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Comment Change the penny to aluminum (Score 1) 702

by Hirsto (#51284751) Attached to: Should the US Change Metal Coins?
I've always thought Japan got it right with their aluminum 1 Yen coin. Japan's 1 Yen coin (current face value of 0.85 US cents) has a much lower metal cost than our copper or copper clad zinc penny. Copper is currently $2/lb vs $0.66/lb for aluminum. Aluminum has a density of 1/3.32 that of copper so at today's metal prices an aluminum penny would cost 1/10th that of a solid copper penny and a few years ago it cost 1/40 that of a solid copper penny. Considering today's copper clad zinc penny aluminum density is roughly 1/3 that of zinc which at the moment has roughly the same cost/lb as aluminum so an aluminum penny would cost about 1/3 that of today's copper/zinc penny. Besides the much lower metal cost the light mass means that the 1 Yen coin floats on water.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Comment Idaho has done this for years (Score 2, Interesting) 393

by Hirsto (#31964200) Attached to: Arizona Trialing System That Lets Utility System Control Home A/Cs
Idaho power opted for something far simpler several years ago. An exterior radio controlled override that cuts off the compressor motor (most of the load) for a maximum of 15 minutes while leaving your interior blower motor running. You don't notice a thing. If you happen to have two AC units they are alternated. This allows for much simpler peak load control of the power grid and doesn't torch off the customers.
Programming

Simpler "Hello World" Demonstrated In C 582

Posted by kdawson from the non-obfuscated dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Wondering where all that bloat comes from, causing even the classic 'Hello world' to weigh in at 11 KB? An MIT programmer decided to make a Linux C program so simple, she could explain every byte of the assembly. She found that gcc was including libc even when you don't ask for it. The blog shows how to compile a much simpler 'Hello world,' using no libraries at all. This takes me back to the days of programming bare-metal on DOS!"
Image

Seinfeld's Good Samaritan Law Now Reality? 735

Posted by samzenpus from the not-that-there-is-anything-wrong-with-that dept.
e3m4n writes "The fictitious 'good samaritan' law from the final episode of Seinfeld (the one that landed them in jail for a year) appears to be headed toward reality for California residents after the house passed this bill. There are some differences, such as direct action is not required, but the concept of guilt by association for not doing the right thing is still on the face of the bill."
The Almighty Buck

America's Army Games Cost $33 Million Over 10 Years 192

Posted by Soulskill from the your-tax-dollars-at-play dept.
Responding to a Freedom Of Information Act request, the US government has revealed the operating costs of the America's Army game series over the past decade. The total bill comes to $32.8 million, with yearly costs varying from $1.3 million to $5.6 million. "While operating America's Army 3 does involve ongoing expenses, paying the game's original development team isn't one of them. Days after the game launched in June, representatives with the Army confirmed that ties were severed with the Emeryville, California-based team behind the project, and future development efforts were being consolidated at the America's Army program office at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. A decade after its initial foray into the world of gaming, the Army doesn't appear to be withdrawing from the industry anytime soon. In denying other aspects of the FOIA request, the Army stated 'disclosure of this information is likely to cause substantial harm to the Department of the Army's competitive position in the gaming industry.'"

The Pornographers vs. The Pirates 275

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the there-are-worse-leads-to-follow dept.
conq writes "BusinessWeek has a piece on how pornography is again leading the way and showing Holywood how to fight back against piracy. From the article: 'Some producers of porn are starting to share revenues from online movies with the distributors of their DVDs, who might otherwise feel endangered by digital distribution online. Bolder yet, one large studio is allowing fans who buy movies online to burn them from their computers onto DVDs, with some protections included, of course.'"

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