Comment I am the pusher robot (Score 3, Funny) 121
As long as they don't start asking if we've got stairs in our houses, I think we're fine.
Comment Re:I smell Astro-turf (Score 1) 853
How many of you pro-nuke posters would be willing to have a nuclear plant within 20 miles of were you live? How many would be willing to have the toxic waste stored on-site of the plant? I thought so.
I would be willing to have all of that far closer to me than I would like to have a coal plant, which is what nuclear would be intended to replace.
Comment No win situation (Score 1) 73
At first look at the article, I wondered how people would respond to the United States bombing the moon. Then a more careful reading highlighted that we are in fact not "bombing" the moon, to which I immediately thought, "wait, what do you mean we're not bombing the moon? Why the hell not?!"
Maybe that'll just have to be saved for a future mission.
Maybe that'll just have to be saved for a future mission.
Comment Re:It's "Do No Evil", not "Don't Be Evil" (Score 5, Informative) 95
You've got that entirely backwards. The motto is "Don't Be Evil," and is commonly misquoted as "Do No Evil."
http://investor.google.com/conduct.html
Comment Re:Snow White Theme (Score 1) 1397
This was the theme used by a school I went to. When the school got a set of laptops the naming scheme for the new computers switched from Snow White dwarves to LotR dwarves, mostly drawing from Bilbo's company. The system was set up where you would ask for the computer you needed by name, but eventually one of the less fun loving teachers decided to give them all numbers and it seemed like the names fell out of convention.
This naming scheme is probably fairly common, but it's amusing anyways.
Involving Kids In Free Software Through Games 33
SynrG writes "Platinum Arts Sandbox puts into childrens' hands the ability to role play in a 3D world and edit that world using simplified controls. The expressions on the faces of our kids as they played were priceless; both the ups and the downs. I wanted to capture this on video and share it. After having established a rapport with upstream, we took a 20 minute clip of one of our play sessions and gave a copy to them to use to help further their work. Here is the edited result. They were very pleased to have that kind of feedback and found the video valuable for determining where the software still needed improvement and to notice which aspects particularly pleased the children."
Ricardo Montalban Dead At 88 280
DesScorp writes "Ricardo Montalban, immortalized as Khan in the Star Trek franchise, is dead at age 88, passing at his Los Angeles home. Montalban had a long and successful career on television and film. The voice of Rich Corinthian Leather is silenced, but we still have the memories."
More Than Coding Errors Behind Bad Software 726
An anonymous reader writes "SANS' just-released list of the Top 15 most dangerous programming errors obscures the real problem with software development today, argues InfoWeek's Alex Wolfe. In More Than Coding Mistakes At Fault In Bad Software, he lays the blame on PC developers (read: Microsoft) who kicked the time-honored waterfall model to the curb and replaced it not with object-oriented or agile development but with a 'modus operandi of cramming in as many features as possible, and then fixing problems in beta.' He argues that youthful programmers don't know about error-catching and lack a sense of history, suggesting they read Fred Brooks' 'The Mythical Man-Month,' and Gerald Weinberg's 'The Psychology of Computer Programming.'"
Lunar Spacecraft Compete For $2 Million NASA Prize 48
coondoggie writes "Nine rocket-powered vehicles will compete for NASA's $2 million, 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, Oct. 24-25. The goal is to accelerate development of commercial Lunar Landers capable of bringing payloads or humans back and forth between lunar orbit and the lunar surface. NASA of course would expect to use some of the technology developed at the Challenge. To win the prize, teams must demonstrate a rocket-propelled vehicle and payload that takes off vertically, climbs to a defined altitude, flies for a pre-determined amount of time, and then land vertically on a target that is a fixed distance from the launch pad. After landing, the vehicle must take off again within a pre-determined time, fly for a certain amount of time and then land back on its original launch pad."
Details about the teams involved with the competition are available at the X-Prize website. The event will be broadcast live via webcast next weekend.
Bionic Contact Lens May Lead to Overlay Displays 213
pfman writes "A University of Washington researcher has developed a
contact lens including circuitry and a matrix of LEDs. Although not yet a working prototype, this may be a foundation for terminator/robocop style overlay displays in which computer graphics could be superimposed on your normal vision. 'Building the lenses was a challenge because materials that are safe for use in the body, such as the flexible organic materials used in contact lenses, are delicate. Manufacturing electrical circuits, however, involves inorganic materials, scorching temperatures and toxic chemicals. Researchers built the circuits from layers of metal only a few nanometers thick, about one thousandth the width of a human hair, and constructed light-emitting diodes one third of a millimeter across.'" Kotaku notes that this has some obvious gaming implications.
PCI Compliance 115
Ben Rothke writes "It has long
been rumored that manufacturers of items such as razors and batteries
specifically produce their products to an inferior level in order to ensure repeat
business. A similar paradox is occurring in the
information security space where many are complaining that the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is too complex and costly. What is most troubling is that such opinions
are being written in periodicals and by people that should know better." Read on for the rest of Ben's review.
Patriot Act Game Pokes Fun at Government 350
The Miami Herald is reporting that a new game based on Monopoly is taking a crack at Patriot Act and what creator Michael Kabbash describes as the curtailed freedom that has resulted. From the article: "The object of the game is not to amass the most money or real estate, but to be the last player to retain civil liberties. 'I've had people complain to me that when they play, nobody wins. They say "We're all in Guantanamo and nobody has any civil liberties left," he said. 'I'm like "Yeah, that's the point."'"
