Comment Time Travel or Worm Holes (Score 1) 336

by Nakoruru on Saturday March 07, 2009 @07:43PM (#27108193) Attached to: Audio Watermarks Could Pinpoint Film Pirates By Seat

It is pretty obvious that they intend to send time travelers to the exact point in time and space that the pirate was recording and arrest them.

Either that or open up a wormhole and bring them to the future for justice.

Maybe just sent a telegram back in time to alert the past. But that is not as fun.

3651371 story

Illinois Declares Pluto a Planet 512

Posted by timothy on Friday March 06, 2009 @08:44AM from the after-ruling-out-pebble-and-mailing-tube dept.

The Bad Astronomer writes "The legislators in Illinois, always on the lookout for more places to find voters, have passed a resolution declaring Pluto is a planet. I'm not sure what else can be said here, except that — besides overstepping their jurisdiction just a wee bit — they make a couple of scientific howlers in the resolution itself."

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Comment Re:Does it really (Score 1, Insightful) 296

by Nakoruru on Sunday February 22, 2009 @02:34PM (#26950123) Attached to: MS Publishes Papers For a Modern, Secure Browser

I have two answers.

The snarky answer is that when one writes a paper one has to make simple things sound as complicated as possible in order to make the paper look like you've discovered something interesting.

More likely it really does have to be this complicated considering that handling security when combining content from multiple sources cannot be made simple unless you make it trivial (no trust or complete trust).

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Comment Re:Really a surprise? (Score 1) 493

by Nakoruru on Friday February 13, 2009 @10:41AM (#26843235) Attached to: Firefox Faster In Wine Than Native

Can you really claim an exception for FOSS?

Given that FOSS always gets you #1, it should be concluded that you can only get #1 and #2 or #1 and #3.

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Comment Re:Really a surprise? (Score 3, Insightful) 493

by Nakoruru on Friday February 13, 2009 @10:37AM (#26843187) Attached to: Firefox Faster In Wine Than Native

You fail to realize that ultimately both versions of Firefox must eventually go through the same layers of Linux in order to do pretty much the same thing. The story is that the Windows version is still faster even though it has a whole extra layer to go through.

It is not even a comparison of Linux/Windows but of Linux and Linux+Wine.

The Linux build of Firefox is the problem here and has nothing to do with the trade-offs between how Windows does things and how Linux does things.

Besides, how can you say that everybody should fall on one side of the Performance/Reliability trade-off? Such things are case-by-case by definition.

3381717 story

Fly Me To Which Moon? 183

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday February 11, 2009 @02:43AM from the life-don't-talk-to-me-about-life dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "NASA and the European Space Agency are expected later this week to settle an ongoing debate on whether to send a robotic mission to Jupiter's moon Europa or Saturn's moon Titan. Both are difficult places to get to — a mission to either would cost several billion dollars/euros to build and execute — and both have become alluring targets in the quest to learn whether Earth alone supports life. On the one hand, Europa is believed to have liquid oceans beneath its frozen crust which (on Earth at least) are a source of life-supporting chemistry. Scientists would like to scan Europa's surface for bits of material that may have seeped up from beneath the ice. 'Imagine if there were microbes entrained in material that has exuded onto the surface of Europa and they've been sitting there for maybe three million years,' says planetary scientist Dr. Brad Dalton. On the other hand, Titan has two enticing features in the search for life: liquids on the surface, and a thick atmosphere that can be used to slow down a spacecraft and help put it into orbit. Titan's surface water is locked into the crust as ice, but scientists suspect there may be a subsurface ocean where water mingles with ammonia. The mission will not get to the launch pad before 2020. 'It's unfortunate that there has to be a decision,' says NASA/JPL astrobiologist Dr. Kevin Hand. 'It's important to go to both. They are both such amazing and tantalizing worlds in terms of finding life.'"

2937917 story

Tooth Regeneration Coming Soon 289

Posted by kdawson on Monday January 05, 2009 @09:12PM from the no-fairy-tale dept.

Ponca City, We love you writes "For thousands of years, losing teeth has been a routine part of human aging. Now the Washington Post reports that researchers are close to growing important parts of teeth from stem cells, including creating a living root from scratch, perhaps within one year. According to Pamela Robey of the NIH. 'Dentists say, "Give me a root and I can put a crown on it."' In a few years dentists will treat periodontal disease with regeneration by using stem cells to create hard and soft tissue; they will take out a tooth that is about to fall, and reconnect it firmly to the regenerated tissue. Although nobody is predicting when it will be possible to grow teeth on demand, in adults, to replace missing ones, a common guess is five to ten years. Baby and wisdom teeth are sources of stem cells that could be 'banked' for future health needs, says Robey. 'When you think about it, the teeth children put under their pillows may end up being worth much more than the tooth fairy's going rate. Plus, if you still have your wisdom teeth, it's nice to know you're walking around with your own source of stem cells.'"

1883919 story

Acorns Disappear Across the Country 474

Posted by kdawson on Monday December 01, 2008 @09:11AM from the curiouser-and-curiouser dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Botanist Rod Simmons thought he was going crazy when couldn't find any acorns near his home in Arlington County, Virginia. 'I'm used to seeing so many acorns around and out in the field, it's something I just didn't believe,' said Simmons. Then calls started coming in about crazy squirrels. Starving, skinny squirrels eating garbage, inhaling bird feed, greedily demolishing pumpkins. Squirrels boldly scampering into the road. And a lot more calls about squirrel roadkill. Simmons and Naturalist Greg Zell began to do some research and found Internet discussion groups, including one on Topix called 'No acorns this year,' reporting the same thing from as far away as the Midwest up through New England and Nova Scotia. 'We live in Glenwood Landing, N.Y., and don't have any acorns this year. Really weird,' wrote one. 'None in Kansas either! Curiouser and curiouser.' The absence of acorns could have something to do with the weather and Simmons has a theory about the wet and dry cycles. But many skeptics say oaks in other regions are producing plenty of acorns, and the acorn bust is nothing more than the extreme of a natural boom-and-bust cycle. But the bottom line is that no one really knows. 'It's sort of a mystery,' Zell said."

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Comment Re:Man I miss smoking (Score 1) 439

by Nakoruru on Tuesday July 10, 2007 @05:56PM (#19818805) Attached to: Nicotine Is the New Wonder Drug

You do not need anybody's permission. If you really believe that smoking has an effect on you that allows you to cope with life better then do it. It was painful to read your post because I kept wondering what could have possibly convinced you to stop smoking if, as you say, it helped you out so much.

Even though I don't believe anybody should smoke because it is harmful, at the same time I hate to see people do things that make them unhappy just because of social pressure.

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