AdmiralJamrep - Slashdot User

Computer-Aided Lego Art Project 112

Posted by timothy on Friday October 10, 2008 @08:12PM from the how-they-made-naughty-pictures-at-vesuvius dept.

rsk writes "Justin Voskuhl, a Google engineer, in a 2-fold bid to fight boredom and figure out something to cover a large barren wall in his living room, one weekend developed a Java program using an annealing algorithm to figure out the best layout and colors of Lego blocks to reproduce a source image exclusively in Lego blocks inside a frame. He plans to release the source code soon. I probably would have just painted the wall ..."

Comment Re:Mandatory? (Score 0) 287

by AdmiralJamrep on Sunday August 05, 2007 @05:00PM (#20124677) Attached to: Nissan Turns to Technology to Stop Drunk Driving

So, they're just plain stupid before they go out drinking, eh? I mean, unless you spend your life in an alcohol induced fog, you must realized that getting drunk is going to impair your judgment and ability to drive several tons of metal. Personally, I'm all for drunk driving... as long as the drunk kills themself and doesn't hurt anyone else while they're doing it.

Well, A. the fact that drinking impairs your inhibitions from the outset definetly leads to the risk of one drink become two or three or more and B. if a driver is weaving across the road, the odds are fairly good that the object they'll end up finding first with the hood of their vehicle will be another vehicle.

Ultimately it's better for everyone involved if someone whose judgement is impaired isn't able to start the car in the first place.

New Theory Explains Periodic Mass Extinctions 383

Posted by Zonk on Thursday August 02, 2007 @04:12PM from the we're-not-due-for-a-little-while-yet dept.

i_like_spam writes "The theory that the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid impact, the K-T extinction, is well known and supported by fossil and geological evidence. Asteroid impact theory does not apply to the other fluctuations in biodiversity, however, which follow an approximate 62 million-year cycle. As reported in Science, a new theory seems to explain periodic mass extinctions. The new theory found that oscillations in the Sun relative to the plane of the Milky Way correlate with changes in biodiversity on Earth. The researchers suggest that an increase in the exposure of Earth to extragalactic cosmic rays causes mass extinctions. The original paper describing the findings is available online."

Slashdot Top Deals