Comment Re:your first sentence is technically flawed (Score 1) 531
not only is it not Unix as other post said, but was written in 1987 - by that year there were 80386 that *could* run full Unix.
DARPA Aims for Synthetic Life With a Kill Switch 295
jkinney3 writes to mention that DARPA's mad scientists have undertaken a new program designed to create synthetic organisms, complete with a "kill switch." The project, dubbed BioDesign, is dumping $6 million into "removing the randomness of evolutionary advancement" by creating genetically engineered masterpieces. "Of course, Darpa's got to prevent the super-species from being swayed to do enemy work — so they'll encode loyalty right into DNA, by developing genetically programmed locks to create 'tamper proof' cells. Plus, the synthetic organism will be traceable, using some kind of DNA manipulation, 'similar to a serial number on a handgun.' And if that doesn't work, don't worry. In case Darpa's plan somehow goes horribly awry, they're also tossing in a last-resort, genetically-coded kill switch."
Scientists To Breed the Auroch From Extinction 277
ImNotARealPerson writes "Scientists in Italy are hoping to breed back from extinction the mighty auroch, a bovine species which has been extinct since 1627. The auroch weighed 2,200 pounds (1000kg) and its shoulders stood at 6'6". The beasts once roamed most of Asia and northern Africa. The animal was depicted in cave paintings and Julius Caesar described it as being a little less in size than an elephant. A member of the Consortium for Experimental Biotechnology suggests that 99% of the auroch's DNA can be recreated from genetic material found in surviving bone material. Wikipedia mentions that researchers in Poland are working on the same problem."
Man Uses Drake Equation To Explain Girlfriend Woes 538
artemis67 writes "A man studying in London has taken a mathematical equation that predicts the possibility of alien life in the universe to explain why he can't find a girlfriend. Peter Backus, a native of Seattle and PhD candidate and Teaching Fellow in the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick, near London, in his paper, 'Why I don't have a girlfriend: An application of the Drake Equation to love in the UK,' used math to estimate the number of potential girlfriends in the UK. In describing the paper on the university Web site he wrote 'the results are not encouraging. The probability of finding love in the UK is only about 100 times better than the probability of finding intelligent life in our galaxy.'"
Comment Also announced... (Score 5, Funny) 258
Starting immediately, CBS and ABC will now only be available as pay per view for all Comcast customers!
Comment Re:No shit sherlock (Score 3, Interesting) 157
Your analogy is close, but just a little off. If the movie marketed itself as having Natalie Portman starring, without her permission, then they are in trouble. If they used a digital likeness, but at no point said that it was Natalie Portman, then you've got the same situation as the games.
In these games, they have nameless players, that just happen to look a lot like, play a lot like, and wear the same number as a real former/current player for that same team. This allows the hypocritical NCAA to license the game without breaking their own rules that players can't be used to endorse products.
In these games, they have nameless players, that just happen to look a lot like, play a lot like, and wear the same number as a real former/current player for that same team. This allows the hypocritical NCAA to license the game without breaking their own rules that players can't be used to endorse products.
Comment Re:Eyecandy in cost of usability (Score 5, Funny) 1124
Who? Who doesn't want to use the ribbon?
Comment Re:What do you do with extra copper? (Score 1) 635
Even I laughed on this one!
Comment Re:Sir, step away from the wall jack ... (Score 1) 635
- The copper is not worth that much.
I definitely wasn't thinking of ripping the lines out, it's more of making use of them since they're already in the walls.
- The jacks are probably daisy-chained together. A PBX (what we have in our house) normally requires home-runs from each jack, so that isn't going to work for you.
/ul>
From what I can tell, they are not daisy-chained together, it looks like they ran a separate 4 conductor line from a terminal strip in the basement to each room
- There are charging cradles that will allow you to use your cell phone to supply dialtone to your TwenCen phones. That way you don't have to run all over the house looking for the cellphone.
This sounds like a good possibility...
- If you ever sell your house, the new owner may say WTF?
Good point, although we're hoping to stay here!
Submission + - You've Dropped Your Landline, Now What?
smurphmeister writes: My wife and I recently moved up to the world of cell phones, after taking our sweet time to make sure this whole newfangled technology was going to stick around. We moved the old landline phone number to her phone, so we're disconnected from the pole. Now the question is, what to do with the copper already in our house?
My first thought was an intercom system, but that just seems so old school! So what ideas do you all have for what to do with the 4 little wires running to every room of my house?
My first thought was an intercom system, but that just seems so old school! So what ideas do you all have for what to do with the 4 little wires running to every room of my house?
Obama's "ZuneGate" 608
theodp writes "Barack Obama supporters were left shaking their heads after a report surfaced that the president-elect was using a Zune at the gym instead of an iPod. So why would Mac-user Obama be Zune-ing out? Could be one of those special-edition preloaded Zunes that Microsoft bestowed on Democratic National Convention attendees, suggests TechFlash, nixing the idea that the soon-to-be Leader of the Free World would waste time loading Parallels or Boot Camp in OS X just to use a Zune."
Comment Re:up 300%? (Score 1) 425
But increased by means add to the additional amount.
For example, if you had $1 and I said I'm going to increase the amount of your cash by $3, how much would you expect that you have? You'd expect that you'd have $4 total, not $3.
So when they say, increased by %300, that means take the original amount and add 300% of that amount to the original amount...
Comment Re:And in today's episode of "guess the acronym" (Score 1) 445
What does "look it up" mean? I've been staring at my ceiling for 30 minutes and I don't see the answer. Can you help me?
