el_monkeyo - Slashdot User

Submission + - Russia tests "penetrating" ICBM

Submitted by Adambomb on Tuesday May 29, 2007 @05:12PM

Adambomb writes: The International Herald and others have reported that Russia has tested a new ICBM specifically designed to trump anti-missile systems. Perspectives may vary depending on individual political experience, but definitely food for thought.

Submission + - The Power of Lightning

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Thursday May 10, 2007 @09:15AM

Anonymous Coward writes: "In the mid 1990's I worked with a friend at a laboratory in Philadelphia. He was head of IT and I was a tech writer. On a stormy July night we were cruising down the main highway into the city and saw the sky lit up with spectacular lightning bolts everywhere. We looked at each other and said "Wow" or something like that. The next morning we saw the power of lightning. It all started when we tried to open the lab's door with our card swipe — it was dead. So we pulled out a key and opened the door — the lights were out and the security system was dead. Moving further into the building we found the computer driven phone system was dead too — if fact there were some melted circuits in the closet. But what literally blew us away was the UNISYS server in the office — both side metal doors were blown off and lying three feet away. The circuit boards resembled melted plastic (did I forget to mention the smell?) — there was no fire so we were lucky there. The tape that had been in the tape drive looked like melted goo pouring out the front. It was truly spectacular to look at. So we inspected the rest of the building and suspected lightning had a hand in this but it could have been a surge (we did have surge protection but that has its limits). We ended up on the roof and noticed the roof was covered with tiny bits of white plastic like snow. Then my friend said "Where's the alarm company antenna?" It turned out that it had shattered in a lightning hit and the alarm company had neglected to ground the antenna. Anyone else experience the power of lightning in the IT world?"

Submission + - The search for dark matter and dark energy

Submitted by mlimber on Monday March 12, 2007 @10:42AM

mlimber writes: The New York Times Magazine has a lengthy, popular article on dark matter and dark energy, discussing the past, present, and future: 'Astronomers now realize that dark matter probably involves matter that is nonbaryonic ["meaning that it doesn't consist of the protons and neutrons of 'normal' matter"]. And whatever it is that dark energy involves, we know it's not "normal," either. In that case, maybe this next round of evidence will have to be not only beyond anything we know but also beyond anything we know how to know.'

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