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Earth

Gigantic Spiral of Light Observed Over Norway; Rocket To Blame? 418

Ch_Omega writes "A mysterious light display appearing over Norway last night (more pictures) has left thousands of residents in the north of the country baffled. Witnesses from Trøndelag to Finnmark compared the amazing display to anything from a Russian rocket to a meteor to a shock wave — although no one appears to have mentioned UFOs yet. The phenomenon began when what appeared to be a blue light seemed to soar up from behind a mountain. It stopped mid-air, then began to circulate. Within seconds a giant spiral had covered the entire sky. Then a green-blue beam of light shot out from its center — lasting for ten to twelve minutes before disappearing completely. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute was flooded with telephone calls after the light storm — which astronomers have said did not appear to have been connected to the aurora, or Northern Lights, so common in that area of the world." The Bad Astronomer makes the case that a malfunctioning rocket spewing fuel is a parsimonious explanation, backed up by witnesses to similar events and a cool simulation (on video). An anonymous reader suggests that this Proton-M Carrier Rocket might be responsible for the display.

Comment Anthropomorphizing data (Score 2, Interesting) 245

Data is not "consumed." That is a ridiculous way to put it. Tt has no shelf life, it produces no waste byproducts, it can be reused indefinitely. It is transmitted, stored, deleted, and maybe in there it delivers information to a brain. Even then, do we really delete data, or just representations of data?
The Internet

Hunting the Mythical "Bandwidth Hog" 497

eldavojohn writes "Benoit Felten, an analyst in Paris, has heard enough of the elusive creature known as the bandwidth hog. Like its cousin the Boogie Man, the 'bandwidth hog' is a tale that ISPs tell their frightened users to keep them in check or to cut off whoever they want to cut off from service. And Felten's calling them out because he's certain that bandwidth hogs don't exist. What's actually happening is the ISPs are selecting the top 5% of users, by volume of bits that move on their wire, and revoking their service, even if they aren't negatively impacting other users. Which means that they are targeting 'heavy users' simply for being 'heavy users.' Felten has thrown down the gauntlet asking for a standardized data set from any telco that he can do statistical analysis on that will allow him to find any evidence of a single outlier ruining the experience for everyone else. Unlikely any telco will take him up on that offer but his point still stands." Felten's challenge is paired with a more technical look at how networks operate, which claims that TCP/IP by its design eliminates the possibility of hogging bandwidth. But Wes Felter corrects that mis-impression in a post to a network neutrality mailing list.

Comment Re:Good Move (Score 1) 309

" Andre-are you at work today? Gimme a call - 301-555-5555. Gerry" You think Gerry's not already getting a call from someone looking to cash in, or who just thinks they're being funny?

How many of these numbers still ring up the person who carried the device in 2001? Probably not many. Vanishingly small number, in fact. This was before the whole cell phone number portability thing. I don't think I have a single phone number from 2001 that is still in use for me.

Comment ReAtom != 32bit CPU (Score 2, Informative) 1012

Wrong Answer Folks - Atom = 32bit CPU

Except when it doesn't. Current Atom offerings include the 32-bit, no-hyperthreading Z-series aimed for UMPCs, the 32-bit, hyperthreading N-series aimed for netbooks, and the 64-bit, hyperthreading, single-core 200-series aimed for "nettops", and the 64-bit, hyperthreading, dual-core 300-series aimed also aimed for "nettops".

Comment Re:Mac OS X for generic machines. (Score 1) 1012

The expense of adding the support personnel to handle the 9 million driver problems that pop up and the stupid little proprietary pieces of kit on the motherboards are not really worth the effort. Hardware and software from one source, I KNOW who to scream at when it doesn't work! If you like the OS so much buy the hardware, if you don't buy the hardware you don't get the OS you want. It's that simple. The myth that it's vastly overpriced just gos to show how lazy the person perpetuating that myth is.

Comment Because SVG fonts aren't already enough ... (Score -1, Troll) 206

Seriously mozilla, I'm rapidly losing faith in you.

We already have SVG fonts. Why exactly do we need ANOTHER one?

Fix the abomination your browser has turned into and focus on the reason you exist. Its got to the point where IE is going to be less bloated than Firefox.

You've got PLENTY of bugs to fix already, and you can't even agree with anyone on existing compatibility issues.

We don't want more features, we want Firefox to stop running like Navigator did in the late 90s.

Are you trying to become another Novell? Once a respectable company with a good product, but now a has been with nothing of real value to offer? Stop fragmenting the web, we don't need another freaking font format.

FOCUS.

again

FOCUS

Before you become obsolete, of course, with Chrome, it may well be too late.

Comment Re:Liquids on planes (Score 1) 560

Any security focused organization that doesn't listen to its people on the ground is failing at its mission. Not to mention that an inability to provide feedback is a good way to kill moral in an organization.

Well, yes, and I think this is the most apt description I've read so far of the TSA.

They are failing at their mission, which is supposed to be "protecting the Nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce." They are actually restricting the movement of people and commerce, and without increasing the protection of either.

And I can't think of a job with lower morale. People hate you, your job is boring repetition, and it serves no actual purpose. Plus no one higher up cares about the problems or inefficiencies you see day-to-day.

Microsoft

When Software Leaks (and What Really Goes Down) 179

Bryant writes "The Windows community is somewhat notorious for leaks from upcoming versions of Windows (obligatory link to this guy since that's most of what he does), and while the official PR word from Microsoft and many other companies with regards to leaks is a simple 'no comment,' no one has really gotten a candid, inside look at the various things that go down when word, screenshots, or builds of upcoming software leak. I managed to get some time with a senior Microsoft employee for the sake of discussing leaks, and the conclusions reached (leaks heavily affect communication, not so much the product schedule) as well as what these guys actually have to deal with whenever someone leaks a build, breaks an embargo, etc. may actually be a surprise given what most companies try to instill in the public mind."

Comment Re:Digital distribution has been needed for a whil (Score 1) 406

Erm, so MS would instead give out a stub program that people download in ten second and then launches, which then downloads, in the background, the ISO, and when it's downloaded burns it to a CD.

Of course, it should first check to make sure there's a CD-R in the system, and possibly even make people insert a blank CD to prove they have one. (So some fool doesn't try to use an AOL CD.)

Of course, for experts, they could have a torrent with just the ISO. (Or even use a torrent system in their downloader, and just let other people access it directly.)

It's not rocket science.

User Journal

Journal Journal: Acheivement notation? 1

I don't get the notation of the Slashdot Achievements.

Multiple instances of a particular achievement seem to be denoted with a subscripty-type number (for instance, my "Days Read In A Row" is at 2 6) I can't quite figure out what the final value is for this achievement in calculating the total Achievement Score.

Comment Re:When will they learn? (Score 1) 520

Waste of time, money and reputation.

The Wii is a casual - family-oriented - gaming platform. Wii Fit an instant hit among young women.

This is how Nintendo builds its reputation and sales and it needs the modder about as much as a car needs a fifth wheel.

The geek has no sense of scale.

His place in the overall scheme of things.

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