Orig_Club_Soda - Slashdot User

Finnish Guy Gets Prosthetic USB Finger Storage 113

Posted by samzenpus on Friday March 13, 2009 @03:39PM from the I'd-still-choose-a-shotgun-leg dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Jerry had a motorcycle accident last May and lost a finger. When the doctor working on the artificial finger heard he is a hacker, the immediate suggestion was to embed a USB 'finger drive' to the design. Now he carries a Billix Linux distribution as part of his hand."

Comment The McGuyver Solution (Score -1) 171

by Orig_Club_Soda on Thursday March 12, 2009 @03:39PM (#27171721) Attached to: Satellite Debris Forces ISS Crew Into Rescue Craft

Add a proximity radar and a 10 foot radius shield on a pool cleaner type arm. Using some basic hydraulics they could position the shield between the station and oncoming objects.

(-1 for having an opinion!)

Comment My dad is going to love this article (Score -1) 922

by Orig_Club_Soda on Monday March 09, 2009 @03:29PM (#27125379) Attached to: US Forgets How To Make Trident Missiles

He worked on the Trident.

US Forgets How To Make Trident Missiles 922

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 09, 2009 @10:46AM from the i-forget-how-to-spell-feal dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "The US and the UK are trying to refurbish the aging W76 warheads that tip Trident missiles to prolong their life and ensure they are safe and reliable but plans have been put on hold because US scientists have forgotten how to manufacture a mysterious but very hazardous component of the warhead codenamed Fogbank. 'NNSA had lost knowledge of how to manufacture the material because it had kept few records of the process when the material was made in the 1980s, and almost all staff with expertise on production had retired or left the agency,' says the report by a US congressional committee. Fogbank is thought by some weapons experts to be a foam used between the fission and fusion stages of the thermonuclear bomb on the Trident Missile and US officials say that manufacturing Fogbank requires a solvent cleaning agent which is 'extremely flammable' and 'explosive,' and that the process involves dealing with 'toxic materials' hazardous to workers. 'This is like James Bond destroying his instructions as soon as he has read them,' says John Ainslie, the co-ordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, adding that 'perhaps the plans for making Fogbank were so secret that no copies were kept.' Thomas D'Agostino, administrator or the US National Nuclear Security Administration, told a congressional committee that the administration was spending 'a lot of money' trying to make 'Fogbank' at Y-12, but 'we're not out of the woods yet.'"

Comment Kind of a useless test (Score -1) 200

by Orig_Club_Soda on Wednesday March 04, 2009 @05:02PM (#27069193) Attached to: New iMac, Mac Mini Benchmarks Show Changes Are Slight

This guy didn't include video performance and the main upgrade to the Mac Mini is the video card. Its also holds 4GB of RAM.

iRobot Develops Hamster-Guided Robotic Vacuum 108

Posted by timothy on Wednesday March 04, 2009 @03:00PM from the cat-powered-would-be-too-smart dept.

carusoj writes "The folks at iRobot apparently have plenty of time on their hands. They created a prototype wireless, robotic vacuum cleaner... powered by a hamster running inside a spinning ball. The rodent's movements with the ball are fed to and analyzed by a complex set of sensors, which then guide the actual vacuum device to mimic the animal's speed and direction. You can see where this is going: it's a clever ploy to then get you to buy a second robot that would automatically feed, water, and clean up after the hamster in the first robot."

Lawmakers Take Another Shot At Patent Reform 154

Posted by timothy on Wednesday March 04, 2009 @02:09PM from the but-I-thought-of-it-first dept.

narramissic writes "Patent reform legislation was introduced yesterday (PDF), which, if it passes, would be the first major overhaul of US patent law in more than 50 years. (It should be noted that the new legislation is very similar to the Patent Reform Act of 2007, which died on the Senate floor last year.) The legislation would bring US patent law in line with global laws, and introduce 'reasonable royalty' provisions, which change the way damages are calculated and would reduce the likelihood of massive payouts for some patent holders. Representatives from Google, HP and Intel were quick to say that the changes would cut down on frivolous patent lawsuits. But the Innovation Alliance, a group representing patent-holders that oppose the legislation, said that it would 'devalue all patents, invite infringement — including from companies in China, India and other countries — and generate more litigation that will further strain the courts.'"

Comment Ice not shrinking as much as alarmist say (Score -1) 137

by Orig_Club_Soda on Tuesday March 03, 2009 @04:36PM (#27055965) Attached to: 3-Man Team Begins Ice-Survey Trek To the North Pole

Recently it has been discovered that there are defective sensor(s). Ice about the size of California has been "discovered"

Comment Re:Ordinary (Score -1) 123

by Orig_Club_Soda on Friday February 27, 2009 @05:27PM (#27017141) Attached to: First Solar Eclipse Recorded From Moon

Actually, I wasn't thinking about the full moon, I was thinking about the one day a month when there is no moon because the sun's rays are some how blocked.

Comment Re:Serenity Now! (Score -1) 197

by Orig_Club_Soda on Thursday February 26, 2009 @06:44PM (#27005107) Attached to: NASA Contest To Name ISS Module

The whole scoring system is out of whack. If you don't say something people agree with, they label you a troll. You also have to be a Democrat; Libertarians get no love. I am going to get a minus 1 just for posting this comment if Slash lets me post at all.

I vote for "Serenity."

Comment Ordinary (Score -1) 123

by Orig_Club_Soda on Thursday February 26, 2009 @04:43PM (#27003277) Attached to: First Solar Eclipse Recorded From Moon

Doesn't the a moon perspective solar eclipse happen every day? Or at least once a month?

Crocodiles With Frickin' Magnets Attached to Their Heads 304

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday February 26, 2009 @02:17AM from the stick-one-on-the-fridge dept.

Brickwall writes "Florida, faced with a problem of crocodiles returning to residential neighborhoods after being relocated elsewhere, is trying to solve it by affixing magnets to the crocs' heads. The theory is the crocodiles use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation, and the magnets may interfere with that. What I'd like to know is, whose job is it to put the magnets on?" So far the magnet program appears to be working, unfortunately the crocs have started to collect huge amounts of take-out menus and child artwork.

Flying Car Flies From London To Africa 148

Posted by timothy on Wednesday February 25, 2009 @04:16PM from the laden-or-unladen dept.

krou writes "It may not be exactly what people have envisioned or tried over the years, such as the flying car in Bladerunner, or the previously reported Terrafugia Transition, but the BBC is reporting that a flying car (creatively dubbed the Skycar, but different from this Skycar) has flown from London across into Africa. They modified a parajet fan that can fly a man into a bigger fan with a canopy that is capable of flying a car."

Quake Live Public Beta Launches To High Demand 93

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday February 25, 2009 @01:21AM from the good-times dept.

x1n933k writes "For anybody who was sitting on top of Quake Live's website today, clicking refresh and waiting for it to open, you can now browse over and join the fun. Unfortunately you'll have to hold in a queue: 'Here we are all dressed up and nowhere to go. Don't worry, to make sure everyone can enjoy the game we have activated our super secret Queue system, which keeps the server from being overloaded and affecting the website.' I've been waiting 40 minutes and now up to 591, after starting from 9982 but have been playing Quake 3 to kill time." The queue bounced up over 15,000, and as of this posting, is down to about 7,000. It moves pretty quickly, and there's an explanatory tour to watch while you wait. Reader Rogerpq3 contributes an interview with id's John Carmack and Marty Stratton, in which they discuss the game's technology and server infrastructure, as well as their thoughts on mod support.

Comment The losing a baby complaaint is illogical (Score -1) 703

by Orig_Club_Soda on Monday February 23, 2009 @04:40PM (#26961521) Attached to: The Art of The Farewell Email

THis is common problem with people - they cannot separate their personal life form work. Whether or not this lady lost her baby is irrelevant to the economic health of the company. We don't let companies dictate when we can have our babies, therefore letting your baby dictate when you can be let go is a fallacy.

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