Comment Re:I did (Score 1) 667
A friend (we're in the US) dumped BofA for USAA and is very happy. And on the rare occasion he gets a paper check, he can deposit it via a UPS store
Submission + - Crowd Sourced Test Film About Fictional Short Trac (miningjournal.net)
jtc.carr writes: Over the past year, a group of actors, filmmakers, musicians, and speedskaters have been collaborating on a movie concept to present to Amazon Studios, the same people who brought you Amazon.com.
The story is about a brash speedskater who is challenged by returning to competition if he trains a high-functioning autistic struggling to get into an Olympic short track speedskating program.
The fruits of their effort, considered a "test film" can be watched at:
http://studios.amazon.com/movies/10282?
A trailer can be seen at the same location. The purpose of a test film is to give an audience the feel of the story and allow potential producers to have a visual reference to make decisions on what more can be done to make it a better feature film. Many groups within the Amazon Studios community have test films already constructed or are in production.
What makes this story unique is the action scenes use helmet cams (VIO POV 1.5) on speedskaters to capture races from their perspective.
The story is about a brash speedskater who is challenged by returning to competition if he trains a high-functioning autistic struggling to get into an Olympic short track speedskating program.
The fruits of their effort, considered a "test film" can be watched at:
http://studios.amazon.com/movies/10282?
A trailer can be seen at the same location. The purpose of a test film is to give an audience the feel of the story and allow potential producers to have a visual reference to make decisions on what more can be done to make it a better feature film. Many groups within the Amazon Studios community have test films already constructed or are in production.
What makes this story unique is the action scenes use helmet cams (VIO POV 1.5) on speedskaters to capture races from their perspective.
Submission + - Mars is not the best place to look for life (sciencenews.org) 1
EccentricAnomaly writes: A story over at Science News quotes Alan Stern (former head of NASA Science missions) as saying: "The three strongest candidates [for extraterrestrial life] are all in the outer solar system" He's referring to Europa, Titan, and Enceladus. So why is NASA spending $2.5B on the next Mars Rover and planning to spend over $6B more on a Mars sample return when it can't find the money for much cheaper missions to Europa or Enceladus?
Submission + - Faster-than-Light Neutrino Mystery Likely Solved
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "It's now been three weeks since the extraordinary news that neutrinos travelling between France and Italy had been clocked moving faster than light and more than 80 papers have appeared attempting to debunk or explain the effect. Now Ronald van Elburg at the University of Groningen has made a convincing argument that he has found the error. The OPERA team says it can accurately gauge the instant when the neutrinos are created and the instant they are detected using clocks at each end but the tricky part is keeping the clocks at either end exactly synchronized using GPS satellites, which each broadcast a highly accurate time signal from orbit some 20,000km overhead. But there are two frames of reference: the experiment on the ground and the clocks in orbit. If these are moving relative to each other, then under special relativity "from the perspective of the clock, the detector is moving towards the source and consequently the distance travelled by the particles as observed from the clock is shorter," writes van Elburg. How big is this effect? Van Elburg calculates that it should cause the neutrinos to arrive 32 nanoseconds early but this must be doubled because the same error occurs at each end of the experiment accounting for 64 nanoseconds, almost exactly what the OPERA team observes. "If it stands up, this episode will be laden with irony," according to the Physics arXiv Blog. "Far from breaking Einstein's theory of relatively, the faster-than-light measurement will turn out to be another confirmation of it. ""
Submission + - Windows 8 Will Run From USB Thumb Drive (computerworld.com) 1
CWmike writes: "Windows 8 will include a new feature that lets IT administrators provide workers with a portable Windows environment on a USB thumb drive. Called 'Windows To Go,' the feature seems aimed at enterprises that want to equip employees with 'complete managed Windows images' that they can use to turn a PC into a doppelganger of a secured in-house machine. It's not known whether individuals will be able to use Windows To Go for the same purpose. It's also unclear whether Windows to Go comes with a price tag: One report, based on a briefing with reporters at BUILD on Monday, said that the feature will cost about $50 per seat. Microsoft declined to provide more information about the feature, other then to refer to its a two-and-a-half-hour demonstration of some of the operating system's key components and changes that left many questions about Windows 8 unanswered, analysts said."
Submission + - Windows 8 Metro UI Will be Mandatory (networkworld.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: The Metro UI in Windows 8 is not an option. You're going to boot into it whether you like it or not, according to Network World. If you want Explorer, then you launch it like any other app. This might not be such a bad thing if it does not consume a lot of resources, but it might also make people balk at upgrading.
Comment Not a lot to see here... (Score 1) 1
FTFA:
"Doxer worked in the finance department at Akamai's Boston headquarters. Apparently out of the blue, he decided to send an e-mail to Israel's Boston consulate on June 22, 2006, writing, "I am a jewish american who lives in Boston. I know you are always looking for information and i am offering the little i may have." When Cromer contacted him a few years later, Doxer quickly began delivering information. He visited the dead drop box 62 times in the next 18 months, authorities said. He asked for $3,000 for the data."
Sounds like little more than a vindictive husband. Quite a long gap between the original email and the response from the federal agent. Why the foot-dragging? hmmm...
Comment Re:Biggest tight wad of all time (Score 1) 324
"Do not tell me of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor? I tell thee, thou foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Comment Re:Water and preparations (Score 1) 147
I grew up on Long Island. L.I. Tap water is either well water when you go further east (very good) or via the NYC water supply from upstate NY (even better -- you might be surprised as to how far away NYC's resovoirs are: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/drinking_water/maplevels_wide.shtml )
Submission + - Samsung Galaxy S2 banned in Europe (cnet.co.uk)
Warlord88 writes: A Dutch court has sided with Apple and banned the sale of Samsung Galaxy smart phones in Europe — prompting Samsung to quickly change the phones in question. It's the latest salvo in the current war over mobile phone design and patents between various companies.
Submission + - Linux 20 years - from hobby to world dominantion (slashdot.org)
a_n_d_e_r_s writes: "Today its 20 years ago. On 1991-08-25 Linus Torvalds send a little message to a Minix diskussions group that would change the world:
"
I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since April, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things).
I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months [...] Yes — it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT portable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.
"
Linus had a dream to be able to run UNIX like operating system on his home computer. But since none was available he did like many before and after him has done — he started to program it himself. Andra såg vad han hade gjort, gillade det och bÃrjade hjÃlpa till att utveckla Linux.
Other saw what he did and liked it and helped him create the world class operating system of today. Every day nearly 1 million new CPUs for the first time start to run Linux. From the super computers of today to the Linux-distrubution Android in cell phones — they all run Linux. World domination in nearly all ways — well except for the desktop so far."
"
I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since April, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things).
I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months [...] Yes — it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT portable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have
"
Linus had a dream to be able to run UNIX like operating system on his home computer. But since none was available he did like many before and after him has done — he started to program it himself. Andra såg vad han hade gjort, gillade det och bÃrjade hjÃlpa till att utveckla Linux.
Other saw what he did and liked it and helped him create the world class operating system of today. Every day nearly 1 million new CPUs for the first time start to run Linux. From the super computers of today to the Linux-distrubution Android in cell phones — they all run Linux. World domination in nearly all ways — well except for the desktop so far."
Comment Re:2 weeks? (Score 2) 591
Bzzzzzzzzzzt. Wrong, try again. I live in the world where I don't need to extort salary and benefits from an employer by threat of strikes/intimidation/sabotage. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics "In 2010, the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of a union--was 11.9 percent". The other 88% of the workforce is the "real" world. I'm not jealous in the least. Health care costs are rising faster than inflation. Big surprise that employers are trying to shift that cost. That said, I wish the Verizon employees well; this isn't a company that's struggling. They're doing quit well. They want to share the wealth with the holders of stock options instead of the workers.
Comment Re:wysiwyg Will Probably Always Have this Problem (Score 1) 545
Yeah, sadly Smultron was abandoned by its developer (or developers, but I think there was just one.) I coughed up the money for TextMate, which has some cool features.
Submission + - cell phone radiation damages DNA, brain, sperm (kurzweilai.net) 1
Eric604 writes: New independent studies offer proof that confirms findings from the Council of Europe: pulsed digital signals from cell phones disrupt DNA, impair brain function, and lower sperm count, according to a statement by the Environmental Health Trust (EHT).
Submission + - Micro-Satellite Arms Race Looms Between US and Chi (mobile.co.nz)
An anonymous reader writes: Now that both the US and China have demonstrated their ability to shoot down satellites. Bither are desperate to get their own fleet of micro satellite swarms
