Comment What could possibly go wrong?!?! (Score 2) 89
How and when will "they" try to get this taken down. Trey Parker is simply a genius and that's all there is to it.
I'm not your buddy, guy.
Submission + - Fukushima's Nuclear Signature Found In California Wine (technologyreview.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Is it possible to see the effects of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in California wines produced at the time? Today we get an answer, thanks to a study carried out by french pharmacologist Philippe Hubert and a couple of colleagues. “In January 2017, we came across a series of Californian wines (Cabernet Sauvignon) from vintage 2009 to 2012,” say Hubert and company. This set of wines provides the perfect test. The Fukushima disaster occurred on March 11, 2011. Any wine made before that date should be free of the effects, while any dating from afterward could show them. The team began their study with the conventional measurement of cesium-137 levels in the unopened bottles. That showed levels to be indistinguishable from background noise.
But the team was able to carry out more-sensitive tests by opening the wine and reducing it to ash by evaporation. This involves heating the wine to 100 degrees Celsius for one hour and then increasing the temperature to 500 degrees Celsius for eight hours. In this way, a standard 750-milliliter bottle of wine produces around four grams of ashes. The ashes were then placed in a gamma ray detector to look for signs of cesium-137. Using this method, Hubert and his colleagues found measurable amounts of cesium-137 above background levels in the wine produced after 2011. “It seems there is an increase in activity in 2011 by a factor of two,” conclude the team.
But the team was able to carry out more-sensitive tests by opening the wine and reducing it to ash by evaporation. This involves heating the wine to 100 degrees Celsius for one hour and then increasing the temperature to 500 degrees Celsius for eight hours. In this way, a standard 750-milliliter bottle of wine produces around four grams of ashes. The ashes were then placed in a gamma ray detector to look for signs of cesium-137. Using this method, Hubert and his colleagues found measurable amounts of cesium-137 above background levels in the wine produced after 2011. “It seems there is an increase in activity in 2011 by a factor of two,” conclude the team.
Comment I refuse to watch/support commercials. (Score 1) 221
Commercials are mostly all poison and the fact that we allow someone to repeat the same commercial over and over and sometimes back to back is sickening. I try my best to vote with my wallet.
Comment So basically Intel is SkyNet.. (Score 4, Interesting) 43
The thing about AI is this.. I play video games and boy the AI sure does suck. It has always sucked and every year I think its going to get better but never does.. If we can't program AI well in video games, then i'll say were a lot further off than the projections ive been seeing.. But what the hell do I know?
Submission + - Why Is There No Nobel Prize In Technology? (qz.com)
An anonymous reader writes: As the world focuses its attention on this year’s recipients of the planet’s most prestigious prize, the Nobel, it feels like something’s missing from the list: technology. Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel established the prizes more than century ago with the instruction that his entire estate be used to endow “prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.” The categories laid out in his will—physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and peace—have remained the basis of the awards, and a prize for economics was added in 1968. So, what gives? Why only those five original fields? Nobel didn’t say, revealing only that he made his choices “after mature deliberation.”
One way of looking at it is that when he was designing his categories, he wanted the prizes to only reflect advances in fundamental science. In this view, “lesser” sciences such as biology, geology, or computer science—or technology-driven fields such as engineering or robotics—don’t qualify. As genome-sequencing pioneer Eric Lander once said, “You don’t get a Nobel Prize for turning a crank.” But what then of literature and peace, or the newer prize for economics (an applied science at best, and a pseudoscience at worst)? Technology isn’t the only field to get the cold shoulder. Mathematics—the international language, the foundation of so many scientific pursuits, and arguably the most fundamental theoretical discipline of all—doesn’t have a Nobel Prize, either. Mathematicians have complained about this for decades. One story suggests that Nobel disliked the Finnish mathematician Rolf Nevanlinna, and assumed that he would be the first winner of the mathematics prize, if he decided to award one. Alternatively, math undergraduates are often told that Nobel was jealous of a Swedish mathematician who had an affair with his wife (though this story is ruined by the fact that Nobel didn’t actually have a wife).
One way of looking at it is that when he was designing his categories, he wanted the prizes to only reflect advances in fundamental science. In this view, “lesser” sciences such as biology, geology, or computer science—or technology-driven fields such as engineering or robotics—don’t qualify. As genome-sequencing pioneer Eric Lander once said, “You don’t get a Nobel Prize for turning a crank.” But what then of literature and peace, or the newer prize for economics (an applied science at best, and a pseudoscience at worst)? Technology isn’t the only field to get the cold shoulder. Mathematics—the international language, the foundation of so many scientific pursuits, and arguably the most fundamental theoretical discipline of all—doesn’t have a Nobel Prize, either. Mathematicians have complained about this for decades. One story suggests that Nobel disliked the Finnish mathematician Rolf Nevanlinna, and assumed that he would be the first winner of the mathematics prize, if he decided to award one. Alternatively, math undergraduates are often told that Nobel was jealous of a Swedish mathematician who had an affair with his wife (though this story is ruined by the fact that Nobel didn’t actually have a wife).
Submission + - Tesla temporarily boosts battery capacity in FL for Irma (sfgate.com)
mikeebbbd writes: From AP news feed about Irma:
4:30 p.m. Electric car maker Tesla says it has temporarily increased the battery capacity of some of its cars to help drivers escaping Hurricane Irma. The electric car maker said the battery boost was applied to Model S and X cars in the Southeast. Some drivers only buy 60 or 70 kilowatt hours of battery capacity, but a software change will give them access to 75 kilowatt hours of battery life until Saturday. Depending on the model, that could let drivers travel about 40 more miles before they would need to recharge their cars. Tesla said it made the change after a customer asked the company for help evacuating. The company said it's possible it will make similar changes in response to similar events in the future.
Interesting. Battery capacity is subject to software limit. Is this a hack waiting to happen?
Submission + - Spinning metal sails could slash fuel consumption, emissions on cargo ships (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: U.K. soccer star David Beckham was known for “bending” his free kicks over walls of defenders and around sprawling goal tenders, thanks to a physical force called the Magnus effect. Now, the physics behind such curving kicks is set to be used to propel ocean ships more efficiently. Early next year, a tanker vessel owned by Maersk, the Danish transportation conglomerate, and a passenger ship owned by Viking Line will be outfitted with spinning cylinders on their decks. Mounted vertically and up to 10 stories tall, these “rotor sails” could slash fuel consumption up to 10%, saving transportation companies hundreds of thousands of dollars and cutting soot-causing carbon emissions by thousands of tons per trip.
Submission + - How do you see you life after Firefox 52 ESR? (mozilla.org)
Artem Tashkinov writes: Soon to be released Firefox 56 says that out of 35+ add-ons that I have installed only a single one is a proper WebExtension which means that Firefox 57 will disable over 95% of my add-ons many of which I just cannot live without and for most of them there are simply no alternatives. This number of add-ons sound like an overkill, but actually they are all pretty neat and improve your browsing abilities. That's the reason why I'm using Firefox 52 ESR, which still fully supports XUL add-ons, however after June 2018, it will stop being supported.
Let's list the most famous ones:
Let's list the most famous ones:
- DownThemAll is still largely irreplaceable since you can download from many parts of the internet much faster if you split the downloaded files in chunks and download them simultaneously;
- GreaseMonkey allows you to fix or extend your favourite websites using JavaScript;
- Lazarus: Form Recovery has saved my time and life numerous times; it regularly backups the contents of web forms and allows to restore them after browser restart or accidental page refresh;
- NoScript: allows you to whitelist JS execution only for websites that you really trust; JS has been used as an attack and tracking tool since its inception;
- Status-4-Ever and Classic Theme Restorer return Firefox to the time when it was a powerful tool with its own identity and looks, and not a Chrome clone;
- UnMHT add-on allows you to save complete web pages as a single MHT file;
So what will you do less than a year from now?
Comment Re: HAHAHAH he said Microsoft.. (Score 1) 1416
Dude, you just nullified anything logical in your own statement by insinuating that Microslop has a chance in hell of ever being on top again.. Xbox is the only thing people buy from MS anymore and mostly because they are morons. The sooner MS dies, the better. They have abused their power far too long.
I mean seriously, lets take a look at their current game. They cant invent anything new and useful so they try to tag along with anything currently hip. Windows phone, windows tablet and I love their latest, incorporating BASH into windows. What moron would use that? For years they made it hard on linux users and now all of a sudden when the heat is turned up, they are trying to slide in the back door as if they were always strong supporters.
If MS wants to change, they need to hire someone real, genuine and someone with an actual purpose to invent and not just piggyback on other peoples hot products. So unless MS hires me to turn things around, they are starting to look more like the next Hewlett Packard.
Comment Re:The Great Courses (Score 1) 144
Curiosity Stream is actually pretty good. A lot of their own material and very updated. It's very cheap compared to 'Great Courses' at only 4 dollars a month.
You can see everything that is available under these categories to your liking. Just click on the category and see whats available regarding that topic.
https://app.curiositystream.co...
Comment The Great Courses (Score 3, Interesting) 144
I love this "streaming app" on my roku. It's $20's a month which is a little high for my taste but even though I do not really use it as much as i'd like (at least not yet). I have taken some chemistry courses from Georgetown and one of the Photography courses and I really enjoyed both of them. I still pay because its sort of like a donation each month because I think it is a good idea and I want it to succeed.. I also do the same with Curiosity Stream.
Cheers
Comment If you buy Apple... you're probably a moron. (Score 0) 240
Apple does everything it can to rip you off, prove they are evil and yet you still but their frosty laptops so you can sit in Starbucks and taunt the glowing apple logo like so many soccer moms do these days. Whats next you ask? Well, I foresee a Louis Vuitton wallet in your near future.
Comment I couldn't stomach another Hillary speech... (Score 2) 2837
Regardless of how you voted for (Bernie Sanders for me because he seemed like a real person and not just a cosmetic masterpiece), Trumps speech felt genuine and was cool to give others credit instead of just saying "ME ME ME".
Asshole or not, he seemed like an actual person and not just a robot with a perfectly strategic agenda. My stomach seriously started to cramp up when I thought Hillary was going to win and I'd have to hear her speak for the next 4 years trying to convince the world she cares. Does she even like movies? listen to music or have a soul? Seems like shes been in politics her whole life and it robbed her of a personality and character which are very important to me over a 'platform'
The fact that he has no experience, no one thought he would win and still overcame to win has to go for something. Only time will tell but lets at least give him a year before calling for his impeachment because if he overcame all those odds, maybe he is more "qualified" than we give him credit for.
Comment My friend is currently being stalked/harassed (Score 2) 98
So my non-tech friend who happens to be way too nice of a person crossed paths with a sociopath female who has been monitoring all his texts, calls and tracking him at different locations (and showing up) and then calling his ex girlfriends (or current ones) to let them know where he's at, who hes with and what's being said..
Being somewhat a tech person myself, we set up all new passwords, factory reset, two way authentication, changed his phone number, etc, etc... Now since I am not around him at all times I cannot vouch that he isn't making a mistake which somewhat compromises his accounts but I am pretty confident its outside of our control.. When researching this issue, we have been hearing rumors that people can go into Mexico and can easily get software that can access possibly this 'SS7' hack.
The local police have been no help and the FBI has not responded to our claim which basically just leaves my friend having to deal with this psycho. He has also gotten a restraining order against her but she lives in and out of Tijuana and San Diego and we live in San Diego (45 mins apart) and so far it hasn't helped at all.
Jokingly I suggested he should just marry her to stop the harassment but maybe y'all have some ideas. So I ask my fellow slashdotters: Anything else we can do to end this 3 year run and possibly get charges to stick against her?
Sarcastic replies in 3.. 2 ..1 ..
Comment Re:Unity is a Operation Ivy song not a linux debac (Score 1) 543
I know how to do all that n00b. Respect your Slashdot elders, I've been here leaps and bounds longer than you and from the good ol days where we had to everything by hand...Don't reply to my post like I am asking questions in #ubuntu. I know all about apt-get, xubuntu, etc...Go off bubbly boy on your ipad and play some farmville.
You talk like the other guy who posts, maybe the same person trying to convince the world that Unity is for the better of Linux. Take a look around at these posts, look at how many complaints. You sound like your the PM (Project Manager) on this and no wonder your trying to defend it.
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... though his invention worked superbly -- his theory was a crock of sewage from beginning to end. -- Vernor Vinge, "The Peace War"
