Comment Backfired? (Score 4, Informative) 11
I'd hardly consider the "stunt" backfired simply because a rarely fatal, readily treatable injury.
Comment Re:I don't understand? (Score 1) 165
I wouldn't say I'm dismissive of the artists, I'm dismissive of an overseas business model that is trying to be forced upon us, a business model that I feel is incongruent with NZ culture.
Comment I don't understand? (Score 1) 165
Why are we introducing law that enforces control of a product produced by a predominantly overseas industry? Shouldn't the wishes and rights of Kiwis come before the rights of an overseas entity that wants us to keep sending our cash over to them, even though their business model is slowly but surely becoming defunct?
Submission + - Largest Solar Water Heater rolled out at mine (engineeringnews.co.za)
nicc777 writes: "How do you heat 42000 liters of water using solar power? It appears this South African Platinum Mine has figured it out: "The use of solar energy to heat the water required was estimated to reduce the shaft's energy requirement by about 421,54 MWh a year.""
Belgium Tries to Fine Yahoo for Protecting US User Privacy 267
Techdirt is reporting that Belgium is trying to extract fines from Yahoo for not producing user data that was recently demanded of the US company. Instead of following normal diplomatic channels Belgian officials apparently made the data demands directly to Yahoo's US headquarters and then took the company to criminal court, where a judge issued the fine. "The implications of this ruling are profound and far-reaching. Following the court's logic would subject user data associated with any service generally available online to the jurisdiction of all countries. It would also subject all companies that offer services generally available on the global Internet to the laws of all jurisdictions, potentially exposing individual employees to a variety of criminal sanctions."
Submission + - MIT develops camera-like fabric (cnet.com)
suraj.sun writes: Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a fabric made of a mesh of light-sensitive fibers that collectively act like a rudimentary camera. The fibers, which each can detect two frequencies of light, produced signals that when amplified and processed by a computer reproduced an image of a smiley face near the mesh.
"This is the first time that anybody has demonstrated that a single plane of fibers, or 'fabric,' can collect images just like a camera but without a lens," said Yoel Fink, an associate professor of materials science, who along with colleagues described the approach in a the journal Nano Letters ( http://pubs.acs.org/journal/nalefd ).
MIT suggested that the technology, if developed further, could give a soldier a uniform that would help him see threats in all directions. Optical fiber webs, by distributing the chore across a large area, would be less susceptible to damage in one area.
CNET News : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10281376-39.html
"This is the first time that anybody has demonstrated that a single plane of fibers, or 'fabric,' can collect images just like a camera but without a lens," said Yoel Fink, an associate professor of materials science, who along with colleagues described the approach in a the journal Nano Letters ( http://pubs.acs.org/journal/nalefd ).
MIT suggested that the technology, if developed further, could give a soldier a uniform that would help him see threats in all directions. Optical fiber webs, by distributing the chore across a large area, would be less susceptible to damage in one area.
CNET News : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10281376-39.html
Submission + - Human sperm produced in the laboratory (bbc.co.uk) 1
duh P3rf3ss3r writes: The BBC is carrying a report from a team of researchers at Newcastle University who claim to have developed the first "artificial" human sperm from stem cells. The research, reported in the journal Stem Cells and Development involved selecting meristematic germ cells from a human embryonic stem cell culture and inducing meiosis, thus producing a haploid gamete. The authors claim that the resulting sperm are fully formed, mature, human sperm cells but the announcement has been greeted with mixed reaction from colleagues who claim the procedure is ethically questionable and that the gametes produced are of inferior levels of maturation.
Submission + - Experimental Video Game Evolves Its Own Content (ucf.edu)
Ken Stanley writes: "Just as interest in user-generated content in video games is heating up, a team of researchers at the University of Central Florida has released an experimental multiplayer game in which content items compete with each other in an evolutionary arms race to satisfy the players. As a result, particle system-based weapons, which are the evolving class of content, continually invent their own new behaviors based on what users liked in the past. Does the resulting experience in this game, called Galactic Arms Race, suggest that evolutionary algorithms may be the key to automated content generation in future multiplayer gaming and MMOs?"
Submission + - A new way to navigate 3D space in Google Earth (planetinaction.com)
dinther writes: "A novel new way of navigating 3D space has been introduced by PlanetInAction.com. In an online program called "Places" users are invited to use the new GExplorer navigation tool to create amazing cinematic camera sequences in Google Earth. The resulting tour files can be shared with friends like a moving 3D postcard and can be played back via the PlanetInAction places page or directly in the desktop version of Google Earth.
The GExplorer interface makes use of both cursor keys and mouse. Use of the interface is very straight forward but keen users can make very complex camera movements through various key combinations. Essentially the GExplorer interface in "Places" allows you to move around as if you have one of those 3D Navigator input devices. You wonder why Google Earth doesn't offer this out of the box.
The website can be found here http://www.planetinaction.com/ and a video of "Places" in action can be found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N05AN0KM2YU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foTn6sNQozs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmzHqWkL0bY"
The GExplorer interface makes use of both cursor keys and mouse. Use of the interface is very straight forward but keen users can make very complex camera movements through various key combinations. Essentially the GExplorer interface in "Places" allows you to move around as if you have one of those 3D Navigator input devices. You wonder why Google Earth doesn't offer this out of the box.
The website can be found here http://www.planetinaction.com/ and a video of "Places" in action can be found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N05AN0KM2YU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foTn6sNQozs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmzHqWkL0bY"
Submission + - Emergent AI in an indie RTS game. (blogspot.com)
x4000 writes: "My recent RTS game uses a new style of AI that hybridizes rules-based AI with emergent AI logic. As a disclaimer, I'm really not an AI programmer at all — my background is in databases, financial modeling, etc. But it just so happens that database experience, which often involved distilling data points from multiple sources and then combining them into suggested decisions for executives, also makes a great foundation for certain styles of AI. The approach I came up with leans heavily on my database background, and what concepts I am familiar with from reading a bit about AI theory (emergent behavior, fuzzy logic, etc). The results are startlingly good.
Total development time on the AI was less than 3 months, and its use of tactics is some of the best in the RTS genre. I'm very open to talking about anything and everything to do with the design I used, as I think it's a viable new approach to AI to explore in games, and I'd like to see other developers potentially carry it even further. Here's an overview of how the AI in AI War: Fleet Command works."
Total development time on the AI was less than 3 months, and its use of tactics is some of the best in the RTS genre. I'm very open to talking about anything and everything to do with the design I used, as I think it's a viable new approach to AI to explore in games, and I'd like to see other developers potentially carry it even further. Here's an overview of how the AI in AI War: Fleet Command works."
NSA Overstepped the Law On Wiretaps 164
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that legal and operational problems surrounding the NSA's surveillance activities have come under scrutiny from the Obama administration, Congressional intelligence committees, and a secret national security court, and that the NSA had been engaged in 'overcollection' of domestic communications of Americans. The practice has been described as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional. The Justice Department has acknowledged that there had been problems with the NSA surveillance operation, but said they had been resolved. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the intelligence community, did not address specific aspects of the surveillance problems, but said in a statement that 'when inadvertent mistakes are made, we take it very seriously and work immediately to correct them.' The intelligence officials said the problems had grown out of changes enacted by Congress last July to the law that regulates the government's wiretapping powers, as well as the challenges posed by enacting a new framework for collecting intelligence on terrorism and spying suspects. Joe Klein at Time Magazine says the bad news is that 'the NSA apparently has been overstepping the law,' but the good news is that 'one of the safeguards in the [FISA Reform] law is a review procedure that seems to have the ability to catch the NSA when it's overstepping — and that the illegal activities have been exposed, and quickly.'"
Comment Re:Um, what? (Score 1) 492
Christian music may be a bit "meh", but music by Christians on the other hand...
There are many bands that explore a more genuine Christian experience rather than a radio friendly Christian experience.
Such bands include Dead Poetic, Project 86, Underoath, As I Lay Dying, Blindside, Emery, Anberlin, Embodyment, The Juliana Theory, P.O.D, etc., etc.
Submission + - Flying Dog Brewery releases Open Source Beer
Brianne Covel writes: "Denver, CO — May 29, 2007 — Denver's Flying Dog Brewery today announced plans to release what is believed to be the first "open source" beer to hit the market in the U.S. "Open source" is a term most commonly used in the software industry and refers to any program whose source code is made available for use or modification as users or other developers see fit. In this case, Flying Dog's Open Source Beer Project will allow beer drinkers and homebrewers to create or recommend modifications to the recipe.
The Open Source Beer Project will start as a Dopplebock but the style may evolve as participants offer ideas and tweak the recipe. "We are encouraging input on every part of the recipe, down to how what variety of hops we should use, how much we should use and when we should add them," said Flying Dog's Head Brewer, Matt Brophy.
Flying Dog's Director of Marketing, Neal Stewart says that this is a unique way for consumers to participate in the creation of a new beer. "The Open Source Beer is a truly collaborative project and gives our loyal fans the opportunity to buy a beer that they actually played a major role in creating."
The Open Source Beer will be Flying Dog's latest "Wild Dog" release and will hit stores in October. Wild Dogs are extremely limited edition beers that come exclusively in hand filled, corked and labeled 750ml bottles. Only 5000 bottles of the Open Source Wild Dogs will be available to the public. Flying Dog's current Wild Dog is a whiskey barrel-aged version of their popular Gonzo Imperial Porter.
For more information on the Open Source Beer Project, please visit www.opensourcebeerproject.com .
About Flying Dog
Flying Dog is Denver's largest brewery and the second largest craft brewery in the state of Colorado. Their award-winning "litter of ales" are available in 45 states. The Brewery is located at 2401 Blake Street, just 2 blocks north of the baseball stadium. Flying Dog's core values of "purposeful, provocative and irreverent" flow through the veins of the brewery's founding owners, George Stranahan and Richard McIntyre. George and Richard were friends with the "Gonzo Journalist," Hunter S. Thompson who coined the brand's tagline "Good People Drink Good Beer" and with the "Gonzo Artist," Ralph Steadman, who illustrates the brand's packaging.
For more information, log on to www.flyingdogales.com.
###
Contact and Photos: Neal Stewart, Director of Marketing
Flying Dog Brewery
720.272.8325"
