Comment Re:there is very little meat in these gym mats (Score 4, Funny) 472
but they go so well will a tall glass of malk.
Comment Re:I KNEW Venus was up to no good! (Score 0) 315
He wrote stories about Venus, too. The one that has stuck in my mind was the child recently emigrated from earth who missed seeing the sun (because Venus was cloudy and rainy).
The story you are referring to is All Summer in a Day
Submission + - CBS Blocks Star Trek fan fiction despite previously supporting it (techdirt.com)
Fluffeh writes: "CBS, which owns the rights to the Star Trek franchise deserve credit for being generally quite supportive of fan fiction most notably the 100% fan-created web-series Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II. However, after supporting (and no doubt benefitting from) the web show, CBS won't let it use an unused script from the original series.
"Last fall an unused script for the cult 1960s television show turned up after being forgotten for years. Its author, the science-fiction writer Norman Spinrad, announced it would become an episode of a popular Web series, “Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II,” which features amateur actors in the classic roles of Capt. James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and other crew members of the starship Enterprise. But then another player stepped in: CBS, which said it owned the script and blocked a planned Web production of it."
Phase II isn't just some riff raff with a handy cam, the show has involved several Star Trek alumni (including Walter Koenig and creator Gene Roddenberry's son Eugene) both on and off camera, they found the contested script through Spinrad, the original writer and — as people have pointed out, this isn't even the first time Phase II used an abandoned Star Trek script: the 2007 episode "Blood and Fire" was originally pitched to The Next Generation in the '80s."
"Last fall an unused script for the cult 1960s television show turned up after being forgotten for years. Its author, the science-fiction writer Norman Spinrad, announced it would become an episode of a popular Web series, “Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II,” which features amateur actors in the classic roles of Capt. James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and other crew members of the starship Enterprise. But then another player stepped in: CBS, which said it owned the script and blocked a planned Web production of it."
Phase II isn't just some riff raff with a handy cam, the show has involved several Star Trek alumni (including Walter Koenig and creator Gene Roddenberry's son Eugene) both on and off camera, they found the contested script through Spinrad, the original writer and — as people have pointed out, this isn't even the first time Phase II used an abandoned Star Trek script: the 2007 episode "Blood and Fire" was originally pitched to The Next Generation in the '80s."
Submission + - Aviation security: Bruce Schneier V. Kip Hawley (TSA Boss) (economist.com)
Fluffeh writes: "A nice summary, brings word that Bruce Schneier has been debating with Kip Hawley, who is the boss of the TSA over at the Economist. Bruce has been providing facts, analysis and some amazing statistics into the debate and it makes for very educating reading — and it has the benefit of being a debate, so the TSA is compelled to respond.
"He wants us to trust that a 400-ml bottle of liquid is dangerous, but transferring it to four 100-ml bottles magically makes it safe. He wants us to trust that the butter knives given to first-class passengers are nevertheless too dangerous to be taken through a security checkpoint. He wants us to trust that there’s a reason to confiscate a cupcake (Las Vegas), a 3-inch plastic toy gun (London Gatwick), a purse with an embroidered gun on it (Norfolk, VA), a T-shirt with a picture of a gun on it (London Heathrow) and a plastic lightsaber that’s really a flashlight with a long cone on top (Dallas/Fort Worth).""
"He wants us to trust that a 400-ml bottle of liquid is dangerous, but transferring it to four 100-ml bottles magically makes it safe. He wants us to trust that the butter knives given to first-class passengers are nevertheless too dangerous to be taken through a security checkpoint. He wants us to trust that there’s a reason to confiscate a cupcake (Las Vegas), a 3-inch plastic toy gun (London Gatwick), a purse with an embroidered gun on it (Norfolk, VA), a T-shirt with a picture of a gun on it (London Heathrow) and a plastic lightsaber that’s really a flashlight with a long cone on top (Dallas/Fort Worth).""
Submission + - Google Maps Directions Adds Real Time Traffic Estimates (blogspot.com)
constpointertoconst writes: If you use Google Maps to calculate directions, you may now notice (if your route is covered by their traffic data) an "in current traffic" travel estimate for current route. Some may recall that Google Maps had a similar estimate in the past, but it was removed last year due to poor accuracy.
Comment Re:obligatory xkcd link (Score 1) 312
you know which one I mean, just imagine I put it here.
I couldn't find your obvious xkcd link and there have been car analogies already, so how about a marginally related simpsons video clip.
Comment Re:I saw this movie (Score 4, Informative) 162
The only movie I can think of is "Little Shop of Horrors", but I don't think that was quite the violent-plant image you had in mind...
It could be The Day of the Triffids. Nothing is scarier than malevolent celery.
Comment Re:Similar to McArthur anti-communist propaganda.. (Score 0) 720
My grand parents knew friends who were arrested as they were suspected communists during the witch hunt years McArthur was going after people who simply had an opinion about the government...
I think you mean McCarthy.
Submission + - Israeli to be treated as terrorist for stolen cred (haaretz.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Yesterday Israel declared it would respond to the recent credit card breach as if it was terrorism. Now that at least one Israeli have been identified as profiting from the stolen credit cards, it is now time to see how Israel's terrorism laws will come into play.
Submission + - How Stephen Hawking Has Defied the Odds for 50 Yea
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Now aged 70, Prof Stephen Hawking, winner of 12 honorary degrees, a CBE and in 2009 awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, is an extraordinary man but what is perhaps most extraordinary about Hawking is how he has defied and baffled medical experts who predicted he had just months to live in 1963 when he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND), a disease that only 5% survive for more than a decade after diagnosis. Hawking started having symptoms shortly before his 21st birthday. At first they were mild — a bit of clumsiness and few unexplained stumbles and falls but, predictably, by the very nature of the disease, his incurable condition worsened. The diagnosis came as a great shock, but also helped shape his future. "Although there was a cloud hanging over my future, I found, to my surprise, that I was enjoying life in the present more than before. I began to make progress with my research, and I got engaged to a girl called Jane Wilde, whom I had met just about the time my condition was diagnosed," says Hawking. "That engagement changed my life. It gave me something to live for." Another important thing in Hawking's life has been his work and at the age of 70, Hawking continues working at the University of Cambridge and recently published a new book — The Grand Design. "Being disabled, or physically challenged, makes no difference to how my scientific colleagues treat me apart from practical matters like waiting while I write what I want to say." Finally the grandfather-of-three continues to seek out new challenges and recently experienced first-hand what space travel feels like by taking a zero-gravity flight in a specially modified plane. "People are fascinated by the contrast between my very limited physical powers, and the vast nature of the universe I deal with," says Hawking. "I'm the archetype of a disabled genius, or should I say a physically challenged genius, to be politically correct. At least I'm obviously physically challenged. Whether I'm a genius is more open to doubt.""
Submission + - How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body 3
theodp writes: 'IBM's Well-Being Management System,' boasts Big Blue, 'ensures proactive planning, execution excellence, measurement and continuous improvement in all areas of employee health and well-being.' As one example of its paycheck-fattening wellness initiatives, IBM cites yoga activities, which the Smarter Planet people may want to reconsider after reading How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body in Sunday's NY Times. From the article: 'Among devotees, from gurus to acolytes forever carrying their rolled-up mats, yoga is described as a nearly miraculous agent of renewal and healing. They celebrate its abilities to calm, cure, energize and strengthen. And much of this appears to be true: yoga can lower your blood pressure, make chemicals that act as antidepressants, even improve your sex life. But the yoga community long remained silent about its potential to inflict blinding pain.'
Submission + - Russian Scientist Discovers Giant Methane Plumes i (independent.co.uk)
thomst writes: Russian scientist Igor Semiletov of the International Arctic Research Centre at the University of Alaska Fairbanks revealed in an interview with The Independent that his team discovered "powerful and impressive seeping structures (of Methane gas) more than 1,000 metres in diameter" during their survey of the Arctic Ocean earlier this year. "I was most impressed by the sheer scale and the high density of the plumes. Over a relatively small area we found more than 100, but over a wider area there should be thousands of them," Semiletov told The Independent's Steve Connor. This finding is important because methane is estimated to be 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, and it could indicate that global warming is about to accelerate dramatically.
Submission + - Blasting Tumors With Radioactive Radiation From Th (google.com)
Hemi Rodner writes: "Israeli medical researchers say they have developed a new technique for blasting cancer tumours from the inside out which reduces the risk of the disease returning after treatment.
Unlike conventional radiation therapy, which bombards the body with gamma rays from outside, the alpha particles "diffuse inside the tumour, spreading further and further before disintegrating," a Tel Aviv University statement quoted Keisari as saying.
"Not only are cancerous cells more reliably destroyed, but in the majority of cases the body develops immunity against the return of the tumour," the statement said."
Unlike conventional radiation therapy, which bombards the body with gamma rays from outside, the alpha particles "diffuse inside the tumour, spreading further and further before disintegrating," a Tel Aviv University statement quoted Keisari as saying.
"Not only are cancerous cells more reliably destroyed, but in the majority of cases the body develops immunity against the return of the tumour," the statement said."
Submission + - The scandal of the Alabama poor cut off from water (bbc.co.uk)
sociocapitalist writes: The BBC reports the ongoing situation in Jefferson County, Alabama where finance companies bribed politicians and a $300 million project ended up costing $3.1 billion bankrupting the county and leaving the poorest unable to pay their skyrocketing water/sewage bills.
Why the financiers were only fined and didn't go to jail, and why they should be subsequently allowed to profit on the situation is just another example of the imbalance in the US (and elsewhere).
Why the financiers were only fined and didn't go to jail, and why they should be subsequently allowed to profit on the situation is just another example of the imbalance in the US (and elsewhere).
Submission + - Blender 2.61 Released (ostatic.com)
Thinkcloud writes: New features include Cycles Render Engine, Motion Tracking, and Ocean Simulation among other things.
