Comment House Arrest (Score 2, Insightful) 245
So does this mean we should be putting more juveniles on house arrest? It seems like the juvenile detention centers breed more crime than they prevent.
matta
Comment Re:No win for the consumer (Score 2, Insightful) 112
Since when is capitalism so unpopular?
If I'm evil for trying to turn a buck, then the US is in a shameful state for sure.
I guess you are right. Let's move to China where... wait... umm, they like the Benjamins as well. Russia? Ohh wait, that was almost 20 years ago. How about the moon? Yeah!
Comment Re:some women can see four primary colors (Score 1) 290
As a side note, this condition runs in families which also experience color blindness.
Some of the men get color blindness and some of the women get to see extra colors. Truly strange if you ask me.
matta
Comment Re:Cue sticks? (Score 1) 79
Finally, something on slashdot I am actually qualified to discuss! haha!
The white ball is the "cue ball" and the stick is a "cue stick", "pool cue", "cue", etc... All are acceptable. One who builds cues is a "cuemaker." All one word. No space.
I'm a cuemaker at Carolina Cues.
Enjoy,
matta
The white ball is the "cue ball" and the stick is a "cue stick", "pool cue", "cue", etc... All are acceptable. One who builds cues is a "cuemaker." All one word. No space.
I'm a cuemaker at Carolina Cues.
Enjoy,
matta
Submission + - Volunteers recover Lunar Orbiter 1 photographs
mikael writes: The LA Times is reporting on efforts of group of volunteers with funding from NASA to recover high resolution photographs of the Moon taken by Lunar Orbiter 1 in the 1960's. The collection of 2000 images is stored entirely on magnetic tape which can only be read by a $330,000 FR-900 Ampex magnetic tape reader.
The team consisted of Nancy Evans, NASA's archivist who ensured that the 20-foot by 10-foot x 6-foot collection of magnetic tapes were never thrown out, Dennis Wingo, Keith Cowing of Nasa Watch and Ken Zim who had experience of repairing video equipment.
Two weeks ago, the second image, of the Copernicus Crater was recovered.
Submission + - Chimpanzees exchange meat for sex (bbc.co.uk)
the_therapist writes: "A team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, studied chimps in the Tai Forest reserve in Ivory Coast and discovered that chimpanzees enter into "deals" whereby they exchange meat for sex.
Among the findings are that "male chimps that are willing to share the proceeds of their hunting expeditions mate twice as often as their more selfish counterparts". They also found this to be "a long-term exchange, so males continue to share their catch with females when they are not fertile, copulating with them when they are"."
Among the findings are that "male chimps that are willing to share the proceeds of their hunting expeditions mate twice as often as their more selfish counterparts". They also found this to be "a long-term exchange, so males continue to share their catch with females when they are not fertile, copulating with them when they are"."
Submission + - Finally, Sadomasochism Gets Its Own Science Study (scientificblogging.com)
TaeKwonDood writes: "You might think throwing out the occasional titillating article title is part of some grand media strategy. Discover is famous for whoring themselves out for page views with articles like Bizarre Aquatic Creatures Are Secretly Lesbian Necrophiliacs and Scientific American gets into the act with Rough Sex at 40,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which got them additionally ridiculed because that is about 30X greater than the radius of the Earth, but there are occasionally real articles that aren't all tramped up and just happen to deal with sex; some of it even kinky. All of it involving cortisol.
The difficulty? Kinky people are okay with being monitored and they don't always realize what 'control' means in a scientific context, but they sure don't like to stick within the study parameters."
Submission + - Chimp found plotting against zoo guests 1
rjshirts writes: In further proof that Planet of the Apes is coming to pass, researchers in Stockholm, Sweden have definitive proof that primates can plan ahead.
From the article: "Santino the chimpanzee's anti-social behavior stunned both visitors and keepers at the Furuvik Zoo but fascinated researchers because it was so carefully prepared.
According to a report in the journal Current Biology, the 31-year-old alpha male started building his weapons cache in the morning before the zoo opened, collecting rocks and knocking out disks from concrete boulders inside his enclosure. He waited until around midday before he unleashed a "hailstorm" of rocks against visitors, the study said."
I think this explains a lot of Cowboy Neal's behavior.......
From the article: "Santino the chimpanzee's anti-social behavior stunned both visitors and keepers at the Furuvik Zoo but fascinated researchers because it was so carefully prepared.
According to a report in the journal Current Biology, the 31-year-old alpha male started building his weapons cache in the morning before the zoo opened, collecting rocks and knocking out disks from concrete boulders inside his enclosure. He waited until around midday before he unleashed a "hailstorm" of rocks against visitors, the study said."
I think this explains a lot of Cowboy Neal's behavior.......
Comment Re:It's not a computer... (Score 1) 258
The inputs are the current things you know about the planetary system.
Things you know:
1. Phase of the moon. (It would be trivial even for the ancients to keep track of the phases of the moon since the equinox.)
2. Where the planets currently are, if they are out.
You turn your little knob until everything matches what you currently see. Then you can turn it into the future and predict what will happen.
Even by your definition, this is a computer.
Why are you so vehement about this?
Atari Purchases Cryptic Studios For $26.7 Million 45
Trevor DeRiza writes "Early this morning, Atari announced that they had purchased US MMO developer Cryptic Studios for an initial 26.7 million USD, along with a possible 20 million USD bonus for future performance. Cryptic has three games coming out in the next three years: Champions Online (2009), Star Trek Online (2010), and a secret project (2011). All three will now be released under the Atari logo."
This is welcome news in light of all the recent troubles in the MMO market.
Comment Re:Unconstitutional (Score 1) 1367
If alcohol prohibition required an amendment to the constitution then how was the gov't suddenly able to prohibit another substance w/o changing the constitution?
I'm not dead certain on the details but it went something like this...
They taxed narcotics. They set up a system where you could buy stamps that allowed you to posses them.
Then cleverly, they never sold the stamps. Therefore outlawing them all together.
