Comment Re: We have the technology... (Score 1) 119
You beat me to it!
I WAS going to say that they must be accounting for inflation and creating five 6.9 million dollar men.
Comment Re: Getting Company Owners To Follow Their Own Rul (Score 1) 387
Screw 'em. I fought the same fight for 18 years. Finally I would simply back up the necessary data myself and lecture them without mercy each time (about every 5 weeks on average) they opened a script-containing email or virus loading website. Then I would take my own sweet time cleaning the machine(s) and restoring the required data... Not that I'd dog it, of course, I just wouldn't kill myself to make sure the a-hole boss could check weather.com to see if he'd need an umbrella on the golf course... so he and/or his dribbling idiot sons (He only bought the place so that they wouldn't have jobs requiring paper hats and extensive use of the phrase "Would you like fries with that?") would have plenty of time to complain about people not following the rules (it was ALWAYS someone else's fault, ya know).
Hard to believe I've been looking for a job for 3 years now, huh? [chuckle]
One Variety of Sea Slugs Cuts Out the Energy Middleman 232
dragonturtle69 writes with this story, short on details but interesting: "These sea slugs, Elysia chlorotica, have evolved the ability to gain energy via photosynthesis. Forget about genetic modifications for sports enhancements. I want to be able to never need to eat again — or do I?"
NASA To Cryogenically Freeze Satellite Mirrors 47
coondoggie writes "NASA said it will soon move some of the larger (46 lb) mirror segments of its future James Webb Space Telescope into a cryogenic test facility that will freeze the mirrors to -414 degrees Fahrenheit (~25 K). Specifically, NASA will freeze six of the 18 Webb telescope mirror segments at the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility, or XRCF, at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in a test to ensure the critical mirrors can withstand the extreme space environments. All 18 segments will eventually be tested at the site. The test chamber takes approximately five days to cool a mirror segment to cryogenic temperatures."
Whatever Happened To Second Life? 209
Barence writes "It's desolate, dirty, and sex is outcast to a separate island. In this article, PC Pro's Barry Collins returns to Second Life to find out what went wrong, and why it's raking in more cash than ever before. It's a follow-up to a feature written three years ago, in which Collins spent a week living inside Second Life to see what the huge fuss at the time was all about. The difference three years can make is eye-opening."
The Best Robots of 2009 51
kkleiner writes "Singularity Hub has just unveiled its second annual roundup of the best robots of the year. In 2009 robots continued their advance towards world domination with several impressive breakouts in areas such as walking, automation, and agility, while still lacking in adaptability and reasoning ability. It will be several years until robots can gain the artificial intelligence that will truly make them remarkable, but in the meantime they are still pretty awesome."
