Comment: Re:Can they try using it to find razors? (Score 1) 112
> not all of us have forgotten the debt we owe to Lafayette.
Sure ! Without him you would probably all still speak english.
Comment: Re:Why not use dogs? (Score 1) 239
Metal detectors can't detect ceramic knives, can they ?
I don't know if ceramic guns exist, they probably do, but I know for sure ceramic knives cut for real, and have no need to be sharpened.
Comment: Re:Challenger (Score 0, Offtopic) 133
Comment: Re:wait, what? (Score 2, Informative) 446
It is an environmental problem because natural forests are ruined to grow different kinds of trees which are easier to transform into paper. This is also an environmental problem because the paper industry uses and certainely rejects a lot of chemical products in order for your paper to be white (mostly).
<shameless plug="on">
Fortunately, there's always Free Software like http://www.pykota.com/
</shameless>
Comment: Re:why? (Score 2, Informative) 170
Most of what you say I perfectly agree with, in particular audio is the most important. However wrt video I disagree with you : in "some" circumstances, and whatever the subject, having a video is very important.
It seems you and me have done the same sort of work (see my other comment), and from my experience, students who take courses 8 hours a day each day of the week LOVE the video. We did a study and polled them about this very subject : they "feel" teachers consider them more (of course in reality most teachers don't care, but it's not my problem), and the course is less boring than an audio+slides (or shared wb) only setup, so their results "might" (unverified) be improved.
If they only follow one audio only course from time to time, you're right, but for an entirely remote learning year, having the video is a plus.
Comment: Streaming (Score 1) 170
<unashamed_plug>
If you want video streaming with the end user being able to interact, I suggest you give a look at http://boxtream.unice.fr/ it is entirely Free Software and documented hardware.
We coupled it with a Free Software IRC applet at University of Nice to allow remote students to ask questions during courses, creating an end to end (the first one ?) Free Software based interactive courses and conferences streaming solution : all parts from the video encoders, streaming and chat servers, and client sides applets are Free Software.
Feedback is welcome.
<unashamed_plug>
Ocean-Crossing Dragonflies Discovered 95
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the incredible-journey dept.
from the incredible-journey dept.
grrlscientist writes "While living and working as a marine biologist in Maldives, Charles Anderson noticed sudden explosions of dragonflies at certain times of year. He explains how he carefully tracked the path of a plain, little dragonfly called the Globe Skimmer, Pantala flavescens, only to discover that it had the longest migratory journey of any insect in the world."
Hand Written Clock 86
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the up-to-the-minute dept.
from the up-to-the-minute dept.
a3buster writes "This clock does not actually have a man inside, but a flatscreen that plays a 24-hour loop of this video by the artist watching his own clock somewhere and painstakingly erasing and re-writing each minute. This video was taken at Design Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach 2009."
FreeNAS Switching From FreeBSD To Debian Linux 206
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the changing-horses dept.
from the changing-horses dept.
dnaumov writes "FreeNAS, a popular, free NAS solution, is moving away from using FreeBSD as its underlying core OS and switching to Debian Linux. Version 0.8 of FreeNAS as well as all further releases are going to be based on Linux, while the FreeBSD-based 0.7 branch of FreeNAS is going into maintenance-only mode, according to main developer Volker Theile. A discussion about the switch, including comments from the developers, can be found on the FreeNAS SourceForge discussion forum. Some users applaud the change, which promises improved hardware compatibility, while others voice concerns regarding the future of their existing setups and lack of ZFS support in Linux."
Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight 140
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the a-jetwing-and-a-prayer dept.
from the a-jetwing-and-a-prayer dept.
Last year we ran the story of Yves Rossy and his DIY jetwings. Yves spent $190,000 and countless hours building a set of jet-powered wings which he used to cross the English Channel. Rossy's next goal is to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, from Tangier in Morocco and Tarifa on the southwestern tip of Spain. From the article: "Using a four-cylinder jet pack and carbon fibre wings spanning over 8ft, he will jump out of a plane at 6,500 ft and cruise at 130 mph until he reaches the Spanish coast, when he will parachute to earth." Update 18:57 GMT: mytrip writes: "Yves Rossy took off from Tangiers but five minutes into an expected 15-minute flight he was obliged to ditch into the wind-swept waters."