It's not so much about the policy of auto-updating. It's that Skype 5 for Mac is, to my knowledge, universally loathed compared to the previous release.
Skype took a clean and coherent interface, tossed it out the window, and replaced it with an incoherent, messy, ugly, and user-hostile interface. The only thing that can make it worse is red flashing text. I may only be an engineer with the design taste of a manure pile, but the new Mac interface for Skype makes me gag.
That's pretty much the entire reason for the outrage - a major update that everybody hates.
Methane is 21x more effective as a greenhosue gas than C02 according to the EPA.
Moreover, the EPA converts everything to 'equivalence' of greenhouse effect vs C02;
The amount of greenhouse effect from methane is significant, but is _far_ from the major source of greehouse heat retention - around 10 %. Unlike C02 (where combustion or industrial emission sources are counted, but not respiration), methane emissions also count 'natural' sources of emission, like methane formed in animal intestines (you just HAD to have that burrito, didn't you?), and excrement decomposition.
Given that methane is a carbon based molecule (and in fact, has more carbon per unit mass than C02), it shouldn't be surprising that methane is often counted as a carbon emission.
Heck, I remember a few Sci-Fi TV series from the 1990's where beef was banned because of the methane gas released by cattle...
The 'great conspiracy' of AGW is there is no conspiracy: The biggest result from the climate research unit email 'scandal' of 2009 is that they received more funding so they could actually publish their data. There was no finding that there was a conspiracy or collusion to falisify data. In fact, the findings of all of the official investigations exhonorated the behavior of the scientists involved - so much so that (to no surprise) climate change denialists now claim the investigations are part of the conspiracy. In fact, the official finding was that the volume and tone of FOI requests classified as 'vexatious' - which is certainly true to a point - the volume was so high that the scientists could either do their research, or they could respond to a fraction of the FOI requests. Unsurprisingly, the scientists used their funding for what they were requried to use it for - research.
Sometimes, when you're given public money in an 'no win' situation, the best option is to use the money for what it is officially given to you for. Legislators (and judges) are more forgiving if research funding is used for research. If the funding had been used to respond to the FOI requests, then not only would there be charges of fraud for using research money for non-research purposes, but they still wouldn't have been able to fulfil all of the FOI requests. They were between a rock and a hard place without enough funding or manpower do fulfill what the law required of them (if you think electronic distribution would have solved the problem then you have no idea the amount of data involved.) The investigators recognized that fact, and decided that doing research with research funding was the correct course of action.
Back in the Great Depression, North America had the Dustbowl: Arguably the greatest ecological disaster in human history.
It was caused by homesteaders plowing under the native vegetation that was holding the soil in place. They followed their mantra: The rain follows the plow. At the time, homesteaders were making a fortune from the wheat that they could grow during the unusually wet conditions of the day. The fact that the unusually wet period coincided with the homesteaders' plowing strenghtened the belief that plowing the land would turn the desert they were in into a wetter climate.
A few years of unusually wet weather doesn’t change that the land was in an arid climate. The local climate returned to normal a few years later, and the crops died - leaving the land bare. The solution? The rain follows the plow - so even more of the native vegetation was removed, along with its ability to hold the topsoil.
The land was then ready for decades of Black Blizzards - dust storms so powerful 70% of the topsoil was stripped from the land and deposited in the Atlantic. The storms reached Boston, New York, and Washington D.C, blotting out the sun for days.
It turns out rain does not follow the plow, and the mantra only made matters worse.
Climate Change Denial is a new flavor of disaster; the fossil fuel industry is making a lot of money, and has every reason to follow their own false mantra: There's no way humanity can affect the climate; we're just too insignificant.
A while back, there was an interesting article on the NY Times on why acceptance and mitigation of climate change should be a conservative cause: Something along the lines of:
1.) Businesses want minimal government regulation. 2.) Climate change is real; the fact it's happening is beyond debate. 3.) By actively attacking researchers and refusing to accept the reality of climate change, businesses are following a path that will only serve to increase government regulation, and decrease personal freedoms. 4.) Unless something is done now, human survival will require draconian changes by governments - and that's just to keep the populace fed when it becomes difficult to grow staple crops due to changes in climate.
Let's see: three quarters of a billion dollars for a pathetic 110 MW?
How is this going to compete with wind, which is able to produce more power for less cost? Even 'traditional' coal and natural gas power is an order of magnitude cheaper to generate
Were it not for decade long legal battles fighting nuclear power, nuclear power would be able to produce ten times that amount of power for less than half the cost.
I'm all for cleaner/"greener" power, but economics have to be taken into account as well. I don't see how this can even get close to competing. The plant will be near the end of its usable life before it even breaks even in cost - and that's assuming the cost of maintenance won't go up as the plant ages (which, of course, won't happen: Everything gets more expensive to maintain as it ages.)
External DMA is extremely useful - it dramatically reduces system load when accessing storage devices (whether single drives or drive arrays). This lets a notebook be used for data-intensive work (like video and photo work) with minimal overhead. DMA makes the difference between a pleasant experience and whimpering in the corner.
Claiming that external DMA is horrible idea is disingenuous; winlockpwn (or FireWire, or Thunderbolt) requires physical access to the machine, at which point security becomes a non-issue because there is none - DMA has nothing to do with it. If an attacker has physical access to a machine, the game is over.
More to the point: Winlockpwn is not a weakness of DMA, but in how Windows uses DMA. Windows has enough remote security problems; we don't need to go into the problems it has when an attacker has physical access.
The "necessary and proper" clause in the constitution was intended (and has been used since the constitution's ratification) to provide the Federal government with powers that are not specifically allowed, but are related to things that are specified.
There's a long history of "strict" vs "loose" readings of the constitution, both of which are logically defensible, with the overall idea being: * (loose): Anything not forbidden to the federal government is allowed. * (strict): Anything not specifically granted is forbidden.
Each has valid points; but it's also important to consider history (and hence precedent and Supreme Court rulings): Historically (back to the ratification of the constitution), there has never been a time when a "strict" interpretation was used by Congress and the Supreme Court A couple of early presidents (Jefferson in particular) were strict constructionists, but their veto was often overridden by Congress. There has never really been a serious question of "strict" vs. "loose" interpretation: the question has always been 'how loose an interpretation.'
It's always been hotly debated -- John Adams & Thomas Jefferson constantly bickered about it. The constitution grants nebulous powers to promote the "general welfare" of the United States (and anything "necessary and proper" to do it.) The Supreme Court has upheld this nebulous power for over 110 years.
The debate is anything but new; it's America's general distaste for and abundant ignorance of history that is used by pundits and demagogues to instill the idea that the constitution is somehow threatened now, unlike in the past when the constitution was sacred and strictly followed.
There's also the idea being pushed that we need to go back to following how the constitution was "originally" meant - woefully ignorant that the time they envision never existed.
Give people what they want at a price they're willing to pay. Everything is worth exactly what it's purchaser is willing to pay - and no more.
The media companies seem to forget that they've raised the prices to the point that purchasers are not willing to pay. Their customers are going to get the media in any case; it's just a question of whether it's paid for.
It's difficult to do anything with antitrust over patents. Patents are a government-granted monopoly, and the patent holder(s) are free to do whatever they want, abusive or not, with their patents for the duration the patent is valid. Patents are not granted on the condition that the patent owner play nice with others.
Moreover, it's hard to pin anything particularly abusive on the MPEG-LA, as the pool is licensed under reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. As patent licenses go, the MPEG-LA's terms are far more generous than most.
It's not like WebM is alone in being a target of the MPEG-LA. Microsoft initially offered the VC-1 codec under an open license, including a patent license for VC-1 technologies for anybody to use. Even with Microsoft's massive litigation abilities, VC-1 (and its sibling, Windows Media Video) ended up "closed" from a patent perspective, and is now licensed from the MPEG-LA.
We don't have to like the way the patent system works, and especially software patents. Pretending that software patents don't exist (in the US), or that a patent holder has to play 'nice' with Free Software is rejecting reality. We have to accept the reality that software patents do exist, they are enforceable under terms that are not friendly to Free Software. Then we have to work to get software patents abolished.
Simply ignoring the problem won't make it go away, and wishful thinking doesn’t get us anywhere.
When I look at the data, it almost certainly looks like it's the cell towers.
This makes sense: The cell network knows the location of every device on its network - it has to, or else it can't route data properly/efficiently. (ie. through a tower that's in range)
So the iPhone is recording & storing information the cellular network provider already knows. The difference is the cellular network provider knows the location of every device on its network - regarless of make & model.
It appears to be location based on cell tower information.
So putting aside any discussion of Apple=evil, consider that the cell network provider knows the location of every device on its network without exception.
They have to, otherwise, they can't route the data to the right place. Cellular networks simply cannot work without knowing which tower to route the data to.
More often than not, there are multiple towers who can "see" the device, and the tower know the individual signal strengths - meaning they can locate you to within 100 M or so:
Recall that many Enhanced-911 systems use simple triangulation of cell towers & signal strengths to locate a phone.
So the lesson is that: If you don't like being tracked constantly, don't carry a cellular telephone.
I hate to tell you this: Your N900 isn't immune to this particular issue. It's a cell phone, so you've got the same problem.
The information stored on the iPhone is not based on GPS data. Looking at the data reported, it's clearly based on cell towers. Every mobile phone everywhere reports this data to the network provider - at least once a minute, no less. Without the network provider being able to track you, mobile networks can not work - they have to know what tower to route the data through.
That Apple is keeping a log is somewhat interesting - but there are a few questions that aren't answered: 1.) Is Apple collecting the data from computers after it's synced? (I doubt it, but who knows?) 2.) Are (iPhone) apps able to access the data on the phone? Unlike Android (which has no ability to "reject" apps, Apple has been pretty strict about what kinds of data apps have access to - especially location data; it's even in the terms of the app developer license.
Knowing that the network provider has access to the location of cell phone (and timestamps for said location) should scare you. It's also important to realize that it's not just the iPhone, not just Android, not even just smartphones - it's every cell phone that's turned on and connected to the network.
It's nice, though also perverted in a way for you to see the information on your own phone - it's like knowing what the NSA has on file about you... creepy, but it's still interesting.
There's a point to the "Turn off phone, remove battery" procedure that Hans Reiser used after killing his wife. Every cellular phone everywhere reports its location constantly. Richard Stallman even listed this as one reason he doesn't carry/use a cell phone - the cell network provider always knows your position.
My home network (A different network) has IPv6, and has no problem accessing IPv6 & Netflix. About the only thing I haven't tried is turning off IPv4 NAT & running pure IPv6 to see if/how it works.
In Unit 1, fresh water is being continuously injected into the RPV through the feed-water line at an indicated flow rate of 6 m3/h using a temporary electric pump with off-site power. In Units 2 and 3, fresh water is being continuously injected through the fire extinguisher lines at an indicated rate of 7 m3/h using temporary electric pumps with off-site power.
So we know the amount of water being pumped in.
RPV temperatures remain above cold shutdown conditions in all Units, (typically less than 95oC). In Unit 1 the temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is 180oC and at the bottom of the RPV is 117oC. In Unit 2, the temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is 141oC. In Unit 3 the temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is 91oC and at the bottom of the RPV is 122oC.
We know a fair amount about the temperatures of the reactor units.
In accordance with the report of the Nuclear Emergency Response HQs (Prime Minister’s Office) from 15th April, thermography temperatures of the Containment Vessel and Spent Fuel Pool in Unit 1 were 33 oC and 36 oC respectively. In Unit 3 the temperatures were 68oC and 59oC at the same positions. Also on the 15th April, thermography temperature of the Unit 2 reactor building roof was 31 oC
We know the temperatures in the spent fuel pools.
In accordance with NISA Release 94, TEPCO took water samples from the spent fuel pool of Unit 4 on 12th April, in order to examine the conditions. The sample was taken by using the arm of the concrete pump vehicle. At the same time, the temperature of water in the spent fuel pool of Unit 4 was measured with a thermistor attached to the arm of the concrete pump vehicle. The activities for I-131, Cs-134 and Cs-137 were 220 Bq/cm3, 88 Bq/cm3 and 93 Bq/cm3 respectively.
And we know the radioactivity of the water in the spent fuel pools.
A reference: Between naturally occurring radioactive Potassium and Carbon-14, every human body (or other form of carbon-based life) is radioactive. Humans have about 8 kBq of radiation per person (more or less depending on one's mass, of course). It works out to around 114 Bq/cm3. So the water in spent fuel pool 4 is about twice as radioactive as your average hunk of meat - or about the same as a banana. (Potassium & Carbon 14 are much safer forms of radiation than radioactive Iodine & Cesium; but it's a fun comparison).
We know that units 2 & 3 are at atmospheric pressure, and that unit 1's pressure is in the same range as tire pressure (0.4 Mpa, or ~58 PSI for Americans...).
So there's actually quite a bit that is known.
It's taking so long because the Japanese are being quite cautious about radiation exposure. I read a report yesterday that no worker has received more than 100 mSv since Mar 11; the maximum allowed for emergency workers is 200-250 mSv or so. (They did have a couple of guys whose feet were well dosed for a short time, but the whole-body radiation level was still below 100 mSv).
1.) Wait. The current trajectory of the music labels is hopeless unless somebody gets a clue. I doubt it will happen. 2.) Laugh at their utter ineptness (loudly, publicly, and constantly, to increase the humiliation), which will: 3.) Drive their stock prices even lower, as investors learn they really are clueless, with no plan for the present, let alone for the future. Turning back the clock isn't an option, and it's not a good business plan. 4.) Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, etc. can pick up the pieces at fire sale prices. 5.) Those who don't want to be evil will give the copyrights back to the musicians. 6.) Walk away and let the Musicians figure out what's best for them.
I don't think paying for recordings is going away - there's value being able to go to Amazon, iTunes, etc. and buy your music from a nice service, with fast downloads, easy/trustworthy payment, and the ability to suggest other music you may like as well...
Frankly, I don't think it'll be too long until anything that's DRM'd will follow suit: there's a fundamental flaw to the idea that you can keep your treasure chest locked when you give the chest and the key to a mob. It's not like DVD's and Blu-ray discs can't be ripped...
I'm sorry, but I've never known Sony for either nice hardware, nor fair prices... and that goes back farther than 20 years...
Sony's been about paying a premium for vendor-lockin on substandard hardware at least as long as I can remember (and I remember when the walkman was new...)
I followed the links to the paper that is the basis for the claim (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15748661).
Link diving far enough finds a paper about boar in Croatia. There's a [citation needed] for reindeer meat, Germany, and Norway; but that's OK.
The radiation levels differed by three orders of magnitude depending on the location in Croatia where the boar were collected. Only one of the areas had enough cesium in the meat to be of any concern to health -- and even then, the meat would only be a concern to those who ate particularly high levels of boar meat. The levels of radiation in boar meat ranged from 0.4-611.5 Bq/kg. They speculate the cesium absorbed was primarily from the consumption of truffles.
To put things in perspective: The amount of natural potassium-40 (half-life of about a billion years) present in the average human body produces ~4kBq of radiation, with people having an average mass of ~60 Kg. (Heavier people will also have more potassium-40, lighter people will have less, etc.) A human naturally has around 67 Bq/kg from potassium alone; Carbon-14 roughly doubles it to about 135 Bq/kg.
At the highest levels reported, 611.5 Bq/kg, the boar meat had around five times the natural level of radiation present in our own bodies.
Another way to look at it is the banana: 1 kg of bananas (~8 of 'em) has 3.96 grams of Potassium. This equates to about 122 Bq/kg of radiation from potassium (I didn't bother figuring out additional radiation from Carbon-14).
So a 225 g (8 oz) steak of the most contaminated boar meat would have about the same radiation as a few bananas.
Iodine is somewhat defended against with potassium iodide; enough so that almost nothing is absorbed by the thyroid; what remains decays in ~48 hours anyway.
Cesium doesn't have a strong affinity for bone - it distributes fairly evenly throughout the body, with slightly higher concentrations in the muscles, and is treated by the body similarly to potassium. As a result, cesium is normally excreted via urine, though much more slowly than iodine. Prussian blue binds with cesium, which reduces the time until excretion by 2/3. It's still bad - it can take months to eliminate most of it. But it's not as bad as the next common isotope...
The "bone seeker" is Strontium-90; I haven't read a single report detailing any traces of Strontium-90 being detected. (It's worth noting that Strontium-90 is treated by the body like Calcium, and 70-80% of any ingested is excreted via urine within hours. The rest, however, is pretty much there to stay.
Let's not forget the destroyed infrastructure: Roads strewn with rubble & debris.
Also, there are other things to think of: Humans die after a couple of days without water; the need is far more immediate for drinking water than for reactor coolant.
When an entire life-critical infrastructure for millions of people (like drinking water) that took decades to build is knocked offline in an instant, it's not something you can just rush in and fix offhand. The need is great, and the actual supply is limited by the ability to transport the water over damaged roads that are clogged with debris.
The techniques you mention for radiation removal are also used to make normal drinking water. I imagine the resources to do distillation, R/O and ion-exchange are more than a little overtaxed in Japan - first from disabled municipal water sources in stricken areas, and second from areas where any level of radiation has been detected in the water.
Save people from certain death now, and worry about possible death from radiation later. Electorates are generally unforgiving when people start dying of dehydration.
We saw a similar problem after Hurricane Katrina - not enough clean drinking water. It took days before clean water was readily obtainable, and weeks before the municipal water systems were back.
There are always ways we can plan to handle a disaster - but 'perfect' preparation is just too expensive. Sometimes it's easier and cheaper to rebuild a home than it is to prevent its destruction.
Slashdot Mirror
It's not so much about the policy of auto-updating. It's that Skype 5 for Mac is, to my knowledge, universally loathed compared to the previous release.
Skype took a clean and coherent interface, tossed it out the window, and replaced it with an incoherent, messy, ugly, and user-hostile interface. The only thing that can make it worse is red flashing text. I may only be an engineer with the design taste of a manure pile, but the new Mac interface for Skype makes me gag.
That's pretty much the entire reason for the outrage - a major update that everybody hates.
http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads11/US-GHG-Inventory-2011-Executive-Summary.pdf
Methane is 21x more effective as a greenhosue gas than C02 according to the EPA.
Moreover, the EPA converts everything to 'equivalence' of greenhouse effect vs C02;
The amount of greenhouse effect from methane is significant, but is _far_ from the major source of greehouse heat retention - around 10 %. Unlike C02 (where combustion or industrial emission sources are counted, but not respiration), methane emissions also count 'natural' sources of emission, like methane formed in animal intestines (you just HAD to have that burrito, didn't you?), and excrement decomposition.
Given that methane is a carbon based molecule (and in fact, has more carbon per unit mass than C02), it shouldn't be surprising that methane is often counted as a carbon emission.
Heck, I remember a few Sci-Fi TV series from the 1990's where beef was banned because of the methane gas released by cattle...
The 'great conspiracy' of AGW is there is no conspiracy: The biggest result from the climate research unit email 'scandal' of 2009 is that they received more funding so they could actually publish their data. There was no finding that there was a conspiracy or collusion to falisify data. In fact, the findings of all of the official investigations exhonorated the behavior of the scientists involved - so much so that (to no surprise) climate change denialists now claim the investigations are part of the conspiracy. In fact, the official finding was that the volume and tone of FOI requests classified as 'vexatious' - which is certainly true to a point - the volume was so high that the scientists could either do their research, or they could respond to a fraction of the FOI requests. Unsurprisingly, the scientists used their funding for what they were requried to use it for - research.
Sometimes, when you're given public money in an 'no win' situation, the best option is to use the money for what it is officially given to you for. Legislators (and judges) are more forgiving if research funding is used for research. If the funding had been used to respond to the FOI requests, then not only would there be charges of fraud for using research money for non-research purposes, but they still wouldn't have been able to fulfil all of the FOI requests. They were between a rock and a hard place without enough funding or manpower do fulfill what the law required of them (if you think electronic distribution would have solved the problem then you have no idea the amount of data involved.) The investigators recognized that fact, and decided that doing research with research funding was the correct course of action.
Back in the Great Depression, North America had the Dustbowl: Arguably the greatest ecological disaster in human history.
It was caused by homesteaders plowing under the native vegetation that was holding the soil in place. They followed their mantra: The rain follows the plow. At the time, homesteaders were making a fortune from the wheat that they could grow during the unusually wet conditions of the day. The fact that the unusually wet period coincided with the homesteaders' plowing strenghtened the belief that plowing the land would turn the desert they were in into a wetter climate.
A few years of unusually wet weather doesn’t change that the land was in an arid climate. The local climate returned to normal a few years later, and the crops died - leaving the land bare. The solution? The rain follows the plow - so even more of the native vegetation was removed, along with its ability to hold the topsoil.
The land was then ready for decades of Black Blizzards - dust storms so powerful 70% of the topsoil was stripped from the land and deposited in the Atlantic. The storms reached Boston, New York, and Washington D.C, blotting out the sun for days.
It turns out rain does not follow the plow, and the mantra only made matters worse.
Climate Change Denial is a new flavor of disaster; the fossil fuel industry is making a lot of money, and has every reason to follow their own false mantra: There's no way humanity can affect the climate; we're just too insignificant.
A while back, there was an interesting article on the NY Times on why acceptance and mitigation of climate change should be a conservative cause: Something along the lines of:
1.) Businesses want minimal government regulation.
2.) Climate change is real; the fact it's happening is beyond debate.
3.) By actively attacking researchers and refusing to accept the reality of climate change, businesses are following a path that will only serve to increase government regulation, and decrease personal freedoms.
4.) Unless something is done now, human survival will require draconian changes by governments - and that's just to keep the populace fed when it becomes difficult to grow staple crops due to changes in climate.
Extremists on any part of the political spectrum use the same tactic; whether liberal, conservative, or libertarian.
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
North Korea lives by this standard...
A fine theory, but pedestrians are in a shockingly high number of accidents. Drivers just aren't that careful.
Let's see: three quarters of a billion dollars for a pathetic 110 MW?
How is this going to compete with wind, which is able to produce more power for less cost? Even 'traditional' coal and natural gas power is an order of magnitude cheaper to generate
Were it not for decade long legal battles fighting nuclear power, nuclear power would be able to produce ten times that amount of power for less than half the cost.
I'm all for cleaner/"greener" power, but economics have to be taken into account as well. I don't see how this can even get close to competing. The plant will be near the end of its usable life before it even breaks even in cost - and that's assuming the cost of maintenance won't go up as the plant ages (which, of course, won't happen: Everything gets more expensive to maintain as it ages.)
External DMA is extremely useful - it dramatically reduces system load when accessing storage devices (whether single drives or drive arrays). This lets a notebook be used for data-intensive work (like video and photo work) with minimal overhead. DMA makes the difference between a pleasant experience and whimpering in the corner.
Claiming that external DMA is horrible idea is disingenuous; winlockpwn (or FireWire, or Thunderbolt) requires physical access to the machine, at which point security becomes a non-issue because there is none - DMA has nothing to do with it. If an attacker has physical access to a machine, the game is over.
More to the point: Winlockpwn is not a weakness of DMA, but in how Windows uses DMA. Windows has enough remote security problems; we don't need to go into the problems it has when an attacker has physical access.
The "necessary and proper" clause in the constitution was intended (and has been used since the constitution's ratification) to provide the Federal government with powers that are not specifically allowed, but are related to things that are specified.
There's a long history of "strict" vs "loose" readings of the constitution, both of which are logically defensible, with the overall idea being:
* (loose): Anything not forbidden to the federal government is allowed.
* (strict): Anything not specifically granted is forbidden.
Each has valid points; but it's also important to consider history (and hence precedent and Supreme Court rulings): Historically (back to the ratification of the constitution), there has never been a time when a "strict" interpretation was used by Congress and the Supreme Court A couple of early presidents (Jefferson in particular) were strict constructionists, but their veto was often overridden by Congress. There has never really been a serious question of "strict" vs. "loose" interpretation: the question has always been 'how loose an interpretation.'
It's always been hotly debated -- John Adams & Thomas Jefferson constantly bickered about it. The constitution grants nebulous powers to promote the "general welfare" of the United States (and anything "necessary and proper" to do it.) The Supreme Court has upheld this nebulous power for over 110 years.
The debate is anything but new; it's America's general distaste for and abundant ignorance of history that is used by pundits and demagogues to instill the idea that the constitution is somehow threatened now, unlike in the past when the constitution was sacred and strictly followed.
There's also the idea being pushed that we need to go back to following how the constitution was "originally" meant - woefully ignorant that the time they envision never existed.
+1 to this.
Give people what they want at a price they're willing to pay. Everything is worth exactly what it's purchaser is willing to pay - and no more.
The media companies seem to forget that they've raised the prices to the point that purchasers are not willing to pay. Their customers are going to get the media in any case; it's just a question of whether it's paid for.
It's difficult to do anything with antitrust over patents. Patents are a government-granted monopoly, and the patent holder(s) are free to do whatever they want, abusive or not, with their patents for the duration the patent is valid. Patents are not granted on the condition that the patent owner play nice with others.
Moreover, it's hard to pin anything particularly abusive on the MPEG-LA, as the pool is licensed under reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. As patent licenses go, the MPEG-LA's terms are far more generous than most.
It's not like WebM is alone in being a target of the MPEG-LA. Microsoft initially offered the VC-1 codec under an open license, including a patent license for VC-1 technologies for anybody to use. Even with Microsoft's massive litigation abilities, VC-1 (and its sibling, Windows Media Video) ended up "closed" from a patent perspective, and is now licensed from the MPEG-LA.
We don't have to like the way the patent system works, and especially software patents. Pretending that software patents don't exist (in the US), or that a patent holder has to play 'nice' with Free Software is rejecting reality. We have to accept the reality that software patents do exist, they are enforceable under terms that are not friendly to Free Software. Then we have to work to get software patents abolished.
Simply ignoring the problem won't make it go away, and wishful thinking doesn’t get us anywhere.
When I look at the data, it almost certainly looks like it's the cell towers.
This makes sense: The cell network knows the location of every device on its network - it has to, or else it can't route data properly/efficiently. (ie. through a tower that's in range)
So the iPhone is recording & storing information the cellular network provider already knows. The difference is the cellular network provider knows the location of every device on its network - regarless of make & model.
It appears to be location based on cell tower information.
So putting aside any discussion of Apple=evil, consider that the cell network provider knows the location of every device on its network without exception.
They have to, otherwise, they can't route the data to the right place. Cellular networks simply cannot work without knowing which tower to route the data to.
More often than not, there are multiple towers who can "see" the device, and the tower know the individual signal strengths - meaning they can locate you to within 100 M or so:
Recall that many Enhanced-911 systems use simple triangulation of cell towers & signal strengths to locate a phone.
So the lesson is that: If you don't like being tracked constantly, don't carry a cellular telephone.
The make/model is irrelevant.
I hate to tell you this: Your N900 isn't immune to this particular issue. It's a cell phone, so you've got the same problem.
The information stored on the iPhone is not based on GPS data. Looking at the data reported, it's clearly based on cell towers. Every mobile phone everywhere reports this data to the network provider - at least once a minute, no less. Without the network provider being able to track you, mobile networks can not work - they have to know what tower to route the data through.
That Apple is keeping a log is somewhat interesting - but there are a few questions that aren't answered:
1.) Is Apple collecting the data from computers after it's synced? (I doubt it, but who knows?)
2.) Are (iPhone) apps able to access the data on the phone? Unlike Android (which has no ability to "reject" apps, Apple has been pretty strict about what kinds of data apps have access to - especially location data; it's even in the terms of the app developer license.
Knowing that the network provider has access to the location of cell phone (and timestamps for said location) should scare you. It's also important to realize that it's not just the iPhone, not just Android, not even just smartphones - it's every cell phone that's turned on and connected to the network.
It's nice, though also perverted in a way for you to see the information on your own phone - it's like knowing what the NSA has on file about you... creepy, but it's still interesting.
There's a point to the "Turn off phone, remove battery" procedure that Hans Reiser used after killing his wife. Every cellular phone everywhere reports its location constantly. Richard Stallman even listed this as one reason he doesn't carry/use a cell phone - the cell network provider always knows your position.
how many major websites support IPv6
You can add Netflix...
host ipv6.netflix.com
ipv6.netflix.com has IPv6 address 2620:0:ef0:13::20
? They have for quite a while, actually.
Some areas (Denver being the big one) is having native IPv6 deployed as their first 'test' deployment. Other cities will follow.
Everyone else can still use 6rd or 6to4
http://www.comcast6.net/6to4-config.php
http://www.comcast6.net/6rd-config.php
There's also an image for openWRT users:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dslite-6rd/files/
Note: That is DNS resolving only.
My home network (A different network) has IPv6, and has no problem accessing IPv6 & Netflix. About the only thing I haven't tried is turning off IPv4 NAT & running pure IPv6 to see if/how it works.
I've not had trouble with IPv6 & Netflix.
$ host ipv6.netflix.com
ipv6.netflix.com has IPv6 address 2620:0:ef0:13::20
And that's on a machine whose DNS server both have IPv4 only.
The IAEA maintains an excellent log of the status of the reactors, spent fuel pools, isotope monitoring, and radiation levels.
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html
In Unit 1, fresh water is being continuously injected into the RPV through the feed-water line at an indicated flow rate of 6 m3/h using a temporary electric pump with off-site power. In Units 2 and 3, fresh water is being continuously injected through the fire extinguisher lines at an indicated rate of 7 m3/h using temporary electric pumps with off-site power.
So we know the amount of water being pumped in.
RPV temperatures remain above cold shutdown conditions in all Units, (typically less than 95oC). In Unit 1 the temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is 180oC and at the bottom of the RPV is 117oC. In Unit 2, the temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is 141oC. In Unit 3 the temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is 91oC and at the bottom of the RPV is 122oC.
We know a fair amount about the temperatures of the reactor units.
In accordance with the report of the Nuclear Emergency Response HQs (Prime Minister’s Office) from 15th April, thermography temperatures of the Containment Vessel and Spent Fuel Pool in Unit 1 were 33 oC and 36 oC respectively. In Unit 3 the temperatures were 68oC and 59oC at the same positions. Also on the 15th April, thermography temperature of the Unit 2 reactor building roof was 31 oC
We know the temperatures in the spent fuel pools.
In accordance with NISA Release 94, TEPCO took water samples from the spent fuel pool of Unit 4 on 12th April, in order to examine the conditions. The sample was taken by using the arm of the concrete pump vehicle. At the same time, the temperature of water in the spent fuel pool of Unit 4 was measured with a thermistor attached to the arm of the concrete pump vehicle. The activities for I-131, Cs-134 and Cs-137 were 220 Bq/cm3, 88 Bq/cm3 and 93 Bq/cm3 respectively.
And we know the radioactivity of the water in the spent fuel pools.
A reference: Between naturally occurring radioactive Potassium and Carbon-14, every human body (or other form of carbon-based life) is radioactive. Humans have about 8 kBq of radiation per person (more or less depending on one's mass, of course). It works out to around 114 Bq/cm3. So the water in spent fuel pool 4 is about twice as radioactive as your average hunk of meat - or about the same as a banana. (Potassium & Carbon 14 are much safer forms of radiation than radioactive Iodine & Cesium; but it's a fun comparison).
We know that units 2 & 3 are at atmospheric pressure, and that unit 1's pressure is in the same range as tire pressure (0.4 Mpa, or ~58 PSI for Americans...).
So there's actually quite a bit that is known.
It's taking so long because the Japanese are being quite cautious about radiation exposure. I read a report yesterday that no worker has received more than 100 mSv since Mar 11; the maximum allowed for emergency workers is 200-250 mSv or so. (They did have a couple of guys whose feet were well dosed for a short time, but the whole-body radiation level was still below 100 mSv).
I think a more practical idea.
1.) Wait. The current trajectory of the music labels is hopeless unless somebody gets a clue. I doubt it will happen.
2.) Laugh at their utter ineptness (loudly, publicly, and constantly, to increase the humiliation), which will:
3.) Drive their stock prices even lower, as investors learn they really are clueless, with no plan for the present, let alone for the future. Turning back the clock isn't an option, and it's not a good business plan.
4.) Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, etc. can pick up the pieces at fire sale prices.
5.) Those who don't want to be evil will give the copyrights back to the musicians.
6.) Walk away and let the Musicians figure out what's best for them.
I don't think paying for recordings is going away - there's value being able to go to Amazon, iTunes, etc. and buy your music from a nice service, with fast downloads, easy/trustworthy payment, and the ability to suggest other music you may like as well...
Frankly, I don't think it'll be too long until anything that's DRM'd will follow suit: there's a fundamental flaw to the idea that you can keep your treasure chest locked when you give the chest and the key to a mob. It's not like DVD's and Blu-ray discs can't be ripped...
Sony making nice hardware for a fair price?
I'm sorry, but I've never known Sony for either nice hardware, nor fair prices... and that goes back farther than 20 years...
Sony's been about paying a premium for vendor-lockin on substandard hardware at least as long as I can remember (and I remember when the walkman was new...)
I followed the links to the paper that is the basis for the claim (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15748661).
Link diving far enough finds a paper about boar in Croatia. There's a [citation needed] for reindeer meat, Germany, and Norway; but that's OK.
The radiation levels differed by three orders of magnitude depending on the location in Croatia where the boar were collected. Only one of the areas had enough cesium in the meat to be of any concern to health -- and even then, the meat would only be a concern to those who ate particularly high levels of boar meat. The levels of radiation in boar meat ranged from 0.4-611.5 Bq/kg. They speculate the cesium absorbed was primarily from the consumption of truffles.
To put things in perspective:
The amount of natural potassium-40 (half-life of about a billion years) present in the average human body produces ~4kBq of radiation, with people having an average mass of ~60 Kg. (Heavier people will also have more potassium-40, lighter people will have less, etc.) A human naturally has around 67 Bq/kg from potassium alone; Carbon-14 roughly doubles it to about 135 Bq/kg.
At the highest levels reported, 611.5 Bq/kg, the boar meat had around five times the natural level of radiation present in our own bodies.
Another way to look at it is the banana: 1 kg of bananas (~8 of 'em) has 3.96 grams of Potassium. This equates to about 122 Bq/kg of radiation from potassium (I didn't bother figuring out additional radiation from Carbon-14).
So a 225 g (8 oz) steak of the most contaminated boar meat would have about the same radiation as a few bananas.
Iodine is somewhat defended against with potassium iodide; enough so that almost nothing is absorbed by the thyroid; what remains decays in ~48 hours anyway.
Cesium doesn't have a strong affinity for bone - it distributes fairly evenly throughout the body, with slightly higher concentrations in the muscles, and is treated by the body similarly to potassium. As a result, cesium is normally excreted via urine, though much more slowly than iodine. Prussian blue binds with cesium, which reduces the time until excretion by 2/3. It's still bad - it can take months to eliminate most of it. But it's not as bad as the next common isotope...
The "bone seeker" is Strontium-90; I haven't read a single report detailing any traces of Strontium-90 being detected. (It's worth noting that Strontium-90 is treated by the body like Calcium, and 70-80% of any ingested is excreted via urine within hours. The rest, however, is pretty much there to stay.
Slow news day...
Let's not forget the destroyed infrastructure: Roads strewn with rubble & debris.
Also, there are other things to think of:
Humans die after a couple of days without water; the need is far more immediate for drinking water than for reactor coolant.
When an entire life-critical infrastructure for millions of people (like drinking water) that took decades to build is knocked offline in an instant, it's not something you can just rush in and fix offhand. The need is great, and the actual supply is limited by the ability to transport the water over damaged roads that are clogged with debris.
The techniques you mention for radiation removal are also used to make normal drinking water. I imagine the resources to do distillation, R/O and ion-exchange are more than a little overtaxed in Japan - first from disabled municipal water sources in stricken areas, and second from areas where any level of radiation has been detected in the water.
Save people from certain death now, and worry about possible death from radiation later. Electorates are generally unforgiving when people start dying of dehydration.
We saw a similar problem after Hurricane Katrina - not enough clean drinking water. It took days before clean water was readily obtainable, and weeks before the municipal water systems were back.
There are always ways we can plan to handle a disaster - but 'perfect' preparation is just too expensive. Sometimes it's easier and cheaper to rebuild a home than it is to prevent its destruction.