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Debt Collectors Using Facebook To Embarrass Those Who Owe 266

Posted by samzenpus from the pay-up-or-be-unfriended dept.
Not even the tranquility of FarmVille can save you from the long arm of debt collectors. Melanie Beacham says that a collector from MarkOne Financial contacted her relatives about her past due car note via Facebook. She is filing suit alleging that the company is harassing her family. Tampa based consumer attorney Billy Howard of Morgan & Morgan says, "Now Facebook does a debt collectors work for them. Now it's not only family members, it's all of your associates. It's a very powerful tool for debt collectors to use."
Moon

Microwave Map of Entire Moon Revealed 82

Posted by samzenpus from the quickest-route-mode dept.
Zothecula writes "The first complete microwave image of the Moon taken by Chinese lunar satellite Chang'E-1 has been revealed. Chang'E-1 is China's first scientific mission to explore planetary bodies beyond Earth and the on-board Lunar Microwave Radiometer has made it possible for the first time to globally map the Moon in microwave frequencies. Radar observations of the Moon are unable to provide thermal information, and microwave observations taken from Earth cannot reach the far side of the moon. So Chang'E-1's (CE-1) orbit was conducted at an altitude of 200km (124 miles) and allowed it to observe every location of the moon with a nadir view and at high spatial resolution."
Privacy

Big Brother In the School Cafeteria? 425

Posted by samzenpus 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?"
Moon

Why NASA's New Video Game Misses the Point 205

Posted by Soulskill from the if-only-astronauts-could-rocket-jump dept.
longacre writes "Erik Sofge trudges through NASA's latest free video game, which he finds tedious, uninspiring and misguided. Quoting: 'Moonbase Alpha is a demo, of sorts, for NASA's more ambitious upcoming game, Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond, which will feature more destinations, and hopefully less welding. The European Space Agency is developing a similar game, set on the Jovian Moon, Europa. But Moonbase Alpha proves that as a recruiting campaign, or even as an educational tool, the astronaut simulation game is a lost cause. Unless NASA plans to veer into science fiction and populate its virtual moons, asteroids and planets with hostile species, it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to suffer through another minute of pretending to weld power cables back into place, while thousands of miles away, the most advanced explorers ever built are hurtling toward asteroids and dwarf planets and into the heart of the sun. Even if it was possible to build an astronaut game that's both exciting and realistic, why bother? It will be more than a decade before humans even attempt another trip outside of Earth's orbit. If NASA wants to inspire the next generation of astronauts and engineers, its games should focus on the real winners of the space race — the robots.'"
Education

Automated Language Deciphering By Computer AI 109

Posted by samzenpus from the what-about-dwarvish? dept.
eldavojohn writes "Ugaritic has been deciphered by an unaided computer program that relied only on four basic assumptions present in many languages. The paper (PDF) may aid researchers in deciphering eight undecipherable languages (Ugaritic has already been deciphered and proved their system worked) as well as increase the number of languages automated translation sites offer. The researchers claim 'orders of magnitude' speedups in deciphering languages with their new system."
Education

3rd-Grader Busted For Jolly Rancher Possession 804

Posted by samzenpus from the step-away-from-the-candy dept.
theodp writes "A third-grader in a small Texas school district received a week's detention for merely possessing a Jolly Rancher. Leighann Adair, 10, was eating lunch Monday when a teacher confiscated the candy. Her parents said she was in tears when she arrived home later that afternoon and handed them the detention notice. But school officials are defending the sentence, saying the school was abiding by a state guideline that banned 'minimal nutrition' foods. 'Whether or not I agree with the guidelines, we have to follow the rules,' said school superintendent Jack Ellis."
Image

Beaver Dam Visible From Space 286

Posted by samzenpus from the dam-big-job dept.
ygslash writes "The Hoover Dam no longer holds the title of the world's widest dam. Satellite photos of northern Alberta, Canada, show that several families of beavers have apparently joined forces to build a dam 850 meters wide, more than twice as wide as the Hoover Dam."
Image

St. Louis Museum Offers Thrills, Chills, and Lawsuits 140

Posted by samzenpus from the everything-fun-is-dangerous dept.
theodp writes "Despite the whiff of danger, or perhaps because of it, the WSJ reports that the City Museum is one of St. Louis's most popular attractions. Housed in a 10-story brick building, the City Museum shows none of the restraint or quiet typical of most museums. It boasts a five-story jungle gym with two real-life jets kids can climb on, an enclosed Monster Slide that drops riders the length of three staircases, and a rooftop Ferris wheel. Sure, there are the occasional severed fingers and skull fractures, but museum founder Bob Cassilly contends that it is as safe as it can be without being a bore. 'They [lawyers] are taking the fun out of life,' says Cassilly, adding that 'when you have millions of people do something, something's going to happen no matter what you do.'"

Comment Re:14k buys a lot of film. (Score 1) 347

by McFortner (#31980448) Attached to: How To Get 39 Megapixels From a 53-Year-Old Camera
Uh, the Second Law of Thermodynamics basically says that the more energy you put into a system, the faster it falls apart. That's why clay tablets from Babylon are still readable millenia after they were made while your VHS tape of your grandparent's anniversary 30 years ago is a total loss. And how are you going to read those CDs/DVDs/HDs in the computer systems of just a decade or so from now? Just the interface problems alone make it doomed. Can your computer read a 8 inch floppy drive now? How about a 5 1/4 inch? Heck, most modern motherboards can't even support an internal 3 1/2 inch drive, and that is what a lot of photos were stored on just a decade ago. Thanks, but I'll keep my film. It's a lot more stable and archival.

Comment Re:In color? (Score 1) 347

by McFortner (#31980386) Attached to: How To Get 39 Megapixels From a 53-Year-Old Camera

Yes, but that's for 35mm format. You're talking roughly $3 per frame for the developing alone, no prints.

Where are you taking it to get developed? I go to CVS and they develop my C-41 color (no prints) for just $2.99! I haven't checked Wally-World to see how much they charge yet. Heck, you can develop C-41 at home for far less than $3.00 a roll!

Comment Re:14k buys a lot of film. (Score 1) 347

by McFortner (#31980372) Attached to: How To Get 39 Megapixels From a 53-Year-Old Camera
I spent $22 for 10 rolls of Shanghai GP3 120 black and white film just this week. That comes out to... hmmmm.... $2.20 a roll. And I can develop it at home using Caffenol-C for less than $0.25 a roll. Then scan it at 2400 DPI on my scanner and print on my inkjet with the CIS ink system I installed. Way less than $14k for something that has planned obsolescence built into it. And I can archive my negatives and not worry about stray cosmic rays or power glitches taking out my pictures....

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