While Scientific Linux, Centos and RHEL are pervasive in World Large Hardon Collider computing grid (WLCG) and on the local computing clusters involved in LHC computing, Ubuntu isn't.

Full stop.

Ubuntu should get over itself and get back to actually supporting it's users as opposed to shipping half baked software (for example they shipped an early development release of abiword) from debian testing then not updating it even though it's full of bugs and upstream fixes them.

Debian-testing ships development software but it also updates it. This is fine. It is what it says it is. Ubuntu doesn't update, so why ship Debian-testing packages?

He's successful because NL batters have never seen a knuckleball before. Batters need to learn how to get hits off him, but they can't because they won't face him often enough. So he benefits by being a freak just like lefties and sidearms.

I don't think so. If it was just familiarity, catchers would have no trouble with their own pitcher. But catchers often have just as much trouble as the batters.

It's nice to see the pracitioner of a fine skill be successful where traditionally the best pitcher is the one who can throw the fastest (under control of course).

A similar scenario happens in cricker where a great spin bowler can dismantle a team. Until the 1990's bowling in cricket was dominated by extreme speed where the best bowlers could bowl at over 150 Km/Hr. Along comes Shane Warne, considered the 2nd most influential cricketer in the 20th century who bowls at less than 100 Km/Hr but with a wicked spin and fantastic control.

Check out the "Gatting ball" video below for a delivery of pure beauty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOVei8iTyM8

It was Warne's first Test Match delivery in England!

Here it is...

http://www.fosspatents.com/2012/05/judge-says-google-only-used.html

You gotta say that he keeps his end of his Oracle employment contract.

The OLPC project specifically addresses tech support and is included in the budget. Also the software stackis totally different to a standard PC. It is focussed on collaborative learning and is totally open-sourced. It is very different to a standard commercial software distribution with canned teaching.

As many other people have pointed out travelling around the world's oceans with nothing but renewable energy has been done for several centuries now and far faster. The 2009 round the world race was won in 89 days http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vend%C3%A9e_Globe#2008-2009 as opposed to the 2 years required to complete the journey with solar power. There is a reason that wind is almost cost competitive (in some places) with fossil fuels and solar is still a factor 4 times more expensive even in the sunniest climates. The *power density* in a good stiff breeze is substantially greater than the energy density of direct sunlight. It costs money to build structures to concentrate direct sunlight into the kind of power density were used to from hydro, fossil fuels and nuclear.

It really is hard to beat basic Physics.

Whatever you want to call our current society, people have nothing like the controls of a plantation slave in the USA in 1800's for example. You want to move? Move. You don't like your job? Quit it. Don't like your marriage or family? leave them. The State won't stop you. You just have to pay your taxes and obey the laws of the State (which are mostly defined to not harm other people in the state). Try living the life of a plantation slave if you want to know what slavery is.

Can you be totally free and live just exactly how you like? No. That is being human.

Please make an android version. I'll pay for it if it works well.

Thank you.

Back of the envolope calculation follows:

Distance to SN1987a = 1.9x10^5 light years
Distance to M95 = 4x10^7 light years

Ratio of neutrino flux SN1987a / M95 = (1.9/400)^2 = 2.2x10^-5

Number of neutrinos detected at Kamiokanda from SN1987a = 10
Sensitivity of Super-Kamiokanda (Super-K) = 20x that of Kamiokanda

Expected number of nu's from M95 at Super-K = 20x10x2.2x10^-5 = 0.004 :-(

Those 3 things are technologies developed by Experimental Particle Physicists who wanted to test Particle Physics Theory.

Then there is this little thing called the world-wide-web invented by this guy Tim Burners-Lee to enable Particle Physics working at CERN to better collaborate.

Do these spin-offs count to CERN or Particle Physics net economic worth?

WP7 has been on the market for over a year. In that time they've atacted 1.1 million FB users. Further up the thread you see there 99 million IOS FB users and 88 million Android FB users. So WP7 is around 1% of market. Like Linux on the desktop. It has no traction. On the other hand MS has a truck load of money in the bank and will keep on trying.

The orginal 1972 "Blue Marble" showed a beautiful collection of cold front spun up out of antartica. It would be great to get some composite images of the other side the world too.

How would you know it's a good story without reading more than a few chapters?

I think it's a good story because I've read it more than a dozen times.
It is by far my most read book. I don't think I've managed to read another book more than twice.

Whoops it's 15 MW of decay heat after 3 days..