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Comment Size of the effect (Score 4, Interesting) 53

10e-6 m/s works out to about one meter per day. Even after several years, that changes its position by one or two kilometers. That's not much in astronomical terms, and probably not enough to change some kind of Earth collision.

But before the Slashdot snark kicks in, keep in mind that this whole experiment was aimed principally at changing the orbit of the minimoon (Dimorphos) , rather than altering the orbit of the pair around the sun. That effect - the subject of this article - is a side effect of the main event. If they'd instead smashed into the main body (Didymos), the effect on the heliocentric velocity would be larger.

Comment Re: Ribbon, No. (Score 1) 231

Bah. Give me WordPerfect 5 with the card you place over the function keys on the keyboard. Memorize those key combos and you were a GOD.

I was trying to show my youngling some basic skills on her new (school-mandated) laptop. I constantly had to stop myself from using keyboard combos - my preferred way to do a lot of things - because the poor kiddo was watching the screen and not my quick fingers. Stop, explain, overtly demonstrate, and monologue as I go along: "So now I've selected this text and Ctrl+C to copy, then I move the cursor over here and Ctrl+V to paste. Why is it Ctrl+V? Because 'C' is short for 'copy', and 'X' right next to it kinda makes sense for 'cut', and 'V' is next to 'C', and it's easier to reach than 'Z', so that's where they put paste. Plus, it's been around for 40+ years, so that's that. Don't ask about QWERTY."

Comment Re:Enterprise software is bought with blowjobs any (Score 1) 54

consulting company reps look a lot more like pharmaceutical salespeople than software experts....
India, as famously corrupt as the country is reputed to be, their outsourcing firms aren't into bribing with sex...at least to my knowledge.

The Bollywood remake of "Love and Other Drugs" would be mighty interesting.

Comment Re:Not about section 230 (Score 1) 31

This lawsuit is not about user generated content. It is about the design and behavior of the site/app. The inclusion of psychologist designed dark patterns created specifically to be addictive. This goes beyond the general business desire to have an appealing product that people want to use and into the realm of willful negligence.

Indeed. Meta employs more than 50,000 people. Even if only 1 in 5 of those are directly involved in design/test/debug/deploy of the core applications (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) - you don't need a software team of 10,000 just to create an infrastructure that receives, catalogs, and organizes all the stuff other people post. You need a team that large to curate algorithms that make enticing content bubble to the top, while drivel settles to the bottom. You need the team to justify its existence by increasing revenue: in Meta's case, via ads. How do you increase ad revenue? By keeping people's eyeballs glued to their screen.

In other words: you have to actively do stuff with the content people that post, and passively organize it. To the extent that Meta has a very, very active roll in deciding what you see and how it is presented, Section 230 doesn't mean shit.

Comment Grown in a facility... (Score 0) 209

Growing it in a facility feels wrong to people in ways they struggle to articulate.

Just wait until they find out where yoghurt, cheese, bread, pickles, and beer come from!

Actually, if most people toured a facility that manufactures any food that comes in a box or sealed bag, they'd probably start feeling queasy as well. I'm not an absolutist - I eat Cheerios, ice-cream, tortilla chips on occasion - but I prefer to make most of my meals from ingredients I can readily identify as food: fresh produce, dried legumes and rice, olive oil, flour, natural peanut butter, etc. I don't identify as vegetarian, but have been meat-free for decades (I do it for love!). I steer clear of lots of meat substitutes, like Impossible Burgers, because they fall deeply into the realm of processed food.

Comment Re: They used to be annoying (Score 1) 304

The thing is if you ask a mechanic if stopping and starting your engine over and over is bad for your engine, or at least parts of it, the answer is obviously yes.

That's why I keep my car's engine running 24/7!

My actual car is a Prius with >130k miles on it. It's probably had a lot more start-stop cycles than these ICE-only vehicles, and yet the engine is running just fine. There are plenty of older-model Priuses out there with >250k miles still on their original engine. This is a solved engineering problem.

Submission + - Environmental Protection Agency: Greenhouse Gasses are not a Hazard

necro81 writes: The US EPA has revoked [AP, NYTimes, CNBC, NPR] the Endangerment Finding — a regulatory ruling dating back to 2009 that stated that climate-changing greenhouse gasses pose a hazard to human health and welfare, and therefore can be regulated under the Clean Air Act. President Trump has routinely called climate change a "hoax" and "con job", and sought to undermine domestic action and international cooperation to combat it. Ignoring climate change is now official federal policy. The Endangerment Finding was the underpinning for a whole host of federal regulations, many of which are now under threat: vehicle fuel economy standards, power plant emissions, and methane emissions. The rule change is almost certain to be challenged in court.

Comment Re:The Donald Trump Clown Car (Score 1) 72

Nobody with the least bit of common sense would undertake anything that entails any kind of risk and assume that anyone involved in the current administration and management of the United States would be remotely capable of protecting their identity, let along doing the right thing.

What are you talking about? They're using Signal, what could possibly go wrong?

But also: should you or any of your team be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.

Comment Abusive (Score 1) 45

Police: Ma'am, that's quite a black eye you have there. How'd that happen?
Woman [eyes to the floor]: I ran into a door, Officer. I'm so clumsy sometimes.
Police: Really, ma'am? It looks to me like your boyfriend beat you pretty hard. For your own safety, I suggest you press charges so that I can arrest him and you can seek a restraining order.
Woman: No, that won't be necessary, Officer. He's very sorry and won't do it again.

These kinds of stories never end well.

Comment Not surprised (Score 2) 52

When it comes to private schools, the sky's the limit, and there seems to be a sizeable class of people across the world that will pay whatever. For someone whose net worth is $100,000,000, dropping $100k/yr for a private school is just 0.1% - a rounding error on their capital gains. (This math brought to you by my public education!)

I am sure there are private schools in London, Paris, Dubai, Shanghai, etc. that are in the same price range. Eton School (outside London) is over £52k/yr. Hell, there is a top-ranked private high school (with boarding) in my small city whose cost is comparable to the Ivy Leagues.

Comment Re:Ok then... (Score 1) 55

Why make a Pi5 that is supposed to be 25% faster if youre just going to go back and improve older models?

Unlike a lot of electronics manufacturers, the RPi folks support their devices for a long time. They still manufacture and sell the Model 3B, which was introduced in 2016. The Model 4 came out in 2019, and they have committed to keeping it in production until at least 2034 [ref, page 4]. This change with the RAM is one way to help make that happen.

Like most electronics manufacturers, RPi has different models at different price points, with performance specs to match. The Model 5 has the best capabilities, but also the highest MSRP ($60-125). The older models are less performant, and have lower prices to match. The 3B+ was introduced at $35; eight years later it's still just $40.

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