Comment Re:Mozilla Craziness (Score 1) 309
I agree. And I hate to see this happen to Firefox. They seem so eager to appear innovative and edgy, yet haven't really done anything interesting in years.
Comment Re:Just call it "Soma" ... (Score 1) 542
Yes but in the book, pop culture is all about sex, and sex itself is trivial, and people are brainwashed and have infantile views.....Ok. But where is my helicopter vehicle thingy?
Submission + - Oyster Mushrooms Could Break Down Diapers in month (inhabitots.com) 3
greenerd writes: Disposable diapers are one of the biggest contributors to overflowing landfills, piling up at a rate of 1 ton of trash per kid per year — and they take 500 years to decompose. But now, a scientist named Alethia Vázquez-Morillas from the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City has found a way to turn that 500-year span to a mere 4 months, by using oyster mushrooms to accelerate the breakdown.
Submission + - US Citizen Arrested while in Thailand for Blog (asiancorrespondent.com)
societyofrobots writes: A US citizen, upon visiting Thailand for medical treatment, was arrested for lese majeste (insulting the king) and computer crimes ("entering false information into a computer system"). He is charged for posting a link on his blog to a banned book, The King Never Smiles, and for translating excerpts of it. He made the posting four years ago in 2007, while in the US. Trials for lese majeste are traditionally held in secret, for reasons of 'national security'. AFP has more information.
Submission + - Djedi Explores Secret Chambers in Great Pyramid
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "CNN reports that the Djedi robot explorer has discovered ancient markings inside a secret chamber in Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza which have lain unseen for 4,500 years. The markings take the form of hieroglyphic symbols in red paint as well as lines in the stone that may have been made by masons when the chamber was being built. "The big question is the purpose of these tunnels," says Peter Der Manuelian, Professor of Egyptology at Harvard University. "There are architectural explanations, symbolic explanations, religious explanations — even ones relating to the alignment of the stars — but the final word on them is yet to be written. The challenge is that no human can fit inside these channels so the only way to do this exploration is with robots." The robot explorer that took the images is named Djedi, after the magician whom Pharaoh Khufu consulted when planning the layout of the Great Pyramid and was designed and built by engineers at the University of Leeds, in collaboration with Scoutek UK and Dassault Systemes, France. To reach the secret chamber Djedi had to climb 213 feet up an 8-inch shaft in the heart of the pyramid where the robot came to a stop in front of a mysterious limestone slab adorned with two copper pins. "I dedicated my whole life to study the secrets of the Great Pyramid," says Zahi Hawass, Egypt's Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs. "My goal is to finally find out what’s behind these secret doors.""
Submission + - Was LinkedIn Scammed? (nytimes.com)
chriscappuccio writes: If there’s one thing we’ve all learned in the aftermath of the financial crisis, it’s that stiffing your client is not a crime. Not if you’re an investment bank.
Suppose, he wrote, your trusted real estate agent persuaded you to sell your house for $1 million. Then, the next day, the same agent sold the same house for the new owner for $2 million. “How would you feel if your agent did that?” he asked. That, he concluded, is what Merrill and Morgan did to LinkedIn.
Suppose, he wrote, your trusted real estate agent persuaded you to sell your house for $1 million. Then, the next day, the same agent sold the same house for the new owner for $2 million. “How would you feel if your agent did that?” he asked. That, he concluded, is what Merrill and Morgan did to LinkedIn.
Journal Journal: Story of the day - but needs pics 2
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/25/3226586.htm
"Steven McCormack was working on his truck at Opotiki on the North Island on Saturday when he slipped between the cab and the trailer, dislodging the compressed air hose that feeds the brakes, the Whakatane Beacon reported.
Submission + - Is Apollo Still a Valid Model to Explore Space 50 (yahoo.com) 1
MarkWhittington writes: "Fifty years ago, President John F. Kennedy stood before a joint session of Congress and proclaimed a goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him to the Earth “before this decade is out.” Eight years later the goal was accomplished. Since then, two presidents, both named George Bush, have tried to set similar space exploration goals; both times the proposals fell victim to the vicissitudes of politics. How is it that President Kennedy’s proposal succeeded and the other two failed? Was Apollo unique for its time? Or was there another reason?"
Comment The truth is out there (Score 1) 481
or not.
Comment I'm from the Anniston area (Score 3, Interesting) 338
I live just outside of Anniston. The local paper. the Anniston Star, runs stories on the city council several times a week. It's awesome entertainment, Believe me when I say that the Anniston city council is a complete joke. One of the council members stated that the reason they want to trample on the first amendment rights of their employees (and understand that this is just not about posting on Facebook at work) is that comments made on Facebook could embarrass the city. Which is completely ridiculous considering the City council has been the #1 source of embarrassment for the city for a couple of years now. The last couple of months they have been conducting an "inquiry" at tremendous expense, apparently on the general subject of "bad stuff" that's going on at the city, But it's really about the ego of one council member who was not happy at the results of an investigation conducted by the police department and who was also attempting to punish a police officer who criticised the council member on Facebook, as well as take revenge on a judge who ruled against him.
The mayor and the various council members fight and argue like school children continuously. One of the council members files multiple law suits based on idiotic grounds. In their "inquiry" they have issued subpoena after subpoena, many of which are quashed because they're so damn ridiculous. This latest issues regarding Facebook is just one in a long list of laughable shenanigans perpetrated by the council. Honestly, a reality show based on these people would be awesome and would be the one reality show I would watch. You wouldn't even have to edit anything, just broadcast the council meetings live on Comedy Central. The truth is far more hilarious and amusing than any group of video editors could conjure,
Comment Re:People use Bing? (Score 1) 297
A multi-million dollar "thing" breaks between IE7 and IE8? Excuse me while I lolz.
Submission + - 71% of 1.2 billion Twitter "tweets" are ignored (sysomos.com) 1
destinyland writes: 1.2 billion Twitter "tweets" were analyzed over two months by analytics company Sysomos, who concluded that a whopping 71% of them got no reaction whatsover — no online responses, and no Twitter "retweets". "Only a small number of users actually have the ability to engage on Twitter in a significant way," the researchers conclude, noting that just 6% of Twitter's status updates ever get retweeted (while 23% get a reply). And among those status updates, 85% have exactly one response, while only 1.53% of Twitter conversations are more than three levels deep — where a reply receives a response which then generates a second reply. "If a tweet is not retweeted in the first hour, it is very likely that it will not be retweeted," the researchers conclude, noting that 92% of all retweets only happen within the first hour (versus just 1.63% during the second hour). But one technology reporter suggests flaws in their sample of 1.2 billion public Twitter messages. "Presumably these don't include those made by people who only allow their tweets to be seen by selected users," the reporter argues, adding that the study overlooks the possibility of conversations continuing via Twitter's private "direct messages", or that follow-up conversation may occur privately via e-mail.
Submission + - 90 Percent Of Human Being Not Human (sciencedaily.com)
drmattnd writes: "Scientists at the National Institutes of Health recently published an analysis of 178 genomes from microbes that live in or on the human body, and have plans to expand their reference collection to nearly a thousand genomes.
Dubbed the human microbiome, this set of fungi, bacteria, and viruses are known to outnumber human cells 10 to 1 and play a critical role in health and disease. According to Human Microbiome Project leader Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. "We are only at the very beginning of a fascinating voyage that will transform how we diagnose, treat and ultimately, prevent many health conditions."
Published in the May 21 issue of the journal Science, "this initial work lays the foundation for this ambitious project and is critical for understanding the role that the microbiome plays in human health and disease," says Collins."
Dubbed the human microbiome, this set of fungi, bacteria, and viruses are known to outnumber human cells 10 to 1 and play a critical role in health and disease. According to Human Microbiome Project leader Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. "We are only at the very beginning of a fascinating voyage that will transform how we diagnose, treat and ultimately, prevent many health conditions."
Published in the May 21 issue of the journal Science, "this initial work lays the foundation for this ambitious project and is critical for understanding the role that the microbiome plays in human health and disease," says Collins."
Submission + - Windows 7 update installs stealth WAT 7
unassimilatible writes: A Windows 7 update released on 9/30, KB2158563, claims to "resolve issues caused by revised daylight saving time and time zone laws in several countries. This update enables your computer to automatically adjust the computer clock on the correct date in 2010." The part not mentioned by Microsoft is that KB2158563 is a Trojan, the stealth payload being a WAT (Windows Activation Technologies) update that sniffs out cracked versions of Windows 7, and declares them not genuine, complete with black screen. Looks like MS is up to its old tricks again.
Submission + - Plan to curb free software in EU (javier-carrete.com) 1
bodski writes: "Wikileaks has posted a file showing a plan to curb the free software in Europe.
This file shows that Jonathan Zuck, president of Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) –an organization with close ties to Microsoft–, and founder of Americans for Technology Leadership, had influenced the change of working documents of the European Union.
That lobbies to exert pressure against the government institutions under their interests no doubt, and this document published by Wikileaks is clearly demonstrated.
The document in question is a work project developed by experts from the European Commission. This document has been modified by the ACT and Comptia organizations that have been percolating in several working groups."
Wikileaks link to file: http://wikileaks.org/wiki/European_Commission_OSS_Strategy_Draft,_Mar_2009?TB_iframe=1&width=1000&height=540
Scribd copy: http://www.scribd.com/doc/38773615/Towards-a-European-Software-Strategy
This file shows that Jonathan Zuck, president of Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) –an organization with close ties to Microsoft–, and founder of Americans for Technology Leadership, had influenced the change of working documents of the European Union.
That lobbies to exert pressure against the government institutions under their interests no doubt, and this document published by Wikileaks is clearly demonstrated.
The document in question is a work project developed by experts from the European Commission. This document has been modified by the ACT and Comptia organizations that have been percolating in several working groups."
Wikileaks link to file: http://wikileaks.org/wiki/European_Commission_OSS_Strategy_Draft,_Mar_2009?TB_iframe=1&width=1000&height=540
Scribd copy: http://www.scribd.com/doc/38773615/Towards-a-European-Software-Strategy
