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Comment Re:Each sex is defined by the needs of the other (Score 1) 834

by zentinal (#28844379) Attached to: Are Women Getting More Beautiful?

I'm a tall minority male. In every job I have ever held, I have made as much as if not more than my peers because I'm good at what I do and I know how much my work is worth.

"On the internet, no one knows if you're a dog."

http://www.unc.edu/depts/jomc/academics/dri/idog.html

Any claim on any internet forum where membership in any group is asserted is, at best, highly suspicious. By extension, any experiential claim dependent upon the factuality of membership in said group is also, at best, highly suspicious.

Cf course, no one on Slashdot would ever dissemble to make a point.
Privacy

Submission + - Bill bans NSA eavesdropping

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "The US house of representatives today passed a bill outlawing illegal domestic wiretapping by the government. Now Bush can pry into your private communications only under terms of FISA.

The ACLU noted that, despite many recent hearings about "modernization" and "technology neutrality," the administration has not publicly provided Congress with a single example of how current FISA standards have either prevented the intelligence community from using new technologies, or proven unworkable for the agents tasked with following them."
Science

Could Global Warming Make Life on Earth Better? 923

Posted by Zonk from the makes-for-lots-of-swimming-opportunities dept.
mikee805 writes "A lengthy article in Spiegel explores the possibility that global warming might make life on Earth better, not just for humans, but all species. The article argues that 'worst-case scenarios' are often the result of inaccurate simulations made in the 1980s. While climate change is a reality, as far as the article is concerned, some planning and forethought may mean that more benefits than drawbacks will result from higher temperatures. From the article:'The medical benefits of higher average temperatures have also been ignored. According to Richard Tol, an environmental economist, "warming temperatures will mean that in 2050 there will be about 40,000 fewer deaths in Germany attributable to cold-related illnesses like the flu." Another widespread fear about global warming -- that it will cause super-storms that could devastate towns and villages with unprecedented fury -- also appears to be unfounded. Current long-term simulations, at any rate, do not suggest that such a trend will in fact materialize.'"
Space

Submission + - European Galileo program in serious trouble

Submitted by elrous0
elrous0 writes: CNN, the Inquirer, et. al. are reporting that Europe's "Galileo" program is facing a serious financial and technical crisis and may be permanently stalled. The European program, designed to be a superior answer to the United States' "Global Positioning System" (GPS), has faced numerous hurdles since its incenption. To date, the Galileo program has succeeded in launching only one of its 30 planned satellites and has been beset by delays and cost overruns. Apparently, squabbling between the eight companies in the consortium behind the project is responsible for many of the problems. The project is now threatened with an EU takeover. But many are skeptical that even the EU can save the flagging program.
The Media

Submission + - Time of use rates and solar power

Submitted by
mdsolar
mdsolar writes: "The LA Time is running a story about how California is seeing a big drop off in applications for rebates for solar power systems. It seems that to get a rebate you have to also switch to a time of use rate with your utility. The math is not working out, especially for smaller systems that don't fully cover use during peak hours and so people are deciding not to go with solar. From the article:

The difference between peak and off-peak rates is particularly large in the 11 counties of Central, coastal and Southern California, where Edison provides electricity service to 13 million customers.
Edison charges summer time-of-use rates that range from 29.7 to 35.9 cents per kilowatt-hour between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays. It drops to a range of 16.3 to 18.6 cents per kilowatt-hour from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. weekdays and all weekend days and holidays, according to documents filed with the PUC.
There is likely an optimal system size that reduces consumer costs, but with things in flux you'd want some flexibility in your system."
Java

Sun Completes Java Core Tech Open-Sourcing 141

Posted by Zonk from the the-beans-are-gratis dept.
MsManhattan writes "A year after announcing its plans, Sun Microsystems has made almost all of the core technology in Java available as open-source software under the GNU general public license version 2 (GPLv2). However, some of the code remains 'encumbered'; that is, Sun doesn't have sufficient rights to release it under GPLv2, and the company is requesting the open-source community's help in resolving these issues. Rich Sands, community marketing manager for OpenJDK community at Sun, would not say what percentage of Java's 6.5 million lines of code are encumbered, but explained that it is largely Java 2D graphics technology, such as font and graphics rasterizing."
IBM

Submission + - IBM to layoff half of Global Services division

Submitted by Rolgar
Rolgar writes: Cringely says that IBM has begun massive layoffs in a quiet manner, starting with 1300 employees, but by the end of the year, the total will rise to at least 100,000 and probably closer to 150,000 employees, nearly 40% of their U.S. workforce. Some people will be temporarily retained as contractors at a fraction of their salary, and eventually, IBM will also dump many of the unprofitable customer contracts worked on by Global Services or outsource the work to Asia. If these people are looking for work, that could seriously drop wages for technical workers in the US since they will have to compete with these people for available jobs.
The Courts

Submission + - Prosecutor announces charges against Pirate Bay

Submitted by paulraps
paulraps writes: Almost a year after a police raid on the Pirate Bay's servers, a Swedish prosecutor has announced that he intends to press charges against the individuals behind the file-sharing giant. They will be prosecuted for various breaches of copyright law, reports The Local. But a Pirate Bay spokesman was defiant, saying, "I think they feel they have to do it. It would look bad otherwise, since they had 20 to 30 police officers involved in the raid."
Power

Submission + - Cooler silicon lasers thanks to energy harvesting

Submitted by Light Licker
Light Licker writes: UCLA researchers have developed a way to cut power use and heat output from a silicon laser used for optoelectronics. Both have been problems because silicon absorbs too much light — producing high-energy free electrons that make heat. One of Intel's best silicon lasers produced 125 times more heat than usable light. The UCLA team added a diode to their laser which can harvest free electrons and use them to help power the circuit — simultaneously cutting heat output and power use.
Space

Submission + - Wally Schirra Dead at 84

Submitted by
UglyTool
UglyTool writes: "Wally Schirra, the only astronaut to have flown on the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions, died of a heart attack at a hospital in San Diego. Wallyschirra.com has much more on the man, his life, and his contributions to the American Space Program."
PHP

Submission + - PHP 5.2.2 and 4.4.7 Released

Submitted by daeg
daeg writes: PHP 5.2.2 and 4.4.7 have been released with a plethora of security updates. Many of the security notifications come from the Month of PHP Bugs effort, and range from double freed memory to bugs in functions that allow attackers to enable register_globals, to memory corruption with unserialize(), to input validation flaws that allow e-mail header injections, with an unhealthy sprinkling of other bugs and flaws fixed. All administrators that run any version of PHP are encouraged to update immediately.

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