99.99percentile - Slashdot User

USAF Unveils Supercomputer Made of 1,760 PS3s 163

Posted by Soulskill on Friday December 03, 2010 @05:35PM from the going-for-the-gusto dept.

digitaldc writes with this excerpt from Gamasutra: "The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has connected 1,760 PlayStation 3 systems together to create what the organization is calling the fastest interactive computer in the entire Defense Department. The Condor Cluster, as the group of systems is known, also includes 168 separate graphical processing units and 84 coordinating servers in a parallel array capable of performing 500 trillion floating point operations per second (500 TFLOPS), according to AFRL Director of High Power Computing Mark Barnell."

Woman Wins Libel Suit By Suing Wrong Website 323

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 02, 2010 @09:38AM from the close-enough dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It appears that Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones and her lawyer were so upset by a comment on the site TheDirty.com that they missed the 'y' at the end of the name. Instead, they sued the owner of TheDirt.com, whose owner didn't respond to the lawsuit. The end result was a judge awarding $11 million, in part because of the failure to respond. Now, both the owners of TheDirty.com and TheDirt.com are complaining that they're being wrongfully written about in the press — one for not having had any content about Sarah Jones but being told it needs to pay $11 million, and the other for having the content and having the press say it lost a lawsuit, even though no lawsuit was ever actually filed against it."

Justice Department Seeks Ebonics Experts 487

Posted by samzenpus on Monday August 23, 2010 @01:37PM from the my-mama-no-raise-no-dummies-I-dug-her-rap dept.

In addition to helping decipher their Lil Wayne albums, the Justice Department is seeking Ebonics experts to help monitor, translate and transcribe wire tapped conversations. The DEA wants to fill nine full time positions. From the article: "A maximum of nine Ebonics experts will work with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta field division, where the linguists, after obtaining a 'DEA Sensitive' security clearance, will help investigators decipher the results of 'telephonic monitoring of court ordered nonconsensual intercepts, consensual listening devices, and other media.'”

Chemistry Tasks For the Computer Lab? 154

Posted by timothy on Sunday January 31, 2010 @09:38AM from the just-the-basics dept.

soupman55 writes "I teach Chemistry to students completing their last two years of high school. Basically it's a 'teach and test' course with a few experiments thrown in. I want to jazz up the course using computer and internet resources. For instance, I could set some tasks that require Excel spreadsheet calculations. Or I could set some web quests where students search for information online. One of the decisions to be made is: Do I use computer/internet tasks to help the students grasp the material that is already in the course, or do I help them become aware of ideas that are extensions to their course? Also, when I compare Chemistry classes with Accounting classes, it strikes me that unlike Accounting where learning to use software like Quick Books is an integral part of the course, that there is no particular software that a chemistry student must learn to use. Or is there? What in terms of chemistry and computers worked for you? Or what is there computer-wise that wasn't in your high school chemistry course but should have been?"

Apple Patches Massive Holes In OS X 246

Posted by timothy on Wednesday January 20, 2010 @05:23PM from the well-it-wouldn't-be-polite-to-patch-windows dept.

Trailrunner7 writes with this snippet from ThreatPost: "Apple's first Mac OS X security update for 2010 is out, providing cover for at least 12 serious vulnerabilities. The update, rated critical, plugs security holes that could lead to code execution vulnerabilities if a Mac user is tricked into opening audio files or surfing to a rigged Web site." Hit the link for a list of the highlights among these fixes.

PhD Candidate Talks About the Physics of Space Battles 361

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 17, 2009 @03:18PM from the load-photon-torpedoes dept.

darthvader100 writes "Gizmodo has run an article with some predictions on what future space battles will be like. The author brings up several theories on propulsion (and orbits), weapons (explosives, kinetic and laser), and design. Sounds like the ideal shape for spaceships will be spherical, like the one in the Hitchhiker's Guide movie."

Comment Jobs in technology for a 17 year old (Score 1) 399

by 99.99percentile on Saturday November 04, 2006 @10:12PM (#16721139) Attached to: Tech Jobs For a Student?

I work for a government research lab and all government facilities can hire you as an employee as long as you are 16. It is usually called Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP) or some similar name. If you live near a facility, go to the personnel or human resources office to inquire about the program. You will get paid about $10 and hour and hopefully will get to do something pretty interesting. I have two college and one high school students who work for me in this type of program. Once you get hired you can work full time in the summers and on breaks, and part time during school. An additional benefit is that the time you work counts toward retirement if you stay with the federal government. One of my wife's cousins has been working for the NSA for 26 years and he's only 42. Also if you get hired into a full time position after you are 18, they will pay for your school if you go part time.

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