The Puzzle of Japanese Web Design 242

Posted by kdawson on Monday July 26, 2010 @02:45AM from the how-to-pack-five-eggs dept.

I'm Not There (1956) writes "Jeffrey Zeldman brings up the interesting issue of the paradox between Japan's strong cultural preference for simplicity in design, contrasted with the complexity of Japanese websites. The post invites you to study several sites, each more crowded than the last. 'It is odd that in Japan, land of world-leading minimalism in the traditional arts and design, Web users and skilled Web design practitioners believe more is more.'"

First Self-Replicating Creature Spawned In Conway's Game of Life 241

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday June 17, 2010 @12:27PM from the emergent-gameplay dept.

Calopteryx writes "New Scientist has a story on a self-replicating entity which inhabits the mathematical universe known as the Game of Life. 'Dubbed Gemini, [Andrew Wade's] creature is made of two sets of identical structures, which sit at either end of the instruction tape. Each is a fraction of the size of the tape's length but, made up of two constructor arms and one "destructor," play a key role. Gemini's initial state contains three of these structures, plus a fourth that is incomplete. As the simulation progresses the incomplete structure begins to grow, while the structure at the start of the tape is demolished. The original Gemini continues to disassemble as the new one emerges, until after nearly 34 million generations, new life is born.'"

Comment uhh, why? (Score 4, Insightful) 88

by TechnoVooDooDaddy on Tuesday February 02, 2010 @09:31AM (#30994192) Attached to: De-Anonymizing Social Network Users

All you have to do is post a stupid little survey to Facebook and millions of idiots will fill the silly thing out giving you their mother's maiden name, street they grew up on, and last 4 digits of their social security in return for generating a few sentences of nonsense.

Submission + - Apple unveils 'iPad' (ibtimes.com) 1

Submitted by oxide7 on Wednesday January 27, 2010 @02:19PM

oxide7 writes: At an event in San Francisco Apple released its anticipated iPad."[It's] Way better than a laptop, way better then a phone. You can turn it any way you want. To see the whole page is phenomenal," said Jobs

15-Year-Old Student Discovers New Pulsar 103

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday January 22, 2010 @05:37PM from the sky-isn't-the-limit dept.

For the second time in as many years, a student has made a discovery while participating in the Pulsar Search Collaboratory (PSC), a joint program between the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and West Virginia University designed to get students and teachers involved in analyzing data from the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). This time it was high school sophomore Shay Bloxton, who discovered a brand new pulsar. "For Bloxton, the pulsar discovery may be only her first in a scientific career. 'Participating in the PSC has definitely encouraged me to pursue my dream of being an astrophysicist,' she said, adding that she hopes to attend West Virginia University to study astrophysics. Late last year, another West Virginia student, from South Harrison High School, Lucas Bolyard, discovered a pulsar-like object called a rotating radio transient. His discovery also came through participation in the PSC."

Comment too broad. (Score 2, Insightful) 143

by TechnoVooDooDaddy on Friday August 14, 2009 @09:59PM (#29073263) Attached to: Army Asks Its Personnel to Wikify Field Manuals

as a consultant that has such CAC card (no, it's not repetitive)

I believe the access too broad for this to be effective.. Although there does exist STRONG accountability within the credentialed system, no anonymous access or anything allowed on the network. This will probably work ok, but there will be much more overhead in the moderation and administration than exists even in wikipedia out publicly.