VicarofCletus - Slashdot User

Wind Farms Can Interfere With Doppler Radar 179

Posted by timothy on Sunday August 30, 2009 @03:10PM from the whiteout-on-the-right-parts-of-the-screen dept.

T Murphy writes "Wind farms can appear like storms or tornadoes on Doppler radar when placed too close to the radar. Tornado alley is a good area for wind farms, and good terrain for the turbines is also ideal for Doppler radar. With many new farms being constructed, the problem is growing. A false tornado warning was issued in Kansas by a computer, although canceled by a meteorologist aware of the problem — there are fears that false positives will grow. Worse would be a tornado ignored as a wind turbine. While meteorologists are trying to work with wind farm owners to shut off the turbines during bad weather, they have no control over the placement or operation of the turbines. Efforts are being made to improve detection technology to avoid further problems."

Wireless Internet Access Uses Visible Light, Not Radio Waves 264

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday January 16, 2009 @06:09PM from the no-tin-foil-hats-required dept.

An anonymous reader writes to tell us that a company has demonstrated a new form of wireless communication that uses light instead of radio waves. "Its inventor, St. Cloud resident John Pederson, says visible-light embedded wireless data communication is the next step in the evolution of wireless communications, one that will expand the possibilities in phone and computer use. The connection provides Web access with almost no wiring, better security and with speeds more than eight times faster than cable."

Comment Re:Not a language, really (Score 1) 382

by VicarofCletus on Wednesday January 07, 2009 @09:48PM (#26366983) Attached to: The Power of the R Programming Language

It's amazing how often I hear people refer to Matlab as a language (mostly engineering professors).

Tooth Regeneration Coming Soon 289

Posted by kdawson on Monday January 05, 2009 @09:12PM from the no-fairy-tale dept.

Ponca City, We love you writes "For thousands of years, losing teeth has been a routine part of human aging. Now the Washington Post reports that researchers are close to growing important parts of teeth from stem cells, including creating a living root from scratch, perhaps within one year. According to Pamela Robey of the NIH. 'Dentists say, "Give me a root and I can put a crown on it."' In a few years dentists will treat periodontal disease with regeneration by using stem cells to create hard and soft tissue; they will take out a tooth that is about to fall, and reconnect it firmly to the regenerated tissue. Although nobody is predicting when it will be possible to grow teeth on demand, in adults, to replace missing ones, a common guess is five to ten years. Baby and wisdom teeth are sources of stem cells that could be 'banked' for future health needs, says Robey. 'When you think about it, the teeth children put under their pillows may end up being worth much more than the tooth fairy's going rate. Plus, if you still have your wisdom teeth, it's nice to know you're walking around with your own source of stem cells.'"

Comment Re:If Programming Languages Were Religions? (Score 1) 844

by VicarofCletus on Wednesday December 17, 2008 @12:36PM (#26146859) Attached to: If Programming Languages Were Religions

My roommate is in religious studies, so I always referred to my C class as "Old Testament"

Comment Re:Kids today (Score 5, Insightful) 815

by VicarofCletus on Friday August 17, 2007 @07:27PM (#20269361) Attached to: Failing Our Geniuses

Oh trust me, they try. You should have seen the look on my high school principal's face when I asked to take physics as a sophomore (after all, it was a senior course). Eventually they settled on the excuse that I hadn't taken algebra II, but it was agreed that they would let me in if I dual enrolled at the local community college and took an equivalent level math course. After getting the highest grade in the class (and teaching it one more than one occasion), I was told that I would have to take algebra II the next year. Their stance was that, while I had already covered all of the material, algebra II was a graduation requirement which could not be met outside of the high school. I would not be allowed to graduate without retaking the class. Thankfully I got out.

In my experience (mine and people I know), it's not that gifted kids don't try to get ahead, it's that they are often actively prevented from doing so.

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