-big-problems dept.

Kelson writes "The W3C Widget specification is running into a problem: Apple claims a patent on automatic updates and is unwilling to license it royalty-free in the event that it impacts the spec. The W3C is investigating to determine whether the spec includes anything covered by the patent, and decide what to do."

Happy 40th Birthday, Internet RFCs 58

Posted by timothy on Tuesday April 07, 2009 @12:34PM from the more-pigeons-what-say-ye dept.

WayHomer was one of several readers to point out the 40th birthday of an important tool in the formation of the Internet, and a look back at it by the author of the first of many. "Stephen Crocker in the New York Times writes, 'Today is an important date in the history of the Internet: the 40th anniversary of what is known as the Request for Comments (RFC).' 'RFC1 — Host Software' was published 40 years ago today, establishing a framework for documenting how networking technologies and the Internet itself work. Distribution of this memo is unlimited."

Beware the Perils of Caffeine Withdrawal 700

Posted by timothy on Tuesday April 07, 2009 @11:50AM from the to-make-a-grown-man-cry dept.

palegray.net writes "CNN is running an article on the notorious effects of caffeine withdrawal, a problem that seems to be affecting an increasing number of people. Citing numerous reasons why people might need to cut back on their caffeine intake (pregnancy, pre-surgery requirements, etc), the story notes a significant number of people who are simply unable to quit. I drink around eight cups of coffee a day, along with a soda or two, and I definitely suffer from nasty withdrawal symptoms without my fix."

Solar Powered Car Can Get Close To 60 mph 119

Posted by timothy on Tuesday April 07, 2009 @11:32AM from the australians-still-on-about-transportation dept.

Jason Sahler writes with this excerpt from Inhabit: "The World Solar Challenge across the Australian outback is coming up, and we're already seeing some truly incredible vehicles going for the gold. Take the Bethany, a solar powered vehicle designed by Cambridge University students. The vehicle is capable of achieving close to 60 miles per hour. Doesn't sound too impressive? Try doing it by using the power required to run a hairdryer."

Obama Administration Defends Warrantless Wiretapping 788

Posted by timothy on Tuesday April 07, 2009 @11:08AM from the high-moral-ground-is-a-grassy-knoll dept.

a whoabot writes "The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Obama administration has stepped in to defend AT&T in the case over their participation in the warrantless wiretapping program started by Bush. The Obama administration argues that that continuation of the case will lead to the disclosure of important 'state secrets.' The Electronic Frontier Foundation has described the action as an 'embrace' of the Bush policy." Update: 04/07 15:18 GMT by T : Glenn Greenwald of Salon has up an analysis of this move, including excerpts from the actual brief filed. Excerpt: "This brief and this case are exclusively the Obama DOJ's, and the ample time that elapsed — almost three full months — makes clear that it was fully considered by Obama officials."

Comment A kid might put it in their mouth? (Score 1) 4

by flipper9 on Wednesday March 04, 2009 @05:42PM (#27069799) Attached to: Woman Discovers Nokia Phone In Her Bag Of Chips

She's concerned that a child might have put the phone in their mouth? It's huge! I'd be more concerned about smaller stuff that might get lodged in their throat, than them sucking on a giant cellphone.

Comment This will only result in hurting the disabled (Score 1) 370

by flipper9 on Saturday February 28, 2009 @11:53AM (#27023067) Attached to: Amazon Caves On Kindle 2 Text-To-Speech

This will only result in hurting the disabled who rely on text-to-speech to enable them to read books and print publications.

Nobody in their right mind would want to listen to text-to-speech generated audio versus human-read books. I tried listening to a PDF once while in the car, and I couldn't stand it. I would have gladly paid for an audio-book of the same material. This would not have impacted their "business" as much as they thought.

What will happen now is that publishers will make their material inaccessible to the disabled because not every book is available in audio-book format.

Just shows you how far business goes to further greed instead of producing quality products, and being a part of a profession. Thumbs down to those in the author's guild. Very unprofessional IMHO.

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