CaptYossarian - Slashdot User

Open Source Software In the Military 91

Posted by kdawson on Sunday July 19, 2009 @08:04AM from the keep-it-stupid-stupid dept.

JohnMoD writes With the advent of forge.mil, etc. the military seems to be getting on board with free and open source software. A working group meeting is going to be held at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, August 12-13, 2009. There's a pretty good lineup of speakers including a Marine from the Iraq-Marine Expeditionary Forces, who was on the ground and saw the agility open source gave to him and his soldiers. A number of OSS projects are going to be meeting there: Delta 3D, OpenCPI, FalconView, OSSIM, Red Hat, etc. Looks like there will be some good discussions."

Submission + - New program for unfiltered internet in Iran (austinheap.com) 2

Submitted by GeekFreak on Saturday July 11, 2009 @06:26PM

GeekFreak writes: According to Austin Heap's blog:

"In the upcoming days, Daniel Colascione and I will release a new program to provide unfiltered internet access to the people of Iran. A software package for Windows, Mac and Unix systems, called Haystack, will specifically target the Iranian government's web filtering mechanisms.

Similar to Freegate, the program directed against China's "great firewall," once installed Haystack will provide completely uncensored access to the internet in Iran while simultaneously protecting the user's identity. No more Facebook blocks, no more government warning pages when you try to load Twitter, just unfiltered Internet."

Monitor his blog for release date. If you have the resources or time to help... do it. The protests on 09 July were organized by email alone. Iran needs the internet to help in its struggle for freedom.

Submission + - Space Station Marathon (spacefellowship.com)

Submitted by

RobGoldsmith

on Saturday July 04, 2009 @07:12AM

RobGoldsmith writes: "If you've never seen a spaceship with your own eyes, now's your chance. The International Space Station (ISS) is about to make a remarkable series of flybys over the United States. Beginning this 4th of July weekend, the station will appear once, twice, and sometimes three times a day for many days in a row. No matter where you live, you should have at least a few opportunities to see the biggest spaceship ever built."

Submission + - Cheap Trick brings back the 8-track 2

Submitted by JamJam on Friday July 03, 2009 @05:24PM

JamJam writes: Cheap Trick new "album" is being released not only in CD and vinyl, but in a long-departed format as fashionable as Tang, bell-bottoms and porn-star mustaches — 8-track. Unsurprisingly, finding a manufacturer for an obsolete-format release of the Seventies superstars' latest wasn't easy.

Submission + - GPS-Located, Scannable Coupons Coming To iPhone (hothardware.com) 1

Submitted by

MojoKid

on Friday July 03, 2009 @03:13PM

MojoKid writes: "Njection who already provides speed trap alerts on the iPhone via a free app, is launching a new GPS-based coupon service in July. Basically just drive by or enter a store with a deal and the coupon will show up in the app via GPS location services. The cashier can then scan the barcode directly from the iPhone screen to give the discount. The Njection app is free, so say goodbye to newspaper insert flyers. NMobile also claims to be developing the app for Windows Mobile, Android, Blackberry and Palm devices."

Submission + - Humans can develop echolocation like bats

Submitted by schnucki on Friday July 03, 2009 @04:53AM

schnucki writes: According to the Times of India, researchers at a Spanish University have shown that human beings can develop echolocation, the system of acoustic signals used by dolphins and bats to explore their surroundings.

"In the first study, the team analyses the physical properties of various sounds, and proposes the most effective of these for use in echolocation.

"The almost ideal sound is the palate click, a click made by placing the tip of the tongue on the palate, just behind the teeth, and moving it quickly backwards, although it is often done downwards, which is wrong," Martinez explained."

Comment excuses are like old diapers (Score 1) 865

by CaptYossarian on Wednesday July 01, 2009 @06:53PM (#28551275) Attached to: Staying In Shape vs. a Busy IT Job Schedule?

they all stink and noone wants em that sounds like a regular day in a busy armory like mine. its all about time management. i love to sleep in as late as possible (0610 usually for me) so i prep my stuff to the point where when its time to get up, im out the door in a minute tops. adjust your diet to include a healthy breakfast and many small healthful snacks. if you cant find the intestinal fortitude to sacrifice some of that me time for some real productive time, then do something to up your heartrate every time you get up to get a drink, a snack, a smoke, or go to the bathroom. as mentioned earlier, find a way to get a pullup bar near you and bang out a max set every time you do something. the better shape youre in the more energy youll have and the better youll sleep, so you can use those as building blocks to help you jump outta bed and do a quick workout-maybe a mile or two on the eliptical/exercise bike (if youre not already used to working out id advise against running because its high-impact), some situps, flutter kicks, jumping jacks, pushups....the process is continuous.

Submission + - Infomercial King Billy Mays Found Dead (foxnews.com)

Submitted by CaptYossarian on Sunday June 28, 2009 @12:45PM

CaptYossarian writes: "Television pitchman Billy Mays who built his fame by appearing on commercials and infomercials promoting household products and gadgets — died Sunday" Fox News reported today that Mays, 50, was found dead earlier this morning. Foul play is not suspected.

NIH Spends $400K To Figure Out Why Men Don't Like Condoms 844

Posted by samzenpus on Monday June 22, 2009 @06:59PM from the as-obvious-as-the-rubber-nose-on-your-face dept.

The National Institutes of Health has given $423,500 to researchers at Indiana University's Kinsey Institute to figure out why men don't like to wear condoms. The institute will also study why men have trouble using condoms and investigate "penile erection and sensitivity during condom application." "The project aims to understand the relationship between condom application and loss of erections and decreased sensation, including the role of condom skills and performance anxiety, and to find new ways to improve condom use among those who experience such problems," reads the abstract from Drs. Erick Janssen and Stephanie Sanders, both of the Kinsey Institute.

Submission + - Researchers Find Gaps in Iranian Filtering (securityfocus.com)

Submitted by

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property

on Sunday June 21, 2009 @07:10AM

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes: "With all the turmoil and internet censorship in Iran making it difficult to get an accurate picture of what's going, security researchers have found a way to analyze gaps in Iran's filtering by analyzing traffic exiting Iran. The short version is that SSH, torrents and Flash are high priorities for blocking, while game protocols like WoW and X-Box traffic are being ignored, even though they also allow communication. Hopefully, this data will help people think of new ways to bypass filtering and speak freely, even though average Iranians have worse things to worry about than internet censorship, now that the reformists have been declared anti-Islamic by the Supreme Leader. Given the circumstances, that declaration has been called 'basically a death sentence' for those who continue protesting."

Submission + - Inside the World's Greatest Keyboard (pcworld.com)

Submitted by

ThousandStars

on Saturday June 20, 2009 @06:31PM

ThousandStars writes: "PCWorld has a story detailing the creation and longevity of what it calls the "World's Greatest Keyboard," the IBM Model M. After a weak early effort, IBM convened a design team and "Their resulting 101-key design, 1984's Model M, became the undisputed bellwether for the computer industry, with a layout that dominates desktops to this day. As we peek under the hood of this legend, you'll soon see why many consider the Model M to be the greatest keyboard of all time." Today, Unicomp makes a modern Model M, which Slashdot covered earlier."

Submission + - Muggers caught on Google street view camera (reuters.com)

Submitted by

Dotan Cohen

on Saturday June 20, 2009 @08:02AM

Dotan Cohen writes: "Big brother is watching. When a Groningen teen surfed to the scene of his mugging in Google maps, he was surprised to find both the place and the time of his mugging. Score one for "do no evil"."

Submission + - Google helps catch 'muggers' (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by

Bifurcati

on Saturday June 20, 2009 @03:26AM

Bifurcati writes: "Two Dutch men have been arrested after a boy they allegedly mugged spotted them in Google StreetView. The 14-year-old boy was pulled off his bicycle in the town of Groningen in September and robbed of his mobile phone and about 250 dollars. He found the pictures in StreetView apparently by chance and while his attackers' faces were blurred (as per Google's rules) Google gave investigators the original unobscured pictures. The bad guys were also apparently twins...or there's some clever real life photoshopping going on!"

Submission + - Valve is actually releasing a Linux supported game (phoronix.com)

Submitted by

ndogg

on Saturday June 20, 2009 @02:43AM

ndogg writes: "There was some speculation last year about Valve possibly releasing Linux ports of Steam when some Linux libraries were found with Left 4 Dead. Some speculated that it had nothing to do with any client libraries at all, but instead perhaps with their servers. Now there's even more reason to believe that Steam is being ported to Linux since Valve is releasing a game called Dyson with Linux listed as among the requirements."

Submission + - Kevin Kelly's Internet Mapping Project (kk.org)

Submitted by

Bram

on Friday June 19, 2009 @11:42PM

Bram writes: "Wired editor Kevin Kelly has posted the results of "The Internet Mapping Project" on his website. He presents drawings representing a broad public's conceptualization of the Internet as a place or thing, and they make for fascinating viewing. In his words: "I've become very curious about the maps people have in their minds when they enter the internet. So I've been asking people to draw me a map of the internet as they see it. That's all. More than 50 people of all ages and levels of expertise have mapped their geography of online.""

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