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Sci-Fi

Submission + - Steven Hawking to make zero G flight

Submitted by tatsu69
tatsu69 writes: Yahoo! News reports that Steven Hawking 'plans to go on a weightless flight on April 26... The modified Boeing 727 generally soars to 32,000 feet at a sharp angle and then plunges 8,000 feet so passengers can experience 25-second snippets of zero gravity during the descent. Zero Gravity will pick up the bill, which normally is $3,750. The company also plans to have two seats on the flight auctioned off by two charities.'
Software

Submission + - Selling open source to upper management

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: I am the single member of the IT department at a small nonprofit. We were looking to replace our commercial content management system with a custom combination of open source solutions (Lucene, Jackrabbit, etc.) However, since I was the sole developer, progress was slow and we have little resources to recruit potential volunteers.

Recently, we had a closed source, commercial vendor demo their version of a content management system, and immediately upper management was willing to go along with their proposal, even at the expense of project requirements.

Although I understand and accept the decision (and am quite relieved I am not expected to deliver as the sole developer), I am interested to know if there are resources for promoting open source software in a manner like closed source, commercial software. If not, is this a challenge within the OS community? It seems that OS solutions are primarily promoted to technical implementors rather than upper management. Of course, many technical implementors do not have the marketing skills to promote open source, but are there resources to help us do so?
The Internet

Academic Credentials and Wikiality 429

Posted by kdawson from the matter-of-degrees dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A prominent Wikipedia administrator and Wikia employee has been caught lying to the media and 'other' professors about his academic credentials. Wikipedia's Essjay has been representing himself as 'a tenured professor of theology at a private university in the eastern United States; I teach both undergraduate and graduate theology. My Academic Degrees: Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies (B.A.), Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.R.), Doctorate of Philosophy in Theology (Ph.D.), Doctorate in Canon Law (JCD).' His real identity came to light after Wikia offered him a job: It turns out that he is really 24 years old with no degree living in Louisville, KY. Wikipedia's co-founder, Jimbo Wales, says 'I regard it as a pseudonym and I don't really have a problem with it.' How will this affect Wikipedia's already shaky reputation with the academic world?"
Space

Submission + - Stephen Hawking To Fly On Zero Gravity Plane

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: MSNBC reports that British physicist Stephen Hawking will experience a zero gravity airplane flight on April 26. Although the 65-year-old professor is disabled from a neurodegenerative disease, he will be able to make the flight with assistance and medical monitoring. 'As someone who has studied gravity and black holes all of my life, I am excited to experience, firsthand, weightlessness and a zero-gravity environment,' said Hawking. 'I am thankful to Zero Gravity Corp. for making this experience available to the general public, especially for disabled individuals.' The weightless flight will be a step towards Hawking's goal of a suborbital spaceflight with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.
Microsoft

Submission + - EU claim MS still not compliant

Submitted by Zo0ok
Zo0ok writes: EU is still not impressed with the way Microsoft complies with the March 2004 decision. Microsoft is given four weeks to respond and can look forward to more penalties if they fail to comply. EU FAQ available.
Internet Explorer

Submission + - Online addict dies after 7 day marathon session

Submitted by
watomb
watomb writes: ""BEIJING: An obese 26-year-old man in northeastern China died after a "marathon" online gaming session over the Lunar New Year holiday, state media said on Wednesday.

The 150-kg man from Jinzhou, in Liaoning province, collapsed on Saturday, the last day of the holiday, after spending "almost all" of the seven-day break playing online games, the China Daily said, citing his parents."
http://www.ciol.com/content/search/showarticle1.as p?artid=94845"
Microsoft

Submission + - Gates under fire for charging for interoperability

Submitted by
aKumudzi
aKumudzi writes: "The EU want to fine Gates again — justifiably in my opinion. We're left to wonder what revolutionary protocols in Windows Gates feels warranted to charge for. Microsoft just can't resist an opportunity to cash in on "...interoperability information because it was based on its own innovative work...""
Music

Submission + - Boycotting the RIAA?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: ExtremeTech asks: Will boycotting the RIAA for a month do anything? Is it a practical campaign? Is DRM evil, or is it a tool most often used for evil?
Media

Submission + - Movie adaptation of Darwin biography in the works

Submitted by
ndogg
ndogg writes: "Annie's Box is a biography on Charles Darwin written by Randal Keynes, and according to CHUD, it's being adapted for the big screen. John Collee, the screenwriter for Master and Commander, is apparently writing the adaptation. Supposedly, it's to be directed by the same director of The Core (yup, this one, unfortunately), Jon Amiel."
Security

Submission + - Plan9 kernel exploit made public

Submitted by
swehack
swehack writes: "The month of February saw a very rare case of a kernel exploit for the plan9 operating system made public on the Dailydave mailing list. The author mentions how he kindly waited for Bell Labs to patch the vulnerability but also that the exploit lasted quite a while in private use. One can only speculate what one would do with a private plan9 kernel exploit."
Censorship

Submission + - Dell censors IdeaStorm Linux dissent

Submitted by thefickler
thefickler writes: It seems pointless seeking ideas and feedback if you 're going to ignore and delete the ones you don't like. That's exactly what Dell is doing with its IdeaStorm web site, which has been set up by the company to solicit ideas and feedback. It deleted a post that linked to an article that criticized its handling of the "preinstalled Linux" issue.

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