wookaru - Slashdot User

Comment Dad teaching his 9 year old (Score 1) 2

by wookaru on Monday June 01, 2009 @05:06PM (#28173669) Attached to: Learning to program

Check out this guy: http://www.bluej.org/mrt/?p=39

He wrote a series on teaching his 9 year old daughter to code. He introduced her to coding implementing a simple Dr. Who game in java. A bit younger than 13, but it might be a good place for you to start.

Comment Re:Alcohol mandated... (Score 1) 393

by wookaru on Monday June 01, 2009 @01:55PM (#28170589) Attached to: If life gives you lemons, you should make ...

Limoncello! Much tastier than Vodka.

If its good enough to get Danny Devito hammered for the View, its good enough for me! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limoncello

Comment Re:Where is the crossing line for lowering tax rat (Score 2, Funny) 1505

by wookaru on Monday May 04, 2009 @08:07PM (#27824179) Attached to: Battle Lines Being Drawn As Obama Plans To Curb Tax Avoidance

I actually know a bit about the Laffer Curve, as I breifly studied under Ben Stein. It is very controversial. Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Something-d-o-o economics. "Voodoo" economics.

Rydberg Molecule Created For the First Time 127

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday April 24, 2009 @01:28PM from the not-around-long-enough-for-a-group-photo dept.

krou writes "The BBC is reporting that the Rydberg molecule has been formed from two atoms of rubidium. Proven in theory, this is the first time it's been created, reinforcing the fundamental quantum theories of Enrico Fermi. Chris Greene, the theoretical physicist who first predicted that the Rydberg molecules could exist, said: 'The Rydberg electron resembles a sheepdog that keeps its flock together by roaming speedily to the outermost periphery of the flock, and nudging back towards the centre any member that might begin to drift away.' It's a sheepdog with a very short life-span, however; the longest lived molecule only lasted 18 microseconds. Vera Bendkowsky, who led the research, explained how they created the molecule: 'The nuclei of the atoms have to be at the correct distance from each other for the electron fields to find each other and interact. We use an ultracold cloud of rubidium — as you cool it, the atoms in the gas move closer together. We excite the atoms to the Rydberg stage with a laser. If we have a gas at the critical density, with two atoms at the correct distance that are able to form the molecule, and we excite one to the Rydberg state, then we can form a molecule.'"

Ugobe, Maker of Pleo, Files For Bankruptcy 79

Posted by kdawson on Friday April 24, 2009 @12:45PM from the move-to-idaho-and-look-what-happens dept.

AshboryBassPlayer writes "Ugobe has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy — i.e., not reorganization but liquidation. We first discussed the company's Pleo robotic dinosaur toy in 2006. According to the company, 100,000 Pleos were sold in 2008. CEO Caleb Chung is optimistic about the auction value of intellectual property that Ugobe holds. Pleo featured 14 servo joints, a camera, and an SD Card for storage. The final street prices were commonly between $275 and $350, much higher than an earlier hoped-for price point under $200."

Comment Re:One. Always. (Score 1) 503

by wookaru on Wednesday April 22, 2009 @11:19AM (#27675037) Attached to: My primary computer has N screens, with N being ...

Ditto. Synergy rules my 4 machine world.

Ubuntu box on the left, Windows box center, Fedora Right, MacBook pro down and to the left. All the screens are linked intuitively (that is, move the cursor to the edge towards the machine you want, and BOOM you're there).

PLUS, synergy keeps a common clipboard between all your machines (text only) so you can copy something from one machine and paste it to the other. I can't live without it now.

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