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Comment Re:Obama fails again... (Score 1) 570

And if not, I'd like to ask The Man why it isn't illegal.

I would hazard a guess it isn't illegal because torture is of course illegal so therefore you couldn't possibly produce evidence through torture. If America acknowledges these people have been tortured, surely criminal proceedings would have to take place against SOMEBODY.

Comment Re:Forget bombs, think hurricanes and tornados! (Score 4, Informative) 388

This seems to be a common misconception, probably due to it being taught badly in schools. Taking an aeroplane as a specific example since this is the most common example of lift. You will find that the Bernoulli effect (the lift generated by a pressure difference above and below the wing) is not the main reason why planes fly (although the effect does exist, it is just not a large enough force to keep a plane up).

What demonstrate this most clearly are symmetrical winged aeroplanes which are things like stunt planes which often fly upside down. It should be evident from the fact the wing is symmetrical that the common explanation of lower pressure above because air goes around a curve making it go faster has zero effect here.

If you have paid attention carefully when flying you may have noticed that a plane does not fly completely flat most of the time. There is a small angle between the planes wings and the direction of travel. Because air tends to follow the surface of the wing (sometimes called the Coanda effect) this means that the air gets deflected downwards by the wing. If the air accelerates down then by Newton's laws there is an equal and opposite force upwards on the plane generating lift so it can then fly.

I have not read anything about how houses are affected but I would imagine it would be a similar effect with the roof deflecting air causing a force.

Comment Re:Anyone know about bees? (Score 1) 90

Any explanation for why moths fly into anything and everything? It's especially irritating when living in a warm climate with moths the size of small cars.

Pretty simple, actually. They navigate using the moon as a reference point, since it's essentially a directional light. In order to fly straight, they keep the moon at a particular point in their field of vision. Sadly, when the brightest object in their field of view is a light bulb, keeping it in the same position in their field of view results in them spiralling madly around and towards it.

So moths don't really like bright lights, candle flames etc. Lights just screw with their navigation system.

Security

Submission + - Most Security Products Fail to Perform (net-security.org) 1

An anonymous reader writes: Nearly 80 percent of security products fail to perform as intended when first tested and generally require two or more cycles of testing before achieving certification, according to a new ICSA Labs report that details lessons gleaned from testing thousands of security products over 20 years. Across seven product categories core product functionality accounted for 78 percent of initial test failures. For example, an anti-virus product failing to prevent infection and for firewalls or an IPS product not filtering malicious traffic. Rounding out the top three is the startling finding that 44 percent of security products had inherent security problems. Security testing issues range from vulnerabilities that compromise the confidentiality or integrity of the system to random behavior that affects product availability.
It's funny.  Laugh.

Submission + - Finnish computer store buys a teen's name 1

jones_supa writes: "Sheboygan Press tells a story of an american youngster called Calvin Gosz who was selling a right to his name in eBay. The auction site later removed the item as unappropriate. However, the "Newegg of Finland", Verkkokauppa.com caught on the idea and contacted Calvin via Facebook. For $5,000 Mr. Gosz changed his name to Verkkokauppa Com. Gosz, who moved to Sheboygan from Florida in September, said the name change was an idea to raise money after many unsuccessful attempts in finding a job. "That company has been great to me. I was just surprised they actually transferred the money. Nice of them to help me out like that.", Calvin comments. He is eligibled to change his name back after two months."
Science

Submission + - NASA Reproduces a Building Block of Life in Lab (spacefellowship.com)

xp65 writes: NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, a key component of our hereditary material, in the laboratory. They discovered that an ice sample containing pyrimidine exposed to ultraviolet radiation under space-like conditions produces this essential ingredient of life. “We have demonstrated for the first time that we can make uracil, a component of RNA, non-biologically in a laboratory under conditions found in space,” said Michel Nuevo, research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. “We are showing that these laboratory processes, which simulate occurrences in outer space, can make a fundamental building block used by living organisms on Earth.”

Submission + - Sony demos Natal-like control system (newscientist.com)

An anonymous reader writes: It's not just Microsoft investigating full body, markerless motion capture. Sony has enlisted the help of Swiss firm Atracsys to develop similar technology. Sony has openly discussed the technology with New Scientist, and has realistic expectations for the new system — it can capture broad body gestures but not individual fingers. That's just one trade-off needed in order to develop a real-time system that anyone can use, according to a markerless motion capture expert.
Games

Submission + - Multi-button OpenOfficeMouse at OOoCon 2009 (openofficemouse.com)

An anonymous reader writes: WarMouse announced its new multi-button OpenOfficeMouse for OpenOffice.org at the 2009 OOoCon in Orvieto, Italy. The mouse, which features 18 buttons, a scroll wheel, and an analog joystick, has double-click functionality on every button and stores up to 63 application and game profiles in its 512k of flash memory. The OpenOfficeMouse runs on Windows, Linux, and OS/X; its customization software will be released as free and open source software.
Cellphones

Submission + - Telecom providers announce LTE standard (cnet.com)

suraj.sun writes: In the battle between LTE and WiMax for wireless broadband, LTE may have just gotten another boost.

A group of leading telecom service and equipment providers, including AT&T, Verizon, Nokia, and Samsung, announced a new standard Thursday for delivering compatible voice and messaging services using Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks.

The standard, dubbed the One Voice ( http://news.vzw.com/OneVoiceProfile.pdf ) initiative, offers a set of technical functionalities that telecommunication companies can use in their LTE services and products to provide both voice and Short Message Services (SMS).

LTE has been fine at supporting data, which uses IP-based packet switching. But it's faced challenges trying to incorporate traditional circuit-based switching voice and SMS services onto IP-based networks. One Voice is the group's attempt to resolve that issue.

The new specification will use existing functionality known as IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), which already defines how to provide data, voice, and other content over an IP-based network.

CNET News: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10391591-94.html

Idle

Submission + - SPAM: Odd Organizations & Movements that only Thrive

digitalfever writes: One of the most celebrated functions of the Internet is an unprecedented ability for people to connect. This has led to social networks, online dating, and, it turns out, a lot of people connecting over really strange things. Here are some of the more interesting clubs that the internet has helped give life to.
Link to Original Source
Portables

Submission + - Dell rugged laptops not quite tough enough! (trustedreviews.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Trusted Reviews has put the new Dell XFR rugged laptop through the grinder and it hasn't fared as well as expected. Considering that these guys drove a car over a Panasonic Toughbook, they went pretty easy on the Dell, but it still couldn't take the punishment. It looks like Dell still has a way to go to steal the ball from Panasonic when it comes to all terrain computing.

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