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Submission + - Most planets in the Universe are homeless

Submitted by StartsWithABang
StartsWithABang writes: We like to think of our Solar System as typical: a central star with a number of planets — some gas giants and some rocky worlds — in orbit around it. Yes, there's some variety, with binary or trinary star systems and huge variance in the masses of the central star being common ones, but from a planetary point of view, our Solar System is a rarity. Even though there are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy for planets to orbit, there are most likely around a quadrillion planets in our galaxy, total, with only a few trillion of them orbiting stars at most. Now that we've finally detected the first of these, we have an excellent idea that this picture is the correct one: most planets in the Universe are homeless. Now, thank your lucky star!

Submission + - Is Geometric Algebra finally adopted in STEM curricula? (wavewatching.net)

Submitted by quax
quax writes: It has been over a century that William Kingdon Clifford developed Geometric Algebra. Yet due to his untimely death it was quickly forgotten, only to be partially reinvented when Dirac tackled relativistic quantum mechanics and introduced spinors. But geometric algebra is much more versatile than that, for instance it makes for a better alternative to vector calculus, combining div and curl operators and doing away with the cross-product in favor of bivectors. It is such a straightforward unification of otherwise, disparate mathematical techniques that I very much regret that my physics curriculum twenty years ago didn't cover it. Has this changed? Have you encountered geometric algebra in an undergraduate program?

Comment Re:Is the embargo really affecting them? (Score 1) 540

by Saija (#47880521) Attached to: Cuba Calculates Cost of 54yr US Embargo At $1.1 Trillion
Man I also was in Cuba earlier this year, coming from a south america country I felt my country was doing way better than them, I felt trapped on some kind of 1950's time machine.
The distribution centers where the goverment gives food and commodities(toilet paper and soap) to the people shock me since here in my country we have to work and get our thingies for ourselves.

Submission + - Physicists Prove Surprising Rule of Threes (simonsfoundation.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: More than 40 years after a Soviet nuclear physicist proposed an outlandish theory that trios of particles can arrange themselves in an infinite nesting-doll configuration, experimentalists have reported strong evidence that this bizarre state of matter is real.

Submission + - LogMeIn Free no longer be available, only paid for options available. (logmeinrescue.com)

Submitted by SolarAxix
SolarAxix writes: From the forum post: "LogMeIn Free will no longer be available starting January 21, 2014. We will begin gradually migrating users of LogMeIn and Ignition-branded remote access offerings to a paid-only account-level subscription of LogMeIn Pro."

"...In order to continue using remote access, you will need to purchase an account-level subscription of LogMeIn Pro."

If you've been using the free version, it looks like you don't have access to any of your systems anymore (other than getting a trial license) and have to purchase a license if you want to keep using it. It looks like it's time to look for an alternative free solutions for those of us who were using it to help friends and family members and manage our own systems.

Submission + - 25 worst passwords of 2013 (wtop.com) 1

Submitted by ddelmonte
ddelmonte writes: The Washington Post (Neal Augenstein), is reporting on the wort passwords used in 2013 according to SplashData. There is also a link in the article to the top 100 passwords used in the Adobe heist. Mr. Augenstein concludes that people are more concerned about remembering their passwords than having them as difficult for "crooks to infiltrate" .

Submission + - Candy Crush Saga Has Trademarked the Word 'Candy' (forbes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: King.com, owners of Candy Crush, have received a U.S. trademark on the use of the word "candy" in games and clothing. Forbes thinks it is overly broad. "One would think Hasbro, the maker of that venerable children's board game (which does have video game versions) Candy Land, would already have this trademark sewed up."

Submission + - LogMeIn to discontinue free access with 1 day notice despite $190m in revenue (logmein.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The remote desktop service "LogMeIn" sent an email to its users today notifying them that "LogMeIn Free" will be discontinued — as of today. This is a major shock with minimal warning to the millions of users who have come to rely on their service made all the more surprising by the fact that "consensus revenue estimates for LogMeIn in 2014 are $190.3 million", suggesting that their system of providing both free and paid accounts for what is ultimately a straightforward service that could be duplicated for well under $1 million was already doing quite well.

Submission + - Russian Teen Created Software Used In Target Breach (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: A Los Angeles security company believes that BlackPOS, the malware that infected Target's point-of-sale systems and was responsible for the recent massive security breach, was created by a 17-year-old Russian who goes by the name of "ree4" online. ree4 doesn't seem to have been directly involved in the attack, though he may have received a cut of the profits from it. Meanwhile, two Mexican nationals were arrested at a U.S. border crossing in Texas on suspicions of being connected to the breach, though they may have done nothing more than purchased stolen credit card information.

Submission + - Voynich Manuscript may have originated in New World

Submitted by bmearns
bmearns writes: The Voynich Manuscript is every geek's favorite "indecipherable" illuminated manuscript. It's bizarre depictions of strange plants and animals, astrological diagrams, and hordes of tiny naked women bathing in a system of interconnected tubs that bare an uneasy resemblance to the human digestive system, have inspired numerous essays and doctoral theses', plus one XKCD comic. Now a team of botanists (yes, botanists) may have uncovered an important clue as to its origin and content, by identifying several of the plants and animals depicted, and linking them to the Spanish territories in Central America.

Submission + - EuroPython 2014 Call for Proposal open (europython.eu)

Submitted by ajung
ajung writes: We are happy to announce that the call-for-proposals for the EuroPython 2014
conference is now open for submissions until Feb 9th 2014.

https://ep2014.europython.eu/e...

You submit proposals for talks, posters and training. There will be also a dedicated track
for talks in German (the PyCon.DE 2014 conference will be integrated with EuroPython this
year).

For further information visit the EuroPython 2014 web site:

https://ep2014.europython.eu/

Submission + - CANDY TRADEMARKED (trademarkia.com)

Submitted by DrewLee
DrewLee writes: Status Update! On Wednesday, January 15, 2014, status on the CANDY trademark changed to APPROVED FOR PUBLICATION.
On Wednesday, February 06, 2013, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for CANDY by King.com Limited, St.Julian's STJ3140. The USPTO has given the CANDY trademark serial number of 85842584. The current federal status of this trademark filing is APPROVED FOR PUBLICATION. The correspondent listed for CANDY is ANDREW S. EHARD of MERCHANT & GOULD P.C., PO BOX 2910, MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402-0910 . The CANDY trademark is filed in the category of Computer & Software Products & Electrical & Scientific Products , Clothing Products , Education and Entertainment Services .

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And it should be the law: If you use the word `paradigm' without knowing what the dictionary says it means, you go to jail. No exceptions. -- David Jones

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