Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Not Planets (Score 2) 219

by SailorSpork (#48279631) Attached to: Most Planets In the Universe Are Homeless
Don't mod this guy down. He's at least going by the definition from wikipedia (or a similar reference material), which states:A planet (from Ancient Greek (astr plants), meaning "wandering star") is an astronomical object orbiting a star or stellar remnant that (1) is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, (2) is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and (3) has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.

I'm sure what this article is calling a Planet meets these 3 criteria but do not meet the "circling a star or stellar remnant" apparent pre-requisite. What I cannot tell you is whether or not Wikipedia is wrong about that "needing to orbit a star" bit - I'm sure someone will respond with a reference defending or refuting that point.

Submission + - xkcd at it again, Turtles all the way down in "Pixels" (xkcd.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Go to xkcd and do what the comic says, start scrolling to zoom into the picture. Keep going even when you think it just keeps repeating as you will find planets, rocket parts, rocket assembly, blast off, and then a server being shutdown, and some other odds and ends. I am not sure if I got to the bottom as scrolling in my browser died.

Comment Recording Apps (Score 4, Informative) 368

by SailorSpork (#47654983) Attached to: Comcast Drops Spurious Fees When Customer Reveals Recording
Here is an article from Lifehacker on how to record incoming calls on your smart phone. It looks hard unless you use Google Voice, and GV only records incoming calls (fear of grey areas around wiretapping laws it seems). Free Android apps seem to record all sound coming in the mic and end up being lower quality recordings.

Comment Re:And it's already closed (Score 1) 81

by SailorSpork (#47575435) Attached to: Nevada Construction Project Could Be Tesla/Panasonic Gigafactory
So this site, which according to the article was behind schedule and missed every major milestone, is basically closed as soon as the Panasonic partnership was announced. Maybe this site (and its mismanagement) did not meet Panasonic's needs, as they are supposed to be contributing major amounts of capital and equipment, so much so that this site had to be scrapped. /end speculation

Comment Re:Could be worse (Score 2) 234

by SailorSpork (#47556563) Attached to: Free Copy of the Sims 2 Contains SecuROM
This same version of Sims 2 DX was given to anyone who has registered any Sims 2 software on Origin. It, in fact, replaced any pre-existing Sims 2 version(s) you had as they were "no longer supported." As one of these people, this is basically bait-and-switch because my old version of Sims without drastic DRM is "no longer supported."

Or to use a car analogy, if the fact that it was given away to everyone else when I already owned it was kind of a slap in the face, the DRM was a slap in the face with a smelly fish that had a nail bat hidden in it.

Comment Re:Resurrection (Score 2) 205

I see the plot of a new Micheal Bay (or maybe J.J. Abrams) movie: The US military, unable to get qualified recruits to fight the new Zombie wars, takes a cue from the Zombie playbook and develops the technology to bring life old soldiers. After a bit of a difficult start, the program exceeds all expectations until the previously dead soldiers revolt at being put back in the grave and bring Washington to it's knees by filing for Social Security benefits.

Hmm. Nice twist at the end, but too much plot, needs more explosions.

Submission + - Supreme Court Rules Against Aereo's Streaming TV Service (nbcnews.com)

Submitted by bsharma
bsharma writes: The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday dealt a potentially fatal blow to Aereo, an Internet service that allows customers to watch broadcast TV programs on mobile devices.

Launched a year ago in New York and then extended to 10 other U.S. cities, it allows customers to watch over-the-air TV programs on a smartphone, tablet, or computer for as little as $8 a month. Selections can be viewed live or recorded for later viewing.

Comment Re:Control Groups (Score 5, Informative) 250

by SailorSpork (#47073941) Attached to: Four Weeks Without Soap Or Shampoo

Where are the control groups? Shouldn't there also be at least a few of these: 1) One group that showers daily and uses the spray. 2) One group that showers daily and sprays plain water. 3) One group that doesn't shower for 4 weeks and sprays plain water.

Number 3 is almost required for any accurate study and I would think it would the other 2 wouldn't hurt either.

Reading the article, she was subject 26 of who knows how many. For all we know, she was in the control group, or there may have been separate control groups present. The article recaps her personal experience, not the complete conditions for the experiment. Maybe with the initial findings, they'll do multiple rounds with different variables as you suggest above.

Slashdot Top Deals

An authority is a person who can tell you more about something than you really care to know.

Close