Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Does this also apply to digital cable? (Score 1) 37

Unless this bill also applies to digital cable, cable providers will just work around it by entering agreements with landlords that require residents to subscribe to digital cable. I saw this when I lived in Richmond VA. Almost all of the decent apartment complexes in that area are owned by three or four corporate landlords, so it's relatively easy for Comcast et al. to enter agreements that require residents to subscribe to cable TV. Internet access was not included in those agreements, so residents could choose to get internet access from the cable provider, another provider, or none at all (they still had to pay for cable TV whether they wanted it or not.)

Comment Re:Finland (Score 1) 175

In elementary school, we had maybe a 5-minute bathroom break before lunch, and another one after lunch. We also had a 30-minute (outdoor, weather permitting) recess immediately after lunch. This was more than 30 years ago; I've heard that many districts only allow 20 minutes for recess nowadays.

In middle and high school, we had 8 42-minute class periods per day, not including lunch, with 4 minutes in between. In a school our size, 4 minutes was barely enough time to get to class, let alone go to the bathroom or relax. In smaller schools, they only allow 3 minutes between classes. I know that my state requires a certain amount of instructional time per day (measured in minutes), and breaks do not count toward that total. More breaks would mean less instructional time, and we can't have that, now can we?

Comment Re:the story seems fishy. (Score 1) 142

And it is not going to happen fast enough that someone does not notice the AM station is offline and goes to see what broken and finds the tower in the process of being stolen.

This is an AM station in rural Alabama we're talking about here. All five of their listeners were probably in bed when their tower was stolen.

Comment Re:None of these kids would give up fossil fuels (Score 1) 120

You do understand that oil that gets transformed into durable items like plastic isn't necessarily going to add to atmospheric carbon, and as such, it's not really necessary to turf them as part of combating climate change?

Plastic is essentially a waste byproduct from the refining process that's literally worthless as anything but plastic. There's no reason why anyone would bother pumping oil just to turn it into plastic, since it would cost more to pump it than they'd be able to sell it for. So yes, without fossil fuels, there would be no plastic.

Comment Re:Strange terms? (Score 1) 305

I lived in Southern California for almost a decade, in a small apartment about 5 miles from the coast. My apartment had a gravity-vented gas furnace, so no ductwork at all, and no connection to the outside for a condenser. I would wager that most small apartments and homes near the coast (where most people in CA live) have the same type of setup. Central A/C is a rarity in small apartments/homes until you get about 10 miles inland. About the only thing you're going to retrofit one of these with is resistive electric heat, which will result in exorbitant utility bills for apartment dwellers (who are least likely to be able to afford them), not to mention the cost of running a 220v line to every existing gas furnace in every apartment.

Slashdot Top Deals

If computers take over (which seems to be their natural tendency), it will serve us right. -- Alistair Cooke

Working...