Comment College textbooks anyone? (Score 1) 298
Surely nobody reads those things but everyone has to buy them!
Comment All but (Score 1) 134
In the end, two crucial factors made it all but impossible to revive the shuttle program as a commercial enterprise or in any fashion.
Ok, this is offtopic, but this has been bugging me for some time. Is it just me or the statement "all but impossible" doesn't actually say whether it was possible or not? "All but impossible" as in "everything except impossible"? Or as in "almost impossible"?
How can a phrase have two meanings that are conflicting (according to this)? And if it does why do people keep using it....
Submission + - Giving physical reality to virtual particles (sciencedaily.com)
Max Threshold writes: In a vacuum, virtual particles constantly blink in and out of existence. Scientists at Chalmers University of Technology have succeeded in coaxing those particles to become real/a, with the aid of a virtual microwave mirror vibrating at a quarter the speed of light. So far they've only produced photons, but other particles might be possible with higher energy transfers. Star Trek replicators, anyone?
Submission + - New motion simulator is one hell of a ride (deakin.edu.au)
Jimbob-Aussie writes: "Developed for next generation fighter pilot training, Deakin Universities Universal Motion Simulator was launched last week in Geelong, Australia. Billed as the next big thing in flight, the system developed by researchers from the Centre for Intelligent Systems Research (CISR) have leveraged work undertaken in Germany and added realistic haptic flight control hardware. This hardware allows a pilot to 'feel' the forces in the control hardware that a pilot would feel when pulling up to 6 G's. Significantly more cost effective than traditional Stewart Platform based simulators, the system can put the test pilot in some quite intimidating positions, including upside down with continuous aileron rolls possible. Looks like a fun ride!"
Submission + - 11 Amazing Things NASA's Huge Mars Rover Can Do (space.com)
TheNextCorner writes: "NASA is getting set to launch its next Mars rover this week. The car-size Curiosity rover is the centerpiece of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, slated to blast off Saturday (Nov. 26) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rover will employ 10 different science instruments to help it answer this question once it touches down on the Red Planet in August 2012."
Submission + - Princess Leia Strikes Back - at Captain Kirk 3
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Tony Hicks writes that 'The Lucas Empire Strikes Back' as Princess Leia has rebuffed Captain Kirk's recent assertions that "Star Trek" is better than "Star Wars." William Shatner began the feud in a video tweeted to his fans: "First of all, 'Star Wars' is derivative of 'Star Trek' by what, 10, 15, 20 years? Derivative. 'Star Trek' had relationships and conflict among the relationships, and stories that involved humanity and philosophical questions. 'Star Wars' was special effects!" Those were apparently fightin' words and Princess Leia wasn't happy. "They're not in the same league," declared Carrie Fisher. "I mean, they have the word 'star' in the title, and there's space travel, right? Where did they go? Klingon? It just sounds like a laundry detergent." Fisher had the final word. "My space buns — they're so much better than Nimoy's ears.""
Comment Re:Not a Technical or Legal Question (Score 2) 346
True, this is about relationships, but there is a reason why this belongs on Slashdot.
The poster most likely is a nerd. Hence, his roommate is quite possibly his only friend.
Comment Last component to fail? (Score 4, Funny) 715
Well, the FIRST component to fail in my LAST computer was the power supply. I have no idea what the LAST component to fail is. Let's just say it never got its chance to fail.
Comment Re:People google because family doctor are useless (Score 1) 368
My experience of the amazing UK NHS system started with my "doctor" googling cough medicine. After that she diagnosed me chest infection and prescribed antibiotics, ignoring the numbness in my left arm. At the end of the day it turned out to be a heart related issue, again diagnosed by google.
I would argue that the availiblity of quality medical info on the web is a necessity. There is always some guesswork invovled, but the more info you've got, the more educated the guess. And I do think that MY educated gueses on MY health issues are probably just as correct as the average nurse's.
Comment TV? (Score 1) 502
What is this "TV" that you speak of?
Comment Conspiracy!! (Score 1) 981
I'm colourblind (at least that's what they say). I think, though, that everyone else sees the world wrong: it's a massive consipracy against me.
The only trouble I've had with this is that I had to cheat in the vision test when getting my drivers license. It went surprisingly well
Comment Re:I find it hard to take seriously a group called (Score 1) 170
To be fair they probably did not think of the organizations English name, they're Latvian after all. The name 4ATA though has some resemblance to the word "chat" in Latvian. Not sure how that's supposed to work though: "chat army"?
Comment Hacker? Not really (Score 4, Informative) 170
I think calling the guy a hacker is a bit over the top. Basically what he did was change the document id numbers in the URL. The information he was accessing was not secured in any sensible way: the login page could be bypassed by simply entering an address by hand. It's pretty much an epic fail of the company that made the system (unless the flaw was introduced intentionally for some reason).
Source: http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.diena.lv%2Flat%2Fpolitics%2Fhot%2Fneo-no-4ata-mes-bijam-parsteigti-ka-mums-tik-ilgi-lava-datus-kopet&sl=auto&tl=en
Comment Re:Oh, no... (Score 1) 1343
I'm a foreigner in England and found that I know grammar and spelling better than most of my English friends. We're talking about people who passed through basic education system here, and at least half of them also through higher studies.
The same is true for me. I'm in my first year of undergraduate Engineering in the UK and I was told by my peers that my English is "too good" and that I sounded "posh".
This worries me. People shouldn't be taught the test answers, they should be taught the basics in the subject and how to learn. The whole UK education system appears to be increasingly broken, and that (even more than the Government putting us into record debt) threatens the viability of the nation for the next few decades.
The extent of this surprises me to be honest. University students study for the sake of their exams, not for self-improvement. It's just sad when you hear things like: "Why are you even reading this? It's not gonna be in the exam, is it?" Everyone seems to be OK with this, even the lecturers. I find it disturbing and contrary to the very concept of a university as such.
Comment Re:Investigation (Score 1) 177
Man, you've got the grammar all wrong, my Latvian teacher would kill you if she saw this. It should be: "Ne sda ms neesam atradui"
