Comment Re:Say goodbye for XML (Score 1) 272
And doesn't any SGML or XML type language bear a strong semblance to Lisp S-expressions?
PhD Candidate Talks About the Physics of Space Battles 361
darthvader100 writes "Gizmodo has run an article with some predictions on what future space battles will be like. The author brings up several theories on propulsion (and orbits), weapons (explosives, kinetic and laser), and design. Sounds like the ideal shape for spaceships will be spherical, like the one in the Hitchhiker's Guide movie."
Comment Re:Raises an interesting issue (Score 2, Insightful) 316
It's pretty easy to see the parallels between copyright infringent (the sharing of proprietary apps against the wishes of the original IP holder) and violating the GNU (the sharing of source code against the original wishes of the IP holder).
Well, yes. Violating the GPL is copyright infringement. It's not just similar, it's legally identical.
You're right, the term "theft" shouldn't be used here.
This is why I can't take these discussions seriously. It's because it has nothing to do with freedom, because everyone's rights aren't supported, and everything to do with the GNU political movement.
Could you give a concise definition of what you mean by "rights"?
From a freedom standpoint, the GPL does clearly involve a tradeoff between guaranteeing user freedom and weakening developer freedom. But it seems reasonable, given that the current legal situation allows (and defaults) to the opposite, where user/consumer rights are very limited. It's an attempt to maximize the overall freedom within the current legal system.
Comment Re:the real threat will be government intervention (Score 1) 388
I have no comment on your overall point (not a Fox News fan myself), but you're just wrong on the facts. The suit was between New World Communications, a subsidiary of Fox Broadcasting Corp., a sister company of Fox News Corp (both owned by News Corp.) They both share the same trademark, but they're distinct.
It's like fanning anti-Justice Dept. sentiment by saying "the Justice Department sued..." when it was actually the EPA that did. It's just factually incorrect.
Comment Re:the real threat will be government intervention (Score 1) 388
After Fox News won their argument in Florida...
If you're referring to the case I think you are, that wasn't Fox News. It was a local Fox affiliate's new show, which is completely different. Owned by a private company, affiliated with the Fox Network, which is a sister company to Fox News (but not the same).
A little bit ironic, in a post about facts and integrity.
Comment Re:It's that computer called the brain. (Score 1) 257
The CM-7000? Out of curiosity, which other ones did you test?
Linux Kernel 2.6.32 Released 195
diegocg writes "Linus Torvalds has officially released the version 2.6.32 of the Linux kernel. New features include virtualization memory de-duplication, a rewrite of the writeback code faster and more scalable, many important Btrfs improvements and speedups, ATI R600/R700 3D and KMS support and other graphic improvements, a CFQ low latency mode, tracing improvements including a 'perf timechart' tool that tries to be a better bootchart, soft limits in the memory controller, support for the S+Core architecture, support for Intel Moorestown and its new firmware interface, run-time power management support, and many other improvements and new drivers. See the full changelog for more details."
EA Flip-Flops On Battlefield: Heroes Pricing, Fans Angry 221
An anonymous reader writes "Ben Kuchera from Ars Technica is reporting that EA/DICE has substantially changed the game model of Battlefield: Heroes, increasing the cost of weapons in Valor Points (the in-game currency that you earn by playing) to levels that even hardcore players cannot afford, and making them available in BattleFunds (the in-game currency that you buy with real money). Other consumables in the game, such as bandages to heal the players, suffered the same fate, turning the game into a subscription or pay-to-play model if players want to remain competitive. This goes against the creators' earlier stated objectives of not providing combat advantage to paying customers. Ben Cousins, from EA/DICE, argued, 'We also frankly wanted to make buying Battlefunds more appealing. We have wages to pay here in the Heroes team and in order to keep a team large enough to make new free content like maps and other game features we need to increase the amount of BF that people buy. Battlefield Heroes is a business at the end of the day and for a company like EA who recently laid off 16% of their workforce, we need to keep an eye on the accounts and make sure we are doing our bit for the company.' The official forums discussion thread is full of angry responses from upset users, who feel this change is a betrayal of the original stated objectives of the game."
Comment Re:Let's add some afterburners! (Score 1) 130
Yeah, that's definitely a risk. My hope is that might be lighter than two dedicated engines. Also, you might be able to run the ALICE fuel as a suspension and treat it as liquid fuel. Three pumps and one nozzle could be a big win on the lightness front. I admit the complexity risk is offputting, though.
Also, you might want to use the quote tags when quoting. (You might not, it's up to you.)
Comment Let's add some afterburners! (Score 2, Interesting) 130
It looks like the exhaust products should include a fair amount of hydrogen gas. If so, you could add a liquid oxygen tank, inject LOX upstream of the nozzle and burn the hydrogen that's freed up to produce even more thrust, and more importantly, a higher specific impulse.
You might even be able to use it to create bimodal rockets that use the ALICE fuel for high thrust early in a launch and switch to pure H2/O2 later for the higher efficiency.
Comment Re:"Presentation" mode? (Score 1) 447
Just tried it: it still has the Awesome Bar suggestions and all that personalization.
I'm talking about a temporary "clean mode" that gives you Firefox, minus your history and cookies and add-ons.
Comment "Presentation" mode? (Score 1) 447
Is there a browser that offers a "presentation mode", that gives you a clean environment for demoing things to other people?
At the moment I just use a different browser, like Firefox for everyday browsing, and IE for demoing, but what if you need to run the same browser for both instances?
I'm not talking about porn here either, I just don't need people being distracted by my forum links and asinine web searches while I'm giving a presentation.
Comment Re:RealClimate has a big reply on this (Score 1) 882
Really?
- "hide the [misleading] decline"
- "hide the [artifactual] decline"
- "hide the [erroneous] decline"
- "hide the decline [to increase comprehension]"
Do you want more?
Also, I should note that hiding a statistical artifact is not necessarily nefarious, e.g. if it's erroneous or if it's irrelevant, especially if the resulting chart is intended for other scientists who know full well that something is being removed or glossed over or excluded for whatever reason.
The conclusion over whether it's proper or not is to know the data and the "decline" that's being hidden: realclimate.org apparently does, and explained it.
Comment Re:Where does this leave GIMP? (Score 1) 900
I like F-Spot: the workflow is IMHO the best for casual photographers. It imports everything into its own folder and categorizes it by date based on EXIF data. Then you can use tags to organize them into logical sets (events, places, etc.).
I actually wish there was something equivalent on Windows. Picasa imports into dated folders based on the date you import them, not the date they were taken.
Comment Re:It's the chemicals!? Bollox to that! (Score 1) 614
STATS.org has a nice, details, scientific-sounding article debunking a lot of anti-BPA reports out there, and appears to come from a legitimate source (George Mason Univ.).
I'm not a chemist/biologist/doctor, so I have a hard time judging whether the article is bunk or not.
Care to weigh in?
