LazloTheDog - Slashdot User

The First E-President 169

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday October 28, 2008 @10:01PM from the probably-not-ted-stevens dept.

Szentigrade writes "Popular Science is running a letter by Daniel Engber of the online Slate Magazine in which he offers the US Presidential nominees advice on using the full potential of the Internet upon their election into office. Some examples discussed in the letter include: a project already being developed that speeds up the patent approval process, a UK site that aims to improve government-citizen interactions, and perhaps most importantly, a call for government information to be 'presented in a standardized and widely used data format, like XML, so that anyone — in or out of government — could use and reconfigure it however they pleased.' Will 2009 be the first year of the E-President?"

Small Asteroid On Collision Course With Earth 397

Posted by kdawson on Monday October 06, 2008 @08:11PM from the big-kaboom dept.

musatov writes "There's talk on The Minor Planet Mailing List about a small asteroid approaching Earth with a 99.8% probability of colliding. The entrance to the Earth's atmosphere will take place October 7 at 0246 UTC (2:35 after this story goes live) over northern Sudan, releasing the energy of about a kiloton of TNT. The asteroid is assumed to be 3-4 meters in size; it is expected to burn up completely in the atmosphere, causing no harm. As a powerful bolide, it may put on quite a show in the sky. For those advanced enough in astronomy to observe, check the MPEC 2008-T50 and MPEC 2008-T64 circulars. NASA's JPL Small Body Database has a 3D orbit view. The story has been already picked up by CNN and NASA."

Enterprise Software Sales Dried Up In September 173

Posted by kdawson on Monday October 06, 2008 @07:25PM from the surprise-surprise dept.

CurtMonash writes "As I predicted a week ago, it looks as if the third quarter was ugly for software vendors, due to the economic crisis. SAP said 'The market developments of the past several weeks have been dramatic and worrying to many businesses. These concerns triggered a very sudden and unexpected drop in business activity at the end of the quarter.' My old acquaintance John Treadway, who used to work in Sybase's financial services vertical unit, reports that things are even worse than that in the financial services industry, Wall Street and retail banks alike. So now what? Well, IT is a huge part of capital spending, and at enterprises that have to cut back capital spending, IT is going to get hurt. On the other hand, high-growth companies — Web businesses, analytic services providers, etc. — may try to power through the downturn. And the more directly an IT project affects near-term profits, the more likely it is to survive."

Submission + - Man buys Harrier jet on eBay for $20,000

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 04, 2007 @12:15AM

An anonymous reader writes: A UK man landed a $70 million aircraft for under $20,000, thanks to eBay. The Sea Harrier jump jet was posted on the UK version of eBay, and winner Neil Banwell ended up the top bidder with only £10,000 (roughly $19,975).

The retired craft was built in the 1980s, and was used in the Falklands War. The two 30mm cannons are still equipped on the 45-foot-long jet.

Neil, a 39-year-old Somerset resident, paid for it to be delivered to a nearby hangar. "It was my daughter Jess's 14th birthday and she put the bid on for me. We then went out to a barbecue and the next morning we found out we owned a Sea Harrier," Neil was quoted as saying in an Ananova story.

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/31811/113/

Submission + - Mike Gravel: "I would legalize marijuana."

Submitted by had3l on Friday May 04, 2007 @12:03AM

had3l writes: In an interview on C-SPAN, democratic candidate Mike Gravel stated that he would change the drug policy and legalize marijuana: "Marijuana is a simple one, we legalize it, and you should be able to buy it at a liquor store, just like you buy alcohol". Other candidates have stood up against the present "War on Drugs", but he is the first one to mention legalization.

Submission + - Hans Risers Wife's Lover

Submitted by WillRobinson on Thursday May 03, 2007 @11:36PM

WillRobinson writes: A former lover of the missing wife of Linux programmer and accused spouse killer Hans Reiser has confessed to killing eight people unrelated to the case, prosecutors informed the defense last week. More about this at Wired.com The trial starts on Monday.

Submission + - The Next Big Programming Language

Submitted by

narramissic

on Wednesday February 14, 2007 @10:29AM

narramissic writes: "In a recent ITworld article, Sean McGrath muses on the future of software development, speculating that the next programming language may not be 'so much a language as a language for creating languages.' From the article:

... Outbreaks of this sort of thinking can be seen in the programming community, typically under the moniker of Domain Special Languages or DSLs. Programming languages are again starting to sprout DSL capabilities. Ruby and Fortress — of the two languages already mentioned — are examples.

I think the time is right for this sort of thinking to become mainstream. The industry is at the point where the irrational exuberance surrounding using XML as a DSL for programming languages has passed (thank goodness!). Something needs to take its place which is significantly — not just incrementally better. I think a DSL-enabling programming language will fit the bill.

"

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