Comment Re:Dubious extrapolation (Score 1) 216
Indeed. See Haldane's classic essay On Being the Right Size .
Submission + - NASA captures liquid water flowing on Mars
bananaendian writes: "Wikinews reports that
See the images for yourself: NASA Global Surveyor""NASA scientists have announced that the Mars Global Surveyor has captured images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera, of what is believed to be liquid water "flowing" into "gullies" from below the surface of the planet Mars and scientists also say that the water appeared within the past seven years. The gullies are located inside the Terra Sirenum crater and the Centauri Montes regions of the Red Planet."
Feed Firefly Reborn as Online Universe (wired.com)
Submission + - James Kim found dead
computerdan000 writes: "James Kim, missing for almost 11 days, was found dead yesterday. An article from CNN says that he "Died from exposure and hypothermia." C|NET has put together a tribute video for Kim, along with an article dedicated to him.
"The body of the 35-year-old Kim was discovered Wednesday in a rugged wilderness area in southern Oregon. He had set out across snow and ice with only tennis shoes to protect his feet. He had eaten little in the seven days since his car got stuck.
IEEE Spectrum On The PS3 Learning Curve 88
An anonymous reader writes "The Insomniacs is the cover article in the December issue of IEEE Spectrum, discussing developers ramping up to the PS3 hardware. The article features Insomniac Games, who developed the PS3 launch title Resistance: Fall of Man. Despite mixed reports in the press, the Insomniac folks are delighted to be working with Sony's technology, and describe the process of helping to make or break a console launch." From the article: "Despite the delays, there's something inside the PS3 that burnished Sony's reputation as a hardware company. The heart of the machine is the powerful new Cell Broadband Engine microprocessor. Developed over the last five years by Sony, IBM, and Toshiba on a reported budget of $400 million, the Cell is not just another chip: it is a giant leap beyond the current generation of computer processors into a nextgen muscle machine optimized for multimedia tasks."
DHS Passenger Scoring Almost Certainly Illegal 181
Vicissidude writes "At the National Targeting Center, the Automated Targeting System program harvests up to 50 fields of passenger data from international flights, including names, e-mail addresses and phone numbers, and uses watchlists, criminal databases and other government systems to assign risk scores to every passenger. When passengers deplane, Customs and Border Protection personnel then target the high scorers for extra screening. Data and the scores can be kept for 40 years, shared widely, and be used in hiring decisions. Travelers may neither see nor contest their scores. The ATS program appears to fly in the face of legal requirements Congress has placed in the Homeland Security appropriations bills for the last three years." From the article: "Marc Rotenberg, the director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said he was unaware of the language but that it clearly applies to the Automated Targeting System, not just Secure Flight, the delayed successor to CAPPS II. 'Bingo, that's it -- the program is unlawful,' Rotenberg said. 'I think 514(e) stands apart logically (from the other provisions) and 514 says the restrictions apply to any 'other follow-on or successor passenger prescreening program'. It would be very hard to argue that ATS as applied to travelers is not of the kind contemplated (by the lawmakers).'"
Electronic Arts To Aquire Mythic Entertainment 82
Pika writes "According to the Business Wire, Electronic Arts is to acquire Mythic Entertainment, makers of the popular MMORPGs Dark Age of Camelot and the forthcoming Warhammer Online.
With EA being well known for killing MMORPGs, even those with loyal and sizable followings, how does this bode for Mythic's titles?"
