Comment Re: How are they going to address thieves? (Score 1) 110
Sounds like that delivery would make sparks fly.
Comment Didn't they already have this? (Score 3, Interesting) 253
The Vasa museum is a commemoration of a spectacular failure (and is a good museum). That's naval history rather than modern tech, but the principles are the same.
Comment The true answer (Score 1) 386
Leashes
Comment Obl (Score 1) 130
That's no moon!
Comment Obligatory XKCD (Score 1) 239
Comment Re: frist post (Score 1) 569
Isn't there already a pistol emoji? And for that matter, a bomb emoji?
Right; there we go: from an iPhone: ðY"ðY'£
So what's the issue with a rifle?
Comment Re: Most everybody else does it (Score 1) 64
I remember having stuff like that in the late 80s and early 90s in Utah. I suspect that manufacturers eventually realized they could make more appealing packaging for a small amount of money and dramatically increase sales.
Comment Re: call me heretic (Score 1) 180
I liked it, but it's extremely densely written. That denseness is part of what I like- I found the Bene Gesserit entirely believable, and the details of how the ecosystem worked were fascinating to me. Different strokes for different folks.
Separately, I think the BG "Litany on Fear" is masterful, and I find that useful in my own life.
Scientists To Open Mass-Cloning Factory in China This Year To Clone Cows, Pets, Humans (express.co.uk) 201
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists in China are planning to open a mass-cloning factory by the end of the year. The ambitious and futuristic facility hopes to be mass-producing one million cows every 12 months by 2020. Not only will it clone cattle, but the factory, which will be located in the northern Chinese port of Tianjin, will also cater to more specific needs by genetically engineering police dogs and thoroughbred race horses. It is part of a $21m plan which is backed by the Boyalife group in collaboration with South Korean company Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.
13-Year-Old Linux Dispute Returns As SCO Files New Appeal (theinquirer.net) 233
An anonymous reader quotes a report from THE INQUIRER: Now-defunct Unix vendor, which claimed that Linux infringed its intellectual property and sought as much as $5 billion in compensation from IBM, has filed notice of yet another appeal in the 13-year-old dispute. The appeal comes after a ruling at the end of February when SCO's arguments claiming intellectual property ownership over parts of Unix were rejected by a U.S. district court. That judgment noted that SCO had minimal resources to defend counter-claims filed by IBM due to SCO's bankruptcy.
"It is ordered and adjudged that pursuant to the orders of the court entered on July 10, 2013, February 5, 2016, and February 8, 2016, judgement is entered in favor of the defendant and plaintiff's causes of action are dismissed with prejudice," stated the document. Now, though, SCO has filed yet again to appeal that judgement, although the precise grounds it is claiming haven't yet been disclosed.
Scientist Claims There's Even More Evidence of Planet Nine's Existence (theverge.com) 141
An anonymous reader cites an article on The Verge: More evidence is pointing toward a mysterious Neptune-sized planet lurking at the outer edges of our Solar System. One of the scientists who claimed in January to have found strong evidence for a ninth planet -- temporarily named 'Planet Nine' -- now says there are even more clues that support the world's existence. Mike Brown, a planetary astronomer at Caltech University, originally concluded that Planet Nine most likely exists after studying the behaviors of six objects in the Kuiper Belt -- the large cloud of icy bodies that orbit the Sun beyond Neptune. Now Brown is claiming that another Kuiper Belt object supports his theory. The object shares some of the same behavior as the other six Kuiper Belt bodies, suggesting it has also been pushed by a large planet that is between 200 and 1,200 times the distance from the Sun to Earth.
Intel Says It Will Move Away From 'Tick-Tock' Development Cycle 124
An anonymous reader writes: In its latest annual report, Intel says that it will be moving away from its decade-old "tick-tock" strategy (PDF) for developing new chips. From the company's 10-K filing, "We expect to lengthen the amount of time we will utilize our 14nm and our next generation 10nm process technologies, further optimizing our products and process technologies while meeting the yearly market cadence for product introductions." Anand Tech's Ian Cutress explains, "Intel's Tick-Tock strategy has been the bedrock of their microprocessor dominance of the last decade. Throughout the tenure, every other year Intel would upgrade their fabrication plants to be able to produce processors with a smaller feature set, improving die area, power consumption, and slight optimizations of the microarchitecture, and in the years between the upgrades would launch a new set of processors based on a wholly new (sometimes paradigm shifting) microarchitecture for large performance upgrades. However, due to the difficulty of implementing a 'tick', the ever decreasing process node size and complexity therein, as reported previously with 14nm and the introduction of Kaby Lake, Intel's latest filing would suggest that 10nm will follow a similar pattern as 14nm by introducing a third stage to the cadence."
Biological Supercomputers Powered By ATP Could Be A Reality Some Day (dispatchtribunal.com) 66
hypnosec writes: Our cells are powered by Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and according to a new study, they could be a power source for the next generation of biological supercomputers capable of processing information very quickly and accurately using parallel networks in the same way that massive electronic super computers do. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the paper describes a model of biological computer that is effectively a very complex network in a very small area, and is based on a combination of geometrical modeling and engineering know-how (on the nano scale). Researchers involved with the study claim that it is the first step in showing that this kind of biological supercomputer can actually work.
Comment Re:Railroads (Score 1) 124
I don't disagree with anything you said.
I think that the romance of trains vs. planes might be related to how miserable commercial airline travel has become. Of course, it's still cheaper than rail for pretty much any distance, so perhaps you get what you pay for?
