Comment Over Xfinity Wifi? I doubt it. (Score 1) 50
If this is the reason that Comcast modems broadcast xfinitywifi, this will fail just as anything relying on xfinitywifi does.
Comment Re:Requirements (Score 1) 286
After NoteStudio folded, I was lost until I found Evernote. Being able to link notes together, wiki-style, is a signifiant feature that's lost in many note-taking apps, at least the ones I was looking at when we lost NoteStudio. Maybe I'll look at OneNote again. It was a dog when I last used it: Too complicated and slow.
Comment Experience Protesting the TSA (Score 1) 400
I'm the guy who stripped during a TSA screening in 2012 at Portland Airport. I've had no trouble flying since then. Maybe it's because I took action against them them directly.
Here's a link to the slashdot story back then: http://idle.slashdot.org/story...
Story update, for those who are interested:
I was quickly acquitted on the criminal charges of indecent exposure. The judge said, "What else would it be (other than protest)?" to the DA who had no case. The civil case, which the TSA took 2.5 years to decide, continues. I'm appealing their decision that I "interfered with the screening process" to the 9th Circuit Court. I've learned a lot during this process, but that's another story.
More info: http://www.nakedamericanhero.c...
Comment Re:hope it was worth the megan's law list (Score 2) 434
I *am* a regular reader of slashdot. Nudity is protected speech in Oregon. It's in the state law. As long as it's not sexual, I can be naked, especially as a form of protest.
I work in high tech, and co-workers and on up the ladder have expressed only support and heart-felt concern for my well-being. There's a legal defense fund being set up by friends, though it's not clear it will be necessary. My dad's in his mid-70s. He's how he is. His heart is in the right place. My family's been great.
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My general response in reading the thread at a count of 410.
*Disorderly conduct charges have already been dropped.
*Being naked has nothing to do with sexually harassing anyone. There was nothing sexy or arousing about what I did. My intent was protest, and was in no way sexual.
*I believe I would not have been arrested if I had put my clothes back on.
*According the the Port Authority in Portland, local laws apply at the airport.
-John Brennan
Comment Re:Get a Lumix (Score 1) 402
As long as you don't need customer service from Panasonic...
Comment Re:So a good idea would be... (Score 1) 288
Momentus XT is not an enterprise drive.
I have a 500GB Momentus XT in my MBPro. It gives me a (relatively) inexpensive speed bump with the best of both worlds. I have the capacity I need with the platters and the speed from the solid state. The built-in logic seems to know what I use the most and keeps things fast. All for a fair price.
40 Million Year Old Primate Fossils Found In Asia 91
sosaited writes "It has been widely believed that our ancestors originated out of Africa, but a paper published in Nature by Carnegie Museum of Natural History scientists puts this in doubt. The paper is based on the fossils of four primate species found in Asia which are 40 million years old, during which period Africa was thought to not have these species. The diversity and timing of the new anthropoids raises two scenarios. Anthropoids might simply have emerged in Africa much earlier than thought, and gone undiscovered by modern paleontologists. Or they could have crossed over from Asia, where evidence suggests that anthropoids lived 55 million years ago, flourishing and diversifying in the wide-open ecological niches of an anthropoid-free Africa."
Woman Trademarks Name and Threatens Sites Using It 273
An anonymous reader writes "Be careful mentioning Dr. Ann De Wees Allen. She's made it clear that she's trademarked her name and using it is 'illegal... without prior written permission.' She even lists out the names of offenders and shows you the cease-and-desist letter she sends them. And, especially don't copy any of the text on her website, because she's using a bit of javascript that will warn you 'Copyright Protect!' if you right click on a link."
The Fuel Cost of Obesity 285
thecarchik writes "America loves to complain about gas mileage and the cost of gasoline. As it turns out, part of the problem is us. How much does it really matter? A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a 1.1 percent increase in self-reported obesity, which translates into extra weight that your vehicle has to haul around. The study estimates that 1 billion extra gallons of fuel were needed to compensate for passenger weight gained between 1960 and 2002."
Antidepressants In the Water Are Making Shrimp Suicidal 182
Antidepressants may help a lot of people get up in the morning but new research shows they are making shrimp swim into that big bowl of cocktail sauce in the sky. Alex Ford, a marine biologist at the University of Portsmouth, found that shrimp exposed to the antidepressant fluoxetine are 5 times more likely to swim towards light instead of away from it. Shrimp usually swim away from light as it is associated with birds or fishermen.
3rd-Grader Busted For Jolly Rancher Possession 804
theodp writes "A third-grader in a small Texas school district received a week's detention for merely possessing a Jolly Rancher. Leighann Adair, 10, was eating lunch Monday when a teacher confiscated the candy. Her parents said she was in tears when she arrived home later that afternoon and handed them the detention notice. But school officials are defending the sentence, saying the school was abiding by a state guideline that banned 'minimal nutrition' foods. 'Whether or not I agree with the guidelines, we have to follow the rules,' said school superintendent Jack Ellis."
3rd Grader Accused of Hacking Schools' Computer System 344
Gud writes "According to The Washington Post a 9-year-old was able to hack into his county's school computer network and change such things as passwords, course work, and enrollment info. From the article: 'Police say a 9-year-old McLean boy hacked into the Blackboard Learning System used by the county school system to change teachers' and staff members' passwords, change or delete course content, and change course enrollment. One of the victims was Fairfax Superintendent Jack D. Dale, according to an affidavit filed by a Fairfax detective in Fairfax Circuit Court this week. But police and school officials decided no harm, no foul. The boy did not intend to do any serious damage, and didn't, so the police withdrew and are allowing the school district to handle the half-grown hacker.'"
Fossil of Ant-Eating Dinosaur Discovered In China 64
thomst writes "Charles Q. Choi of LiveScience reports that a farmer in southern Henan Province in China has dug up the first known ant-eating dinosaur, a half-meter-long theropod (the dinosaur family to which T. Rex belongs), whose fossilized remains were described as 'fairly intact'. The 83- to 89-million-year-old pygmy dinosaur has been named named Xixianykus zhangi by Xig Xu, De-you Wang, Corwin Sullivan, David Hone, Feng-lu Han, Rong-hao Yan, and Fu-ming Du, whose paper on the critter, A basal parvicursorine (Theropoda: Alvarezsauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of China, was published in the March 29 issue of Zootaxa (the abstract is available in PDF format for free, the full article is paywall-protected.)"
Planned Nuclear Reactors Will Destroy Atomic Waste 344
separsons writes "A group of French scientists are developing a nuclear reactor that burns up actinides — highly radioactive uranium isotopes. They estimate that 'the volume of high-level nuclear waste produced by all of France’s 58 reactors over the past 40 years could fit in one Olympic-size swimming pool.' And they're not the only ones trying to eliminate atomic waste: Researchers at the University of Texas in Austin are working on a fusion-fission reactor. The reactor destroys waste by firing streams of neutrons at it, reducing atomic waste by up to 99 percent!"
The Problems With Video Game Voice Acting 251
The Guardian's Games blog explores the tendency of modern video games to suffer from poor voice acting, a flaw made all the more glaring by increasingly precise and impressive graphics. Quoting:
"Due to the interactive nature of games, actors can't be given a standard film script from which they're able to gauge the throughline of their character and a feel for the dramatic development of the narrative. Instead, lines of dialogue need to be isolated into chunks so they can be accessed and triggered within the game in line with the actions of each individual player. Consequently, the performer will usually be presented with a spreadsheet jammed with hundreds of single lines of dialogue, with little sense of context or interaction. ... But according to David Sobolov, one of the most experienced videogame voice actors in the world (just check out his website), the significant time pressures mean that close, in-depth direction is not always possible. 'Often, there's a need to record a great number of lines, so to keep the session moving, once we've established the tone of the character we're performing, the director will silently direct us using the spreadsheet on the screen by simply moving the cursor down the page to indicate if he/she liked what we did. Or they'll make up a code, like typing an 'x' to ask us to give them another take.' It sounds, in effect, like a sort of acting battery farm, a grinding, dehumanizing production line of disembodied phrases, delivered for hours on end. Hardly conducive to Oscar-winning performances."
