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Comment Uncertain history. (Score 2) 88

I had interviewed with British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) back in 2003 (then owner of Westinghouse) just after finishing with the US Navy.

As much as I wanted to see a future with BNFL, I saw that they were only maintaining, not growing, and went a different path.

I want to see nuclear power flourish as a means to stay independent from nations from nations that would use our fuel addiction against us. I want us to retire fragile 60 year old plants with updated designs.

History has shown that not enough monied folks agree

I wish them well nevertheless.

Comment Re:Why do all these stories (Score 1) 103

A while back, I had a stroke due to an injury.
After I was released from the hospital, I had a tooth abscess flair up (I assume from steroids or blood thinner), and had to get quick surgery to remove the affected tooth and clean the abscess.

In a small coincidence, my dental surgeon, was the younger brother to my neurologist who directed my care in the hospital.

Comment Biodegradable Velcro (Score 1) 14

TFS lists a number of novel solutions to their hook-and-latch (Velcro is a brandname). I just wouldn't mind the Romane lettuce that I buy that is wrapped in a cheap velcro, could be wrapped in a "velcro" that wouldn't last much longer than the lettuce that it was wrapped around. From field, to market is astonishingly fast, and then from market to my refrigerator is also astonishingly fast. I feel bad that though the cheap velcro reduces other packaging, but I still feel like "degradable" plastic should match.... I try to find opportunities for reuse, but the lion's share goes in the trash.

Comment Re:Nothing new, the Army did this in 1954 (Score 2) 240

Former Navy Nuke here. SL-1, TMI and Chernobyl were required reading, for a reason. There's a reason that one of the design criteria for safety margin for later reactors is "the most reactive control rod removed" among others. That said, a good portion of that is engineering hubris.

Submission + - Apple investigated by France for 'planned obsolescence' (bbc.com)

AmiMoJo writes: French prosecutors have launched a probe over allegations of "planned obsolescence" in Apple's iPhone. Under French law it is a crime to intentionally shorten lifespan of a product with the aim of making customers replace it. In December, Apple admitted that older iPhone models were deliberately slowed down through software updates. It follows a legal complaint filed in December by pro-consumer group Stop Planned Obsolescence (Hop). Hop said France was the third country to investigate Apple after Israel and the US, but the only one in which the alleged offence was a crime. Penalties could include up to 5% of annual turnover or even a jail term.

Comment Re:Let's clarify that one (Score 1) 233

As a former Navy Nuke, I've always been partial to SL-1 since it was a (thankfully) small but spectacular fuck-up. It's macabre, but where else do you have to read as a lessons-learned was that a man was impaled upon the ceiling for improper maintenance? I do agree that the technology has vastly improved and we need new designs to pull the clunkers from the '70s from operation. Outright ban them or build them; no more half measures.

Comment Re:Water? (Score 1) 191

This will be usable for a few years, then you'll eventually have some plausible deniablity when it it over used

I also know from experience that a 50ml pot of SmartWater is enough to chemically mark every PC or electrical item in a school several times a year and last several years.

It's also very good for equipment recovery. It basically guarantees identification / return of stolen property if it comes into police hands. but with SmartWater once it's in police possession even the smallest tiny speck of SmartWater (which can be deployed even on hard-to-cleanse areas like across the PCB's of (unpowered) motherboards) or similar will link it to it's owner.

If this stuff spreads with the ease that TFA describes, it's going to get everywhere. How many law enforcement agencies do you think are going to take Joe Blow's word that they "only touched something that was touched by someone else, who I shook hands with?

Experiment: Spill some powered detergent with color safe bleach. Leave it in a public space for a day. Use a UV light to track its spread. Count how many people are now "marked" that were not the original spilling "criminal".

Yes, this product is uniquely identified, and easily indiscriminately spread. Just use Monsanto as an example of a unique item is being spread by the wind to people being accused of stealing.

Comment Re:So sad, but it's time (Score 1) 390

Their policies store to store also hastened their demise. Their prices were on the steeper side, but there used to be a store on a couple of blocks away on my way home from work. Convenience did balance out price.

After moving to new location, for about a year, I tried to rent a game console so I could try before I bought an Xbox for Halo 2. I was told I had to put down a deposit that was more than the current selling price of the Xbox because I had only done 60 rentals with that store on a blockbuster account with nearly a thousand rentals (over many years). The associate acknowledged the prolific Blockbuster rentals, but that was store policy. I haven't been in a Blockbuster since.

I finally got them to stop trying to get me to come back when I explained that a local chain was always 3/4 to 1/2 Blockbuster's prices.

Submission + - Supreme Court Eyes RIAA ‘Innocent Infringer& (wired.com) 1

droopus writes: The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing into the first RIAA file sharing case to reach its docket, requesting that the music labels’ litigation arm respond to a case testing the so-called “innocent infringer” defense to copyright infringement.

The case pending before the justices concerns a federal appeals court’s February decision ordering a university student to pay the Recording Industry Association of America $27,750 — $750 a track — for file-sharing 37 songs when she was a high school cheerleader. The appeals court decision reversed a Texas federal judge who, after concluding the youngster was an innocent infringer, ordered defendant Whitney Harper to pay $7,400 — or $200 per song. That’s an amount well below the standard $750 fine required under the Copyright act.

Harper is among the estimated 20,000 individuals the RIAA has sued for file-sharing music. The RIAA has decried Harper as “vexatious,” because of her relentless legal jockeying.

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