Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Cradle, Indiscriminancy, Multiplicity
Power the hot tub with compost, remember the soy insulation. andyrossmeissl writes "William McDonough's book Cradle to Cradle was reviewed favorably back in 2002, and now its theories about making things sustainably will be put into practice in the C2C Home design competition. The judges (McDonough is on the panel) will present 9 awards and actually build four of the projects on sites in Roanoke, Virginia. Wanna try your hand? Students and professionals should register by November 15."
About that blind-date opportunity ... Alex Salkever, Tech Editor of BusinessWeek online, wrote with a response to the recent story about the dilemma Google faces in trying to make money from its Google News service:
"There is another side to this that I think is equally important, namely, that Google is undermining the news business with its algorithm-based story selection.It's clear to a journalist that this system was designed by someone who has no idea what's important in the news. While it may nail the top headlines, Google News can't do anything but that. There is no consideration of comprehensiveness of a story at one site over another. Often they cite bizarre news sources for stories way out of their specialty. Why else would we be seeing Al Jazeera as the top listing for a story on Kobe Bryant? The truth is, Web search in the Google model is a poor way to aggregate useful news. It's a great way to figure out what site posted news first but not much more than that.
All of which would be fine except that so many people go to Google for news that they have come to think its actually a really good source for news. It is, if you are searching for news. But if you are reading their home page it's wildly erratic. This ultimately hurts news outlets who work very hard to put together the best stories and draw traffic to their pages. Let me put it to you this way: Would you want the Google guys to set you up on a blind date? Guess what? They already did."
Fountain pens are still ineffective, at least. anomaly writes "I was quite displeased to see that the Kryptonite U locks were incredibly vulnerable to the venerable BIC pen.
I happened to be in the bike shop today and noticed that Kryptonite is sponsoring a lock replacement program. Now's the time to get that lock replaced with a more secure one - before the thieves make off with your bike. Kudos to Kryptonite for responding, and quickly."
Processor envy strikes hard. Adam writes "Orion Multisystems, the company which introduced two Linux-based multiprocessor supercomputers at the end of August, has begun selling the DT-12 Cluster Workstation online. The company claims that this 12-processor unit has a peak performance of 36 Gflops and is small enough to fit on a desk."
The fumes apparently escaped the pipes, and the heater was nearby (a fairly common thing). The story (with a picture even!) is here. Other versions can be found by typing "toilet" into Google News.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Kudos to Kryptonite for responding, and quickly
Considering that the U lock pen opening technique was discovered circa 1992, I wouldn't call Kryptonite's response quick, exactly.
Nice of them, yes, but quick, no.
It sounds like they couldn't do it with a fountain pen (maybe they weren't skilled enough), but could with other tools.
Small point: BICs are ballpoint pens, not fountain pens. There is a difference.
$30 Off All Plans: Use code TRIPLESAWBUCK
Yeah, there was. Something about pouring gasoline and dropping a cigarette. Their conclusion was that the cigarette would flame out before it managed to ignite the toilet. Of course, I don't think they took the Water Heater into account as a possible ignition source. (i.e. The cigarette was possibly incidental.)
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Nope, your compost experience was faulty.
A compost pile that is working well enough to reach 150-160F isn't going to stink. It'll steam, and if you put your face into it you might get a little whiff of ammonia (assuming that there's a little surplus of nitrogen stoking the fire). All you should get from a properly balanced heap is the smell of rich dirt.
Not the worst aroma to waft by the hot tub, although I'd want to augment it with a hearty red, cedar wood and pheromones.
In other news, astrophysicists have announced that they now know what all that dark matter is: it's stupidity.
IANAL.
If one is restricted to the warranty explicitly given by Kryptonite, lock-picking is not enough to active the insurance. The language they use even rules out cases where the lock's integrity was reduced by use of spray coolant before being broken. Just about the only case where the remedy would apply is if the thief either hacksaws or pinches through the bolt and then leaves the pieces at the scene.
Useless.