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Comment Re:I may be wrong, Im not an astrologer (Score 1) 333

Its not true that is not measureable. Indeed some of the first (surprisingly accurate) measurements in 1798: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cavendish-lab.jpg And you are quite right that you weigh differentatly depending on whether you are on a mountain or in a valley, but this different isn't quite insignificant. Thats not to say thats the only way the gravitational field changes though (moving further from the centre of the earth. It's something worth looking up).

Comment Re:Theoretical != Real World speeds (Score 1) 248

Hehe. :)

Actually, you may be disappointed if you buy SSDs for the boot speed. HDD manufacturers have done a remarkable job optimizing that. And in the case of an OS like Vista, the benefit from an SSD's low latency is dwarfed by the benefit from an HDD's raw read speed. Those 640GB Caviar drives are apparently one of the fastest booting HDDs/SSDs. (unless you go incredibly high end)

SSDs have been proven enormously helpful for games, though; especially games where you can't possibly store all the textures in memory, such as... Crysis.

I think your post is either terribly misinformed, or you are overstating yourself. I have no idea how can say a 320GB platter drive (and there are 500GB ones now too...) could possibly hope to outperform all but 'incredibly high end' drives. Look at the OCZ Vertex, or G.Skill Falcon (or the supertalent drives etc based on the same controller). The smaller sizes are around the price of a velciraptor (admittedly smaller though, but still large enough for vista + some apps), and they blow the velciraptor out of the water. Don't just take my word for it: http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/storage/ocz_vertex_120gb_sata2_ssd/7 And that crap about it being enormously helpful? Sure it definitely is desirable, but not even that benchmark you posted is fair for crysis (as they admit in the article...). For the vast majority of the time, SSDs only improve load time (note your floppy RAID array does not count).

Comment Re:Mods (Score 1) 158

The US Army already makes a training simulator like you describe. At first it was a modified version of Operation Flashpoint I believe. Now they have developed their own solution which is based on top of America's Army (the PR FPS). Even their own solution like lots of games uses the unreal engine however (2.0, then 2.5 and 3 for the upcoming version).

Comment Re:Sick of this... (Score 1) 408

Unless they have chaned this in, oh, one year it is actually one hour for the tech free, and two for the tech assisted. While I could have used a CAS calculator (but did not), I don't remember thinking it would have helped that much. An in any case, those very same skills were tested in the other exam. The assisted exam allows you to simply show if you understand, what are fundamentally I believe, the more important concepts.
Government

Obama & McCain Conflicting On Net Neutrality 427

longacre writes "For all their incessant bickering in the first two presidential debates over conflicts of interest and government regulation, PopMech columnist Glenn Derene is puzzled that the candidates have yet to be challenged on a vital issue directly related to both those topics: Net neutrality. John McCain and Barack Obama have stated elsewhere their opposing views on the issue, with McCain being opposed to Net neutrality and favoring light regulation of the Internet, while Obama is in favor of neutrality and seeks Government involvement. In any case, since there is no standard accepted definition of 'network neutrality,' until the candidates elaborate on their positions (which they both declined to do for this piece, nor anywhere else so far, for that matter), 'both sides can make a credible case that they're the ones defending freedom of innovation and open communication.'"
First Person Shooters (Games)

Duke Nukem Forever Preview On Jace Hall Show 341

An anonymous reader writes "The Jace Hall Show launched today on Sony's Crackle with a real gameplay preview of Duke Nukem Forever. Jace Hall is a former video game producer and Warner Bros exec and apparently this is his foray into online celebrity. DNF is 12 years in development ... it might be real after all." And if you have had enough self-indulgent gaming-news patter, another reader says "If you want to simply skip right ahead, it's about 4:20 in."

Spirit Rover Reaches Safety 147

dylanduck writes "Good news for rover fans - Spirit is safe for the winter. It had been heading for a north-tilting spot to make sure its solar panels got enough sunlight during the imminent winter to survive, when a sand trap appeared. But, despite its busted wheel, it scooted round and is now sitting pretty. From the article: 'We've got a safe rover,' says principal investigator Steve Squyres. 'That's huge news for us.'"

Australian Parliament Approves Email Snooping 226

brindafella writes "The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, reporting on a legislative change last week, says 'the [Australian] Government will have 12 months to access communications not only between the B-party and the suspect, but also between the B-party and anyone else. If you have unwittingly communicated with a suspect (and thereby become a B-party), the Government may be able to monitor all your conversations with family members, friends, work colleagues, your lawyer and your doctor.' The Australian Parliament's major parties combined to pass an amendment to the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Act 1979."

Swedish Study Finds Cell Phone Cancer Risk 282

dtjohnson writes "A new Swedish study has found that heavy users of cell phones had a 240 percent increase in brain tumors on the side of their head that the phone was used on. The study defined 'heavy' use as more than 2,000 total hours, or approximately one hour of use per workday for 10 years. An earlier British study was previously discussed here that didn't find an increased risk, although that study covered fewer subjects and only followed one type of brain tumor for a shorter period of time. Or course, the biggest epidemiological study of all is the one we are all participating in whenever we use our cell phone. The results from that study won't be available for a while."

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