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Software

Submission + - John W Backus, Fortran Developer Dies at 82

Submitted by westlake
westlake writes: John W. Backus, lead developer for the Fortran team has died at age 82. Fortran changed the terms of communication between humans and computers, moving up a level to a language that was more comprehensible by humans. So Fortran is considered the first successful higher-level language. Fortran was also extremely efficient, running as fast as programs painstakingly hand-coded by the programming elite, who worked in arcane machine languages. This was a feat considered impossible before. It was achieved by the masterful design of the Fortran compiler, a program that captures the human intent of a program and recasts it in a way that a computer can process. In the Fortran project, Mr. Backus tackled two fundamental problems in computing — how to make programming easier for humans, and how to structure the underlying code to make that possible. John W. Backus
Spam

Submission + - Microsoft Tracks Down Mass Fake Web Pages

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: According to an article on New York Times, Microsoft researchers discovered tens of thousands of junk Web pages, created only to lure search-engine users to advertisements, are generated by a small group of shadowy operators. By following the money trail, Microsoft researchers were able to track that flows from big-name advertisers to search engine spammers. Many use Google blogspot.com to set up spam doorway pages. The report is available at Microsoft Strider Search Ranger project page.
Quickies

Submission + - A Cockroach Can Live without Its Head

Submitted by
Ant
Ant writes: "This Scientific American article says cockroaches are claimed that they can live without their heads. It turns out that this is right. Headless roaches are capable of living for weeks. To understand why cockroaches — and many other insects — can survive decapitation, it helps to understand why humans cannot... Seen on Boing Boing."
Security

Submission + - White House circumventing their own E-Mail ?

Submitted by CTMET
CTMET writes: In light of e-mails released by the House Judiciary Committee this week in response to the on-going U.S. Attorney firing scandal, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter today to Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), asking for an investigation into whether the White House has violated its mandatory record-keeping obligation under the Presidential Records Act (PRA). One email, sent to Justice Department Chief of Staff D. Kyle Sampson from J. Scott Jennings, White House Deputy Political Director, uses an email account, SJennings@gwb43.com, on a server owned by the Republican National Committee. This raises serious questions about whether the White House was trying to deliberately evade its responsibilities under the PRA, which directs the president to take all necessary steps to maintain presidential records to provide a full accounting of all activities during his tenure. Theres more... http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease .php?view=214
User Journal

Journal Journal: Amateur Mechanics: Epilogue 7

Journal by Alioth

Sure enough, the spark plug wires were the entire cause of the rough running. Looking at the old ones, the insulation had more or less completely broken down on the spark plug end on two of them.

We changed the plugs as well as the wires, it's likely the spark plugs had been in the car just as long and were about due.
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Canadians Without A Country

Submitted by Chabil Ha'
Chabil Ha' writes: Ever woken up in the morning, only to be told that your no longer a citizen of your birth country? Many applying for a Canadian passport have been informed their chance to remain a citizen expired years ago because of an obscure provision in the Citizenship Act, a little-known law that applied between 1947 and 1977. Canadians without status would have to apply to become landed immigrants — a process that takes three years or more.

"I mean, it just defies logic. The system doesn't make any sense, so it's critical that we have a citizenship act that is in compliance with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the generosity of what Canadians believe."
User Journal

Submission + - Where to go after a lifetime in the IT field?

Submitted by
Pikoro
Pikoro writes: "I have been working in the IT field for the past 20 years or so, and after getting hired by the largest financial company in the world, I thought I might have finally found a place to retire from.

However, after working here for about 6 months, I find myself, not exactly burnt out, but longing for a complete career field change.

It's not that doing IT related tasks aren't fun anymore, but they have become more "work" than "play" over the last few years.

Since all of my experience has been IT related, I'm not sure where I could go from here.

What would slashdot readers consider doing for a living after being in a single field for so long?"
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Preferred preservation method?

Submitted by
Bifurcati
Bifurcati writes: "Preferred preservation method?

* Transfer of consciousness to The Matrix
* Liquid nitrogen, ready for thawing
* Black hole event horizon
* Canopic jar
* Corpse case mod"
Communications

Submission + - Return to Sender Mail Solicitations?

Submitted by boogybren
boogybren writes: I have had it! I am so sick an tired of receiving solicitations via USPS mail. I am tired of wasting all that paper (recycling is terribly inconvenient where I live) and carrying the owness of it's landfill destination. As I was pondering my dilemma, having made feeble attempts in the past to find solutions, it occurred to me — Why not refuse the mail and mark it as Return to Sender? Has any one tried this before? Did it work? What else can be done?
Space

Submission + - Origin of Earth's Mysterious Black Diamonds-Space!

Submitted by FatGuyVoice
FatGuyVoice writes: In a paper published online on December 20, 2006, in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters, scientists Jozsef Garai and Stephen Haggerty of Florida International University, along with Case Western Reserve University researchers Sandeep Rekhi and Mark Chance, claim an extraterrestrial origin for the unique black diamonds, also called carbonado diamonds. http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/795264/geolog ists_discover_origin_of_earths_mysterious_black_di amonds/index.html

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