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Firefox

Submission + - Reset Firefox: Is this the answer to crashes, high memory, and slow problems? (pureinfotech.com)

An anonymous reader writes: With Firefox you can come across a number of issues over time, most of them require different types of troubleshooting steps, and you still won’t know if the problem is going to get fixed. Ultimately we all end up doing the same thing: uninstall and reinstall the browser, but this also means that all the data (e.g., history, stored passwords, autofill forms, cookies, etc.) will be gone as well.

Today the Mozilla team is going to change that in the latest beta release of Firefox with a new feature...

Hardware

Submission + - An 8,000 Ton Giant Made the Jet Age Possible

Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Tim Heffernan writes that when "The Fifty," as it’s known in company circles, broke down three years ago, there was talk of retiring it for good. Instead, Alcoa decided to overhaul their 50,000-ton, 6-story high forging press, now scheduled to resume service early this year. "What sets the Fifty apart is its extraordinary scale," writes Heffernan. "Its 14 major structural components, cast in ductile iron, weigh as much as 250 tons each; those yard-thick steel bolts are also 78 feet long; all told, the machine weighs 16 million pounds, and when activated its eight main hydraulic cylinders deliver up to 50,000 tons of compressive force." The Fifty could bench-press the battleship Iowa, with 860 tons to spare but it's the Fifty's amazing precision—its tolerances are measured in thousandths of an inch—that gives it such far-reaching utility. Every manned US military aircraft now flying uses parts forged by the Fifty as does every commercial aircraft made by Airbus and Boeing making the Jet Age possible. "On a plane, a pound of weight saved is a pound of thrust gained—or a pound of lift, or a pound of cargo," writes Heffernan. "Without the ultra-strong, ultra-light components that only forging can produce, they’d all be pushing much smaller envelopes." The now-forgotten Heavy Press Program (PDF), inaugurated in 1950 and completed in 1957, resulted in four presses (including the Fifty) and six extruders—giant toothpaste tubes squeezing out long, complex metal structures such as wing ribs and missile bodies. "Today, America lacks the ability to make anything like the Heavy Press Program machines," concludes Heffernan adding that "The Fifty" will be supplying bulkheads through 2034 for the Joint Strike Fighter. "Big machines are the product of big visions, and they make big visions real. How about a Heavy Fusion Program?""

Submission + - Plastic Logic Shows Off a Color ePaper Screen (the-digital-reader.com)

Nate the greatest writes: I'm sure you've heard about the color E-ink screen which was rumored to be used on the next Kindle. As of today E-ink no longer has that market niche to themselves.

Plastic Logic held a press conference in Russia this morning where they unveiled a new color screen that uses their plastic based screen tech. The resolution is low (75ppi), but if the video is any sign then this might be an better screen than the 9.7" Triton color E-ink screen used on the Jetbook Color.

And that's not all Plastic Logic showed off this morning. They also developed a frontlight for their screen and they can play video at 12 frames per second. But best of all PL cut one of their screens in half just to show that it could still work.

Comment I have ten... (Score 1) 502

1 pair of dress shoes (black)
2 pairs of converse (high top and low)
3 pairs of cleats (replaceable cleats w/out toe cleat for rugby and with toe cleat for football, plus baseball cleats)
1 pair of court shoes (basketball)
1 pair of crosstrainers (for running)
2 pairs of work boots (steel toe and normal)

Comment Re:"Linux Command Line Tirckery" HA! (Score 1) 642

Honestly this still doesn't make sense to me. I'm not being an asshole, I just am confused about how you would learn to think about it like that.

I first learned to use computers with dos, and so I was originally accustomed to having 'move' and 'ren' but when I first used linux and the reasoning behind having only one command was explained to me (in a Linux for Dummies book I believe) it made perfect sense.

The information is the focus, a movie, a book, a resume, whatever you have is information.
That information is *in* a file, the file is in a directory, etc. etc.

Maybe I was just born with an innate understanding of computer science. :-D

Comment Don't bother (Score 1) 330

If you design a good test, and grade it well, then there will be no way to cheat.

I would design questions that require a good understanding of the material to answer, let them do whatever they want online, and then talk individually with students that you think might be copy/pasting answers, whether from other classmates or from the internet.
A 2 or 3 minute conversation with them will tell you pretty easily whether they understand their answers or not.
If they understand their answers well enough to convince you they could have given them legitimately then it doesn't matter what actually happened, they are either learning what you are teaching, they already know it, or they have good enough grasp of the whole field of study that they can fake it.
Any of those three outcomes is sufficient for your purposes, at least in my opinion.

The hard part here, of course, is designing good questions. It's incredibly hard to design good tests, which explains how few of them you find out in the wild.

Comment Re:The Obvious Answer (Score 1) 343

The problem with home schooling is that most parents (even intelligent and well educated parents) are way shittier at education than even mediocre teachers. Sorry, but it's the truth.

Do you have any backup for that claim? I'd be interested to know your source.
In my personal experience, uneducated but motivated parents who are willing to spend the time to instill their kids with a with a love of learning are much better at education than overworked and underpaid teachers.

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