Submission + - Inmates program logistics app for prison (washingtonpost.com)
schweini writes: Inmates in an Oklahoma prison programmed an app that attempts to streamline the prison's food logistics.
Comment Google "Moonshot" video about thorium reactors (Score 3, Interesting) 327
There's a fascinating video on the "Solve For X" site that follows this Thorium advocate around. It's very convincing!
https://www.solveforx.com/moonshots/thorium-an-energy-solution-thorium-remix-2011
https://www.solveforx.com/moonshots/thorium-an-energy-solution-thorium-remix-2011
Submission + - How would WiFi look, if we could see it?
schweini writes: A couple of days ago, this story showed of a rather childish and art-sy way of visualizing WiFi, and was rightfully sneered at.
But I wondered how wifi would really look, if our eyes could see the relevant frequencies.
I would imagin that this should be possible to do, with a spectrum analyzer and an extremely directional antenna, that scans the viewport pixel by pixel, and assigns a color.
My guess is that most walls would be slightly opaque, whereas rough metal surfaces would be bright, and so on. Has anybody done this? Is this possible? Are there antennas that are THAT highly directional?
But I wondered how wifi would really look, if our eyes could see the relevant frequencies.
I would imagin that this should be possible to do, with a spectrum analyzer and an extremely directional antenna, that scans the viewport pixel by pixel, and assigns a color.
My guess is that most walls would be slightly opaque, whereas rough metal surfaces would be bright, and so on. Has anybody done this? Is this possible? Are there antennas that are THAT highly directional?
Comment Any experiences on Hybrid RAID-1? (Score 1) 172
What a coincidence!
I am getting ready to transition our main DB servers (couple of GB mysql data) to SSD, but I simply dont want to trust it that much yet. So my plan is to set up RAID-1, with an SSD and another conventional drive. There seems to be this "--write-mostly" option that tells linux to preferably read from the SSD.
Anybody know if this is worth it? If it works? What kind of random access performance gains can i look forward to, running mysql on SSD?
I found it surprisingly hard to find any good data on these subjects.
Submission + - Office document 'DRM'? (microsoft.com) 1
schweini writes: "Even though DRM is obviously 'evil', I have recently come across a good use for it: I work with a travel agency that manages a lot of semi-confidential office documents (internal price lists, etc.).
Everytime an employee decides to leave, the big question if (or how much) information he will steal from us.
Hence, the question popped up if there's an easy way to restrict the usage of office documents to our LAN. I figured that a feature like that must be so popular that it shouldn't really be a problem. After consulting with my good friend Google, the only thing I could find was Microsoft's "Information Rights Management" option, which surpisingly is very under-documented, IMHO.
To make things worse, we are using a Samba server, so all the fancy windows-based licensing options are not available for us.
My question to my fellow slashdotters is if anyone knows of a way to (as transparently as possible) implement some way of restriction/encryption that renders internal documents useless as soon as they leave the premises. For my case, it wouldn't even have to be bulletproof — even some embedded macro that asks our server for permission based on an IP address or something would be a lot better than no protection at all."
Everytime an employee decides to leave, the big question if (or how much) information he will steal from us.
Hence, the question popped up if there's an easy way to restrict the usage of office documents to our LAN. I figured that a feature like that must be so popular that it shouldn't really be a problem. After consulting with my good friend Google, the only thing I could find was Microsoft's "Information Rights Management" option, which surpisingly is very under-documented, IMHO.
To make things worse, we are using a Samba server, so all the fancy windows-based licensing options are not available for us.
My question to my fellow slashdotters is if anyone knows of a way to (as transparently as possible) implement some way of restriction/encryption that renders internal documents useless as soon as they leave the premises. For my case, it wouldn't even have to be bulletproof — even some embedded macro that asks our server for permission based on an IP address or something would be a lot better than no protection at all."
Comment Bill Gates' presentation on TerraPower (Score 2) 467
Here's Bill Gates' TED presentation on this project from almost 2 years ago:
http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates.html
Even if half of this design works out as advertised, i think this would be awesome! Pity that the 'western world' wasn't interested in investing in it and trying it out....
http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates.html
Even if half of this design works out as advertised, i think this would be awesome! Pity that the 'western world' wasn't interested in investing in it and trying it out....
Comment I miss seasons! (Score 1) 451
Living in Costa Rica, let me say that I really miss the 'classical' seasons. Here, we just have 6 months of dry time, followed by 6 months of rain in the afternoons. It's great for a couple of days, since the temperature is nice and cozy all year long, but it really does get boring after a while.
If I'd designed the climate here, I would've at least had the decency to switch between rain and dry every two weeks or so, to keep it interesting.
If I'd designed the climate here, I would've at least had the decency to switch between rain and dry every two weeks or so, to keep it interesting.
Comment Re:3 steps (Score 1) 899
I agree, most of all with your first step, because IMHO, the others more or less follow naturally from critical thinking.
The problem is that all the conspiracy-nuts insist that they are the sole owners of - what THEY call - 'critical thinking'.
Why is there no obligatory class called 'critical thinking' in schools? Should be really easy to implement, and could easily made fun, i think.
The problem is that all the conspiracy-nuts insist that they are the sole owners of - what THEY call - 'critical thinking'.
Why is there no obligatory class called 'critical thinking' in schools? Should be really easy to implement, and could easily made fun, i think.
Comment Re:I have no problem with this. (Score 3, Informative) 620
Actually in Germany we (used to?) have a similar law: it is legal to drive with relatively low BAC, and if you get stopped by a routine control operation, that's fine. But if you get stopped because your were driving in a way that might seem "adventurous" (stuff lke running a yellow light, speeding, weird manouvers) with the same low BAC level, you'd get fined.
Comment Re:How about: Write zeros to the disk? (Score 1) 289
Well, then they should've just nuked the site from orbit!
Comment A MUCH better list, courtesy of wikipedia (Score 4, Interesting) 397
I recently discovered a general list of unsolved problems, which I find fascinating. It's like a summary of the current limits of science and human knowledge and understanding.
TFA was ridiculous.
TFA was ridiculous.
Comment Re:that article actually changed my world (Score 1) 161
I just thought of an experiment:
Assuming your tinnitus is a near-constant frequency sine wave, what happens if you try to cancel the imaginary sound out using an external sound?
I have no idea whether it's even possible to try to sync soundwaves that exactly by hand/mind, but maybe you can hear/perceive some interference, at least?
I'm not saying that this could be a cure for tinnitus, but me, at least, would be fascinated if imaginary sounds can interfere and maybe even cancel out physical sounds...
Assuming your tinnitus is a near-constant frequency sine wave, what happens if you try to cancel the imaginary sound out using an external sound?
I have no idea whether it's even possible to try to sync soundwaves that exactly by hand/mind, but maybe you can hear/perceive some interference, at least?
I'm not saying that this could be a cure for tinnitus, but me, at least, would be fascinated if imaginary sounds can interfere and maybe even cancel out physical sounds...
Comment Whatever happened to Wengo? (Score 4, Interesting) 282
On a related note: there used to be this nice open source skype-alternative (using SIP and all that) called openwengo, but i cant find it anymore. the company also offered a flash based SIP client (wengovisio), and a flash-based teleconferencing thing (wengomeetings), but i cant find any of them anymore. quite a pity.
a little side-rant: the person that designed the SIP protocol in such an incredibly NAT-unfriendly manner should be drawn and quartered. I know there are work-arounds, but i blame this NAT-unfriendliness for the rise of skype, and now we're stuck with that nonstandard closed protocol crap. I think it was the glorious idea of incorporating the IP addresses inside the SIP packets, or something like that. sigh.
on a related note: whatever happened to Google's open-source VoIP thingy that incorporated with XMPP/Jabber? I think it was called 'Jingle', but I haven't heard a lot about it since then. And what protocol is Google using for their video-chat in gmail?
a little side-rant: the person that designed the SIP protocol in such an incredibly NAT-unfriendly manner should be drawn and quartered. I know there are work-arounds, but i blame this NAT-unfriendliness for the rise of skype, and now we're stuck with that nonstandard closed protocol crap. I think it was the glorious idea of incorporating the IP addresses inside the SIP packets, or something like that. sigh.
on a related note: whatever happened to Google's open-source VoIP thingy that incorporated with XMPP/Jabber? I think it was called 'Jingle', but I haven't heard a lot about it since then. And what protocol is Google using for their video-chat in gmail?
Comment Re:navigon (Score 1) 208
try Gosmore. It's extremely(!) basic, but kinda works, once you figure out the controls. I;m using it on a very shitty Navigon unit here in Costa Rica. Little bonus: you can save you GPS traces, and add POIs, and then afterwards incorporate them back into the OSM database.
There seem to be other programs, though
There seem to be other programs, though
Comment How does it sync? (Score 1) 622
I am assuming that it's a 'regular' modem answering the call on the other side - could somebidy explain to me how the two can handshake and sync, then? I always thought that the handshake/syncing part would at least require a bit of 'intelligence' from the modems involved?
