GuyMannDude - Slashdot User

Submission + - Climate Change model results in

Submitted by AliasTheRoot on Monday January 22, 2007 @01:25PM

AliasTheRoot writes: Over the last year, the BBC has been promoting a distributed climate modelling project, along the lines of SETI@HOME and with the aid of 250,000 people produced a set of climate models up to the year 2080. The results show a marked increase in temperature. The British Isles themselves look to be having a 4C rise in temperature, and a massive increase in precipitation. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/

Journal Journal: Man kicked off Quantas flight for bush-bashing Tee Shirt 13

Journal by drinkypoo on Monday January 22, 2007 @01:24PM

Reuters Reports that a man wearing a Tee Shirt with a picture of Dubya and subtitled "World's number 1 terrorist" was ejected from a Quantas flight from Melbourne to London simply for his dress. Quantas' statement was that "comments made verbally or on a T-shirt which had the potential to offend other tra

Submission + - Programs Let Homes Produce Green Power

Submitted by kog777 on Monday January 22, 2007 @12:50PM

kog777 writes: When the sun shines bright on their home in New York's Hudson Valley, John and Anna Bagnall live out a homeowner's fantasy. Their electricity meter runs backward. Solar panels on their barn roof can often provide enough for all their electricity needs. Sometimes — and this is the best part — their solar setup actually pushes power back into the system.

Submission + - Computer Specialist barred from flying for T-shirt

Submitted by Proud like a god on Monday January 22, 2007 @09:45AM

Proud like a god writes: As reported by the BBC The 55-year-old computer specialist, Allen Jasson, who lives in London, said he was sticking up for the principle of free speech when he was stopped as he was about to board a flight from Melbourne to London last Friday. He was wearing a T-shift features an image of President George W Bush, along with the slogan "World's Number One Terrorist".

After clearing the international security checks at Melbourne Airport, he reportedly approached the gate manager to congratulate him on the company's new-found open-mindedness. At that point, Mr Jasson was ordered to remove the T-shirt after being told it was a security threat and an item which might cause offence to other passengers.

"I am not prepared to go without the t-shirt. I might forfeit the fare, but I have made up my mind that I would rather stand up for the principle of free speech," he told Australian media.

A Qantas spokesman defended the airline's decision, saying: "Whether made verbally or on a T-shirt, comments with the potential to offend other customers or threaten the security of a Qantas group aircraft will not be tolerated".

What suprises me is that airlines still justify these policies, and is there more than a correlation between us nerds and an interest in Free Speech?

Submission + - Explaining short-lived jobs on a resume?

Submitted by n7ytd on Monday January 22, 2007 @09:08AM

n7ytd writes: Since taking a new job in 2006 and finding out it's not what I expected, I am spitting out resumes to find a new gig. I've been wondering how to explain the short time I've been in this job to prospective employers. Have fellow Slashdotters found this to be a challenge in the past, or it is par for the course and no big deal? As someone interviewing, would the 6-month position I've had with my current employer cause you concern?

Submission + - How to get (a board game) published?

Submitted by

cyclomedia

on Monday January 22, 2007 @05:37AM

cyclomedia writes: "I've been dedicating a little of my Nerd Time to devising a strategy board game, pitched somewhere between Checkers and Chess but probably not as deceptively complex as Go. The next step in my plan is to see if I can actually create a prototype made of coins, stickers and cardboard and to attempt to teach the rules to my wife (Trek fan, hence the marriage). If I get past that stage ok then what do i do? Presumably I can't just show up at Hasbro with my jerry rigged setup and expect an enthusiastic response. Without giving too much away I can tell you that there's a nerd factor within the game itself, possibly leaning the possibility of marketing towards the Games Workshop end of the spectrum, but without the 80-sided dice and Orcs."

Submission + - Wikipedia links no longer help your Page Rank

Submitted by

Mrs. Grundy

on Monday January 22, 2007 @02:21AM

Mrs. Grundy writes: "Wikipedia has started automatically adding rel="NOFOLOW" to all external links in an effort to combat link spam. Since wikipedia pages are hip-deep in high page rank they attract the unsavory sort of character hoping to gain a little love from Google on their coattails. By making pages NOFOLOW they essentially deny conferring any page rank points from google and hopefully reduce the incentive to spam the pages with offtopic links. This topic has come up before and the community voted to remove the NOFOLLOW business in 2005. Will this move actually reduce link spam or is even the potential clickthrough valuable enough without the boost in Google's ranking? And how does the value of ranking sites based on links change as more and more popular sites start tagging (eh...labeling) their links NOFOLLOW?"

Submission + - Sony says no to porn on Blu-ray Disc

Submitted by jcatcw on Sunday January 21, 2007 @04:20PM

jcatcw writes: Sony Corp. says it will not allow its disc-replicating subsidiary, Sony DADC Global, to handle adult film titles. The decision could have wide implications for Blu-ray Disc. Some analysts say it could eventually mean that Blu-ray loses out to HD-DVD in the battle to become the next-generation DVD format, in a repeat performance of the Betamax vs VHS competition. Nonetheless, a sequel to the classic Deb Does Dallas should be out on both Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD this spring.

Submission + - 'You're hired. Don't forget to bring a chair'

Submitted by

netbuzz

on Sunday January 21, 2007 @03:18PM

netbuzz writes: "You just landed a job at an exciting new Silicon Valley company and the boss asks you to ... bring your own chair? Guess this really isn't the '90s anymore. Yankee parsimony has replaced conspicuous consumption, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle. One exec even said "no" to T-shirts. ... Tell me foosball's still OK.

Blog:
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1061 9

SF Chron story:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/ a/2007/01/21/MNG0JNMFQE1.DTL"

Submission + - Pimp my Toilet - Comes with HDTV, Beer Tap, More

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18, 2007 @06:20PM

An anonymous reader writes: Who knows what you have to do to win, but Roto Rooter is launching the Pimp my Toilet contest on January 24. The winner receives (of course) a pimped-out Kohler toilet, which is the least of it. The unit comes with an HDTV set, iPod and dock, TiVo, Xbox 360, beer tap and more. Press the "Roto Rooter emergency button" when ... well, you know.

Submission + - How do you talk to your boss about emerging tech?

Submitted by

cbelle13013

on Thursday January 18, 2007 @04:25PM

cbelle13013 writes: "I am the IT Manager for a law firm and I recently got into a heated discussion about the use of RSS feeds. We are about to put our new website up and he is adamant about taking down the RSS option. His stance was "If I've never heard of it, none of our clients have ever heard of it". My question is, how do you talk to your boss about technology that will potentially be useful to your organization, especially when they are authoritarian leaders?"

Submission + - Solar power eliminates utility bills in U.S. home

Submitted by

skyhawker

on Thursday January 18, 2007 @03:36PM

skyhawker writes: "Yahoo! News is running an interesting article about a New Jersey home that uses solar power to provide 100% of its energy needs, including fuel for the owner's hydrogen fuel cell powered automobile. The power system is provided by Renewable Energy International, which has one of the weirdest web sites I've ever seen — the links seem to work only in IE."

Submission + - MySpace sued by 4 online predator victims

Submitted by doug141 on Thursday January 18, 2007 @03:01PM

doug141 writes: Four families have sued News Corp. and its MySpace social-networking site after their underage daughters were sexually abused by adults they met on the site.

"In our view, MySpace waited entirely too long to attempt to institute meaningful security measures that effectively increase the safety of their underage users," said a plaintiff's lawyer.

The lawyers who filed the latest lawsuits said the plaintiffs include a 15-year-old girl from Texas who was lured to a meeting, drugged and assaulted in 2006 by an adult MySpace user, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence in Texas after pleading guilty to sexual assault.The others are a 15-year-old girl from Pennsylvania, a 14-year-old from upstate New York and two South Carolina sisters, ages 14 and 15. Last June, the mother of a 14-year-old who says she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old user sued MySpace and News Corp., seeking $30 million in damages. That lawsuit, pending in a Texas state court, claims the 19-year-old lied about being a senior in high school to gain her trust and phone number.

Submission + - The birth of quantum biology

Submitted by

Roland Piquepaille

on Thursday January 18, 2007 @02:29PM

Roland Piquepaille writes: "Just when you finally have grasped the concept of quantum mechanics, it's time to wake up and to see the arrival of a nascent field named quantum biology. This is the scientific study of biological processes in terms of quantum mechanics and it uses today's high-performance computers to precisely model these processes. And this is what researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) are doing, using powerful computer models to reveal biological mechanisms. Right now, they're working on a "nanoswitch" that might be used for a variety of applications, such as targeted drug delivery to sensors. Read more for additional references and a picture showing how a protein could be used as a nanoswitch."

Submission + - Five Reasons Linux Will Eventually Rule the World

Submitted by

otacon

on Thursday January 18, 2007 @01:01PM

otacon writes: "An article on Open Addict talks about reasons Linux will one day be the OS of choice. From the Article: "Let's face it, folks — Linux is an unstoppable force. It runs on everything, everywhere and impacts each one of our lives on a daily basis, whether or not you realize it. Here are five reasons why your operating system of the future will be a Linux distribution and why Microsoft is powerless to stop it. Our grandkids will look back on our Windows vs Linux debate and wonder what the heck we were thinking even using Windows in the first place. I'm going to make a prediction here. Linux will be the operating system of choice for new PC's and the majority of desktops by 2020. Windows will be relegated to legacy hardware and computer museums. Anyone want to take me up on this bet?"

I don't know about taking that bet, but it is certainly interesting to ponder."

Slashdot Top Deals