xerx - Slashdot User

First Black Hole For Light Created On Earth 244

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday October 15, 2009 @08:42AM from the better-wear-a-hard-hat dept.

An anonymous reader writes "An electromagnetic 'black hole' that sucks in surrounding light has been built for the first time. The device, which works at microwave frequencies, may soon be extended to trap visible light, leading to an entirely new way of harvesting solar energy to generate electricity. A theoretical design for a table-top black hole to trap light was proposed in a paper published earlier this year by Evgenii Narimanov and Alexander Kildishev of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Their idea was to mimic the properties of a cosmological black hole, whose intense gravity bends the surrounding space-time, causing any nearby matter or radiation to follow the warped space-time and spiral inwards."

Want to Eat Chocolate Every Day For a Year? 158

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday July 23, 2009 @12:07PM from the dental-nightmare dept.

Scientists from the University of East Anglia are studying the potential health benefits of dark chocolate, and need 40 female volunteers who would like to eat chocolate every day for a year. The chocolate loving 40 must be post-menopausal and have type 2 diabetes so it can be determined if the flavonoid compounds in chocolate can reduce the risk of heart disease. Dr Peter Curtis, of the UEA's School of Medicine, said, "Our first volunteers are about to return for their final visit to see if the markers of heart health - such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels — have changed. A successful outcome could be the first step in developing new ways to improve the lives of people at increased risk of heart disease."

Comment Keep things simple and redundant (Score 1) 229

by xerx on Tuesday May 19, 2009 @01:26PM (#28014135) Attached to: What OS and Software For a Mobile Documentary Crew?

Talk with your crew you are going to support.

Gather up the apps and OSs they presently using.

Choose an OS that supports their apps.

You should be as self reliant as your budget can allow.

Make sure equipment can do all tasks, even if one is more optimized for it. If something goes down another machine on hand can be used. If possible make them exactly the same and carry an extra cloned drive. Carry an extra of common items most likely to beak, be stolen or left behind. Have a plan in place for a catastrophic failure or theft of equipment and have a process in place to be able to quickly ship a replacement while you make due. Never assume anything can be obtained locally, and even if it can, if you can carry on for while, often shipping is better and you get exactly what you need. Backup like crazy and have multiple crew carry a copy and never ever store it with the equipment.

Good luck and have fun!

What Do You Call People Who "Do HTML"? 586

Posted by timothy on Tuesday April 14, 2009 @10:53AM from the onion-belters dept.

gilgongo writes "It's more than 10 years since people started making a living writing web page markup, yet the job title (and role) has yet to settle down. Not only that, but there are different types of people who write markup: those that approach the craft as essentially an integration task, and those that see it as part of UI design overall. The situation is further complicated by the existence of other roles in the workplace such as graphic designer and information architect. This is making recruitment for this role a real headache. So, how do you describe people who 'do HTML' (and CSS and maybe a bit of JavaScript and graphics manipulation)? Some job titles I've seen include: Design Technologist, Web Developer, Front-end Developer, HTML/CSS Developer, Client-side Developer and UI Engineer. Do you have any favourite job titles for this role?"

Low-Budget Home Weather Stations? 34

Posted by Cliff on Tuesday February 05, 2002 @02:01AM from the who-needs-weathermen-anyways dept.

Toby Truman asks: "Working at the Fenwick Island Weather Station, I already have access to million-dollar meteorology equipment. However, some tinkerlusting college friends have been asking me about home weather stations, a subject I don't have a lot of experience with. Have any Slashdot users experimented with DIY weather stations, and if so, what do they recommend?"

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