EzraSj - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Excession and Look to Windward? (Score 1) 232

by EzraSj on Thursday March 20, 2008 @09:00AM (#22805384) Attached to: Matter

My favourite Culture novel has always been Use of Weapons. Consider Phlebas was excellent as well, but Use of Weapons was moving, complicated, and continually surprising. I also think it captures the tragic element of the Culture better than Consider phlebas did, whatever that means.

His non-culture novel, "The Algebraist" was also quite good.

Ten Predictions for XML in 2007 71

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday February 22, 2007 @10:14PM from the crystal-balls dept.

An anonymous reader writes "2007 is shaping up to be the most exciting year since the community drove off the XML highway into the Web services swamp half a decade ago. XQuery, Atom, Atom Publishing Protocol (APP), XProc, and GRRDL are all promising new power. Some slightly older technologies like XForms and XSLT are having new life breathed into them. 2007 will be a very good year to work with XML."

New Details on Xerox Inkless Printer 198

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday February 22, 2007 @09:36PM from the desirable-transients dept.

Iddo Genuth writes "Xerox is developing a new printing technology which does not require ink of any kind. The new technology includes reusable paper which can be printed and erased dozens of times and has the potential to revolutionize printing. New details on this upcoming technology, which was first reported in September 2006, are now revealed."

Journal Journal: Extremism is mainstream on the internets. 1

Journal by yoder on Thursday February 22, 2007 @08:49PM

The web is a great place for free political speech. It is also a beautiful informational tool. But if you are looking for total anonymity, the internet is not great. It does, however, give people the feeling of total anonymity and that is the perfect environment to see people as unfettered, morally unrestrained, emotionally spastic versions of their public face.

Chimps Found Making Own Weapons to Hunt for Food 410

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday February 22, 2007 @08:47PM from the boards-with-nails dept.

Pojut writes "The Washington Post has an article involving chimps and weapons. Apparently, there have been direct observations of chimps in the west African savannah modifying sticks to create spears. They then use these spears to kill small mammals and eat them. It is the first time that an animal other than a human has been directly observed in crafting a weapon for the purpose of hunting or killing."

Feed Google Apps: Should You Switch? (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Thursday February 22, 2007 @08:12PM

Five reasons to make the jump to Google's web-based office software, and five reasons to stay on the Microsoft desktop. By Michael Calore.

Submission + - Old islamic tile patterns show modern math insight

Submitted by

arbitraryaardvark

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @08:06PM

arbitraryaardvark writes: "Reuters reports Medieval Muslims made mega math marvel.
Tile patterns on middle eastern mosques display a kind of quasicrystalline effect that was unknown in the west until rediscovered by Penrose in the 1970s.
"Quasicrystalline patterns comprise a set of interlocking units whose pattern never repeats, even when extended infinitely in all directions, and possess a special form of symmetry."
It isn't known if the mosque designers understood the math behind the patterns.
page 2 of story."

Submission + - First quantum computer demoed, plays sudoku

Submitted by

prostoalex

on Thursday February 15, 2007 @12:46AM

prostoalex writes: "Canadian company D-Wave Systems is getting some technology press buzz after successfully demonstrating their quantum computer that the company plans to rent out. Scientific American has more of technical description of how the quantum computer works as well as possible areas of application: "The quantum computer was given three problems to solve: searching for molecular structures that match a target molecule, creating a complicated seating plan, and filling in Sudoku puzzles." There are also some videos from the demo."

Truth in Ratings Act Reintroduced 302

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday February 15, 2007 @12:44AM from the think-of-the-children dept.

dropgoal writes "Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas (and GOP presidential candidate) has reintroduced the Truth in Ratings Act. Like the previous version that failed to pass last year, Sen. Brownback's bill would make the FTC responsible for overseeing the video game ratings system and possibly result in a unified ratings system for games, movies, and TV. The ESRB would also have to review all game footage before issuing a rating. Currently, the ESRB hands out ratings after viewing a reel with representative content prepared by the developers. Sen. Brownback thinks that's not enough. 'Video game reviewers should be required to review the entire content of a game to ensure the accuracy of the rating. The current video game ratings system is not as accurate as it could be because reviewers do not see the full content of games and do not even play the games they rate', he said."

Power Generating Spacesuits 145

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday February 14, 2007 @10:14PM from the the-electric-slide dept.

Maggie McKee writes "Piezoelectric sensors could help power future space missions. Astronauts' spacesuits may one day be covered in motion-sensitive proteins that could generate power from the astronauts' movement, according to futuristic research being conducted by a new lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. Such 'power skins' could also be used to coat future human bases on Mars, where they could produce energy from the Martian wind. Eventually, the biologically derived suits might even be able to heal themselves."

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