There is a similar case to this going on with a NYTimes reporter. The story is here. Interestingly, a lot of very educated journalists think the government is wrong in that case. If ThinkSecret is considered a news source, this is practically identical. That may not bode well for Nick de Plume, but he will have the journalistic community on his side.
The Canadian court case certainly seems to make it hopeless for farmers that get on Monsanto's bad side.
I definitely vote Monsanto as the single most evil, vile company to disfigure the face of the Earth. The strange thing is that no one notices. Even here, we complain about Micro$oft and SCO, decry the *AA, and put on our tinfoil hats at every announcement from BushCo., but this evil giant somehow slips beneath the radar. How do they do it?
The use of steam pressure and turbines is limited by the laws of thermodynamics, namely the Carnot cycle, so can only ever be approximately 40% efficient.
Isn't the Carnot efficiency e = 1-Tc/Th ? In this case, we have a hot reservoir of 100 million K, and a cold reservoir at atmospheric temperatures ~300 K, so an efficiency of almost 100% should be possible. I realize that real electricity generation doesn't use the Carnot cycle, but very high efficiencies should still be possible with these temperature differences.
impact the nucleus of the U238 atoms and cause it to become unstable and break apart
U238 doesn't fission in our reactors. It's actually quite stable. U235 is the isotope that breaks apart. That's why you hear about enriching uranium for use in reactors and bombs- they're increasing the relative amount of U235 in the fuel.
What does happen when you add a neutron to uranium is that it undergoes two successive beta decays (decay of a neutron into a proton, an electron and an anti-neutrino) to become neptunium 239 and then plutonium 239. This is how all plutonium is made, as it's not a naturally occuring element. Aside from it's use in making bombs, this process is behind the idea of breeder reactors. By turning U238 into Pu239, they create more fuel than they burn.
I seem to recall my flash drive saying it was rated for some number of write/erase cycles, on the order of 100,000 or a million. Clearly this will not be a problem for any normal use, but what about running a browser off of it? Is all that data in the cache being written to the USB drive? Isn't that going to "wear out" my flash drive? Has this been addressed, or am I just wrong about this problem?
I think "soon" for Slashdot means "by the time we fix all the various problems with Slashcode, implement basic spellchecking for the editors, and train ourselves to look for dupes before publishing them to the front page."
So about the same time as Duke Nukem Forever comes out?
You shouldn't have to prove where you were in a criminal investigation. You should be innocent until proven guilty. But I guess that's a quaint idea now...
Also, if you're going somewhere or doing something where you could be injured, tell someone! That's just a good habit. There's no reason to let Big Brother follow you around for safety when a simple "I'm going hiking on trail X today" would suffice.
I know it's popular to have a tinfoil hat here, but could you at least take the time to read what Google has to say about it? Here's the relevant part:
Some news stories have suggested that Google intends to keep copies of users' email messages even after they've deleted them, or closed their accounts. This is simply not true.
Google keeps multiple backup copies of users' emails so that we can recover messages and restore accounts in case of errors or system failure. Even if a message has been deleted or an account is no longer active, messages may remain on our backup systems for some period of time. This is standard practice in the email industry, which Gmail and other major webmail services follow in order to provide a reliable service for users. We will make reasonable efforts to remove deleted information from our systems as quickly as is practical. (Google's emphasis)
You say "because Google is golden" like they're pulling some kind of dirty trick on you. Have you considered that maybe they have a good reputation because they provide a quality service and show respect for their customer's rights?
The rest of Google's privacy FAQ can be found here.
Antireflective coatings are layers of materials with a specific thickness. It's designed so that the reflection off of the different layers cancel out when they add up. This only works over a specific range of wavelengths that the coating is designed for.
Where are they going to fit a CF reader in the iPod? They've been working pretty consistently to bring down the form factor. Adding media reader slots will severely reverse that downward size trend. Besides, Belkin sells an external media reader for $99 that does the job without messing up iPod's famous simplicity.
Did anyone else burst out laughing when they read this?
The entire voting record can be deleted by choosing "reset the election" on a drop-down menu, he said, or a hacker can destroy a tabulator's ability to recognize ballots by un-selecting three checkboxes on a program control panel.
I mean, really. They practically have a button that says "Press to Hack Election."
Very true- planetary nebulae are some of the most beautiful objects in the universe. Hubble has taken a lot of great pictures of them. If you like the Cat's Eye, but occasionally want a different view, try these planetaries:
The image you linked to is a picture of the Cat's Eye Nebula, a planetary nebula. A planetary nebula is the result of the slow death of a star similar in mass to our sun. A supernova is the result of the explosive death of a significantly more massive star (about 8x more massive).
Supernovae do leave behind pretty glowing nebulae, though. For instance, the Crab Nebula.
Type Ia supernovae take about a month to reach their peak brightness. While this is a Type II, a different class of explosion, I think the timescale is comparable. Accoring to this page the supernova had an apparent visual magnitude of 11.3 in early August. This is a factor of 100 dimmer than the naked eye can see under the best conditions (magnitude 6 is the dimmest the unaided eye can see).
If you're unsure of why a higher number means a dimmer object, or just want more information, czech out the Wikipedia entry on visual magnitudes.
By the way, the last supernova that was visible to the naked eye was SN1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
The company also developed so-called sleep transistors that shut off the electrical current to areas of a chip that aren't being used. As a result, power consumption drops -- something that will decrease heat generation and help battery-powered devices last longer between charges.
I actually read the article (I am new here) but didn't see anything mentioning what class of laser it uses. It does say that the manufacturer recommends not using it on mirrored surfaces. It's possible, though unlikely, for a class II laser (such as is found in a laser pointer) to cause eye damage. I've been in classrooms with optical mice invoerted and shining their light out at students. Is this something that we're going to have to worry about with a laser mouse? Of course, if it's a class I (such as is found in CD players) there's no concern at all. Does anybody have any information on this?
I see what you mean now. I misunderstood what you meant by the timeframe. Thanks for clearing that up!
Re:Life on Titan?
on
Odds-on Science
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Huygens is part of the Cassini mission, so its already at Saturn. According to the ESA the Huygens probe will enter Titan's atmosphere on January 14, 2005. Also, according to the article and this Huygens isn't even designed to search for life.
Slashdot Mirror
I was going more for wise-ass than wise, actually.
Thanks for the link anyway.
I hope they start using this widely. It will make life a lot more intersting...
There is a similar case to this going on with a NYTimes reporter. The story is here. Interestingly, a lot of very educated journalists think the government is wrong in that case. If ThinkSecret is considered a news source, this is practically identical. That may not bode well for Nick de Plume, but he will have the journalistic community on his side.
The radar sounds sounded like the 8-bit sound effects from Yars' Revenge on Atari.
The Canadian court case certainly seems to make it hopeless for farmers that get on Monsanto's bad side.
I definitely vote Monsanto as the single most evil, vile company to disfigure the face of the Earth. The strange thing is that no one notices. Even here, we complain about Micro$oft and SCO, decry the *AA, and put on our tinfoil hats at every announcement from BushCo., but this evil giant somehow slips beneath the radar. How do they do it?
Isn't the Carnot efficiency e = 1-Tc/Th ? In this case, we have a hot reservoir of 100 million K, and a cold reservoir at atmospheric temperatures ~300 K, so an efficiency of almost 100% should be possible. I realize that real electricity generation doesn't use the Carnot cycle, but very high efficiencies should still be possible with these temperature differences.
U238 doesn't fission in our reactors. It's actually quite stable. U235 is the isotope that breaks apart. That's why you hear about enriching uranium for use in reactors and bombs- they're increasing the relative amount of U235 in the fuel.
What does happen when you add a neutron to uranium is that it undergoes two successive beta decays (decay of a neutron into a proton, an electron and an anti-neutrino) to become neptunium 239 and then plutonium 239. This is how all plutonium is made, as it's not a naturally occuring element. Aside from it's use in making bombs, this process is behind the idea of breeder reactors. By turning U238 into Pu239, they create more fuel than they burn.
I seem to recall my flash drive saying it was rated for some number of write/erase cycles, on the order of 100,000 or a million. Clearly this will not be a problem for any normal use, but what about running a browser off of it? Is all that data in the cache being written to the USB drive? Isn't that going to "wear out" my flash drive? Has this been addressed, or am I just wrong about this problem?
So about the same time as Duke Nukem Forever comes out?
Also, if you're going somewhere or doing something where you could be injured, tell someone! That's just a good habit. There's no reason to let Big Brother follow you around for safety when a simple "I'm going hiking on trail X today" would suffice.
The rest of Google's privacy FAQ can be found here.
Antireflective coatings are layers of materials with a specific thickness. It's designed so that the reflection off of the different layers cancel out when they add up. This only works over a specific range of wavelengths that the coating is designed for.
So to directly answer your question, no.
F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2). This has got to be up there. This series is supposed to show up practically everywhere in nature.
There are 11 kinds of people: those who understand binary, those who don't, and those who get the joke.
Where are they going to fit a CF reader in the iPod? They've been working pretty consistently to bring down the form factor. Adding media reader slots will severely reverse that downward size trend. Besides, Belkin sells an external media reader for $99 that does the job without messing up iPod's famous simplicity.
I mean, really. They practically have a button that says "Press to Hack Election."
Very true- planetary nebulae are some of the most beautiful objects in the universe. Hubble has taken a lot of great pictures of them. If you like the Cat's Eye, but occasionally want a different view, try these planetaries:
Hourglass Nebula
Spirograph Nebula
Eskimo Nebula
The image you linked to is a picture of the Cat's Eye Nebula, a planetary nebula. A planetary nebula is the result of the slow death of a star similar in mass to our sun. A supernova is the result of the explosive death of a significantly more massive star (about 8x more massive).
Supernovae do leave behind pretty glowing nebulae, though. For instance, the Crab Nebula.Type Ia supernovae take about a month to reach their peak brightness. While this is a Type II, a different class of explosion, I think the timescale is comparable. Accoring to this page the supernova had an apparent visual magnitude of 11.3 in early August. This is a factor of 100 dimmer than the naked eye can see under the best conditions (magnitude 6 is the dimmest the unaided eye can see).
If you're unsure of why a higher number means a dimmer object, or just want more information, czech out the Wikipedia entry on visual magnitudes.
By the way, the last supernova that was visible to the naked eye was SN1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
I actually read the article (I am new here) but didn't see anything mentioning what class of laser it uses. It does say that the manufacturer recommends not using it on mirrored surfaces. It's possible, though unlikely, for a class II laser (such as is found in a laser pointer) to cause eye damage. I've been in classrooms with optical mice invoerted and shining their light out at students. Is this something that we're going to have to worry about with a laser mouse? Of course, if it's a class I (such as is found in CD players) there's no concern at all. Does anybody have any information on this?
I see what you mean now. I misunderstood what you meant by the timeframe. Thanks for clearing that up!
Huygens is part of the Cassini mission, so its already at Saturn. According to the ESA the Huygens probe will enter Titan's atmosphere on January 14, 2005. Also, according to the article and this Huygens isn't even designed to search for life.