Geekenstein - Slashdot User

Sweet Molecule Could Lead Us To Alien Life 72

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday November 26, 2008 @10:42PM from the you-catch-more-aliens-with-honey dept.

Matt_dk writes "Scientists have detected an organic sugar molecule that is directly linked to the origin of life in a region of our galaxy where habitable planets could exist. The international team of researchers used the IRAM radio telescope in France to detect the molecule in a massive star forming region of space, some 26,000 light years from Earth."

How Should I Teach a Basic Programming Course? 452

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday October 11, 2008 @10:48AM from the week-one:-beards dept.

riverman writes "I have been 'provisioned' at the school where I work to teach a new Computer Science/Programming course. I'm supposed to be teaching everything from the very-very basics (i.e. where that myspace thing is in your computer monitor, and how it knows who your friends are) to the easy-advanced (i.e. PHP classes and Python/Google App Engine). I'm an experienced programmer, but I'm not sure where to start — I could easily assume that my students know something basic they don't. Are there any resources on the internet that could help me find a solid curriculum? What are your suggestions?" I'm sure many of us have gone through intro-level programming courses of some sort; what are some things your teacher or professor did that worked well, and what didn't work at all?

Microsoft Blesses LGPL, Joins Apache Foundation 425

Posted by timothy on Friday July 25, 2008 @06:09PM from the could-be-the-largest-free-software-vendor dept.

Penguinisto writes "According to a somewhat jaw-dropping story in The Register, it appears that Microsoft has performed a trifecta of geek-scaring feats: They have joined the Apache Software Foundation as a Platinum member(at $100K USD a year), submitted LGPL-licensed patches for ADOdb, and have pledged to expand their Open Specifications Promise by adding to the list more than 100 protocols for interoperability between its Windows Server and the Windows client. While I sincerely doubt they'll release Vista under a GPL license anytime soon, this is certainly an unexpected series of moves on their part, and could possibly lead to more OSS (as opposed to 'Shared Source') interactivity between what is arguably Linux' greatest adversary and the Open Source community." (We mentioned the announced support for the Apache Foundation earlier today, as well.)

Comment Re:Why is this news? (Score 0) 777

by Geekenstein on Monday May 07, 2007 @05:18AM (#19018199) Attached to: Australian Extradited For Breaking US Law At Home

And assuming you're American, would you want someone to be able to blatantly flaunt our laws and cause harm to Americans and American interests simply because they aren't on our soil? Extradition treaties exist for this very purpose.

(Please for the love of the FSM don't try to turn this into a "it's just Intellectual Property, not murder" argument).

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