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NASA

Submission + - Infertility could impede human space colonization (independent.co.uk)

Submitted by intellitech
intellitech writes: The prospect of long-term space travel has led scientists to consider, increasingly seriously, the following conundrum: if travelling to a new home might take thousands of years, would humans be able to successfully procreate along the way? The early indications from NASA are not encouraging. Space, it seems, is simply not a good place to have sex.
Open Source

Grad Student Looking To Contribute To Open Source 283

Posted by Soulskill from the bring-the-donuts dept.
An anonymous reader writes "I'm an Applied Math grad student who knows a bit of Mathematics and a bit of programming. C++ is my first programming language — I am decent at it. I wish to start contributing to a numerical library with two purposes — contribute to open source and develop my C++ skills at the same time. I looked at the Boost libraries and joined the developer list. However, I have no idea on how to start contributing. I'm not an expert in template programming, having written only toy programs to understand that concept. I've used some of the OOP constructs like inheritance,but only for very small projects. Do you have any tips on how to get started on contribution? Are there any other emerging numerical libraries to which I can contribute? Are there any other avenues where I can contribute to open source and improve programming skills?"
Canada

Submission + - CBC Bans Creative Commons Music On Radio

Submitted by Chaonici
Chaonici writes: The popular Canadian radio show Spark reports that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's publicly owned and funded national radio broadcaster, has banned podcasts that use Creative Commons-licensed music. 'The decision is apparently the result of restrictions in collective agreements the CBC has with some talent agencies,' writes Canadian copyright scholar Michael Geist. 'In other words, groups are actively working to block the use of Creative Commons licenced alternatives in their contractual language.'
Education

Preventing Networked Gizmo Use During Exams? 870

Posted by Soulskill from the tweets-are-cheats dept.
bcrowell writes "I'm a college physics professor. My students all want to use calculators during exams, and some of them whose native language isn't English also want to use electronic dictionaries. I had a Korean student who was upset and dropped the course when I told her she couldn't use her iPod during an exam — she said she used it as a dictionary. It gets tough for me to distinguish networked devices (iPhone? iTouch?) from non-networked ones (calculator? electronic dictionary? iPod?). I give open-notes exams, so it's not memory that's an issue, it's networking. Currently our classrooms have poor wireless receptivity (no Wi-Fi, possible cell, depending on your carrier), but as of spring 2011 we will have Wi-Fi everywhere. What's the best way to handle this? I'd prefer not to make them all buy the same overpriced graphing calculator. I'm thinking of buying 30 el-cheapo four-function calculators out of my pocket, but I'm afraid that less-adaptable students will be unable to handle the switch from the calculator they know to an unfamiliar (but simpler) one."

Submission + - Renewables take up larger share in U.S. energy use (ecoseed.org)

Submitted by renewableenergywade
renewableenergywade writes: The United States is increasingly relying on renewable energy resources, particularly wind energy, for electricity generation than on coal and petroleum, although government audits revealed that stimulus funding for renewables went largely unspent.
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - We're crashing, put your affairs in order. (wordpress.com)

Submitted by foliehasseveral
foliehasseveral writes: On an airplane, boarding is typically a very busy time. While the Flight Attendants are juggling their 15 different balls in the air, the Pilots are audibly going through their pre-flight checklist. Apparently, there had been some research conducted by social scientists that suggested the Pilots responded more quickly to the sound of a woman's voice. Therefore the voice on the pre-recorded cockpit warning system was, and I'm pretty sure about this, a digitally remixed version of Marilyn Monroe.

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