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Comment Start with policy (Score 1) 208

You handle these things by superintendent and board policies, and then use disciplinary actions against employees who violate the policy.

You do have a long battle to get around a poorly educated "educator" like your Vice Super. A high level director is the hardest person in the world to change.

Comment And they said religion has no part in science (Score 0, Troll) 114

by Zxeses (#30719764) Attached to: How Earth Avoided a Fiery Premature Death

Wow, thank you for that faith inspiring rhetoric; I can't think of how I could further prove that modern day theory is not much better then religion for the people who can't yet invent a new "God" or Genesis story.

I could come up with a much better theory, about how the sun's rotation speed caused all the slower particles to form planets much faster as a result of the suns unequal gravitational balance, however I fear that would be lost in the argument about why such circumstance would come to be when no evidence of such things suggest a theory even close to mine, much less this one...

The next time I pick a random thought out of my head, I'll be sure to post it on slashdot however... oh wait..
Games

Revisiting the "Holy Trinity" of MMORPG Classes 362

Posted by Soulskill from the or-druid-as-the-case-may-be dept.
A feature at Gamasutra examines one of the foundations of many MMORPGs — the idea that class roles within such a game fall into three basic categories: tank, healer, and damage dealer. The article evaluates the pros and cons of such an arrangement and takes a look at some alternatives. "Eliminating specialized roles means that we do away with boxing a class into a single role. Without Tanks, each class would have features that would help them participate in and survive many different encounters like heavy armor, strong avoidance, or some class or magical abilities that allow them to disengage from direct combat. Without specialized DPS, all classes should be able to do damage in order to defeat enemies. Some classes might specialize in damage type, like area of effect (AoE) damage; others might be able to exploit enemy weaknesses, and some might just be good at swinging a sharpened bit of metal in the right direction at a rapid rate. This design isn't just about having each class able to fill any trinity role. MMO combat would feel more dynamic in this system. Every player would have to react to combat events and defend against attacks."
Image

FBML Essentials 85

Posted by samzenpus from the read-all-about-it dept.
stoolpigeon writes "Facebook became the largest worldwide social site in the middle of last year. If their current pace holds they will pass MySpace as number one in the US some time next year. Those numbers have led a number of people to strike out and develop Facebook applications, hoping to grab a piece of that huge audience. One aspect of writing such applications is knowing Facebook Markup Language, which has been described as the icing on the Facebook API cake. FBML Essentials aims to be the resource that provides hopeful application writers with what they need to use FBML successfully." Keep reading for the rest of JR's review.

Comment Is this really news? (Score 1) 393

by Zxeses (#23759645) Attached to: Porn Found On L.A. Obscenity Case Judge's Website
Finding porn on a 9th circuit court judges computer is liking finding a playboy at a porn stars' house. Is this really news? The 9th circuit court is the most liberal court in the whole nation, and thus we presume, progressive. Judges looking at porn is a given, would you be a judge and not look at porn?
Sci-Fi

Submission + - For moray eels, two jaws better than one (mercurynews.com)

Submitted by
mikesd81
mikesd81 writes: "Mercury News reports that scientists at UC Davis have discovered that some eels have an extra set of jaws deep in their throats that launch forward into their mouths to help pull prey in. "It looks like a funny pair of forceps with curved sharp teeth," said evolutionary biologist Rita Mehta, lead author of the research, which appears Thursday in Nature. Before the discovery, scientists thought that all aquatic predators swallowed their prey using suction. By dropping the lower jaw and creating a flow of water into their mouths, they draw in the prey. The two species of moray eels studied by Mehta and Wainwright are the first examples of an alternative feeding method. Instead of sucking, one of these eels bites its prey with its primary set of teeth. It then draws the second set of teeth into its mouth by contracting long muscles. The secondary jaws clamp down on the prey, allowing the eel to move its primary jaws forward in a gulping motion to take in more of the prey. The two sets of jaws take turns until the whole animal has been swallowed. Mehta thinks the eels' extra jaws may have evolved to help the eels catch animals in small cracks and crevices in the coral they inhabit. While suction requires expansion of the mouth, the eel's double-jaw trick allows it to remain long and skinny, and may have helped them earn their place as top predator on the coral reef. Here is a video of an eel eating. If you look closely right around 34 seconds you can see what looks like the other set of jaws chewing."

Feed Science Daily: COPD Not Just A Disease Of The Lungs (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) can no longer be judged as only a disease of the lungs, say authors of an article in The Lancet. Researchers propose to add the term chronic systemic inflammatory syndrome to the diagnosis of COPD to reflect the frequent complex chronic comorbidities. The most common comorbidities associated with COPD are skeletal muscle abnormalities, high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary artery disease, heart failure, lung infections, cancer, and pulmonary vascular disease. The authors say: "Chronic comorbid diseases affect health outcomes in COPD; in fact patients with COPD mainly die of non-respiratory disorders such as cardiovascular disease or cancer."

Feed Engadget: Sony to raise $2.9B for electronics and gaming divisions (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

War ain't cheap, kids -- just take it from Sony, which is currently duking it out on both the PS3 and Blu-ray fronts. According to Bloomberg, the company is organizing a ¥332B ($2.9B) IPO of its insurance unit, and plans to funnel the cash back into its electronics and gaming divisions, which have been doing well, but not exactly blowing the competition out of the water. Pretty stuffed-shirt news, to be sure, but we're certain the Sony fanboys in the house can spin this into something bigger -- 3D Blu-ray license, perhaps?

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
United States

Air Force Mistakenly Transports Live Nukes Across America 898

Posted by samzenpus from the you-can't-fight-in-here-this-is-the-war-room dept.
kernel panic attack writes "Surely the late Stanley Kubrick is somewhere smiling at this one. Forbes.com has a story about a B-52 Bomber that mistakenly flew 6-nuclear tipped cruise missles across several states last week. The 3-hour flight took the plane from Minot Air Force Base, N.D, to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30. The incident was so serious that President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were quickly informed and Gates has asked for daily briefings on the Air Force probe, said Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell."

Feed Engadget: Gateway unloads Professional business segment on MPC (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Desktops

The shakeups at Gateway just seem keep on coming these days, with the planned acquisition by Acer and the seemingly imminent takeover of Packard Bell now being followed by the sale of Gateway's Professional business segment to MPC Corporation. According to Gateway, the sale, valued at some $90 million, is being done in order to "simplify its business model," "leverage reduced cost structure," and, of course, concentrate on the worldwide consumer market. For its part, MPC unsurprisingly says the newly combined company will be a boon to its customer base, which mainly consists of those in government, education, and small-and-medium businesses. To help it on its way, Gateway is also investing some $10 million in MPC, and it'll also be getting a 19.9% equity stake in the company.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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