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Hand Written Clock 86

Posted by samzenpus from the up-to-the-minute dept.
a3buster writes "This clock does not actually have a man inside, but a flatscreen that plays a 24-hour loop of this video by the artist watching his own clock somewhere and painstakingly erasing and re-writing each minute. This video was taken at Design Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach 2009."

Comment Re:i hate drupal so much (Score 2, Informative) 122

by anderiv (#30148010) Attached to: Drupal 6 Social Networking

Drupal is just not ready for the mainstream.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/
http://www.theonion.com/
http://www.fastcompany.com/
http://www.wfp.org/

ORLY?

*cough*

I'll agree - Drupal does have a steep learning curve. With regards to theming/styling, though, it's no different than any other CMS. Designers will have to fight cross-browser css compatibility issues with whatever CMS or template engine they're using.

Comment Scratched a disc last night...shut the band down (Score 2, Interesting) 583

by eggsurplus (#26134605) Attached to: Microsoft Knew About Xbox 360 Damaging Discs
Funny, I just had this happen last night. The wife accidentally knocked it over when pulling out the drum kit as we were in the process of changing instruments for Rock Band 2. This caused it to start clicking like crazy. I tried to turn it off as soon as possible but it was too late! There goes my turn to dish out some serious Beastie Boys.
Biotech

Drug Halts Decline In Alzheimer's Patients 222

Posted by kdawson from the now-i-rember dept.
ljw1004 writes "Alzheimer's researchers are divided on whether the disease is caused by 'beta amyloid' (a peptide found in Alzheimer brains) or by 'tau protein' (normally used for cellular scaffolding, but can aggregate out of control and destroy neurons). Today in Chicago a new drug has been announced that stops tau aggregation and appears to have halted Alzheimer's-related decline in 300 clinical trial patients. The drug is known as 'rember.' Do you have friends or family who appear to be on the road to dementia? Here is an online questionnaire, part of one used in the clinical trial to diagnose dementia. (Disclosure: I made the online questionnaire, and my father is one of the scientists behind the drug.)"
Earth

Supplies of Rare Earth Elements Exhausted By 2017 958

Posted by kdawson from the they-don't-call-them-rare-for-nothing dept.
tomhudson writes "While we bemoan the current oil crisis, I ran across an editorial that led me to research a more immediate threat. Ramped-up production of flat-panel displays means the material to make them will be 'extinct' by 2017. This goes for other electronics as well. Quoting: 'The element gallium is in very short supply and the world may well run out of it in just a few years. Indium is threatened too, says Armin Reller, a materials chemist at Germany's University of Augsburg. He estimates that our planet's stock of indium will last no more than another decade. All the hafnium will be gone by 2017 also, and another twenty years will see the extinction of zinc. Even copper is an endangered item, since worldwide demand for it is likely to exceed available supplies by the end of the present century.' More links at the journal entry."

Is Help Desk a Launchpad or a Dead End? 206

Posted by CmdrTaco from the or-just-hell-on-earth dept.
Tracy Mayor writes "Is a gig on an IT help desk really the career death it's always assumed to be? Not always, this Computerworld writer found out, just don't get comfy and stay too long. "
Medicine

Alligator Blood May Be Source of New Antibiotics 265

Posted by Zonk from the darn-tasty-eating-too dept.
esocid writes "Biochemists from McNeese State University have described how proteins in gator blood may provide a source of powerful new antibiotics to help fight infections associated with diabetic ulcers and severe burns. This new class of drug could also crack so-called 'superbugs' that are resistant to conventional medication. Previous studies have showed alligators have an unusually strong immune system; unlike humans, alligator immune systems can defend against microorganisms such as fungi, viruses, and bacteria without having prior exposure to them. Scientists believe that this is an evolutionary adaptation to promote quick wound healing, as alligators are often injured during fierce territorial battles."

Comment cell phone options (Score 1) 151

by qux.net (#19588905) Attached to: A Whitelist for Phone Calls?
It sounds like you may be using a landline, but just in case... The last few Motorola phones I've used have an an option under security to restrict incoming calls. One of the options is "Contacts", which allows calls from anyone in the contacts list to come through, but sends all other calls straight to voicemail. I'm guessing most other phones have a similar or semi-equivalent option (on a Nokia I did it by setting a default ring of nothing, and then all contacts to the ring I wanted - it still "rang" and the caller had to wait to get to voicemail, but didn't bother me with the call). It's effective, easy to change even for temporary numbers, and in an emergency anyone can leave a voicemail (never had a telemarketer do so, only legit interactions).
Science

Organism Survives 100 Million Years Without Sex 343

Posted by samzenpus from the they-must-play-dungeons-and-dragons-too dept.
zyl0x writes "The Times has an interesting article online on the discovery of a 100-million-year-old micro-organism which has survived its entire lifespan without sex." From the article "A tiny creature that has not had sex for 100 million years has overturned the theory that animals need to mate to create variety. Analysis of the jaw shapes of bdelloid rotifers, combined with genetic data, revealed that the animals have diversified under pressure of natural selection. Researchers say that their study "refutes the idea that sex is necessary for diversification into evolutionary species".
Businesses

Wii, DS Dominate February Hardware Sales 149

Posted by Zonk from the nintendo-built-this-city-on-mario-and-link dept.
Gamasutra has the NPD numbers for last month, which shows a continuation of Nintendo's sales dominance. Overall the new consoles have again meant that industry sales were up, some 28% over last year's same-month figures. Hardware sales were up some 98%, with much of that performance attributable to the DS and Wii. Here's the breakdown: "Turning to hardware, the DS headed overall hardware sell-through with an impressive 485,000 units, followed by Nintendo's Wii, which sold 335,000 units despite continued issues with shortages. The Xbox 360 sold through a reasonable, if not spectacular 228,000 copies, and the PlayStation 3 slumped to a disappointing 127,000 units, despite no apparent shortages. Elsewhere, the PlayStation 2 moved a still impressive 295,000 at its relatively cheap current price, and the PlayStation Portable sold 176,000, markedly behind the DS. Finally, the various varieties of the Game Boy Advance sold a not unreasonable 136,000 units."
Science

Scientists Predicting Intentions 105

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the science-of-mind-reading dept.
An anonymous reader writes to tell us German scientists claim to have the means of predicting decisions of high level mental activity. "In the past, experts had been able to detect decisions about making physical movements in advance. But researchers at Berlin's Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience claim they have now, for the first time, identified people's decisions about how they would later do a high-level mental activity _ in this case, adding versus subtracting."
Robotics

Submission + - Car Mechanic Builds xBot to Play XBox 360

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "A simple device that starts and restarts Perfect Dark Zero has been built by a car mechanic apparently annoyed at his inability to unlock in game content. He calculated that 40 hours of gameplay (or 2,000 offline matches) would garner him the last 60 points needed to unlock content on his Xbox 360. Should people that have the knowledge to 'hack' interfaces to games be praised for their engineering innovation or be indited as cheaters? I personally think that game bots are a great way to enter the world of artificial intelligence but am disappointed when the most effective ideas are the simplest unintelligent scripts or mods."

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