Submission + - Sir Patrick Stewart (cnn.com)
david.emery writes: SIR Patrick Stewart... came out on the Queen's New Years Honors listing...
The Science and Physics of Back To the Future 436
overthinkingit writes "A scientist has tried to apply serious math and physics, including the Law of Cosines, to analyze how the DeLorean in Back to the Future travels through both Time AND Space: 'in order to pull off the kind of time travel we see in the Back To The Future trilogy — the kind where the traveler is transposed in time, but remains stationary in the same relative position to where he/she left — the DeLorean would have to be an outstanding space ship, in addition to its already laudable work as a time-ship. According to Doc Brown's stopwatch, Einstein the dog travels precisely one minute into the future on this first jump, arriving, relative to their frame of reference, at the same location he left. But how far has this reference frame itself traveled during that one minute?'"
Comment Re:80 hours (Score 1) 1055
What will us average Americans do with the money we save by bursting the "health-care bubble?" Well, as typical modern human beings, we will probably spend it on health care. Pills to make us happy, surgeries to counter our gluttony, procedures to make us look youthful, and inefficient, end-of-life, I'm-not-ready-to-die emergency health care. We'll either spend this money directly or demand government services to supply it (meaning higher debt or taxes). In other words, Americans spend enormously on health care because we want to, and if we had even more money to spend, we'd spend that on health care too. Nobody wants to be sick, and nobody wants to die.
Comment Re:sue Amtrak and JetBlue (Score 2, Insightful) 675
It may not be easy, or cheap, but it's your duty as a free citizen to stand up for your rights. Freedom is not a natural human state. It must be maintained by the people every day, in every generation, whenever and however destiny calls them to do so. A people who wait to defend freedom, or who leave the task to others, loses it.
Comment Re:Open your mouth about security in an airport (Score 2, Insightful) 1002
Because it makes perfect sense that middle-eastern terrorists would bring their wives and children aboard a plane to Orlando, and then discuss their nefarious terroristic plans with each other, for all to overhear, in English.
Should We Clone a Neanderthal? 990
SpaceAdmiral writes "Forget cloning a woolly mammoth — should scientists clone a Neanderthal? Such a feat should be possible soon, although it raises a number of bioethics concerns, including where to draw the line between humans and other animals."
Rock Band Creators Hit With Class Action Lawsuit 79
GameCyteSean writes "GameCyte is reporting that Harmonix, EA, MTV and Viacom have been targeted by a class action lawsuit. Customers allege that the companies knowingly shipped defective bass drum pedals for the music game Rock Band, then exploited customers' necessity for replacements by having the game's hardware warranty extension expire just as the sequel, Rock Band 2 — a game with improved pedals — was scheduled to release."
I wonder if we'll see a similar suit against Neversoft and Activision over the equipment problems related to the Guitar Hero World Tour launch.
Linux Turns 17 Today 285
Meshach writes "Over at the Linux Journal, Doc Searles is noting that today marks 17 years since Linus posted to Usenet, starting Linux (post). As a Linux user at work and at home I say, thanks Linus!" The anniversary is also featured on the top page of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Birth of a New African Ocean 261
Khemisty writes "Formation of an ocean is a rare event, one no scientist has ever witnessed. Yet this geophysical nativity is unfolding today in one of the hottest and most inhospitable corners of the globe. Africa is splitting apart at the seams. From the southern tip of the Red Sea southward through Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique, the continent is coming unstitched along a zone called the East African Rift." This stretching of the earth's crust has been going on for 20 million years, and within another 10 million the Red Sea will have broken through to create a new sea.
Michael Robertson Sued Over Missing Linspire Cash 65
An anonymous reader writes "Blogger and
ex-Linspire CEO Kevin Carmony reports that Michael Robertson has been sued
by a Linspire shareholder to get to the bottom of what happened to Linspire's
assets. One hundred shareholders have been left uninformed as to what
happened to the company and its assets after Linspire was sold to Xandros a few
months back."
Looming Royalty Decision Threatens iTunes Store, Apple Hints 279
eldavojohn writes "You may recall us discussing some legislation about online music. More decisions are being made that may affect how much money Apple must impart to labels and musicians. Right now, it's 9 cents a track — which adds up, when you sell 2.4 billion tracks each year. The Copyright Royalty Board is asking for 15 cents a track (66% increase) and Apple isn't going to agree."
Reader scorp1us points out a similar article at CNN; both stories mention that Apple has intimated such a change might cause a complete shutdown of the iTunes Music Store.
Update: 10/02 21:03 GMT by T : According to CNet, the rate has been officially frozen at 9.1 cents per track.
Hackers Clone Elvis' Passport 164
Barence writes "Hackers have released source code that allows the 'backup' of RFID-protected passports, although the tool can potentially be used to create fake or cloned documents. The Hacker's Choice, a non-commercial group of computer security experts, has released a video showing a cloned passport being approved by a security scanner at a Dutch airport. When the reader scans the passport, it is revealed to belong to one Elvis Aaron Presley, complete with picture. Reports of the hackers serenading security staff with 'Are You Clonesome Tonight' are unconfirmed."
