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Comment Re:DOE?????? (Score 3, Interesting) 276

by iced_tea (#38306298) Attached to: Researchers Expanding Diff, Grep Unix Tools
They have HUGE amounts of data kicking around from various simulations/experiments.

Check out the wikipedia article for supercomputers, and you'll see DOE mentioned.

Tools like this could help with analysis and finding certain data sets. IIRC, regex are already used in DNA sequencing. There is probably a similar application and use for tools like this with their data.
Earth

Dinosaur Feather Color Discovered 219

Posted by timothy from the horsefeathers-still-a-mystery dept.
anzha writes "Do you remember being a kid and told we'd never know what colors the dinosaurs were? For at least some, that's no longer true. Scientists working in the UK and China have closely examined the fossils of multiple theropods and actually found the colors and patterns that were present in the fossilized proto-feathers. So far, the answer is orange, black and white in banded and other patterns. The work also thoroughly thrashes the idea that fossils might not be feathers, but collagen fibers instead. If this holds up, Birds Are Dinosaurs. Period. And colorful!"
Communications

EA Forum Ban Will Now Mean EA Game Ban 549

Posted by timothy from the being-nice-is-actually-an-option dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A post on the EA Support Forums from APOC, online community manager for Electronic Arts, outlines a new policy for their new forums, saying users who earn a ban based on their behavior in the forums will be locked out of all of the EA games tied to that account: 'Well, its actually going to be a bit nastier for those who get banned. Your forum account will be directly tied to your Master EA Account, so if we ban you on the forums, you would be banned from the game as well since the login process is the same. And you'd actually be banned from your other EA games as well since it's all tied to your account. So if you have SPORE and Red Alert 3 and you get yourself banned on our forums or in-game, well, your SPORE account would be banned to. It's all one in the same, so I strongly recommend people play nice and act mature. All in all, we expect people to come on here and abide by our ToS. We hate banning people, it makes our lives a lot tougher, but it's what we have to do.'" Update: 10/31 12:36 GMT by T : Not so! Pandanapper writes "After a flood of complaints the EA community moderator APOC corrects his statement about how banning you from the forums bans you from your game access as well:"That said, the previous statement I made recently (that's being quoted on the blogs) was inaccurate and a mistake on my part. I had a misunderstanding with regards to our new upcoming forums and website and never meant to infer that if we ban or suspend you on the forums, you would be banned in-game as well. This is not correct, my mistake, my bad."
Microsoft

Secondlight, Microsoft's New Surface Prototype 183

Posted by samzenpus from the look-deep-into-the-table dept.
Barence writes "Microsoft has literally added another dimension to its touchscreen table technology Surface. The new table projects an image through the table itself, so that any translucent material (such as tracing paper or perspex) held above the Surface screen displays a different image to what you see on the table's display. This means you can have a satellite image of a town on the table, and have the street names projected on to a piece of paper that the user holds above the map. Or you could have a photo of a car, with the tracing paper displaying images of its innards."
Role Playing (Games)

New Elder Scrolls Game In 2010? 130

Posted by Soulskill from the sounds-like-a-plan dept.
Paul Oughton, publishing executive for Bethesda, spoke to GamesIndustry about the company's plans for the future, and his comments include some information about the next Elder Scrolls game. Quoting: "'At the moment we've got Fallout 3 for this year and potentially there's a new Elder Scrolls title in 2010,' said Oughton. 'At the moment we're not that interested in the Wii. We're going to stick to PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. We'll continue to pursue three or four titles a year and go for big titles,' he said of the company's publishing plans for the future."
Space

Submission + - NASA spends money on lavish parties every launch (cbsnews.com)

Submitted by doug141
doug141 writes: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/09/eveningnews/main3481918.shtml

NASA spends between $400,000 and $1.3 million on a party AT EVERY LAUNCH, according to CBS. Select personnel are treated to 5 days at a 4 star hotel. This year alone, they've spent $4 million on parties. NASA asked for, and was given, $1 billion more from the Senate this year. NASA proponents argue it makes more sense to give money to talented, productive people in exchange for scientific knowledge, than spend in on unproductive people in the form of straight welfare.
NASA

Submission + - NASA throws a hell of as party!

Submitted by
AlHunt
AlHunt writes: "From The Article:

Everyone knows exploring space is dangerous, and the costs are astronomical. Which is why, just last month, NASA was able to squeeze $1 billion extra from the Senate.

That very same day, NASA also posted an online notice few people saw — seeking four-star hotel bids for its December awards,


So NASA is urinating away 4 million of your tax dollars this year, throwing luxurious parties and patting themselves on the back. In December they'll dump $400,000 to $500,000 in Orlando, according to CBS News.

I love space exploration as much as anyone. If they wanted billions to go to Pluto, I'd probably never say a word. But high dollar shindigs? Give me a break. I work with an organization helping to feed the hungry. We get a $30 to $1 return on our transportation budget (and we buy our own gas, use up our own office supplies and take no pay so almost every penny donated goes to transportation) — in other words, Decembers Awards budget (a paltry $28K) would let me put $840,000 worth of food in the warehouse.

So, here's my challenge, Rocket Scientists — Take a pass on the coconut shrimp and send the savings our way. I'm sure we can feed a few thousand families for your sacrifice."
Bug

Submission + - Virus that came Pre-Installed on Maxtor HD 1

Submitted by
kirouac
kirouac writes: "Security mavens from Kaspersky say they have discovered a nasty virus that came pre-installed on Maxtor external hard drives sold in the Netherlands. The virus, dubbed Virus.Win32.AutoRun.ah, was found on the Maxtor 3200 Personal Storage, according to this press release from Kaspersky (translated from Dutch to English courtesy of FreeTranslation.com). The company said the virus roots around a computer in search of gaming passwords. The malicious code also rifles through a computer's contents and deletes mp3 files, according to a separate description of the virus, also from Kaspersky. A spokesman for Seagate, which recently acquired Maxtor, said the company was investigating Kaspersky's findings. "This scenario seems unlikely because the 3200 does not have any software preloaded on the drive so there is not an opportunity for a virus to be loaded," he said. Yes the drive is formatted but I have never heard of a virus that lives in the master boot record.""
Music

Submission + - The New Da Vinci Code? (discovery.com)

Submitted by apok04
apok04 writes: For those that can't get enough Da Vinci conspiracy stories, Discovery News reports that Giovanni Maria Pala, an Italian musician and computer technician has discovered new meaning in Da Vinci's "The Last Supper". In a book (Google Translation) due to be released today in Italy, Pala describes how he discovered a "hymn to God" composed of the hands and bread loaves in the famous painting. When he first played the notes, they sounded terrible. It wasn't until he realized that they should be played right to left (a common Da Vinci writing style) that they sounded "like a requiem". In addition to the music, Pala found what appears to be a sentence written in ancient Hebrew: "bo nezer usbi," which means "with Him consecration and glory."
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Former Governor Hosts UFO Talks (cnn.com)

Submitted by loteck
loteck writes: From CNN: "Former Arizona Governor Fife Symington will be moderating a November 12 event at the National Press Club where he will discuss the Phoenix Lights incident. He says he will be joined by 14 former high-ranking military and government officials from seven countries who will share evidence from what they call their own UFO experiences and investigations."

Symington claims to have "witnessed a massive delta-shaped, craft silently navigate over Squaw Peak, a mountain range in Phoenix, Arizona" that was, according to him, witnessed by "hundreds if not thousands" of people in Arizona. There is no shortage of speculation on the Phoenix Lights incident online.

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