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Submission + - Polymarket banned in The Netherlands (kansspelautoriteit.nl)

St.Creed writes: Effective immediately, polymarket, the website where you can bet on predictions, has been banned in The Netherlands. The Dutch Kansspelautoriteit (Games of Chance authority) has declared a weekly fine of 420K euro (maximum 840K euro) unless they cease their activities in the country. The users of the website can also be prosecuted, although that is highly unlikely to happen in normal circumstances.

That there is a limit on the fine does not mean that Adventure One, the company behind polymarket, can pay the fine and continue. It just means that that is the point where other measures will be taken.

Submission + - AI Assisted Olympic Training Sparks Digital Steroids Concerns (nerds.xyz)

BrianFagioli writes: Google Cloud is using AI powered motion analysis to help U.S. Olympic skiers and snowboarders refine their tricks using nothing more than standard smartphone video. The system can break down takeoff angles, body position, and landings in near real time, giving athletes and coaches fast, data driven feedback on the mountain rather than hours later in a lab. Google says the goal is to expose tiny biomechanical details that are difficult to spot at full speed, especially in harsh outdoor conditions.

The approach raises an uncomfortable question about fairness in elite sports. While AI does not alter an athleteâ(TM)s physical capabilities the way steroids do, it does inject advanced intelligence into preparation, potentially widening the gap between well funded teams and everyone else. As AI driven training tools become more common, sports governing bodies may need to decide whether this is simply the next evolution of coaching or something closer to digital performance enhancement.

Submission + - Japan to Restart Fukushima Nuclear Reactor 15 Years After Disaster (breitbart.com) 1

An anonymous reader writes: The assembly of Japan’s Niigata prefecture on Monday passed a vote of confidence in Governor Hanazumi Hideyo’s plan to restart the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, which has been shut down ever since the earthquake that caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

Submission + - BMW Says Europe's Gas Engine Ban 'Can Kill an Industry' (motor1.com)

An anonymous reader writes: BMW watched from the sidelines as Audi, Porsche, Mercedes, Volvo, and others announced lofty EV goals a few years ago, only to backtrack in recent months. Munich never vowed to go fully electric within a set timeframe, instead preferring to give customers the freedom of choice. It projects demand will be evenly split between gas and electric cars by 2030, but Bavaria hasn’t committed to a combustion-free future. The company maintains its desire to give people what they want rather than artificially restricting powertrains to EVs, as the European Union plans for 2035. In an interview with Australian magazine CarExpert, Chief Technology Officer Joachim Post argued it should ultimately come down to buyers, not the EU: “Finally, the customer decides.”

Provided the ban takes effect in a little over nine years, the board member fears it could have massive repercussions: "If the European Commission is going to say they have a plan to cut the combustion engine in 2035, they’re not asking the customers and how [EV charging] infrastructure is coming up, how the energy prices are and all the things there. It’s stupid to do that in that way. And you can kill an industry doing it that way."

His concerns are echoed by Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius, who recently warned the European car industry is “heading at full speed against a wall” and could even “collapse” if the EU doesn’t reconsider. The statement came shortly after Stuttgart’s boss admitted the company had to make a “course correction” to keep combustion engines longer than initially planned. Mercedes continues to invest in conventional powertrains, and there's even a completely new V-8 from AMG on the way.

Government

Submission + - Stolen cellphone databases switched on in US (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: U.S. cellphone carriers took a major step on Wednesday toward curbing the rising number of smartphone thefts with the introduction of databases that will block stolen phones from being used on domestic networks. The initiative got its start earlier this year when the FCC and police chiefs from major cities asked the cellular carriers for assistance in battling the surging number of smartphone thefts. In New York, more than 40 percent of all robberies involve cellphones and in Washington, D.C., cellphone thefts accounted for 38 percent of all robberies in 2011. It's been a particularly ugly year for iPhone thefts. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/100812-iphone-ipad-thefts-263110.html

Comment Science (Score 5, Insightful) 1093

Most of the anti-AGW crowd is simply doing armchair, a-priori reasoning behind why AGW is false. "Humans are too puny to have an effect!" they say, or "The climate has changed drastically fast even without humanity being around!" Often there are political reasons for holding this position--certain arguments on how to deal with GW are certainly political in nature, and may come into conflict with one's own dogma, and thus psychologically one may be predisposed to oppose GW on that basis.

HOWEVER, that does not mean that some people that argue for AGW do not fit into the same shoes. Remember, just because you are "correct" does not mean your reasoning is. Naturally, someone that hates big business and "the man" may also psychologically have a reason to believe in AGW--another reason to rage on about the status quo.

If I was a betting man I'd bet for AGW, but really I know the science behind it is quite complicated and I know I'm nowhere near competent to make a good, solid argument on the matter, so I must approach the issue with a tempered agnosticism while leaning a bit towards the AGW side because that's the verdict by a vast majority of hard-working PhDs, and I highly doubt that climatologists consist of some dark, left-wing communist sect of economy-destroying conspirators. That is what true skepticism is, noncommitance (particularly emotionally) to a position particularly when you are not an expert on it. Many on both sides of the GW debate are not skeptics but reactionaries with their thought ruled by political underpinnings. Most of the people I know that rant about how AGW is a fraud no absolutely nothing about the mechanisms scientists go about acquiring the data on past climate conditions.

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