Comment Just knocked $30 off of mine and got more data (Score 1) 273
I dunno about everyone else, but AT&T not only just canceled the rest of my contract term, but also cut my bill by $30 and gave me 4GB more data.
Ice Age Fossils Found During Los Angeles Subway Exploration 64
An anonymous reader writes "During an exploratory dig to extend one of L.A.'s subway lines (yes! Los Angeles actually does have an underground), a host of fossils from the Ice Age were uncovered, including the skull of a sea lion. The dig site is close to the La Brea Tar Pits, where the preserved remains of various plants and animals were discovered in the early 1900s. The La Brea Tar Pit fossils are estimated to be between 11,000-55,000 years old, and the most common animals found were dire wolves."
Comment Re:Ivy League = theroy loaded classes with skill g (Score 1) 197
I went to Georgia Tech, and it certainly does NOT have the "ivy league" mentality. In fact the place prides itself on the practicality of its curriculum. The university actively engages industrial leaders to shape and form its curriculum to keep it current with demand.
I don't know what the deal is with the online Master's, though. I completed my attendance there when the Internet was just starting to take off, so I don't know if the same resources are available (like the Alumni mentoring program, etc...).
Google Faces Up To $5 Billion Fine From Competition Commission of India 89
An anonymous reader writes "Google is facing investigation by the Competition Commission of India and potentially faces fines up to 10% of its three-year average turnover. While Google has settled anti-trust cases in the U.S. and the European Union, India's competition regime does not have provisions for settlement process." From the Times of India article linked: "The complaint against Google, also one of the world's most valued company, was first filed by advocacy group CUTS International way back in late 2011. Later, matrimonial website matrimony.com also filed a complaint. Referring to Google's settlement with the European Commission, matrimony.com counsel Ferida Satarawala said: 'Google's unfair use of trademarks as well as its retaliatory conduct are not specifically addressed in the European settlement and are distinct theories of harm being pursued by the CCI. Therefore, this settlement is unlikely to address CCI's concerns in our case.'"
Exploding Oil Tank Cars: Why Trains Go Boom 144
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Marcus Stern and Sebastian Jones report on Bloomberg that as federal regulators continue investigating why tank cars on three trains carrying North Dakota crude oil have exploded in the past eight months, energy experts say part of the problem might be that some producers are deliberately leaving too much propane in their product, making the oil riskier to transport by rail. Sweet light crude from the Bakken Shale formation has long been known to be especially rich in volatile natural gas liquids like propane and while there's no way to completely eliminate natural gas liquids from crude, well operators are supposed to use separators at the wellhead to strip out gases before shipping the oil. The worry is that some producers are adjusting the pressure settings to leave in substantial amounts of natural gas liquids and purposefully selling their crude "fluffed up" with propane to maximize their profits." (Read more, below.)
20 Freescale Semiconductor Employees On Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 190
NeverVotedBush writes with news reported by CNN that a passenger manifest for the flight that went missing on its way from Malaysia to China indicates that "Twenty of the passengers aboard the flight work with Freescale Semiconductor, a company based in Austin, Texas. The company said that 12 of the employees are from Malaysia and eight are from China," and writes "Apparently, at least two passengers used stolen passports to board."
Eric Schmidt, Jared Cohen Say Google Data Now Protected From Gov't Spying 155
An anonymous reader writes "Google's Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen were [part of a] wide-ranging session at SXSW today and they revealed that Google's data is now safely protected from the prying eyes of government organizations. In the last few days Google upgraded its security measure following revelations that Britain's GCHQ had intercepted data being transmitted between Google datacenters, Schmidt said that his company's upgrades following the incident left him 'pretty sure that information within Google is now safe from any government's prying eyes.'"
Comment The FAA was very very wrong on this one (Score 1, Flamebait) 236
One of two possibilities:
1) The FAA does not understand the difference between a drone (which does not require visual contact with the operator to be flown) and a toy airplane (which cannot be controlled out of sight of its operator).
2) The FAA is trying to consolidate more power to government by conveniently misinterpreting the rules to give them the ability to ensnare model airplane owners in a tangled web of onerous regulation and raise more money.
My vote is on #2.
Comment Shit shit shit! (Score 1) 231
Ok! Ok! I must have, I must have put a decimal point in the wrong place or something. Shit. I always do that. I always mess up some mundane detail.
Low-Protein Diet May Extend Lifespan 459
sciencehabit writes "A new theory about the foods that can extend life is taking shape, and it's sure to be a controversial one. Two studies out this week, one in mice (PDF) and another primarily in people (PDF), suggest that eating relatively little protein and lots of carbohydrates — the opposite of what's urged by many human diet plans, including the popular Atkins Diet — extends life and fortifies health."
Comment Jura Capresso S9 (Score 1) 769
I love my Jura Capresso... I put beans in, and get awesome coffee out. Making expensive freeze-dried instant coffee will never compare.
Comment Re:So because an underage minor... (Score 1) 387
The dad broke the confidentiality agreement by telling his daughter about it. Her post was just incontrovertible evidence that he did it.
Girl's Facebook Post Costs Her Dad $80,000 387
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "BBC reports that when Dana Snay learned her father had been awarded an $80,000 cash settlement in an age-discrimination lawsuit against his former employer, she couldn't resist bragging about it on Facebook. 'Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver,' the teen posted to her 1,200 Facebook friends. 'Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT.' Trouble was her father had signed a confidentiality agreement so the school refused to pay a dime and a Florida appeals court has found in the school's favor. 'Snay violated the agreement by doing exactly what he had promised not to do,' wrote Judge Linda Ann Wells. 'His daughter then did precisely what the confidentiality agreement was designed to prevent.' Snay's father said in depositions that he and his wife knew they had to say something to their daughter because she suffered 'psychological scars' from issues during her enrollment at the school and was aware that they were in mediation with Gulliver attorneys. Attorneys say it's unlikely confiding in Dana Snay would have jeopardized the settlement — it was the facebook post that did them in. 'Remember when all you had to worry about was your daughter posting naked selfies of herself on Facebook?' writes Elie Mystal at Above the Law. 'Now, things are worse.'"
Comment Re:"Unfair"? (Score 2) 362
The mindset you describe, self-preservation, is the reason that we never actually want to solve problems, win wars, cure diseases, or actually fix anything.
There is too much money to be made fighting wars, so we don't try to win them. There is too much money to be made treating cancer symptoms, so we don't try to cure it meaningfully. There is too much money to be made lobbying against polluted air, so we lobby for half-assed solutions that don't work. There is too much money to be made fighting the "war on drugs," so we make no effort to eradicate drugs. There is too much money to be made fighting crime, so we make no meaningful effort to reduce crime. Police departments love federal paramilitarization dollars.
It's all personal greed and self-preservation.
Comment Since when did carpooling become "evil?" (Score 2) 362
I still don't understand the uproar over Googlers carpooling to work...
