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Programming

Collaborative Software For Pair Programming? 302

Posted by timothy from the is-your-sister's-name-cynthia? dept.
DavidMatuszek writes "I will be teaching Java again this Fall. Students work in pairs, but unfortunately (after the first hour) typically not physically together. I would like to find collaborative software that is (1) dead simple to use, because that's not what the course is about, and (2) free. Google Docs would do, but students will be sharing code — plain text — not RTF or HTML or Word files. Is there such software for plain text?"
Earth

Carnegie Researchers Say Geotech Can't Cure Ocean Acidification 248

Posted by timothy from the take-it-with-a-ton-of-salt dept.
CarnegieScience writes "Plans to stop global warming by 'geoengineering' the planet by putting aerosols in the atmosphere to block sunlight are controversial, to say the least. Scientists are now pointing out that even if it keeps the planet cool, it will do almost nothing to stop another major problem — ocean acidification. The ocean will keep on absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (making carbonic acid) and the water's pH will get too low for corals and other marine life to secrete skeletons. So this is another strike against a quick fix of our climate problems."

Comment Re:If you know anything about statistics... (Score 1) 512

by canuck08 (#28362283) Attached to: Statistical Suspicions In Iran's Election

Iranians are not backwards peons dumbly ruled by overlords.
They have conducted elections many times before which have returned representative results.
The modern, highly educated people of Tehran certainly think that they are capable of conducting a fair election.

As for what can be done about it... well, read a little about Iran's history and you will see that they are quite capable of 'doing something about it'.
The Courts

Camara Goes On Offense Against the RIAA 316

Posted by Soulskill from the balls-in-our-courts dept.
whisper_jeff writes "Ars has an excellent write up outlining how Kiwi Camara (Jammie Thomas-Rasset's new lawyer) is following the 'Best Defense is a Good Offense' philosophy and going on the attack against the RIAA. Not content to just defend his client, he is laying siege against the RIAA's entire campaign and beginning the work of dismantling it from the bottom up, starting with the question of whether they actually do own the copyrights that were allegedly infringed. And, if you're thinking this is good for everyone who's been harassed by the RIAA, you'd be right — Camara, along with Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson, plans to file a class-action suit seeking to force the RIAA to return all the (ill-gotten) money they've earned from their litigation campaign." We first discussed the efforts of Nesson and Camara to thwart the RIAA last month.
Power

Plastic and Fuel That Grow On Trees 188

Posted by kdawson from the fur-for-all dept.
Tim Hanlon writes "Biofuels continue to lead the field in the search for a renewable, environmentally friendly replacement for crude oil. Besides its use in the transport industry, crude oil is also used to produce conventional plastics and chemical products such as fertilizers and solvents. Now chemists have learned how to convert plant biomass directly into a chemical building block that can be used to produce not only fuel, but also plastics, polyester, and industrial chemicals, cheaply and efficiently."

Comment Re:FFS (Score 0, Offtopic) 121

by canuck08 (#27953171) Attached to: Successful Launch of ESA's Herschel and Planck

Since English is not your first language all of these grammatical errors are totally forgivable.

Here are a few more corrections, just for fun.

...ESA launched successfully new and long awaiting spacecrafts...

Should be: '...long awaited...'

...Herschel and Planck are one of the most expensive and important...

Should be: '...are two of the most...'

They were built to perform measurements with an outstanding quality.

Should be: 'They were built to perform measurements of outstanding quality.'

The final sentence is basically a write-off. I would scrap it and try again. Try breaking it up into several sentences.

One thing you should actually get right is the proper name of the rocket! Ariane with an 'e'!
The Courts

Bloggers Impacting the World of Litigation 120

Posted by kdawson from the keeping-justice-blind dept.
DaveKleiman writes "Will bloggers change the world of Supreme Court litigation by inspecting published opinions? Rachel C. Lee has an interesting take on the question in the Stanford Law Review, Ex Parte Blogging: the Legal Ethics of Supreme Court Advocacy In the Internet Era (PDF). She begins the review with: 'Lawyers have been arguing their cases before the Supreme Court for over two centuries, while the phenomenon of legal blogs is perhaps a decade old. Yet legal blogs cannot be dismissed as merely a sideshow novelty — they are already capable of having a substantial impact on Supreme Court litigation.' The review hits on many key points both for and against the use of blogging, but ultimately concludes that members of the Court and their staff will have to refrain from reading any blog post relating to a pending case, no matter who it is written by. It's even possible we'll get carefully drafted rules preventing blogging by attorneys." It's going to be tough to make any such prohibition work. After all, Groklaw's PJ is not an attorney.
Censorship

Bill Would Declare Your Blog a Weapon 780

Posted by kdawson from the can't-say-that-it's-too-severe dept.
Mike writes "Law prof Eugene Volokh blogs about a US House of Representatives bill proposed by Rep. Linda T. Sanchez and 14 others that could make it a federal felony to use your blog, social media like MySpace and Facebook, or any other Web media 'to cause substantial emotional distress through "severe, repeated, and hostile" speech.' Rep. Sanchez and colleagues want to make it easier to prosecute any objectionable speech through a breathtakingly broad bill that would criminalize a wide range of speech protected by the First Amendment. The bill is called The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act, and if passed into law (and if it survives constitutional challenge) it looks almost certain to be misused."

Comment Re:Why does it only kill Mexicans? (Score 1) 116

by canuck08 (#27804213) Attached to: Swine Flu Genetics Suggest a Vaccine Is Possible

There is as yet no explanation for this.
There is some speculation but for the moment we cannot say with any confidence why there have been no deaths outside of Mexico.

It is worth noting that the number of infections outside of Mexico is not yet high enough to provide a reliable statistical sample.

The sequencing of the complete genome may yield some clues.

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