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User Journal

Journal Journal: How We Staged the Morristown UFO Hoax

Journal by GRW
eskeptic has a story about a UFO hoax staged by two guys in Morristown, NJ using weather balloons and road flares. The fact that an airline pilot was taken in kind of blows the pilot as reliable witness theory frequently trotted out by UFO believers. The whole thing is documented on video: Part 1 -- The Setup

Comment How can a minor sexually exploit herself? (Score 2, Insightful) 711

by GRW (#27393589) Attached to: Is That "Sexting" Pic Illegal? A Scientific Test
How can a law that was created to protect minors from exploitation be used to punish those whom it was designed to protect. Punishing a minor for a picture that she took of herself is like charging someone with attempted murder for engaging in high risk activities that could potentially result in their own death.
Operating Systems

Windows and Linux Not Well Prepared For Multicore Chips 626

Posted by timothy from the until-that-invisible-hand-flexes dept.
Mike Chapman points out this InfoWorld article, according to which you shouldn't immediately expect much in the way of performance gains from Windows 7 (or Linux) from eight-core chips that come out from Intel this year. "For systems going beyond quad-core chips, the performance may actually drop beyond quad-core chips. Why? Windows and Linux aren't designed for PCs beyond quad-core chips, and programmers are to blame for that. Developers still write programs for single-core chips and need the tools necessary to break up tasks over multiple cores. Problem? The development tools aren't available and research is only starting."
Security

Submission + - Windows holes push Germany to Linux (misaustralia.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The German Foreign Office has decided to replace Windows with a "hardened" version of linux for reasons of security, particularly to combat zero-day exploits. Their philosophy is to enable these security exploits to be patched immediately, rather than wait for "patch Tuesday". Additionally they have decided to replace Microsoft Office with the open source OpenOffice at a substantial cost saving.
Social Networks

Submission + - Facebook Introducing More Changes

Submitted by
deman1985
deman1985 writes: "Facebook today announced a handful of new changes that are set to take effect in short order. Amongst the changes are the addition of status messages to fan pages and an overhauled home page that includes real-time updates. The LA Times reports:

Facebook showed off the changes as part of its broad redesign, which is rolling out across the site next Wednesday. Some of the changes are cosmetic: Tabs will move to the top of the user's page, with a stronger focus on wall posts and content updates (posted links, blog posts, etc.). But they're also designed to make the News Feed more of a steady stream.

Is Facebook going Twitter? What do you think of the upcoming changes?"

Earth

Submission + - A virtual drive-by of the entire English coast (coastlineuncut.com)

Submitted by
bastywebb
bastywebb writes: "This is the story of a newbie developer and his pet website — Coastline Uncut.

Not having a background in any form of IT I decided the best way to learn web programming would be to set myself a real world project. I asked myself "Wouldn't it be cool if it was possible to view tourist destinations as if you were really there, driving through the town?" (Much in the same way as Google Street View, though I didn't know this existed at the time). I decided "Yes it would." and so I made Coastline Uncut my pet project.

So off we went, a friend and myself (I can't drive), with a car and a camera and a long journey ahead of us. The Gods didn't make it easy for us though. On the 1st day we got a punctured tyre, on the 3rd day our exhaust fell off, and on the 4th day we had a head-on car crash! — not our fault. (I forget what happened on the 7th day, I doubt it was important). Ouch. The dream is over! Or not? Turns out our car was no pansy. The other car was close to exploding in a ball of flames, but our car didn't have time to make a fuss over a silly old car crash and we were back on the road!

To minimise cost, we camped out each night and charged our equipment from the car cigarette lighter. We finished the trip in just under a month at a cost of just under £1,500. Right. Better learn some html... So I did. I also learnt PHP, MySQL, CSS and Javascript. And I bloody love it! I'm no seasoned professional but I can get things done and I've now begun my quest for the holy grail of 'Best Practice'.

So I want a career in web development, but I'm also wondering what I should do with my website. I think the concept is quite good — it's a video-oriented version of Trip Advisor — but it lacks class. It needs both user-generated-content and video clips shot with a serious budget that allows for off-road filming. Not having a serious budget, I'd like to concentrate on promoting the interactive elements of the site (e.g. Adding Coastal Photos, Recommending Activities etc) but I have a strong sense that this won't be easy. What should a web developer do to encourage people to share their photos and opinions on their site?

So here I am, explaining my story in the hope that someone who started reading it didn't get too bored to finish. Perhaps because they found my idea interesting, or because this all seems to smell very familiar for one reason or another. Or maybe they just fancy a holiday in the UK and want to browse over 300 coastal towns :)

Whatever the reason, I really would like to hear your thoughts on my site / quandary. You can find my email address on my contact page."

Comment Re: KD4 is to Linux what Vista is to Windows (Score 2, Insightful) 869

by GRW (#26592807) Attached to: Linus Switches From KDE To Gnome
I run Mandriva Cooker and have been using KDE 4.2 quit a bit. I like it a lot. I am normally a Gnome user, but I have been attracted to KDE 4 much more than 3.5. 4.0 was very unstable, it is true, but I think that Mandriva KDE users will be happy with KDE 4.2 when 2009 Spring is released. The main Gnome thing that I miss in KDE 4 is the Nautilus file manager.
Censorship

Submission + - CBC Censors Documentary (gwalsh.notw.ca)

Submitted by
GRW
GRW writes: "Apparently in response to a call from the Chinese Consulate, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has pulled from broadcast a documentary about he persecution of the Falun Gong. More here."
The Internet

Submission + - The RIAA vs. the World

Submitted by
GRW
GRW writes: "Musician David Rovics takes the RIAA behind the woodshed in an article titled "The RIAA vs. the World". "In short, the RIAA does their best to stifle art, at the expense of money. They represent some artists, no doubt a few very well-off ones, the few (occasionally very talented) beneficiaries of their money-making schemes. In the US, even the system through which royalties are distributed ends up benefitting only the industry and a few pop stars. The comparatively little airplay independent artists receive is measured by organizations like ASCAP in such a way that it is largely ignored, and royalties we should be receiving end up in the pockets of the industry." Also, Ian Rogers, General Manager of Yahoo! Music, writes in is blog in a post titled "Convenience Wins, Hubris Loses and Content vs. Context, a Presentation for Some Music Industry Friends" that he's had it with DRM."

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