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Comment Re:Is hydrogen really the future? (Score 1) 40

Using renewable or nuclear power, one could easily build Sabatier reactors to make methane from atmospheric carbon dioxide and water, and then just pump it into old natural gas wells and other suitable geological formations. From there, more complex hydrocarbons can be made. Far easier to do this and make carbon-neutral and energy-dense fuels than to try and keep hydrogen from escaping (the main issue with storing large quantities of it).

Comment Re:Just another security arms race (Score 1) 66

by sectoidman (#61329760) Attached to: The IRS Wants Help Hacking Cryptocurrency Hardware Wallets

>They all use common slightly hardened microcontrollers

No, not all of them - there are several that use the combination of a microcontroller for UI / communication and a real secure element for securing the cryptographic keys (e.g. Ledger's Nano S uses ST31 and the Nano X uses the ST33). Also, while the NSA might have the ability to break into these, they probably aren't going to share it with the IRS or other alphabet agencies unless there's a real national security issue at stake, since extracting data from a secure element is usually a non-trivial amount of work even for a government agency.

Comment Re:When talking to a prosecutor in the US. (Score 1) 409

by sectoidman (#43087049) Attached to: The Accidental Betrayal of Aaron Swartz
No, you've got two situations (being called in front of a grand jury and being tried in a court for a crime) mixed up. If you are called in front of a grand jury for questioning, they aren't going to have people testifying against you. And, if you are accused of a crime and are brought to trial, your lawyer should be cross-examining the witnesses and attacking their credibility or otherwise asserting your claims of innocence.

Comment Re:fuel (Score 2) 289

by sectoidman (#36526362) Attached to: An Entirely New Class of Aircraft Arrives

Does it run on fossil fuel? If so, then this tech will only last until we run out of this fuel.

I think we need something that can fly on electricity.

You can run airplanes on biodiesel or alcohol if necessary.

See also:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/10/worlds_first_100_percent_biodiesel_jet_flight.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_EMB_202_Ipanema

Comment Re:france sucks (Score 1) 419

by sectoidman (#34582912) Attached to: The French Government Can Now Censor the Internet
And all of that capability means nothing if the people using it aren't willing to cause enormous civilian casualties, because people aren't idiots and aren't just going to line up on a field for the army to shoot at. All the conventional firepower in the world isn't going to matter when it comes to guerrilla warfare, as we've seen in Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam.

Comment Re:Unreadiness for Spills (Score 5, Informative) 601

by sectoidman (#32924390) Attached to: BP Claims Gulf Well Has Been Stopped
The acoustic dead-man's switch wouldn't have been any help, since it's linked to the same valve on the BOP that failed even when they sent robots to manually shut it down. And, that valve failed because of an accident that happened some weeks before that destroyed the annulus seals: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/16/60minutes/main6490197_page4.shtml. I agree that the relief wells should be required for this kind of eventuality, but if BP hadn't been criminally negligent in maintaining its equipment, this never would have happened.

Earth's Temperature at Highest Levels in 400 Years 1044

Posted by CowboyNeal from the hot-one-this-era dept.
thatguywhoiam writes "Congress asked, and the scientists have answered: 'The Earth is the hottest it has been in at least 400 years, probably even longer. The National Academy of Sciences, reaching that conclusion in a broad review of scientific work requested by Congress, reported Thursday that the 'recent warmth is unprecedented for at least the last 400 years and potentially the last several millennia.'"

New Congressional Bill Makes DMCA Look Tame 895

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the things-that-make-you-go-hmmm dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Representative Lamar Smith is sponsoring the Intellectual Property Protection Act. The new bill is designed to give the Justice Department 'tools to combat IP crime' which which are used to 'quite frankly, fund terrorism activities,' according to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Among the provisions is lowering the standards for 'willful copyright violation' and increasing the corresponding prison term to 10 years." More information is also available at publicknowledge.org.

New Internet Regulation Proposed 429

Posted by Zonk from the i-do-love-a-good-fight dept.
bumgutts writes "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has suggested a mandatory website self-rating system. The system, very similar to one suggested under Clinton's administration, would require by law all commercial websites to place 'marks and notices' on each page containing 'sexually explicit' content, with penalty up to 5 years imprisonment." From the article: "A second new crime would threaten with imprisonment Web site operators who mislead visitors about sex with deceptive 'words or digital images' in their source code--for instance, a site that might pop up in searches for Barbie dolls or Teletubbies but actually features sexually explicit photographs. A third new crime appears to require that commercial Web sites not post sexually explicit material on their home page if it can be seen 'absent any further actions by the viewer.'"

Slashdot Design Changes for Wider Appeal 854

Posted by CmdrTaco from the omg-i-heart-ponies-lol dept.
Our marketing department has done extensive research over the last 3 quarters and discovered that our audience is strangely disproportionately skewed towards males. Like, 98.3% males to be precise. To correct this oversight, we have decided to subtly tweak Slashdot's design and content to widen our appeal to these less active demographics. Don't worry! We'll still continue to serve our core audience, but we hope you'll work with us as we try to find a balance that will work for all.

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