2879155
submission
ackthpt writes:
Headlines have been popping up on Google News, again abruptly yanked from news servers, such as Times Online and International Herald Tribune. A Google News snippet for The Times Online states, "Terry Pratchett declared himself "flabbergasted" to receive a knighthood as he led a group of writers, actors and performers honoured today." The Discworld author and stalwart adversary of Alzheimers Disease has been a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for Services to Literature since 1998. He will be entering the new year as Knight Commander. Well done and Oook, Sir Terry.
349773
submission
ackthpt writes:
Discovery News has a nifty article on NASA's Ikhana drone. Ikhana designed for suborbital earth sciences missions, may be fitted out with a variety of sensors, the same as deployed on satellites to study atmospheric conditions up close. Wednesday, Ikhana took off from Edwards Air Force Base for a 10 hour mission to observe forest fires, scanning the terrain from 23-25,000 feet using a variety of sensors for visible and IR light. Able to remain aloft for up to 30 continuous hours without break and view during night, Ikhana serves up information in minutes, which required hours by manned aircraft observation. "The data is processed on the aircraft, up-linked to a satellite and then downloaded to a ground station. From there it's delivered to a computer server at NASA Ames. The imagery is then combined with Google Earth maps. Command center personnel can view the images on their computer screens and then delegate local firefighters accordingly." Now how cool is that?
288301
submission
ackthpt writes:
Avast, here be a poll suggestion for the 19th of September (Talk like a pirate day)
- Arrr!
- Shiver me timbers!
- Ahoy, maties!
- Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
- Avast thar ye scurvy dog!
- Prepare to walk the plank!
- Give us all yer booty!
- The map is tattooed on CowboyNeal?!?
287029
submission
ackthpt writes:
It seems ages and indeed has been since I obtained an illigitmate game by a Ralph Reed called BattleMech, which ran on the Amiga. Ironically FASA, the holder to the rights of things BattleTech, MechWarrior, etc. objected to the games existance and it mysteriously vanished. Oddly, BattleMech was my gateway to FASA's BattleTech, the fiction (around 40 novels in my library,) the tabletop game and the computer games. Several years back FASA sold off the games (as FASA Interactive) to Microsoft, the tabletop games went to Wizkids FASA Interactive became FASA Studio and went through Shadowrun and MechWarrior title for Windows, Vista and XBox. Now comes news that FASA Studio is shut down. Where the game properties land is anyone's guess, though I expect them to languish. Someone needs to tell these people to turn out the lights and close the door.
284491
submission
ackthpt writes:
An Associated Press/Google article tells of a process discovered for burning hydrogen released from seawater using radio frequencies. I've been around long enough to hear of a few perpetual motion machines and mysterious black boxes which harvest energy from Earth's magnetic fields and I'm wondering if this really is just another one of these stories. From the article: "John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn." "Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist, has held demonstrations at his State College lab to confirm his own observations." Sounds possible, but ultimately this means purification of seawater, the question of the machines efficiency (how much energy is put in to how much is taken out,) byproducts and, should the thing work out, will the world be overrun with vehicles and devices which consume more cheap energy?
19079
submission
ackthpt writes:
Following up on court actions regarding Take Two Interactive's game Bully, Miami-Dade County Judge Ronald Friedman has reviewed about 2 hours of footage from the game, using cheat codes to accelerate the process. After doing so he has decided the game can go ahead and be distributed in the State of Florida. From ars technica "Judge Friedman reportedly commented that the footage wasn't much different from what is seen on prime-time TV. While he didn't think he wanted his kids playing it, he found nothing in Bully to keep it from being sold to its intended audience." Jack Thompson, after early crowing of victory was to file a writ of mandamus with an appeals court, claiming he was denied due process.
