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Comment Come back forwards on that reversal again...? (Score 5, Funny) 185

by Odin's Raven (#25996565) Attached to: Sun Releases JavaFX

The lack of a Linux or Solaris release is a notable absence.

So if we have an absence of a lack, does that mean there is a Linux and/or Solaris release? :-P

And yes, I don't think I'm not being overly pedantic in noting the presence of an absence of a lack of internal bouyancy in the summary, since that's a term whose inapplicability wouldn't be not out of place in this sentence.

Comment Re:Politics (Score 1) 631

by Odin's Raven (#25757753) Attached to: Mind Control Delusions and the Web

But if you consider that as a logical implication in a step of a deduction, then you are appealing to authority. Which is a fallacy.

Close, but the actual fallacy I committed was argumentum ad populum, a.k.a. 'appeal to the masses'. And yes, it was supposed to be a joke. I briefly thought about making the phrase 'logical fallacy' in my original post into an href to the Wiki 'ad populum' page as a signal that I had my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, but in the end I thought it'd be funnier to both mention the possible presence of a logical fallacy - and then claim that it must not exist by committing the exact same fallacy a second time.

Obviously I was wrong (since not a single moderator was willing to waste a +1 funny on the post), so I'm thinking you weren't the only person who couldn't decide if I was joking or not. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. :-)

Comment Re:Politics (Score 1) 631

by Odin's Raven (#25748957) Attached to: Mind Control Delusions and the Web

It's not a delusion if other people also believe it?

Well, that's what everyone believes, and if it weren't true then there obviously wouldn't be so many people who think that way.




(...I used to think there was a logical fallacy somewhere in there, but everyone tells me there isn't...)
Science

How To Cloak Objects At a Distance 136

Posted by samzenpus from the can-you-see-me-now dept.
KentuckyFC writes "All invisibility cloaks to date work by hiding an object embedded inside them. Now a group of physicists have worked out how to remotely cloak objects that sit outside a cloaking material. The trick is to make the cloaking material with optical properties that are exactly complementary to the space outside them. Complementary means that the material reverses the effect the space has on a plane wave of light passing through it. To an observer this space would appear to vanish. The scientists say that to cloak an object sitting outside the cloaking material, first measure its optical properties and then embed a "complementary image" of the object within the cloak. So a plane wave is first distorted by the object but then restored to a plane by the complementary image of the object within the cloak (abstract). An observer sees nothing. This method has another benefit. Objects hidden in conventional cloaks are blinded because no light enters the cloaked region. But objects that are remotely cloaked like this should still be able to see their surroundings."
Cellphones

T-Mobile G1 Rooted 246

Posted by CmdrTaco from the that-didn't-take-long dept.
An anonymous reader writes "T-Mobile's G1 phone, the first commercially available Android based phone, has been rooted. The exploit is extremely simple to execute, just requiring you to run telnetd from a terminal on the phone, and then connecting to the phone via telnet."
Networking

Ohio Establishing State Wide Broadband Network 105

Posted by samzenpus from the fast-internet-for-the-people dept.
bohn002 writes "In order to coordinate and expand access to the state's broadband data network, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has signed an executive order establishing the Ohio Broadband Council and the Broadband Ohio Network. The order directs the Ohio Broadband Council to coordinate efforts to extend access to the Broadband Ohio Network to every county in Ohio. The order allows public and private entities to tap into the Broadband Ohio Network — all with a goal of expanding access to high-speed internet service in parts of the state that presently don't have such service."
The Internet

Web 2.0 Bubble May Be Worst Burst Yet 417

Posted by Zonk from the not-the-bubble dept.
athloi writes with a link to an editorial by John Dvorak over at the PC Magazine site. Rather than his usual tilting at windmills, Dvorak turns his attention to possibility of another big internet economy 'pop': "Every single person working in the media today who experienced the dot-com bubble in 1999 to 2000 believes that we are going through the exact same process and can expect the exact same results — a bust. It's déjà vu all over again. Each succeeding bubble has been worse than its predecessor. Thus nobody is actually able to spot the cycle, since it just looks like a continuum. I can assure you that after this next collapse, nobody will think of the dot-com bubble as anything other than a prelude." It certainly seems like another burst is imminent; will this one be worse than the original, or have less of an impact?
Space

Astronomers Again Baffled by Solar Observations 299

Posted by CowboyNeal from the back-to-the-drawing-board dept.
SteakNShake writes "Once again professional astronomers are struggling to understand observations of the sun. ScienceDaily reports that a team from Saint Andrew's University announced that the sun's magnetic fields dominate the behavior of the corona via a mechanism dubbed the 'solar skeleton.' Computer models continue to be built to mimic the observed behavior of the sun in terms of magnetic fields but apparently the ball is still being dropped; no mention in the announcement is made of the electric fields that must be the cause of the observed magnetic fields. Also conspicuously absent from the press releases is the conclusion that the sun's corona is so-dominated by electric and magnetic fields because it is a plasma. In light of past and present research revealing the electrical nature of the universe, this kind of crippling ignorance among professional astrophysicists is astonishing."
Robotics

Submission + - Advanced quadrupedal robot stars in music video

Submitted by 6
6 writes: The Big Dog robot by Boston Dynamics may be the most advanced quadrupedal pack droid of burden on the planet. It can carry a 120 pound load, climb hills and recover its balance when kicked. Check out this strange video of it walking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aRhRNeSpUg&eurl= or go to Boston Dynamics website for all the details http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?sect ion=BigDog
Education

Submission + - OLPC comes Down Under

Submitted by
Pia Waugh
Pia Waugh writes: "The One Laptop Per Child project will be coming to Australia for the first time ever, with demo machines and people including Chris Blizzard and Jim Gettys. Chris and Jim will be speaking at linux.conf.au and there is a free event for the public called Open Day where the demo laptops will be on display for the general Australian public, alongside robots, solar panel cars, virtual reality, gaming and home made segways!"
Programming

Submission + - Practical examples of using Ajax and Ruby on Rails

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This article takes you through the steps of building a Rails application. It then dives right into using the Ajax features to build the JavaScript code that reads and writes data from the server. Even if you don't envision yourself shipping a Rails application, I recommend that you download one of the Instant Rails or Locomotive applications and try it out. You will have a lot of fun and learn a lot.

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