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Comment Re:Diesel?!? (Score 1) 1148

What I don't get is all this hype about reducing consumption. With recycling, and abundant energy (assuming we keep working on ways to produce MORE electricity) we are not really going to reach the END of resources. Eventually - there is no doubt about this - we will have to start going to space and begin to take advantage of the asteroids and other easy to reach resources on uninhabited worlds (I know - I assume there will be life somewhere other than here). The only way to do that is to continue to develop new energy sources such as Fusion, or in the future some form of beamed solar technology. We will never reach that if we try to artificially limit ourselves based on gloom and doom prophets that don't take into account the fact that if we have cheaper and more abundant energy, we can develop new ways to deal with issues that are currently unattainable with current technology. All this green hype is actually going to make it worse for less developed countries on the planet, such as in Africa. The price to put in new energy resources will be prohibitively expensive, making it almost impossible to ever develop some of those nations so they can overcome unending droughts. Things like desalination plants for instance - to deal with their fresh water needs on a large scale, it will require things like Nuclear power to make it a reality.
PlayStation (Games)

Sony Finally Turning a Profit On PS3s 117

When the PS3 launched in 2006, estimates pegged the price of producing the consoles to be as much as $250 more than the price at which they were sold. Production costs have dropped since then, but there have been several price cuts as well. Now, almost four years later, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida says they're finally turning a profit on the hardware. "This year is the first time that we are able to cover the cost of the PlayStation 3,' Yoshida said. 'We aren't making huge money from hardware, but we aren't bleeding like we used to.' In May, Sony began shipping new PlayStation 3 consoles with smaller and more cost-effective graphics chips. Now, Yoshida said, Sony is looking at replenishing retail stock that has been running on empty since January rather than cutting the price. 'When we bring the cost of hardware down, we are looking at opportunities to adjust prices if we believe that will increase demand,' he explained. 'At the moment, we are trying to catch up our production.'"
Image

Solar-Powered Shrub Car 47

sparksfly writes "The Terrestrial Shrub Rover is a solar-powered vehicle that looks, as you may have guessed, exactly like a large shrub. According to designer Justin Shull, 'In the spirit of NASA and its forthcoming 2020 lunar expeditions in preparation for colonizing the moon, the Terrestrial Shrub Rover presents the opportunity to explore terrestrial and social environments back on Earth from within a manned, foliage bedecked, solar electric powered rover.'
PlayStation (Games)

US Air Force To Suffer From PS3 Update 349

tlhIngan writes "The US Air Force, having purchased PS3s for supercomputing research, is now the latest victim of Sony's removal of the Install Other OS feature. It turns out that while their PS3s don't need the firmware update, it will be impossible to replace PS3s that fail. PS3s with the Other OS feature are no longer produced since the Slim was introduced, so replacements will have to come from the existing stock of used PS3s. However, as most gamers have probably updated their PS3s, that used stock is no longer suitable for the USAF's research. In addition, smaller educational clusters using PS3s will share the same fate — unable to replace machines that die in their clusters." In related news, Sony has been hit with two more lawsuits over this issue.
Nintendo

New Hardware Models Highlight Nintendo's No-Transfer Policy 116

An article at Wired discusses the difficulties involved in transferring games that were purchased and downloaded online when users replace their Wii or DSi. "Neither the Wii nor Nintendo’s portable DSi consoles have an upgrade path for downloadable content, since games are tied not to user accounts but to specific machines. It’s impossible for a user to copy content from an old console to a new one. Even some Wii owners whose machines have malfunctioned said it was difficult, or impossible, to get Nintendo to transfer the software licenses at its headquarters." One gamer, who bought the recently released black Wii console, explained that she got Nintendo to transfer her games, but needed to "mail both of her Wii consoles to Nintendo, and wait two weeks," hardly a convenient solution.
Space

Supermassive Black Hole Is Thrown Out of Galaxy 167

DarkKnightRadick writes "An undergrad student at the University of Utrecht, Marianne Heida, has found evidence of a supermassive black hole being tossed out of its galaxy. According to the article, the black hole — which has a mass equivalent to one billion suns — is possibly the culmination of two galaxies merging (or colliding, depending on how you like to look at it) and their black holes merging, creating one supermassive beast. The black hole was found using the Chandra Source Catalog (from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory). The direction of the expulsion is also possibly indicative of the direction of rotation of the two black holes as they circled each other before merging."
Wii

Should the Gov't Pay For Injured Man's Wii? 222

An anonymous reader writes "Politicians in the Australian state of Victoria are currently locked in a debate about whether an injured man should be able to claim the cost of a Nintendo Wii for rehabilitation purposes under worker's compensation. The man's doctor apparently recommended he use the Wii Fit exercise device, but both insurance companies and the government itself have blocked the payment and have now ridiculed the idea as paying for video games. But with the Wii Fit increasingly being used for rehabilitation purposes internationally, does the man have a fair case?"
The Almighty Buck

Activision Hit With $500m Suit From Modern Warfare 2 Devs 77

Dragoniz3r writes "Activision has been served a lawsuit from 38 plaintiffs, including present and former Infinity Ward employees, demanding up to half a billion dollars. The plaintiffs are seeking compensation for 'unpaid bonuses, royalties, profit-sharing, and future profits from games such as Modern Warfare 3, and punitive damages.'"

Comment Re:Very Strange (Score 1) 650

There is a consensus that God exists. Yet science would say that God doesn't exist since science cannot show any evidence of God's existence. So per your stated opinions here, you don't believe in God or a creator, true?

Scientific evidence does not "clearly show" AGW - it show-ed (past tense) warming from many sources, none of which clearly could be shown to be the main culprit other than the Sun, the Oceans heat absorption, and other natural causes. Science has speculated that man-related sources have caused warming, but other than evidence that it is, on average, warmer in and around man-made habitations, there is nothing showing that any warming that may have occurred is primarily attributable to man. Study of the historic climate sources (tree rings, ice cores, etc) show that the earth has warmed and cooled via natural events over the centuries, in magnitudes much larger than anything we have seen on our short time on the planet. As a matter of fact, it has been much warmer in the past than it is today, and also much colder. One thing science has also shown, is that CO2 is required by plants to process for growing, and conversion to Oxygen. If anything, what observable phenomena is showing is that CO2 is increasing, and there is a very good reason as to why - global deforestation. Probably a better answer to our CO2 issue is to develop biomass replacement (such as algae) that consume CO2, and large-scale tree planting projects in open spaces not used for farming or other food production or upkeep to help reduce CO2 levels naturally.

Comment Re:Very Strange (Score 1) 650

Oh? So that is why there has been no warming in the last 7+ years and yet CO2 has increased significantly during that time? Actually they have documented that it got cooler. Validating "models" of climate variability is not the same as valid "science" showing repeatable, validated phenomena where a sequence of events and conditions yields the same result over and over again. They have never gotten to that point with any of the "models", and the science to date has not proven anything other than it is warmer today then it was during the Little Ice Age.

Comment Re:Very Strange (Score 1) 650

Yes, except for the fact that AGW believers are touting this story as proof the science is proven. The review had nothing to do with the science of AGW, yet the headline was "Global Warming Scientist Vindicated". In the (supposedly) unbiased world of the MSM, how do you think that story went, especially for the folks who read it on The Huffington Post where the story cut off before it explained the limited scope of their inquiry.

Comment Re:Very Strange (Score 1) 650

Check the Committee report - they were only looking into compliance with Freedom of Information compliance regarding the climate data. They "commented" on other issues. But their conclusion is that - and I laugh:

"Conclusion 2 In addition, insofar as we have been able to consider accusations of dishonesty—for example, Professor Jones’s alleged attempt to “hide the decline”— we consider that there is no case to answer. Within our limited inquiry and the evidence we took, the scientific reputation of Professor Jones and CRU remains intact. We have found no reason in this unfortunate episode to challenge the scientific consensus as expressed by Professor Beddington, that “global warming is happening [and] that it is induced by human activity”.184 It was not our purpose to examine, nor did we seek evidence on, the science produced by CRU. It will be for the Scientific Appraisal Panel to look in detail into all the evidence to determine whether or not the consensus view remains valid. "

So in other words - he didn't commit any egregious FOI violation by not releasing data, thus, his scientific reputation is intact...

Huh?

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