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Earth

First Measurement of Magnetic Field In Earth's Core 34

An anonymous reader writes "A University of California, Berkeley, geophysicist has made the first-ever measurement of the strength of the magnetic field inside Earth's core, 1,800 miles underground. The magnetic field strength is 25 Gauss, or 50 times stronger than the magnetic field at the surface that makes compass needles align north-south. Though this number is in the middle of the range geophysicists predict, it puts constraints on the identity of the heat sources in the core that keep the internal dynamo running to maintain this magnetic field."
Microsoft

Child Abuse Verdict Held Back By MS Word Glitch 191

An anonymous reader writes "Last week several defendants including one high-profile TV presenter were sentenced in Portugal in what has been known as the Casa Pia scandal. The judges delivered on September 3 a summary of the 2000-page verdict, which would be disclosed in full only three days later. The disclosure of the full verdict has been postponed from September 8 to a yet-to-be-announced date, allegedly because the full document was written in several MS Word files which, when merged together, retained 'computer related annotations which should not be present in any legal document.' (Google translated article.) Microsoft specialists were called in to help the judges sort out the 'text formatting glitch,' while the defendants and their lawyers eagerly wait to access the full text of the verdict."
Businesses

Best Places To Work In IT 2010 205

CWmike writes "These top-rated IT workplaces combine choice benefits with hot technologies and on-target training. Computerworld's 17th annual report highlights the employers firing on all cylinders. The Employer Scorecard ranks IT firms based on best benefits, retention, training, diversity, and career development. Also read what IT staffs have to say about job satisfaction. How's your workplace, IT folk?" Read below for a quick look at the top 10 IT workplaces according to this survey.
Upgrades

NVIDIA Driver Update Causing Video Cards To Overheat In Games 155

After a group of StarCraft II beta testers reported technical difficulties following the installation of NVIDIA driver update 196.75, Blizzard tech support found that the update introduced fan control problems that were causing video cards to overheat in 3D applications. "This means every single 3D application (i.e. games) running these drivers is going to be exposed to overheating and in some extreme cases it will cause video card, motherboard and/or processor damage. If said motherboard, processor or graphic card is not under warranty, some gamers are in serious trouble playing intensive games such as Prototype, World of Warcraft, Farcry 3, Crysis and many other games with realistic graphics." NVIDIA said they were investigating the problem, took down links to the new drivers, and advised users to revert to 196.21 until the problem can be fixed.
Image

Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight 140

Last year we ran the story of Yves Rossy and his DIY jetwings. Yves spent $190,000 and countless hours building a set of jet-powered wings which he used to cross the English Channel. Rossy's next goal is to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, from Tangier in Morocco and Tarifa on the southwestern tip of Spain. From the article: "Using a four-cylinder jet pack and carbon fibre wings spanning over 8ft, he will jump out of a plane at 6,500 ft and cruise at 130 mph until he reaches the Spanish coast, when he will parachute to earth." Update 18:57 GMT: mytrip writes: "Yves Rossy took off from Tangiers but five minutes into an expected 15-minute flight he was obliged to ditch into the wind-swept waters."

Comment Re:who's freedom? (Score 1) 944

"It's a sad fact that my first impression and most of my interactions with libertarians have been with the crazy anarcho-capitalist form."
Sad fact? That you are exposed to ideas that you disagree with? Surely that's a good thing.
And why crazy? Again just because you find the ideas uncomfortable, how does that make it 'crazy'? If you agree with the general axioms of the libertarian movement then anarcho-capitalism is just taking the ideas to their natural logical conclusion. If you don't think that the axioms are crazy then you cannot think that the outcome is crazy. You might not like that outcome, or think it's unrealistic in practice or even impossible, but that's another issue. Many anarcho-capitalists think the small-govt minarchists are the crazy ones for thinking they can have their cake and eat it. Minarchists are still statists, the only difference between them and totalitarian states is the arbitrary point they choose on the spectrum for where *they* would like freedom to end. That is inconsistent with their argument for freedom in the first place, their claims to the contrary and protecting 'rights' by initiating force notwithstanding.
If you choose an ethical philosophy (which is what libertarianism is at heart, rather than a political one) then you simply cannot pick and choose where you decide to stop following the conclusions of your philosophy (just because it is 'convenient' or 'practical') and still expect to be taken seriously when you use your philosophy to justify something. If you believe it is ethical to initiate violence to achieve your ends then be happy with the use of force against you. You can have no qualms about it's use againsgt you as you agree with it in principle. If you do not believe that initiating violence is ok, (and that applies to everyone) then follow that to it's conclusion and you have the 'crazy' world the anarcho-capitalists inhabit. You may not like what that world says, but at least it is ethically consistent given the axioms.

  There are reasonable ones out there, I've talked to em. I want to hear what they think. :)

Comment Re:Explained by a Simple Formula (Score 1) 944

"you do not have a right to demand that no one else do the same"
I don't agree. When you sell something you can sell just a subset of those rights. The contract/agreement will determine which rights are being transferred and under what terms. Both parties may agree not to transfer full ownership rights, and only assign the subset of rights for a limited time (such as rental or lease agreements). When you rent a vehicle you know that it isn't yours to onsell, you only have the use of it for an agreed period. That is defined by the contract. Any other transfer of a set of property rights can be bound by the same kind of agreements. The arguments about 'purchasing' ownership of the physical media miss the point, that the actual set of property rights you have agreed to are listed in the contract of sale (in whatever form that may be). If you do not abide by the terms then the contract can be terminated by the seller. Whether it constitutes theft on your part is another issue, but at the very least you are in breach of contract.
So I'd say that yes you can demand that others do the same, as long as both parties are aware of and agree to the terms of the agreement. Either side is free not to enter the contract if they are unhappy with the terms. That surely is the essence of free association.

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