Comment Submarine Patrol 105 Days (Score 5, Informative) 274
When I was on a US Navy, FBM submarine, we typically spent 105 days submerged, with no contact from the outside world. It was not fun, but it was not that hard either.
Quantum Setback For Warp Drives 627
KentuckyFC writes "Warp drives were generally considered impossible by mainstream scientists until 1994 when the physicist Michael Alcubierre worked out how to build a faster-than-light drive using the principles of general relativity. His thinking was that while relativity prevents faster-than-light travel relative to the fabric of spacetime, it places no restriction on the speed at which regions of spacetime may move relative to each other. So a small bubble of spacetime containing a spacecraft could travel faster than the speed of light, at least in principle. But one unanswered question was what happens to the bubble when quantum mechanics is taken into account. Now, a team of physicists have worked it out, and it's bad news: the bubble becomes unstable at superluminal speeds, making warp drives impossible (probably)."
Microsoft Asks Fed For Bailout 346
snydeq writes "Microsoft requested on Tuesday some $20 billion in bailout funds from the federal government, claiming that as the company controls an overwhelming share of the OS market, it is too big to fail. Low adoption rates for Vista, the ensuing ad campaign trying to convince people that they really do like Vista, and the increased need for development resources to rush Windows 7 to market to make people forget about Vista have necessitated the bailout, the company said. 'We want to make it absolutely clear that this is not a crisis of mismanagement,' said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in a prepared statement. 'This is simply a crisis of dollars — a crisis of not having enough dollars coming our way.'"
Submission + - Top 10 Best GTK Applications (blogspot.com)
Chris7mas writes: "1. The GIMP — image editor
GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program, and is the most complete image editor on Linux. It supports various file formats and it features many effects. I usually read complains about GIMP regarding the fact that it's not as 'good' as Photoshop. Well, I'm not a graphics passionate, and I only use GIMP for basic image manipulation (cut, crop, basic effects, resize etc), but I think it's the best tool out there to use with images. The current stable release is 2.4.6.
2. XChat — IRC client
In my opinion, this is the best graphical IRC client for Linux. Its strength is in support for scripts in Perl and Python, together with an easy to learn plugin interface (given that you know basic C). It offers event-based scripting too. Most of the configuration options are available via the /SET variables, instead of the Preferences window. The logging system allows filenames which can use date specifiers, so you can store your logs in whatever way you want. The Windows version usually ships earlier than the Linux one, but that's not quite an issue, since the client is already complete for several years now."
GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program, and is the most complete image editor on Linux. It supports various file formats and it features many effects. I usually read complains about GIMP regarding the fact that it's not as 'good' as Photoshop. Well, I'm not a graphics passionate, and I only use GIMP for basic image manipulation (cut, crop, basic effects, resize etc), but I think it's the best tool out there to use with images. The current stable release is 2.4.6.
2. XChat — IRC client
In my opinion, this is the best graphical IRC client for Linux. Its strength is in support for scripts in Perl and Python, together with an easy to learn plugin interface (given that you know basic C). It offers event-based scripting too. Most of the configuration options are available via the
Submission + - Democratic Party to exclude GNU/Linux users 2
questro writes: I am a registered democrat with plans to vote for Barack Obama this fall and I am saddened to see that the Democratic convention intends to use restrictive technology that will exclude me and many others from viewing the online content of the convention.
I have recently read of plans by Aaron Myers, the DNCC's director of online communications, to use a proprietary Microsoft product called "Silverlight" for video streaming. The article can be found at this URL: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,146806-page,3-c,webservices/article.html#
This technology will purposefully EXCLUDE millions of democrats and others who choose to use the free and open source GNU/Linux operating system. "Silverlight" is not compatible with GNU/Linux and is only available for Win32 or Mac. While Microsoft touts a product called "Moonlight" for GNU/Linux, it is not the same technology and contains a restrictive license that is incompatible with many GNU/Linux distributions. This is by Microsoft's design.
Even Senator Obama understands the value of using the free and open source GNU/Linux system as evidenced by the fact that www.barackobama.com is hosted by a Linux system according to Netcraft.
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.barackobama.com
I urge the Democratic Party to reconsider this technology choice before millions of citizens are excluded.
Comment PostgreSQL gets my vote (Score 1) 299
How about PostgreSQL?
http://www.postgresql.org/
Submission + - "Burning" saltwater
RayWalston writes: Shades of cold fusion. A fella, John Kanzius, claims to have found a way using RF to break up saltwater into hydrogen gas. Several demonstrations on youtube, but no real comparison of the amount of RF in vs amount generated. Anyone out there seen anything quantative?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6vSxR6UKFM
Submission + - Saltwater for fuel
An anonymous reader writes: RIE, Pa. — An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century.
John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn.
The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel.
Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist, has held demonstrations at his State College lab to confirm his own observations.
The radio frequencies act to weaken the bonds between the elements that make up salt water, releasing the hydrogen, Roy said. Once ignited, the hydrogen will burn as long as it is exposed to the frequencies, he said.
The discovery is "the most remarkable in water science in 100 years," Roy said.
"This is the most abundant element in the world. It is everywhere," Roy said. "Seeing it burn gives me the chills."
Roy will meet this week with officials from the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense to try to obtain research funding.
The scientists want to find out whether the energy output from the burning hydrogen — which reached a heat of more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit — would be enough to power a car or other heavy machinery.
"We will get our ideas together and check this out and see where it leads," Roy said. "The potential is huge.
http://www.post-gazette.com/
Submission + - Saltwater as fuel? (engadget.com)
thevacancy writes: An amateur inventor seems to have stumbled on the ability (new or not) to illicit hydrogen and oxygen from saltwater via radio waves. No information on how much energy is required to produce the radio waves (the contraption looks large), but it looks interesting nonetheless.
Submission + - Saltwater can burn when exposed to radio waves (post-gazette.com)
realwx writes: "An Erie man who wanted to desalinate water has accidentally discovered saltwater can burn, as long as the saltwater is exposed to radio frequencies. "The radio frequency actually weakens bonds holding together the constituents of salt water — sodium chloride, hydrogen and oxygen — and releases the hydrogen, which, once ignited, burns continuously when exposed to the RF energy field. Mr. Kanzius said an independent source measured the flame's temperature, which exceeds 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, reflecting an enormous energy output. While Mr. Kanzius was demonstrating how his generator heated nanoparticles, someone noted condensation inside the test tube and suggested he try using his equipment to desalinate water. So, Mr. Kanzius said, he put sea water in a test tube, then trained his machine on it, producing an unexpected spark. In time he and laboratory owners struck a match and ignited the water, which continued burning as long as it remained in the radio-frequency field.""
Feed Motorola waits on 802.11n approval (com.com)
Company says it won't sell equipment using the next-generation Wi-Fi standard, as Intel and others are, until it's IEEE-certified.
Submission + - Dell starts selling Ubuntu preloaded Today!
Pirulo writes: Get one to celebrate! [dell.com/open]
Submission + - Essential Bluetooth hacking tools
J.R writes: The guys at Security-Hacks have compiled a list of Bluetooth hacking tools: "If you are planning to gain a deeper understanding of Bluetooth security, you will need a good set of tools with which to work. By familiarizing yourself with the following tools, you will not only gain a knowledge of the vulnerabilities inherent in Bluetooth-enabled devices, but you will also get a glimpse at how an attacker might exploit them. This hack highlights the essential tools, mostly for the Linux platform, that can be used to search out and hack Bluetooth-enabled devices."
http://www.security-hacks.com/2007/05/25/essential -bluetooth-hacking-tools
Submission + - Firefox 3.0 makes leap forward
Kurtz'sKompund writes: "Mozilla has met a major milestone in its march to Firefox 3.0 by adding a major part of the new Places feature to the alpha product that is set for release late next week.
http://www.computerworlduk.com/technology/internet /applications/news/index.cfm?newsid=3187"
Journal Journal: Indian-American Mathematician wins Abel
The prestigious Abel Prize has been awarded to Professor S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan. Prof. Varadhan receives the prize "for his fundamental contributions to probability theory and in particular for creating a unified theory of large deviation". Varadhan's theory of large deviations provides a unified method to deal with complex stochastic systems, in fields as diverse as quantum field theory, sta
