Comment: imagine that (Score 4, Funny) 212
An astronaut and a rock star! Hope he doesn't try to run for Prime Minister next, that would be a downgrade.
Comment: Re:Not the only oddity. (Score 1, Offtopic) 212
Capitalism? We haven't seen that on this planet for quite some time. Plenty of corporatism to go around though.
Comment: Re:Mission Accomplished (Score 3, Insightful) 212
DMCA only applies to Earth and one small part on it.
Comment: what day is it (Score 1) 591
I had to check the date to see if it was April 1. Nope...
Comment: freedom lost (Score 5, Insightful) 166
If they hated us for our freedoms, we must be pretty well liked by now.
Comment: Better stock up now (Score 1) 217
Make sure you have at least 4 days of food and water on hand.
+ - Mike Smith (Bubbles) leading the Race for Space
Submitted
by
reovirus1
reovirus1 writes "Mike Smith, the character Bubbles on the Canadian TV show Trailer Park Boys is leading the
Race for Space
contest that will send one lucky reader into space. Throughout the series, Bubbles often talks about his love for space and his lifelong desire to become a spaceman someday, but his poor eyesight has always prevented him from even owning a drivers license. Its a fictional show obviously, but Bubbles desire to go to space on the show was actually born out of my love of space and rocketry. It has been a hobby of mine since I was 5 years old. If I win this chance to go to space, I intend to shoot a documentary of the entire process leading up to the flight, in hopes of inspiring a new generation of young people to become involved in space exploration."
Race for Space
contest that will send one lucky reader into space. Throughout the series, Bubbles often talks about his love for space and his lifelong desire to become a spaceman someday, but his poor eyesight has always prevented him from even owning a drivers license. Its a fictional show obviously, but Bubbles desire to go to space on the show was actually born out of my love of space and rocketry. It has been a hobby of mine since I was 5 years old. If I win this chance to go to space, I intend to shoot a documentary of the entire process leading up to the flight, in hopes of inspiring a new generation of young people to become involved in space exploration."
Comment: If you could have anything you wanted... (Score 3, Interesting) 318
If the president came to you and said, "We have a national emergency. We need this to become a viable form of energy as soon as possible. You have the entire resources of the nation available. I will use my executive powers to make it happen. Whatever resources, funding and people you need..."
What kinds of things would you ask for? How long with the entire backing of a nation and the political will to make it happen would it take?
Comment: Patent issues? (Score 1) 318
Do you find yourself hamstrung by patent issues? Are there approaches you would like to take that are just not worth pursuing because existing patents would get in the way?
Big Brother In the School Cafeteria? 425
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the getting-an-A-in-cafeteria dept.
from the getting-an-A-in-cafeteria dept.
AustinSlacker writes "An Iowa school district's lunch program asks children as young as 5 years old to memorize a four-digit PIN code so it can monitor what they eat in the school cafeteria - prompting some parents to claim it's an unhealthy case of 'Big Brother.' An over reaction by parents or an unnecessary invasion of privacy?"
Anti-Product Placement For Negative Branding 130
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the touch-of-death dept.
from the touch-of-death dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Product placement to promote your brand just isn't enough any more. These days, apparently, some companies are resorting to anti-product placement in order to get competitors' products in the hands of 'anti-stars.' The key example being Snooki from Jersey Shore, who supposedly is being sent handbags by companies... but the bags being sent are of competitors' handbags as a way to avoid Snooki carrying their own handbag, and thus potentially damaging their brand."
Comment: Re:Selling horse that doesn't look too good (Score 1) 483
This has worked well for the last three years at two different companies across a number of projects.
1) Break the project into features/stories/usecases (whatever you want to call them). Features should be as small as possible but large enough to still offer business value. The customer would say with this deployed, I can now solve a problem or acheive a goal with the system that I that I couldn't before.
2) Only give estimates in terms of complexity points: 1 point - I've done this before, its a fairly simple thing. I'm confident it won't grow in scope 3 points - Not too much unknown, a bit of new thinking involved, more than a trivial feature but not something you'd lose sleep over 5 points - pretty big chunk of work, fairly complex, fair amount of unknowns 8 points - too big to estimate or even make an educated guess about, try to break these into separate features
3) Do a couple of months of work and see how many points you get Done. Done means the users have tried it out and would sign off on the features being ready for production. In production is an even better point to measure done at.
4) Calculate how many points you can now commit to for the next given period based on read data. At this point, you are probably ready to provide fairly decent estimates. You will find that your notion of what is complex or not won't change much over time. That's why this this method works.
5) Get your customers to define what it will take to sign off on the feature up front. Don't talk in terms of solutions, but in terms of solved business problems or achievable business goals. The how and the details are to be worked out durring development and with the end users and especially the developers creativitity.
1) Break the project into features/stories/usecases (whatever you want to call them). Features should be as small as possible but large enough to still offer business value. The customer would say with this deployed, I can now solve a problem or acheive a goal with the system that I that I couldn't before.
2) Only give estimates in terms of complexity points: 1 point - I've done this before, its a fairly simple thing. I'm confident it won't grow in scope 3 points - Not too much unknown, a bit of new thinking involved, more than a trivial feature but not something you'd lose sleep over 5 points - pretty big chunk of work, fairly complex, fair amount of unknowns 8 points - too big to estimate or even make an educated guess about, try to break these into separate features
3) Do a couple of months of work and see how many points you get Done. Done means the users have tried it out and would sign off on the features being ready for production. In production is an even better point to measure done at.
4) Calculate how many points you can now commit to for the next given period based on read data. At this point, you are probably ready to provide fairly decent estimates. You will find that your notion of what is complex or not won't change much over time. That's why this this method works.
5) Get your customers to define what it will take to sign off on the feature up front. Don't talk in terms of solutions, but in terms of solved business problems or achievable business goals. The how and the details are to be worked out durring development and with the end users and especially the developers creativitity.
Yellowstone Supervolcano Larger Than First Thought 451
Posted
by
timothy
from the even-superer dept.
from the even-superer dept.
drewtheman writes "New studies of the plumbing that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park shows the plume and the magma chamber under the volcano are larger than first thought and contradicts claims that only shallow hot rock exists. University of Utah research professor of geophysics Robert Smith led four separate studies that verify a plume of hot and molten rock at least 410 miles deep that rises at an angle from the northwest."
Comment: Re:2 Years (Score 1) 650
At some point in the next X years this will happen:
E-Vehicle Monthly Lease Rate + Charging Cost + Lower EV Maintenance Rates
will be less than or equal too
Monthly fuel cost + higher maintenance costs of current gas powered vehicles
I think when this happens, it will trigger a lot of people to walk away from gas powered vehicles.
I've already taken the plunge and ride an electric bike to work every day. Its a 60km round trip and faster than car or transit. I get some exercise on it too when I feel like pedalling. I drool at the thought of a battery that would give my bike 600km range!
Comment: Re:He's not really a rogue. (Score 5, Insightful) 237
At the end of the article he sums it up in his own words:
"Here's the thing. I learned that I did my best. I mean, I really tried my best. How many people can say that? I worked hard, and I mean really hard. I worked seven days a week from 8 am until 3 am. Every day. We drilled and drilled all winter when it was dark and the windchill was 80 below. Everyone thought I was crazy. But most people just never do their best, hey. And I did."
Sad that society today would classify this kind of individual as a "rogue".