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Comment Nice to refocus on a longer term view but... (Score 1) 253

by Fallen Andy (#35505828) Attached to: Japan Earthquake May Have Shifted Earth's Axis
This englishman is feeling horribly sad about our cousins over there in Japan

If you live on a mostly island nation, there is nowhere to run , nowhere to hide

Personally, as an atheist, i'm tempted to pray for my (potentially future) friends over there

Different cultures, they don't matter...

Even now in the 21st century on earth we can have our "chestnuts" rattled quite easily

5.2,5.3 richter here in athens feels like nothing at all to worry about....

and btw, don't forget our new zealand friends who are facing even more aftershocks...

Andy

Comment The abstract says it all.... (Score 3, Insightful) 103

by Fallen Andy (#35388938) Attached to: Making the Case For Microscopic Life In Meteorites
Not consistent with known minerals - yet - the environments we inhabit, the planet we inhabit is clearly a small subset of geological processes, same with biology i guess - but as a miserable amateur dreamer with scientific experience i figure we will see some delightful surprises....

---> open verdict, let the usual scientific bloodbath begin

---> quit the lame marketting crap NASA please

(one day i'll wake up and we *will* have good exobiological evidence - at least i hope so)

I'll stay a sceptic (although the optimist inside me would love to see a few cages rattled ;-) )

Andy
Earth

Submission + - 3D Images Reconstructed of 300M Year Old Spiders

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Scientists at Imperial College London have created detailed 3D computer models of two fossilized specimens of ancient creatures called Cryptomartus hindi and Eophrynus prestvicii, closely related to modern-day spiders. The researchers created their images by using a CT scanning device, which enabled them to take 3,000 x-rays of each fossil then compile them into precise 3D models, using custom-designed software. Both spiders roamed the Earth before the dinnosaurs during the Carboniferous period, 359 — 299 million years ago when life was emerging from the oceans to live on land. C. hindi's front pair of legs were angled toward the front, suggesting they were used to grapple with prey, an "ambush predator" like the modern-day crab spider, lying in wait for prey to come close. Another finding from the models is that E. prestivicii had hard spikes along its back, probably as a defensive measure making it less palatable to the amphibians that would have hunted it. "Our models almost bring these ancient creatures back to life and it's really exciting to be able to look at them in such detail," says researcher Russel Garwood adding that the technique could be used to return to fossils that have previously been analyzed by conventional means. "Our study helps build a picture of what was happening during this period early in the history of life on land.""

Comment Be very very careful (Score 2, Insightful) 154

by Fallen Andy (#28828155) Attached to: Copyright Status of Thermodynamic Properties?
Three words: Don't do it. Here's a *real life* story as to why. Once upon a time (ok, about 13-14 years ago) there was a large Greek software company that wanted to make a property tax program. The problem was that they didn't have the data. Yours truly got to reverse engineer a competitors database. Yes, I extracted all of their pathetically encrypted DB (substitution cipher WTF?). Now, if you know anything about databases or mailing lists or even log tables, you know that there are often deliberately false entries so that it's easy to know your data is be ripped (a bit earlier in time I caught out a Cypriot company ripping off the english greek dictionary data I'd been involved in that way).

I warned the project manager that sure go ahead and use the data as a basis for programming but not for the production program.

A couple of months later, the competitors lawyers appeared and (cough) out of court (cough) settlement.

Never did find out how much it cost "my" software house...

In the end they had to employ a gaggle of impoverished undergrads to build their own DB.

So, be very very careful. It might be a good idea to *ask* if you can re-use the data - often it's possible for non commercial purposes...

Andy
User Journal

Submission + - The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall Free Download

Submitted by
Codey Oxley
Codey Oxley writes: "Earlier today, July 09, Bethesda Announced that in honor of their 15th anniversary, they would be giving the 2nd game in their series, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, for free on their website. Before this, the game was difficult to find and when found usually held a price of 100-200 USD. I feel sorry for the unlucky person who buys a copy after today. Source: The Beth Blog
Download Page: Elder Scrolls Downloads"
The Internet

Submission + - 100,000 websites destroyed by hackers (theregister.co.uk) 2

Submitted by
Joshua.Niland
Joshua.Niland writes: "A zero day exploit in Lxlabs HyperVM software has lead to 100,000 website being destroyed, some of which have no backups.

From the article: "Data for about half of the websites hosted on Vaserv was destroyed all at once sometime Sunday evening, shortly after administrators noticed "strangeness" on the system. The attackers had the ability to execute sensitive Unix commands on the system, including "rm -rf," which forces a recursive delete of all files.

Some 50 percent of Vaserv's customers signed up for unmanaged service, which doesn't include data backup, Foster said. It remains unclear of those website owners will ever be able to retrieve their lost data, he said. As a result, at least half the websites that were hosted on the site remain offline.""

Comment Re:School vs Industry (Score 1) 236

by Fallen Andy (#28074075) Attached to: Students, the Other Unprotected Lab Animals
You were lucky. I read Chemistry at a certain well known university in the south west of england, and having done an internship at the John Innes (Institute) Centre the previous year (i.e. *real* lab work)was totally shocked at the sloppy, dirty, abused lab equipment. Safety? Standards? Nope, just the usual generic white crystalline shit on balances (my old boss at J.I.I would have nailed me to a tree if I ever left equipment in that state). Good luck if you had the misfortune that the white shit was NaCN (cyanide remedy - oh probably three months old).

(and the post grads were *worse* than the undergrads - complaining e.g. that I refused to do a standard deviation on three freaking results).

Working in a real lab is no guarentee though - remember that poor sad biochemist who was an expert on mecury toxicity who ended up killed by one drop of methyl mercury that seeped through her protective gloves?

Andy

(glad to play with considerably safer things like computers for many years)
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Square Enix to buy Eidos (custompc.co.uk)

Submitted by
arcticstoat
arcticstoat writes: "After revealing that a mystery buyer had put in an offer for Eidos last month, the company behind the TOmb Raider franchise has now revealed that the potential buyer is Japanese RPG specialist Square Enix. The the directors of both companies say they 'are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended Offer under which SQEX, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Square Enix, will acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Eidos.'

The decision is now in the hands of Eidos' shareholders, and the Eidos directors say that they will 'unanimously recommend that Eidos Shareholders vote in favour of the resolutions to be proposed.' In order for the buyout to go ahead, the scheme needs to be approved by the holders of at least 75 per cent of the shares in Eidos, either in person or by proxy. Eidos' chairman, Tim Ryan, said that 'we believe that this cash offer provides Eidos Shareholders with an attractive price and certainty in today's challenging market backdrop and economic outlook.' He also added that the acquisition would 'complement Square Enix's expansion into Western markets.'"

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