"Creating money out of thin air; the banks are going to have a field day creating their own currency"
This would be a test of blockchain tracing of transactions, not virtual currency. Questions have been raised recently about the scalability of blockchain to large volumes of transactions, and what banks are good at is volume transactions of conventional currencies. If blockchain is long-term viable, it has to pass this test.
"are so pro-Bitcoin. Their kind loves money laundering."
You mean, as opposed to those other politicians who make up fake economic cries like 'money laundering'.
If you have evidence that someone is dealing meth or embezzling, then file the appropriate charges. There is no need to criminalize dealing in cash as a penalty enhancer. There is especially no need to criminalize dealing in cash as an isolated activity.
Europe, or any other place threatened by terrorism, could accomplish a lot more by infiltrating and subverting known terrorist channels of communication than by shotgun surveillance of large random populations. Set up fake Daesh honeypot websites and simulated chatter, and our drones can be even more effective.
Cows don't eat fossil fuel. They eat grass that is fresh or which grew recently, absorbing carbon from the air. In the path from grass through cow to biofuel, the carbon that is finally released is recent carbon, not fossil carbon.
But-but-but...this story does not add anything new to our innumerable discussions of copyright affecting digital content. Okay, yet another tricky ploy by peripheral descendants (as in, not even of Anne Frank herself) to glean income from a work they had no part in creating. We all wish the laws of the world could be amended to force these parasites to go out and get a real job, but how are they different from those Hollywood middlemen we already love to hate?
"It's hilarious that we see so many good Slashdot comments modded "Troll" or "Flamebait" so often, when it's stories like this that are far worse than those comments ever are."
Because Troll == 'I strongly disagree' and Flamebait == "Not only do I strongly disagree, but the poster might even be a Republican."
What conspiracy theorists failed to realize is that tinfoil helmets were actually the transmission mode for this indoctrination technology. Muahahahahahahaha!
"Especially on a floating platform that is bobbing in the sea. "
If barge landings are ever going to become routine, there needs to be a capture system. This would not only have turned several of those near-misses into good landings, but would save the weight of the landing legs.
For the long term, I'm hoping that China or Russia will take it upon themselves to colonize the Middle East. Just totally rule it, with an iron fist, and force the region to accept civilized values, making whatever tribes that need to disappear go away in the process.
Then in the 22nd century, the region may emerge as the new India, ready to romp technologically.
It's hardly a 'scandal', but a matter of cost. We're still at the stage where space telescopes have to be designed for unattended operation, while the one you envision would have to be manned. Such a scope will be built as a project once there is settlement in the area, just as building Mt Palomar took place after there was settlement and infrastructure in California.
So our next space telescope will be the Webb. Meanwhile, segmented mirrors allow another generation of large Earh-based instruments to be built.
The Caris Mirror Lab at U of A Tucson, which is building the large mirror segments for this and other large scopes, faced an unusual problem in the Nineties when it was casting the mirrors for the Large Binocular Telescope on nearby Mt Graham. To avoid attack by eco-terrorists who were trying to prevent construction in an early, unsuccessful trial of the protest techniques they are now using in Hawaii, each completed mirror segment had to be sneaked out at a random time in an unmarked vehicle.
This tactic might be needed again if the activists fixate on the Chilean installations next.
Me: "The sky is blue this morning." Troll A: "You stupid ignorant reactionary bastard whose mother dresses you funny, don't you know the air is full of corporate pollution?" Troll B: "There you go, looking up again! At a sky full of planets and stars that man will never reach because going beyond low Earth orbit requires an infinite amount of energy and deadly radiation will boil your vital body fluids if you even look at them!"
"It is the same as asking EVERY student to become proficient in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. I don't know anyone who is proficient in all four."
But what we do need to teach, desperately, is respect and appreciation for why science and its applications are important to us. Don't teach code with the aim of making everybody a programmer, but teach what code can do. Those who have an interest in CS will be motivated to get educated further on the topic,while the rest of the students will have a better understanding of how programmed devices fir into their everyday lives.
Now do this with chemistry, physics and biology. Then perhaps we will have a populace that reacts to science and tech news with something other than gibbering hysteria.
Slashdot Mirror
"Although I recognize that telemarketing can be annoying, it's a form of speech."
Telemarketing is speech in the same way that mugging is a display of affection.
"Creating money out of thin air; the banks are going to have a field day creating their own currency"
This would be a test of blockchain tracing of transactions, not virtual currency. Questions have been raised recently about the scalability of blockchain to large volumes of transactions, and what banks are good at is volume transactions of conventional currencies. If blockchain is long-term viable, it has to pass this test.
"are so pro-Bitcoin. Their kind loves money laundering."
You mean, as opposed to those other politicians who make up fake economic cries like 'money laundering'.
If you have evidence that someone is dealing meth or embezzling, then file the appropriate charges. There is no need to criminalize dealing in cash as a penalty enhancer. There is especially no need to criminalize dealing in cash as an isolated activity.
We prefer the term 'compact planet'.
Europe, or any other place threatened by terrorism, could accomplish a lot more by infiltrating and subverting known terrorist channels of communication than by shotgun surveillance of large random populations. Set up fake Daesh honeypot websites and simulated chatter, and our drones can be even more effective.
Cows don't eat fossil fuel. They eat grass that is fresh or which grew recently, absorbing carbon from the air. In the path from grass through cow to biofuel, the carbon that is finally released is recent carbon, not fossil carbon.
Biofuel is not replacing nuclear. According to the article, carbon-neutral biofuel is replacing fossil oil in the same engines.
But-but-but...this story does not add anything new to our innumerable discussions of copyright affecting digital content. Okay, yet another tricky ploy by peripheral descendants (as in, not even of Anne Frank herself) to glean income from a work they had no part in creating. We all wish the laws of the world could be amended to force these parasites to go out and get a real job, but how are they different from those Hollywood middlemen we already love to hate?
This story is News for Nerds because...you can get Diary of Anne Frank in digital formats?
There should be a new mod category for this: -1, Apostasy.
"It's hilarious that we see so many good Slashdot comments modded "Troll" or "Flamebait" so often, when it's stories like this that are far worse than those comments ever are."
Because Troll == 'I strongly disagree' and Flamebait == "Not only do I strongly disagree, but the poster might even be a Republican."
Then why the push to prevent GMO from being served to consumers who are unaffected by any patent issue?
"The issue has never been about GMO itself, its been about how GMO is used."
Then why does the flat-earth lobby rip up GMO crops that have nothing to do with Monsanto?
http://naturalsociety.com/farm...
"Oh no... the tin-foil hat crowd was right?"
What conspiracy theorists failed to realize is that tinfoil helmets were actually the transmission mode for this indoctrination technology. Muahahahahahahaha!
"Especially on a floating platform that is bobbing in the sea. "
If barge landings are ever going to become routine, there needs to be a capture system. This would not only have turned several of those near-misses into good landings, but would save the weight of the landing legs.
I would check other stars close to this object for evidence of large defensive structures.
"Tonight on the History Channel."
But where does Hitler come into it?
For the long term, I'm hoping that China or Russia will take it upon themselves to colonize the Middle East. Just totally rule it, with an iron fist, and force the region to accept civilized values, making whatever tribes that need to disappear go away in the process.
Then in the 22nd century, the region may emerge as the new India, ready to romp technologically.
It's hardly a 'scandal', but a matter of cost. We're still at the stage where space telescopes have to be designed for unattended operation, while the one you envision would have to be manned. Such a scope will be built as a project once there is settlement in the area, just as building Mt Palomar took place after there was settlement and infrastructure in California.
So our next space telescope will be the Webb. Meanwhile, segmented mirrors allow another generation of large Earh-based instruments to be built.
The Caris Mirror Lab at U of A Tucson, which is building the large mirror segments for this and other large scopes, faced an unusual problem in the Nineties when it was casting the mirrors for the Large Binocular Telescope on nearby Mt Graham. To avoid attack by eco-terrorists who were trying to prevent construction in an early, unsuccessful trial of the protest techniques they are now using in Hawaii, each completed mirror segment had to be sneaked out at a random time in an unmarked vehicle.
This tactic might be needed again if the activists fixate on the Chilean installations next.
My posting history generally looks like this:
Me: "The sky is blue this morning."
Troll A: "You stupid ignorant reactionary bastard whose mother dresses you funny, don't you know the air is full of corporate pollution?"
Troll B: "There you go, looking up again! At a sky full of planets and stars that man will never reach because going beyond low Earth orbit requires an infinite amount of energy and deadly radiation will boil your vital body fluids if you even look at them!"
Having my very own trolls is something I consider a supreme accolade. Now for extra-credit fun, can we work the subject of space in here somehow?
"In a couple generations there won't be any more whites and we'll be done with your shit."
When we're gone, you will then be dealing with the Asians. Good luck with that.
"It is the same as asking EVERY student to become proficient in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. I don't know anyone who is proficient in all four."
But what we do need to teach, desperately, is respect and appreciation for why science and its applications are important to us. Don't teach code with the aim of making everybody a programmer, but teach what code can do. Those who have an interest in CS will be motivated to get educated further on the topic,while the rest of the students will have a better understanding of how programmed devices fir into their everyday lives.
Now do this with chemistry, physics and biology. Then perhaps we will have a populace that reacts to science and tech news with something other than gibbering hysteria.
The story is current because Obama just mentioned teaching code in the SOTU.