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Science

The End Of Gravity As a Fundamental Force 650

An anonymous reader writes "At a symposium at the Dutch Spinoza-instituut on 8 December, 2009, string theorist Erik Verlinde introduced a theory that derives Newton's classical mechanics. In his theory, gravity exists because of a difference in concentration of information in the empty space between two masses and its surroundings. He does not consider gravity as fundamental, but as an emergent phenomenon that arises from a deeper microscopic reality. A relativistic extension of his argument leads directly to Einstein's equations." Here are two blog entries discussing Verlinde's proposal in somewhat more accessible terms.
Update: 01/12 04:48 GMT by KD : Dr. Verlinde has put up a blog post explaining in simpler terms the logic of the gravity from entropy paper. He introduces it with: "Because the logic of the paper is being misrepresented in some reports, I add here some clarifications."

Comment Practices.. (Score 1) 477

When will people finally realize that defining and documenting practices alone doesn't make good code? You need good programmers that care and that monitor each others and (more junior) programmers' code quality. Encourage feedback between the programmers, etc.

The Courts

RIAA May Be Violating a Court Order In California 339

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In one of its 'ex parte' cases seeking the names and addresses of 'John Does,' this one targeting students at the University of Southern California, the RIAA obtained an order granting discovery — but with a wrinkle. The judge's order (PDF) specified that the information obtained could not be used for any purpose other than obtaining injunctions against the students. Apparently the RIAA lawyers have ignored, or failed to understand, that limitation, as an LA lawyer has reported that the RIAA is busy calling up the USC students and their families and demanding monetary settlements."
Communications

Submission + - Adobe releases preview of 64-bit Flash for Linux (adobe.com)

Rinisari writes: "Finally, the day has come. Adobe has released a prerelease version of the 64-bit Flash player. It is available at the Adobe Labs Flash Player 10 download site immediately. Where are the Windows and Mac versions? "Release of this alpha version of 64-bit Flash Player on Linux is the first step in delivering upon Adobes commitment to make Flash Player native 64-bit across platforms. We chose Linux as our initial platform in response to numerous requests in our public Flash Player bug and issue management system and the fact that Linux distributions do not ship with a 32-bit browser or a comprehensive 32-bit emulation layer by default. Until this prerelease, use of 32-bit Flash Player on Linux has required the use of a plugin wrapper, which prevents full compatibility with 64-bit browsers. With this prelease, Flash Player 10 is now a full native participant on 64-bit Linux distributions." Windows and Mac OS X 64-bit versions will follow, and the final versions all will be released simultaneously. Tamarin, the JIT compiler in Flash, is now capable of producing 64-bit code and nspluginwrapper is no longer required. There are, however, no plans to release a debugger version of the 64-bit plugin. I've been following this for some time now at issue FP-37 at Adobe Bugs "AMD64 support needed in Linux.""

Comment jz (Score 1) 607

I've been in consulting for over a decade, have seen this at almost every large company I've been in contact with. At varying degrees of course, from the mild annoyance with business to the total refusal to talk to the business side.

Funnily enough, the business side is usually the one with the funding, the tech side with attitude and trying to enforce questionable best-practices.

That sometimes leaves a consultant caught between scylla and charybdis ;)

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