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Comment OTOH (Score 1) 246

I agreed with this:

This person doesn't have to be a geek, but does need to be fluent in both tech talk and managementese. He or she also needs to master the delicate skill of telling the bosses no without offending them, says Adriana Zona, director of IT for Minco, a manufacturer of components for military and medical facilities. "You can't tell the business side an idea is nonsense if they're the ones who came up with it," she says. "I call these people the bouncers or gatekeepers -- they guard IT from irresponsible requests. Half of their job is saying no in a friendly way. Every IT department is bombarded with these kinds of requests. If you did them all, you wouldn't be doing the right thing for your company."

Comment Re:What year is it for Voyager 1 & 2? (Score 1) 260

Time dilation effects only become observable a *lot* closer to c than anything man-made has remotely been.
Relevant link:http://www.1728.com/reltivty.htm

Velocities in ordinary life which to us might seem incredibly fast have only a miniscule relativistic effect. For example, orbital velocity (5 miles per second) produces a relativistic factor of change of only 1.000000000360219. Travelling at 93,141.1985 miles per second (half the speed of light) produces a factor of 1.1547005383792517. Here the velocity is incredibly fast and yet the change is still quite small. At .9 times the speed of light, the factor becomes 2.294157338705618. Finally, the effects of relativity become significant.

I think the term is tau factor, which, according to the above site's calculator, is 1.0000000016077795, or a difference of about 1 second subjective time over the last 33 years.

Comment Re:YES! Can't wait for this! (Score 1) 55

Indeed, I have yet to find anything as original and fun since I first played a decade ago. Only the decline of servers running interesting maps and rulesets has caused my playtime to decrease, hopefully this move will cause a new generation to discover the game and bring their own creative energy to the game. Thank God I finished college before they did this!
Businesses

Feds Consider H-1B Changes After Uncovering Fraud 254

CWmike writes "A Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman said today that the agency is weighing a series of reforms to the H-1B application process, including the use of 'independent open-source data' to obtain information about visa seekers or the companies that file the petitions on their behalf. The move follows a report by the agency that found widespread problems and evidence of fraud in the nation's H-1B program, including forged documents, fake degrees and shell companies being used in H-1B applications. It also comes after the controversy caused by changes to the H-1B rules earlier this year."

Comment Re:A bad idea even if true (Score 2, Informative) 438

My father has been an organic gardener for 30 years and he purchases cottonseed hulls every couple of years for mulch. The parent is correct, these are not "waste" products that are being miraculously turned into useful energy, this application would be a net loss. Hopefully the biofuel bubble will collapse quickly enough for people to wake up to the necessity of responsible energy policy rather than hoping for a magic pill.

Feed Engadget: Sonex unveils electric-powered sport plane (engadget.com)

Filed under: Transportation


Aircraft maker Sonex and partner AeroConversions recently unveiled a slick little electric-powered, two-person sport aircraft called, um, the Sonex. The small yellow prototype was announced at a press conference held by the company on Tuesday. Sonex president John Monnett told the crowd that the plane was part of its E-Flight Initiative, and that the lightweight craft took flight using proprietary electric engine technology powered by ten "safe boxes," which contain eight Lithium-Polymer batteries each. The company hopes to extend the current flight time of 45 minutes to an hour by using more efficient versions of the batteries, and says it's exploring ethanol options as part of the initiative. There was no indication as to when the plane would be ready for sale, but Sonex did say that the final product will be "vastly less expensive than other things out there." Which we're pretty sure means Paul Moller better watch his back.

[Via The Raw Feed]

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