Cop Car's Beat

Gleanings from Slashdot.org

Things have been pretty hectic for me during the past couple of weeks, and will continue in that vein for at least another three weeks; but, that isn't the reason I've fallen behind in visiting Slashdot.org. They are Beta testing a new display that I despise! It is all cutesy-wootsy, but few postings are entirely displayed. One must hit a "more" button to see the whole thing. This is a waste of my time and interest. Fortunately, just now the display that I pulled up was the older version - compact and easily read without hassle. So...I'll catch you up on a few items that they've posted within the past week or two.

How About a Megatons To Megawatts Program For US Nuclear Weapons? 146                        

Posted by timothyon Saturday February 22, 2014 @11:18AM from the hot-water-on-tap dept.

Lasrick writes "Dawn Stover looks at the incredibly successful Megatons to Megawatts program, which turned dismantled Russian nuclear warheads into lower-grade uranium fuel that can be used to produce electricity. The 1993 agreement between the U.S. and Russia not only eliminated 500 tons of weapons-grade uranium, but generated nearly 10% of U.S. electricity consumption. The Megatons to Megawatts program ended in December, but Stover points out that the U.S. has plenty of surplus nuclear weapons that could keep the program going, without the added risk of shipping it over such huge distances. A domestic Megatons to Megawatts, if you will. This would be very cost effective and have the added benefit of keeping USEC, the only American company in the uranium enrichment field, in business."

 

We Can Avoid a Surveillance State Dystopia 263                        

Posted by Soulskillon Friday February 21, 2014 @06:11PM from the with-only-the-power-of-love-and-maybe-some-napalm dept.

An anonymous reader writes "After the past year's revelations about NSA spying, it's hard to read any commentary about society without dire warnings of the coming (or already present) surveillance state. Sci-fi author Ramez Naam makes the point that while government surveillance needs to be fought, it's actually not as bad as what we were promised in decades past. 'Aldous Huxley published Brave New World in 1932. And while Brave New World is remembered more for predicting government-controlled biological engineering of the masses, it also features government surveillance, media manipulation, and thought control. This is an old idea. Yet somehow, today, in most of the world, governments have dramatically less control over their people than they did when Huxley and Orwell wrote those words. Indeed, the average person on Earth is more free today, in 2014, than he or she would have been in the actual year 1984. The arc of history has bent towards more freedom.' Naam also explains that the technological advances allowing the bulk collection of personal data also provide us with cheap and easy means to fight government overreach."

 

Stack Overflow Could Explain Toyota Vehicles' Unintended Acceleration 650                        

Posted by timothyon Friday February 21, 2014 @06:57PM from the go-ahead-ask-your-car-a-question dept.

New submitter robertchin writes "Michael Barr recently testified in the Bookout v. Toyota Motor Corp lawsuit that the likely cause of unintentional acceleration in the Toyota Camry may have been caused by a stack overflow. Due to recursion overwriting critical data past the end of the stack and into the real time operating system memory area, the throttle was left in an open state and the process that controlled the throttle was terminated. How can users protect themselves from sometimes life endangering software bugs?"

NIMBY - from Slashdot.org

Exxon Mobile CEO Sues To Stop Fracking Near His Texas Ranch 309                        

Posted by samzenpuson Monday February 24, 2014 @09:31AM from the hoisting-with-his-own-petard dept.

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Exxon Mobile's CEO Rex Tillerson's day job is to do all he can to protect and nurture the process of hydraulic fracturing—aka 'fracking'—so that his company can continue to rake in billions via the production and sale of natural gas. 'This type of dysfunctional regulation is holding back the American economic recovery, growth, and global competitiveness,' said Tillerson in 2012 of attempts to increase oversight of drilling operations. But now Rick Unger reports at Forbes that Tillerson has joined a lawsuit seeking to shut down a fracking project near his Texas ranch. Why? Because the 160 foot water tower being built next to Tillerson's house that will supply the water to the near-by fracking site, means the arrival of loud trucks, an ugly tower next door, and the general unpleasantness that will interfere with the quality of his life and the real estate value of his sizeable ranch. The water tower is being built by Cross Timbers Water Supply Corp., a nonprofit utility that has supplied water to the region for half a century. Cross Timbers says that it is required by state law to build enough capacity to serve growing demand. In 2011, Bartonville denied Cross Timbers a permit to build the water tower, saying the location was reserved for residences. The water company sued, arguing that it is exempt from municipal zoning because of its status as a public utility. In May 2012, a state district court judge agreed with Cross Timbers and compelled the town to issue a permit. The utility resumed construction as the town appealed the decision. Later that year, the Tillersons and their co-plaintiffs sued Cross Timbers, saying that the company had promised them it wouldn't build a tower near their properties. An Exxon spokesman said Tillerson declined to comment. The company 'has no involvement in the legal matter' and its directors weren't told of Mr. Tillerson's participation, the spokesman said."

 

While on the subject of fracking, below is another posting on the subject - from the same source. (Full disclosure: I have a few shares of Chevron that comprise less than 1% of my holdings. It allows me to get the company reports and, for all the good it does, vote against some of the board members.)

 

Chevron Gives Residents Near Fracking Explosion Free Pizza 207                        

Posted by samzenpuson Wednesday February 19, 2014 @07:07PM from the are-you-mad-now? dept.

Lasrick writes "Chevron hopes that free soda and pizza can extinguish community anger over a fracking well fire in Dunkard Township, Pennsylvania. From the story: 'The flames that billowed out of the Marcellus Shale natural gas well were so hot they caused a nearby propane truck to explode, and first responders were forced to retreat to avoid injury. The fire burned for four days, and Chevron currently has tanks of water standing by in case it reignites. Of the twenty contractors on the well site, one is still missing, and is presumed dead.' The company gave those who live nearby a certificate for a free pizza and some soda."

 

 

(I was interested to read about Dunkard Township because some of my father's ancesters were born and died there.)

Snow and Hearts

Early Monday (2/10/2014) morning we received an additional four inches of snow - atop the eight-inch snow that had fallen (and not melted due to temperatures that reached highs of under 10 degrees F most days) on the previous Tuesday and Wednesday (2/4/2014-2/5/2014 - Much-needed moisture arrives).

Below is a photo that was snapped early in the daytime. The ghostly images and strange lights do not come from double-exposure; but, from back-lit reflections on the glass door through which the photo was snapped. BTW: The snow on the table is nearly all freshly fallen. I had used the "old" snow in making snow ice cream during the preceeding days.

This morning I was greatly surprised when I went to the breakfast table. Hunky Husband had this display arranged (below).

Perhaps it is just my poor memory; but, I don't recall ever before having been gifted with balloons - and how HH sneaked them into the house and sequestered them from my finding them is beyond me!

Drought in the USA

Although the USA is not alone in suffering drought these days, I tend to follow the conditions in the USA more than those for the world. Below is the latest USA drought map.

The data cutoff for Drought Monitor maps is Tuesday at 7 a.m. Eastern Time. The maps, which are based on analysis of the data, are released each Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is produced in partnership between the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

For local details and impacts, please contact your State Climatologist or Regional Climate Center

Thanks to Hunky Husband for sending me the NASA report that featured the above map and a video about California's drought, embedded below.

Another Chuck Lorre vanity card

CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS, #385

I'm going to let you in on a powerful secret.  A secret so big,  once you know it, your life will never be the same.  Okay, here it  is: Buy the problem, buy the solution.   Got it?   No?   Alright,  fine,  lemme  break  it  down  for  you.   If  someone  can  devise  a  problem  and  convince  you  that  it  is  the  cause  of  all  your  troubles,  then  they  can  sell  you  a  solution.   And  here's  the  kicker: If you really believe in the problem, the solution will  actually work.  For example: If you can be conned into thinking  that the reason you're unhappy is because your body is encrusted  with evil spirits (the problem), there is an organization that  will, for a very reasonable price (considering your dilemma), free  you  of  the  pernicious  little  devils  and  make  you  feel  like  a  demigod  (the  solution).   The  same  holds  true  with  the  thorny  thicket proposed by another, more established  institution: If you  can be made to believe that your life is in ruins because you were  "born in sin" (the problem), then salvation is just a donation  away (the solution).  On a secular level, if you can be convinced  that the reason you're miserable is because a black guy wants you  to get health insurance (the problem), then relief is available  through a small campaign contribution (the solution).  Got it now?   Buy  the  problem,  buy  the  solution.   Here's  one   created  by  a  pharmaceutical company: She's ready, but he's not (the problem),  which forces him to buy a pill to ensure that he's always ready  (the solution).  This one amuses me because the company assumes  it's his problem.  But it could just as easily be hers.  Why not  sell her a pill?  Maybe something to make her less ready.

1st Aired: 16 April 2012

Much-needed moisture arrives

Starting in the wee hours of yesterday morning, light snow began to fall in our area. Off and on, all day, it fell. At dinner time (6:00pm), Hunky Husband went out to measure the amount of snow on the ground - 7". The official snowfall in Wichita, at Midcontinent Airport (about 10 miles NW of us), was 8.7". It continued to snow, fitfully, until about 10:00pm. With all of the snowfall, it stayed warm; but, then the cold air moved in. Today, our high temperature is supposed to be 8 or 9 degrees above zero, Fahrenheit - well above the below-zero temperatures seen elsewhere - with winds of 16G34. I've always said that, I don't mind the cold as long as I get some snow to go with it - snow for ice cream!

And, ice cream I've been having. Interestingly, each time I made a bowl of ice cream, yesterday, the top layer of snow was a different type. For breakfast: powder. For lunch: corn. For dinner: flat, sparkly. Before much snow had accumulated, I snapped some photos, a few of which are posted below.

The weather bureau has announced that our accumulation of snow is equivalent to approximately 0.54" of rain. Better than none!

Crime Stoppers

Here in the US of A, many cities/towns have an organization called "Crime Stoppers", affiliated with a national organization of the same name. Here in Derby KS, we have such an organization - about which, although Hunky Husband is a "member", I know almost nothing. I know that, annually, there is a fund raiser. I know that there is an anonymous (telephone) tip line to which one may call in information about activities/crimes they have observed, and they sometimes offer a small reward for information on a particular crime.

I don't belong to the Derby Ks Crime Stoppers (BTW: there is a Crime Stoppers organization in the UK which came up on Google when I looked for Derby - which Google always interprets as being in the UK unless I tell it differently) and have never supported them in any way other than to lend them Hunky Husband and to give them moral support. Today, I'm asking for your help in solving a crime that is too large for the Derby KS Crime Stoppers: Pollution of the earth with carbon-14!

From Slashdot.org:

Astronomers Investigating Unknown Object That Hit the Earth In 773 AD 12                        

Posted by samzenpuson Sunday February 02, 2014 @09:25AM from the what-could-it-be dept.

KentuckyFC writes "In November 2012, a group of Japanese scientists discovered that the concentration of carbon-14 in Japanese cedar trees suddenly rose between 774 AD and 775 AD. Others have since found similar evidence and narrowed the date to 773 AD. Astronomers think this stuff must have come from space so now the quest is on to find the extraterrestrial culprit. Carbon-14 is continually generated in the atmosphere by cosmic rays hitting nitrogen atoms. But because carbon-14 is radioactive, it naturally decays back into nitrogen with a half-life of about 5700 years. This constant process of production and decay leaves the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere relatively constant at about one part in a trillion will be carbon-14. One possible reason for the increase is that the Sun belched a superflare our way, engulfing the planet in huge cloud of high energy protons. Recent calculations suggest this could happen once every 3000 years and so seems unlikely. Another possibility is a nearby supernova, which bathed the entire Solar System in additional cosmic rays. However, astronomers cannot see any likely candidates nearby and there are no historical observations of a supernova from that time. Yet another possibility is that a comet may have hit the Earth, dumping the extra carbon-14 in the atmosphere. But astronomers have ruled that out on the basis that a comet carrying enough carbon-14 must have been over 100 km in diameter and would surely have left other evidence such as an impact crater. So for the moment, astronomers are stumped."

  

Please call in any tips that you may have to your local Crime Stoppers organization. Your identity will be protected. Citizens of the world: We must help our under-funded astronomers put the arm on the culprit!

_________________________

BTW: The original Crime Stoppers organization was formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, just seven years before I moved to that city. It's web site declares, "There are now more than 1,100 Crime Stoppers programs throughout the world, in 16 countries. And it all started HERE in Albuquerque. And, in addition to the original program, Campus Crime Stoppers is now in dozens of local schools, providing a safe environment for our K-12 students to learn and grow."

COMMENTS:

Stu reminds me:

Just FYI : There was a historically recorded comet collision with the Earth's atmosphere on 17 January AD 773.

Cop Car:

It appears that the Slashdot.Com posting was not completely aware - and that I failed to exercise due diligence before re-posting. At NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) I find Mysterious abrupt carbon-14 increase in coral contributed by a comet abstracted, starting with the following paragraph.

A large and sudden increase in radiocarbon (¹⁴C) around AD 773 are documented in coral skeletons from the South China Sea. The ¹⁴C increased by ~ 15‰ during winter, and remain elevated for more than 4 months, then increased and dropped down within two months, forming a spike of 45‰ high in late spring, followed by two smaller spikes. The ¹⁴C anomalies coincide with an historic comet collision with the Earth's atmosphere on 17 January AD 773. Comas are known to have percent-levels of nitrogen by weight, and are exposed to cosmic radiation in space. Hence they may be expected to contain highly elevated ¹⁴C/¹²C ratios, as compared to the Earth's atmosphere. The significant input of ¹⁴C by comets may have contributed to the fluctuation of ¹⁴C in the atmosphere throughout the Earth's history, which should be considered carefully to better constrain the cosmic ray fluctuation.