Comment Re:Wrong (Score 1) 1268
Makes you wonder why the American kids are considered overweight when the British ones are having multiple lunches a day.
Smaller meals spaced out throughout the day?
Supermassive Black Hole Is Thrown Out of Galaxy 167
DarkKnightRadick writes "An undergrad student at the University of Utrecht, Marianne Heida, has found evidence of a supermassive black hole being tossed out of its galaxy. According to the article, the black hole — which has a mass equivalent to one billion suns — is possibly the culmination of two galaxies merging (or colliding, depending on how you like to look at it) and their black holes merging, creating one supermassive beast. The black hole was found using the Chandra Source Catalog (from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory). The direction of the expulsion is also possibly indicative of the direction of rotation of the two black holes as they circled each other before merging."
Comment Re:qualified? (Score 2, Funny) 1747
Education? Hah! Grandparent is obviously referring to Einstein's distinguished position as a patent clerk as his qualification to question known physics you ignorant clod!
Comment Re:personally (Score 1) 1721
This is really nothing new. The prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, even literature are often given long after a discovery has been made (or late in one's career in the case of literature). Those awards are generally given for things that have stood the test of time.
The peace prize, on the other hand, requires no such scrutiny. Mahatma Gandhi never actually won a prize despite multiple nominations, yet Obama wins despite the fact that his nomination occurred before he even had time to do anything? There is something fundamentally wrong with this picture. Then again I suppose that just makes me a terrorist sympathizer, and therefore unable to form a completely impartial view on the matter.
The peace prize, on the other hand, requires no such scrutiny. Mahatma Gandhi never actually won a prize despite multiple nominations, yet Obama wins despite the fact that his nomination occurred before he even had time to do anything? There is something fundamentally wrong with this picture. Then again I suppose that just makes me a terrorist sympathizer, and therefore unable to form a completely impartial view on the matter.
Startup Offers Pre-Built Biological Parts 71
TechReviewAl writes "A new startup called Ginkgo BioWorks hopes to make synthetic-biology simpler than ever by assembling biological parts, such as strings of specific genes, for industry and academic scientists. While companies already exist to synthesize pieces of DNA, Ginkgo assembles synthesized pieces of DNA to create functional genetic pathways. (Assembling specific genes into long pieces of DNA is much cheaper than synthesizing that long piece from scratch.) Company cofounder Tom Knight, also a research scientist at MIT, says: 'I'm interested in transitioning biology from being sort of a craft, where every time you do something it's done slightly differently, often in ad hoc ways, to an engineering discipline with standardized methods of arranging information and standardized sets of parts that you can assemble to do things.'"
Comment Good Lord. (Score 1) 263
I attempted to read the comments for this article. I do believe that this is the most troll-filled article ever to hit /.
Comment Re:What's the target audience think? (Score 1) 830
Close. Overpriced cosmetics are the new Tupperware. It appears that Microsoft is the new overpriced cosmetics.
Comment Re:LOL! (Score 1) 304
Tell him that most of the functionality of google voice can be accessed through Safari on the iPhone. Perhaps then google won't 'suck' quite as much ; )
Comment Re:LOL! Where's Your God Now Apple Fanbois? (Score 1) 304
I think it's even simpler than this. Since the app was rejected google has made massive improvements to the web interface allowing iPhone users many of the features of google voice*. For now I'm going to have to live without a few features (conference calling? audio of voicemail?) but I still get to enjoy:
- Unlimited SMS
- Free domestic calling
- Voicemail Transcripts
- Account management
- **Probably more
I can't remember the last time I had to make a conference call, so for me much of this is a non-issue. Everyone at least digitally signed their willingness to allow Apple to dick around with the scope and style of the additional applications made available, yet in threads like this it seems to be non-iPhone owners that are really throwing a stink. Why do you guys care so much what is or isn't in my phone.
*If I remember correctly prior to rejection it wouldn't let me use anything and google just said that it wouldn't work with the browser
**OK, I only just got my gvoice invite so I'm still not quite familiar with all of the functionality, but I'm sure there's cool stuff google threw in that I have missed.
Comment Re:So the story is.. (Score 2, Funny) 172
Hey, the first link actually uses that exact text...
A better reading could be "people that exploit vulnerabilities of browsers prefer to not use those vulnerable browsers". Not sure how much technically inclined they are (not sure if there are a black market of plug-and-exploit-for-dummies kits), but they are aware of how much damage can be done to whoever (including them) using those vulnerable browsers.
Wow! Deja vu anyone? Let's delve deeper.
A better reading could be "people that exploit vulnerabilities of browsers prefer to not use those vulnerable browsers". Not sure how much technically inclined they are (not sure if there are a black market of plug-and-exploit-for-dummies kits), but they are aware of how much damage can be done to whoever (including them) using those vulnerable browsers.
...
Wait something's not right. Hey the first link actually uses the quoted text. Someone better mod parent down, sheesh.
A better reading could be "people that exploit vulnerabilities of browsers prefer to not use those vulnerable browsers". Not sure how much technically inclined they are (not sure if there are a black market of plug-and-exploit-for-dummies kits), but they are aware of how much damage can be done to whoever (including them) using those vulnerable browsers.
Wait a minute... What's happening here?...
*downscroll*
Nooooooooooo!
Comment Tell me about it. (Score 1) 13
I've been tracking this thing's movements for years, moving from one shitty hotel to another just to maintain a safe distance from it. All those long years spent away from everything that I love. My wife... My kids... A semblance of a job or social life... I've spent the past decade in a stupor of booze-induced half sedation just to function--all the time knowing that it's every twitch, every hiccup could mean the end for half the population of a major city in mere hours. We think that we're so safe and secure, taking enough soma every night to put us to sleep until the next morning.
We blissfully sing the praises and ask the blessings of our giant robotic overlords so that we may continue to feel like we maintain some small amount of dignity like we still own this god-forsaken half-inhabitable rock. Oh, friends, it's just a matter of time. Sure, I may be some drunk crackpot scurrying from one corner of the globe to another in piss-stained underoos waving around my pitiful sign of "The end is nigh"... but what if I'm not. Yes, we could take solace in our belief that the monster before you is completely under our control, chewing away at the filthy mountains that hide our richly deserved natural resources... but what if it realizes what we've done to it, and it gets angry? You think that this thing looks bad now? You can be damned sure that I'm not going to be anywhere near it when it transforms.
We blissfully sing the praises and ask the blessings of our giant robotic overlords so that we may continue to feel like we maintain some small amount of dignity like we still own this god-forsaken half-inhabitable rock. Oh, friends, it's just a matter of time. Sure, I may be some drunk crackpot scurrying from one corner of the globe to another in piss-stained underoos waving around my pitiful sign of "The end is nigh"... but what if I'm not. Yes, we could take solace in our belief that the monster before you is completely under our control, chewing away at the filthy mountains that hide our richly deserved natural resources... but what if it realizes what we've done to it, and it gets angry? You think that this thing looks bad now? You can be damned sure that I'm not going to be anywhere near it when it transforms.
Comment Re:Biblical? (Score 1) 347
yeah apparently Japanese scientists have a different definition of visible than I do. I always had that stupid "if I can see it then it is visible, if I can't see it then it isn't visible".
"Visible" meaning within the visible portion of the EM spectrum.
Chinese Employee Loses iPhone Prototype, Kills Self 514
tlhIngan writes "Physical intimidation of a Foxconn employee, 25 year-old Sun Danyong, and a possibly-illegal search of his house may have led to suicide after an iPhone prototype in his possession was lost. Foxconn is Apple's long-time manufacturing partner for the iPhone. Entrusted with 16 iPhone prototypes, Danyong discovered that one was missing and searched the factory for it. When it didn't turn up, he reported the incident to his boss, who ordered his apartment searched. There are reports of physical intimidation by Foxconn security personnel. This ended tragically on Thursday at 3 AM, when Danyong jumped from his apartment building to his death." VentureBeat notes that "Apple exerts immense pressure on its business partners [to] help it maintain secrecy." An Apple spokesperson said this to CNet: "We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death. We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect."
Chinese "Web Addicts" Get Boot Camp, Therapy 279
itwbennett writes "A large number of Chinese parents are finding their teenagers to be exhibiting such psychological symptoms as depression, antisocial behavior, and slipping grades. The cause: Internet addiction. World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike rank beside Chinese role-playing games as those that hook the most patients, says Tao Ran, the founder of a youth rehabilitation center on a Beijing army base. Online chat programs more often hook girls, who make up a handful of Tao's current 70 patients. The teens are subjected to a 'strict regimen of military drills, martial arts training, lectures and sessions with psychiatrists.' And, most importantly: no Internet."
Scammers Target Neopets Users 122
An anonymous reader writes "If you have children that play on the popular virtual world game Neopets, you might want to warn them of a social engineering scam gleefully targeting 12-year-old kids. Neopets users looking for rare items are sent private messages from the scammers, who direct them to sites hosting keyloggers & trojans. They then use the infected PC as a means to get to data the parents might have stored there, be it credit card details, Paypal accounts or online banking. Seeing the screenshots of some of these people talking about putting these children into botnets is just unbelievable — if ever you wanted proof that people up to no good online will go to any lengths to get their hands on some money (or even just feel good about outsmarting a 12-year-old), here it is."
