Comment Axe Cop (Score 1) 372
Axe Cop, the stories of a 5-year-old through the pen of his 30-year-old brother.
Submission + - Mozilla Ponders Major Firefox UI Refresh (computerworld.com) 1
CWmike writes: "Mozilla is working on a revamp of Firefox to synchronize its various versions — desktop, tablet, phone and Windows 8 Metro — into a single visual style, according to documents posted by members of its user interface (UI) design team. The project, which does not have a name, and the earlier blending of Mozilla's mobile and desktop design groups, is meant to bring more coherence to the various versions of the open-source browser. 'One of our major goals for the year [is] getting Firefox to feel more like one product — more 'Firefoxy' — across all our platforms, desktop to tablet to phone,' Madhava Enro of the Mozilla UI design team, said in a post to his personal blog on Tuesday. Enro posted a slideshow he and others used the week before to present their proposals at a company get-together. According to the presentation, some UI elements will be shared across all Firefox editions, among them a lean toward 'softer texture' and smoother curves in the design."
Submission + - Intel Officially Lifts The Veil On Ivy Bridge (tomshardware.com)
zackmerles writes: Tom's Hardware takes the newly-released top of the line Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770K for a spin. All Core i7 Ivy Bridge CPUs come with Intel HD Graphics 4000, which despite the DirectX 11 support, only provides a modest boost to the Sandy Bridge Intel HD Graphics 3000. However, the new architecture tops the charts for low power consumption, which should make the Ivy Bridge mobile offerings more desirable. In CPU performance, the new Ivy Bridge Core i7 is only marginally better than last generation's Core i7-2700K. Essentially, Ivy Bridge is not the fantastic follow-up to Sandy Bridge that many enthusiasts had hoped for, but an incremental improvement. In the end, those desktop users who decided to skip Sandy Bridge to hold out for Ivy Bridge, probably shouldn't have. On the other hand, since Intel priced the new Core i7-3770K and Core i5-3570K the same as their Sandy Bridge counterparts, there is no reason to purchase the previous generation chips.
Submission + - The Scientific Method Versus Scientific Evidence In The Courtroom (litigationandtrial.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A few months back, the National Research Council and the Federal Judicial Center published the Third Edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, the primary guide for federal judges in the United States trying to evaluate scientific evidence. One chapter in particular, “How Science Works,” written by David Goodstein (Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at CalTech), has raised the issue of how judges should see science in the courtroom: should they look at science to see if it matches our idealized view of the scientific method, or should they consider the realities of science, where people advocate for their own theories far more than they question them?
Submission + - Scientists Say Spread Of Schmallenberg Virus Is "Warning To Europe" (ibtimes.com)
redletterdave writes: "The outbreak of a new livestock disease in western Europe last year, particularly harmful to offspring, could move further into areas surrounding the worst affected countries in the next cycle of new births, scientists say. The Schmallenberg virus — named after the German town where it was first detected in November — infected sheep and cows on at least 2,600 farms in eight EU countries last year, most likely between August and October. Thought to have been spread for hundreds of miles across Europe by biting midges and warm late summer winds, the virus has since been confirmed in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Spain and Britain. It is particularly harmful to the offspring of animals infected during early pregnancy, resulting in stillbirths and malformations such as brain deformities, twisted spines and locked joints.with the return of summer and biting midges to Europe, there is a risk that Schmallenberg will spread to unexposed livestock in areas surrounding the previous infection zones, including Austria, Switzerland, Poland and the Czech Republic."
Comment All Due Credit (Score 3, Informative) 35
Josh wanted to make sure a couple of credits were given out that didn't make it into the video.
- The Unicorn design is from deviantART user Kholran.
- The crossbow design is from Chris Barnardo.
Comment Re:Fix login so I can use my account (Score 1) 410
Write me with your info and I can help you out. rrozeboom@geek.net
Comment Re:GOD DAMN IT, THIS IS WHY I AVOID REDDIT! (Score 3, Interesting) 410
Nobody removed or banned you for "stating a dislike of the USA gun laws." If you'd like you can mail me your username or uid and I can take a look, (assuming something really did happen to your account and your not just trolling.)
Comment Re:A bit late for April Fools, isn't it? (Score 4, Informative) 410
The comment abuse flag is just a way to more quickly catch robo-trolls and spammers. We do ban spammers, but as long as you're not trying to sell shoes, handbags, pills, or treasure maps you have nothing to worry about. On second thought, I probably won't ban you if you're trying to sell treasure maps.
Submission + - Ask /.: are home drones a possibility ?
dargaud writes: "I live in an alpine setting and I'd like to be able to remotely view various remote valleys to check for ice formations for winter climbing. I wonder if there are cheap drones that could do that. Requirements would be: GPS guided on a preset route (no remote control necessary, and anyway there's no line of sight), at least 20km autonomy, 1 or 2 cameras on the sides to record valley walls, easy launching and autonomous landing (parachute?) at predefined point, ground detection to avoid crashes (if preset route is wrong or GPS echoes on valley walls as is often the case). Is there anything commercially available cheap enough, or any DIY that doesn't require a year of assembly ?"
Submission + - Borat's Swimsuit Cited as Prior Art in Patent Rejection (hollywoodreporter.com)
eldavojohn writes: Although Slashdot has been known to conjure up a lot of claims of prior art in software patents, Sacha Baron Cohen (or his alias "Borat") appears to be a pioneer in "scrotal support garments" featuring the latest technologies in his movies years before the patent applications flow. Another commentator points out that prior art can come from non-traditional sources but anyone familiar with old sci-fi knows that some of the worst fictional plots can be adorned with amazingly inventive tools and devices. Of course the applicant, Donald R. Quinn, has requested extra time before this rejection becomes final. Perhaps he will revise the design to additionally loop around the neck or simply sling around the ears instead of shoulders?
Submission + - Global Manhunt Using Social Media (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader writes: CNET just published an article (http://cnet.co/GLohig) about a new challenge to photograph 5 target individuals in 5 different cities on March 31st. Target mobility means this will be much harder than the DARPA Red Balloon Challenge which was won by MIT (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10410403-93.html). The winner of the MIT team has set up a team (crowdscanner.net) to tackle the Tag Challenge.
Comment Re:Use forums instead (Score 3, Informative) 429
It means that I can more quickly mod down the most egregious trolls (GNAA, goatse.cx, that sort of thing), and ban spammer accounts that get reported. The abuse report it generates is really good at finding spammers, but is unfortunately filled with a lot of comments other readers don't like. This one for example. Contrary to some opinions we won't delete your comments or mod you down if we don't like your tone. You're perfectly free to have your opinion and express your views, (yes even the paranoid ones.) We like it that way.
Submission + - Is Onlive pirating Windows and will it cost them? (extremetech.com)
An anonymous reader writes: When Onlive, the network gaming company, started offering not just Microsoft Windows but Microsoft Office for free on the iPad, and now on Android, it certainly seemed too good to be true. Speculation abounded on what type of license they could be using to accomplish this magical feat. From sifting through Microsoft’s licenses and speaking with sources very familiar with them, the ugly truth may be that they can’t.
Submission + - Embattled scientists publish study linking diesel exhaust and cancer (nature.com)
ananyo writes: A landmark study involving US miners that links cancer rates to diesel fume exposure has been published after a seventeen-year legal battle with an industry group (http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/03/embattled-scientists-publish-miner-cancer-study.html). A 27 February slashdot story had reported that lawyers for the mining industry had sent threatening letters to scientific journals advising them against publishing the study (http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/02/27/1340237/lawyers-for-mining-companies-threaten-scientific-journals).
Initiated in 1998, after the first of many legal delays, the study analyzed exposures in detail for more than 12,000 workers while controlling for smoking and other risk factors. In the end, the scientists found that miners faced a threefold risk of lethal lung cancer, and underground workers who were heavily exposed to diesel fumes faced a fivefold risk. The two concluding papers from the study are available in full here (http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/jnci/press_releases/silvermandjs034.pdf) and here (http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/jnci/press_releases/silvermandjs034.pdf) (PDF).
Initiated in 1998, after the first of many legal delays, the study analyzed exposures in detail for more than 12,000 workers while controlling for smoking and other risk factors. In the end, the scientists found that miners faced a threefold risk of lethal lung cancer, and underground workers who were heavily exposed to diesel fumes faced a fivefold risk. The two concluding papers from the study are available in full here (http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/jnci/press_releases/silvermandjs034.pdf) and here (http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/jnci/press_releases/silvermandjs034.pdf) (PDF).
