christ0pher - Slashdot User

Submission + - Chinese Censors are Being Watched (economist.com) 1

Submitted by Rambo Tribble on Tuesday July 10, 2012 @05:13PM

Rambo Tribble writes: The Economist is reporting, (registration may be required), on two research teams, one at Harvard and another at the University of Hong Kong, who have developed software to detect what posts to Chinese social media get censored. One surprise, comments critical of the regime are much less likely to be suppressed than calls to action, like assemblies or protests. Chinese censors may soon have to deal with an unprecedented transparency of their actions.

Submission + - Is Our Infrastructure Ready for Global Warming? 1

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens writes

on Tuesday July 10, 2012 @04:46PM

Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Megan Garber writes that last weekend, a US Airways flight taxiing for takeoff from Washington's Reagan National Airport got stuck on the tarmac for three hours because the tarmac had softened from the heat, and the plane had created — and then sunk into — a groove from which it couldn't, at first, be removed. So what makes an asphalt tarmac, the foundation of our mighty air network, turn to sponge? The answer is that our most common airport surface might not be fully suited to its new, excessively heated environment. One of asphalt's main selling points is precisely the fact that, because of its pitchy components, it's not quite solid: It's "viscoelastic," which makes it an ideal surface for the airport environment. As a solid, asphalt is sturdy; as a substance that can be made from — and transitioned back to — liquid, it's relatively easy to work with. And, crucially, it makes for runway repair work that is relatively efficient. But those selling points can also be asphalt's Achilles heel. Viscoelasticity means that the asphalt is always capable of liquifying. The problem, for National Airport's tarmac and the passengers who were stuck on it, was that this weekend's 100+-degree temperatures were a little less room temperature-like than they'd normally be, making the asphalt a little less solid that it would normally be. "As ironic and as funny as the imgur seen round the world is, it may also be a hint at what's in store for us in a future of weirding weather. An aircraft sinking augurs the new challenges we'll face as temperatures keep rising.""

Comment Re:My karma can stand it (Score 1) 840

by christ0pher on Thursday October 20, 2005 @06:47PM (#13840333) Attached to: Homer Becomes Omar

ah yes. I''m particularly fond of that episode, so allow me to nitpick: On Circe's island Lenny, Carl and Moe, all drink the potion ("outa the way, slim") and turn into pigs, who Homer, who does not drink the potion, eats ("that pig looks like lenny!...mmm...that was the next-best thing to eating lenny") I know, scary, huh?

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