SuperDuck - Slashdot User

NASA's New Bag Turns Urine Into Sports Drink 182

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday July 07, 2011 @02:40PM from the I'm-afraid-that's-not-lemon-flavored-dave dept.

An anonymous reader writes "NASA's Atlantis shuttle is set to launch this Friday, and its crew will be testing an innovative device that can recycle human urine into a sugary sports drink. The bag uses forward osmosis technology and features a semi-permeable membrane capable of isolating water from virtually any liquid. Recycling urine in this way has a significant effect on a ship's payload, and considering that a single pound adds $10,000 of cost, that slight weight difference can translate to serious savings." CT: I'm at Kennedy Space Center now, tweeting as @cmdrtaco. And I think I'll stay away from the sports drink.

Comment Original author a IIRPA mouthpiece (Score 4, Insightful) 277

by SuperDuck on Thursday March 03, 2011 @01:37AM (#35366068) Attached to: 13 Countries On US "Priority Watch List" For Copyright Piracy

If the author of TFA had bothered to do any of his own independent research, he would have found that ISOhunt is *NOT* a cyberlocker, but a specialized search engine. Torrents != file storage.

The only reason us Canadians made the list is because of the previously mentioned reasons of our lack of DMCA-style legislation, and our "copyright" levy on digital media, which allows us far more fair-use of our purchased digital wares than the country that purports to allow fair use.

The U.S. can "Special 301" us all they want, but with our current government (what with Minister Tony Clement siding with consumers on denying Usage-Based Billing for wholesale accounts, and examining the larger UBB issue for consumer accounts), and the many public hearings on our "DMCA" legislation, I don't think the US FTR is going to hold much sway over our internal priorities.

Professor Michael Geist and Openmedia.CA FTW! :-)

Fibre Channel Over Ethernet: From Fee To Free 87

Posted by Soulskill on Monday February 14, 2011 @08:01PM from the investment-dollars-well-spent dept.

alphadogg writes "With demand for Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) more sluggish than vendors had hoped, 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch and adapter makers are making it available for free. FCoE is a standard driven largely by Cisco to converge customers' data center LAN and storage fabrics with 10G Ethernet. Industry heavyweights Intel and Brocade are among those now giving away FCoE capabilities. There are several factors prompting vendors to slash FCoE prices or stop charging for it altogether, including market indifference; technological immaturity; competing alternatives, such as virtualized Fibre Channel and Ethernet I/O; the recession; and vendors looking to drive switch volumes. 'When FCoE first came out there used to be a fairly large price premium,' says Alan Weckel, director of Dell'Oro Group. 'Cisco had to give it away for free to drive switch volumes. Users were not adopting as rapidly as thought or that Cisco had hoped for.'"

Comment Reading through the Fine Print in the EULA... (Score 2, Informative) 209

by SuperDuck on Wednesday May 05, 2010 @08:19PM (#32106434) Attached to: Font Foundries Opening Up To the Web

"With a Free Tier License, you agree to place a line of Javascript on each web page on your Web Sites that Uses or accesses Web Font Software which will enable the Web Font Services. This also gives Monotype Imaging the right to invoke an ad unit to be placed on each web page that uses our Web Font Software, with the formatting and content of such ad unit to be determined by Monotype Imaging in its sole discretion."

Nothing for free in this world, son, nothing for free.

Comment Re:Oh really? (Score 5, Funny) 1181

by SuperDuck on Monday March 10, 2008 @10:08AM (#22700364) Attached to: Should Scientists Date People Who Believe Astrology?

women are easily swayed by what they read in fashion magazines.

Not married to a "fashionista", I guess?

Not any more, fortunately. She was *so* yesterday. ;-P

i-Snake, a New Robotic Surgeon 58

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday December 30, 2007 @01:21PM from the probably-picks-up-chicks-in-bars-all-weekend-too dept.

Roland Piquepaille noted coverage of the iSnake Robotic Surgeon which is basically a super flexible robot that can travel through blood vessels and repair the heart. Of course the article isn't exactly clear on what happens if they gain control of the city's sewage system and take over.

Driving on Starch 232

Posted by Zonk on Sunday May 27, 2007 @01:16AM from the oh-mr.-fusion-you're-so-efficient dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Using sugar contained in corn or potatoes to build hydrogen-powered fuel cells has already been done. But now, a team of U.S. researchers has developed a new sugar-to-hydrogen technology. Why not put the starch inside the tank of your car? With the help of 13 specific enzymes, 'a car with an approximately 12-gallon tank could hold 27 kilograms (kg) of starch, which is the equivalent of 4 kg of hydrogen. The range would be more than 300 miles, estimates one of the researchers. One kg of starch will produce the same energy output as 1.12 kg (0.38 gallons) of gasoline.' The beauty behind this idea is that no special infrastructure would be needed. Starch could be distributed by your local grocery store."

Feed Privacy activists attempt block of Google's purchase of DoubleClick (theregister.com)

From feed by registerfeed on Wednesday April 25, 2007 @07:32AM

Too much power

Privacy groups have lodged a complaint (pdf) with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over Google's proposed acquisition of online advertising company DoubleClick. The merger will give the combined company unprecedented power, they argue.

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