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Comment Re:Harmony at last.. (Score 1) 160

by johanwanderer (#38245498) Attached to: Quantum Entanglement of Macroscopic Diamonds

A great explanation, which made sense. But now I just have more questions. Like, "I will put a ball in one of these boxes, but I will not tell you which one I put it in. Now from your perspective, Neither the statement 'this box has the ball in it' nor 'this box does not have the ball in it' is true. You have no way of selecting which box I put the ball in." How is this any different?

What I am saying is, I don't see how there is any 'entanglement' there. It's just either in one diamond or the other. It's only our perception that doesn't know which one it is in.

I'd really love to get my head around this one day lol.

Actually, it works exactly as the entangled diamonds in this case. I don't know which box the ball is in, so you can bring one box to Mars, keeping one here on earth. Upon opening the box here (measure) and finds that it is empty, I can instantly conclude that the box on Mars has the ball.

All this assumes that the boxes remain "entangled". If someone changes the content of the travelling box en route to Mars, then all bets are off.
NASA

Low Quality Alloy Cause of Shuttle Main Tank Issue 118

Posted by Soulskill from the heisenberg-compensators-were-acting-up dept.
BJ_Covert_Action writes "NASA engineers have finally discovered the root cause of the cracks that have been found on space shuttle Discovery's main external tank. The main tank, one of the 'Super Lightweight Tank' models developed by Lockheed-Martin, employs an aluminum-lithium alloy developed by Lockheed-Martin specifically for this application. The new alloy is used in various structural stringers throughout the SLWT design. Unfortunately, the batch of this alloy used in the tank that is currently mated with the Discovery shuttle appears to be of low quality. The alloy used in the stringers has a 'mottled' appearance, compared to the nominal appearance typically used in the main tank stringers (see picture in article). This appearance is indicative of a fracture threshold that is significantly lower than typical. NASA has determined, through testing, that this low grade alloy has only 65% of the fracture strength of the nominal alloy typically used. NASA engineers have devised a potential fix to the problem that they are currently testing to ensure the repair will cause no unintended consequences. NASA plans to have the Discovery shuttle ready to launch again by February 24th, 2011."
Java

Apache Resigns From the JCP Executive Committee 136

Posted by timothy from the I'll-resign-my-commission dept.
iammichael writes "The Apache Software Foundation has resigned its seat on the Java SE/EE Executive Committee due to a long dispute over the licensing restrictions placed on the TCK (test kit validating third-party Java implementations are compatible with the specification)."

Comment How do you quantify the cost for basic research? (Score 1) 503

by johanwanderer (#34095938) Attached to: Is the ISS Really Worth $100 Billion?
The research that goes into making the ISS a viable space station is important for the future. To ask if the ISS is worth $100 billion is like to ask if the wheel is worth 500 years of rolling things down hill, of if the splint axe is worth $x. If it were not for those things, we probably would not be having this discussion now.

We have the mean to fund such research. Therefore we should.
Encryption

Submission + - Tool Cracks BitLocker to Go Encryption in 20 Mins (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: BitLocker to Go, drive encryption built into Windows 7 Ultimate that helps protect sensitive data on USB storage devices, may not as safe as you think. Passware, Inc., today announced that the latest version of its Passware Kit Forensic 10.1 software suite allows for cracking of BitLocker To Go USB Disks. The company claims that their software can decrypt BitLocker To Go thumb drives in less than 20 minutes.
Earth

Submission + - Super-tough wireless sensors - operate to 900C (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by Thorfinn.au
Thorfinn.au writes: Topflight engineers based in Newcastle have hit upon a radical plan for warning of volcanic eruptions. They intend to build a heatproof sensor unit which can be dropped into a volcano's caldera and wirelessly transmit data to monitoring stations despite being possibly immersed in molten rock.

"At the moment we have no way of accurately monitoring the situation inside a volcano and in fact most data collection actually goes on post-eruption. With an estimated 500 million people living in the shadow of a volcano this is clearly not ideal," explains Dr Alton Horsfall of Newcastle uni's Centre for Extreme Environment Technology.

"We still have some way to go but using silicon carbide technology we hope to develop a wireless communication system that could accurately collect and transmit chemical data from the very depths of a volcano."
Censorship

Submission + - Google.cn Goes Dark, Google Hires More in China (google.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: The redirected landing page Google implemented as a technical workaround appears to be no more. Google.cn times out while the Hong Kong site it redirected to seems to be up. Google has also started hiring more engineers inside China which is causing some to speculate that they will again approach the Chinese government for a permit to host their search engine.

Comment Re:Why?? (Score 1) 135

by johanwanderer (#31782134) Attached to: A Wireless Hotspot For Your Car — Why Not?

Anyone I've had in my car for the past several years, especially anyone who has an interest in being 'entertained' in a car, already had their own mobile internet and/or networkable device. Why would anyone want to splice an already-slow 3G connection between several people and/or devices?

Cuz, my map is red* and your is blue, duh!

----
* Disclaimer: customer might be cut off if usage exceed arbitrary threshold while in red coverage area.
PC Games (Games)

An Early Look At Civilization V 286

Posted by Soulskill from the new-and-shiny dept.
c0mpliant writes "IGN and Gamespot have each released a preview of the recently announced and eagerly awaited Civilization V. Apart from the obvious new hexagon shape of tiles and improved graphics, the articles go on to outline some of the major changes in the game, such as updated AI, new 'flavors' to world leaders, and a potentially game-changing, one-unit-per-tile system. No more will the stack of doom come to your city's doorsteps. Some features which will not be returning are religion and espionage. The removal of these two have sparked a frenzy of discussion on fan-related forums."
NASA

Dying Man Shares Unseen Challenger Video 266

Posted by Soulskill from the new-perspective-on-an-old-tragedy dept.
longacre writes "An amateur video of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explosion has been made public for the first time. The Florida man who filmed it from his front yard on his new Betamax camcorder turned the tape over to an educational organization a week before he died this past December. The Space Exploration Archive has since published the video into the public domain in time for the 24th anniversary of the catastrophe. Despite being shot from about 70 miles from Cape Canaveral, the shuttle and the explosion can be seen quite clearly. It is unclear why he never shared the footage with NASA or the media. NASA officials say they were not aware of the video, but are interested in examining it now that it has been made available."

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