Comment Target practice (Score 1) 301
Target practice, for satellite killing systems.
Comment Books, and lots of them (Score 1) 325
What tech should be in a fifth grade classroom?
Books.
Comment You call that authentic? (Score 1) 128
It's not authentic unless you can slice an enemy in half with it. Bzzzzzzzt!
Comment windows server installs on funky disk controllers (Score 1) 558
"press F6 to install....".
I had to buy a box a few months ago for just that purpose. I think I'll keep it around for 5 years or so, just in case.
The Big Technical Mistakes of History 244
An anonymous reader tips a PC Authority review of some of the biggest technical goofs of all time. "As any computer programmer will tell you, some of the most confusing and complex issues can stem from the simplest of errors. This article looking back at history's big technical mistakes includes some interesting trivia, such as NASA's failure to convert measurements to metric, resulting in the Mars Climate Orbiter being torn apart by the Martian atmosphere. Then there is the infamous Intel Pentium floating point fiasco, which cost the company $450m in direct costs, a battering on the world's stock exchanges, and a huge black mark on its reputation. Also on the list is Iridium, the global satellite phone network that promised to make phones work anywhere on the planet, but required 77 satellites to be launched into space."
Japanese Astronaut Gets Designer "Space Suit" 110
Naoko Yamazaki knows you have to look good at work even if your work is in outer space. Japanese fashion designer Tae Ashida has created a designer suit for the female astronaut to wear during her stay on the International Space Station. "As a female designer, I chose a design and colour with a sense of grace ... so that she can feel at ease as she carries out a tough mission in a male-dominated, bleak atmosphere. It's like a dream come true to see my clothes worn in space," said Ashida. "I'm looking forward to seeing her wear my design."
Geomagnetic Storm In Progress 110
shogun writes "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports a strong geomagnetic storm is in progress. The shuttle, ISS and GPS systems may be affected."
They think this storm was caused by a weak solar flare on April 3rd. As you may expect, this has caused some unusually impressive northern lights since it started. What you may not expect is a photograph from Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi aboard the International Space Station showing the aurora from orbit. He apparently tweets a lot of pictures from space. He and his crewmates have taken over 100,000 pictures since coming aboard the ISS.
Amazon Reviewers Take on the Classics 272
Not everyone is a fan of great literature. In particular, reviewers on Amazon can be quite critical of some of the best loved classics. Jeanette DeMain takes a look at some of the most hated famous books according to some short tempered reviewers. One of my favorites is the review of Charlotte's Web which reads in part, "Absolutely pointless book to read. I felt no feelings towards any of the characters. I really didn't care that Wilbur won first prize. And how in the world does a pig and a spider become friends? It's beyond me. The back of a cereal box has more excitement than this book. I was forced to read it at least five times and have found it grueling. Even as a child I found the plot very far-fetched. It is because of this horrid book that I eat sausage every morning and tell my dad to kill every spider I see ..."
Comment poor side of town (Score 1) 394
I live in the poor side of town, and even here I can see one or two in addition to my own. If I step outside the door with my laptop, a few more will pop up in the list.
Some time ago I met a guy who thought our little town had free municipal wifi. We don't, but we was getting on through unsecured access points pretty much everywhere he went.
Comment "other" -- classical languages (Score 1) 515
Honestly, at this time if I had it to do over, I'd do Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and the ancient works written in those languages.
PA Laptop Spying Inspires FSF Crowdsourcing Effort 135
holmesfsf writes "Creeped out by the Lower Merion School District's remote monitoring of students? Check out the Free Software Foundation's response to the laptop spying scandal and help build a wiki listing of school districts that provide students with laptops, so that the FSF can campaign against mandatory, proprietary laptops."
Comment somebody must be patching every 15 minutes (Score 1) 388
To make the average work outsomeone must be running updates every 15 minutes, because I see a lot of people grossly out of date. XP SP2 and IE6 are not uncommon.
Comment "This colossal revolver" (Score 1) 457
Armatix will eventually offer higher caliber guns, like this colossal revolver, as well as rifles and shotguns.
"This colossal revolver" Looks about S&W K-frame size to me.
Wired goes to SHOT show. They should play to their strengths. Don't they have a hoplophile on staff?
Magnum Research's BFR (official parsing is "Biggest Finest Revolver") might qualify.
And no, an electronically disable-able gun is not a good idea.
Comment yes and no (Score 5, Interesting) 1078
The "biohazard" stuff is crap.
That said, I can always tell when a computer I'm working on has a smoker for an owner. The smoke leaves a yellowish to brownish residue. Dust sticks to it. In the worst case I can recall seeing, cooling slots were blocked by congealed fuzzy crap.
It's nasty, and I can see it contributing to component failure in bad cases.
Comment They do this in church now, too. (Score 1) 467
"A CS student blogger named Carolyn offers an interesting take on why learning from PowerPoint lectures is frustrating. Unlike an old-school chalk talk, professors who use PowerPoint tend to present topics very quickly, leaving little time to digest the visuals or to take learning-reinforcing notes. Also, profs who use the ready-made PowerPoint lectures that ship with many textbooks tend to come across as, shall we say, less than connected with their material. Then there are professors who just don't know how to use PowerPoint, a problem that is by no means limited to college classes."
Everything said there could also be said of church services in the US. The effect is very similar.
I could go on a long rant. Fortunately, someone already has: Why Johnny can't preach.
