Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Time is an illusion (Score 1) 2

Ok, well can we agree that if any of us discovers time travel in the future, we will come back to this point and post on this thread?
...unless, of course, the danger of altering the future is too great.
In that case, just go for the "Frist Post". We will extrapolate from there.

I read a fascinating article on the nature of time a few months ago.
Maybe the idea isn't so crazy after all!

Submission + - Searching The Internet For Evidence Of Time Travelers 2

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Here's an interesting paper by two physicists at Michigan Technological University who have come up with a practical methodology for finding time travelers through the internet. "Time travel has captured the public imagination for much of the past century, but little has been done to actually search for time travelers. Here, three implementations of Internet searches for time travelers are described, all seeking a prescient mention of information not previously available. The first search covered prescient content placed on the Internet, highlighted by a comprehensive search for specific terms in tweets on Twitter. The second search examined prescient inquiries submitted to a search engine, highlighted by a comprehensive search for specific search terms submitted to a popular astronomy web site. The third search involved a request for a direct Internet communication, either by email or tweet, pre-dating to the time of the inquiry. Given practical verifiability concerns, only time travelers from the future were investigated. No time travelers were discovered. Although these negative results do not disprove time travel, given the great reach of the Internet, this search is perhaps the most comprehensive to date." Steven Hawkings' similar search also provided negative results.

Comment Re:Shouldn't have to run oil by rail (Score 1) 199

I did some work on software used for a corrosion inspection system. The basic idea is that any medium travelling through a pipe corrodes the pipe at a measureable rate. Pipelines have procedures in place to monitor corrosion over time with special attention given to "weak links". There is a lot of careful engineering that goes into building and maintaining a pipeline.

Regarding setting conditions for running a pipeline through a sensitive area:
A review of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline approved the proposal in principle with 209 conditions.
But the public's reaction proves that, for some people, no amount of protection will ever be enough.

I am very concerned that the opposition to pipelines will result in more of these kind of accidents.
It seems to me, from following the Lac Megantic disaster, that the safety protocols on rail lines needs some review.

Submission + - Nobel Prize Winner Randy Schekman Boycotts Journals for 'Branding Tyranny' (ibtimes.co.uk) 1

An anonymous reader writes: One of this year's winners of the Nobel Peace prize has declared a boycott on leading academic journals after he accused them of contributing to the "disfigurement" of science.

Randy Schekman, who won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, said he would no longer contribute papers or research to the prestigious journals, Nature, Cell and Science and called for other scientists to fight the "tyranny" of the publications.

Comment Re:Estimation (Score 1) 473

Estimating continues to be the bane of my existence.
But the most lost I every was involved trying to estimate a full database data conversion process from an old non-rdbms system.
"Oh but our data is clean", they said.
I spent over a week just fixing / coding for bad date formats.
I asked a senior guy for advice. He suggested something similar:

Come up with a number. Multiple by an arbitrary single digit. Double it. Double it again.

Eventually I learned not to fix bid data conversion. Ever.

Comment Re:Improvement (Score 2) 232

I agree that fusion power has been 20 years off for at least 60 years now.
We have known the basic principles for a long time so how hard can it be, right?
You just mash some atoms together until they fuse. After lunch we will tackle time travel.

What makes this different is the international consortium of government funding of the project to the tune of $30 BILLION.
Call me naive, but I believe this is going to happen. On time and on budget, well, that is a different question.

Comment Re:This is why they hate us (Score 2) 228

Yes, Fantec was approached in an effort to work it out.
Their initial reaction was to deny everything.
When confronted with undeniable proof, they simply blamed a contractor and said that they were not responsible.
...at least, that's what the articles I read reported.
At that point, what options are left?

Submission + - Groupon CEO is fired but goes out with class (cnet.com)

Inzkeeper writes: Groupon CEO Andrew Mason made public an email he sent to Groupon employees. He takes responsibility for the company's downturn, expresses his appreciation for his staff, and wishes them well. "For those who are concerned about me, please don't be — I love Groupon, and I'm terribly proud of what we've created. I'm OK with having failed at this part of the journey. If Groupon was Battletoads, it would be like I made it all the way to the Terra Tubes without dying on my first ever play through."

Submission + - Torvalds clarifies Linux's Windows 8 Secure Boot position (zdnet.com)

An anonymous reader writes: No one, but no one, in the Linux community likes Microsoft's mandated deployment of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) Secure Boot option in Windows 8 certified PCs. But, how Linux should handle the fixes required to deal with this problem remains a hot-button issue. Now, as the debate continues hot and heavy, Linus Torvalds, Linux's founder and de facto leader, spells out how he thinks Linux should deal with Secure Boot keys.

Slashdot Top Deals

"Experience has proved that some people indeed know everything." -- Russell Baker

Working...