Slashdot

jonniee writes "Greg Wilson does a round-up review of a bunch of books that focus on open source languages and bioinformatics, including "Ruby Programming for Medicine and Biology" by Jules J. Berman, "Bioinformatics Programming in Python" by Ruediger-Marcus Flaig, "OCaml for Scientists" by Jon D. Harrop, "Perl for Exploring DNA" by Mark D. LeBlanc and Betsey Dexter Dyer, "Programming in Scala" by Martin Odersky, Lex Spoon, and Bill Venners, and "Head First Software Development" by Dan Pilone and Russ Miles."
http://dobbscodetalk.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Yep-More-Books.html&Itemid=29

ShakaUVM writes "People who give up a little bit of liberty for a little bit of security deserve neither, the saying goes. But what happens when people give up so much liberty their entire country resembles an Orweillean dystopia — but the pervasive monitoring doesn't help to solve any crimes? That's what is happening in the United Kingdom today. While the Guardian tries to put a good spin on the entire fiasco, the fact remains that CCTVs only help with 3% of all street robberies, the very crimes they were supposed to be best at protecting. Should England finally move to eliminate its troubling state surveillance program?"

Tridus writes "The PC version of Mass Effect is going to require Internet access to play (despite being a single-player game), as its DRM system requires that it phone home every 10 days. Sadly, Spore will use the same system. This will do nothing to stop piracy of course, but it will do a heck of a good job of stopping EA's new arch-enemy: people playing their single player games offline." Is this better or worse than requiring a CD in the drive to play? Update: 05/07 17:17 GMT by T : According to a message from Technical Producer Derek French (may require a scroll-down) on the Bioware forums, there is indeed an internet connection required, but only for activation, not for all future play. Update: 05/08 04:10 GMT by T : Mea culpa. As reader David Houk points out, the 10-day window is in fact correct as initially described, so don't count on playing this on any machine without at least some Internet connectivity.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "I find the Firehose software to be infuriating. It seems to have no 'stickiness' but constantly reverts to other views and searches than what I was looking at. I'm about ready to give up on it unless they tell me they recognize it's dumb and are doing something to make it work right. Am I the only one who feels this way?"

Lucas123 writes "David Roberson, general manager of Hewlett-Packard's StorageWorks division, predicts that by 2013 the storage industry will be shipping a yottabyte (a billion gigabytes) of storage capacity annually. Roberson made the comment in conjunction with HP introducing a new rack system that clusters together four blade servers and three storage arrays with 820TB of capacity. Many vendors are moving toward this kind of platform, including IBM, with its recent acquisition of Israeli startup XIV, according to Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Peters."

eldavojohn writes "With a name like Internet2 and such high press coverage, you might think that's the future of the Internet servicing our homes. But Ars Technica looks more closely at what the odds actually are for it to become mainstream. When will you see the effects of the software, planning and hardware that went into Internet2 in your home? The odds are the very distant future — if at all. From the article: 'The Internet as we now know it is anything but obsolete. The amount of dedicated hardware and personal attention required to get networks like Internet2 and DANTE working simply makes them uneconomical for most common uses. And, unless a majority of networked content moves onto these dedicated networks, then having access to them may not do users much good. If the academic networks change the commercial ones, they'll do it in an evolutionary way, by providing improved hardware and better software for running traffic within the constraints of the existing economic structure.'"

theodp writes "Looking to escape your Initech-like surroundings with your next job? Valleywag has culled its picks for Tech's Top 10 Workspaces from Office Snapshots, where you'll find plenty of other Best-Places-to-Work contenders. So how does your Cubicle measure up to the competition?" Pixar, Netflix, and other places. Makes the Slashdot Fortress look like a hovel even though we replaced the dirt floors last month.

Slashdot's moderation system is seriously broken. In China Wants US-Owned Hotels to Censor Internet, the summary states ""The Chinese government is demanding that US-owned hotels there filter Internet service during the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, US Senator Sam Brownback has alleged." I responded

Sam Brownback doesn't exist. If he did, there would be an uncyclopedia article about him.

Oh wait, he does exist, here [uncyclopedia.org] is the entry on the honorable Senator Browbakc from Kansas [uncyclopedia.org]

The link to Brownback's name went to the uncyclopedia entry on "fucktard" and "kansas" went to the Kansas entry. I quoted the Kansas entry.

It was moderated offtopic. Clearly brownback's slutty wife (I only pay her five bucks but damn it she won't shave her legs) has mod points.

No, I do not like Sam Brownback or his politics or his Godforsaken state. But that comment was on topic.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." ~ Dorothy on noticing a school teaching actual science

A fellow named wattrlz (1162603) replied to War Brewing on the Inexpensive Laptop Front with subject "Oblig,", comment "Imagine a beowulf cluster of those.". I replied

I, for one, welcome... OW! OW! STOPPIT!

(lame humorless slashdot filter encountered. don't use so many caps. it's like shouting. really, tone it odwn in here mcgrew, this is a library not a goddamned bar)

Both our comments were moderated "troll". An AC responded to wattrlz (1162603) with "Yeah, a beowulf cluster of those *might* end up being just as fast as my T61 Thinkpad" and it sat at 1, no moderation. The time stamps say all three comments were within ten minutes of each other.

In the thread Tesla Motors Opens Retail Store someone said that the >200 mile limit was short range; I commented that I seldom travel more than a hundred miles one way, and a binary number (or at least, a number consisting only of ones and zeros) listed all the long long trips he takes frequently. I answered "You, sir, are a very big contributor to global warming and the price of fuel. I sincerely hope you're not driving an Escalade."

It was moderated "troll". Slashdot - Fox News for nerd wannabes, stuff that mutters.

But the post that really pissed me off and caused this flaming pile of shit I'm writing now to be posted was in answer to this comment in the armageddon poll. Someone said he wanted to be shot to death by a jealous husband at age 100, and an answering comment (rated 2, insightful) read "wow that is some goal in life. Make sure said husband has a 20 year old wife too."

I responded quite truthfully and sincerely

You're a sicko. I'm only 56 but if I fucked a 20 year old I'd feel like a pedophile. Actually anybody under 30 looks like a child to me, imagine being twice my age?

Yes, it was moderated "troll"! Both my daughters are younger than that, you sick fucks! WHAT THE GODDAMNED FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE???

I guess IHBT - by the mods. But as one slashdotter's sig says, "Karma: Excellent. Try again, mod boy".

Update (today, imagine that!):
Today, you have 10 moderations to meta-moderate.

Re:Where are the Cheetos?
by - on Monday January 07, @08:31PM (#21948634)
The original skit is better. Its sad how popular that skit is and yet it seems 99% of people do not know of the creators =(.

Best video rendition imo had to be the one they did with the Summoner crew.
--
Ice Cream has no bones.
Original Discussion: Ask the Designers of D&D Fourth Edition
Rating: Informative.
This rating is Unfair Fair | See Context

Re:deja vu
by - on Thursday January 10, @08:03PM (#21992976)

The last I heard, the NSLU2 will NEVER spin down the hard drives. This may accelerate the wear on the bearings, and cause premature failure. Drives also consume more power while spinning.

Actually, what I learned a long time ago (in a technology-land far, far away) is "never shut down your equipment." The only times hard drives and other computer hardware experience physical wear is startup, shutdown, and under G force loads.

A spinning platter running on new bearings essentially maintains bearing-on-lubricant-on-bushing contact the entire time it is on, and has zero wear. But when the platter is spun down, the bearings will of course stop. At that time the bearings "poke through" the lubrication layer, causing metal-on-metal contact. Over time the weight of the platters on the bearings will cause microscopic deformations to be created on the surfaces of the bearings. These no-longer-round bearings then have high spots that also poke through the lubrication layer, causing metal-on-metal contact while the drive is spinning. This becomes a source of vibration, which leads to more metal-on-metal contact, causing wear.

There are other physical reasons to not shut down your computer, too.

Surge currents are a problem. They occur in a hard drive because a stopped motor takes much more torque to spin up than a running motor. That means that a component which is spec'd to carry the running current of the motor, say 80ma, has to temporarily provide startup current of perhaps 200ma. Most components can handle that much extra current for a very small amount of time, but a marginal component may fail under the extra stress. Avoiding power surges maximizes the life of those components

There is another source of wear that people often ignore, and that is thermal stress. Powering equipment up causes it to heat up, expanding the materials it's made of. And all materials have different coefficients of expansion -- aluminum expands quite a bit more per degree than steel, and both expand much more rapidly than ceramics and fiberglass. When a computer is powered off and cools down, everything shrinks at its own rate -- traces on the circuit boards, soldered joints, the case, the screws holding the heat sink to the motherboard, the gold wires connecting the chip package to the die, everything. That's the only mechanical wear these otherwise solid state components will ever have. The more heating/cooling cycles, the more often they will tug at each other, causing wear.

However, many things have changed since I learned this stuff. The technology of hard drives is vastly different than it was when I learned this; especially the properties of the lubricants that are now used. Also, cheap hard drives may have poor bearings to start with, and may already be vibrating when you purchase them (sound is a good way to detect this -- a good drive is a silent drive.) Hardware designers who are building quality equipment specify components with the capacity to handle the thermal and electrical stresses. And energy efficiency is of concern to everyone. But unless it's really crap gear, I'd suggest that powering down to attempt to preserve the longevity of your equipment might not be the appropriate answer.

--
John
Sed quis debuget ipsum debugatorem?
Original Discussion: Current Recommendations For a Home File Server?
Rating: Interesting.
This rating is Unfair Fair | See Context

Re:RIAA
by - on Thursday January 24, @11:39AM (#22167660)
Ticketmaster. Unfortunately, there's a $1000 service fee per ticket.
Original Discussion: Internet Group Declares War on Scientology
Rating: Funny.
This comment is Unfunny Funny | See Context

Re:solve the cause, not the symptom
by - on Thursday March 13, @01:41AM (#22736338)
1. Do you write scripts for the white house by any chance? how much do you make? start considering it... they need someone to save ass this last year. 2. "The police officer, in self defense, shoots back. " 1--> Since when did the Israeli military become Palestine's police? 2--> Assuming Gaza/West Bank are sovereign as Israel "claims" they are, wouldn't the so called "terrorists" be defending the Palestinians, hence isn't Israel shooting at the Palestinian military/police/civilians thereby causing retaliatory acts? "The terrorists in Israel fire rockets. Palestine fights back. Some innocent people get killed on both sides. Palestanians feel terrible when this happens. But it's not Palestine's fault. Palestine is fighting in self defense." Good job, that was a great loop of a sentence. (FYI I think the 120 vs 5 number matches the previous sentence more. ;))
Original Discussion: Israelis Sue Government For Laser Cannons
Rating: Flamebait.
This rating is Unfair Fair | See Context

please... dogs people
by - on Tuesday April 08, @08:23PM (#23007238)
if you live in a society where there are dogs

Dogs are not necessary, nor particularly useful in our society. Children, however are 100% required for the perpetuation of the human race.
the default should be that if you wish to bring a wild (or a domesticated wild) animal into our society, it is your responsibility to conroll it. The whole reason we built walls, then cities was to keep filthy animals from killing us. It is insane to insinuate that because you have chosen to bring a beast into this human society, that the rest of the humans should accomidate you by learning the beast's behaviors, quirks, and psychology.

Don't get me wrong, I take personal responsibility to teach myself and my children to deal with other people's borderline narcissistic need to train animals to serve them, but the responsibility that comes with bringing an unpredictible animal into society still rests squarely on the shoulders of the person who has opted to negate the reason why we have society and let in the beast. Sure I teach my kids, but if you brought your animal into society, you are the one that played the first losing card in the blame game.
Original Discussion: Cylons Are ... ?
Rating: Insightful.
This rating is Unfair Fair | See Context

It was a little off-topic for the FA but on-topic for the comment it was responding to. It showed the kind of intelligence often lacking in many slashdot comments these disenlightened days.

Re:Responses
by - on Saturday April 12, @10:24AM (#23046478)
If DISH network has corrected the problem with a new software download, why do they need to pursue this to the US Supreme Court?

It would seem that it is SOP for a manufacturer to EOL a piece of equipment. Tell the users they need to upgrade. There will be some gnashing of teeth, some users will flee, but if the new product is better... Some people need a shove to move on.

Having said that, I would be pissed off if someone told me I had to abandon a perfectly functional piece of kit and upgrade. I sure a community of terrorists that have hacked their own distro of Linux onto it to maintain functionality could be found. Someone would do it because they could.

Any idea how this affects Bell Express Vue in Canada? I notice about 3 months ago we received new software that did more things that were TIVO like. Record all eps, record all new eps, priorities and so on...
Original Discussion: TiVo Patent Victory Over Dish Network Upheld
Rating: Interesting.
This rating is Unfair Fair | See Context

Wonder if they are afraid to start their own cars?
by - on Monday April 14, @04:13PM (#23068706)
Just imagine walking out to your car in the morning, getting in, turning the key, and kaboom!
Original Discussion: Eco-Marathon Team Hits 2,843 mpg
Rating: Funny.
This comment is Unfunny Funny | See Context

I have no idea where that comment could possibly have come from. Kaboom? Why would an eco-friendly car explode? It's not like this contest was held in Iraq! A non-eco-friendly car, holding more fuel, would be far more likely to explode.

Maybe I'm stupid but I didn't get the (woosh) joke.

Chose what you like better
by - on Wednesday April 16, @05:52AM (#23087536)
I'd probably go for the liberal arts college. You'll meet some interesting people, have a good life for a while and probably get a better education if the groups are small anyway. You can always go to MIT for your masters. I'd also not discount the value of theory. I've always prefered hiring the math student with some programming knowledge over the CS student who took all the Java classes.
--
Think inside the box!
Original Discussion: For CS Majors, How Important Is the "Where?"
Rating: Interesting.
This rating is Unfair Fair | See Context

Re:I don't think that...
by - on Sunday April 20, @09:48PM (#23138202)
Get real, the only damage done to the project was via corporate marketdroids. As soon as it was obvious that the OLPC was a threat to corporate profits in school computer sales and overt attack campaign was launched via web trolls.

The underlying reality is the OPLC had to get out there as soon as it good, so that it be refined, and continue to develop, a continuing process. Along the way, there will always be for profit corporations who see the OLPC as nothing more but a source of profits and seek to take shortcuts and cheat the concept in order to increase profits.

For many countries, the ideal school notebook should be locally manufactured, as part of the education and development process. This is also necessary to ensure reliable supply in the event of any disruptive issues be that natural or man made disasters. For every child to have a notebook consistent supply becomes very important and the OLPC project as an open development process does teach a lot of lessons.

Of course the attacks on OLPC by various parties, also teaches other lessons, that corporate greed knows no bounds and billionaires remain greedy no matter how much money they have.

--
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Original Discussion: Widespread Keyboard Failures on OLPC's XO-1
Rating: Interesting.
This rating is Unfair Fair | See Context

christian science?
by - on Monday May 05, @05:38PM (#23305234)
Christian Science?...zzzt....bing!...rrrr....does not compute!!!!
Original Discussion: War Brewing on the Inexpensive Laptop Front
Rating: Troll.
This rating is Unfair Fair | See Context

I didn't metamoderate this one, and left it alone. The author was clearly trying for "funny" but failing miserably at it. He was clearly not troilling, either. But a great many scientists ARE Christians (and Bhuddists and Muslims etc). There is nothing anti-science about religion, and there is nothing anti-religion about science. Sceince and religion (and philosophy) answer entirely different questions. "Thou shalt not fuck thy neighbor's wife" has no meaning to science, and E-MC2 has no meaning in religion. You might well ask "which is redder, white or black?"

Offtopic Update 5/8/8
Newton wasn't the first to say "if I see farther than other men, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants" although the quote is often (usually?) attributed to him.

In the last couple of days I saw two "fair use" uses of Newton's "stolen" phrase in slashdot sigs, one funny and the next both funny and ironic. If I see many more of them I'll excise this update and make a whole journal out of it.

"If I have seen farther than other men, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars"

"If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of Giants"

penguin-geek writes "Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered a way to ease the tension between ISPs and P2P users. As we all know, there's been a growing tension between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and their customers' P2P file-sharing services, and this has driven service providers to forcefully reduce P2P traffic at the expense of unhappy subscribers and the risk of government investigations. Recently, some ISPs have tried to fix the problem through partnerships with certain P2P applications. The Ono project represents an alternative solution: a software service that allows P2P clients to efficiently identify nearby peers, without requiring any kind of cozy relationship between ISPs and P2P users. Using results collected from over 150,000 users, they have found that their system locates peers along paths that have two orders of magnitude lower latency and 30% lower loss rates than those picked at random by BitTorrent, and that these high-quality paths can lead to significant improvements in transfer rates. In challenged settings where peers are overloaded in terms of available bandwidth, Ono provides a 31% average download-rate improvement; in environments with large available bandwidth, Ono increases download rates by 207% on average (and improves median rates by 883%). Ono is available as a plugin for the Azureus BitTorrent client, an open tracker and an standalone service you can integrate into any P2P system."

An anonymous reader writes "InfoWeek has posted an open-source OS comparison. Linux Shootout: 7 Desktop Distros Compared pits openSUSE, Ubuntu 8.4, PCLinuxOS, Mandriva Linux One, Fedora, SimplyMEPIS, and CentOS 5.1 against each other. And the winner is ... Ubuntu. Author Serdar Yegulalp writes: 'Ubuntu 8.4 remains one of the best desktop distributions for many good reasons: it works with almost any hardware you throw at it, and has tons of features for both existing Linux users and prospective converts from Windows.' He also gave openSUSE points for ease of use on the desktop, and Mandriva kudos for ease of administration."

KentuckyFC writes "Water is the most abundant solid material in space. But although astronomers see it on planets, moons, in comets and in interstellar clouds, nobody has been able to show how it forms. In theory, it should form easily when oxygen and atomic hydrogen meet. The problem is that there is not enough of it floating around as gas in interstellar dust clouds. So instead, the thinking is that water must form when atomic hydrogen interacts with frozen solid oxygen on the surface of dust grains in these clouds. Now Japanese astronomers have demonstrated this process for the first time in the lab in conditions that simulate interstellar space. That's cool because all the water in the solar system, including almost every drop you drink on Earth today, must have formed in exactly this way more than 5 billion years ago in a pre-solar dustcloud (abstract)."

Marco Trezzini writes "View exclusive interactive samples of the digital building blocks behind the Speed Racer movie in VRMag's in-depth interviews with award-winning Matrix visual FX guru John Gaeta, Dennis Martin, Lubo Hristov, and Jake Morrison. Including Virtual Reality panoramas of the movie locations, turn tables of the mach 5 and 6, and many making of videos unveiling the secrets of the visual effects. Link to 'Speed Racer uncovered' and to John Gaeta's interview." The first time I saw the trailer for this movie, my jaw hit the floor. Nobody makes live action "Cartoons" that look like this. I guess that makes me believe there is no way the movie can be good.