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Comment Ridiculous... I hate network execs (Score 3, Insightful) 762

by anlashok (#34592038) Attached to: Stargate Universe Cancelled

The channel had great ratings for BSG, and had a lot of potential wasted by execs that didn't understand or care about a scifi audience that built the channel up. Could have done a better budgeted B5 show, or one of the many Fox shows killed too early like Firefly. Why the heck is wrestling and ghost stories on a scifi channel?
I actually like SGU more than many of the episodes of the SGA episodes. Previous commenter was right in calling it more adult. It could be great, but NBC doesn't know what it has. Its a good money maker for a niche that doesn't have competition in the subject matter.
I'd invest in a new SciFi type channel if I could. Maybe Speilberg, Lucas, or Cameron would see the possibilities.
Businesses

Taco Bell Programming 394

Posted by timothy from the how-dare-you-insult-the-code-monkeys dept.
theodp writes "Think outside the box? Nah, think outside the bun. Ted Dziuba argues there's a programming lesson to be learned from observing how Taco Bell manages to pull down $1.9 billion by mixing-and-matching roughly eight ingredients: 'The more I write code and design systems, the more I understand that many times, you can achieve the desired functionality simply with clever reconfigurations of the basic Unix tool set. After all, functionality is an asset, but code is a liability. This is the opposite of a trend of nonsense called DevOps, where system administrators start writing unit tests and other things to help the developers warm up to them — Taco Bell Programming is about developers knowing enough about Ops (and Unix in general) so that they don't overthink things, and arrive at simple, scalable solutions.'"
Piracy

Submission + - Double standard: Unlicensed bar music vs. P2P user (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by anlashok
anlashok writes: Massachusetts federal judge Nancy Gertner just slashed the damage award against admitted P2P user Joel Tenenbaum from $675,000 to $67,500. In her opinion, she drew a fascinating parallel between Tenenbaum's conduct and that of bars and restaurants who don't pay up for a license to play music in public. Why aren't they hit with tremendous six-figure fines?

"The jury's award in this case also appears egregious in light of the damages typically imposed on restaurants, bars, and other businesses that play copyrighted songs in their establishments without first acquiring the appropriate licenses," Gertner wrote.

"These defendants are arguably more culpable than Tenenbaum. Unlike Tenenbaum, who did not receive any direct pecuniary gain from his file-sharing, defendants in these cases play copyrighted music to create a more pleasurable atmosphere for their customers, thus generating more business and, consequently, more revenue."

Yet, in such cases, damage awards are only 2-6x the cost of a public performance license, "a ratio of statutory to actual damages far lower than the ratio present in this case."

Gertner cites numerous cases where restaurants failed to pay up, used the music for commercial gain, and were then hauled to court. The Spring Mount Area Bavarian Resort in Pennsylvania, for instance, was sued over its lack of a performance license back in 2008. The cost of license would have been $3,725; when the resort was found liable, it had to pay damages of $6,750. Other awards in similar cases include $30,000, $34,500, and $16,000 judgments.

By contrast, juries decided that sharing 30 songs on the 'Net (with no pecuniary motivation) was worth $675,000 and that sharing 24 songs might be worth anywhere from $220,000 to $1.9 million (the two Jammie Thomas-Rasset trials in Minnesota).

It didn't help that both defendants lied (and both judges called them out for it in post-trial rulings), but still—the sheer variability of these verdicts for basically similar cases show that juries are plucking numbers from a hat here. When real businesses commit similar offenses, lawyers don't show up to court and utter apocalyptic rhetoric about how unlicensed bar tunes are "killing the music business." And the results aren't designed to bankrupt the establishment in question.

Gertner can't understand the shocking difference in outcomes.

"I cannot conceive of any plausible rationale for the discrepancy between the level of damages imposed in public-performance cases and the damages awarded in this case," she wrote. "The disparity strongly suggests that the jury’s $675,000 award is arbitrary and grossly excessive."

Submission + - Quantum Physics Leaps Into The Visible World (npr.org)

Submitted by anlashok
anlashok writes: Scientists in California have done something astounding. They've shown that physical laws thought only to rule in the mysterious realm of atoms and electrons can also apply to stuff you can actually see.

Isaac Newton was pretty much right on in describing the physical laws of how objects in our world behave. But those laws break down when you get to the world of single atoms. So modern physicists came up with a new set of laws, called quantum mechanics, that does explain how things like atoms behave.

Andrew Cleland of the University of California-Santa Barbara says some of the laws are ... well, the word "weird" comes to mind.

"One of the most striking is quantum mechanics says that an object can be in two places at the same time. Or two configurations at the same time," he says.

Cleland says at first, scientists thought the laws of quantum mechanics applied to objects on the atomic scale. Cleland says it's true — physicists have observed quantum effects in structures as large as 60 atoms. That's large for the atomic world, but totally invisible in our world.

Cleland wanted to see if he could find the size where the laws of quantum broke down and everyday laws take over.
NASA

NASA To Cryogenically Freeze Satellite Mirrors 47

Posted by Soulskill from the ain't-it-cool dept.
coondoggie writes "NASA said it will soon move some of the larger (46 lb) mirror segments of its future James Webb Space Telescope into a cryogenic test facility that will freeze the mirrors to -414 degrees Fahrenheit (~25 K). Specifically, NASA will freeze six of the 18 Webb telescope mirror segments at the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility, or XRCF, at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in a test to ensure the critical mirrors can withstand the extreme space environments. All 18 segments will eventually be tested at the site. The test chamber takes approximately five days to cool a mirror segment to cryogenic temperatures."
GUI

IDEs With VIM Text Editing Capability? 193

Posted by timothy from the one-keybinding-to-rule-them-all dept.
An anonymous reader writes "I am currently looking to move from text editing with vim to a full fledged IDE with gdb integration, integrated command line, etc. Extending VIM with these capabilities is a mortal sin, so I am looking for a linux based GUI IDE. I do not want to give up the efficient text editing capabilities of VIM though. How do I have my cake and eat it too?"
Image

Scientists Say a Dirty Child Is a Healthy Child 331

Posted by samzenpus from the snack-is-going-to-be-on-the-floor-today dept.
Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California have shown that the more germs a child is exposed to, the better their immune system in later life. Their study found that keeping a child's skin too clean impaired the skin's ability to heal itself. From the article: "'These germs are actually good for us,' said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research. Common bacterial species, known as staphylococci, which can cause inflammation when under the skin, are 'good bacteria' when on the surface, where they can reduce inflammation."

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