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Earth

NASA Shoots Down Comet Elenin Doomsday Predictions 144

coondoggie writes "The comet Elenin, which will pass by Earth October 16, has generated such an inordinate amount of doomsday reports from a number of different sources that NASA today issued a release meant to address a variety of them. To address the myriad concerns, NASA said its scientists compiled a list of the most popular questions it has received about Elenin."

Comment Re:That's war. We Americans are no better. (Score 1) 359

Actually, the fighting words doctrine, in the limited context in which it still exists, is only a limitation on your First Amendment protections. In other words, the government may prohibit and punish fighting words. This is an entirely separate issue from whether fighting words give rise to a right of retaliation by private actors against the speaker. In nearly every context, violence undertaken in response to fighting words is illegal, and may subject the one committing the violence to criminal penalties and a civil suit.
Android

Android App Quality Pathetically Low Says Developer 336

Hugh Pickens writes "Christopher Mims writes at MIT Technology Review that Mika Mobile, developer of Battleheart, a big hit on both the iOS and Android platforms, says that 'a polished, high quality product is more likely to be embraced on Android than on iOS because the quality bar on the android market is so pathetically low.' Evidence to that effect comes from the fact that 'on iOS, user reviews for Battleheart average 4.5 stars (4000 total ratings), which is quite good. On Android it's a stunning 4.8, with 1000 ratings,' writes the developer. 'So not only is it reviewed more highly, it's also reviewed more often, with a huge percentage of android users taking the time to rate the app. I think the lack of competition makes quality apps really stand out, and generates a lot of enthusiasm from app-starved android users." Mika Mobile adds that the most frustrating part about developing for Android is dealing with the deluge of support e-mail, most of which is related to download and installation problems which have nothing to do with the app itself, and everything to do with the Android OS and market having innate technical problems. 'Do some googling for "can't download apps from android market" or similar wording, and you'll see that this is a widespread chronic issue for all devices and all OS versions,' writes the developer. 'Based on the amount of e-mails I get every day, download problems effect 1-2% of all buyers, or in more practical terms, somewhere between two and three s**t-loads.'"
Crime

Paying Hacker Extortion 412

An anonymous reader writes "A friend works as CIO at a medium sized publicly traded company. The company was contacted by a hacking group and told to pay $100,000 to prevent their company from being hacked/attacked. They actually paid the extortion (told authorities after). The authorities said the company could be charged with supporting Terrorists. Seeing that most publicly known hacks are costing companies this size nearly a million dollars, Is this supporting terrorists or supporting stockholders?"
Bug

Adobe To Patch Flash 0-Day Friday 113

Trailrunner7 writes "Adobe is planning to patch the recently disclosed Flash Player vulnerability on Friday — just four days after it was disclosed — for users on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The vulnerability is being used in targeted attacks right now that use malicious Word documents. Adobe said it plans to push out the Flash Player patch for Google Chrome today, as part of the Chrome release channel, but Reader X users will have to wait till June for a fix."

Comment Re:Serious Problems With Central Claim (Score 1) 238

The Model Penal Code disagrees.

Model Penal Code 223.2 Theft by Unlawful Taking or Disposition.

(1) Movable Property.
A person is guilty of theft if he unlawfully takes, or exercises unlawful control over, movable property of another with purpose to deprive him thereof. Section 223.3 deals with obtaining property by deception, specifying in some detail the forms of deception that may constitute the offense. Section 223.4 similarly specifies the forms of threat that may constitute theft by extortion.

(2) Immovable Property.
A person is guilty of theft if he unlawfully transfers immovable property of another or any interest therein with purpose to benefit himself or another not entitled thereto.

The comments to immovable property say that "[i]mmovable property, principally real estate, is stolen if one unlawfully transfers the property of another, or an interest therein, with purpose to benefit himself or another not entitled thereto. The major purpose of the distinction is to avoid theft liability for such conduct as trespass or occupying real property beyond the terms of a lease." Copyright infringement is not theft. It is copyright infringement.

Comment Re:Solar Power to the Rescue? (Score 0) 344

If you increase the use of solar energy, wouldn't you expect that the Sun's energy that is converted to electricity would lessen the heat generated by sun light entering our atmosphere and heating the objects it strikes?

The laws of thermodynamics would like to have a word with you.

Those solar panels trap energy.

House analogy. If you want to cool your house, do you trap the energy inside of it, or do you systematically pump it out with an air conditioner?

Why do warmers never understand the laws of thermodynamics?

Comment Re:Pulp paper should die! (Score 3, Informative) 446

Because, I hear you think, they can then also harvest the tetrahydrocannabinol-rich flowers and smoke themselves into a stupor.

Not so, unfortunately. First off, only the unfertilised flowers produce plenty of THC. This means you have to keep the male plants far away. Doable, there's even something called 'feminised' seeds, but still a bother.
A bigger hurdle, however, is that the smokey stuff is Cannabis Sativa. The stuff used to make paper, rope and other hemp products, is Cannabis Indica, which doesn't make a particularly good smoke.

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