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Comment Re:Past His Prime (Score 1) 465

Reminds me of Arthur Eddington and his search for fine structure constant formula.

... The great Arthur Eddington gave a lecture about his alleged deviation of the fine structure constant from fundamental theory. Goudsmit and Kramers were both in the audience. Goudsmit understood little but recognized it as far-fetched nonsense. After the discussion, Goudsmit went to his friend and mentor Kramers and asked him, “Do all physicists go off on crazy tangents when they grow old? I am afraid”. Kramers answered, “No Sam, you don’t have to be scared. A genius like Eddington may perhaps go nuts but a fellow like you just gets dumber and dumber.
Robotics

Soccerbots Learn How To Fall Gracefully 105

wjousts writes "Up until now, most work with humanoid robotics has focused on keeping them upright and balanced, but in the real world, falling down is inevitable. So now researcher in Chile are looking at teaching their Soccerbots how to fall down gracefully to minimize damage and allow for a quick recovery. According to a New Scientist article, 'They found that one of the main ways to minimise damage is for the robot to fold its legs underneath it. Among other things, that means the robot is much less likely to hit its head on the ground. Another good strategy is to use a fall sequence consisting of several movements, so the falling body has several points of contact with the ground, spreading the energy of the impact over a large number of joints, rather than taking it all in one disastrous crunch.'"

Comment Obligatory quote (Score 5, Funny) 296

Melchett: Now, I've compiled a list of those with security clearance, have you got it Darling?

Darling: Yes sir.

Melchett: Read it please.

Darling: It's top security sir, I think that's all the Captain needs to know.

Melchett: Nonsense! Let's hear the list in full!

Darling: Very well sir. "List of personnel cleared for mission Gainsborough, as dictated by General C. H. Melchett: You and me, Darling, obviously. Field Marshal Haig, Field Marshal Haig's wife, all Field Marshal Haig's wife's friends, their families, their families' servants, their families' servants' tennis partners, and some chap I bumped into the mess the other day called Bernard."

Melchett: So, it's maximum security, is that clear?

Blackadder: Quite so sir, only myself and the rest of the English speaking world is to know.

Comment Re:probably overkill (Score 1) 262

In some code, which was a result of reverse engineering, I have also seen SHA-1 hashes (probably of authors' names + some salt, but I can only guess for obvious reasons) being used instead of names. Looks a bit weird, but on the other hand it gives you the possibility to prove that it is actually your code if you would need a reference.

Software

OpenOffice Vs. Google Apps 336

jammag writes "Both OpenOffice and Google Apps are free, so the choice is purely down to which is better. Bruce Byfield, after looking at both, concluded, 'comparing Google Apps to OpenOffice.org is like clubbing a staked-out bunny — Google Apps is so far behind that the whole exercise seems like an exercise in pointless cruelty.' Ouch, that hurts."
Robotics

A Robot To Destroy Breast Cancer Cells 81

Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers at the University of Maryland are developing a robot able to detect and destroy breast cancer cells in a single session. After a tumor is located on an MRI, the robot will perform a biopsy of the breast while the patient is inside the scanner. 'If the biopsy displays cancerous cells, the robot will then insert a probe into the breast until it reaches the tumor. The probe will then burn the cancer cells until they are destroyed.' This looks great, but the researchers have only built a prototype. After they refine this robot, they'll need to go through clinical trials and obtain FDA approval. So this is not a robot that will appear on the medical market before several years."
The Internet

Wikimedia Simplifies By Moving To Ubuntu 215

David Gerard writes "Wikimedia, the organization that runs Wikipedia and associated sites, has moved its server infrastructure entirely to Ubuntu 8.04 from a hodge-podge of Ubuntu, Red Hat, and various Fedora versions. 400 servers were involved and the project has been going on for 2 years. (There's also a small amount of OpenSolaris on the backend. All open source!)"

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