Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:The title says it all. (Score 1) 2219

Yes, Slashdot is "News for Nerds". But we don't come here to passively "consume" news. We come here to actively debate the news. That's what makes Slashdot different.

Not only can we all come here and read and then talk about the nerdly news, but as it happens often enough, the nerds actually making the news are members here themselves. From physicists and IT guys at CERN, Linux and other OSS coders, celebrity nerds, spooks at the NSA (they're posting GNAA trolls on their lunch break, and we all know it), university students working on some cool project, etc. etc. I can't count the number of times I was browsing the comments of a story, and one of the subjects actually involved crops up and joins the conversation; and you know, that's pretty freaking cool.

As a collective, we're the circus performers, the contributors, the commentators, and the critics, all at once. Where else do you find this on the net? Nowhere. As far as I know, Slashdot is unique in this regard.

Space

New Type of Star Can Emerge From Inside Black Holes, Say Cosmologists 193

KentuckyFC writes "Black holes form when a large star runs out of fuel and collapses under its own weight. Since there is no known force that can stop this collapse, astrophysicists have always assumed that it forms a singularity, a region of space that is infinitely dense. Now cosmologists think quantum gravity might prevent this complete collapse after all. They say that the same force that stops an electron spiraling into a nucleus might also cause the collapsing star to 'bounce' at scales of around 10^-14cm. They're calling this new state a 'Planck star' and say its lifetime would match that of the black hole itself as it evaporates. That raises the possibility that the shrinking event horizon would eventually meet the expanding Planck star, which emerges with a sudden blast of gamma rays. That radiation would allow any information trapped in the black hole to escape, solving the infamous information paradox. If they're right, these gamma rays may already have been detected by space-based telescopes meaning that the evidence is already there for any enterprising astronomer to tease apart."

Submission + - Slashdot beta sucks 9

An anonymous reader writes: Maybe some of the slashdot team should start listening to its users, most of which hate the new user interface. Thanks for ruining something that wasn't broken.

Comment Re:In other news... (Score 1) 133

There's no paperwork or 'security check' outside title work, and whatever else goes on down at the DMV which would preclude an individual from owning tanks that might be light enough for operation on the road. They just have to have headlights and signals like any other vehicle. I suppose if it's heavy enough you might need a commercial / heavy vehicle driver's license. If you want to operate it on private property, you certianly wouldn't need any of that.

All "guns" must be inoperable.

That's where you need the background checks, fella. So long as it's breech loaded, any non-sporting gun with a bore over 0.50" falls under the 'destructive device' category, and requires a background check, registration with the BATFe, and a $200 transfer tax. The ordnance might also require such registration. But if you're rich as Bill Fucking Gates, and assuming there are no state or local laws which say otherwise, and the guns are properly registered, you very well could drive a tank down the road with a functional 105mm main gun, functional .30 cal coax machine gun, and a gunner on top with a real ma-deuce, and the police wouldn't be able to do so much as give you a ticket.

America, Fuck Yea.

Comment Re: even a broken clock... (Score 1) 523

You seem to be under the impression that libertarianism is some kind of strict monolithic orthodoxy. Because of this, I can only assume you believe it to be an affliction caused Libertarian Ideal Particles, which have infinitely negative mass and are transmitted at velocities much faster than light, which are beamed right into the brains of those who are naturally predisposed towards libertarianism, from the Libertarian Hive-mind on Planet Bob, moon of the fifth planet orbiting 55 Cancri, an exoplanet believed to have a particularly eccentric orbit.

Yeah. About that... It's not.

Comment Re:Killing two birds with one stone? (Score 1) 408

No-one has "bought" the USD that might be in your bank account, either.

Wrong. You bought them. With your time. Assuming the primary reason you have currency in your bank is that you have an actual job, that you aren't some kind of mooch / thief / scammer / or otherwise use other people's capital to your benefit.

Comment Re:Very weird story (Score 1) 894

How does one compensate for a dozen of instruments that were hand-made by the player from rare materials?

For each of the people responsible and their immediate superiors: Eight hours per week of volunteer work at the local elementary schools for the next twenty years, consisting of listening to the 3rd grade music class practice Mary Had a Little Lamb on their flutes, while hand-carving flutes for the next year's class, with no chance of parole. And they have to like it. If the 3rd graders suspect, in the least, that their performances aren't thoroughly enjoyed...30 lashes in public with the cat-o-nine-tails.

Submission + - Steam OS available for download, based on Debian 7.1 not Ubuntu (muktware.com)

sfcrazy writes: Valve Software has made available images for Steam OS, it’s GNU/Linux based gaming distribution. Valve has also released more information about the operating system. Unlike popular belief Steam OS is not based on Ubuntu; it’s based on Debian 7.1 Wheezy. Steam OS is using Gnome as it’s default desktop environment.

Slashdot Top Deals

Work without a vision is slavery, Vision without work is a pipe dream, But vision with work is the hope of the world.

Working...