Comment He should have used Redstone (Score 1) 238
I know it's hard to find and there are often zombies and spiders near by, but he should just have mined some redstone and used it instead.
Comment This game wasn't developed by NASA (Score 1) 205
It's important to point out that this game was NOT funded by NASA nor was it designed or built by them. It was done by the same team that did America's Army. All NASA has done is give them permission to put NASA's "stamp of approval" on the game. It's up to the developer to figure out how they are going to make it into a profitable game and pay for it.
Which of course is actually WORSE than the idea of NASA funding it. The developers are showing little understanding of how to create a game that has broader appeal let alone a feasible business model or revenue model that will fund it's continued development and growth.
And it also is commentary on NASA that they've managed to allow a dog of a game concept to have their name on it.
NASA would be far more successful to get the message out that "space is cool" and "science and math is important" if they'd encouraged development of "Farmville on Mars" or "Evony on Mars minus the combat"
Comment Re:Another fine example of government in action (Score 1) 205
This game was NOT funded by NASA nor was it designed or built by them. It was done by the same team that did America's Army.
All NASA has done is give them permission to put NASA's "stamp of approval" on the game. It's up to the developer to figure out how they are going to make it into a profitable game and pay for it.
Which of course is actually WORSE than the idea of NASA funding it. The developers are showing little understanding of how to create a game that has appeal let alone a feasible business model or revenue model that will fund it's continued development and growth.
Comment Re:Linksys Refurbished WRT610N-RM (Score 2, Informative) 344
This is the best idea, I have a Linksys WRT610Nv1 running the current DD-WRT firmware and it runs great. It has dual-simultaneous-N so you can have 802.11n networks on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands, and its routing throughput is excellent as well. You can also use its USB port as a NAS in DD-WRT and I think you can share some USB printers as well, which is cool.
Heavy US Demand Delays iPad's Worldwide Release 314
Dave Knott writes "The international launch of the iPad has been delayed until late May, a one month setback from the original launch window of late April. Citing Apple's press release: 'Although we have delivered more than 500,000 iPads during its first week, demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks as more people see and touch an iPad. We have also taken a large number of pre-orders for iPad 3G models for delivery by the end of April.' International pricing will be announced on May 10, at which time international pre-orders are expected to begin."
An Animal That Lives Without Oxygen 166
Julie188 writes "Scientists have found the first multicellular animals that apparently live entirely without oxygen. The creatures reside deep in one of the harshest environments on earth: the Mediterranean Ocean's L'Atalante basin, which contains salt brine so dense that it doesn't mix with the oxygen-containing waters above."
LRO Photographs Soviet Lunar Landers From the '70s 24
braindrainbahrain writes "Photographs of the Sea of Crises on the Moon taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show the Soviet lunar landers Luna 20, Luna 23 and Luna 24, which landed on the Moon in the 1970s. In addition to the landers, it is possible to see the tracks made by the Lunokhod lunar rover! The Soviet Lunokhod lunar rover predates the first successful Mars Rover by some 30 years. (Note: Very cool old-style artists' drawings of the Soviet craft at the Wikipedia links above.)"
Comment Discrepancy versus router? (Score 1) 199
The Comcast tool is showing 142GB, but my Linksys router running DD-WRT has logged less than 120,000 MB of traffic. This difference is pretty significant to me since I come close to my cap every month, given that I have DOCSIS3 service.
Is That Sushi Hazardous To Your Health? 554
pdclarry writes "A recent study by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History and Columbia University found that a piece of tuna sushi may not be tuna at all: 'A piece of tuna sushi has the potential to be an endangered species, a fraud or a health hazard,' wrote the authors. 'All three of these cases were uncovered in this study.' The study, published in PLoS ONE examined 68 samples of tuna sushi purchased from 31 restaurants in Manhattan (New York City) and Denver, Colorado. Some of these were from endangered species, others were not as labeled, and some were not tuna at all. Of these last, five samples labeled as 'white tuna' were from a toxic fish, Escolar, which is a gempylid species banned for sale in Italy and Japan due to health concerns. 'It can cause gastrointestinal symptoms ranging from mild and rapid passage of oily yellow or orange droplets, to severe diarrhea with nausea and vomiting. The milder symptoms have been referred to as keriorrhea [i.e. flow of wax in Greek].' Fraud in sushi is not new; Slashdot also reported study on mislabeling in 2008. This new study shows that some sushi can actually make you sick. The study was also covered by Wired."
New Research Forecasts Global 6C Increase By End of Century 746
jamie writes with this snippet from the UK's Independent:
"The world is now firmly on course for the worst-case scenario in terms of climate change, with average global temperatures rising by up to 6C by the end of the century, leading scientists said yesterday. ... [The study] found that there has been a 29 per cent increase in global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel between 2000 and 2008, the last year for which figures are available. On average, the researchers found, there was an annual increase in emissions of just over 3 per cent during the period, compared with an annual increase of 1 per cent between 1990 and 2000. Almost all of the increase this decade occurred after 2000 and resulted from the boom in the Chinese economy. The researchers predict a small decrease this year due to the recession, but further increases from 2010."
Facebook Photos Lead To Cancellation of Quebec Woman's Insurance 645
No. 24601 writes "A Quebec woman on long-term sick leave, due to a diagnosis of depression, lost her health benefits after her insurance provider found photos of her on Facebook smiling and looking cheerful at parties and out on the beach. Besides all the obvious questions, how did the insurance company access her locked Facebook profile?"
Ten Things Mobile Phones Will Make Obsolete 778
An anonymous reader writes "recombu.com has an article examining ten things mobile phones will make obsolete, including phone booths, wristwatches and handheld games consoles. It's interesting to see how many devices have been absorbed into mobile phone technology, and it raises the question: are we better off having everything in one device? The author poignantly concludes that while it's great to have so much power at our fingertips, it does mean that some of us will rely on mobile phones for even basic mental tasks, which is great until the battery runs out." See also Isaac Asimov's The Feeling of Power.
Comment Always wondered about ARSC's bill (Score 1) 194
During the winter, does the Arctic Regional Supercomputing Center spend money (energy) heating their offices while cooling off their computers at the same time?
Comment Re:Shuttle Derived Vehicles are much more interest (Score 1) 137
Good point. The Orion itself is a nice little pod for sending up a group of people. The catch is getting that little pod up there! And as another poster points out, there's the Dragon module.
Comment Shuttle Derived Vehicles are much more interesting (Score 4, Interesting) 137
The idea of a SDV (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle-Derived_Launch_Vehicle) seems a lot better idea to me than this massive new launcher. Builds on known technology, a lot less up-front cost, fewer unknowns, etc.
To me, these "other uses" are simply PR that's trying to salvage a program concept that's in deep trouble.
