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Comment Re:So they know how to read. (Score 1) 142

by TobinLathrop (#37129284) Attached to: Super Scrabble Players Have Unusual Brains

Exactly,
There are expert level players from various Asian countries who have a basic grasp of english but they sure know what is and is not a valid string of letters to play.

I used to play in tournaments and even have been to the open National tourney but was never that good. My wife is good but she doesn't like tournaments anymore but she can make the letters just dance in her head in half a second for what will take me 15 seconds of shuffling the tiles around on the rack. At that level the definition is just extra stuff that isn't relevant to the game.

Comment Re:Good News, Bad News (Score 1) 507

by TobinLathrop (#35331182) Attached to: Consumers Buy Less Tech Stuff, Keep It Longer

The only thing driving my want for a new laptop is a better graphics card for a few games that overall I can actually wait till this one dies to purchase and play. But I have had it 3.5 years now and it chugs along just fine probably because it mostly stays in the same place but I do take it out on occasion so the semi portability of the 17" monster that it is comes in handy. (I really really like screen real estate) And even when it is time to replace it I am sure I will give it a once over and maybe throw a new drive in it put linux on it and let the kid have it to replace the hand me down desktop he is currently using.

My mp3 player is the same age and will probably last even longer as I have one with a user replaceable battery and barring out and out losing it or breaking it I can't see a reason to replace it with a new one just for the shiny factor as it does what I want an mp3 player to do. Heck my wife only replaced her gen1 ipod nano because she lost it though it really was due for a new battery and that probably would have been as much as the replacement she bought.

I don't know I can just think of other stuff to spend my $$$ on than gadgets I don't actually need.
Image

Advent Calendar For Geeks 65

Posted by samzenpus from the geek-christmas dept.
bLanark writes "Well, as children and adults all over the world begin their day with chocolate, with the traditional Advent calendar, I'd like to remind you that there's an alternative for geeks. The Perl Advent calendar will give you a new Perl tip every day right up to Christmas."
NASA

NASA Parodies Reach New Level of Awkwardness 28

Posted by samzenpus from the go-back-to-film-school dept.
MMBK writes "NASA TV recently produced six movie-trailer parodies about current projects for a 'themed exhibit at an international conference.' But for the most part, the attempt remains pretty corny, far, far away from the imaginative, inspiring work of space artists like Bruce McCall."
Image

Doctors Save Premature Baby Using Sandwich Bag 246

Posted by samzenpus from the keeping-baby-fresh dept.
Born 14 weeks early, Lexi Lacey owes her life to some MacGyver inspired doctors and a sandwich bag. Lexi was so small at birth that even the tiniest insulating jacket was too big, but she fit into a plastic sandwich bag nicely. ''The doctors told us they had never known a baby born as prematurely as Lexi survive. She was so tiny the only thing they had to keep her body temperature warm was a sandwich bag from the hospital canteen — it's incredible to think that saved her life," says her mom.

Comment Re:I'll miss them (Score 1) 390

by TobinLathrop (#33687712) Attached to: Blockbuster Files For Bankruptcy

I won't. Their selection sucked when they were pretty much my only choice at the time. They sucked even worse about 6 years ago the last time I had a chance to check them out.
Happily I have lived near enough to Scarecrow video for rentals and they have damn near everything. At least there has not been anything unavailable yet that was to be had on media. Scarecrow is the reason I have not gone to netflix.
Screw em. I won't miss them.
Image

Opossums Overrun Brooklyn, Fail To Eliminate Rats 343

Posted by samzenpus from the urban-opossum-blight dept.
__roo writes "In a bizarre case of life imitates the Simpsons, New York City officials introduced a population of opossums into Brooklyn parks and under the boardwalk at Coney Island, apparently convinced that the opossums would eat all of the rats in the borough and then conveniently die of starvation. Several years later, the opossums have not only failed to eliminate the rat epidemic from New York City, but they have thrived, turning into a sharp-toothed, foul-odored epidemic of their own."
Hardware Hacking

iFixit Moves Into Console Repair 75

Posted by Soulskill from the red-ring-of-rebirth dept.
sk8pmp writes with news that iFixit, a website known for Apple gadget teardowns and repair guides, is expanding into the game console market, launching a series of troubleshooting and repair guides to help gamers fix their own machines. They're also starting to sell replacement parts and the tools necessary to work on them. "Right now there are repair guides for 24 gaming consoles, including 206 repairs and upgrades. Some of these fixes deal with major issues, such as the infamous Red Ring of Death from the Xbox 360, but others are simpler. For instance, right now there is no easy way to clean out the fans inside your console. 'I think this is probably the number one cause of overheating these days now that manufacturers have mostly gotten their act together,' Wiens said. 'This is routine maintenance, and it's mind-boggling that the manufacturers don't provide people with an easy way to open the case up and blow it out.' You'll also learn how to replace broken LCD screens on your portables, replace the motherboard on your PlayStation 3, and do just about anything else you might want to do to these systems, from the simple to the harrowing."
Image

Prince Says Internet Is Over 450

Posted by samzenpus from the it-was-fun-while-it-lasted dept.
the_arrow writes "According to the artist currently known as Prince, 'The internet's completely over.' At least that what he says in an interview with the British newspaper Mirror. Quoting Prince: 'The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you.'"

Comment Re:memorizing alphabetized letter lists (Score 1) 377

by TobinLathrop (#31749944) Attached to: Scrabble To Allow Proper Nouns

Believe him.
I no longer play in tournaments and was never all that good. But that is exactly what all expert players do. Make various word lists and memorize them.

At that level it is a math game not a word game. There are Thai expert players that have a very basic grasp of English but know for sure the string of letters ANTSIER is a valid play. Definitions do not matter as they clutter the brain space needed to know the word itself.

Allowing proper names. I dunno. The word list is disgustingly long as it is and there could be trademark/copyright/something issues in using stuff like FACEBOOK as an allowable play outside of the kitchen table.
Medicine

High Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Bigger Weight Gain In Rats 542

Posted by timothy from the subsidies-cause-fatter-corn-farmers dept.
krou writes "In an experiment conducted by a Princeton University team, 'Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.' Long-term consumption also 'led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides.' Psychology professor Bart Hoebel commented that 'When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they're becoming obese — every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don't see this; they don't all gain extra weight.'"

Comment Re:You! (Score 1) 511

by TobinLathrop (#31560068) Attached to: What Is Holding Back the Paperless Office?

Of course I do have double screens at work, something every IT person should have - if only to minimize costs.

The number one factor in my not needing to print out a instruction sheet, reference document, trouble ticket, etc was getting the extra monitor. Document on one monitor, work area on the other.

I used to print out a lot of stuff that I had to refer to while setting things up or trouble shooting before then. Now I can count on one hand the number of documents I have to print out in a 6 month period and most of those are to help me track down the correct server when I am physically in the data center.
Space

Planck Mission Releases Images of Galactic Dust 40

Posted by Soulskill from the break-out-the-galactic-pledge dept.
davecl writes "The Planck satellite has released its first new science images, showing the large scale filamentary structure of cold dust in our own galaxy. This release coincides with the completion of its first survey of the entire sky a couple of weeks ago. There's lots more work to be done, and more observations to be made, before results are ready on the Big Bang, but these images demonstrate Planck's performance and capability. More information is available on the Planck mission blog (which I maintain)."
Government

Bill To Ban All Salt In Restaurant Cooking 794

Posted by timothy from the too-stupid-to-live-as-long-as-possible dept.
lord_rotorooter writes "Felix Ortiz, D-Brooklyn, introduced a bill that would ruin restaurant food and baked goods as we know them. The measure (if passed) would ban the use of all forms of salt in the preparation and cooking of food for all restaurants or bakeries. While the use of too much salt can contribute to health problems, the complete banning of salt would have negative impacts on food chemistry. Not only does salt enhance flavor, it controls bacteria, slows yeast activity and strengthens dough by tightening gluten. Salt also inhibits the growth of microbes that spoil cheese."

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