Comment Re:Look up the record (Score 2) 307
Also, the high score is clearly stored in a single byte so you'll just roll over if you break 256.
Comment Re:Check the URL (Score 1) 293
"Cape Carnival?" Yeah, like he would have gotten away with the elaborate deception if it weren't for autocorrect.
Comment Re:No surprise there (Score 5, Funny) 263
Grandparent is getting OTP mixed up with ROT13. I do that all the time. It cost me my job once.
Comment Re:Streisand Effect (Score 1) 131
Thing is the only people who care (PRC) have their own satellites, probably more of them than anyone but the US and Russia. And you can bet they've photographed every inch of Taiwan. China's problem, then, is NOT to get images but to identify locations worthy of further attention. It could save them a lot of time to go on google maps and scan for areas with blurring or just suspiciously low resolution.
Note that this is a different situation from not wanting to let non-state actors i.e. terrorists get a look at what's on the roof of the White House. That may be misguided as well, but it's probable that Al-Qaeda has no other way to get that information. Also, it's no secret at this point that there's SOMETHING up there poised to shoot down any incoming plane, so we're not giving anything away by hiding it.
Comment Obligatory Charlton Heston (Score 3, Funny) 432
Just don't tell them where the gelatin came from.
Comment Re:Kinda free (correction) (Score 4, Informative) 30
Most of the services on Amazon's free tier expire after 12 months. That's still pretty generous though.
http://aws.amazon.com/free/
Comment The Record is for UAVs only (Score 4, Interesting) 37
This isn't even close to the manned aircraft record. In the 50s some nuts kept a Cessna 172 flying for more than 2 months. When the generator gave out they hoisted up a small wind generator, taped it to a struct, and ran the power in through the cigarette lighter. Now that's what I call a record!
NASA's Space Balloon Smashes Car In Australia
174
Humunculus writes "Of more worldly issues, NASA's latest multimillion-dollar stratosphere-bound balloon launch has gone horribly wrong and crashed into a car, turning it over and narrowly missing two elderly people who were observing the launch. The payload fared worse, reportedly being smashed into a 'thousand pieces.'"
Officials Sue Couple Who Removed Their Lawn 819
Hugh Pickens writes "The LA Times reports that Orange County officials are locked in a legal battle with a couple accused of violating city ordinances for replacing the grass on their lawn with wood chips and drought-tolerant plants, reducing their water usage from 299,221 gallons in 2007 to 58,348 gallons in 2009. The dispute began two years ago, when Quan and Angelina Ha tore out the grass in their front yard. In drought-plagued Southern California, the couple said, the lush grass had been soaking up tens of thousands of gallons of water — and hundreds of dollars — each year. 'We've got a newborn, so we want to start worrying about her future,' said Quan Ha, an information technology manager for Kelley Blue Book. But city officials told the Has they were violating several city laws that require that 40% of residential yards to be landscaped predominantly with live plants. Last summer, the couple tried to appease the city by building a fence around the yard and planting drought-tolerant greenery — lavender, rosemary, horsetail, and pittosporum, among others. But according to the city, their landscaping still did not comply with city standards. At the end of January, the Has received a letter saying they had been charged with a misdemeanor violation and must appear in court. The couple could face a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for their grass-free, eco-friendly landscaping scheme. 'It's just funny that we pay our taxes to the city and the city is now prosecuting us with our own money,' says Quan Ha."
Comment Re:If only... (Score 2, Funny) 427
Here how you do it:
Print out the image.
Put the image in a copy machine UPSIDE DOWN.
The image will come out of the copy machine right side up!
Patent pending.
Comment Prisoner code of conduct (Score 1) 124
I can't find it on google, but I recall hearing about some jail where they published a 'Prisoner Code of Conduct' that prohibited inmates from committing acts of terrorism. I though it was the most hilarious thing I'd ever heard, but I suppose if it were true someone would have posted something about it somewhere online.
NASA's Zero-Gravity Robotic-Arm Partnership With Canada 41
AndreV writes "We've entered into an extraterrestrial quid pro quo with our Northern neighbors: After celebrating 25 years of the Canadarm's first venture into space, NASA has reached out (so to speak) to the Canadian Space Agency and begun research and development on a new generation of robotic arms, which would ultimately be used for the US agency's Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle that will provide transportation for Moon missions and jaunts to the international space station. In exchange, Canada will trade the robotic-limb technology's use on Orion and other future US-manned spacecraft for flight time for Canadian astronauts. And seeing solid results shouldn't be far off — the engineering company designing the bionic branch, responsible for the previous Canadarms, has already begun investigating the effects of zero gravity on their components. (Another forward-looking project being bartered for astronaut time is a rover for the Moon and Mars.) Fair trade?"
Comment On the other hand (Score 1) 165
On the other hand, they have movies like Mr Vampire. That movie is crazy. I'm trying to think though, and of the Chinese movies involving ghosts and spirits and stuff I don't recall an skeletons. Chinese Ghost Story had some seriously anorexic claymation zombies if I remember right, I bet they were censored.
Comment Re:Not that cold (Score 4, Interesting) 290
The chicken comb thing happens in the midwest. It's pretty much frostbite, and a caution that the same will happen to your ears if you let it. Of course, where I'm talking about the low temperatures are below zero, Fahrenheit, and the wind chills can be pretty extreme. Never heard of trees exploding-I wonder if someone had an ice storm and got confused about what actually happened.
Fraudsters Abusing Canada's Do-Not-Call List 229
J ROC writes "Phone numbers on Canada's Do-Not-Call registry have apparently been sold to off-shore telemarketers, scam artists, and other ne'er-do-wells, according to reports in the Globe & Mail and CBC News. The CRTC, which runs the registry, sells lists of phone numbers online for a small fee; making it available to anybody who might be interested in buying it, including con artists. I guess this explains why, ever since I added my number to the registry, I've been getting phone calls from 000-000-0000 trying to interest me in some free vacation scam. Canada's Privacy Commissioner is currently investigating."
