This is the solution. Anyone who wants to see it in practice should look into what the island of El Hierro is doing. They have this system in place, and it works great.

Remote islands feel the pressure to find a storage solution more than anywhere else, not because of any green-energy incentives, but because importing fuel for diesel-fired generators is very expensive. These islands often have an abundance of wind and sun, so renewable power generation isn't a huge problem, but storage is. So, they pump water uphill when there's excess power, then they let it run down into hydro-electric generators when the wind stops blowing. Wind, water, and gravity. Simple but elegant.

There's a series on Netflix that explores islands like El Hierro, called Islands of the Future. It provides a great overview of how these systems work, in real-world applications.

People are getting fed up, good, they should be. Some are horrible with passwords and general security, that's in their control, and is their own fault. But, all of the other concerns are the fault of retailers, social media sites, and government spy programs. Those things need to change, and people leaving the affected services is a step in the right direction. Also, I couldn't help but smirk at "19% of US online households had been affected by an online security breach in the previous year..." That number is closer to 100%. If you're not hyper-vigilant about online security, you're being sniffed and snooped by the government, by Microsoft, by Google, by Facebook, by Amazon, etc.. People can't even look up the weather without their browser being raped.

People who use a service to facilitate cheating on their spouse are scummy, and part of me wants to pull up a bowl of popcorn and watch them squirm. But...

On the other hand, people seeking gay and lesbian relationships in places like Iran could be looking at execution. Many of these people are only married for appearances; what a rough life, and what a horrible thing this data dump must be to worry about. I've also heard that plain-old heterosexual infidelity is also punishable by death. Cheating is shitty, real shitty, but it shouldn't be a death sentence, nor should homosexuality.

Then there's the privacy side. If you're a privacy advocate, you should be against exposing the data. But, the general public really needs to understand that the Internet is about as secure as a paper bag. Maybe, just maybe, this will help (some) people comprehend the need for online anonymity and cryptocurrency. Nah, probably not.

If people weren't facing execution, I don't think I'd have much of a problem with the whole thing. That's not the situation though, so I'll save the popcorn for another day.

I really don't understand this line of reasoning. What's the alternative? An iPhone?

If privacy is your concern, you certainly aren't better off with an iPhone. Instead of writing out my own list, I'll just copy from the Free Software Foundation website:

• These devices completely block free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can't be on everyone's devices.
• Apple endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology.
• iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge.
• iTunes won't play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora on these devices.
• iPhone is not the only option for smartphones. There are better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don't spy on you, play free media formats, and let you use free software.

...

Here's more from FSF: https://www.fsf.org/news/free-... You can find similar info from a million other sources if you don't like that one.

At least with Android you have a choice in who makes the phone, and one can simply root an Android to be done with the bullshit. Not happy after rooting? Run something like Ubuntu. You have to essentially break an iPhone to get admin access, then what? It's still the same shitty phone, forever.

I'm no fan of either (or Windows), and really hope to one day see an affordable (FOSS) alternative, but saying this is why I am giving up on Android and then going over to a proprietary device like iPhone, or even Windows (haha who am I kidding?) is just bonkers.

The hundreds-of-millions of dollars spent every year by the fossil fuel industry, in order to curve public opinion, really comes to light when articles like this are posted. An overwhelming number of commenters (for this site) would have us think that "big wind" is pulling the wool over our eyes, and that nonsense like "clean coal" is the only fair way to generate power. Unreal. I've seen similar happen elsewhere (e.g. anything about fracking on reddit), but they are here now too, infecting helpless threads with pseudoscience bullshit. Had to make sure I hadn't stumbled onto Fox News, nope, it's Slashdot. Yikes. Is anywhere safe?

Cheers Thud457, glad somebody remembered her.

Unless memory fails me; Grace Murray came up with the term "BUG" in the sense that we use it today when referring to software or systems. Except in her time it really was a "bug" in the system (moths I think). Huge systems that took up whole buildings, we could have easily ended up with: "that old win98 box has a bunch of buffalo's in it"

...google... a-hah! Here's a link to that info. -whew, no memory errors.

A lot of ignorant sexism in this thread, I like to think Slashdot posters and readers are more evolved than that, heh.
Take a trip to the local computer museum if you still underestimate the role women have played in the evolution of computers -you might be suprised how great an influence they were and still are.