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Operating Systems

Linux Mint 15 'Olivia' Release Candidate Is Out 117

Posted by Soulskill
from the onward-and-upward dept.
New submitter Anand Radhakrishnan writes "The release candidate for the much-anticipated Linux Mint 15 'Olivia' is available for user testing. Its many new features include Cinnamon Control center, an improved login manager with HTML 5 support, a driver manager, and a lot of under-the-hood improvements. 'A new tool called MintSources, aka "Software Sources," was developed from scratch with derivative distributions in mind (primarily Linux Mint, but also LMDE, Netrunner and Snow Linux). It replaces software-properties-gtk and is perfectly adapted to managing software sources in Linux Mint. From the main screen you can easily enable or disable optional components and gain access to backports, unstable packages and source code.' This release with Cinnamon looks really tempting."

Comment: Are they really missing the mark? (Score 1) 344

by NeveRBorN (#43278969) Attached to: The ATF Not Concerned About 3D Printed Guns... Yet

Where ATF is missing the mark is that these printed guns are already good enough for the planned murder or bank hold up, hijacking, etc, where getting off one or two rounds is all the perp is interested in.

Or did their response mistakenly give us more information than they intended. From their response I'm led to believe that their primary concern isn't included in your list. I might be wrong, but I think they're at last smart enough to realize that untraceable, printed guns would be more likely to be used in these cases. So what does that tell us about their focus?

Comment: COPPA is ridiculous in the first place. (Score 3, Interesting) 134

by NeveRBorN (#43220999) Attached to: Stricter COPPA Laws Coming In July

As the father of a daughter who will be 13 in less than a week, I can say that COPPA was ridiculous in the first place. Like so many laws and regulations in place today, it provides nothing but the illusion of security. To those who believe it accomplished something... Sorry, but you've been had. Your kids likely have every account imaginable and because you're so naive you don't have a clue. Not only that, but because of the restrictions, your kids have been missing out on really good opportunities that they otherwise may have had.

Sadly because of COPPA, we haven't seen many services developed geared towards kids. Our children are likely missing out on huge educational opportunities simply due to the fact that providing internet services to them is such a pain in the ass. Frankly, it pisses me off because in my opinion, the government should have no say over what I allow my daughter to share online. Policing her is my job as her father, not yours. Knowing what I need to know to do so is also my problem. If I were to choose not to, that would be my own problem.

Comment: Documentation Vs. Specific Examples (Score 1) 418

In my experience, the answers on Stack Overflow are examples of a particular usage, instead of documentation of the usage of a particular function or class. The MSDN documentation serves it's purpose when you specifically need to know how something works, but Stack Overflow functions much better when you need to know what to use to accomplish a specific task.

What would you expect Microsoft do? Preconceive every possible use of the .Net framework, and create examples for everything? Of course not, and this is why the crowd sourced approach works so well for this instead. It must be far more efficient to pool mental power when it is needed, and answer specific questions with example.

Science

+ - Fermilab prepares for a future of muons->

Submitted by ananyo
ananyo writes "At Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, protons were always the primary particles, coursing through the circular tracks of the the Tevatron, which until 2009 was the highest energy collider in the world. But there's a new particle making the rounds at the Batavia, Illinois campus: the muon, a heavy but short-lived cousin of the electron — interesting both for its usefulness in testing the Standard Model, as well as potentially being used someday in a powerful colliderLink text.
On 19 September, the lab announced that the US Energy Department (DOE) had granted the $40 million experiment “mission need” approval, a first step towards eventual funding. Last month, a second muon experiment, called Mu2e and priced at $200 million, received a second stage blessing from the DOE.
The g-2 experiment will focus on an anomaly in the spin rate of a muon within a magnetic field, which some theorists believe is evidence that supersymmetry could resolve problems in the Standard Model. Meanwhile, the Mu2e experiment, which aims to begin taking data in 2019, will sift through many trillions of muons to see if any happen to spontaneously morph into their cousins, the electron — something that is almost entirely forbidden under the Standard Model."
Link to Original Source
Security

Radioactive Tool Goes Missing In Texas 163

Posted by samzenpus
from the where'd-I-put-that? dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Oil-field service companies lower radioactive units into wells to let workers identify places to break apart rock for a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which frees oil and natural gas. Now Bloomberg reports that Halliburton workers have discovered that a lock on the container used to transport one such device has gone missing, along with the unit, after employees drove a truck from a site near Peco to a well south of Odessa and while the loss of radioactive rods occurs from time to time, it has been years since a device with americium-241/beryllium, the material in Halliburton's device, was misplaced in Texas. NRC spokeswoman Maureen Conley says the material would have to be in someone's physical possession for several hours for it to be considered harmful as teams comb the route between the two wellsites searching for the seven-inch tube, which is clearly marked with the words 'DANGER RADIOACTIVE' as well as a radiation warning symbol, "Halliburton strongly cautions members of the public that if they locate this source, they should not touch or handle it, stay a minimum of 25 feet away," and contact local law enforcement or the company's emergency hotline if they find the cylinder, says the company which is also offering a reward for information about the tube's whereabouts."

A committee is a life form with six or more legs and no brain. -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough For Love"

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