Comment LHC not actually shut down (Score 4, Informative) 478
The LHC is designed with very good fail-safes so that random events like this won't shut down the accelerator for huge amounts of time. It would mean at most a day or two of no beam before things got started again. These kinds of safety trips are to be expected a couple of times a month with a machine as huge and complicated as the LHC.
Comment Turned Around (Score 4, Funny) 392
I would like to see this turned around: because the RIAA's case did not offer any information about the damages done by download these 24 songs in the trial, the court should enforce that the RIAA sell all its tracks at the value assigned to each song by the jury (~$81,000). The court might even take pity of the poor industry and lower that to $40,000 if it assumes some reasonable amount of the fine (50%) was awarded for statutory damages. That way, if the RIAA accepts the ruling, they would immediately go out of business as every CD they sell would be marked up to $500,000.
Why isn't there a Draconian party running for government anywhere?
Comment Re:Obligatory Serious Answer (Score 5, Funny) 993
I'm a man, and I'm seriously considering getting a pink laptop. I mean, I already have a pink DS, and from what I hear, pink things are stolen much less frequently due to this bizarre stigma most men seem to have against it. Besides, a pink laptop would totally compliment my new lip stiCHAINSAW and nail polMOTORCYCLE.
Comment Re:King Kong Defence? (Score 1) 685
It's a perfectly cromulent defence, but I am deeply concerned about the health of the long-term memories of people when a term invented 24 hours ago is "legendary."
Comment Re:Just think about ENFORCEMENT. (Score 1) 1235
Ahhh - That's what they tried to do with handguns, and actually did in Massachusetts.
They required that handguns make a "click" sound when you fire them?
Nobel Prize Winning Physicist As Energy Secretary 498
bledri writes "Officials close to the Obama transition team say that
Physics Nobel Laureate Steven Chu is the likely candidate for Energy Secretary. Some are worried that Chu is not politically savvy enough,
but I'm hopeful that a scientist will base policy on evidence.
Discuss among yourselves."
A Telescope In a Cubic Kilometer of Ice 118
Roland Piquepaille writes "University of Delaware (UD) scientists and engineers are currently working at the South Pole under very harsh conditions. This research team is one of the many other ones working on the construction of IceCube, the world's largest neutrino telescope in the Antarctic ice, far beneath the continent's snow-covered surface. When it is completed in 2011, the telescope array will occupy a cubic kilometer of Antarctica. One of the lead researchers said that 'IceCube will provide new information about some of the most violent and far-away astrophysical events in the cosmos.' The UD team has even opened a blog to cover this expedition. It will be opened up to December 22, 2008. I guess they want to be back in Delaware for Christmas, but read more for additional details and references, including a diagram of this telescope array built inside ice."
Submission + - Intel Launches Mobile Linux Project
An anonymous reader writes: Intel has unveiled an ambitious project aimed at developing open source software for mobile devices. The Moblin project comprises a Linux kernel, UI framework, browser, multimedia framework, and embedded Linux image creation tools, along with developer resources such as documentation, mailing lists, and an IRC channel. Intel says it hopes Moblin will serve as a 'point of integration' for multiple sub-projects, and appears eager to see devices such as its Mobile Internet Device design, and chipsets such as its Ultra Mobile Platform 2007 platform be thoroughly supported by Linux. Although all of the projects currently focus on the Intel architecture, the project says it is open to hosting support for other processor architectures.
Submission + - Subcommittee Stops Human Mars Mission Spending (nasa.gov)
An anonymous reader writes: Last weeks House Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, and Science FY08 budget markup would prevent work on programs devoted to human missions to Mars. According to a House Appropriations Committee press release, the markup language states that NASA cannot pursue "development or demonstration activity related exclusively to Human Exploration of Mars. NASA has too much on its plate already, and the President is welcome to include adequate funding for the Human Mars Initiative in a budget amendment or subsequent year funding requests." The Mars Society is already leading an effort to get the language removed.
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