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Sci-Fi

Battlestar Galactica Feature Film Confirmed 342

Dave Knott writes "Entertainment Weekly reports that Universal Pictures has confirmed rumours of a Battlestar Galactica feature film. Directed by Bryan Singer, and co-produced by original series creator Glen Larson, the new movie will not be related to the recently concluded SyFy Network series. Rather, it will be a 'complete re-imagining of the sci-fi lore that was invented by Larson back in the '70s.'"
Space

Sunspots Return 276

We're emerging from the longest, deepest sunspot drought since 1913 (we discussed its depths here) with the appearance of a robust group of sunspots over the weekend. Recently we discussed a possible explanation for the prolonged minimum. The Fox News article quotes observer Michael Buxton of Ocean Beach, Calif.: "This is the best sunspot I've seen in two years." jamie found a NASA site where you can generate a movie of the recent sunspot's movement — try selecting the first image type and bumping the resolution to 1024. The magnetic field lines are clearly visible.
Programming

The "Doctor Who" Model of Open Source 116

Glyn Moody writes "Open source projects are generally fine when there's a long-term leader like Linus; but what happens when nobody is able or willing to run things for extended periods? Peter Murray-Rust explains how the open chemistry group known as the Blue Obelisk has evolved what he calls the 'Doctor Who Model of Open Source': 'You'll recall that every few years something fatal happens to the Doctor and you think he is going to die and there will never be another series. Then he regenerates. The new Doctor has a different personality, a different philosophy (though always on the side of good). It is never clear how long any Doctor will remain unregenerated or who will come after him. And this is a common theme in the Blue Obelisk.' Could other open source projects learn from this experience as long-term leaders start to move on?"
Microsoft

Ballmer Threatens To Pull Out of the US 1142

theodp writes "Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is threatening to move Microsoft employees offshore if Congress enacts President Obama's plans to curb tax avoidance by US corporations. 'It makes US jobs more expensive,' complained billionaire Ballmer. 'We're better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the US as opposed to keeping them inside the US.' According to 2006 reports, Microsoft transferred $16 billion in assets to secretive Dublin subsidiaries to shave billions off its US tax bill. 'Corporate tax is part of the overall advantage of doing business in Ireland,' acknowledged Ballmer in 2005. 'It would be disingenuous to say otherwise.'"

Comment why.... (Score 1) 429

can't you just have it embedded into the prompt that you can type something like "what" to find out what programs you can run? It's no more intuitive to have to click a series of buttons, really.

Like a prompt that goes something like

User user in Directory directory. Type 'what' for full program list:>

Comment Re:Filed Under the NYT's "Fashion & Style?" (Score 1) 631

Uhhh. Look. Just because you're using this narrow definition of "purpose" doesn't mean that everybody is. Nor, that because science hasn't posited a value for your n term, it says we have no purpose.

It has nothing to say about the purpose of humanity or the universe. It has no evidence about the purpose of either. All the anthropomorphic "Science" has to say about the purpose of the universe and humanity is: "Oooo, this (humanity, the Universe, Marshmallow Fluff) is kinda neat, why don't we try to understand the mechanisms that underpin it?" Science looks at things. It describes and predicts the behaviours of things. It does NOT answer the question "why" in any meaningful way, beyond "to be understood."

Image

Slashdot's Disagree Mail Screenshot-sm 206

Being in a relationship is not easy, more than half of all first marriages fail in this country. That statistic doesn't improve if you spend most of your time reading your favorite website and not tending to the needs of your family. Instead of asking me to help fix your relationship maybe you should try playing with your kids, talking to your wife, and not staring at a computer screen all day. You should realize that the help link doesn't provide help with your life. It's mostly for getting passwords and stuff. Below you'll find a collection of people that should have reached out to Dr. Phil and not Dr. Sam.
Privacy

Councils Recruit Unpaid Volunteers To Spy On Their Neighbors 521

Several readers have written to tell us that a recent move in the UK has councils relying on info from "Citizen Snoopers" to report the transgressions of their neighbors. Currently only implemented as "environment volunteers" designed to keep watch on things like litter, dog habits, and improper trash sorting, there is a certain amount of trepidation that this could grow into something more sinister. "It will fuel fears that Britain is lurching towards a Big Brother society, following the revelation this week that the Home Office is extending some police powers to council staff and private security guards. Critics said the latest scheme could easily be abused and encourage a culture of bin spies and curtain twitchers. Matthew Elliott, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: 'Snooping on your neighbors to report recycling infringements sounds like something straight out of the East German Stasi's copybook.'"
Security

Web Fraud 2.0 — Point-and-Click Cracking Tools 92

An anonymous reader writes "The Washington Post's Security Fix blog is running a fascinating series that peers inside some of the Web-based services cyber crooks are using to ply their trade: from masking their identity, to defeating CAPTCHAs, to creating counterfeit documents and validating stolen credit and debit cards. Everyone familiar with this space hears about these kinds of tools and services all the time in the abstract, but the Post blog includes screen shots and background details on the popularity of the services and how each one is helping to bring cyber crime that much closer to the realm of even the most newbie scam artists." Many of these tools require a working knowledge of Russian. Wouldn't surprise me to learn that Chinese-language tools exist too.
Music

Submission + - Nine Inch Nails releases completely free album (nin.com)

PJ1216 writes: "Just wanted to give you all a heads up that Nine Inch Nails is at it again with utilizing alternative distribution methods for his music. He now has a full album available for download, 100% free. Its available in high-quality mp3, FLAC lossless, m4a apple lossless, and high definition WAVE 24/96. You do have to submit an email address to get a download link though. You can use a throw-away email if you'd like, but I've never known him to misuse emails. The album was released under the Creative Commons and all the formats (other than the mp3, which is zipped) are only available as torrents. A physical format will be made available in a month or two. This is coming shortly after his ultra-deluxe Ghosts I-IV albums just shipped which cost $300 a piece. Maybe this is a sign that he was extremely happy with the final outcome."

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