Comment: Common misconception (Score 0, Redundant) 478
The immaculate conception refers not to the virgin birth of Jesus, but to the conception of Mary without original sin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception
Comment: Re:They need a proofer (Score 1) 321
No kidding. The show had a ways to come back after starting on that note.
Comment: Cape Town (Score 1) 157
I stayed at the Breakwater Lodge in Cape Town, SA. They were charging ~$10/hour.
Comment: Re:"antivax" people (Score 1) 416
My 3 year old and 11 month old were both diagnosed with atypical chicken pox, today. The doctor told me that the 3 year old's vaccine prevented them from being about 50 times worse (in terms of number of rashes, severity of symptoms & fever, etc). He also immediately ordered the vaccine for the younger one, as it has a proven benefit if given immediately after diagnosis. So I'll go ahead and recommend that you give your hypothetical kid the vaccine.
As an aside, the doctor was asking about where they could have picked it up. I mentioned that they had recently started at a new daycare. The doctor immediately remarked that it was probably an un-vaccinated classmate. So, once again, I recommend you vaccinate your hypothetical kid. If not for your own kid, then for everyone else's.
As an aside, the doctor was asking about where they could have picked it up. I mentioned that they had recently started at a new daycare. The doctor immediately remarked that it was probably an un-vaccinated classmate. So, once again, I recommend you vaccinate your hypothetical kid. If not for your own kid, then for everyone else's.
Comment: Re:The Sun (Score 2, Informative) 377
This is incorrect. Saturn's rings are clearly visible in my 2.5" telescope. Banding is visible on Jupiter if the moon is down and seeing is good.
Also, the brightest moons will be clearly visible for both planets.
Comment: Acronyms... (Score 3, Informative) 155
Not mentioned in the summary or the first two linked articles is what ACTA actually is.
It stands for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement
M.U.L.E. Is Back 110
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the not-for-the-red-wings dept.
from the not-for-the-red-wings dept.
jmp_nyc writes "The developers at Turborilla have remade the 1983 classic game M.U.L.E. The game is free, and has slightly updated graphics, but more or less the same gameplay as the original version. As with the original game, up to four players can play against each other (or fewer than four with AI players taking the other spots). Unlike the original version, the four players can play against each other online. For those of you not familiar with M.U.L.E., it was one of the earliest economic simulation games, revolving around the colonization of the fictitious planet Irata (Atari spelled backwards). I have fond memories of spending what seemed like days at a time playing the game, as it's quite addictive, with the gameplay seeming simpler than it turns out to be. I'm sure I'm not the only Slashdotter who had a nasty M.U.L.E. addiction back in the day and would like a dose of nostalgia every now and then."
Comment: Re:96 pixels wide by 128 pixels tall (Score 5, Informative) 102
I'd guess it uses a spinning mirror.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FiR2rGv7i4
Comment: Re:G-forces ???? (Score 1) 384
From the article, they acknowledged that this would be unsuitable for cargoes sensitive to high G-forces. They suggested that rocket fuel would be a suitable payload.
Comment: Re:Orbiting the moon is exceptionally difficult (Score 2, Insightful) 186
While that sounds pretty good, I'm fairly certain from a logical standpoint the odds of impacting the moon are as good or worse than the odds of leaving orbit and flying out into space. (Especially with the low gravity levels of the moon.)
I'm less than certain. Intersecting with the Moon would only require changes in ellipticity, whereas causing the satellite to become unbound would require a considerable increase in the satellite's kinetic energy.
Comment: Re:CO2 cartridges to break earth's orbit? (Score 1) 208
That's a neat thought, but how are you planning on communicating with your experiment once it gets out into deep space?
Comment: PUFF? (Score 1) 211
There's a nice bit of software called PUFF that was written at Caltech. It is available as an MS-DOS binary, which you can run on XP or Mac through DOSBox. Also, on the PUFF website they report that the source code comes with the program, and some have had success in compiling it for Linux.
Unfortunately, you can't buy the software directly. Some textbooks come packaged with it, though. I can recommend the Rutledge book as a nice overview of lab electronics.